Cartman attempts to fly by jumping off of his roof with cardboard wings attached to his arms, to which only Kyle roots for knowing what's going to happen while everyone else is against it. He emerges from a brief coma in the hospital, where he shares a room with a victim of a serial killer who cuts off his victims' left hands. When Cartman makes a lucky guess and manages to deduce some obvious routine things, like the food the hospital is serving, a gullible local police detective, Sergeant Yates, believes that Cartman has developed psychic powers. Cartman plays along and is taken to the scene of one of the murders. Where Yates asks him if he is "seeing anything" Cartman closes his eyes and vocalizes his cravings for ice cream and Oreo cookies, prompting Yates to arrest ice cream shop owner Tom Johannsen with extreme brutality. Cartman receives a cash reward.
At school, Kyle angrily confronts Cartman over his fraudulent psychic abilities, but Cartman defiantly insists that he has such powers, and convinces the other frightened school children of this, though not Kyle, Stan, and Kenny. The left-hand murders resume, but instead of realizing his mistake, Yates rationalizes that these are copycat killings. At the next crime scene, the boys meet a disturbed man named Michael Deets who is quite obviously the murderer, but Yates refuses to listen to Kyle's pleas, focusing instead on Cartman's fake visions.
Cartman's involvement in the case makes him famous, resulting in a visit from a group of "psychic detectives" who demand he join their group and pay a fee. Cartman laughs off their pretensions, resulting in a "psychic battle" in which the "detectives" indulge in the same histrionics as Cartman, terrifying his mother. Failing to intimidate Cartman, the psychics leave with a threat of class action lawsuit. Cartman solves this problem by telling Sergeant Yates that the group is behind the copycat murders, leading the members of the group to be arrested, beaten, and in one case, fatally shot.
Meanwhile, Kyle has followed Deets to his home and obtained fingerprint and blood samples and had them analyzed, but he is completely ignored by the police. Deciding the police will listen to him only if he himself claims psychic powers, Kyle imitates Cartman's attempted flight and is rendered comatose. When he awakens he claims to have psychic powers and gives the police his original findings. Yates is skeptical but goes to investigate Deets anyway, who, by this point, has abducted Cartman, furious that the self-proclaimed psychic has credited his work to others.
When Yates arrives, he prepares to arrest Deets upon finding many severed hands pinned to a wall in Deets' home, but stands down upon realizing that the hands on the wall appear to be right hands, not left hands, because the thumb on Yates' own left hand points to the left, cluelessly failing to realize that he is looking at his hand with its palm facing up, in the opposite orientation of those on the wall. Yates leaves, not knowing that Cartman is bound and gagged in Deets' basement, but he questions his own observation about the hands. He goes back to the station, and after a montage depicting running elaborate criminology tests, exercising, and even losing track of what he was doing, he figures out his mistake, and returns to Deets' house, where he shoots Deets just before Deets kills Cartman who begs Deets not kill him and confesses his sins to him.
At the hospital, Johannsen and the psychics have been released from prison, and Kyle is praised as a real psychic. Kyle, however, tells them that there are no psychics, and that there is a logical explanation for every psychic story ever heard. The other "psychics", however, decide to reignite their conflict with Cartman, and engage in a "final battle". Kyle becomes annoyed and loudly yells at them to stop, at which point the light bulbs in the room explode and a shelf becomes partially detached from its wall, spilling its contents on the floor. Everyone is surprised by this, but Kyle sheepishly insists there is a logical explanation for this.
Edward Baltram, a college student living in London, gives his best friend Mark a sandwich laced with a hallucinogenic drug for a joke. After Mark, still high, falls to his death from a window, Edward is wracked with guilt and depression — worsened by daily letters from Mark's mother cursing him as a murderer.
In search of his father, Jesse, Edward sets off for Seegard, the family home, away from the harsh reality of London. As Edward progresses through the novel, he revives somewhat, thanks to the love of his eccentric father and his extended family of supportive women. He eventually finds, however, that he must come to terms with Mark's death.
Meanwhile, Edward's stepbrother Stuart Cuno decides to give up his studies and goes in search of the "pure" life of an aesthete, to his family's bewilderment. Stuart has a close bond with thirteen-year-old Meredith, the son of Thomas and Midge McCaskerville.
While Edward seeks redemption and Stuart salvation, Midge is having an affair with her husband's best friend, Harry Cuno - stepfather to Edward and father to Stuart. Her passionate love affair comes to a head after two years when she is disgraced publicly and falls unexpectedly in love with Stuart. Left with a difficult decision, Midge turns to Edward for support.
The story takes place largely on Roanoke Island, which is governed by Ananias Dare. His daughter Virginia and Peter Parquagh (this world's Spider-Man) are fighting an invasion of dinosaurs, and tensions between the colonists and Native Americans are increasing, with Englishman Norman Osborne attempting to cheat the natives out of the island. Unrest about metahumans is also increasing, led by newspaperman J. Jonah Jameson. Osbourne is quick to blame this on the natives and Rojhaz (this world's Captain America).
This world's Hulk (David Banner) has apparently killed King James, and is wondering where his allegiances lie. He is identified on Roanoke Island by Peter. Banner is an enemy of the colony after attempting to kill Sir Nicholas Fury, and is almost executed, but is reprieved and taken by the dinosaurs.
In London, King James, who is still alive, tells Lord Iron (this world's Iron Man) to retrieve Banner, whom the King is worried about. Iron's arrival in the New World with Rhodes and Captain Ross is violent. Dare is ultimately arrested for treason for his declaration of independence.
Osborne and Ross plot to capture the Source, which gives the metahumans their power, but Peter interferes and tells their plans to policeman Dougan. Virginia forces Iron and Rhodes to forswear their loyalty to the English.
Dougan, the Spider (Peter), and Dougan's men free Ananias. while fighting begins between the natives and the English. with the Spider. The natives and the Hulk arrive and begin to fight the English and Lord Iron. Osborne orders native chieftain Marioac to give him the Source, but is told that it died when Rojhaz left. Virginia orders everybody to stop fighting.
Lord Iron makes amends to Banner. Iron and Rhodes decide to stay at the colony, and rebuild Jameson's printing press. Banner leaves with the English soldiers to be executed. The colonists and natives make peace, and Osborne is tried and imprisoned for his crimes.
The series starts in medias res, with American soldiers parachuting into war-torn Moscow, in an attempt to rescue the Nth Man. Using TV news commentary as a plot exposition device, it is revealed that the war was caused by Alfie O'Meagan, using his psychic abilities to neutralize all nuclear weapons on the planet, upsetting the balance of power.
During the course of the story, we learn that Alfie has grown up in an orphanage alongside John Doe (the "Nth Man" of the title). Doe was adopted by an elderly Japanese man, who worked for the CIA's "Black Ops" division. Doe was raised as a ninja, taught to kill without regret. While in the orphanage, O'Meagan had visions of possible futures (the "could-be's"), and over time his powers grew, so that he was able to control matter and produce other effects that were against the physical laws of the universe.
The storyline is complex, following numerous characters through war zones, plague-ridden post-Apocalyptic landscapes, inside a video game, alien worlds, and various points in time and space. Alfie gains vast power, while losing his sanity. When the Soviet Union launches biological weapons, Alfie's attempt to turn them harmless backfires.
Using a narrative jump of one year (which was forced upon writer Larry Hama in order to wrap up the story, due to the cancellation of the series), we see that the biological weapons were turned into a mutagenic virus, and millions are transformed into psychotic, cannibalistic "moots". The conclusion of the story makes use of a paradox, and Doe and O'Meagan are shown to be responsible for their own origins.
In the midst of negotiations with the United States Secretary of State, the Prime Minister of Canada dies in a canoeing accident. His son Tom McLaughlin (Paul Gross) returns from overseas to deliver the eulogy at his father's state funeral. The attention it receives propels him into politics and he ultimately becomes prime minister. The investigation into his father's death, however, reveals that it was no accident and raises the possibility of assassination. McLaughlin accepts the U.S. President's plan to develop the Great Recycling and Northern Development Canal to help the United States with its water shortage. Sgt. Leah Collins (Leslie Hope) and Member of Parliament Marc Lavigne (Guy Nadon) slowly piece together evidence of a conspiracy that threatens Canada's existence.
The OVA focuses mostly on the girls of St Ignacio's School for girls than the mecha itself. There are two clubs to join: , where admission is said to lead to ultimate success; or , which is said to teach the values of common courtesy in the world.
Three freshmen join the Etiquette club rather than the popular Debutante Club and soon discover its founding members are part of a secret task force called '''Exters''' ('''ExStars''' in the dubbed version). Fan service is a predominated feature in the transformation sequence. The battles are not only for school hierarchy, but to save the world.
==Charonian Life Cycle==-->
Jacques Saunière, a Louvre curator, is pursued through the Grand Gallery by an albino Catholic monk named Silas, who demands the location of the Priory's "keystone" to find and destroy the Holy Grail. Saunière gives him a false lead and is murdered. The police find his body posed like Da Vinci's ''Vitruvian Man''. Police captain Bezu Fache has his lieutenant, Jérôme Collet, summon American symbologist Robert Langdon, who is in Paris for a lecture on the interpretation of symbols, to examine Saunière's body.
Langdon is shown the body and a secret message, readable only by blacklight. It contains an out-of-order Fibonacci sequence. Sophie Neveu, a police cryptographer and Saunière's granddaughter, tells Langdon that Fache planted a tracker on him after finding the words, "P.S. Find Robert Langdon" at the end of Saunière's secret message. Fache believes that Langdon murdered Saunière. Sophie throws away the tracker, distracting the police while they sneak around the Louvre, finding more clues in Leonardo da Vinci's works. Langdon deduces that Saunière was the grand master of the Priory of Sion.
Silas works for an anonymous person referred to as "The Teacher", along with members of Opus Dei, led by Bishop Aringarosa. Langdon and Sophie travel to the Depository Bank of Zurich and access Saunière's safe deposit box by using the Fibonacci sequence. Inside is a cryptex, a cylindrical container that contains a message on papyrus. It can only be opened without destroying the contents by turning dials to spell a code word. As police arrive, bank manager Andre Vernet helps Langdon and Sophie escape, then attempts to steal the cryptex and murder them. Langdon and Sophie escape with the cryptex.
They visit Langdon's friend, Sir Leigh Teabing, a Holy Grail expert. Teabing claims the Grail is not a cup but instead is Mary Magdalene. He says she was not a prostitute but the wife of Jesus Christ. Teabing argues that Mary was pregnant during His crucifixion, and the Priory formed to protect their descendants. The Opus Dei have been trying to destroy the Grail to preserve the credibility of the Vatican. Later, Silas breaks into Teabing's house, but Teabing, who uses crutches, uses one to disable him. The group escapes to London via Teabing's private plane, along with his butler, Remy Jean. Their interpretation of a clue hidden in the cryptex box leads them to the Temple Church, where they find nothing. Remy, who claims to be the Teacher, frees Silas. Remy takes Teabing hostage, dumping him in the car trunk, and taking Silas to hide out in an Opus Dei safe house. Teabing, who is revealed as the Teacher, later poisons Remy and sends the police after Silas. Police shoot Silas after accidentally wounding Aringarosa, who is promptly arrested by Fache, who resents being used to hunt Langdon.
Teabing, who wants to bring down the Church for centuries of persecution and deceit, confronts Langdon and Sophie. Now understanding the true meaning behind the clue to unlock the cryptex, the trio goes to Westminster Abbey to the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton, a former grand master of the Priory. Teabing demands that the pair open the cryptex. Langdon tries and seemingly fails before suddenly tossing the cryptex into the air. Teabing dives for it, catches it, but the vial breaks, and the papyrus is thought destroyed. The police arrive to arrest Teabing, who realizes Langdon must have solved the cryptex's code and removed the papyrus before throwing it. The code is revealed to be "APPLE", after the apocryphal myth of the apple which led Newton to discover his law of universal gravitation. The clue inside the cryptex, which tells of the Grail hiding neath the rose," leads Langdon and Sophie to Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland.
Inside the chapel, they discover a secret room where Magdalene's tomb has been removed. Langdon, after searching through documents, realizes that Sophie's family died in a car crash, that Saunière was not her grandfather but her protector, and that she is the last descendant of Jesus Christ. The two are greeted by several members of the Priory, including Sophie's grandmother, who promises to protect her. Langdon and Sophie part ways, the former returning to Paris. While shaving, he cuts himself and has an epiphany when his blood curves down the sink, reminding him of the Rose Line. Realizing the true meaning of the cryptex clue, he follows the line to the Louvre, concluding the Holy Grail is hidden below the Pyramide Inversée. Langdon kneels atop it and the sarcophagus of Mary Magdalene is seen in a secret underground chamber.
Toadsworth has invited Mario and all of his friends to go on a luxury cruise around the world due to all the hard work; however, Bowser was not invited. Furious at being omitted, King Koopa vows revenge. When the cruise ship arrives at its first destination, the passengers discover that Bowser has turned their vacation paradise into a stress-filled madhouse. Mario tries to gain as many stars as possible to end this.
Maggie Carpenter is a spirited and attractive young woman who has had a number of unsuccessful relationships. Maggie, nervous about being married, has left a trail of fiancés waiting for her at the altar on their wedding day. All of these were caught on tape, earning Maggie tabloid fame and the dubious nickname "The Runaway Bride."
Meanwhile, in New York, columnist Homer Eisenhower "Ike" Graham writes an article about her that contains several factual errors, supplied to him by a man he meets in a bar who Ike later learns was one of Maggie's former fiancés. Ike is fired for not verifying his source, but is invited to write an in-depth article about Maggie in a bid to restore his reputation. He travels to Hale, Maryland, where he finds Maggie living with her family and on her fourth attempt to become married. The fourth groom-to-be, Bob Kelly, is a local high school football coach who uses sports analogies to help Maggie with her concerns. He constantly makes references to Maggie "focusing" on the goal-line in reference to their pending nuptials. As Ike starts going around town to meet her friends, family, and former fiancés, Maggie becomes frustrated. Maggie offers Ike the opportunity to spend time with her, to see that she's not a bad person, that she and Bob really will work out. Ike and Maggie become closer the more time they spend together.
As he researches Maggie's history, Ike realizes that Maggie adopts the interests of her fiancés. This is signified most prominently by her choice of eggs, which changes with each fiancé. At a pre-wedding celebration for her and Bob, Ike defends Maggie from the public mockery she starts receiving from her family and guests, and Maggie runs outside due to the embarrassment. Ike then confronts Maggie outside about his realization regarding her relationships.
During the wedding rehearsal, Bob tries to quell Maggie's wedding anxieties by walking her down the aisle. Bob asks Ike to stand in for him at the altar, playing the groom. After Bob gets her to the altar, Ike and Maggie share a passionate kiss and admit to each other their feelings. Bob is chagrined, becomes jealous and punches Ike in the face before he storms out of the church. In the aftermath, Ike proposes that he and Maggie get married since the wedding is already arranged. At the wedding, Ike takes Bob's advice and maintains eye contact with Maggie to reassure her as she walks down the aisle. However, a camera flash breaks her concentration and Maggie suddenly gets cold feet and flees. Ike pursues her but she hitches a ride away on a FedEx truck.
Ike returns to New York and Maggie tries to discover herself, trying different types of eggs, and putting her lighting designs up for sale in New York stores. She shows up unexpectedly at Ike's apartment one night where he finds her making friends with his cat, Italics. Maggie then explains that she had been running because every other guy she was engaged to was only engaged to the idea she had created for them rather than the real her, but with Ike she ran because, even though he truly understood her, she didn't understand herself. She "turns in" her running shoes just before proposing to Ike. Ike hides his eyes, but she persists. The two are married in a private ceremony outside, on a hill, avoiding the big ceremonies that Maggie notes she never actually liked. In the end, they are shown riding away on horseback while everyone in Hale and New York (clued in via cell phone by Ike and Maggie's family) celebrates the fact that Maggie finally got married.
A post credit scene shows Maggie and Ike playing in the snow signifying that the relationship is going strong after the wedding.
''Faith of the Fallen'' begins where ''Soul of the Fire'' leaves off. Richard is taking Cara and injured Kahlan to the high mountains of his homeland, Westland. At the end of the ''Soul of the Fire'' Richard realizes that he cannot win against Emperor Jagang until the people themselves want to fight for freedom. Because of this mindset Richard isolates himself in the woods, to allow Kahlan time to heal, and refuses to give orders to the D'Haran army. After Kahlan has made a significant recovery, Nicci arrives and captures Kahlan by using a maternity spell, linking herself to Kahlan and enabling herself to kill Kahlan at any time. Richard is forced to go with Nicci into the Old World, leaving Kahlan, Cara, and the Sword of Truth to rejoin the D'Haran army.
Shortly afterward, Prelate Ann and the reformed Sister of the Dark Alessandra visit the camp, looking for Richard, claiming his need for the people to prove their worth is pointless and that the prophecy dictates his required actions. This enrages Kahlan, and she threatens to murder Alessandra unless Ann destroys her journey book, which will prevent her from coordinating with Verna and the D'haran army. Kahlan and Cara, despite knowing Richard's objections, leave the Upper Ven in search of help from Zedd and Sister Verna. Seeing the plight of her troops fighting against the Order, Kahlan takes command of the combined armies of D'Hara and the Midlands in a desperate attempt to halt the Order's advance into the New World.
Following Nicci, Richard is put to work in the Old World capital of Altur'Rang, finding work as a delivery man of steel and timber for construction, as Nicci's only requirement is that he care for her and himself, expecting the conditions of life among the poor will crush Richard's spirits. Richard also meets Brother Narev, a sorcerer who is constructing a spellform for the Imperial Palace that will effectively make Emperor Jagang immortal. As Richard becomes successful and relatively happy, even turning around the deplorable conditions of the neighborhood despite the conditions, Nicci begins to doubt her position, and finds she is viciously hated by her neighbors for her treatment of Richard. She attempts to seduce Richard but fails, and gives herself to a local thug, Gadi, who brutally assaults her, thinking that Kahlan will believe Richard finally fell for her charms. Richard is approached to lead a peaceful protest against the Order but he refuses and begs his friends to stay away, knowing it will be a wholesale slaughter. Hundreds are killed, and hundreds more are hung and tortured. Richard is eventually turned in by Gadi as a collaborator. Nicci spends a fortune in gold she finds Richard has hidden to set him free, finding he has been severely beaten.
Richard, as punishment for his "civil infraction," is commanded to erect a disgusting sculpture glorifying human suffering for the center of the New Palace. Secretly, Richard works tirelessly to create his own statue of a noble man and woman out of a block of flawed marble he purchases from a local quarryman. It is of such beauty that a huge procession is led through the city to view it.
Brother Narev, when he finally arrives to see the statue, orders Richard to destroy it. Richard takes up the hammer and points to the crowd, telling them that the Order only wishes to destroy beauty, only wishes to enslave humanity under the doctrine of faith unsupported by the true value of life. He swings the hammer and shatters the statue in one blast. The people are outraged, and immediately revolt, proclaiming that the Order will not enslave them any longer. They attack the Imperial Order, and Altur'Rang falls to the hands of the rebels. Richard finds a group of his friends overseeing the execution of the Order governing council.
After fighting many battles against the Imperial Order, overseeing the wedding of Verna to the Wizard Warren, the subsequent death of Warren at the hands of Gadi, Kahlan and Cara leave to find Richard, learning from Gadi's interrogation that he is in Altur'Rang. They enter Altur'Rang in time to see the statues destruction. As the rebellion begins, Richard enters the palace to find Brother Narev. While working his way through the dark corridors, he encounters Kahlan, the Sword of Truth over her shoulder. He attacks her and engineers the fight so that Kahlan runs him through. This forces Nicci to choose - to sever the maternity spell and save him or let him die and continue serving the Order. Nicci, wholeheartedly converted to Richard's cause after seeing his sculpture, removes the maternity bond to Kahlan and heals Richard. Altur'Rang is free, for a time, from the grasp of the Order, and the people have found a determination not to serve the system as slaves. The epilogue ends with Kahlan shyly staring at a massive statue of Spirit, a model Richard had carved with her face, being erected in the center of the newly free Altur'Rang
A dysfunctional and sometimes violent romance happens between Mathieu (Fernando Rey), a middle-aged, wealthy Frenchman, and a young, impoverished, and beautiful flamenco dancer from Seville, Conchita, played by Carole Bouquet and Ángela Molina. The two actresses each appear unpredictably in separate scenes, and differ not only physically, but temperamentally as well.
Most of the film is a flashback recalled by Mathieu. The movie opens with Mathieu travelling by train from Seville to Paris. He is trying to distance himself from his young girlfriend Conchita. As Mathieu's train is ready to depart, he finds that a bruised and bandaged Conchita is pursuing him. From the train he pours a bucket of water over her head. He believes this will deter her, but she sneaks aboard.
Mathieu's fellow compartment passengers witness his rude act. These include a mother and her young daughter, a judge who is coincidentally a friend of Mathieu's cousin, and a psychologist who is a dwarf. They inquire about his motivation for such an act, and he then explains the history of his tumultuous relationship with Conchita. The story is set against a backdrop of terrorist bombings and shootings by left-wing groups.
Conchita, who claims to be 18 but looks older, has vowed to remain a virgin until marriage. She tantalizes Mathieu with sexual promises, but never allows him to satisfy his sexual desire. At one point she goes to bed with him wearing a tightly laced canvas corset, which he cannot untie, making it impossible to have sexual intercourse. Conchita's antics cause the couple to break up and reunite repeatedly, each time frustrating and confusing Mathieu.
Eventually, Mathieu finds Conchita dancing nude for tourists in a Seville nightclub. At first he becomes enraged. Later, however, he forgives her and buys her a house. In a climactic scene, soon after moving into the house, Conchita refuses to let Mathieu in at the gate, tells him that she hates him, and that kissing and touching him make her sick. Then, to prove her independence, she appears to initiate sexual intercourse with a young man in plain view of Mathieu, although he walks away without witnessing the act. Later that night he is held up at gunpoint as his car is hijacked.
After this, Conchita attempts to reconcile with Mathieu, insisting that the sex was fake and that her "lover" is in reality a homosexual friend. However, during her explanation, Mathieu beats her (she then says "Now I'm sure you love me"), causing her bandaged and bruised state seen earlier in the film.
Just as the fellow train passengers seem satisfied with this story, Conchita reappears from hiding and dumps a bucket of water on Mathieu. However, the couple apparently reconcile yet again when the train reaches its destination. After leaving the train, they walk arm in arm, enjoying the streets of Madrid.
Later in a mall in Paris, loudspeakers announce that a strange alliance of extremist groups intends to sow chaos and confusion in society through terrorist attacks. The announcement adds that several right-wing groups plan to counter-attack. As the couple continues their walk, they pass a seamstress in a shop window mending a bloody nightgown. They begin arguing just as a bomb explodes, apparently killing them.
Los Angeles police sergeant Tom Valens is on a stakeout near an upscale apartment complex when he is forced to defend himself from a mysterious figure who aims a gun at him on a foggy night. The trouble is, the dead man turns out to be a prominent physician and pillar of the community, Dr. James Ruston, and his gun cannot be found at the scene.
Valens is in trouble with his department, specifically Roy Klodin, his captain. It doesn't help that Valens is still carrying the memory of having been shot while on duty nearly a year earlier. He is placed under suspension by the force while Frank Sanderman, a prosecutor with a grudge against trigger-happy cops, files manslaughter charges against this one.
Setting out on his own to clear his name, Valens meets resistance from many including Ruston's financial adviser, Calvin York, and the doctor's alcoholic and flirtatious widow, Doris Ruston. Also unwilling to be of help to Valens is the doctor's nurse, Liz Thayer, who knew Ruston only as a humanitarian who made many trips to Mexico to unselfishly aid people in need. Even the elderly lady whom Dr. Ruston often came to visit, Alice Willows, speaks only with devotion to the doctor, who was very kind to her beloved dog. As Valens investigates Dr. Ruston, he learns that his public image does not match his real life, where he was unfaithful to his wife and had money troubles which mysteriously disappeared when Dr. Ruston doubled his income a few years prior.
The controversial cop's lone defender in public is acerbic television personality Perry Knowland, who turns out to be doing so only to increase his viewership. While trying to find some reason why Ruston would have been skulking in the fog near the apartments and brandishing a gun, Valens meets Alice Willows again after her dog passes away and she has him buried with all of his toys at a nearby pet cemetery.
Among the few offering a sympathetic ear are his estranged wife, Joanie, and another apartment resident, Walt Cody, a playboy pilot. Cody volunteers to fly Valens down to Mexico to see first-hand why Dr. Ruston commuted there so often. Complications arise when Liz Thayer is found dead in Ruston's ransacked office, obliging Valens' partner, Sgt. Ed Musso, to try to place his friend under arrest.
Upon learning that Ruston's office was ransacked, Valens overpowers Musso and goes with Cody to the pet cemetery. They dig up Willows' dog and find Ruston's gun in the casket. Valens deduces that the dog, who liked Ruston, smelled the doctor's scent on the gun and brought it back to Willows' apartment. The barrel of the gun is packed with thousands of dollars of pure heroin. Valens tells Cody that Ruston had doubled his income by using his trips to Baja to cover a drug smuggling operation and that he knows Cody was Ruston's partner in the scheme. Cody draws a gun on Valens, but Valens shoots him dead.
The beginning of the US campaign relates to the GLA's success in the previous game. The GLA uses the Baikonur Cosmodrome to fire a toxin warhead at a US naval base in Northern Europe, prompting the US to respond before another missile can be fired. A Chinese assault on the base had previously failed, so the US uses the powerful Chinese arsenal to overrun and destroy the missile silo using a B-2 Bomber. The US then tasks itself with watching over the relief effort by the United Nations in Mogadishu, but GLA incursions make the relief mission difficult. A US carrier group in the region provides aerial cover as US forces storm a secret GLA base, unintentionally discovering documents relating to 'Dr. Thrax', a GLA General and scientist who plans to develop Anthrax Gamma Toxins. The US discovers from the documents that Dr. Thrax has a secret lab at Mount Elbrus, and so sends a team led by Colonel Burton to destroy it and liberate prisoners of war along the way, while the Chinese operative, "Black Lotus" gathers intelligence from across the river dividing the region. The US then leads a successful invasion on Iranian oil fields funding the toxin program, but it is soon learnt that Dr. Thrax has already developed the agent and plans to fire missiles loaded with the toxin at major US cities. A US led assault on Dr. Thrax's complex, supported by disillusioned GLA separatists, allows the US to capture the missile sites before they can be launched. It is also implied that Dr. Thrax was killed in the assault.
The start of the GLA campaign begins with Dr. Thrax's second in command (it is implied that the player acts as this person) being pursued by the Americans through an unknown city in the Middle East. Despite intense Tomahawk bombardment by the Americans, the General manages to evade the American pursuers and escapes from the area in a plane. With the whereabouts of Dr. Thrax still unknown, the GLA command is in complete disarray resulting in several splinter cells being formed to seize power. One such General, Prince Kassad uses stealth technology to which is vital to the GLA's war effort. Having abandoned the GLA cause, the loyalists in turn attack Kassad's base in Egypt, acquiring the stealth technology and killing Kassad in the process. Now equipped with the new technology, the GLA launches a series of covert operations in the Mediterranean, aimed at destroying the US fleet based there, including the USS ''Reagan'', a powerful super carrier. The GLA remarkably achieves this feat by using a captured Particle Cannon to sink the carrier. Shaken by the decisive victory, rumors begin to spread that the US is unwilling to continue its war against the GLA and will begin pulling troops from its bases in Europe. The GLA seize this chance and land commandos on the US West Coast to steal toxins and US Army equipment from inside America. Jarmen Kell leads the attack, and ultimately succeeds in forcing the bulk of US forces be withdrawn from Europe to defend the homeland. The GLA, once again seizing the chance of a weaker American presence in Europe, launches an assault on US Central Command Base in Stuttgart, capturing Chinese and US bases and using the stolen hardware in the attack. The assault succeeds, and ushers in the period of GLA control over Europe.
Angered and embarrassed by the GLA's use of Chinese weaponry in taking Europe, the Chinese respond by deploying nuclear weapons against the terrorists. Survivors of the nuclear attack at Stuttgart prompt the Chinese to remove the GLA threat and liberate Europe in the process. But as the Chinese mobilise in Europe, a massive GLA assault against a nuclear reactor complex near Yencheng almost results in another GLA incursion inside China's borders. Though the reactor's defences were considerably crippled, the attack is ultimately thwarted and the Chinese successfully secured their borders once more. Determined to eradicate the GLA in Europe, the Chinese begin the counter-offensive in Germany, but international opinion of the Chinese will determine how well they will be received, so restraint is placed upon the Chinese to not deploy their nuclear weapons here. The city of Coburg is heavily defended by the GLA, but the Chinese resolve manages to push back the defenders, ultimately wiping out the GLA in the region, as well as allowing European opinion towards the Chinese to skyrocket. After taking serious losses to the Chinese, the GLA begins a mass withdrawal from Europe, but part of the route will pass a PLA base in Halberstadt, which is outfitted to intercept the retreating forces. Having lost almost all of its forces present in Europe, the GLA has but one last stronghold based in Hamburg. The Americans manage to rally enough forces to attack the base, but the GLA ambushes the American base, capturing it and using the US hardware to put a halt to the Chinese juggernaut. The Chinese manage to acquire US technology themselves, and push towards the heavily fortified GLA base. After heavy fighting, resulting in massive casualties on both sides, the Chinese emerge victorious and takes its place as the world's sole superpower. Meanwhile, it is implied that after the war, America, severely weakened by the war and upstaged by China, adopts a policy of isolationism.
The book is divided into four sections titled Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Doomsday, of which the last of these takes up fully half the novel.
Bret Taylor, a naval officer during the Pacific War, married his wife Lorraine after knowing her only over a single overnight drinking binge while on shore leave. After more months on duty, ending when his ship was destroyed in a kamikaze attack, he returned home to find Lorraine freshly murdered in the home he bought for her but has never seen. The shock of the two events sends him into a mental lapse involving heavy memory loss and he spends nine months in a naval hospital in San Diego. All that time he was visited by the woman who had loved him in the period before his impulsive marriage, divorced Paula Pangborn, a successful Hollywood screenwriter who uses her maiden name of West.
As Bret's memory begins to return, he is released into Paula's care and they drive up to Los Angeles on the Monday. But since the mental specialist called in to help him, Dr Klifter, had given Bret the newspaper clippings relating to Lorraine's death, he has become obsessed with finding out who had killed her and strikes out on his own. He gets into a fight in the Golden Slipper Café, where Lorraine had been drinking on the night she died, and is taken home by Larry Miles to sleep off his hangover.
The next - and final - day, Bret comes to suspect that Miles had been Lorraine's murderer. It emerges eventually that Bret had discovered Miles in bed with Lorraine on his unannounced return and had killed her himself. Miles, knowing the truth, had been blackmailing Paula to keep the responsibility secret. Police break up the subsequent fight between the men and shoot Miles for resisting arrest. Fingerprint evidence proves that Miles was present in her home at the time of Lorraine’s murder, so that he is taken for the culprit, leaving Bret free to rejoin his faithful Paula.
When still a child, Lucy Nelson had her alcoholic father thrown in jail. Ever since then, she has been trying to reform the men around her, even if that ultimately means destroying herself in the process.
Nearly four years later, the Seventh Doctor detects an anomaly in the vortex, which leads him to the Forge. There he meets his sixth self who is now working as the Forge's scientific advisor and Nimrod is conducting an experiment on the alien Huldran. Other Huldran creatures attack the Forge, and the Sixth Doctor is injured losing his arm. Knowing that he had never lost an arm, the Seventh Doctor makes mind contact and realises that it is in fact only a clone, his DNA taken from him when he endured Nimrod's regeneration experiment. As the Seventh Doctor and the clone Doctor uncover Nimrod's awful experiment, it is revealed that clone is just one of many — Nimrod has lost count of the total. The clone Doctor uses his perfect mimicry of Nimrod's voice and instigates the Hades protocol causing the Forge to shut down, ending all of Nimrod's experiments. The Seventh Doctor apparently escapes with the Forge's human staff and the Huldran, however, Lysanda Aristedes suggests to Ace in Project: Destiny that many of her colleagues were killed on Dartmoor.
The Forge is not totally destroyed however, as the Oracle computer is heard stating that the back up facility has been created.
Attorney Harold Fine is cornered into setting a date for marriage by his secretary/fiancée, Joyce. Because of a fender bender, he ends up driving a hippie vehicle, a psychedelically-painted station wagon. When taking his hippie brother, Herbie, to the funeral of his family's butcher he encounters Nancy, Herbie's girlfriend, an attractive, free-spirited, barefoot flower power lady. She takes a liking to Harold and after they spend a night together in his home makes him pot brownies. However, she departs without telling him about its special ingredient, and not knowing what they are he eats them and feeds them to his father, mother, and fiancée, who dissolve in laughter and silliness. Harold considers the "trip" a revelation, and begins renouncing aspects of his "straight" life. He leaves his fiancée at the chuppah moments before they are to be married, starts living with Nancy, and tries to find himself with the aid of a guru. Ultimately he discovers the hippie lifestyle is as unfulfilling and unsatisfying as his old lifestyle—Nancy says that monogamy "isn't hip"—and once more decides to marry Joyce. At the last minute, he again leaves her at the altar and runs out of the wedding onto a city street saying he doesn't know for sure what he is looking for but, "there's got to be something beautiful out there."
While boating on Barmet Bay, the Hardy boys spot a periscope from a submarine and then nearly crash into a rented speedboat driven by a Mexican man named Pancho Cardillo. Mr. Cardillo later returns to the rental location and steals the speedboat, leading the boys on a search for the stolen boat. Cardillo then ditches the boat after his cronies knock out Frank and Joe. While investigating Mr. Cardillo, the boys find an Indian ring with a strange crest on it and Fenton Hardy receives a threatening letter telling him to "beware of the mark on the door!"
The Hardy boys, their father, and their friend Chet Morton fly to Mexico where they find a band of Indians and a strange oil smuggling operation using submarines. Their deductions lead them to a small Mexican town where they learn that local people are mysteriously disappearing and the strange crest appears on the doors of people who have disappeared. The Hardys find a local youth by the name of Tico who is a great navigator and helps the Hardy boys find the culprit's hideout where they learn the real man behind the scheme is Cardillo, who is called "Pavura", which means terror in Spanish, by the Indians.
In the end, the Hardy boys and their friend Chet manage to stop the smugglers from getting away and solve the mystery of the disappearing Indians, all while solving the oil smuggling case that their father was working on.
The Hardy boys travel to Mexico to search for a missing witness in an oil stock swindling case.
Set in 1963, at a rural branch line railway station called Hatley, Jack Skinner (Paul Shane) the porter is acting stationmaster until a replacement is found. Jack deeply loves his wife May (played by Sherrie Hewson in the pilot episode, with her scenes re-recorded by Julia Deakin when repeated as the first episode of the regular series) who runs the station buffet, but is prone to becoming very jealous of her around other men. Since the retirement of the previous station master the station has become rather disorganised: for instance the eternally miserable signalman Harry Lambert (Stephen Lewis), is so underworked that he is running several sidelines from his signalbox – including hair-cutting, selling fruit and vegetables, repairing bicycles and taking bets – seeing his signalling duties as an unwelcome distraction; he frequently speaks of "ruddy trains". The station is part run by the eccentric and easily flustered booking clerk Ethel Schumann (Su Pollard), who is always on the lookout for a new man in her life and whose son Wilfred (Paul Aspden), the product of a relationship with a now deceased American soldier during the war, is the station dogsbody. Wilfred often comes across as stupid, but sometimes displays signs that he is brighter than he appears – for instance in the episode "The Van", he finds Arnold's missing wife Jessica.
Also present are Vera Plumtree (Barbara New), who has no particular role, but seems to do various jobs around the station and acts as Mr Parkin's housekeeper. Her late husband used to work on the railway, as she frequently reminds the other members of staff; her catchphrase is "he was an engine driver you know". She very often muddles her words and seems to be fond of Harry (who always ignores her advances) and Gloria (Lindsay Grimshaw), Jack and May's pretty teenage daughter, who loves wearing short skirts, much to the chagrin of her father. She shows an interest in men, but Jack is over-protective and will not let any man take her out. Several other members of railway staff appear, including an older engine driver Arnold Thomas (Ivor Roberts); his inexperienced fireman Ralph (Perry Benson), who is training to be a driver; and the flirtatious guard, Percy (Terry John), with whom Ethel appears to be quite besotted at times. He returns her advances, but seems to prefer Gloria's friend, Amy Matlock (Tara Daniels), who appears in most episodes, albeit usually briefly. Richard Spendlove, one of the writers and the co-creator, also appeared in several episodes as Mr Orkindale, the district inspector.
Soon the new stationmaster arrives in the guise of Cecil Parkin (Jeffrey Holland), a stern, well spoken man. He is amazed to learn that the café is run by May (then called Blanchflower), with whom he had a passionate fling during the war before she married Jack – although we later learn that she was seeing both of them at the same time. Although Jack is in the dark as to May and Cecil's history, he takes an instant dislike to the new stationmaster. A running subplot to the series is the question of whether Gloria is actually Jack's daughter, or the result of May's fling with Cecil (although in the second series episode "Father's Day", it is generally concluded that Jack is her father). Meanwhile, at the end of the episode a newspaper article is found threatening the station with closure under the Beeching Axe, which begins the series.
A running gag in the series is Vera almost finding out about Cecil and May's relationship. Mr Parkin steals every moment he possibly can with May, often sneaking into the kitchen near the beginning of the day, before anyone else has arrived and Vera catching them almost every time.
The series ran for two series, although the final episode did not conclude by answering whether the station was going to be closed, as it was unknown at the time of production whether a third series would be produced or not. The series was axed due to unsatisfactory viewing figures, later blamed on the BBC for constantly altering the time of broadcasting. Only one episode was broadcast in August 1997 (17) due to the broadcasting of the 1997 Athletics World Championship in Athens on 3 and 10 August, ''The Great Antiques Hunt'' broadcast on 24 August and the wall to wall coverage of the Death of Diana, Princess of Wales, on 31 August.
Jean Loring, ex-wife of Ray Palmer (the Atom) and murderer of Sue Dibny in 2004's seven-issue limited series ''Identity Crisis'', is transformed into a new version of the villainous Eclipso by mysterious forces. Loring escapes from her Arkham Asylum cell to unknown whereabouts. Meanwhile, the Spectre, the vengeful right hand of God, is now without a host since the revival of Hal Jordan. Eclipso persuades the Spectre that magic is evil because it breaks the laws of nature set by God. This logic makes sense to the hostless Spectre, who vows to destroy all magic.
Having witnessed his attack firsthand, the Enchantress summons the Ragman to the Mist Woods to save her from the Spectre, who has just defeated and killed "seven hundred combat trained sorcerers" who were having an informal gathering. As Blackbriar Thorn provides a distraction, they retreat to the Oblivion Bar, a bar between dimensions where magically powered beings meet to trade war stories. The subject of the day at the bar is the Spectre and his attacks on magic across the world. The bartender is Jim Rook (the Nightmaster) and the bouncer is Blue Devil. When the Enchantress proclaims that the magic world needs to make a stand against the Spectre, she gets no agreement, save for Detective Chimp.
Detective Chimp reveals that the Phantom Stranger, one of several "big-gun" magicians that the Ragman believes is better suited for this type of fight, has been turned into a mouse, emphasizing the importance of fighting the Spectre. These five are joined by Nightshade as the Shadowpact and they all agree to take the fight to the Spectre. While the mystics plan this attack, the ancient wizard Shazam recruits his champion Captain Marvel in a bid against the Spectre. Also notable is that the other "big-guns" mentioned by the patrons in the bar were Doctor Fate and Madame Xanadu. Both have already been disabled by the Spectre, Doctor Fate being imprisoned in the dimension within his helmet and Madame Xanadu having been blinded by the Spectre, disabling her abilities to interpret magic.
thumb Through the Enchantress, the group, later named the Shadowpact, learn that the Spectre was being seduced and corrupted by Eclipso. They plan what is essentially a suicide mission to find the Spectre (and Eclipso), attack Eclipso with overwhelming surprise and numbers and to kill her, hoping to free the Spectre before he turns on them. As the Enchantress, Blue Devil, Ragman and Nightmaster teleport in, they happen on Captain Marvel fighting a duel of magic vs. spirit, which gives them the time and a chance to try to defeat Eclipso while the Spectre is distracted. Hoping to give Captain Marvel more time to hold off the Spectre (which gives them more time to defeat Eclipso), the Enchantress siphons magical energy first from herself; then from mystics around the world, including heroes such as Alan Scott, Zatanna, the Phantom Stranger (still in mouse form); villains like Blackbriar Thorn; and finally, ordinary mortals with little magic power, adding to Captain Marvel's own magical power. Meanwhile, Detective Chimp and Nightshade work on a backup plan by trying to bring back Black Alice, a girl with the power to steal another's magical abilities for a short period of time, leaving her target powerless. The Shadowpact defeats Eclipso when Blue Devil skewers Eclipso with his Trident of Lucifer, while Captain Marvel gains the upper hand over the Spectre, thanks to the tens of thousands of magic users supporting him. However, the strain of gathering such immense quantities of magic drives the Enchantress temporarily insane, and she releases her link to Captain Marvel to battle her own teammates. Captain Marvel's strength fades, and he is barely defeated by the Spectre. The Spectre, who is now heavily drained, rescues a stunned Eclipso, and Eclipso uses the last of her power to fly both of them away to safety. Blue Devil knocks the Enchantress out, and the Shadowpact return to the Oblivion Bar with Captain Marvel to regroup, surprised to be alive, and amazed to have temporarily beaten back the Spectre.
The Shadowpact, along with Black Alice, decide on their next plan of attack: they will kill the Spectre and defeat Eclipso before she can complete her war on magic by using Black Alice's ability to steal powers. The plan reaches a snag, however, when a powerless Spectre is revealed to be an empty spirit who cannot be harmed. During her brief possession of the Spectre's powers, Black Alice uses them to help Nightshade send Eclipso into a perpetual orbit around the sun, which weakens her power.
Captain Marvel, meanwhile, has returned to the Rock of Eternity, where the wizard Shazam reveals that he is ready to face the Spectre. The restored Spectre travels to the Rock of Eternity to battle the wizard Shazam, changing Captain Marvel back into Billy Batson, his alter ego, to keep him out of his way. The Phantom Stranger, returning to his human form, uses his powers to allow the Shadowpact and Black Alice to watch the battle between Shazam and the Spectre from Earth. After it appears that Shazam has beaten his opponent, the Spectre revives himself, drains the wizard of his powers, and kills him. The Rock of Eternity begins to disintegrate, and travels through several dimensions as it does so, eventually appearing in the sky above Gotham City before it explodes into "a billion pieces".
The destruction of the Rock frees an untold number beings of evil magic back into the world, among them the "living" embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins, who were formerly trapped in stone statues in Shazam's throne room. The scarab belonging to the original Blue Beetle, which Shazam had acquired from his successor, Ted Kord, lands in El Paso, Texas. Billy Batson, unable to remember his magic word, is seen falling from the Rock above Gotham City; the scene leads directly into ''Infinite Crisis'' #1. The Shadowpact, meanwhile, agrees to continue the fight, but will do so without Black Alice, who, as she is still a teenager, plans to return home.
During a school field trip, Bart notices a change in Milhouse's behavior. Milhouse talks back to Mrs. Krabappel and wanders away from the group. He causes mischief with Bart, and tells him that he does not care what anyone thinks of him anymore. Finally, Milhouse reveals that he is moving to Capitol City with his mother. Bart visits Milhouse in Capitol City, only to find that Milhouse has dyed his hair blonde, is wearing fashionable clothes, and is cultivating a "bad-boy" image, even going so far as to give Bart a wedgie in front of his new Capitol City friends. At home, seeing how depressed Bart is (who even cries), Marge suggests he spend more time with Lisa. The two begin to bond by washing the car and riding bikes, and after they discover an Indian burial mound together, they become best friends.
Meanwhile, at Moe's Tavern, Apu and Manjula are celebrating their anniversary, and Homer realizes he does not have a gift for Marge for their anniversary. After being thrown out of the bar, Homer sits on the street and people start giving him money. He dances and earns enough money to buy Marge some flowers. He also does a rendition of the song "Mr. Bojangles" and asks for money. Homer continues his panhandling, and eventually makes enough money to buy Marge a pair of diamond earrings. When he continues panhandling afterward, angry bums bring Marge to see what Homer is doing. Marge is mortified and angry, but cannot bring herself to throw the earrings away.
Milhouse returns to Springfield when his father wins custody of Milhouse via court order. After she finds out Bart told Milhouse about their secret Indian burial mound, Lisa feels that Bart is acting like their friendship never existed and that he has been using her to fill a void. Bart, however, shows her that he still values her as a sister by giving her a set of cards with nice things he will do for her on them, and the two hug. The episode ends with Isabel Sanford at the TV and Radio museum, pointing out how sitcoms usually resort to using sappy endings for their episodes.
In 1797, the humane Captain Crawford (Alec Guinness) is in command of the frigate HMS ''Defiant'' during the French Revolutionary Wars. He soon finds himself in a battle of wills with his first officer, the sadistic and supercilious first lieutenant, Mr. Scott-Padget (Dirk Bogarde). The lieutenant believes that Crawford is too soft on his crew, and also disagrees with the captain's decision to follow his orders to sail to Corsica despite word that Napoleon's army has overrun much of Italy. Scott-Padget has powerful family connections, which he has used in the past to "beach" two previous commanding officers with whom he disagreed. Knowing that Crawford is helpless to intervene, Scott-Padget subjects the Captain's son, Midshipman Harvey Crawford (David Robinson), to excessive daily punishments so as to gain leverage over the captain.
Meanwhile, some of the crew, led by seaman Vizard (Anthony Quayle), are preparing to petition for better conditions, in conjunction with similar efforts throughout the British fleet. They eventually pledge virtually the entire crew.
In the Mediterranean, the ''Defiant'' encounters a French frigate escorting a merchant ship. After a sharp engagement, a boarding party from the ''Defiant'' captures the French frigate, and the merchantman surrenders. Crawford dispatches his son as part of the prize crew tasked to sail the captured merchantman to a British port, thereby placing him out of Scott-Padget's reach. Crawford tells Scott-Padget that bringing his son with him was a mistake, but now he's "put it right!" He further vows to take actions that will "astound" his second-in-command. Before long, Scott-Padget is confined to quarters as punishment for insubordination. His humiliation is compounded by the requirement that he appear on deck every two hours in full dress uniform, a punishment usually reserved for young midshipmen.
Soon, ''Defiant'' fights and captures a Venetian frigate, taking on many prisoners. Crawford is severely wounded in the action and eventually loses his arm. Discovered among the prisoners is a key aide to Napoleon, from whom the British learn important information about a planned invasion of Britain.
With Crawford incapacitated, Scott-Padget takes command, but his brutality goads the crew into a premature mutiny. Appealing to their patriotism, Crawford convinces Vizard and the other mutineers to sail for the main British fleet blockading Rochefort to warn them of the impending invasion. Crawford promises to intercede for the crew as best he can, on the condition that none of the officers are harmed.
As the ''Defiant'' reaches the fleet at Rochefort, they receive word that the main British fleet has already mutinied, with the Admiralty agreeing to all of the sailors' demands and granting an amnesty to those who took part. The crew's jubilation at the news is cut short when a hot-headed seaman, Evans, murders Scott-Padget. Realising that they are now all doomed to punishment as mutineers, an enraged Vizard kills Evans. Their only course now is to try to escape with the ship.
Just then, the French fleet sallies out from port, and a French fireship is sighted heading straight for the British flagship. As the only ship under sail, the ''Defiant'' has the unique opportunity to save the flagship. Once again, Crawford appeals to the crew's patriotism, making no promises but convincing them to intercept the fireship. Vizard is killed in the ensuing action, living just long enough to hear a message from the British admiral thanking ''Defiant'' for their honourable actions. The mutiny is over and HMS Defiant joins the fleet.
In the 1900s, an insect-like alien race known as the Chimera arrive in Russia. Using advanced technology, they infect hundreds of civilians and subject them to artificial evolution, creating a diverse army of creatures ranging from simple foot soldiers to spider-like giants. By 1949, all of Europe has fallen to the Chimera. The following year, a vast invasion force tunnels under the English Channel, conquering much of England and leaving only scattered pockets of human resistance.
In 1951, the United States, despite taking a position of neutrality in the conflict, sends a task force to assist the UK as part of "Operation Deliverance". Among the soldiers is Army Ranger Sgt. Nathan Hale. However, soon after landing in York, he and his squad are ambushed by enemy troops, who infect them with the Chimera virus. Hale, the only survivor, discovers that he has an innate resistance to full infection. Instead, he gains increased strength and reflexes, the ability to instantly heal light injuries, and gold-colored irises, a common trait of the Chimera.
Sent to a Chimera conversion center in Grimsby, Hale meets British intelligence officer Captain Rachel Parker and helps her escape. In turn, Parker allows him to accompany British forces launching an offensive in Manchester to recover a missing convoy. The convoy's cargo is subsequently transferred to a resistance command center in Cheshire, which soon comes under attack from the Chimera. While attempting to provide assistance, Hale is separated from Parker and ends up fighting off the attack single-handedly. He then investigates the cargo, which turns out to be an Angel, a powerful creature that directs the Chimera's hive mind. The Angel tries to use its telepathy to control Hale, forcing him to kill it.
Hale then links up with Lieutenant Stephen Cartwright, a UK Royal Marines Commando. The two of them learn that the Chimera have established a series of metallic towers throughout Britain, connected by a network of tunnels and power conduits. To make the matter even more puzzling, Parker learns that the towers were excavated, not built. After the Chimera destroy the last British command post in Bristol, Hale undertakes a solo mission into the tunnels, following them all the way to a nexus point in London. Recognizing that the towers are altering the Earth's climate, Hale concludes that destroying them is the key to victory.
Under Parker and Cartwright's leadership, a massive UK-US force enters London and storms the central tower. Despite their best efforts, the Chimera rally themselves and initiate a counterattack, killing countless soldiers and leaving Cartwright seriously wounded. Against all odds, Hale destroys the tower's power core, causing it to ignite in a massive explosion. This triggers a chain reaction, destroying the other towers and leading to a mass extinction of the Chimera in the UK, ending their threat.
As Hale's body is never found, the US Army lists him as killed in action. Parker is not convinced, though, and believes that he may still be alive. In a post-credits scene, Hale is shown walking through the snow when a squad of unknown soldiers surround him. Hale briefly contemplates suicide with his last grenade, but ultimately surrenders himself to their custody.
In the year 20XX, robots developed to assist mankind are commonplace thanks to the efforts of renowned robot designer Dr. Light. However, one day, these robots go out of control and start attacking humans, among them six advanced humanoid robots created by Dr. Light for industrial purposes. Known as the "Robot Masters", they consist of Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Fire Man, and Elec Man. Dr. Light realizes that the culprit responsible for these attacks is his old rival Dr. Wily, but is unsure of what to do. His helper robot, Rock, having a strong sense of justice, offers to be converted into a fighting robot to stop Dr. Wily's plans, dubbing himself Mega Man. In time, he defeats the six Robot Masters and recovers their central cores, then confronts Dr. Wily within his Pacific-based robot factory, where he is manufacturing copies of Light's robots. After defeating replicas of the Robot Masters, as well as several robots designed specifically by Wily to defeat him, Mega Man confronts Wily in a final showdown and defeats him before returning home to his family.
The initial Western release of the game, while keeping the same basic plot, significantly changed some details from the original Japanese manual. In this version, Dr. Light and Dr. Wily (who is portrayed as Dr. Light's former assistant) co-create the humanoid robot Mega Man alongside the six Robot Masters, each of whom were designed for the benefit of Monsteropolis's citizens (no such place existed in the original plot). Dr. Wily, angered by Light taking credit for their work and desiring to use his creations for criminal purposes, steals the Robot Masters and reprograms them, then creates his own army of robots to seize control of Monsteropolis and declare it his own personal empire. Dr. Light, horrified by Wily's betrayal, sends Mega Man to destroy the Robot Masters and free Monsteropolis from Wily's machines.
Dr. John Carter is back in the States to wrap up his affairs. He purchases half a dozen pizzas for the ER staff, as well as some refreshments. He also treats a patient who has injured her wrist.
Ray is dealing with whether he wants to go into his residency as a doctor. Dr. Archie Morris and Dr. Ray Barnett leave for another party. This party is held on several floors in the back of an apartment building on the balconies at each level. Morris promptly becomes intoxicated, and begins vomiting. Barnett goes to help him. Suddenly the porches collapse, one on top of each other.
Carter then leaves with Dr. Kovač for his "surprise" farewell party, where most of the attending doctors and his friends are waiting for him. County General then stops accepting trauma patients after further problems with the sewer pipes in the hospital leaves them with only one operating room, coupled with the fact that the majority of the ER staff is at Carter's party.
Six people are killed in the porch collapse, and some are not hurt too badly. Five more are critically injured in the accident. Barnett surprises his friends with his handling of the situation. The paramedics on the scene tell Barnett that they are going to take the critically injured to St. Rafe's Hospital because County is closed. County is the only Chicago hospital that has Level I Trauma Status in the show, making it the first choice for such situations. Barnett uses the radio to call County and demands that Abby reopen the ER, otherwise the five critical patients would probably not make it to the hospital. Dr. Lockhart initially refuses, as there are no attending physicians and only one OR, but when one of the critical patients dies, she relents.
Unable to reach Dr. Kovač by pager, they send a student over to fetch him. The party immediately evaporates, as everyone runs back to the ER to help the victims of the porch collapse. A surprised Carter returns from the restroom to empty tables, except for an orderly he doesn't know. They spend some time watching a slideshow of his time at County. The presentation features past ER doctors, including Dr. Doug Ross (George Clooney), Dr. Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards), and Dr. Peter Benton (Eriq La Salle). Eventually Dr. Susan Lewis brings Carter back to the ER.
Life comes full circle for Carter when he treats one last patient before leaving County General. He is surprised to learn that he delivered the young girl with the broken wrist 11 years ago in Season 1.
Before he leaves he stops by to see Ray, Neela and Abby and shares the letter he wrote to himself as an intern under Dr. Greene, that had sat in his locker until this point. As Carter is leaving the hospital for the last time, Dr. Greene and Dr. Benton (his primary mentors) and Nurse Carol Hathaway are heard in voice-overs. Outside, he finds a fatigued and partially sober Morris crouching outside. Carter repeats the advice that was given to Dr. Greene by Dr. Morgenstern to the new chief resident: "You set the tone." However, Morris, still suffering from the hangover, barely registers the advice and Carter, with a chuckle, goes to catch his train. And Carter leaves the ER and Chicago to be with his wife, Kem.
''Command & Conquer: Red Alert'' takes place in a parallel universe. At the Trinity Site in New Mexico in 1946, Albert Einstein prepares to travel back in time. He activates his experimental time machine to find himself in Landsberg, Germany, on December 20, 1924, where he meets a young Adolf Hitler just after the latter's release from Landsberg Prison. Following a brief conversation between the two, Einstein shakes Hitler's hand, which erases him from the timeline.
Hitler's death prevents him from rising to power as leader of Nazi Germany, effectively creating a new timeline. Without Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union (USSR) grows powerful under the rule of Joseph Stalin. The USSR seizes land from China, India and then invades Eastern Europe, to achieve Joseph Stalin's vision of a Soviet Union stretching across the entire Eurasian landmass. In response, the countries of Western Europe (including an already-rearmed Germany) form the Allied Nations and start a guerrilla war against the invading Soviet Army. Over the course of the game's story, the Allies and Soviets fight for control over the European mainland in an alternate World War II: * Allied ending: Following the siege of Moscow, an Allied platoon discovers Stalin buried alive in the rubble of the Kremlin. As they begin attempting to remove the debris from the fallen Soviet leader, General Stavros unexpectedly enters the room and stops them. He "convinces" them that they saw nothing and orders them to leave the premises. Stavros then stuffs a handkerchief into Stalin's mouth before covering his head with a large stone and walking away. * Soviet ending: As the Soviets celebrate their victory at the newly captured Buckingham Palace, Stalin commends the Commander (the player), but is poisoned by Nadia, who guns him down as the poison overcomes his body. Following Stalin's death, Nadia tells the Commander that the Soviet Union is now under the rule of the Brotherhood of Nod, who plan to return to the shadows again and reemerge in the 1990s, leaving the player as the puppet ruler of the USSR, ready to do the Brotherhood of Nod bidding for "the foreseeable future". She is betrayed and shot in the back by Kane, who reveals to "Comrade Chairman" that ''he'' is the true mastermind.
Following Jin Kazama's victory against his great-grandfather, Jinpachi Mishima in the previous King of Iron Fist Tournament, he is now the new head of the Mishima Zaibatsu special forces. Jin uses the company's resources to declare independence, becoming a global superpower, severing its national ties and openly declaring war against all nations over the following year. This action plunges the world into an extremely chaotic spiral, with a large-scale civil war erupting around the globe and even among the space colonies orbiting the planet. Meanwhile, Kazuya Mishima, Jin's father, who has risen to lead G Corporation, places a bounty on his son's head. In retaliation, Jin announces the sixth King of Iron Fist Tournament to lure Kazuya out.
As the war continues to erupt, the field leader of Mishima Zaibatsu's Tekken Force, Lars Alexandersson, has rebelled from the army along with several of his soldiers. However, Lars loses his memory during an attack by the G Corporation and spends some time recovering it. Accompanied by an android, Alisa Bosconovitch, Lars ventures throughout the world, avoiding the Mishima Zaibatsu's manhunt for him while also trying to recover his past. It is eventually revealed that Lars is actually the illegitimate son of Heihachi Mishima, who has gone into hiding since his supposed demise in the last tournament, and has been trying to take the Mishima Zaibatsu from Jin's hands. After coming into contact with several allies, including his adoptive brother, Lee Chaolan, Lars confronts the G Corporation and Mishima Zaibatsu's headquarters. Jin reveals he had sent Alisa to spy on Lars' actions all along. Disabling Alisa's safe mode, Lars is forced to confront his former teammate, who leaves with Jin to Egypt.
Helped by one of his allies, Raven, Lars goes to Egypt. He meets an astrologist named Zafina who provides them with information about the clash of two evil stars that will awake an ancient evil who will destroy the world. This evil, Azazel, is a demonic monster responsible for giving birth to the Devil Gene and is currently bound in an ancient temple. Lars confronts his half-brother Kazuya in front of the door leading to Azazel's chamber and fights him. Lars and Raven enter the chamber and confront Azazel, whom they seemingly defeat. Outside the temple, Lars confronts his half-nephew Jin, who uses Alisa to attack him. Lars is forced to damage Alisa and, enraged, beats up his nephew, when he mocks her uselessness. Following his defeat, Jin admits that his reason for launching the war was to awaken Azazel and destroy him, freeing the world from a greater threat than the war itself. Also, in doing this, he would free himself from the Devil Gene, as Azazel can only have a physical form through negative energies of the world. Revealing Azazel can only be destroyed by someone with the Devil Gene, Jin confronts and attacks the revived Azazel, sending them both plummeting to the desert. Lars requests Lee to use his technology to fix Alisa and goes to another mission. Raven unearths Jin's body in the desert and notes that Jin still has the Devil mark on his arm, implying that Azazel's demise did not free him from the Devil Gene.
''Generals'' takes place in the near future, the world's two superpowers - China and the United States as loose allies fight the Global Liberation Army (GLA), itself a terrorist organisation primarily based in the Middle East, North Africa as well as Central Asia. In chronological order, the campaign is played through the Chinese, GLA and then the United States perspectives respectively.
'''China'''
A military parade in Beijing is attacked by GLA forces, culminating in the detonation of a stolen Chinese nuclear warhead and the beginning of the GLA's incursion inside China's borders. The Chinese mobilise to stall and contain the GLA, having to destroy the Three Gorges Dam as well as the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in the process. Now on the offensive, the Chinese launch into GLA strongholds, arriving at the terror cell's main headquarters in Dushanbe. Utilising nuclear weapons, the Chinese put an end to the GLA's offensive.
'''GLA'''
Despite losses to China, the GLA maintains its presence across Central Asia and the Middle East. In efforts to revive itself, the GLA raid UN convoys and incite riots in Astana. The United States enters the war, occupying GLA toxin depositories in the Aral Sea and a GLA renegade sides with the Chinese with the intention to destroy the GLA. The GLA retaliate by attacking the Baikonur Cosmodrome, and uses the platform to launch devastating toxin attacks at highly populated cities.
'''USA'''
The United States mobilises its forces to the Middle East, Hindu Kush and then Kazakhstan to finally put an end to the GLA. Despite losses incurred from GLA Anthrax attacks and ambushes, the USA are able to push the GLA back to their final stronghold in Akmola Region. With Chinese support, the USA destroys the last GLA stronghold, ending the GLA's reign of tyranny.
One morning, Chanticleer, a rooster whose singing raises the sun every morning, gets into a fight with a stranger sent by the Grand Duke of Owls, whose kind hates sunlight. Chanticleer defeats his attacker, but forgets to crow, and the sun rises anyway. Ridiculed and rejected by the other animals, Chanticleer leaves the farm in shame, and the sun goes back down as Chanticleer had not crowed. Afterwards, perpetual darkness and rainfall threaten the farm with flooding.
This story turns out to be a fairy tale being read to a young boy named Edmond by his mother. Their family's farm is in danger of being destroyed in a storm, and when his mother leaves to assist the rest of the family, Edmond calls for Chanticleer's return. However, he's instead greeted by the Duke, who is angered by Edmond's interference and uses his magical breath to transform Edmond into a kitten with the intent to devour him. Edmond is saved by Patou, a basset hound from Chanticleer's farm who struggles to tie his shoes, and Edmond manages to drive away the Duke with a flashlight. Edmond then meets several other animals from the farm, all of whom are hoping to find Chanticleer and apologize to him for their behavior. Edmond accompanies Patou, a cowardly magpie named Snipes, and the intellectual field mouse, Peepers, to the city, while the rest of the animals remain at Edmond's house.
Hunch, the Duke's pygmy nephew, is assigned by him to stop Edmond and the others from finding Chanticleer. The group narrowly escapes him and enters the city through an aqueduct pipe. Chanticleer, now under the name of "The King", has become a famous Elvis impersonator under his manager Pinky Fox, who is employed by the Duke to keep Chanticleer in the city and prevent his friends from finding him. During a concert, he is introduced to Goldie Pheasant as a distraction in case Chanticleer's friends come to find him. Goldie soon grows genuinely attracted to Chanticleer, and realizes Pinky's true intentions when he captures Edmond and the others trying to get a letter to Chanticleer. Meanwhile, the Duke and his party stalk the farm animals at Edmond's house, who continually use Edmond's flashlight to drive them off as long as the batteries hold out. Realizing that she is in love with him, Goldie confesses to Chanticleer that his friends had come to see him, and Pinky blackmails Chanticleer by giving him a demand to attend his show or never see his friends again. Hunch inadvertently frees Edmond and the others, and they help Chanticleer and Goldie make a grand escape in a helicopter, which they use to return to the farm.
After their batteries run out, the denizens of the farm are nearly made a meal of by the Duke and his minions when they are driven off by the helicopter's spotlight. Edmond and the others try to get Chanticleer to crow, but his ongoing sense of dejection limits his ability. The Duke taunts Chanticleer and tries to drown him, but Edmond starts chanting Chanticleer's name in hopes of reviving his spirit, provoking the Duke into strangling Edmond until he loses consciousness. Impressed by Edmond's bravery, the other animals begin chanting Chanticleer's name, driving an angry Duke to transform himself into a tornado. Chanticleer finally regains his confidence and crows loud enough to raise the sun, diminishing the Duke into a harmless miniature version of himself. He is then chased away by a vengeful Hunch into the distance once and for all. The floods begin to subside and Edmond transforms back into a human. Edmond awakes in the real world, where the sun is shining outside and the floods have ended, but Edmond's mother assumes that his adventures were only a dream. Nevertheless, Edmond picks up Chanticleer's book and thanks him for coming back, before he is magically transported into Chanticleer's world, where he witnesses the rooster singing to make the sun shine.
The space shuttle Olympus is on a routine mission, but with a far-from-routine payload: "Project Viper", an experimental hybrid of human genes and computer chips, designed to adapt to any environment, particularly that of the planet Mars. But as the shuttle crew prepares to launch the first prototype, referred to as "Viper", into space, an unexpected power glitch occurs, causing the container housing the prototype to break open. Soon the astronauts are killed by Viper, and the Secretary of Defense orders the remaining second prototype Viper destroyed - which is stored in a secure NovaGen Science facility, the manufacturer of the prototype. To do the job, he calls on special agent Mike Connors.
Unaware of these proceedings, Project Viper head Nancy Burnham and her team at NovaGen - Steve Elkins, Sid Bream and Alan Stanton - are celebrating the fruition of their scientific dream. One more member, Cafferty, is on her way - but is killed by a rogue police officer, who is planning to steal the second prototype. Along with his wife, he steals the second Viper from the NovaGen high security lab, shooting several guards and technicians in the process. Mike Connors arrives at the scene, only to chase the thieves into a nearby forest, Though the rogue police officer is killed, his wife escapes along with Viper's container unscathed and unseen by Connors and military personnel. Along with another accomplice, the thieves steal a small cargo plane and head towards their base, but a catastrophic engine failure causes their aircraft to crash into a forest 50 miles north of the Mexican border near a small town of Lago Nogales. In the crash, Viper's container is broken open and ends up into the environment, killing and devouring the thieves and a couple.
Connors, Burnham and crew arrive at the crash site to investigate and trace Viper's trails of gray, gelatinous remains to the small town. After carrying out tests and experiments, investigating human disappearances caused as Viper feeds, they reach the conclusion that Viper is attracted to the uranium-contaminated town water system, where it has a concentrated point in an abandoned uranium mine. Connors orders an electromagnetic pulse bomb, though he encounters Viper at the police station and battles and kills Steve Elkins who revealed that he deliberately programmed Viper to kill humans and in doing so, rid himself of Bream and Stanton. Along with Burnham and a former suspicious sheriff Morgan, they successfully destroy Viper with the EMP bomb at the mine and escape unharmed, with the exception of the sheriff. Back at the NASA tracking facility, Connors, Burnham and the Secretary of Defense learn that the first prototype Viper aboard the shuttle Olympus re-enters atmosphere and crashed into the Pacific Ocean.
Nadina, a dancer in Paris, and Count Sergius Paulovitch, both in service of "the Colonel", an international agent provocateur, plan to blackmail him to prevent him from retiring, leaving his agents high and dry.
Anne Beddingfeld witnesses an accident at Hyde Park Corner tube station when a man falls onto the live track. Anne picks up a note dropped by the doctor who examined the dead man, which read "17.1 22 Kilmorden Castle" and a house agent's order to view Mill House in Marlow where a dead woman has been found the next day. A young man in a brown suit was identified as a suspect, having entered the house soon after the dead woman.
Anne realises the examination of the dead man was oddly done and visits the Mill House where she finds a canister of undeveloped film, and she learns that 'Kilmorden Castle' is a sailing ship and books passage on it. On board the ship, Anne meets Suzanne Blair, Colonel Race, and Sir Eustace Pedler and his secretaries, Guy Pagett and Harry Rayburn.
Colonel Race recounts the story of the theft of diamonds some years before, attributed to the son of a South African gold magnate, John Eardsley, and his friend Harry Lucas. The friends joined the war where John was killed and his father's huge fortune passed to his next of kin, Race himself. Lucas was posted as "missing in action".
Anne and Suzanne examine the piece of paper Anne obtained in the Underground station and realises that it could refer to cabin 71, Suzanne's cabin, originally booked by a woman who did not appear. Anne connects finding the film roll in Mill House with a film canister containing uncut diamonds that was dropped into Suzanne's cabin in the early hours of the 22nd. They speculate that Harry Rayburn is the Man in the Brown Suit.
In Cape Town, Anne is lured to a house at Muizenberg, where she is imprisoned but manages to escape the next morning and returns to Cape Town to find that Harry is wanted as the Man in the Brown Suit and has gone missing. Pedler offers Anne the role of his secretary on his train trip to Rhodesia which she accepts at the last second, and is reunited on the train with Race, Suzanne and Pedler, who has a new secretary named Miss Pettigrew.
In Bulawayo, Anne receives a note from Harry which lures her out to a ravine near their hotel. She is chased and falls into the ravine. Almost a month later, Anne awakens in a hut on an island in the Zambezi with Harry Rayburn, who rescued her. Anne and Harry fall in love and Harry tells her his side of the story revealing that he and John were both in love with Anita / Nadina who cheated them. Carter, her husband fell to the track on the shock of seeing Harry again. Harry admits that he is the man in brown suit but denied that he killed Anita. Harry's island is attacked, but the two escape, and Anne returns to Pedler's party. They exchange codes to be used in future communications so that neither can be duped again. She receives a telegram signed Harry telling her to meet him, but not using their code.
Anne instead meets Chichester, alias Miss Pettigrew. She is led to Sir Eustace where Pedler forces Anne to write a note to Harry to lure him to his office. Harry turns up and Pedler is exultant until Anne pulls out a pistol and they capture Pedler. Race turns up with reinforcements but Sir Eustace escapes overnight. Race tells her that Harry is John Eardsley, not Harry Lucas. Harry admits that receiving a huge fortune worries him and that he has found his happiness with Anne, and they marry and live on the island in the Zambezi and have a son.
The story opens with Thursday still in the world of fiction in her job as the Bellman, head of the literary police force Jurisfiction. She is still hunting the Minotaur that escaped in the last book; she is tiring of fiction, however, and longs to return to her own world and get back her husband Landen, who was removed from time by the evil Goliath Corporation in 1947. Despite Landen's non-existence, Thursday still has her son (Friday Next) who is now two years old.
Thursday and Friday return to her mother (Wednesday) in Swindon, with Hamlet who is accompanying them on an excursion to the "Outland" to find out what people in the real world think of him. Her mother, whose main functions appear to be to make tea and to provide Battenberg cake, has some curious house guests: Emma Hamilton, Otto von Bismarck, and a family of dodos. Both humans are apparently staying for a rest, while Thursday's father (who has now been re-admitted to the time-travelling ChronoGuard) sorts out various parts of history for them.
Despite her earlier transgressions that caused her to flee to the Bookworld in the first place, Thursday gets her job back at SpecOps-27 as a Literary Detective and catches up with her old colleagues. She learns that in her absence, Yorrick Kaine has joined forces with Goliath Corporation and plans to oust the ageing English President George Formby. As Prime Minister, Kaine wields some mysterious persuasive influence over Parliament and the people, and has used it to pass some bizarre laws and to stir up hatred of Denmark. Yorrick has also taken out a hit on her: he has hired an assassin known as "The Windowmaker", who is actually Cindy Stoker, the wife of Thursday's longtime friend, Spike.
Thursday's father warns her that Kaine's ambitions may cause nuclear armageddon and that it is up to her to stop him. On top of this, she is visited by tearful agents from the Bookworld (Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and Emperor Zhark) who tell her that all sorts of things are going wrong without her leadership'; for starters, without its titular character, the play Hamlet has merged with The Merry Wives of Windsor creating a new play called "The Merry Wives of Elsinore", which is not nearly as good as either original play (in the words of Emperor Zhark, "it takes a long time to get funny, and, when it finally does, everyone dies"). Meanwhile, her most pressing problem is finding reliable childcare for Friday.
Goliath Corporation have decided to become the new world religion to avoid a prophecy (the prophecy states that the Goliath Corporation will fall; Goliath believes that converting itself into a religion will exempt it from destruction, as the prophecy specifies a business). Thursday meets the CEO—at their headquarters in the Isle of Man—and gets a promise that they will un-eradicate Landen in exchange for her forgiveness. Thursday feels duped when she finds that, through some form of mind control, she has formally forgiven them, even though there is no sign of her husband. Then suddenly he is back, but takes a while to stabilise. Thursday must wait patiently for his un-eradication to "stick". In the meantime, she embarks on several seemingly impossible tasks, which include smuggling ten truckloads of banned Danish literature into Wales, tracking down an illegal clone of William Shakespeare, and teaching Friday to speak properly.
On top of all of this, Thursday still has to help the Swindon Mallets win the 1988 Croquet Superhoop final to thwart Kaine and Goliath and avoid the impending end of the world (as foretold by the aforementioned prophecy).
She succeeds but not without a near-death experience and a visit to the gateway to the Underworld (which turns out to be a planned-but-never-built service station on the M4 motorway). The final chapters contain some curious time paradoxes in which Thursday finds that she has met herself at several other stages in her own lifespan, including one character which had seemed to be an independent character.
Larry Cook is an aging farmer who decides to incorporate his farm, handing complete and joint ownership to his three daughters, Ginny, Rose, and Caroline. When the youngest daughter objects, she is removed from the agreement. This sets off a chain of events that brings dark truths to light and explodes long-suppressed emotions, as the story eventually reveals the long-term sexual abuse of the two eldest daughters that was committed by their father.
The plot also focuses on Ginny's troubled marriage, her difficulties in bearing a child and her relationship with her family.
The game opens in an unspecified year in the 21st century ("20XX AD"), several months after the events of ''Mega Man IV'' and another failure by the infamous Dr. Wily to conquer the world. Mega Man and his sister Roll are strolling through a grassy field, when they are confronted by a mysterious robot who calls himself Terra. Mega Man attempts to fight Terra, only to find that his "Mega Buster" arm cannon has no effect on him. Mega Man is knocked unconscious, and powerful robots calling themselves the "Stardroids" attack Earth, defeating numerous robots, including Robot Masters from previous ''Mega Man'' games. Waking up in Dr. Light's laboratory, Mega Man is presented with the new and powerful "Mega Arm" to help him fight the Stardroids in his newest mission to save the planet.
After defeating all the Stardroids, including Terra, Mega Man finds out that his archenemy Dr. Wily was ordering them to dominate Earth. Mega Man sets off to the mad scientist's new base, the Wily Star (a reference to the Death Star) to stop him. In the base, Mega Man has rematches with four foes from his previous adventures (Enker, Quint, Punk, and Ballade). Wily releases an ancient robot called Sunstar to destroy Mega Man. However, Sunstar attacks Wily instead, and then turns his attention to Mega Man. Mega Man wins the battle and tries to convince Sunstar to be repaired by Dr. Light. However, Sunstar is already too badly damaged, and minutes later he explodes, taking the Wily Star with him. Mega Man escapes using Rush. He walks through a field, pondering the recent events, when Wily makes one last, unsuccessful attack. The game ends with Mega Man chasing Wily off the screen.
Kronos, a humanoid extraterrestrial (Richard Yesteran), has been sent to planet Earth in order to help humanity against its own threats. Settling in New York City, he becomes a superhero, Supersonic Man. He confronts nefarious Dr. Gulik (Cameron Mitchell) who plans to take over the world.
Unable to find employment at home, young Wellingborough Redburn signs on the ''Highlander'', a merchantman out of New York City bound for Liverpool, England. Representing himself as the "son of a gentleman" and expecting to be treated as such, he discovers that he is just a green hand, a "boy", the lowest rank on the ship, assigned all the duties no other sailor wants, like cleaning out the "pig-pen", a longboat that serves as a shipboard sty. The first mate promptly nicknames him "Buttons" for the shiny ones on his impractical jacket. Redburn quickly grasps the workings of social relations aboard ship. As a common seaman he can have no contact with those "behind the mast" where the officers command the ship. Before the mast, where the common seaman work and live, a bully named Jackson, the best seaman aboard, rules through fear with an iron fist. Uneducated yet cunning, with broken nose and squinting eye, he is described as "a Cain afloat, branded on his yellow brow with some inscrutable curse and going about corrupting and searing every heart that beat near him." Redburn soon experiences all the trials of a greenhorn: seasickness, scrubbing decks, climbing masts in the dead of night to unfurl sails, cramped quarters, and bad food.
When the ship lands in Liverpool he is given liberty ashore. He rents a room and walks the city every day. One day in a street called Launcelott's Hey he hears "a feeble wail" from a cellar beneath an old warehouse and looking into it sees "the figure of what had been a woman. Her blue arms folded to her livid bosom two shrunken things like children, that leaned toward her, one on each side. At first I knew not whether they were alive or dead. They made no sign; they did not move or stir; but from the vault came that soul-sickening wail." He runs for help but is met with indifference by a ragpicker, a porter, his landlady, even by a policeman who tells him to mind his own business. He returns with some bread and cheese and drops them into the vault to the mother and children, but they are too weak to lift it to their mouths. The mother whispers "water" so he runs and fills his tarpaulin hat at an open hydrant. The girls drink and revive enough to nibble some cheese. He clasps the mother's arms and pulls them aside to see "a meager babe, the lower part of its body thrust into an old bonnet. Its face was dazzlingly white, even in its squalor; but the closed eyes looked like balls of indigo. It must have been dead for some hours." Judging them beyond the point at which medicine could help, he returns to his room. A few days later he revisits the street and finds the vault empty: "In place of the woman and children, a heap of quick-lime was glistening."
On the docks he meets Harry Bolton, a dandy who claims to be a sailor looking for a job, and Redburn helps him procure a berth on the ''Highlander'' for the return voyage. They become fast friends and make a trip to London where they visit a luxurious private club, Aladdin's Palace, with an exotic environment Redburn struggles to make sense of, concluding it must be a gambling house. The ship soon departs for New York and Bolton's deficits as sailor become apparent. Redburn suspects that Bolton has never been to sea before and Bolton is tormented by the crew. Jackson, after being ill in bed for four weeks, returns to active duty: he climbs to the topsail yard, then suddenly vomits "a torrent of blood from his lungs", and falls headfirst into the sea and disappears. The crew never speak his name again. Reaching port, Redburn heads for his home and Bolton signs on a whaler. Redburn later hears that Bolton, far out in the Pacific, fell over the side and drowned.
The film's narrative unfolds in a long flashback. David Carr has died at an old age and his granddaughter discovers old letters, newspapers and other documents in his room: what we see in the film is what he had lived.
Carr, a young unemployed worker and member of the Communist Party, leaves Liverpool and travels to Spain to join the International Brigades. He crosses the Spanish border in Catalonia and coincidentally ends up enlisted in a POUM militia commanded by Lawrence, in the Aragon front. In this company, as in all POUM militias, men and women – such as the young and enthusiastic Maite – fight together. In the following weeks and months he becomes friends with other foreign volunteers, like the Frenchman, Bernard and the Irishman, Coogan and the latter's girlfriend Blanca – with whom David Carr later falls in love – also a member of POUM, and also the ideologue of his group.
After being wounded and recovering in a hospital in Barcelona, he finally joins – in accordance with his original plan and against the opinion of Blanca – the government-backed International Brigades, and he encounters the Soviet propaganda and repression against POUM members and anarchists; he then returns to his old company, only to see them rounded up by a government unit requiring their surrender: in a brief clash Blanca is killed. After her funeral he returns to Great Britain with a red neckerchief full of Spanish earth.
Finally the film returns to the present and we see Carr's funeral, in which his granddaughter throws the Spanish earth into his grave after speaking lines from "The Day Is Coming", a poem by William Morris.
''Join in the battle wherein no man can fail,''
''For whoso fadeth and dieth, yet his deed shall still prevail.''
Afterwards she performs a raised fist salute, honouring his beliefs.
In 1950s Iowa, Mary Weatherford sacrifices her sister Elizabeth in front of a large mirror, stabbing her to death on a bed. Decades later, Megan Gordon, a shy teenage goth, moves to Los Angeles, California with her recently widowed mother Susan. In her new bedroom, Megan finds the large mirror in the corner left behind by the previous owners. Emelin, the auctioneer in charge of the house clearance, finds a cache of journals that describe the mirror's apparent possession by a demonic force able to grant wishes.
At her new school, Megan is taunted mercilessly by her peers, apart from the friendly Nikki as well as handsome, athletic Ron. Charleen, a bully running for class president against Nikki, quickly targets Megan. Meanwhile, as Megan becomes drawn to the mirror in her room, she's plagued by bizarre incidents at home; her mother's dog mysteriously dies, she's visited by a gruesome apparition of her dead father, and the mirror begins inexplicably dripping blood. Megan becomes convinced that the mirror is responsible for a series of misfortunes involving those around her, including Charleen experiencing a massive nosebleed in the cafeteria, and her teacher, Mr. Anderson, having a severe asthma attack during class.
Realizing the mirror's powers, Megan begins harnessing them herself, using them to manipulate Jeff, Charleen's love interest, into developing a crush on her instead. When Jeff stops a sexual encounter, the demon in the mirror brutally murders him before making his body disappear. The next day, Emelin attempts to retrieve the mirror from the house while Megan and Susan are gone, but her hands are mysteriously impaled, leading her to flee. When Nikki loses the student council race to Charleen, Megan harnesses the mirror's powers to scald Charleen to death in the girls' locker room showers, before killing Charleen's friend Kim in a bathroom.
Nikki becomes discomforted by Megan's change in personality, and is disturbed when Megan suggests she "helped" her usurp the class presidency. Nikki meets with Mrs. Perfili, the local real estate agent, and Emelin to inquire about the history of Megan's house and the mirror. Emelin reveals the content of the journals to Nikki, and explains that Mary Weatherford sacrificed her sister in front of the mirror decades ago hoping to appease it. After Nikki leaves, Emelin is impaled to death with a shard of glass at her antiques store.
That night, Ron is attacked by a doppelgänger of Nikki in his house and brutally murdered. After finding Ron's body, Nikki receives a phone call from Megan asking her to come to her house. Meanwhile, Susan has her hand mangled in the garbage disposal in the kitchen and bleeds to death, leading Megan to turn against the mirror. Nikki arrives armed with a dagger and attempts to shatter the mirror, but it is resistant. She and Megan attempt to flee as a torrent of wind fills the house, but are unable to escape. Megan sacrifices herself to the mirror, thus ending its reign of terror. Nikki invokes the mirror, begging it to restore things back to how they were before. She awakens in the room on the bed, dagger in hand, with Megan's corpse beneath her, in the same position as Mary Weatherford, having been subjected to an apparent time loop. The demon shows itself in the mirror before retreating, and Nikki fearfully covers it with a sheet.
The story revolves around Ned Beaumont, a gambler and best friend of the criminal political boss Paul Madvig. Ned finds the body of a senator's son on the street, and Madvig asks him to thwart the D.A.'s investigation, his motive being that he wants to back the corrupt senator in order to marry his daughter, Janet. Ned goes to New York searching for Bernie, a bookie who owes him a great deal of money from a gambling debt but ends up getting beaten up.
Someone sends a series of letters to people close to the crime, hinting that Madvig was the murderer. Suspicion for this falls on Madvig's daughter Opal, the victim's girlfriend. Madvig's political base begins to crumble when he refuses to spring a follower's brother from jail. The follower goes to rival mob boss Shad O'Rory, who eliminates a witness to the brother's crime. Madvig then declares war on O'Rory, who offers to bribe Beaumont to expose Madvig in the newspaper. Beaumont refuses, is knocked unconscious and wakes captive in a dingy room where he is beaten daily.
Hospitalized after his escape, Beaumont tells Madvig and Janet that he was laying a trap for O'Rory; he then struggles out of bed to stop the newspaper from printing its expose. Beaumont confronts O'Rory, the publisher, and Madvig's daughter Opal. The publisher commits suicide after Beaumont seduces his wife.
Next Beaumont interviews Janet, discovering that she wrote the letters and that the Senator knew about the murder before Beaumont found the body. A new clue points to Madvig and when confronted he confesses but he cannot account for the victim's hat, a detail Beaumont pointedly repeats throughout the novel.
This impasse and Beaumont's growing interest in Janet, Madvig's love interest, cause a second rift between the men. Beaumont and Janet pair up to solve the murder. Beaumont uncovers evidence proving the senator killed his own son and turns him over to the police. Beaumont confronts Madvig with his new discovery, and the two depart, not enemies but no longer friends.
An old flame (Mae Busch) of businessman Titus Tillsbury (James Finlayson) threatens to expose their past, destroying both his marriage and career. He sends his aide (Stan Laurel) to keep her away from a dinner party he and his wife are hosting that evening.
'''Act One:''' Jake, a successful writer living in New York in 1990, gets into an argument over the phone with sister Karen about meeting up for dinner. After hanging up, an imaginary Maggie 'appears', stating he's always working and he's so busy she doesn't even know why he thought of her. Jake and Maggie reminisce about the first time they met.
Jake calls on his sister Karen to help him. Jake explains that he and Maggie are in trouble, and he believes that she has been having an affair. Karen aggravates him into admitting he had an affair a year ago before explaining he loves Maggie more than ever and would do anything to keep her. Maggie arrives home and Jake explains that they are going to dinner with Karen on Saturday. Maggie interrupts, stating she has to go to Philadelphia on Saturday. This leads to an argument between the two, which ends with Maggie proposing a six-month separation. Maggie admits she had an affair, but "it stopped as soon as it started."
Jake's daughter Molly "appears" and tells her father that the problems between him and Maggie are caused by Julie, Jake's late wife and Molly's mother. Molly persuades Jake to talk to his psychiatrist in his mind. Edith, Jake's psychiatrist appears, mocking Jake and his problems.
Maggie tells Jake that he never let Julie go, despite her death. Jake confides in the audience that he has tried to let Julie go, and she is always "bursting in on him." Julie, age twenty one, appears, demanding to know where he has been. Jake is confused until Julie states that they slept together the previous night. Jake explains to her that it was twenty-nine years ago. Julie, horrified, asks him if he is dead. Jake calls on Karen to help him explain to Julie her death. Julie asks Jake to make her thirty-six, but Jake tells her that she died in a car accident when she was thirty-five while taking Molly up to camp. Jake reminisces about the time when Molly and Maggie met eight years ago.
Present-day Maggie enters and states she is staying at the beach house. Jake gloomily sits on the couch before both Mollys, age twelve and twenty one, appear and sit with him. They try to play a game but it ends up relating back to Maggie.
'''Act Two:''' Jake hallucinates Maggie asking for his forgiveness, before laughing in his face. Karen and Jake get into an argument over his relationships and it is revealed that he has had several relationships in the six months that Maggie has been gone, the latest with a woman named Sheila. Edith arrives and together, she and Karen irritate him. Jake calls Edith in order to help get rid of the hallucinations. It becomes clear that Jake is losing the ability to distinguish between his visions and reality.
Sheila and Jake have a strange conversation in which Jake's insanity starts to become clear. Maggie "appears" and begins to mock Jake from behind Shelia's back. Jake grows angry with the imaginary Maggie, which frightens Sheila. She eventually runs out of the house screaming.
After an Imaginary reunion between Julie and Molly, the real Maggie informs Jake that she has dinner plans with someone and that she believes that person is going to propose, leading to an argument between Jake and Maggie, and eventually Maggie's departure.
Suddenly, Jake hears the voice of his late mother. She informs him of her forgiveness and love of him and then disappears. All of the other imaginary characters reappear and say goodbye to Jake. The real Maggie announces that she canceled the dinner date and wants to work things out with Jake.
Tir Na nÓg, Irish for "Land of Youth", is the eponymous location for the game. The protagonist, Cuchulainn, has departed the land of the living and finds himself at an altar in this land, essentially an afterlife. His goal is to reunite the four fragments of the Seal of Calum and place it on the altar, all while avoiding the sídhe.
Colonel William F. Guile is the leader of the "Street Fighters", an international undercover peacekeeping force composed of martial artists from around the world. They often face off against the ruthless General Bison and his Shadaloo criminal empire. They follow a code of honor involving the keywords "discipline", "justice" and "commitment".
The TARDIS suffers an energy drain and lands on the planet Exxilon. The Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith go to investigate the cause of the interference, and become separated. The Doctor is captured by the planet's inhabitants, the savage Exxilons, but escapes. Sarah Jane is attacked by one of the creatures in the TARDIS, and flees, finding a huge city with a flashing beacon.
At dawn, the Doctor is found by a party of humans from the Marine Space Corps; they take him to their ship, which has been stranded by the power drain. They are on an expedition to mine "Parrinium" – a mineral abundant only on Exxilon – which can cure and give immunity from a deadly space plague. If the expedition does not leave the planet with a supply of Parrinium within a month then millions will die. They show the Doctor photos of the nearby city – which the Exxilons worship, sacrificing anyone who ventures too close. Sarah Jane does so and is captured and taken to the Exxilons' caves to be sacrificed by their High Priest.
Another ship arrives, and four Daleks emerge. Their ship has also been affected by the energy drain. The Daleks encounter the Doctor and attempt to exterminate him, but their weapons do not work either. The Daleks claim that several of their planetary colonies are suffering from plague; thus they need Parrinium for the same reason as the humans. The Daleks, the Doctor, and the humans form an uneasy alliance to obtain Parrinium and escape Exxilon. While the allies are making their way to the humans' mining dome, the Exxilons ambush them. A battle ensues and the Exxilons end up killing a human and a Dalek and capturing the others. The prisoners are taken to the Exxilon caves where the Doctor interrupts Sarah Jane's sacrifice; therefore, he is also condemned to death. When the dual sacrifice commences, a second party of Daleks arrive, which have replaced their energy weapons with mechanical firearms that use bullets. The Daleks kill a number of Exxilons, then force the Exxilons and humans to mine Parrinium. The Doctor and Sarah Jane flee into tunnels. The other party of Daleks arrive and they discuss their actual plan to use Parrinium to create a plague and spread it across every planet except their own.
The Doctor and Sarah Jane meet a group of subterranean, fugitive Exxilons. Their leader, Bellal, explains that the city was built by the Exxilons' ancestors, who were once capable of space travel. They built the city to be capable of maintaining, repairing, and protecting itself. Fitting the structure with a brain meant that the city no longer needed its creators. On realising this, the Exxilons had tried to destroy the city, but the city destroyed most of them; the savage surface dwellers and Bellal's group are the only survivors. Bellal's people seek to complete their ancestors' last, failed act – to destroy the city and ensure their race's survival. Bellal sketches some of the markings on the city wall; the Doctor recognises the markings from a temple in Peru deducing that the ancient Exxilons visited Earth. Bellal also explains that the city supports itself through underground "roots" and the aerial beacon. The Doctor realises that the beacon must be the cause of the energy drain and decides to go to the city and resolve the problem.
The Daleks come to the same conclusion and create two timed explosives to destroy the beacon. One Dalek supervises two humans placing the explosives, but one of the humans, Galloway, secretly keeps one bomb. Two other Daleks enter the city to investigate the superstructure, but the Doctor and Bellal enter the city just before them. The two parties then proceed through the city, passing a series of progressive intelligence tests. The Doctor reasons that the city has arranged the tests so that only lifeforms with knowledge comparable to that of the city's creators would reach the brain, allowing the city to add the knowledge of the survivors to its databanks. On reaching the central chamber, the Doctor begins to sabotage the city's computer brain; the machine responds by creating two Exxilon-like "antibodies" to "neutralise" the Doctor and Bellal. The pair are saved when the Daleks enter and fight the antibodies, and the Doctor and Bellal escape as the city's sabotaged controls begin to malfunction. The two Daleks inside are destroyed.
When the bomb on the beacon explodes, all power is restored. The Daleks order the humans to load the Parrinium onto their ship. On leaving Exxilon, the Daleks intend to fire a plague missile onto the planet, destroying all life and making future landings impossible, so that they will have the only source of Parrinium. Their true intention for hoarding Parrinium is to blackmail the galactic powers to accept their demands; refusal would mean the deaths of millions. As their ship takes off, Sarah Jane reveals that the Daleks have only bags of sand while the real Parrinium is on the Earth ship, which is now ready to take off. Galloway has smuggled himself and his bomb aboard the Dalek ship; he detonates the bomb, destroying the Dalek ship before it fires the plague missile. Back on Exxilon, the City disintegrates and collapses, the Doctor sadly commenting that the Universe is now down to 699 Wonders.
Professor Sherman Klump has created a new de-aging formula. He is also in love with DNA researcher, Denise Gaines, developer of a method to isolate genetic material. Despite his good fortune, Sherman's major problem is his id alter ego, Buddy Love. He is still ingrained inside him and has begun to periodically take control of his body. Starting at Cletus’ retirement dinner, Buddy takes over Sherman’s body and reveals to everyone that Cletus didn’t retire. He actually got laid off. The next day, Denise tells Sherman that she got a phone call offering her a full professorship at the University Of Maine. Denise goes on to tell him that she’s hasn’t taken the job yet because there’s something very important to her at Wellman that she’s unsure if she can leave behind: Sherman. Denise reveals to Sherman that she has feelings for him and that his size doesn’t matter to her. She loves him for him. Sherman tries to propose to Denise but Buddy once again takes over , humiliating Sherman and mortifying Denise.
Determined to be rid of Buddy permanently, and despite his assistant, Jason, warning him of potential consequences, Sherman uses Denise's methodology to isolate and remove the DNA where Buddy has manifested. However, the Buddy genetic material grows into a sentient being when a hair from Jason's Basset Hound, Buster, accidentally lands in it. Sherman apologizes to Denise and proposes to her again and she says yes. Later, Dean Richmond informs them that Phleer Pharmaceuticals has offered Wellman College $150 million for the youth formula.
Sherman and Denise then encounter the newly reformed Buddy at a movie theater. Buddy pickpockets Sherman and learns of the $150 million offer. He subsequently visits the pharmaceutical company, making a rival bid of $149 million with Leanne Guilford, President of Acquisitions, for the youth formula. Sherman learns that the extraction has altered his body chemistry and that he is losing his intelligence. Realizing he needs to keep the youth formula out of Buddy's hands, Sherman stashes it at his parents'.
Sherman's father, Cletus, sexually insulted and frustrated by his mother-in-law, Ida Mae Jensen, regarding his age and impotence, accidentally drinks some of the youth formula. He goes out for a night on the town and attempts to seduce his wife and Sherman's mother, Anna, but she is horrified. Buddy witnesses Cletus changing and realizes that the youth formula is being stored in the Klump household. Meanwhile, Sherman's condition causes him to act like a fool in front of Denise's parents, concerning her.
Buddy steals some of the youth formulae from the Klump household, filling the vial the rest of the way with fertilizer. This sabotage causes chaos at a demonstration the next day as Petey, the male hamster Sherman uses to demonstrate the formula, mutates into a giant monster who violates Richmond as he is trying to escape under a fur coat, as Petey confuses him for Molly, the female hamster that escaped during the event. The humiliated and enraged Richmond fires Sherman, who soon learns from Jason that his brain's deterioration has worsened, so he decides to break up with Denise. While Cletus consoles a depressed Sherman, Sherman realises that, as much as he despises Buddy Love, the two of them must get back together for the sake of the professors health and his intelligence.
Sherman quickly works on a newer, much more potent formula while his mental faculties allow him. Richmond confronts him about Buddy's actions, believing that they are working together. Sherman leaves with Richmond and a tennis ball covered in the youth formula and heads to a presentation at Phleer Pharmaceuticals that Buddy is giving about the youth formula. Meanwhile, a worried Denise discovers what has happened and that Sherman's brain damage is progressing. With Cletus' help, Denise goes after him. Sherman takes advantage of the canine DNA crossed with Buddy's and uses the tennis ball to distract him. Buddy catches the ball in his mouth, and the youth formula transforms him back into a glowing mass of sentient genetic material.
Sherman chases the genetic material, intent on drinking it to correct his condition. However, it evaporates on the edge of a fountain before he can. Cletus and Denise arrive too late to save him, and Denise breaks into tears, which hit the genetic material and fall into the fountain. As they go to leave, Sherman looks into the fountain, remarking that it is "pretty". Seeing the water is glowing, Denise realizes the genetic material has reconstituted thanks to her tears and that if Sherman drinks the fountain water, he will be restored to normal. When he drinks it, he is able to restore his intelligence.
Sherman and Denise later get married, while Cletus and Anna reconcile with each other.
While waiting for the school bus, Kyle shows his friends his new ''Dawson's Creek'' Trapper Keeper. He is joined by Cartman who reveals he has a special, advanced ''Dawson's Creek Trapper Keeper Ultra Keeper Futura S 2000'', which has incredibly advanced computerized features including a television, a music player with voice recognition, OnStar and the ability to automatically hybridize itself to any electronic peripheral device. Kyle accuses Cartman of having purchased it to make him envious. On the bus, a mysterious white man calling himself "Bill Cosby" asks about Cartman's Trapper Keeper, which the man then attempts to steal. He succeeds by buying Cartman's trust, despite Cartman saying "I'm not supposed to have male friends over 30; I kinda got screwed over on that once." When "Bill Cosby" is caught by Officer Barbrady and Cartman, he explains his actions: the Trapper Keeper binder is destined to gain sentience and hybridize into a supercomputer to conquer the world in the future, and wipe out all traces of humanity. Cosby himself is a cyborg from the future named BSM-471, sent back in time to destroy the binder before it could rise to power; Cosby manages to destroy it, but Cartman buys another one and refuses to allow it to be destroyed.
Meanwhile, Mr. Garrison has been demoted to teaching kindergarten, and his students holds an election for class president. Kyle's brother Ike has been admitted to kindergarten two years early because of his supposed intelligence (despite not being able to speak properly). Ike is chosen by Mr. Garrison to run against a boy named Filmore, resulting in a tie that is broken by the vote of a little girl named Flora. Flora is indecisive at first but eventually chooses Ike; Filmore's supporters demand recounts and then call in Rosie O'Donnell, his aunt, who protests the results. After teams of lawyers get involved, filing masses of paperwork and holding protracted meetings, Filmore concedes the election because, according to him, "this game is stupid." With the dispute settled, the class decides to fingerpaint, much to Garrison's delight.
While this is happening, Stan, Kyle and Kenny accompany their robotic companion to Cartman's house to convince his mother to help them, but she goes off with Bill Cosby to have sex. Meanwhile, Cartman's Trapper Keeper integrates itself into Cartman's computer and most of his belongings, and then absorbs Cartman himself. Cartman is transformed into a giant, cybernetic blobby monster that retains most of Cartman's features, similar in style and execution to the movie ''Akira''. It kills Kenny and destroys the house, and sets off to Cheyenne Mountain to absorb the secret military base's computer. Bill Cosby warns that if the Trapper Keeper assimilates with the supercomputer at Cheyenne Mountain, it will become unstoppable.
Kyle sneaks into the huge Cartman-Trapper Keeper hybrid through a ventilation pipe; but before he can disable it, the Trapper Keeper incapacitates him. O'Donnell appears in front of the Trapper Keeper and yells at it for blocking the road. The Trapper Keeper then absorbs her, but fusing with her ultimately makes the behemoth sick. Kyle is freed and disconnects the Trapper Keeper's CPU, causing it to lose power and release Cartman as it collapses. The destruction of the Trapper Keeper causes Bill Cosby to disappear, and Stan tells Cartman to thank Kyle, who just saved his life. Cartman starts to address Kyle, but gets no farther than saying his name before the end credits cut him off.
In 1917, "Baby Jane" Hudson is a spoiled and capricious child actress who performs in vaudeville theatres across the country with her father, who acts as her manager and accompanies her on stage on the piano. Her success is such that a line of porcelain dolls is made in her image. Meanwhile, her shy older sister Blanche lives in her shadow and is treated with contempt by the haughty Jane. As the sisters pass adolescence, their situations undergo a reversal; Jane's style of performing falls out of fashion, and her career declines as she descends into alcoholism, while Blanche becomes an acclaimed Hollywood actress. Mindful of a promise made to their mother, Blanche attempts to maintain a semblance of a career for Jane, going as far as to prevail on producers to guarantee acting roles for her. One evening in 1935, Blanche's career is cut short when she is paralyzed from the waist down in a mysterious car accident that is unofficially blamed on Jane, who is found three days later in a drunken stupor.
as Blanche Hudson
By 1962, Blanche and Jane are living together in a mansion purchased with Blanche's movie earnings. Blanche's mobility is limited due to her reliance on a wheelchair and the lack of an elevator to her upstairs bedroom. Jane, psychotic and resentful of Blanche's success, regularly mistreats Blanche and prepares to revive her old act with hired pianist Edwin Flagg. When Blanche informs Jane she intends to sell the house, Jane rightly suspects Blanche will commit her to a psychiatric hospital once the house is sold. She removes the telephone from Blanche's bedroom, cutting her off from the outside world. During Jane's absence, Blanche desperately drags herself down the stairs and calls her doctor for help. Jane returns to find Blanche on the phone and beats her unconscious before mimicking Blanche's voice to dismiss the doctor. After tying Blanche to her bed and locking her in her room, Jane abruptly fires their housekeeper, Elvira, when she comes to work. While Jane is away, the suspicious Elvira sneaks into the house and attempts to access Blanche's room. Concerned by the lack of a response, Elvira tries to break open the door with a hammer. Jane returns home and reluctantly gives Elvira the key. As soon as Elvira enters Blanche's room, Jane takes the hammer and kills Elvira. Edwin comes by the house but Jane won't answer the door. That night she uses Blanche's wheelchair to move Elvira's body to her car.
A few days later, the police call to tell Jane that Elvira's cousin has reported her missing. Jane panics and prepares to leave, taking Blanche with her. Before they can go, an inebriated Edwin is escorted to the house by police, who leave him there. He discovers Blanche bound to her bed. Edwin flees and notifies the authorities. Jane, in a fit of infantile regression, takes Blanche to a beach where she sang as a child.
The next morning the news of Elvira's disappearance and Blanche's condition is on the radio and the police are on the lookout. Blanche — lying starved, dehydrated, and near death on a blanket — stirs and tells the real story of the car accident to relieve Jane of guilt, saying she is paraplegic by her own fault: On the night of the accident, Blanche tried to run Jane over because she was angry at her drunken sister for mocking her at a party earlier that night. Blanche's spine broke when her car struck the iron gates outside their mansion, and she dragged herself in front of the car's hood to stage the cause of accident and frame Jane. Blanche took advantage of Jane's shock and subsequent bender, concealing the real cause of the accident from her, which subjected Jane to a life of guilt, loneliness, and servitude. Now aware of the truth, a saddened Jane responds "You mean all this time, we could have been friends?" When Jane gets ice cream for herself and Blanche from a nearby refreshment stand, she is recognized by two police officers, who ask her to lead them to Blanche, attracting the attention of nearby beachgoers. Jane dodges the officers' inquiry and dances before the crowd of curious onlookers. The officers find Blanche nearby and rush to her, as the end credit rolls.
Detective Yokoda is murdered by criminals and his body is retrieved by Professor Tani. Tani takes the body to his laboratory where he attempts to transfer Yokoda's life force into an android body, an experiment that has already failed seven times. Yokoda is reborn as the armour-skinned android 8 Man and is able to dash at impossible speeds as well as shape-shift into other people. He takes on his former body, this time taking on the name "Hachiro Azuma." He keeps this identity a secret, known only to Tani and his police boss, Chief Tanaka. Even his girlfriend Sachiko and his friend Ichiro are not aware that he is an android. As 8-Man, Hachiro fights crime–eventually avenging his own murder. To rejuvenate his powers, he smokes "energy" cigarettes that he carries in a case on his belt.
In Japan, the character's origin varies significantly between the original manga, the TV series, and the live-action movie. In the original Japanese manga and TV series, the character's name does not change when he is reborn as 8 Man. The "Detective Yokoda" name was created for the live-action version. In the manga, Detective Azuma is trapped in a warehouse and gunned down, while the TV series has him killed when he is run over by a car. In contrast, the original Japanese version had the main character named as "8 Man", as he is considered an extra member of the Japanese police force. There are seven regular police precincts and 8 Man is treated as an unofficial eighth precinct.
The Japanese manga was presented as serial novella stories along with a set of one-shot stories. Many of these stories were edited down and adapted for the TV series. The novella stories were originally printed every week in ''Shukuu Shōnen Magazine'' in 16-page increments that consisted of 15 story pages and one title page. Ten additional one-shot stories were presented in seasonal and holiday specials of ''Shuukuu Shōnen Magazine''. These stories were generally between 30 and 40 pages in length.
In the North American version of the series, the resurrected detective/android is known as "Tobor" or the word "robot" spelled backwards. Tani is referred to as "Professor Genius" and the sobriquet of 8-Man is slightly changed to "8th-Man," the name explained as he is the 8th attempt to be a super-robot. The story content was directed toward a wider audience of both young and adult viewers. As such, much of the violence was toned down for Western audiences. Due to changes in cigarette advertising laws in the 1960s, television characters were not allowed to be seen smoking. As this was a major plot device in the series, the show was forced to be removed from broadcast in the United States.
The story begins with a man known as Snake, a young woman named Consuela Alvarez, and two pilots named Dave Copeland and Roddy Louiz, flying into the United States illegally when they are arrested by the FBI. After being caught, Snake is pressed into a mission by his captor, an FBI agent named Dalton. Snake agrees to the job to free his friends and clear his name with Dalton. Snake's initial objective is to infiltrate a research facility operated by SaintLogic (called "StrateLogic" in the Japanese version), a military arms manufacturer, located on an isolated North American island. Dalton is investigating SaintLogic for inhuman actions towards children, and utilizes Snake's abilities to infiltrate SaintLogic and uncover the truth behind their business practices.
Shortly into Snake's mission, Dalton's authority is exceeded by General Wiseman, an official with the United States Department of Defense. Snake slowly learns that Wiseman's involvement is in response to a SaintLogic executive Thomas Koppelthorn, who has made demands that the United States release several prisoners and has threatened to use nuclear weapons. Wiseman proceeds to offer Snake information regarding his past in return for Snake's assistance in eliminating the present SaintLogic threat. Snake teams with Venus, Wiseman's own operative, and together they search SaintLogic for Koppelthorn. Soon after, a test is initiated, and Snake becomes aware that SaintLogic has developed a Metal Gear which Koppelthorn has taken control of. It later becomes evident that Koppelthorn is seeking revenge for an incident that occurred three years before, and among his demands are that the United States release Snake to him. General Wiseman constantly comments on a Lucinda File, which he wants Venus to obtain. As Snake and Venus search SaintLogic's research facilities, they encounter a researcher, Dr. Takiyama, and a young girl, Lucy, who proceed to join Koppelthorn's scheme. Before crossing to the building where Koppelthorn is located, Snake and Venus are met by Metal Gear Kodoque from the first Acid which was rescued before being destroyed during the events of the last game.
Upon finally meeting with Koppelthorn, Metal Gear Chaioth Ha Qadesh, Lucy, and Dr. Takiyama, Snake and Venus learn that Koppelthorn has been 'resurrecting' his wife in the form of a young girl, Lucy. Before the final fight against Koppelthorn, it is revealed that Snake is actually a Model 3 Test Subject who was created in SaintLogic labs by Koppelthorn's wife. Snake then learns that he is a clone of Solid Snake, who SaintLogic recovered after the Lobito Incident. Snake was sent to Serena to quell an uprising of Model 2 subjects, better known as the Praulia Massacre. The Lucinda File is unmasked to be a log of the events of the incident in Serena. After Snake and Venus defeat Koppelthorn, Lucy reveals herself to not actually be a rebirth of Lucinda Koppelthorn, but rather her own being with the consciousness of Lucinda. Lucy then declares the truth about Lucinda, who had helped Snake to escape SaintLogic and wanted to die because of her inhumane actions. Lucy kills Tom Koppelthorn and takes control of Metal Gear Chaioth Ha Qadesh acting on her true nature of being test subject designed to kill. Snake and Venus must once again defeat Chaioth Ha Qadesh and Lucy as well.
Snake and Venus next learn that the SaintLogic facility is wired with explosives, and learn the location of Dr. Takiyama as well as the Lucinda File. After recovering both, Venus pulls a gun on Snake at Wiseman's command. Wiseman announces that he was responsible for the Praulia Massacre because he wanted to hurry along the project with a field test. An ethnic uprising that was occurring in Serena at the time was an opportune time to test the SaintLogic subjects. This initial test did not provide sufficient information concerning the limits of the test subjects, and Wiseman ordered for the subjects to be pushed to their limits. After the massacre, Wiseman arranged for Snake to flee to the United States. Dalton was informed of Snake's entering the country and, as desired by Wiseman, apprehended Snake. Wiseman's original plan was for Dalton and Snake to attempt to infiltrate SaintLogic but become tangled in the facilities guards. At this time Wiseman was to have Venus work her way through SaintLogic and recover the Lucinda File, and place any blame on Dalton and Snake. Venus is then revealed to be a test subject, newer than Snake, who was placed in the care of Wiseman after the activities in Serena. Snake learns that Venus was the cause of his amnesia, as she had shot him during the Praulia Massacre. Snake and Venus duel and, following Venus's defeat, work their way out of the SaintLogic buildings with Dr. Takiyama. Venus and Dr. Takiyama escape however Snake is trapped inside. Venus and Takiyama escape the building safely, and outside SaintLogic witness Metal Gear Chaioth Ha Qadesh return to life. The U.S. military, which has been called in to secure SaintLogic, fires upon Metal Gear and a missile from its rear launches, and lands in the ocean a short distance away. It is revealed in a cutscene that Snake was in the launcher instead of a missile and utilized it to escape, breaking most bones in his body. The game ends with Dr. Takiyama and Venus safely recovering from the SaintLogic incident, with General Wiseman arrested and facing charges of war crimes. Snake, who has recovered extremely quickly, is confronted by Dalton, who provides him with a United States identity, his friends, and $15 million.
In the North American and European versions, several illustrations that accompany the end credits show what happens to the game's main characters after the incident. Wiseman is shown being led away by law enforcement personnel, but his manner remains undaunted, implying perhaps that there is yet a way for him out of his predicament. Dalton gets dressed down by a superior at the FBI, although he retains a smug demeanor not unlike Wiseman's. Dr. Takiyama is merely shown looking pensive in the helicopter that carries her off the island. And in a vignette that could have been taken much later after the events of the SaintLogic incident, Venus is seen manning the checkout counter at a supermarket, hinting at her quiet assimilation into everyday life.
9-year-old Ida Lucas and her 6-year-old friend, Cookie, are having a day in the park on Degrassi Street. Ida is upset by the amount of litter around the park, despite the signs posted. After Ida has the disgusting experience of stepping on someone's discarded sandwich, Cookie (who cannot read) points out another sign, an advertisement for a children's film making contest by the National Film Board of Canada. When Ida reads it to her, Cookie asks if she's going to enter. Ida initially says no, but then, after looking around at the mess, she suddenly gets an idea....
Later that day, Ida goes rooting around in her house's attic for an old movie camera of her father's. She is disheartened to find it broken, but her mother encourages her to go to the camera store and get an estimate on what it would take to repair it. There, Ida gets another shock when she find out that not only will she have to leave it there, but that it will cost about $20 overall, both to repair the camera (which has a broken spring), and to buy a roll of film. Although she leaves it there, Ida does not know where to get that much money.
Ida and Cookie are talking it over later, when Ida's brother Fred, a baseball player, comes home from a game. Fred is angry over having lost the last game of the season, and is scornful of Ida's plans, to say nothing of being unwilling to give her any money. He coldly suggests that Ida earn the money, which she is not sure how to do. But then her mother calls to Ida about the junk she left all over the attic, when she was searching for the camera. She says that she will throw it all away unless Ida cleans it up, which gives Ida another brainstorm: a garage sale.
The sale goes well, to the point where Ida is even able to talk Fred into paying 75 cents for an old soldier's helmet that he finds (even though it's already theirs). Irritated, he calls into question whether Ida even knows how to use a camera, prompting Ida to admit that she has to learn. So when Ida successfully pays for the camera with her funds from the sale, she makes sure to ask the salesman how to use it.
Filming starts, with Ida, Cookie, and even Fred all decked out: Ida has borrowed a fancy-looking beret from her mother ("All directors wear them! I saw it in a book!"), Cookie in a long dress (she is practicing a dance she will do), and Fred refusing to take off his soldier's hat. Ida and Cookie persuade Fred to join the filming, a story about the importance of picking up garbage and keeping things clean. Since it's garbage pick-up day in Ida's neighborhood, Fred will make a show of picking up trash bags and taking them to the curb, while Cookie will dance about and plant little flowers, to "make the yard look nice." A simple enough plan, but it rapidly goes wrong: just as the garbage men arrive on the street, Fred picks up one of Cookie's dolls by accident, and they get into a tug-of-war over it, on camera. Cookie falls down as the doll is thrown into the garbage truck and is crushed in its compactor and the camera catches that, too. Nonetheless, Ida is sure that the film turned out great, consoling Cookie over the loss of the doll as Fred goes back inside, insisting that no one will want to watch the film.
Two weeks later, Ida gets a letter from the film board (addressed to "Ida T. Lucas"), telling her that her powerful film about "the effect of war on children" has been selected as a finalist, and that she and her family should come to the awards ceremony on the 2nd of September. Ida is thrilled, despite the misunderstanding, while Cookie is bothered by the idea of accepting an award for the film under what seem to be false pretenses, while Ida insists that it's not lying... especially if no one tells.
Ida is talking about the award with her mother, an artist who is making a drawing. Ida tries to conceal the misunderstanding by saying she has lost the letter, but is forced to reveal that she still has it: already, her cover story is falling apart. Her mother reads the letter and expresses surprise (and perhaps, a note of skepticism) that Ida would take on a profound topic like war in her amateur film.
Finally, awards night arrives, but Ida tries to chicken out, claiming that she's sick. (Comically, she claims to have an ulcer, and that she's afraid it's contagious.) Clearly guilt-stricken over her lie of omission, Ida asks her mother a veiled question: if someone misunderstood one of her mother's pictures, but still liked it, is it right to correct them? Her mother insists that it's the right thing to do, especially since she'd be the only person who could reveal the truth. She also reassures Ida that she'll always be proud of her, even if she doesn't win. Suddenly, Ida's "ulcer" miraculously clears up, and she's eager to go to the awards.
At the ceremony, the award is presented by the kindly Mr. Druffle, who announces that Ida's work, on "how devastating war is to children," is the winner. The film is then shown, with Ida and the kids then realizing how, with Fred and Cookie fighting, and him wearing the helmet, the film could be misinterpreted as a powerful anti-war statement. So when Ida reluctantly takes the podium, she tries to decline the award in a fit of conscience, explaining to Mr. Druffle how the mistake came about. Clearly taken aback, by the confession, Mr. Druffle then decides that since she did win the award on merit, and since honesty should be rewarded, that the Board will allow Ida to keep the award anyway. He then encourages a round of applause for Ida's film, on "how to wage war... on garbage."
Havoc is wrought on the inhabitants of a small New England town by a troubled film production. After the leading man's penchant for underage girls gets them banished from their New Hampshire location, the crew moves to the small town of Waterford, Vermont to finish shooting ''The Old Mill''.
As its title suggests, the film depends on the presence of a genuine mill, something the town is reported to possess. Unfortunately, with only days before principal photography begins, it becomes apparent that the mill in fact burned down decades ago.
Unfazed, the film's director, Walt Price (William H. Macy), places his faith in the ability of first-time screenwriter Joseph Turner White (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to alter the script. What he doesn't count on is White's apparently bottomless reserve of angst-fueled writer's block. A local bookseller, Annie Black (Rebecca Pidgeon), tries to provide White with inspiration.
The film's leading lady (Sarah Jessica Parker) refuses to do her contracted nude scene unless she's paid an additional $800,000, while the foreign cinematographer offends the locals by messing with a historic firehouse. Meanwhile, the leading man, Bob Barrenger (Alec Baldwin), dallies with Carla (Julia Stiles), a crafty local teen.
Everything comes to a head after Barrenger and Carla are injured in a car accident, which leads White (the only witness) to another emotional quandary and into the arms of Annie. Meanwhile, a powerful movie producer (David Paymer) comes to town to help Price with the ensuing mess.
Leaving a church, Father Logan, a well known ex-paratrooper padre, is approached by Captain "Rip" Murdock. Murdock needs to tell someone what has happened to him in the past few days in case his enemies get to him. A flashback follows.
Just after World War II, paratroopers and close friends Captain Murdock and Sergeant Johnny Drake are mysteriously ordered to travel from Paris to Washington, D.C. When Drake learns that he is to be awarded the Medal of Honor (and Murdock the Distinguished Service Cross), he disappears before newspaper photographers can take his picture. Murdock goes AWOL, follows the clues and tracks his friend to Gulf City in the southern United States, where he learns Drake is dead – his burned corpse is recovered from a car crash.
Murdock finds out that Drake joined the Army under an assumed name to avoid a murder charge. He was accused of killing a rich old man named Chandler because he was in love with his beautiful young wife Coral. Murdock goes to a nightclub to question Louis Ord, a witness in the murder trial. Ord reveals that Drake had given him a letter for Murdock. Murdock also meets Coral and Martinelli, the club owner. Seeing Coral losing heavily at roulette, Murdock not only recoups her losses at craps, he wins her $16,000. For some reason, however, she is uncomfortable with the situation. When they go to collect the money in Martinelli's private office, Murdock accepts a drink; it is drugged. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds Ord's dead body planted in his hotel room. He manages to hide the corpse before police Lieutenant Kincaid, responding to an anonymous tip, shows up to search his room.
Murdock teams up with Coral. Suspecting that Martinelli had Ord killed in order to get the letter, Murdock breaks into his office, only to find the safe already open. Just before he is knocked unconscious by an unseen assailant, he smells jasmine, the same aroma as Coral's perfume. When Murdock awakens, Martinelli has him roughed up by his thug, Krause, to try to find out what is in the coded letter. However, Murdock is able to escape his captors when taking him back to his hotel, the police arrive. The flashback ends, and Murdock slips away.
Now suspicious of Coral, he goes to her apartment to confront her. She claims to be innocent, but finally admits that she shot her husband in self-defense. She went to Martinelli for advice and gave him the murder weapon to dispose of, but he has been blackmailing her ever since. In love with her himself, Murdock agrees to leave town with her, but insists on retrieving the incriminating weapon first, despite Coral's objections. He threatens Martinelli with a gun, eliciting some startling revelations. The club owner reveals that Coral is his wife. He killed Chandler (having learned the man had lied about having only six months to live) and framed Drake so that Coral could inherit the estate. Murdock gets what he came for and forces Martinelli to precede him out of the building. As he opens the door, Martinelli is shot and killed.
Murdock jumps into the waiting car and drives off with Coral. As they are speeding away, he accuses her of having just tried to kill him. When she shoots him, the car crashes. He survives, but she suffers fatal injuries. In the hospital, Murdock comforts her in her final moments.
Set ten years after the events of ''Attack of the Killer Tomatoes'' (referred to as the "Great Tomato War"), the United States is once again safe, and tomatoes have been outlawed (although authorities still deal with "tomato smugglers" who sell to people who cannot live without ordinary tomatoes). Wilbur Finletter (Steve Peace) has been praised as a hero of the Great Tomato War and parlayed his fame into opening Finletter's Pizzeria, which serves tomato-less pizzas. Working for Wilbur is his nephew Chad Finletter (Anthony Starke) who is a delivery boy. Also with Chad is his roommate Matt Stevens (George Clooney), a suave ladies' man.
However, trouble returns with the misanthropic mad-scientist responsible for the Tomato War, Professor Mortimer Gangreen (played by John Astin) and his assistant Igor (Steve Lundquist - who also is an Olympic swimming gold medalist) seek to unleash another wave of tomato terror. Professor Gangreen was perplexed at being defeated by "Puberty Love", the worst song ever created, and says that this time music will aid, rather than hinder him. Gangreen has created a tomato transformation chamber by which he can turn ordinary tomatoes into replicas of men and women. By dipping ordinary tomatoes into vats of toxic waste and then placing them into the chamber, Gangreen uses music to his advantage, as the juke box that is hooked up to the chamber syncs up with the tomato transformation chamber, allowing him to create virtually anything by the use of whatever song he has picked (Michael Jackson music seems to make tomatoes into a clone of Jackson, the ''Miami Vice'' theme seems to make replicas of Don Johnson and seductive music apparently turns tomatoes into beautiful women). Gangreen's preferred music is rock, which creates soldiers. With his tomato commandos, Professor Gangreen seeks to attack the nearby prison where he will break out his imprisoned ally Jim Richardson (Rick Rockwell), then take over the United States under the subjugation of his killer tomatoes and installing Richardson as President of the United States. Gangreen has also used his device to create an attractive female replica named Tara (Karen Mistal), who serves Gangreen (as she straightforwardly informs a visitor: "I'm his lover. I also cook and clean.") until she realizes his abusive attitude towards a wrongly mutated tomato whom she dubs FT, or Fuzzy Tomato. Tara defects to Finletter's Pizza where she starts dating Chad.
The quirky plot line partially breaks the "fourth wall" as the characters relate to the audience that the production has run out of money. Matt suggests "product placement" – at that time an emerging practice in film and television – as a solution for the financial problems. From that point forward, the film's characters comically showcase and promote various products as the film's plot line continues.
Chad and Tara have a whirlwind romance where everything seems to be going magically except for Tara's strange behavior and extreme aversion to any form of music. Chad's dislike of tomatoes eventually causes a rift between himself and Tara and after an extremely caustic remark at a romantic dinner Tara dumps a drink in Chad's lap in retaliation. While Chad is in the bathroom cleaning up a violinist comes by and begins to play for Tara, who changes back into a tomato. Panic ensues and the restaurant empties as the other patrons flee in terror at the sight of the tomato. The sound of a chiming grandfather clock turns her back into a human as Chad returns to the now-deserted restaurant and they leave.
Tara continues to protect FT while living with Chad (and Matt). Chad notices the garbage truck Igor is driving while Igor tries to find Tara and follows it to the dump (where Igor picks up more toxic waste) and back to Dr. Gangreen's house where Chad watches as they transform a tomato into a person.
Going home Chad finds Tara consuming plant food—they both scream and she runs away, only to be kidnapped by Igor and returned to Dr. Gangreen. Chad, who has found a tomato at a grocery store he believes to be Tara, returns with Matt to use Dr. Gangreen's equipment to restore the woman he loves. They find the machine can create a wide range of people depending on the music used, including more beautiful women (of great interest to Matt) but they do not get Tara back. They are captured by Dr. Gangreen who squishes the tomato and has Igor throw Chad and Matt into the dungeon.
There they find Tara undamaged and in human form and she and Chad reconcile. Outside the locked door they hear FT, to whom they pass a message that FT is to deliver to Wilbur who gathers the team of heroes from the first movie to rescue the captives. But while they are en route Dr. Gangreen forces Chad and Matt into the transformation chamber and starts a countdown that at the end will transform the two into tomatoes. He and Igor then leave with a captive Tara to raid the prison and start Dr. Gangreen's plan for world domination but Wilbur and his team rescue them just in time.
At the prison Dr. Gangreene transforms a bag of tomatoes into a massively-muscled and well-armed assault team and they storm the prison. While fighting Tara breaks away and Gangreen and Igor chase her, who are in turn chased by Chad, Matt, Wilbur and the others. They find Gangreen and Igor have imprisoned Tara in a gas chamber and threaten to gas her if the pursuers do not surrender. Also Igor has a hand grenade. In the ensuing fight FT throws himself on the live hand grenade before it explodes and Gangreen successfully triggers the gas. As the fumes envelope Tara behind the door she and Chad have a tearful farewell and it appears Tara is finished. Matt presses a button to clear the gas from the chamber.
A distraught Chad opens the door to find an unharmed Tara; she isn't human so the gas didn't hurt her. Dr. Gangreen triumphantly plays music to transform Tara back into a tomato but nothing happens; exposure to the gas has made Tara permanently human. The town celebrates the heroes again, including and especially FT, as people wonder where Matt went and it is remarked that he returned to Gangreen's lab to destroy it but he instead is using the equipment to produce beautiful women. The credits role and we hear over the soundtrack the hosts hate the movie and an army of killer carrots kill them by shooting them.
The novel focuses on the protagonist, Henry Chinaski, between the years of 1920 and 1941. It begins with Chinaski's early memories. As the story progresses the reader follows his life through the school years and into young adulthood. Chinaski relates that he has an abusive father, and his mother does nothing to stop his father's abuse. She is, in fact, a victim of her husband's brutality as well. Henry is not athletic but wants to be and therefore tries hard to improve. Football is difficult for him, but he enjoys the violence that comes with it. He has only slightly better results in baseball. As Chinaski progresses through grammar school, the focus of Henry's attention is on sports, violence, and girls. As Henry grinds his way through Junior High School, he discovers the manifold pleasures of alcohol and masturbation. As Henry begins High School, his father, who is experiencing downward inter-generational socioeconomic mobility, makes him go to a private school where he fits in even less amongst all the well-heeled, spoiled rich kids with their flashy, colorful, convertible sports cars and beautiful girlfriends. To make matters worse, Chinaski develops horrible acne so severe that he has to undergo painful, and mostly ineffective, treatments, essentially becoming a human guinea pig for various experiments thought up by his uninterested doctors. The reader eventually follows Chinaski to college and reads of Henry's attempt to find a worthwhile occupation.
Irish sailor Michael O'Hara meets the beautiful blonde Elsa as she rides a horse-drawn coach in Central Park. Three hooligans waylay the coach. Michael rescues Elsa and escorts her home. Michael reveals he is a seaman and learns Elsa and her husband, disabled criminal defense attorney Arthur Bannister, are newly arrived in New York City from Shanghai. They are on their way to San Francisco via the Panama Canal. Michael, attracted to Elsa despite misgivings, agrees to sign on as an able seaman aboard Bannister's yacht.
They are joined on the boat by Bannister's partner, George Grisby, who proposes that Michael "murder" him in a plot to fake his own death. He promises Michael $5,000 and explains that since he would not really be dead and since there would be no corpse, Michael could not be convicted of murder (reflecting ''corpus delicti'' laws at the time). Michael agrees, intending to use the money to run away with Elsa. Grisby has Michael sign a confession.
On the night of the crime, Sydney Broome, a private investigator who has been following Elsa on her husband's orders, confronts Grisby. Broome has learned of Grisby's plan to murder Bannister, frame Michael, and escape by pretending to have also been murdered. Grisby shoots Broome and leaves him for dead. Unaware of what has happened, Michael proceeds with the night's arrangement and sees Grisby off on a motorboat before shooting a gun into the air to draw attention to himself. Meanwhile, Broome, mortally wounded but still alive, asks Elsa for help. He warns her that Grisby intends to kill her husband.
Michael makes a phone call to Elsa, but finds Broome on the other end of the line. Broome warns Michael that Grisby was setting him up. Michael rushes to Bannister's office in time to see Bannister is alive, but that the police are removing Grisby's body from the premises. The police find evidence implicating Michael, including his confession, and take him away.
At trial, Bannister acts as Michael's attorney. He feels he can win the case if Michael pleads justifiable homicide. During the trial, the incompetent judge quickly loses control of the proceedings. Bannister learns of his wife's relationship with Michael. He ultimately takes pleasure in his suspicion that they will lose the case. Bannister also indicates that he knows the real killer's identity. Before the verdict, Michael escapes by feigning a suicide attempt (swallowing pain relief pills Bannister takes for his disability), causing a commotion in which he slips out of the building with the jury for another case. Elsa follows. Michael and she hide in a Chinatown theater. Elsa calls some Chinese friends to meet her. As Michael and Elsa wait and pretend to watch the show, Michael realizes that she killed Grisby. Michael passes out from the pills he took just as Elsa's Chinese friends arrive; they carry the unconscious Michael to an empty fun house. When he wakes, he realizes that Grisby and Elsa had been planning to murder Bannister and frame him for the crime, but that Broome's involvement ruined the scheme and that Elsa had to kill Grisby for her own protection.
The film features a unique climactic shootout in a hall of mirrors involving a multitude of false and real mirrored images in the Magic Mirror Maze, in which Elsa is mortally wounded and Bannister is killed. Heartbroken, and ignoring Elsa's pleas to save her life, Michael leaves presuming that events which have unfolded since the trial will clear him of any crimes. "Maybe I would live so long I'd forget her. Maybe I'd die trying".
While stopping at the Roman Camp of Compendium, Prefect 'Odius Asparagus' wants one of the indomitable Gauls as a present for Julius Caesar. Because none of the others can be captured, Centurion Gracchus Armisurplus decides on Cacofonix the bard. Soldiers sent by the centurion, although driven away by Cacofonix's singing at first, counteract this by stuffing parsley in their ears and capture him easily. A young boy named Picanmix from the village raises the alarm to Asterix and Obelix, and the Gauls attack Compendium; but learn that the prefect has already left in his galley with Cacofonix.
Asterix and Obelix therefore board a ship with Ekonomikrisis the Phoenician merchant, who agrees to take them to Rome after they save him from the pirates. In Rome, after Cacofonix has subjected the slaves in the prefect's galley to his bad singing, the prefect presents him to Julius Caesar; but when Caius Fatuous, the gladiators' trainer, declares Cacofonix unfit to serve as a gladiator, Caesar decides to throw the bard to the lions. Upon arrival in Rome, Asterix and Obelix befriend Instantmix (a Gaulish chef working in Rome) and visit the public baths. There, Caius Fatuous decides they would be perfect candidates for the gladiators' fights in the Circus Maximus, and he arranges to have them captured. That night, Asterix and Obelix visit Instantmix in his insula, where he identifies the location of Cacofonix. The next morning, the Gauls' first attempt at rescuing the bard fails when they raid the Circus prison and discover that Cacofonix has been transferred to a lower basement. Caius Fatuous has his men try to ambush them in groups of three, but Asterix and Obelix defeat them with ease, and apparently without taking notice.
Caius Fatuous then offers a reward of 10,000 sestertii to any citizen who captures Asterix and Obelix; but the two of them volunteer as gladiators to infiltrate the following Games, and Fatuous places them in training under his assistant Insalubrius. Soon, the Gauls demoralize Insalubrius and irritate Caius Fatuous by having the other gladiators play guessing-games instead of training. Later, when Fatuous plans the Games to Julius Caesar, the Gauls go on a stroll, with Caius Fatuous (reluctantly) as their guide. On the eve before the games, Asterix and Obelix visit Cacofonix in his cell and inform him of their intentions to free him and the gladiators.
The next day, during the chariot races, Asterix and Obelix substitute themselves for an inebriated contestant, and win the race. As Cacofonix is put into the arena to be killed by the lions, he sings to the Romans, and thus frightens the lions into retreat; whereupon Caesar orders the gladiators' competition to begin. When Asterix, Obelix, and the gladiators introduce Caesar to their guessing-game, and Caesar insists on a martial contest, Asterix challenges a cohort of Caesar's own guard, and the two Gauls win easily. Seeing that the audience are amused, Caesar releases the three Gauls and grants them Fatuous as a prisoner. Soon afterwards, the four men meet back up with Ekonomikrisis, and Asterix surprises him and his men by having Caius Fatuous row the ship back to the Gaulish Village alone. After a brief journey (plus a second run in with the pirates, which sinks their ship), the Gauls arrive home and Ekonomikrisis keeps his promise to return Caius Fatuous to Rome. The villagers then celebrate the return of their heroes with a banquet, only with Cacofonix having to sit it out bound and gagged after offering to sing a song to celebrate his triumphant return.
This book is noteworthy in the Asterix series as the first in which Obelix says his famous catchphrase "These Romans are crazy!"
An audiobook of ''Asterix the Gladiator'' adapted by Anthea Bell and narrated by Willie Rushton was released on EMI Records ''Listen for Pleasure'' label in 1988.
George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara move into the empty house across the street from the Simpsons and take a liking to Ned Flanders. Although Barbara takes a liking to Bart, Bart's pranks and irreverent spirit annoy George, who spanks the boy after he accidentally shreds his memoirs and trashes the house with his outboard motor and finally becoming fed up with Bart bothering him. Despite Barbara's suggestion that he apologize, George refuses after Homer confronts him for spanking Bart.
After Homer launches bottle rockets at George's window, the next day Bush puts up a banner reading "Two Bad Neighbors" to refer to Bart and Homer, but it only confuses Ned Flanders and Dr. Hibbert with George becoming confused of Homer's name. Later, Homer and Bart use cardboard likenesses of George and Barbara's sons, George Jr. and Jeb, to lure George out of the house, where they glue a rainbow-colored wig on his head as he is about to give a speech at a local club. George retaliates by destroying the Simpsons' lawn with his car.
George spots Homer and Bart moving through underground sewers to release locusts in his house. He climbs below the street to confront them. After Homer and George brawl with George still refusing to apologize, Bart releases the locusts, which attack George. Former Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev arrives to deliver a housewarming present for the Bushes. After pressure from his wife, George reluctantly apologizes to Homer in front of Gorbachev. The Bushes eventually move and sell their house to former President Gerald Ford. Ford invites Homer for beer and nachos during a football game broadcast at his house. Homer and Gerald find they share common ground because they are both accident-prone.
Maxim Kammerer is a young amateur space explorer from Earth, regarded as a failure by his friends and relatives because this occupation is not considered to be a serious pursuit. The novel starts when he accidentally discovers an unexplored planet Saraksh inhabited by a humanoid race. The atmospheric conditions on Saraksh are such that the inhabitants believe that they live inside a sphere. The level of technological development on the planet is similar to mid-20th century Earth. The planet recently came through big nuclear and conventional war and the predicament of the population is dire. When Maxim lands, the natives mistake his small spaceship for a weapon and destroy it.
At first he doesn't take his situation seriously, imagining himself a Robinson Crusoe stranded on an island inhabited by primitive but friendly natives. He is looking forward to establishing contact and befriending the population of the planet. However, the reality turns out to be far from glamorous. After being captured by armed natives and initially taken to what appears to be a concentration camp, Kammerer is sent to some governmental research institute which treats him as a mental patient. He escapes and finds himself in the capital of a totalitarian state, perpetually at war with its neighbors. The city is grim and polluted, with police and military omnipresent.
He makes friends among the ordinary people that lead the life of privation and misery, while twice daily everyone is overcome by sudden an unexplained bouts of ecstatic enthusiasm, proclaiming their total allegiance and undying gratitude to the country's hidden rulers, known as the ''Unknown Fathers'' (in the censored versions ''Fire-bearing Creators''), who are said to have the best interests of the people at heart, serving as bulwark against threats foreign and domestic, mainly from the so-called ''degens'' (degenerates), the uncompromising enemies of the people, the terrorists who sometimes blow up the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) towers strewn around the country.
All this makes little sense to Maxim, since his own society is free from war, hostility, crime and material shortages. Still confused about the official ideology, Kammerer gets enlisted in the military, to serve and protect the state and its people. He is ordered to execute some captured degens, one of them a woman. When he refuses, he is shot multiple times, survives, and joins the underground which consists of the degens who suffer great headaches twice daily. Degens believe that the ABM towers are responsible for that.
Maxim participates in an attack on one such tower. Captured, tried and sent to a concentration camp in the South, the same one where he has made his landing, he is finally revealed the truth about the towers by a fellow prisoner high-ranking member of the underground. They turn out to be broadcasting a mind control signal, employed by the Fathers to control the population.
The constant low-intensity broadcast suppresses the ability of most people to evaluate information critically, making the omnipresent regime propaganda much more effective. In addition, twice a day an intense signal relieves mental stresses caused by the disconnect between the propaganda and the observed reality by inducing euphoria in the susceptible majority, and intense headaches in others who are immune to the signal's coercive power. Those are the only sober-thinking people in the country, including both the underground degens and the Fathers themselves.
Astonished and appalled by this revelation, Kammerer makes it his mission to rid the planet of the mind control broadcast system. Several of his schemes fail because the cure may be worse than the disease. He escapes to the radioactive South in hopes of organizing an invasion, but the mutants dwelling there are weakly and softhearted, and the tribes further South are ruthless barbarians. He then turns to the state's neighbor — the Island Empire — but abandons this plan after finding documents on a destroyed Empire submarine that describe mass killings and other atrocities that the Empire military routinely perpetrates.
He now focuses on trying to find and destroy the Control Center where the mind control broadcasts originate. Meanwhile, the Fathers decide to start a small victorious war on the country's northern neighbor, Honti. Kammerer surrenders to local gendarmes and is assigned to a penal battalion that is supposed to lead the invasion of the North. In this abortive action, most of his friends perish while Kammerer himself barely escapes annihilation in retaliatory nuclear blasts. Having served in the war, he earns himself a rehabilitation from the state and is installed in a secret research institution at the behest of a powerful Father known as the Wanderer, who remains out of reach.
A Father known as the Smarty realizes that Kammerer is not affected by the broadcasts in ''any'' way and plots to use him to stage a coup and take over the state. His plan is for Kammerer to capture the Control Center and use its transmissions to incapacitate his rivals and install him as the new ruler in the minds of the population. The center is protected by intense depression-inducing local broadcast field that makes it impossible for any native to penetrate it. The Smarty reveals the center's location to Kammerer, who plays along; however, after penetrating the center, he destroys it instead, thus disabling the whole system countrywide.
It is revealed that the powerful Father, the Wanderer, is in fact a human progressor named Rudolf Sikorski, carefully working in secret to gradually improve the lot of the people of Saraksh. His plans now ruined, the Wanderer finally catches up with Maxim and lambasts him for his interference. He describes the unanticipated consequences of Kammerer's rash actions: up to 20% of the people may die or go insane due to the withdrawal from the mind control signal; Saraksh faces famine, anarchy, widespread radioactive pollution, and looming invasion by the Island Empire which they planned to stop using the depression field. The Wanderer orders Kammerer to leave the planet but Maxim refuses and stays on, to help stabilize the situation. Despite the many upheavals that Saraksh has ahead of her, he is still glad he destroyed the Control Center because now the people can be in charge of their own destiny.
The author explains the style of the book before beginning the story with his funeral and cause of death - "Brás Cubas poultice", a medical panacea that was his last obsession and "would guarantee him glory among men". He then goes back to his childhood.
He was a wealthy, spoiled and wicked child. From an early age he showed signs of a perverse nature, beating the heads of his slaves when he was not attended to in some desire or playing at horse-riding on the back of a young male slave named Prudêncio. At the age of seventeen Brás Cubas falls in love with a prostitute named Marcela, an affair which lasts "fifteen months and eleven contos" and almost wipes out the family fortune.
To forget this heartbreak the protagonist is sent to Coimbra to study law. After a few years of wild bohemianism, "following romanticism in practice and liberalism in theory", he returns to Rio de Janeiro on the occasion of the death of his mother. He falls in love with a girl named Eugênia, the daughter of Dona Eusébia, a poor friend of the family, who turns out to be lame from birth. His father plans to a political marriage with Virgília, daughter of Conselheiro Dutra. However, Virgília prefers to marry Lobo Neves, who is also a candidate for a political career. With the death of Brás Cubas' father, conflict breaks out over the inheritance between him and his sister Sabina, and her husband Cotrim.
Virgília, now married, encounters Brás Cubas at a ball and they begin an adulterous affair. Virgília becomes pregnant but the child dies before being born. To keep the affair secret Brás Cubas bribes Virgília's former seamstress Dona Plácida to act as the resident of a small house in Gamboa, which serves as a meeting place for the lovers. Cubas meets Quincas Borba, a childhood friend who has fallen on hard times. He steals Cubas' watch, later returning it to him. He introduces Cubas to his philosophical system, Humanitism.
Pursuing fame or excitement Brás Cubas becomes a deputy. Lobo Neves is appointed governor of a province and leaves with Virgília for the north, ending the affair. Sabina finds a wife for Brás Cubas, Nhã-Loló, Cotrim's 19-year-old niece, but she dies of yellow fever and Brás Cubas becomes a confirmed bachelor. He tries unsuccessfully to be Minister of State and to found an opposition newspaper. Quincas Borba shows signs of dementia. An aging Virgília asks him to support the impoverished Dona Plácida, who then dies. Lobo Neves, Marcela and Quincas Borba also die. Eugênia falls into poverty. His last attempt at glory is the "Brás Cubas poultice", a medicine that will cure all diseases. Ironically, while going out to take care of his project he is caught in a rainstorm and catches pneumonia, from which he dies at age sixty-four. Virgília, accompanied by her son, visits his deathbed. After dying he begins to tell the story of his life backwards, concluding that on balance his life has been slightly positive because he has not had children, and thus he has not "transmitted the legacy of misery".
Beginning with the birth of Alhammit Alhammitson, or Mitt, in South Dalemark. Mitt is a young child, his family are evicted from their farm. The Earl Hadd is the cruel and tyrannical ruler of South Dalemark. The family moves to an unpleasant tenement in the city of Holand. Mitt's father joins the Free Holanders, a resistance against the Earl Hadd. Mitt's father disappears, maybe killed by the Earl's soldiers.
Mitt was convinced that three of the Free Holanders betrayed his father to the Earl's soldiers. Mitt is determined to take revenge. He joins the Free Holanders. Milda, Mitt's mother, marries Hobin.
Mitt plans to assassinate the Earl Hadd. Mitt's attempt fails. The Earl is killed anyway by another assassin, a sniper.
Ynen and Hildrida (Hildy) are brother and sister. Hildy is furious with her father. He betrothed her to Lithar, Lord of the Holy Islands, a complete stranger. After the assassination, the new Earl, Harl, refuses to break off her engagement. Hildy and Ynen decide to run away on a magnificent new boat, the ''Wind's Road''.
Having been seen during the old Earl's assassination, Mitt is suspected. He hides on a magnificent boat. The boat that Ynen and Hildy are running away on. Mitt is a stowaway beneath deck. They are far out to sea by the time Mitt shows himself. He demands that they take him to the North, where he can be safe. The two siblings are uncooperative. Mitt threatens them with his gun, saying he will shoot them if he gets the chance. Hildy and Ynen agree to take him North because he has a gun.
The three find, floating in the sea, a wheat figure of Poor Old Ammet. It had been thrown into the sea during a festival. This is considered good luck. They take the wheat figure on board. They lash it to the prow as a figurehead. Mitt has a small wax figure of Poor Old Ammet's consort, Libby Beer, which they attach to the stern.
That night a dreadful autumn storm assailed the boat. After the storm passed, there is a lifeboat, with one sailor aboard. Mitt realizes that not only is the sailor the sniper who shot the old Earl, he is also Mitt's long-lost father.
Mitt's father commandeers the boat, then forces them to sail to the Holy Islands. He plans to deliver Hildy to her fiancé, the Lord of the Holy Islands. This is Lithar. This is the man she was running away from, to avoid marrying. They arrive in the Holy Islands.
The Holy Islanders say that a great one "will come on the ''wind's road'' with a great one before him and behind." Hildy and Ynen are taken prisoner. Mitt's father convinces Lithar, to have his own son, Mitt killed. Instead, the Holy Islanders refuse to harm Mitt. They maroon him on an uninhabited Holy Island. Hildy meets with Libby Beer herself. Libby tells her that, if she wishes to return to the Holy Islands, she must trust Mitt. Hildy reluctantly agrees.
On the Holy Island, Mitt encounters two demigods, Old Ammet and Libby Beer, in person and learns their secret names. The uttering of the secret names produce cataclysmic effects. This explains the folk names by which the two demigods are called on Holy Islands: Earth Shaker for Poor Old Ammet; She Who Raised the Islands for Libby Beer. Hildy and Ynen are re-united with their father Navis.
Navis tells his children that the new Earl wants to kill them. Mitt's father is taking Ynen and Navis back to Holand, but they are to be killed by the new Earl. Mitt arrives. Mitt invokes the greater name of Libby Beer, causing an island to rise up, destroying the boat. Mitt's father is killed.
The Holy Islanders send them off to sea to go North. Mitt promises Poor Old Ammet that someday, he will return to Holy Islands as a friend, not as a conqueror.
''!HERO'' is a rock opera modernizing Jesus's last two years of life, as narrated in the Bible. The story takes place in New York City, in Brooklyn. The world government in this near-future dystopic Earth is centered under the International Confederation of Nations (I.C.O.N.). Under the iron fist of I.C.O.N., nearly all religion in the world has been wiped out, except for small occult and mystic sects. Only one synagogue in Brooklyn exists. Currently, New York City is a police-occupied warzone between ethnic gangs and small, isolated revolutionary groups fighting I.C.O.N. Of all the ancient world religions, only Judaism survives and flourishes, at least, as much as it can.
In Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a child named Jesus, but referred to as Hero, is born and forced to flee with his family to the small Jewish section of Brooklyn. Jesus grows up and begins to preach and teach the principles of Christianity to the people of New York City, teaching people to love their enemies and care for each other. I.C.O.N. realizes Hero is a threat, and the chief of police Devlin, with the help of chief Rabbi Kai (Caiaphas), conspire to end Hero's revolutionary teachings.
The Opera is narrated by "Agent Hunter", a former I.C.O.N. agent who met Hero and was soon thrown into prison for joining him against I.C.O.N. The opera also features Petrov (Peter), Maggie (Mary Magdalene), and Jude (Judas Iscariot) the latter who conspires with Kai and Devlin to betray Hero. The storyline progresses through several stories about Jesus' miracles and sermons, using references from the Bible's four gospels, continues through Jesus' execution, at the hands of I.C.O.N's angry mob, and eventually ending with his resurrection.
Captain Joe Ryan is salvaging for treasure off the coast of Ireland when a volcano erupts, nearly sinking his ship. Ryan and his First Officer and friend, Sam Slade, take the ship to Nara Island for repairs. Before the Harbour Master, Mr McCartin, arrives to assist them, the crew meet Sean, an orphan, who assists McCartin: he invites them to see his collection of ancient Viking relics. Ryan finds himself intrigued by a relic bearing the image of a creature that Sean calls "Ogra, the sea spirit".
Joe and Sam consult the surly McCartin and discover he has more than archaeological interest when he shows them his stash of illegally salvaged gold relics from the harbour. Ryan warns him to stop being unhelpful or else he will call the police. As Ryan's divers check the harbour for other divers who mysteriously disappeared, one of them emerges and dies from "fear". That night a group of fishermen go out to check the water. They are attacked by a gigantic creature, but successfully drive it off with firebrands.
After meeting the fishermen and with help from McCartin, Ryan and his crew manage to capture the creature and haul it onto their ship. Sean warns them that they have made a mistake, but the crew ignore him. Hearing of the creature, two university scientists arrive to meet Ryan and Slade, hoping to obtain it for scientific study. However, Ryan has already sold the creature to Dorkin's Circus in London.
Dorkin names the creature "Gorgo", after the gorgon Medusa, before transporting it to a large, enclosed pit for public exhibition in Battersea Park. Ryan and Slade meet the scientists again, who inform them the creature is an infant. With its larger mother still out there, the Royal Navy takes charge of the operation. Later that night Gorgo's mother emerges from the sea and attacks Nara Island in search of her offspring before leaving. When she attacks again in the morning, a Royal Navy destroyer intercepts her, but she proves immune to their weapons and sinks it, killing all aboard.
The mother later attacks London. The military intervene, but fail to stop or destroy her. Ryan and Slade split up to find Sean, with the former finding the boy and keeping him safe. Gorgo's mother is eventually reunited with her offspring and frees him from the pit before they both return safely to the sea.
Physics professor Zach Shefford (Grayson McCouch) has regarded his telekinetic gifts as a curse rather than a blessing. This sentiment is obviously not shared by ruthless Pentagon agent Raymond Addison (Louis Gossett Jr.), who recruits Shefford for a dangerous mission in which his "second sight" talents will be taxed to the utmost. It seems that, back in 1977, Addison had overseen Project Momentum, wherein dozens of telekinetics were brought together ostensibly for the purpose of benefiting mankind. But the project got out of hand when the participants' powers became too powerful and deadly, forcing Addison to kill them all.
However, one of the participants, Adrian Geiger (Michael Massee), managed to escape, and is now at large, with a vast telekinetic army at his beck and call. It is Shefford's job to infiltrate Geiger's camp and finish the job that Addison had started. Upon falling in love with fellow telekinetic Tristen Geiger (Nicki Aycox), Shefford finds that his loyalties are wavering—and begins to suspect that the villains in this particular melodrama may in fact be the heroes, and vice versa.
FBI agents Jordan Ripps (Teri Hatcher) and Frank McIntyre (Carmen Argenziano), who have been investigating an armored-car hijacking, follow Zach to Geiger. A telekinetic tug-of-war leads to a psychic showdown at the complex where Project Momentum was developed. Zach must finally choose the side to be on when telekinetic war breaks out. With Tristen prepared to follow in her father's footsteps and telekinetic sleeper cells in place across the nation, the momentum is building.
Two years after Tom Baker resigned from his head coaching position, his family begins to undergo many changes, beginning with Lorraine's high school graduation and internship with Allure Magazine in New York City. Nora is now married to Bud McNulty and pregnant with their first child with the intent to move to Houston, Texas because of Bud's new job.
Feeling the family is breaking apart as the children grow up and move away, Tom persuades them to take one last family vacation all together at Lake Winnetka, a fictional lake in Wisconsin. The family finds that their old cabin is currently owned by a man named Mike Romanow. Tom's old rival, Jimmy Murtaugh, his new wife Sarina, and his eight kids Calvin, Anne, Daniel, Becky, Elliot, Lisa, Robin and Kenny are also staying at the lake for the summer; Jimmy is also friends and neighbors with Mike. Jimmy constantly flaunts his wealth and success to Tom, as well as the accomplishments of his children, often suggesting to Tom that his are less successful because of his parenting style. They get into many incidents, several of which are accidental: Mark accidentally sets off a backpack of fireworks, causing widespread panic, especially when it is thrown into a boat, igniting its engine and causing it to explode, he and Kenny crash into a tennis court with a golf cart, and Sarah is caught shoplifting from a gift shop.
Jimmy again brings up the topic that Tom needs to be more strict with his kids. Tom is angered by this, and he and Jimmy decide to settle the matter at the Annual Labor Day Family Cup. Tom trains the kids for days, not realizing they are miserable. Sarah and Elliot go to the movies to see ''Ice Age'', but are spied on by their fathers, which ultimately results in them getting into an altercation and humiliating their children. Upon returning to the Bakers’ cabin, Sarah is furious and refuses to compete for Tom in the Cup. The other children are also angry with him, not only for spying on Sarah, but also for ruining the entire trip because of his competitiveness with the Murtaughs. Kate laments that his and Jimmy’s conflicting parenting styles have torn the two families even further apart.
The next morning, Tom goes to the Cup to compete with Kyle and Nigel, the only two still willing to go. However, after discovering an old "Team Baker" flag, Kate and the rest of the kids show up, forgiving Tom and willing to compete again. After the events, however, the Bakers and the Murtaughs are tied for first; a tiebreaking canoe race is announced, in which every family member must compete. During the canoe race, Nora goes into labor; the Murtaughs want to help, but Jimmy, sensing the opportunity to defeat Tom once and for all, refuses to do so. The Murtaugh children jump out of the canoe to help the Bakers. While arguing with Sarina, Jimmy reveals that he was jealous of Tom being the popular one when they were younger. Eventually, Sarina convinces him to help and the two families work together to get Nora to the hospital. Bud, Lorraine, and Kate go with Nora in the delivery room, while Tom, Jimmy, Sarina, and the rest of the kids stay in the waiting room.
While talking with Jimmy, Tom realizes that he has to let his kids grow, but wherever they go, they will always be together as a family. Nora then gives birth to a baby boy whom she and Bud name after his grandfather, who has shown them that "there is no way to be a perfect parent, but a million ways to be a really good one."
Bud announces that he and Nora have bought the cabin back at the lake. Nora, Bud, and baby Tom leave for Houston a few days later, and the family enjoy the rest of their vacation.
Mason Tarwater, an outspoken evangelist and self-ordained prophet, dies many years after kidnapping his great-nephew Francis, raising him in a backwoods cabin and preparing him to someday take his place as a prophet. Prior to his death, Mason asked the now-teenaged Francis to give him a proper Christian burial with a cross marking the grave so that his body would be resurrected on Judgment Day. Francis starts to dig the grave but suddenly hears a "Voice" in his head telling him to forget about the old man. Francis obeys and gets drunk instead. When Francis wakes from his drunken sleep, he sets the cabin on fire, believing that his great-uncle's body is still inside. He leaves for the city and gets a ride from a salesman, who drops him off at his Uncle Rayber's house.
Rayber, a well-educated schoolteacher, is amazed to see young Francis, whom he had long ago given up on after his kidnapping by Mason. Francis is also greeted at the door by Rayber's young son Bishop, who (it is implied) has Down syndrome and low intelligence. Bishop is Rayber's child with Bernice Bishop, a meddlesome social worker whom Mason had referred to as "the welfare woman." The old man had previously told Francis that Bernice was much older than Rayber and only able to give him one disabled child, and that God had mercy on the child by making him "dim-witted," which was the only way to protect him from his evil parents. Mason had commissioned Francis to baptize Bishop at some point, in order to save the little boy's soul. Due to this history, Francis is immediately put on edge when confronted with Bishop, but decides to stay with his uncle anyway. Francis does not think of Bishop as a human being and finds him repulsive.
The three begin to live together as a family for a while, and Rayber is excited to have his nephew back in order to raise him as a normal boy and provide him with a proper education. However, Francis resists his uncle's attempts at secular reform very much the same way he resisted Mason's attempts at religious reform. Rayber understands what Francis is going through, as he himself had been kidnapped as a child by Mason, but Rayber's father had managed to rescue him.
After many attempts by Rayber to "civilize" the reluctant Tarwater, and many attempts by Tarwater to figure out his true destiny (either as a prophet, which was his great-uncle's wish, or as an enlightened, educated modern man, which is his uncle Rayber's wish), Rayber devises a plan to take Tarwater back to the farm where Tarwater had been raised in the hope that confronting his past will allow him to leave it behind. Under the guise of taking the two boys out to a country lodge to go fishing, Rayber finally confronts Tarwater, telling him that he must accept an ordinary life and ignore the superstitious Christian upbringing and the false destiny with which his great-uncle has corrupted him. Tarwater, however, is not so easily convinced. While at the lodge, he again hears the "Voice" (the devil) who tells Tarwater to forsake his great-uncle's command to baptize Bishop and to drown the boy instead. One evening, Tarwater takes Bishop out on a boat to the middle of the lake, with Rayber's reluctant blessing. Rayber cannot see them on the lake but can still hear their voices. Tarwater ends up drowning Bishop while at the same time baptizing the boy, thereby fulfilling both destinies simultaneously. Rayber realizes what has happened and faints, not out of fear for his son's life, but because he feels nothing at his son's death.
Tarwater runs away into the woods and tries to make his way back to his great-uncle's house to confront his demons once and for all. He eventually hitches a ride with another man, who entices Tarwater to get drunk. Tarwater takes the man's offer and passes out, eventually waking up naked against a tree with his clothes neatly folded beside him. He dresses hurriedly and sets fire to the area.
Burning his way through the forest, Tarwater finally makes his way back to Powderhead, his great-uncle's old farm, where he finds the cabin has burned to the ground. Tarwater had assumed that his great-uncle had been burned up with it, but Buford, a black man who lived nearby, had actually rescued old Mason Tarwater's body from the house while Tarwater was drunk at the beginning of the novel, and gave the old man a proper Christian burial just as he had requested. Tarwater realizes that his great-uncle's two main requests (that he be given a proper burial and that Tarwater's nephew Bishop be baptized) have been realized, which convinces Tarwater that he can no longer run away from his calling to be a prophet. The story ends with Tarwater heading toward the city to fulfill his calling to "Go warn the children of God of the terrible speed of mercy."
The film is divided into five days. On the first day the protagonists, screenwriters Lars and Niels lose the only copy of a film script (Kommisæren Og Luderen, "The Policeman and the Whore", a reference to ''The Element of Crime''). They begin to write a new script about an epidemic: the outbreak of a plague-like disease. The protagonist is a doctor, Mesmer, who, against the will of the Faculty of Medicine of an unknown city, goes to the countryside to help people. During the next days, the facts of the script join the real-life events in which a similar disease starts to spread. Lars and Niels go to Germany, where they meet a man who describes the Allied bombing of Cologne during the Second World War.
After the trip, Niels goes to a hospital where he undergoes a minor surgical procedure and while there tells Lars to go to see Palle, a pathologist who is performing an autopsy on a man who has recently died of an unknown disease. The last day, Lars and Niels have a dinner with their producer, to whom they reveal the end of the film, that Mesmer and his medical kit have spread the disease. The producer does not like the short twelve-page script, which has no violence, few deaths, and no subplots (which are common in Danish cinema). After that a hypnotist and a woman arrive in the house, to "help" writing the script, but the woman is overpowered by the visions of the script which are becoming real. She commits suicide, then another woman who shares the house with Lars and Niels dies too, and Niels begins showing the signs of the disease.
Susie Higgins arrives in Madrid and moves in with her friend Maggie Williams and Maggie's roommate Fran Hobson. Still a virgin, Susie is surprised to find both of the other girls have active dating lives. Secretary Maggie has recently ended an affair and is now seeing her married boss Paul Barton, much to the dismay of Paul's jealous wife Jane. At the same time, Maggie's co-worker Pete McCoy is in love with Maggie, who barely notices him. Fran, an aspiring actress, flamenco dancer and singer, eagerly pursues Spanish doctor Andres Brioñes. While at the Museo del Prado, Susie catches the eye of wealthy playboy Emilio Lacayo, who adds her to his already large group of girlfriends.
The three girls spend the summer attending various parties while pursuing and being pursued by the men in their lives. In the end, Maggie chooses McCoy over Barton, Dr. Brioñes settles down with Fran, and Lacayo with Susie. All of them decide to stay in Madrid.
After suffering a brief illness, Brian experiences a powerful and comforting hallucination. He soon discovers that he has become host to a long, phallic parasite that speaks perfect English and promises to give him a life free from worry. The hallucination was induced by a chemical injected from the parasite's mouth, through the back of Brian's neck and directly into his brain; the parasite offers a steady supply of this chemical if "you'll take me for a walk." While under the influence of the "juice," Brian is incoherent and unaware of the world around him, which allows the parasite to kill people at random and devour their brains. This forms a routine, and as Brian becomes addicted to the juice, he isolates himself from everything and everyone else in his life, which worries his girlfriend, Barbara, and his brother, Mike.
Brian awakens from his stupor long enough to learn about the murders. He is confronted by his neighbor Morris, who claims to own the parasite, called "The Aylmer," which has changed hands hundreds of times across the globe since the Middle Ages. Morris, who fed Aylmer with animal brains, warns Brian that feeding him humans will make him too strong to resist. Horrified, Brian rents a motel room to wean himself off the drug and starve Aylmer, but Aylmer gleefully informs him that his body chemistry has irrevocably changed, and that the pain of withdrawal will be too much for him to bear. Brian soon relents, now consciously attending Aylmer as he hunts for victims.
Returning to his apartment, Brian discovers that Mike and Barbara have begun a relationship; realizing that he cannot control himself or choose Aylmer's targets, Brian tries to warn them away before fleeing to the streets. Barbara follows and confronts him on the subway, where Aylmer kills her. Back at the apartment, Morris and his wife, Martha, hold Brian at gunpoint to steal Aylmer back; Aylmer attacks them. As he feeds on their brains, Brian begs for another injection of juice. Aylmer agrees, which distracts them long enough for Morris to regain consciousness, grabbing and crushing Aylmer during the injection process. This kills Aylmer and forces an overdose, leaving Brian in agony. Screaming and bleeding juice, he runs to his room, puts Morris's gun to his own head and fires.
The police arrive at the apartment building. Joined by Mike, they break down Brian's door—finding Brian, who stares blankly with a large, glowing hole in his forehead, emanating with light and long crackles of electricity.
Arriving in London from Warsaw in December 1981 is master electrician Nowak, who understands the language but not the inhabitants, with three workmen who know no English. Their task is to gut and renovate a house, for which they have brought what tools they can carry, while Nowak has cash to buy materials. Since the whole operation is illegal, Nowak keeps them working indoors while he goes out to get food and supplies.
As his money runs out, he takes to stealing so that the four can survive. In the meantime, Poland is undergoing the traumas of demonstrations and strikes followed by the declaration of martial law, banning of Solidarity and mass arrests. All this Nowak conceals from the men, in order to finish the job. With no money left, they have a six-hour walk to the airport and a flight home to an uncertain future.
The master of ceremonies opens proceedings by telling the audience that they will see various episodes in the endless waltz of love. A prostitute takes a soldier under a bridge. The soldier picks up a chambermaid at a dance hall. The chambermaid willingly succumbs to the son of her employers. The young man starts an affair with the young wife of an older businessman. She then has an edgy discussion in bed with her husband. The husband takes a shopgirl to a private dining room and gets her drunk. The shopgirl falls for a poet, who is pursuing an affair with an actress. The actress invites a count to visit her in bed next morning. That evening, he gets drunk and ends up in the bed of the prostitute, so completing the circle.
A demonstration by unilateral nuclear disarmament protesters from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in London is interrupted when one of the protesters is killed. British security forces learn that a terrorist group attached to CND has been planning a significant act of terrorism for the near future. The person killed during the protest demonstration was an undercover intelligence officer who had infiltrated the terrorist group. The commanding officer of the Special Air Service, Colonel Hadley, suggests a new line of inquiry for the investigation.
Two foreign officers arrive to train at the SAS's headquarters: Captain Hagen is a member of the US Army Rangers and Captain Freund is a member of the West German GSG 9. They are taken to the close quarter battle house and witness an SAS room entry assault. Colonel Hadley introduces them to the SAS man playing the hostage, Captain Peter Skellen, and informs them they will be with Skellen's troop, consisting of Baker, Dennis, and Williamson. During an exercise in the Brecon Beacons, Hadley and Major Steele discover Skellen's troop torturing Hagen and Freund. Skellen is dismissed from the Regiment. The torture and dismissal are a ruse to repaint Skellen as a disgraced former SAS operative, and Hagen and Freund as innocent victims in the scheme.
Skellen's intelligence contact, Ryan, advises him to meet Frankie Leith and Rod Walker, the two people who lead the People's Lobby, the terrorist group believed to be planning the act of terrorism. Skellen tells his wife that he will be going away for a while on a mission. A foreign man, Andrey Malek, arranges with a city banker for the distribution of large sums of money to organisations including the People's Lobby. Skellen arranges to meet Leith at a bar frequented by People's Lobby members, and initiates a sexual relationship with her, to the annoyance of Walker and his underlings, Helga and Mac. Leith takes Skellen to the organisation's lair and introduces him to the group. Leith appreciates Skellen's SAS background, and offers him a job as security consultant to the People's Lobby; she also allows him to move in with her.
To strengthen Skellen's cover story, Hadley informs Hagen and Freund of Skellen's location; the wronged men attack Skellen at Leith's home and inflict a severe beating. As a result, Leith's few remaining doubts about Skellen dissipate, but Walker and his cronies still are not fully convinced. Helga observes Skellen meeting the same unknown individual (Ryan) in various locations. Their scrutiny intensifies when Walker and his associates witness Skellen's meeting with his wife and daughter. They use photos from their surveillance to convince Leith that Skellen is not all he seems. Walker orders Helga to kill Ryan, cutting Skellen's link to Hadley. Hadley has no choice but to trust Skellen's abilities to uncover the group's plans and escape alive. He orders police protection for Skellen's family.
Despite his official advisory capacity, Skellen is denied details about the upcoming People's Lobby operation. On the day of the operation, Leith and Walker instruct Helga and Mac to take Skellen's family hostage. Helga and Mac overpower the policeman on guard duty outside the Skellen home, bundling him inside as an additional hostage with Skellen's wife and child. Leith uses this to blackmail Skellen into unconditional co-operation.
The terrorists and Skellen arrive at the US Ambassador's residence in a hijacked coach. Wearing stolen US Air Force uniforms, they gain entry to the secure compound and take hostages of the US Ambassador, the US Secretary of State, the Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Air Command (SAC), and the British Foreign Secretary, along with their wives and the residence staff. Hadley and his police counterpart, Commander Powell, arrive at the residence to receive the demands of the terrorists: unless a US nuclear missile is launched at Holy Loch naval base, all the hostages will be killed. Currie questions Leith's motivations, and Leith responds that her ultimate goal is the total disarmament of the whole world. This opens a debate about method and political philosophy that only antagonises the terrorists.
Meanwhile, Dennis and three fellow SAS troopers arrive at Skellen's home. They set up in the attached house next door, using audio and video devices to covertly observe Helga, Mac, and their captives through the wall.
Skellen manages to separate himself from the group by feigning a need for the toilet. He uses a shaving mirror to heliograph floodlights and signal Hadley via Morse code, telling him to attack at 10 a.m. while Skellen creates a diversion. Hadley cannot get permission for an SAS attack because the British Home Secretary insists that Powell resolve the situation through negotiation. As the tension mounts inside the residence, a mistake by one of the terrorists causes the death of the SAC C-in-C. This enables Powell and Hadley to get the permission for their assault.
The SAS operatives in the house adjoining Skellen's remove a large area of the bricks separating the attached houses. Meanwhile, Helga's temper at the Skellens' crying baby escalates into a fight with Skellen's wife. The operatives work fast to attach a charge to the exposed wall, cut the lights and blow the wall so two SAS soldiers can shoot through the gap, killing both Helga and Mac.
As the SAS mount an assault on the residence, the terrorists panic. Skellen overpowers and kills three terrorists. The SAS, deploying from helicopters, force open doors and enter through windows. As they methodically clear the residence, Skellen kills more terrorists including Walker. Skellen joins with Baker and his troop to search for Leith, as the other troopers bundle the hostages to safety. When Skellen hesitates to kill Leith on sight, Major Steele kills her before she can kill Skellen.
The Ambassador thanks the troopers as they leave the residence. Skellen and his troop apologise to Hagen and Freund, explain the reason for their actions, and make peace. Skellen departs on one of the helicopters with his colleagues.
In a government building, Sir Richard, a politician, complains to a colleague about the violent end to the siege. He then meets the financier Malek, and they discuss future similar actions.
An on-screen list of terrorist incidents appears over the closing credits, accompanied by a rendition of ''The Red Flag''.
Charles Reece is a serial killer who commits a number of brutal mutilation-slayings in order to drink blood as a result of paranoid delusions. Reece is soon captured. Most of the film revolves around the trial and the prosecutor's attempts to have Reece found sane and given the death penalty. Defense lawyers, meanwhile, argue that the defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity. The prosecutor, Anthony Fraser, was previously against capital punishment, but he seeks such a penalty in the face of Reece's brutal crimes after meeting one victim's grieving family.
In the end, Reece is found sane and given the death penalty, but Fraser's internal debate about capital punishment is rendered academic when Reece is found to be insane by a scanning of his brain for mental illness. In the ending of the original version of the film, Reece is found dead in his cell, having overdosed himself on antipsychotics he had been stockpiling.
In the ending of the revised version, Reece is sent to a state mental hospital, and in a chilling coda, he sends a letter to a person whose wife and child he has killed, asking the man to come and visit him. A final title card reveals that Reece is scheduled for a parole hearing in six months.
A soccer riot breaks out in Springfield after a boring match between Mexico and Portugal. Fearing for her family's safety, Marge tells Homer to buy a Home Security System, but after learning it would cost $500, he buys a handgun instead. After a five-day waiting period per the Brady Act, Homer shows his firearm to Marge, who is horrified and demands he get rid of it. Homer brings her to a local National Rifle Association meeting hoping to change her mind, but she remains unconvinced.
After a near accident at the dinner table, Marge again begs Homer to get rid of the gun. He promises to, but later, Bart and Milhouse find it in the refrigerator's vegetable crisper. Marge discovers this and berates Homer, then leaves with the children and checks into a motel. That night, Homer hosts an NRA meeting at his house, but the other members kick him out of the association after seeing how recklessly he uses his pistol. Realizing what his behavior has cost him, Homer goes to the motel and tells Marge he got rid of the gun.
While leaving, Snake arrives to rob the desk clerk. Homer pulls out his gun and Marge is angry he lied again, but as he tries to apologize, Snake snatches the gun. The other NRA members arrive, but fail to prevent Snake escaping with the contents of the cash drawer. Homer then says he does not trust himself and asks Marge to throw the gun away herself. However, Marge sees a reflection of herself holding it in the trash can and decides to keep it.
The Spacing Guild has presented the three remaining Houses (the same as those in the previous games: House Atreides, House Harkonnen and House Ordos) with a unique challenge: a war of assassins on the planet Arrakis. Whichever House wins the war will become the new leader of the Landsraad, and its leader the new Padishah Emperor, Emperor of the Known Universe.
Eventually, it becomes clear during the campaign that the Tleilaxu are scouring Arrakis with hidden motives, with various probes spotted collecting flesh samples from dead sandworms. After the last battle with any one of the opponent Houses on their home planet, the Spacing Guild (Guild of Navigators) leaves the victorious House stranded on the enemies' conquered homeworld, attempting to control Arrakis with House Tleilaxu by genetically engineering an Emperor Worm with immense psychic powers empowered by Lady Elara. They also release a mind influencing drug in all the remaining forces water supply on Arrakis to make them slaves under the Guild. It then becomes clear that a last-ditch attempt must be made back on Arrakis to destroy the Emperor Worm before he awakes, by using the Smugglers Guild to get back to Arrakis. Eventually the player destroys the Emperor Worm, and the Guild's plan is foiled. The victorious house then regains control of Arrakis and the spice melange and proclaims their side's leader Emperor of Dune.
On May 10, 2010, the United States Army's TRAT unit is deployed to investigate the disappearance of Edward City and its surrounding countryside. Their mission: Travel through the Time Gate, locate 1300 survivors and collect data remnants on the Third Energy Project. Intelligence operative Regina is brought along as an adviser due to her past experiences. During insertion, the team's camp is attacked by a pack of ''Velociraptor'', leaving Lieutenant Dylan Morton, Regina and TRAT operative David as the only survivors. The velociraptors flee when a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' attacks the group. David damages the tyrannosaur's eye with a rocket-propelled grenade to ensure Dylan and Regina's escape. Regina returns to the transport ship while Dylan heads into the jungle, spotting a mysterious helmeted figure while investigating a military facility. Upon arrival, he is confronted by the wounded ''T. rex''. While escaping to the barracks, he is shot at by helmeted attackers. Later, he attempts to retrieve a key card, triggering a security alert that imprisons him.
Regina receives Dylan's distress call and rescues him. While rescuing Dylan, Regina captures one of the mysterious attackers, a blonde teenage girl who is unable to speak. When they return to their ship, they find the engine room ransacked, stranding the heroes in the past, while the teenage girl exhibits a familiar connection to Dylan.
At the Research Facility, Dylan discovers human containment chambers and a starter battery for the ship in order to get it mobile. Dylan returns to find the girl has escaped and theorizes that the helmeted attackers could be from a different time period. They use the repaired ship to reach the offshore Third Energy facility.
Regina uses a diving suit at the facility to investigate the underwater reactor. Once topside, she and Dylan receive a distress call from David, who has found survivors at Edward City. However, Dylan and Regina arrive too late. Upon splitting up, Dylan engages the ''T. rex'' with a tank before being jumped by another helmeted figure. The blonde girl saves Dylan and runs away. Deciding they have no business at Edward City anymore, Regina heads to a missile silo in the jungle.
Regina discovers the Third Energy data at the silo, but is confronted by the ''Tyrannosaurus''. Her savior is a gargantuan ''Giganotosaurus'' that kills it in a vicious one-sided brawl. The ''Giganotosaurus'' follows Regina inside the missile silo, causing damage that triggers a countdown to launch. Regina ignites gas vents to incinerate the head of the ''Giganotosaurus'', rendering it comatose. Regina stops the countdown, but the beast awakens from its coma and smashes the missile to the ground, destroying the base. While evacuating Regina, David and Dylan open the doorway on the river: suddenly, Dylan is attacked and injured by an ''Allosaurus''. In order to save him, David sacrifices himself by throwing Dylan into the river before getting eaten by the allosaur.
Dylan arrives at another research facility and encounters the blonde-haired girl. Inside, she plays a hologram recording of an elderly Dylan from 2055 and learns the origins of the disaster. The overload in 2009 caused time alterations to the Cretaceous Era, affected the earth's history dramatically, creating an alternate timeline where humanity did not exist. To fix this, an international organization enacted the "Noah's Ark Plan": utilizing the Time gate technology, they would transport the living organisms of the Cretaceous to a different time period, three million years in the future, with similar environments, where they could thrive unaffected by the alterations. With the distortions prevented, the organisms would then be returned to their original time period. However, when the Noah's Ark team attempted to return, the gate overloaded and was destroyed, stranding both the dinosaurs and humans in the future. The helmeted attackers are revealed to be the only remaining children of the survivors, who were brought to the safety of a facility and placed in special life support chambers for growth and learning. The side-effects of the chambers cost the children's ability to speak and allowed them to co-exist with the dinosaurs, attacking anyone who threatened them. Dylan also learns at this point that the blonde girl is his future daughter, Paula. The hologram instructs Dylan there is a basic gate they can use to go home, but it will work only once, asking Dylan to take Paula with him.
The facility's self destruct system is activated by the sole surviving helmeted figure. Paula flees, and Dylan and the helmeted figure wrestle each other to the floor, but the brawl is cut short when the ''Giganotosaurus'', revealed to have survived the warhead explosion despite getting burned, appears from the shadows. The helmeted figure is tossed off a foot bridge and killed, while Dylan incinerates the beast with an orbital laser. While attempting to evacuate with Regina, an earth tremor leaves Paula trapped by falling equipment. Unable to free her and with the building ready to explode, Dylan stays with his daughter, telling Regina to return home with the Third Energy data and save them at an earlier time period.
A year after his brother Lyam's coronation as king, Arutha returns to his city as the new Prince of Krondor, to begin plans for his wedding. Jimmy the Hand, a young thief, foils an assassination attempt on the prince by a fellow thief, and feeling loyalty toward the prince from previously aiding his escape from the city with Princess Anita (in ''Magician''), he chooses to warn the prince of the attempt on his life instead of reporting the traitor to the Mockers, Krondor's powerful and highly organized guild of thieves. Arutha seeks the Mockers' cooperation to obtain more information on the assassins, and at their request, makes Jimmy a squire of his court. Setting a trap, they capture two agents, who are revealed to be operating out of the temple of Lims-Kragma, Goddess of Death, one of whom is a moredhel whose appearance has been altered. During interrogation, both prisoners will themselves to death rather than divulge their plans. As the High Priestess of Lims-Kragma seeks the truth by bringing them back from beyond the grave, one of the prisoners rises by the power of an unknown enemy, and attacks his captors, slaughtering many royal guards, and addressing Arutha as "Lord of the West" before being destroyed by Father Nathan, a priest of Sung.
Injured in the attack, the High Priestess warns Arutha that the forces which opposed him were so powerful that they held the gods in contempt. Arutha leads a strike on the assassins' hideout in Krondor, but even as the assault appears to be going in their favor, the assassins begin rising from the dead and renewing their attack. Many of Arutha's men are slain, and the Black Slayers are only defeated when the entire building is burned to the ground. Believing the threat to be over for the time being, Arutha proceeds with his wedding. Just before the ceremony, Jimmy senses something is wrong, and finds the same assassin from the first attempt on Arutha's life hiding on the roof. He manages to disrupt the assassin just as he is firing at Arutha, but the poisoned bolt strikes Anita instead. The assassin is interrogated, and reveals the enemy to be Murmandamus, a moredhel chieftain and powerful sorcerer. According to a prophecy, Arutha is the only force that stands in the way of Murmandamus's total destruction of the Kingdom and domination over the realm. The assassin also reveals that the poison was given to him by a moredhel agent, who called it "silverthorn".
Pug is able to keep Anita under a spell that slows the passage of time, giving Arutha time to search for an antidote. With scant clues, he secretly leads a party to the one place most likely to have the answer to any question, the great library at Sarth Abbey. All along his journey, he is tracked by Murad, one of Murmandamus's top generals. They manage to reach the abbey, but their enemies strike again with powerful sorcery, both attacks barely repulsed by the mighty defenses of Sarth Abbey and its priests. From information gathered at the abbey, Arutha's quest turns to the elves of Elvandar for more information.
Meanwhile, Pug returns to Stardock to seek the aid of a scryer, whose vision of the future reveals a dark force behind Murmandamus, a powerful enemy speaking in ancient Tsurani, who is even capable of perceiving the scryer past the barriers of time and probability. Believing the threat therefore to be a danger to both worlds, Pug seeks more information from the Tsurani Assembly of magicians, and with the help of research from the books of Macros, creates a new rift to Kelewan and returns to his old estate with two companions, posing as priests.
In Elvandar, Arutha is told that the silverthorn plant can also serve as the cure, and grows only around the lake Moraelin, in moredhel-held territory, surrounded by a barrier the elves are unable to pass. He and his band set out for Moraelin.
In Kelewan, Pug arrives to find himself removed from the Assembly and declared an outlaw. His old friend and fellow Great One Hochopepa is willing to aid him, but they are captured by a Great One loyal to the current Warlord, who seeks to gain control of the Empire. Tortured by the Warlord and his inquisitors, and with his Greater Path magic neutralized, Pug turns to the Lesser Path, becoming the second magician ever to master both paths after Macros the Black. He is able to overcome his captors, and explains his reasons for returning to the Emperor, who grants him reprieve to continue his search in the Assembly's vast libraries. He arrives at the conclusion that the ancient Tsurani enemy has returned, posing a grave threat to both worlds. Pug is reinstated by the Assembly, and following a clue, travels to the northern polar wastelands of Kelewan, discovering a lost race of elves living in a forest under the ice, twin to Elvandar on Midkemia. Their leader, Acaila, offers to instruct Pug in magic over the course of the following year, in order to better face the coming trials.
Meanwhile, Arutha and his band manage to sneak past the moredhel sentries, and discover several silverthorn shrubs in the lake, and make their escape back towards Elvandar. Just as they are about to reach the safety of the Elven forest, they are overtaken by Murad and a band of black slayers. With the help of Tomas, they manage to defeat their enemies and return safely to Elvandar.
With the antidote made by the elven Spellweavers, Anita is saved, and Arutha's enemies set back by the death of one of their generals. But Murmandamus vows to regather his armies the next year, when the long-awaited invasion into the Kingdom will commence.
Category:1985 American novels Category:1985 fantasy novels Category:American fantasy novels Category:Books with cover art by Kinuko Y. Craft Category:Doubleday (publisher) books Category:Novels by Raymond E. Feist Category:Sequel novels
Arutha, Prince of Krondor, uses an attempted assassination as a ruse to fake his own death so that he may travel north to confront Murmandamus. In his travels to the Northlands, Arutha finds his father's former enemy, Guy du Bas-Tyra, as the Protector of the city Armengar, the first location to be invaded by the dark army under Murmandamus. In an attempt to destroy a majority of the army, Guy orders the evacuation of the city, and ignites the naphtha mines below the city. Murmandamus escapes unscathed, and the army marches towards the border of the Kingdom of the Isles.
Meanwhile, Pug and Tomas begin searching the world, and eventually beyond, for the famed sorcerer Macros the Black, thought killed when he helped to destroy the rift (at the end of ''Magician''). Macros reveals that he had put into motion a grand plot to instill Tomas with the powers of the Valheru, Ashen-Shugar, in order to turn the tides of the coming battle in their favour.
Murmandamus, having successfully overrun the border city of Highcastle, marches towards his final objective: the town of Sethanon, which lies above an ancient ruins containing an artifact of power known as the Lifestone.
Murmandamus lays siege to Sethanon, causing wholesale slaughter regardless of his own soldiers, in order to draw his necromantic power from their deaths. Steeped in power, he descends into the chamber of the Lifestone, and is confronted by Arutha, where they begin to duel. A rift begins to form within the chamber, held closed only by the magical efforts of Pug and Macros.
Arutha manages to kill Murmandamus, revealing his true form as a Pantathian impersonating a moredhel. With his death, the escaped magical energy causes the rift to open briefly, releasing a Valheru, and a life-stealing Dreadlord. Tomas, now fully embracing his Valheru heritage, battles his ancient kin, while his dragon mount fights the Dreadlord.
At the climax of the battle, Tomas stabs his sword through his enemy, and into the Lifestone, inadvertently releasing the spirits of all other Dragonlords. Their combined might, however, is no match for the Lifestone, the nexus of all life on Midkemia. They are drawn into the Lifestone and trapped for all eternity. The invasion is over.
Afterwards, Macros entrusts the guardianship of the world to Pug and Tomas, saying that his task to protect Midkemia is finished, and disappears.
Category:1986 American novels Category:1986 fantasy novels Category:American fantasy novels Category:Books with cover art by Kinuko Y. Craft Category:Doubleday (publisher) books Category:Novels by Raymond E. Feist
The series opens with Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld) and his best friend, George Costanza (Jason Alexander) seated at Pete's Luncheonette where their good friend Claire (Lee Garlington) is a waitress. After debating the placement of one of George's shirt buttons, Jerry tells George about a woman he met in Lansing, Michigan, Laura (Pamela Brull), who is coming to New York, and the two discuss whether or not she has romantic intentions. The next evening, Jerry tells his neighbor Kessler (Michael Richards) that he thinks he misunderstood the situation with Laura. However, he then receives a telephone call from Laura, who asks if she can stay overnight at his apartment. Though Jerry agrees, he is still unsure whether or not her visit is intended to be romantic. George and Jerry continue to debate the issue, with Jerry determined to find the true nature of her visit.
While waiting at the airport for Laura to arrive, Jerry and George try to identify the possible signals Laura might give upon her arrival, with George explaining the meaning of various greetings. However, when Laura arrives, her greeting is ambiguous. Upon arriving at Jerry's apartment Laura removes her shoes and some excess clothing to get comfortable, asks for wine, and turns down the light and asks if she can stay over a second night. As Jerry removes his own shoes and begins to grow confident, the phone rings for Laura. When Laura gets off the phone she tells Jerry: "Never get engaged." Jerry then realizes that he has no chance with Laura, but has already committed himself – and his one-bedroom apartment – to an entire weekend with her, including a five-hour sightseeing boat ride around Manhattan.
A fantasy, ''Bogus'' tells the story of seven-year-old Albert Franklin (Haley Joel Osment), the son of a Las Vegas showgirl (Nancy Travis). His mother dies suddenly in a car accident and Albert, who is now an orphan, is sent to New Jersey to live with his mother's foster sister, Harriet (Whoopi Goldberg). The plot is about Albert, and his imaginary friend named Bogus (Gérard Depardieu), a French magician, who helps the boy cope with his transition. Gradually Harriet, who can also see Bogus, comes to terms with her new situation as well.
Jonathan Safran Foer (Elijah Wood), a young American Jew, goes on a quest to Ukraine to find the woman, Augustine, who saved his grandfather, Safran Foer, during the Holocaust in a small Ukrainian town called Trachimbrod that was wiped off the map when the Nazis liquidated Eastern European shtetls.
His guides, who drive up from Odessa to meet Jonathan as he arrives at the train station in Lviv, are a cranky, seemingly antisemitic grandfather (Boris Leskin), his wound-up dog named Sammy Davis Jr. Jr., and his enthusiastic grandson, Alex (Eugene Hütz), who constantly chatters with a unique command of English and a passion for American pop culture that keeps the arduous journey lighter. These guides have been escorting wealthy Americans in search of their roots for decades. They are generally not very knowledgeable about the subject of finding Jews, and usually just attempt to scam them by taking them on long journeys. However, after hearing Jonathan's compelling story, they decide they actually want to help him.
Along the way in Volhynia, as they travel in search of the shtetl in the region around Lutsk, they have a series of misadventures, many of them humorous and based on the culture shock Jonathan experiences as an American tourist in Ukraine.
Traveling through much of rural western Ukraine, the three men eventually find Augustine's sister, Lista (Laryssa Lauret). She lives by herself in a house in the midst of a great sunflower field, isolated from technology and from news of the outside world. Lista tells them that Augustine was killed by Nazi soldiers after her father refused to spit on the Torah. And she leads them to the site where the town had been.
The next night Alex's grandfather quietly kills himself. Through flashbacks, it was revealed he was Jewish. During the massacre of the Jews of his town in the Holocaust, he was shot and thrown into a mass grave. But hours later, he regained consciousness and crawled out of the pit alive, and managed to survive the war himself by hiding his identity as a Jew. He abandoned this identity permanently, symbolically walking away from it.
Jonathan returns home to America after saying farewell to Alex, to whom he has grown close. They strike up a correspondence.
Both Jonathan and Alex sprinkle soil gathered from the site of the massacre on their respective grandfathers' graves. Alex's grandfather is given a Jewish tombstone.
Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom are college friends who use the opportunity of a passing comet to try an experiment. It goes wrong, leaving Victor believed dead. Susan and Johnny Storm are two children living with their mother, who has a boarding house where Reed lives. Ben Grimm is a family friend and a college buddy of Reed's.
Ten years later, Reed, Susan, Johnny and Ben participate in a mission in an experimental spacecraft of Reed's as the same comet passes Earth. Unbeknownst to them, a crucial diamond component designed to protect them from the comet's cosmic rays, has been replaced with an imitation by a criminal named The Jeweler, leaving them exposed to the radiation.
After crash-landing on Earth they discover that the cosmic rays have given them special powers: Reed's bodily structure has become elastic, Susan can become invisible, Johnny can generate fire on demand and Ben has transformed into a creature with stone-like skin.
They are later captured by men posing as Marines and are taken to Victor who has become the villainous monarch Dr. Doom. They escape and meet at the Baxter Building, trying to decide how to move forward with their superpowers. An angry Ben leaves them to go out on his own, feeling he has become a freak. He is found by homeless men and joins them in the lair of the Jeweler.
The Jeweler has his henchmen kidnap blind artist Alicia Masters whom he plans to force into being his bride, intending to use the stolen diamond as his wedding gift to her. Doom, who has his own plans for the diamond, sends his henchmen to The Jeweler to make a deal for it but to no avail. Doom seizes the diamond himself in a gun battle breaks between his men and The Jeweler's. When Ben enters the fray, Doom takes Alicia hostage. When Ben threatens to 'clobber' Doom, Alicia begs him not to risk it and confesses her love for him. Her confession changes Ben back to human form and he flees onto the city streets. Frustrated at his helplessness he reverts to the Thing.
When Ben returns to his friends, Reed has learned that Doom is actually Victor. Doom contacts them and threatens to use the diamond to power a laser cannon that will destroy New York City unless they surrender to him. Realizing they are the only ones who can stop him, they don costumes and travel to Doom's castle where they confront waves of his military forces. As Reed battles him, Doom manages to fire his laser but is knocked off a balcony wall. As he clings to the wall Reed tries to rescue him but Doom's gauntlet comes loose and he falls into the fog below. His gauntlet (still on the balcony) starts to move on its own. Meanwhile, Johnny has become the Human Torch and flies off to intercept the laser's shot, deflecting away from the city and into outer space. Ben frees Alicia and finally introduces himself to her. She feels the rocky surface of his face but is not fazed by his altered appearance. The Four dedicate themselves to fighting evil and Reed and Susan marry.
After being stabbed in the chest by his mother, Kyosuke Date returns from the dead to find out he has a twin sister named Runa, and the ability to transform into the amazingly strong, powerful and dangerous superhuman mutant known as the SoulTaker. As he seeks out his twin sister, he is being pursued by the strange mutant doctors and nurses of the hospital, led by his own father, Richard Vincent, as well as the evil Kirihara corporation, led by Yui Kirihara, who are also tracking down Runa for their own malevolent purposes.
Assisting him along the way are the mysterious Shiro Mibu and the nurse mutant girl Komugi Nakahara, who betrayed the Hospital out of strong romantic love for Kyosuke.
Heavenly Blues is the leader of the Angels motorcycle gang from San Pedro, California. Loser (or "the Loser") is his best friend. Mike is Blues' old lady.
The story begins in a quest to find Loser's stolen motorcycle. The plot is simply a buildup to a climax in the last half-hour of the film which is Loser's funeral. Loser's funeral is the showpiece of the film.
In between sprees of sex, drugs, rock and roll, booze, loud revving Harley chopper motorcycle engines, bongo drums and fights, the Angels ride out to Mecca, California in the desert to look for Loser's stolen motorcycle. One of the Angels finds a brake pedal, which he says is a piece of Loser's motorcycle, in a garage that is the hang-out of a Mexican group. The two groups brawl, with the Angels apparently winning. The police arrive and the Angels escape but Loser gets separated from the others and is left behind. He steals a police motorcycle but is not able to lose the policeman who is pursuing him or evade the roadblock that the police have in place. Eventually one of the officers shoots Loser in the back, putting him in the hospital.
Blues leads a small group of Angels to sneak Loser out of the hospital. A nurse hears a noise and comes into the hospital room. One of the Angels assaults her. Blues pulls the Angel away, forcing him to stop. The nurse, having seen Blues, identifies him to the police. The Angels take Loser to a biker bar and safe house run by 'Momma', a friend of the gang, but without proper medical care, Loser dies.
The Angels forge a death certificate for Loser and arrange for a church funeral in Sequoia Grove, Loser's rural hometown. Blues tells The Angels to go to Sequoia Grove on their bikes, in ones and twos, using different roads and do not show their club colors while traveling. The Angels arrive at Sequoia Grove, assemble at the church and carry in Loser's casket which is draped with a Nazi flag.
The funeral preacher arrives at the church; he looks at the assembled motorcycle gang and Loser, lying in repose in his coffin, with disdain. He undertakes a funeral sermon; it is a eulogy consisting entirely of funeral oratory cliches. This pathetic eulogy angers Blues and he interrupts the preacher's gibberish shouting, "Oh no, preach, not children of God, but Hell's Angels". Whereupon, the Angels decide to have a party in the church, with alcohol, dancing and reckless destruction of the church fixtures. They remove Loser from his coffin, they sit him up as a guest of honor and place a joint in his mouth. They beat and tie up the preacher and put him into the casket. Gaysh, the Loser's girlfriend, is drugged and raped by several members of the gang. Blues has sex with Momma, while Mike is kissed by another biker until Blues confronts them and slaps her. Blues then tells his gang that it is time to bury Loser.
The Angels, some riding their bikes, others walking and carrying Loser's casket, move through the town in a funeral procession to the Sequoia Grove Cemetery. At the cemetery, the people from the town show up outside the gate. A town youth throws a large rock, hitting one of the Angels, which provokes a brawl between the Angels and the townspeople. Police sirens are heard approaching in the background. Everyone scatters. The Angels mount their bikes and rapidly leave. Blues' girlfriend, Mike, begs him to leave. She tells Blues that his reaction to Loser's death is "like you went with him." But Blues refuses to leave and tells her to get on the bike of another member of the gang and go. With resignation, Blues says to Mike, "There's nowhere to go." Blues, left alone in the graveyard, puts on a pair of gloves and takes a shovel in hand. He slowly begins shoveling dirt into the open grave to bury his friend Loser.
Set in the Northwestern United States in 1875, the film focuses on taciturn widower Matt Calder (Robert Mitchum), who has recently been released from prison after serving time for killing one man while defending another. He arrives in a boomtown tent city in search of his nine-year-old son Mark (Tommy Rettig), who was left in the care of dance hall singer Kay (Marilyn Monroe) after the man who brought him there, as Matt had arranged, abandoned him. Matt promises Mark, a virtual stranger to him, the two will enjoy a life of hunting, fishing and farming on their homestead.
Kay's fiance, gambler Harry Weston (Rory Calhoun), tells her they must go to Council City to file the deed on a gold mine he won in a poker game. They head downriver on a log raft, and when they encounter trouble in the rapids near the Calder farm, Matt and Mark rescue them. Harry offers to buy Matt's rifle and horse so as to reach Council City by land. When Matt refuses, Harry knocks Matt unconscious and steals both horse and rifle. Kay chooses to stay behind to take care of Matt and Mark, and the three are stranded in the wilderness.
When hostile Indians attack the farm, the three are forced to escape down the river on Harry's raft. That night they set up camp by the river, and Matt and Kay argue about the wisdom of pursuing Harry. Matt asks why Kay would choose to marry a man who had endangered a child, whereupon she reminds him that Harry never killed a man like Matt did. Mark overhears their discussion, and Matt is forced to reveal the truth about his past to his son, who is unable to comprehend why his father acted as he did.
As the three continue their journey, Kay comes to appreciate Matt's bravery and the tender way he cares for both her and Mark. Along the way, they are forced to deal with a series of trials and tribulations, including a mountain lion attack; gold prospectors Sam Benson and Dave Colby, who are after Harry for stealing their claim; and a second Indian war party.
After a difficult ride through the worst of the rapids, the three arrive in Council City and confront Harry. Harry shoots at Matt, prompting Mark to shoot Harry in the back, using a rifle that he was inspecting in the general store. As a result, Mark comes to understand why his father had to shoot a man in a similar fashion so many years before.
Afterwards, Kay finds a job at the local saloon. While she is singing there, Matt walks into the saloon and throws Kay over his shoulder to take her back to his farm along with Mark. She happily leaves with him. The final scene is Kay throwing her high heeled showgirl shoes from their buckboard into the street, a renunciation of her old life.
Putty Moon, the place where Putty lives, has been taken over by an evil wizard named Dazzledaze. Dazzledaze planned to capture the Putties and ship them to Earth as gum. To save his friends and oust the evil wizard, Billy Putty enlists the help of some robots ("bots") to build a skyscraper that will reach up to Putty Moon.
The game revolves around a young boy (the player can name the protagonist in the beginning of the game), the protagonist, who is drawn into the Digital World through his V-Pet device. Jijimon greets and asks him a few questions, the answers to which determine whether he begins with an Agumon or Gabumon. His goal is to travel around File Island, locating all of the resident Digimon of File City who have turned feral and bring them back, raising Digimon partners in the process. He must train his Digimon and battle his way through all of Digimon World until the once sparsely populated city is flourishing with different Digimon from all of Digimon World. He must eventually go to Infinity Mountain (the final location) to confront the antagonist, Analogman, and the mega Machinedramon, and save the Digital World from destruction.
One day, a massive horde of flying saucers appears out of the depths of space and launches an invasion of the planet Earth. Despite the best efforts of the world's militaries and the Earth Defense Force under the Japanese Commander Oka, simultaneous deployments of the invaders' fleets of well-armed and highly mobile flying saucers devastate key strategic targets around the world and completely overwhelm the defenders. The invaders are aliens from the imperial planet Boazan, fighting under the command of the Boazanian emperor's ruthless nephew, Prince Heinel. With their victory all but assured, the Boazanian commanders retire to Castle Heinel, a secret underground citadel constructed by their agents in preparation for their conquest, and deploy the massive bio-mechanical "Attack Beast Knight Dokugaga" to destroy humanity's last bastion of resistance.
Unbeknownst to the Boazanians, however, are the efforts of Japanese scientists Mitsuyo Goh and Professor Hamaguchi, who have been working alongside Oka on a plan originally created by Mitsuyo's vanished husband, Dr. Kentaro Goh. Having forced her children, Kenichi, Daijiro, and Hiyoshi, to undergo a grueling training regimen alongside the American rodeo champion Ippei Mine and Commander Oka's daughter, Megumi Oka, it is revealed that all of their efforts up to this point were secretly meant to prepare the earth for this very eventuality. The scientists take the children to a top-secret base on the hidden island of Ootorijima known as "Big Falcon", where they reveal to the five Kentaro Goh's greatest life's work and humanity's last remaining hope for survival: the Super-Electromagnetic Robot, "Voltes V". Though it takes them some time to adjust to the controls, the five are able to work together and save the EDF from total destruction by finishing off Dokugaga with their powerful Heaven Sword, or Tenkuu-ken.
As the series progresses, the Boazanians continue to come up with a variety of strategies to try to defeat the Earth's powerful new robot, always involving the production of a new Beast Knight based on a different animal. As the Voltes team trains to improve their teamwork and skill, they also learn more about the nature of the Boazanians and the Goh siblings' missing father. Professor Goh is revealed to have disappeared on a diplomatic mission to the planet Boazan itself, hoping to stop their invasion before it came to pass. Having been imprisoned by the Boazanian empire this entire time, he escapes from their control and attempts to return to earth with several allies, but is waylaid by a breakaway force and taken prisoner by Heinel's traitorous science officer, Zuhl. Much of the second half of the series revolves around the Goh siblings desperately searching for their father, while he in turn works to oppose the invaders in secret.
Aside from its technological advancement, the planet Boazan is in fact very similar to Earth, and the native Boazanians are so like humanity that the two races can even healthily interbreed. The planet is wholly governed by an oligarchic monarchy with a cruel caste system: Boazanians born with horns are highly regarded and form an aristocratic elite, while the hornless are forced into slavery and worked to death on physically demanding tasks such as mining and construction. During a succession dispute between the highly-revered Chief Science Minister La Gour, son of the late emperor's brother, and Zu Zambajil, an illegitimate son of said emperor, it was discovered that despite La Gour's noble birth, he had been born hornless and had hidden the fact with prosthetics. Taking advantage of this fact to further his own quest for power, Zambajil had La Gour imprisoned and exiled his wife Rosalia, causing him great despair. After learning that Rosalia died while he was forced to work as a common slave, La Gour joined a band of hornless dissidents and subsequently led a daring insurrection against the empire, only to be easily thwarted by their vastly superior military. With no other options available to him, La Gour was forced to escape on a flying saucer and flee across the galaxy until he found himself on the faraway planet of Earth. Upon crash-landing, he was discovered by a Japanese scientist, and they fell in love. To blend in on Earth, La Gour exchanged his name for a Japanese one: Dr. Kentaro Goh. Thus, Dr. Goh's powerful technological advancements and knowledge of the oncoming alien invasion suddenly make sense, for he was once a native of that very planet himself.
Knowing that Zambajil's ambition was to rule a galactic empire, Goh quickly set into motion his plans to protect the Earth from their eventual attack, and moreover, to someday finish what he started by returning to Boazan and liberating its oppressed underclass. Yet when Zambajil threatened to invade the earth unless Goh returned to work under him, Goh had no choice but to abandon his family. Refusing to work for the tyrannical ruler, Goh was once-again imprisoned and nearly executed, only to be saved by the remnants of the rebel army he had created right before his exile. It is here that he met the rebel General Dange, an aristocrat who cut off his horns to join the rebellion, and they left for their ill-fated return to Earth. Just when everyone else believes them to be dead, it is revealed that Goh and Dange have been working on the creation of a massive spaceship known as the Solar Bird, with which they hope to return to Boazan to topple its oppressive government once and for all.
Two street racers, the Driver and the Mechanic live on the road in their highly modified, primer-gray, 1955 Chevrolet 150 two-door sedan drag car, and drift from town to town making their income by challenging local residents to impromptu drag races. ("Blacktop" means an asphalt road.) As they drive east on Route 66 from Needles, California, they pick up the Girl, a female hitchhiker, in Flagstaff, Arizona, when she gets into their car at a diner. Although the Driver develops a crush on the Girl, she sleeps with the Mechanic when the Driver goes out drinking one night. In New Mexico they begin to encounter another car driver, GTO, on the highways. An atmosphere of hostility develops between the two parties. Although GTO is not an overt street racer and seems to know little about cars, a cross-country race to Washington, D.C. is suggested. The Driver proposes that the prize should be "pinks" (pink slips), or legal ownership of the loser's car. Along the way, GTO picks up various hitchhikers, including an importuning homosexual hitchhiker. When GTO's inexperience becomes apparent, he, the Driver and the Mechanic form an uneasy alliance; the Driver even drives with him for a while when GTO gets fatigued.
Needing money, the Driver, the Mechanic and GTO compete at a race track in Memphis. While the Driver finishes his race, the Girl hops into GTO's car and they leave. The Driver pursues them to a diner located on US-129 (a location today known as the Tail of the Dragon) where the Girl has just rejected GTO's idea to visit Chicago. The Driver proposes going to Columbus, Ohio, to get parts, but the Girl rejects him too. Instead, she leaves with a stranger on a motorcycle, abandoning her belongings in the parking lot. Later, GTO picks up two soldiers and tells them that he won his car by beating two men driving a custom-built 1955 Chevrolet 150 in a cross-country race. At an airstrip in East Tennessee, the Driver races against a Chevrolet El Camino. The film ends abruptly.
Earth Federation Space Force (EFSF) officers stationed at the asteroid fortress Pezun rebel against the Federation leadership, which has allied with the Anti-Earth Union Group (AEUG). They self-claim themselves "New Desides" and swear to uphold the Titans' ideology of Earthnoid supremacy. The EFSF assembles Task Force Alpha, a force of EFSF, AEUG, and Karaba veterans equipped with the most advanced mobile suits, and sends them to Pezun to suppress the rebellion before it gets out of hand. The most powerful of them, the ''MSA-0011 S Gundam'', is equipped with an artificial intelligence named ALICE (Advanced Logistic and Inconsequence Cognizing Equipment).
Task Force Alpha, consisting of four Salamis Kai cruisers ships and the flagship ''Pegasus III'', arrives at Pezun and prepares to attack. In the midst of the action, the rebels launch a volley of guided missiles that destroys two cruisers.
A week after the encounter, the Earth Federation sends the Tenth Divisional Fleet to reinforce TF Alpha. However, fleet commander Brian Aeno - who was approached by a New Desides representative days before - announces that his force will side with the rebels. Task Force Alpha and a Federation fleet from the Moon attacks the asteroid, forcing most of the rebels to pull out and head for the city, with a small contingent on Pezun providing cover fire and wiring the base to self-destruct with a nuclear weapon. Task Force Alpha realizes the deception and escape just before the asteroid explodes.
Task Force Alpha begins to probe Ayers City with units of Neros which are quickly defeated by the ''Gundam Mk. V'' piloted by New Desides leader Brave Cod. The New Desides - which finally meets Aeno's forces after they arrive - launches a powerful counterattack just as Task Force Alpha drops mobile suits into the area. They also use a logic bomb that paralyzes Alpha's mobile suits after spies crack their operating systems' software. The EFSF counters the programming, but orders a retreat because of the high casualties and sends reinforcements, designated Task Force Beta.
Task Forces Alpha and Beta launch Operation Eagle Falls, an all-out assault on Ayers City. The New Desides, which wanted to use the Moon as a base to establish a new independent nation, fails to rally nearby other lunar cities to their cause. The fighting is spread out over 11 days. Cod also goes on a rampage, destroying Task Force Alpha's three-man ''FAZZ'' squad, but is killed by EFSF pilot Ryu Roots and his ''Ex-S Gundam''. As the city's forces surrender to the Federation, Ayers Mayor Kaiser Pinefield commits suicide after learning of Cod's death while the Neo Zeon arrive to extract the remaining New Desides forces.
The New Desides troops that safely escape Ayers rendezvous with the remnants of Aeno's fleet. Master strategist Tosh Cray assumes control of the group, which he formally disbands over issues on whether it should side with the Neo Zeon. He plans to hijack the relay station Penta and use it as a staging area for raiding the Federation Senate at Dakar. To boost the New Desides survivors' chances of success, the Neo Zeon supplies them with the massive ''Zod'-Iacok'' mobile armor, which is capable of atmospheric reentry and will be used to bombard the Federation base in the city.
The Pegasus III is deployed to pursue the New Desides at Penta. Arriving at the station, the Pegasus III and its remaining mobile suits confront Cray and the ''Zod'-Iacok''. The New Desides' remaining members head for Earth in three shuttles after Aeno surrenders. The ''S Gundam'' launches with Roots and pilots Shin Crypt and Tex West aboard with two ''Zeta Plus'' units in support. One Zeta Plus mobile suit is destroyed in the chase and the other, having run out of ammunition destroying one shuttle, safely enters the atmosphere. The Zod'-Iacok separates into two halves called ''Zoans''. One Zoan piloted by First Sides explodes because of an overheating mega-particle beam cannon and Josh Offshore tries to stop Roots from intercepting the second. Cray ejects from the Zoan and reboards one of the shuttles before he falls into the atmosphere.
Realizing the desperate situation, ALICE, the S Gundam's AI, ejects its Core Fighter with Ryu, Crypt, and West inside. The now-self-aware mobile suit chases and destroys the New Desides survivors during the orbital descent, but breaks up under the blistering heat.
While breaking in to the Coburn University dining hall, college friends Felix, (Steve Lemme), Matt (Paul Soter), and Grogan (Kevin Heffernan) are discovered by campus police. Felix manages to escape, but Matt and Grogan are caught, and await a disciplinary trial. Felix meets Suzanne (Kayren Butler), the student lawyer assigned to his friend's case, and begins a casual relationship with her. Suzanne is still dating her boyfriend, Traci (Jamison Selby), who is a rugby player at another school. Suzanne attempts to hide her relationship with Felix from Traci, causing Felix to sleep with Jennifer (Laura Arieh), another student. Suzanne becomes angry with Felix for pursuing another woman, while he insists that she is hypocritical, as she is still dating Traci. Matt and Grogan inform Suzanne that Felix was with them on the night they were caught breaking into the dining hall, forcing her to resign from the case, causing a guilty verdict and a community service sentence. Suzanne breaks up with Traci, only to find that he is scheduled to play against the Coburn rugby team. Suzanne begs Felix not to play in the upcoming game for his own safety, but he insists on playing, only to be significantly injured by Traci. Suzanne attempts to have Felix removed from the game by reporting his crime to campus police, which results in a community service sentence as he recovers from his injuries. Felix and Suzanne admit that they love each other, as Felix begins carrying out his community service. meanwhile, Matt, Grogan, and Freaky Reaky (Erik Stolhanske) are caught later that night stealing food from the kitchen.
In 1999, a war between the Pan-American Confederacy and the Eurac Monarchy (comprising Europe, Africa, and Asia) resulted in a nuclear holocaust. 20 years later, radiation has rendered all remaining humans sterile, and the victorious Euracs have occupied Manhattan and hunt survivors for genetic experiments.
After winning a motorized deathmatch in Nevada, an ex-Confederate soldier named Parsifal is abducted and taken to the Confederacy's secret base in Alaska. The President of the Confederacy tells him there is a fertile woman somewhere in New York City. He offers Parsifal a place on a Confederate rocketship bound for Alpha Centauri if he can infiltrate the city and retrieve her; otherwise, he will be killed. When Parsifal proposes sending in a cyborg instead, the President reveals the Confederacy eliminated all its cyborgs.
Parsifal is accompanied by two Confederate agents, Bronx and Ratchet. After entering Manhattan through the sewers, they are attacked by the Harlem Hunters, a street gang. They escape and come upon the Needle People, a group of scavengers led by the Rat Eater King, preparing to kill a dwarf named Shorty. Parsifal intervenes, and the three agents are captured. Eurac troops raid the scavengers’ hideout and bring Parsifal, Bronx, and Ratchet to their base along with a scavenger girl, Giara.
Parsifal escapes and rescues Bronx and Giara. Bronx stays behind and is killed, while Parsifal and Giara are saved by Ratchet. The three escape into the sewers and find refuge in a subterranean dwarf colony with Shorty, who claims to know the location of the fertile woman. The colony is attacked by Euracs using sonic weapons, and Parsifal, Giara, Ratchet, and Shorty flee. They are saved by a group of ape-like mutants, led by Big Ape. When Parsifal explains their mission, Big Ape reveals he is also fertile. That night, Parsifal protects Giara from one of Big Ape's mutants, and they have sex.
Shorty leads them to an underground vault, where they find a deceased professor and a life support chamber containing Melissa, the professor's daughter, who entered hibernation before the bombs fell and thus remained fertile. They also find a station wagon to escape through the Lincoln Tunnel. Big Ape and Giara stay with Melissa while Shorty, Parsifal, and Ratchet leave to find armor plating for the car. Big Ape then knocks Giara unconscious and impregnates Melissa.
At a junkyard, Shorty distracts the Euracs and sacrifices himself to buy Parsifal and Ratchet time to salvage. They return, collect Melissa, and drive through a cave wall into the tunnel. Parsifal manages to navigate the armored car past several minefields and barricades to freedom, but Big Ape is killed by a laser trap. While driving through the desert to their rendezvous, Parsifal deduces that Ratchet is actually a cyborg. Ratchet attacks him and stabs Giara before Parsifal kills him. Giara begs Parsifal to ensure humanity's survival as she dies in his arms.
Back at the Confederacy's headquarters, the President reveals that he is terminally ill, and gives Parsifal his place on the rocketship, which is revealed to be the base itself. As the ship blasts off, Parsifal watches Melissa finally awaken.
''The Serial'' is divided into 52 short chapters. It chronicles the lives of a group of residents of Marin County, mostly in their mid-to-late 30s and early 40s. The plot revolves around Harvey and Kate Holroyd, a couple in the midst of the mid-1970s Marin County lifestyle who are undergoing marital problems, with many other characters introduced in the book.
Yuzo and his fiancée, Masako, meet in Tokyo on a Sunday for their weekly date. They are determined to have a nice day even though they only have thirty-five yen between them, but this is easier said than done: they hear about an apartment they hope to rent so they can live together, but find it is too expensive. Yuzo plays baseball with a group of children but accidentally damages a ''manjū'' shop. They visit a club owned by someone Yuzo knew in the army, but cannot get in because the manager refuses to believe that someone dressed as shabbily as Yuzo could really know the owner. They go to the zoo, but it starts to rain and they have no umbrella, so they try to see a performance of Schubert's ''Unfinished Symphony'' only to find that ticket scalpers have already bought up all the cheap tickets to sell at a markup.
The unlucky lovers go back to the apartment Yuzo is sharing with a friend (who will be away until the evening), but Masako leaves after Yuzo angrily tries to force himself on her; forgetting her purse, they reconcile when she comes back for it. The rain stops, and they go to a café, where they are charged for two ''café au lait'', which are twice as expensive as the coffee they thought they had ordered. Yuzo gives his coat to the restaurant as collateral, promising to pay back the rest of the bill when he can afford it. Yuzo's spirits begin to lift as he and Masako talk about their dream of opening a "café for the masses" with good food and drinks at reasonable prices; they even act out running their shop in an empty lot they pass by. Yuzo then takes Masako to an empty outdoor amphitheater, where he pantomimes conducting a performance of the ''Unfinished Symphony'' they were not able to see earlier in the day. After this, they part ways until the following Sunday.
The main conflict in is between the Yagyu Jubei and Ryujoji schools. The rivalry was seemingly ended 300 years before the events of the series, when Yagyu Jubei defeated the Ryujoji school champion. Dying from his wounds, Jubei told his loyal companion Koinosuke to find someone with "plump, bouncy bon bons" and give her his eyepatch that contained a lifetime's worth of sword techniques. Unknowingly to Koinosuke, the Ryujoji clan plots their revenge.
After 300 years of searching, Koinosuke finds Jiyu Nanohana in modern Japan. Her figure makes her the ideal candidate to be the next Jubei. He approaches her and tries to give her the eyepatch but she steadfastly refuses. Only when they are attacked by a Ryujoji swordsman does she dons the eyepatch and dispose of him. They eventually find out that the Ryujoji clan believes it will be vindicated once the reincarnation of Jubei is defeated.
The introductory episodes follow the "Monster of the Week" formula, in this case, her teachers and peers constantly challenging her. Later episodes delve into Sai's pain of losing Jiyu's mother, the sacrifice that Jiyu has to make in order to live a double-life as Jubei, and the Ryujoji Family Curse.
Like the previous series, the plot of begins in Yagyu Jubei's lifetime. The Northern Yagyu were driven out of Japan into Siberia by the Edo Yagyu. After living several years in Siberia, they changed their name to the Siberian Yagyu. The leader of the Edo Yagyu sent Jubei Yagyu to assassinate Kita Ressai, the head of the Siberian clan. Jubei did not wish to carry out the order, but traveled to Siberia anyway. During his time there, he fell in love and had a daughter named Freesia. Some time later he caught up with Kita Ressai, the leader he had been sent to assassinate. Over Jubei's objections, Kita Ressai provoked a duel between the two while on a frozen body of water. In the heat of the battle, Kita Ressai broke through the ice, drowning Jubei Yagyu's wife and daughter along with him. Freesia remained frozen in a glacier for 300 years, until global warming caused enough of the glacier to melt to free her.
Freesia then learns of the Lovely Eyepatch that her father left to his successor. Freesia is furious when she learns that the Lovely Eyepatch was not left to her, but rather Jiyu Nanohana. Determined to claim the Lovely Eyepatch as the daughter of Jubei Yagyu, she tracks down Jiyu Nanohana, intent on defeating Jiyu and making her suffer. At the same time, the Siberian Yagyu learn of the appearance of Jubei Yagyu the Second and track down Jiyu Nanohana in an attempt to satisfy their 300-year-old grudge against Jubei Yagyu.
What ensues is a three way battle between the Siberian Yagyu, Freesia Yagyu and Yagyu Jubei's successor, Jiyu Nanohana. A major theme of the series is power and how differently people react to it. Jiyu does not want the responsibility and she's afraid to lose herself for power while Freesia does not understand anyone who is not willing to have more power.
From the bookjacket
"After a recruiter for the National Security Agency goes AWOL, NSA information analyst T.C. Steele must track her down."
The film tells the story of a little fox kit, Vic (Vuk in the original Hungarian version), who ventures away from his family's den and, upon his return finds it empty. He concludes that his whole family left the den with the human hunter (called "Smoothskinner" in the cartoon) because he can smell him. His uncle Karak finds him, decides to keep Vic in this comforting thought instead of telling him the truth, then offers for Vic to stay with him, and Karak continues to raise him.
As Vic grows older, he develops much cunning and cleverness. Now a young adult fox, he even dares to infiltrate the hunter's house, during which he finds a vixen, named Foxy, held captive in a cage. During a stormy night, he tricks the guard dogs and other animals, as well as the hunter himself, and eventually helps the vixen escape by smashing the cage open with a loaded wagon.
Foxy joins Vic and Karak in the woods, but when Autumn comes, Vic's uncle is shot by the hunter during the seasonal hunt. Vic swears revenge on the hunter and finally accomplishes it: first by breaking into the food locker and eating up all the eggs, then taking away all the poultry from the cages while playing many jokes on the hunter's stupid dogs (which results in the two dogs becoming strays at the end). Eventually, the hunter decides to set up bear traps around his house, luring Vic with goose roast; however, the two hunting dogs fall into said traps, and the third one seriously injures the hunter himself as well. At the end of the film, Vic and Foxy have cubs of their own.
In an unspecified future, space adventurer Barbarella is sent by the Earth's president to retrieve Durand Durand from the Tau Ceti planetary system. Durand is the inventor of a laser-powered weapon, the positronic ray, which Earth's leaders fear will cause mass destruction. Barbarella crash-lands on Tau Ceti's 16th planet and is knocked unconscious by two children. They bring her to the wreckage of a spaceship, where they bind and attack her using mechanical dolls with razor-sharp teeth. Barbarella is rescued by Mark Hand, the Catchman who patrols the ice looking for errant children. Hand tells her that Durand is in the city of Sogo and offers her a ride to her ship in his ice boat. When Barbarella offers to repay him, Hand asks her to make love to him. Barbarella is confused, since Earthlings no longer have intimate physical contact; instead they take pills "until full rapport is achieved." Hand suggests having sex in his bed instead. Barbarella relents and enjoys it but admits that she understands why sex is considered primitive and distracting on Earth.
Barbarella leaves the planet and crashes into a labyrinth inhabited by outcasts exiled from Sogo. She is found by Pygar, a blind angel who has lost the will to fly. Pygar introduces her to Professor Ping, who offers to repair her ship. Pygar flies Barbarella to Sogo, a den of violence and debauchery, after she restores his will to fly by having sex with him. Pygar and Barbarella are captured by Sogo's Black Queen and her concierge. The concierge describes the Mathmos: living energy in liquid form, powered by evil thoughts and used as an energy source in Sogo, which sits atop it. Pygar endures a mock crucifixion and Barbarella is placed in a cage, where hundreds of birds prepare to attack her. She is rescued by Dildano, leader of the local underground, who joins in her pursuit of Durand. Dildano gives her an invisible key to the Black Queen's chamber of dreams, where she sleeps.
After returning to Sogo, Barbarella is promptly recaptured by the concierge. He places her in a machine which induces fatal sexual pleasure. She outlasts the machine and makes it go haywire. The concierge, shocked at its destruction, reveals himself as Durand Durand. Barbarella is surprised since he is only 25 years old but has aged tremendously—a side-effect of the Mathmos. Durand wants to overthrow the Black Queen and become Sogo's new leader, which requires using his positronic ray and gaining access to the Queen's chamber of dreams. Durand takes Barbarella to the chamber and locks her inside with the invisible key. She sees the Queen, who warns that if two people are in the chamber, the Mathmos will devour them. Durand seizes control of Sogo as Dildano and his rebels begin their attack on the city. The Black Queen retaliates by releasing the Mathmos to destroy Sogo. Because of Barbarella's innocence, the Mathmos forms a protective bubble around her and the Black Queen and safely expels them. They find Pygar, who clutches them in his arms and flies off. When Barbarella asks Pygar why he saved a tyrant, he tells her that an angel has no memory of the past.
Roberto della Griva, a 17th-century Italian nobleman, is the sole survivor of a shipwreck during a fierce storm. He finds himself washed up on an abandoned ship in a harbour through which, he convinces himself, runs the International Date Line (roughly 180° longitude). Although the shore is very close, Roberto is unable to swim, and is therefore stranded on the ship. He begins to reminisce about his life and his love. He becomes obsessed about his allegedly evil twin brother, who is split from his own persona through a process reminiscent of the doppelgänger effect, and thus accusing him of all the bad things that happened in his life. The brother takes blame mainly for his bad choices and is present to sweeten the disappointments of life. Through this reminiscence he becomes convinced that all his troubles will end, if only he can reach the land. The story is told from the point of view of a modern editor who has sorted through the man's papers. Exactly how the papers were preserved and eventually handed down to the editor remains a point of conjecture.
This work contains references to Eco's previous novels. In one example, there is a mention of a crucial plot point from Eco's first novel ''The Name of the Rose''.
The player's team of worms arrives at Worminkle University, where they meet Professor Worminkle, who trains the team to use various weapons. Worminkle then sets the team assignments to sneak into enemy buildings and destroy their construction sites. To flee government agents, Worminkle and the team travel back in time to the Middle Ages using Worminkle's time machine, but the machine gets damaged as they are ambushed by wizards and knights. After fighting through them, the team proceed to the Wild West to find gold to keep the machine powered, fighting Boggy the Kid in the process, and to Ancient Arabia to recover jewels stolen by Ali Baboon and his pesky thieves and keep the machine's navigation controls balanced.
After recovering the jewels, Worminkle fixes the machine, but accidentally drops a letter. The team reads the letter, which reveals that the government was planning to build a new research laboratory to replace Worminkle University. Worminkle quickly takes the letter back and continues the journey with the team. However, they end up travelling far back to the Stone Age, where Worminkle betrays the team, revealing to them that he actually used them as part of his plan to escape from the Government. Planning to abandon the team in the Stone Age, he flees, but crashes into a mountain, forcing him to fix the time machine.
Determined to catch Worminkle, the team battle through caveworms and dinoworms. Once they manage to reach Worminkle on a volcano island, the team, having acknowledged what he did to them, steals the time machine and travels back to the present day, leaving Worminkle stranded in the Stone Age.
The books are set in a realm similar to ours, but separate. They tell the story of the Hath family and the Manth people, who go on a long, harsh journey from their city-prison to their homeland. The main characters, Kestrel and Bowman Hath, are twins who have certain powers that allow them to save their people, and friends, from an evil power called the Morah. The first book tells of the events unfolding near and inside Aramanth, the second one talks about the lives of the Manth people as slaves in The Mastery, and the third book concludes with their voyage to the homeland.
The trilogy begins with ''The Wind Singer'', which introduces the protagonists Kestrel and her beloved empath brother, Bowman. They live in a city called Aramanth, where personal freedoms don't exist and success depends solely on performance in universal compulsory examinations. Kestrel is a strong-willed individual who fiercely loves her family and despises the Exams. So great is her hatred of them that she denounces all the values and principles of Aramanth, as well as denying the existence of the Emperor, the unseen ruler of Aramanth. This sets in motion a chain of events that eventually results in Kestrel, Bowman and a neglected boy called Mumpo escaping from the city and going on a quest to save their people from an evil entity known as the Morah, which controls a numberless army of malevolent and deadly beings called the Zars. The children are successful, and a new era dawns for Aramanth.
In ''Slaves of the Mastery'' the people of Aramanth have become pleasant and passive, no longer in the grip of the Morah. This new meekness attracts the attention of the powerful Mastery, a realm built entirely by slave labour and ruled by the merciless Master. Aramanth is destroyed and survivors of the slaughter - including the Haths- are taken into slavery. Kestrel evades capture and sets off after her family, intent on revenge and the liberation of her people. In the course of the book Bowman finds his psychic powers growing, and discovers that he has a greater part to play in the destiny of his people than he originally knew. Ira Hath also begins to prophesy about the destiny of the Manth people and a return to their homeland. Bowman eventually defeats the Master, destroying the Mastery and leaving his people free to seek out the homeland.
The trilogy concludes with ''Firesong'', which sees the remaining Manth people follow prophetess Ira Hath to the Manth homeland. Contending with harsh weather, starvation and various other dangers of the wilderness, the band struggle to survive, whilst Ira grows weaker the closer they get. Bowman and Kestrel leave their family in order to train as Singer people and they finally understand their part to play in what is to come. Kestrel sacrifices herself, along with the Singer people, in a final battle against the Morah, causing the “wind on fire” to sweep the world and purge it of the evil entity. This allows the Manth people to finally reach the homeland, where they begin their lives again.
The book begins in the walled city of Aramanth, an extreme meritocracy where endless exams and ratings are the only way to move forward to improved life stations; to be unsuccessful in this is seen as a great source of shame. Using a system based on colour classifications, the governing Examiners dictate what people can wear, where they can live and what jobs they can do. The levels are grey, maroon, orange, scarlet and white, with the muddy Underlake the lowest and white the highest. The Emperor is the only person allowed to wear blue.
A minority in their society, the Haths believe more in ideas and dreams than in endless toil and ratings. When young Kestrel defies the harsh classification system of Aramanth she flees, finding herself in the company of the Emperor of Aramanth. Thought to be the ruler of the city, he is found to be merely a puppet of the High Examiner, and the Emperor tells Kestrel of the need to rid Aramanth of the influence of the evil Morah, of the need to return the voice to the mysterious Wind Singer that stands in the city arena.
Using an archaic map given to her by the Emperor she sets off, joined by her twin brother, Bowman, and their brave but pitiful new friend, Mumpo, who has an unshakeable affection for Kestrel. They meet a variety of tribes and individuals including the fearsome nomadic clans of Ombaraka and Omchaka. The journey eventually leads them to the Halls of the Morah; the very heart of the evil that has taken control of the city. Here the children finally retrieve the voice of the Wind Singer, in the process waking the terrible Zars, an army of the Morah. Pursued by the beautiful, evil and unstoppable Zars, the children race back to Aramanth, arriving just in time to return the Wind Singer's voice. The voice allows the Wind Singer to emit a powerful song that destroys the Zars and saves Aramanth.
At the beginning of the book, the city of Aramanth is greatly changed since events in ''The Wind Singer''. The walls have been torn down, and the poorer districts abandoned. No longer is it run by the strict system of exams; in fact, everyone is pleasant and docile. The change occurred because the city had been released from the grip of an evil force known as the Morah.
This new freedom, however, has also severely weakened the city. News of this reaches as far as a distant country known as the Mastery. The country sends an army of a thousand, commanded by young Marius Semeon Ortiz, to destroy the city and take its entire population as slaves. They do so, killing many of the city's residents, enslaving yet more, and leaving no survivors, except for Kestrel Hath. She vows to have revenge on the unknown Mastery, and on Ortiz himself, and begins to follow the trail led by the returning army.
The Manth people are brought to the Mastery, a beautiful country built up entirely on slave labor. They are branded and given jobs. Though some of the people begin to actually enjoy work, as they discover that every single person in the Mastery is a slave (except for the Master, ruler of the land, himself). Hanno Hath, father of Kestrel, signs up to be a librarian, while his son Bowman decides to become a night watchman, in order to listen for his approaching sister.
Kestrel, meanwhile, faints with exhaustion on her journey. She is rescued by the beautiful Sirharasi (Sisi), Johdila of Gang. As one of the few people who has seen Sisi unveiled, Kestrel becomes her servant and mutual friend. She discovers that Sisi is also travelling to the Mastery to marry Ortiz, the man who led the attack on Aramanth. Kestrel decides to try to use the considerable might of Gang's army, the Johjan Guards, to overthrow the Mastery, and she convinces Zohon, the Guards' conceited leader, that Sisi loves him, and that she will give him a sign to show this.
While on a night watch, Bowman is approached by an ancient, one-eyed hermit known as "Dogface", who tells Bowman that, as the son of the prophet (Bowman's mother, Ira Hath, is descended from the ancient prophet, Ira Manth), he has great powers that belong to the Singer people. Bowman tests these new powers by speaking with a cow, moving a stick without touching it, and later speaking to a cat, Mist, that Dogface leaves behind. Mist's ambition is to learn how to fly, but as Bowman's powers are initially limited and untested, he doesn't and can't teach Mist.
Meanwhile, Mumpo, another Manth slave, joins the Manaxa. The Manaxa is a fight where two competitors attempt to stab each other with spiked armor until either one dies or is driven out of the arena, and is considered a great honor to compete in the Mastery. He shows considerable talent at this and at the wedding kills the reigning champion and heavy favorite.
At the wedding Sisi and Ortiz both fall for people other than those intended, Sisi for Bowman and Ortiz for Kestrel, and chaos ensues. Zohon, believing he is rescuing Sisi from the Mastery, instigates a battle against Ortiz and his men; however the entire population of the Mastery, bound by the Master's will, attacks and outnumbers Zohon's army. Mumpo begins searching for Kestrel to try to save her in the chaos, killing anyone he encounters whether they be Mastery Citizens or in the Johjan Guards. Bowman, using his mind powers, engages in a mind duel with the Master. Kestrel and Ortiz come in. Bowman is temporarily distracted and the Master exploits this and commands Ortiz to kill Kestrel. Despite his love for her, he is unable to resist the Master's will and obeys. With the sword centimeters from her heart, Bowman kills the Master and Ortiz is released from his will. Mumpo enters the room and sees Ortiz with his arms around Kestrel, and gets the wrong idea. Mumpo smashes Ortiz's head and breaks his neck. Released from his power, the Master's army dissipates and sets about destroying the city in a frenzy, and Zohon seizes control.
Finally free to leave, Ira Hath asserts that they must seek out the homeland, as "the wind is rising". Though many of the Manth people choose to stay behind and make a life for themselves where they are, a small group resolve to trust in Ira's prophecy, and together along with Sisi and her servant Lunki, they set out in search of the homeland.
''Firesong'' begins with the Manth people deliberating over what action to take, now that the Mastery is in ruins. After the defeat of the Master, alone and displaced, they seek a new homeland but have no real destination and very little food.
Ira Hath, descendant of Ira Manth, and a great prophetess who is also Kestrel and Bowman's mother, has a vision of the Manth people's true homeland. Throughout the book the Manth people travel with only Ira's guidance, and she becomes weaker as they go, knowing she will eventually die of prophecy.
Bowman eagerly awaits a summons from Sirene, and must prepare to sacrifice himself to save his people and the world. Before he is ready for this, however, he must be trained by the great Albard, the Master of the ruined Mastery. The journey is long, and his preparation is tough, especially in the hands of a strange teacher. Jumper, the man-woman Singer who can change forms and personalities to please people, has come for Bowman. Jumper agrees to let Kestrel, Bowman's sister, come along as well.
In the end it is revealed that Kestrel is the one who is destined to give her life, having picked up Albard's teachings along the way. Bowman is in fact the ''Meeting place''- the point at which the great evil and the great kindness of the world will annihilate one another. This is because he was once one of the Zars, the army of the Morah (the "spirit" of all evil), and is one of the Singer people too, as he has been trained in their ways. Upon reaching the homeland, Ira's life ends, her destiny fulfilled. Kestrel, too, ends her life with all the other Singers, singing the firesong to destroy the Morah, give humanity a fresh start, and allow the Manth people to finally reach the homeland.
The epilogue, set some 8 years later, finds the Manth people established in their new home, with various people married and with young families. Amongst them are Bowman and Sisi (the princess of Gang, and Kestrel's best friend), who are now rulers of Gang due to Sisi's birthright. The ending sees Pinto and Mumpo betrothed, and the Manth people happy at last.
In Frankfurt, Germany, a young woman races frantically away from hooded figures similar to the robed men in Istanbul down deserted corridors above a bustling nightclub. She dashes through an exterior door, scales down the building, and, believing herself safe, leaves the building at the street level. Robed pursuers appear and push her back through the door. One of the robed figures pulls a long curved dagger. She blocks his swing, but misses the next. The assassins re-sheath their daggers and depart. The young woman opens her deadened eyes and says in a deep, inhuman voice, "From beneath you, it devours."
Dawn awakens Buffy from the nightmare in which she witnessed the German woman's murder and Buffy questions the meaning of her dream. Elsewhere in Sunnydale, something large tears through the ground. Spike sneaks around in the school basement he calls home, seemingly headed for a rat while he speaks aloud. Everything around him begins to shake and he falls to the ground, screaming. Xander drives Buffy and Dawn to school and they talk about high school and Xander's relationship problems. Principal Wood introduces Buffy to her new job and cubicle where she will be working. Buffy sneaks down to the basement in search of Spike, but does not find him. A woman named Nancy walks her small dog along the sidewalk, but while her back is turned, something sucks the dog through the pavement and into the ground. She runs away and right into Xander, who takes her to the safety of Buffy's house.
The remaining Scooby Gang console Nancy and promise to deal with this unusual creature. Much to everyone's surprise, a cleaned up version of Spike joins them in the living room and offers his assistance in the battle. Spike wants to talk with Buffy, but Dawn and Xander are not happy to see him or with the fact that Buffy did not inform them that she saw Spike earlier. Buffy goes to talk with Spike privately and he offers to help deal with this underground monster. Buffy eventually agrees to let him help, then explains the game plan to the rest of the group. As Spike leaves with Buffy for patrol, Dawn threatens to kill him if he ever again harms or touches Buffy. Spike is somewhat unnerved by this which is surprising since he is usually not easily frightened.
While examining the scene where the dog was eaten, Spike explains that the manifest spirits from the school were the cause of his temporary insanity. Buffy is uncomfortable around him and he does not apologize for what he did, just admits to changing. Meanwhile, Xander takes Nancy home and she asks him on a date. The ground rumbles and a giant worm chases them down a hallway and emerges from the ground with a roar. Once the worm goes away and the two are safe, Nancy starts to talk about her abusive ex-boyfriend Ronnie, and Xander quickly concludes that she made a wish to a vengeance demon.
Buffy and the gang confront Anya at the Bronze and get her to admit to making Nancy's ex-boyfriend Ronnie into a Sluggoth demon. Nancy learns that Buffy and Spike, Spike and Anya, and Anya and Xander had been involved. Anya suddenly realizes that Spike has a soul, but Spike tries to stop her from spilling the news to the rest of the group. He starts to attack Anya and she turns on him, using her vengeance demon strength. Buffy steps in and beats up on Spike while he hits back with a verbal assault of what he did instead of his fists. The fight sends Nancy on the run alone, but her wormy ex-boyfriend is hot on her trail. Meanwhile, Xander tries to convince Anya to reverse the curse on Ronnie, but it is not something she can do easily. She admits that she is facing immense pressure in her line of vengeance work from her colleagues and D'Hoffryn ever since Xander left her at the altar; but Xander urges her to stop blaming him for her own mistakes.
Buffy arrives in time to rescue Nancy from certain death and before Buffy can begin to battle with the giant worm, Spike intervenes. After a few hits with a metal pole, he goes to stab the worm only to have it turn back into Ronnie's human form before Spike makes contact. Spike's chip fires as he realizes that he has attacked a human being. He is terrified as he feels remorse, and he warns Buffy that "from beneath you, it devours." Anya and Xander arrive on the scene and Anya knows she will be punished for reversing the spell.
Buffy chases after Spike and finds him in a church. He is confused and speaks metaphors of what he really is to Buffy. He concludes that she is there to use him like she did before, but Buffy is quick to correct him. He tries to explain what he did, to get the missing piece that would allow him to become what she wanted, and that Angel should have warned him of the consequences. Buffy then understands that he got his soul back and is shocked by the revelation. Spike continues to speak of all the voices that are in his head, those of the people he tortured and killed as a vampire, and also that of coming evil beneath. Buffy asks him why he got his soul back, and Spike replies that it was for her forgiveness. Spike turns to a large cross at the front of the church and drapes himself onto it, letting it burn him. Tears flow down Buffy's cheeks as she looks on.
In England, Willow struggles with the need to return to Sunnydale where she will be forced to face her friends and the trouble she caused. A taxi awaits her as Giles listens to her verbalize her fears and he convinces her that even if her friends do not want her back, her presence on the Hellmouth will be important.
Told from Neal Cassady's (Thomas Jane) perspective, in a form of a letter, the film follows his life before and after the suicide attempt by his longtime lover, Joan (Claire Forlani). Demonstrating Neal's active mind and ever changing thoughts, the film jumps back and forth between before and after the attempt.
The story begins the day of Joan's suicide attempt, with Neal sitting in the hall outside Joan's hospital room. The story then jumps to the day before the suicide attempt, where a rain soaked Neal whisks Joan away from her job. They have an intimate night together. After, she sits on the bed, sad, but Neal keeps professing his love to her. The scene returns to the hospital room, silence between them. Neal is told he has to leave.
The story moves ahead, with Ben (Adrien Brody) visiting Neal. He asks Neal if he has been back to the hospital to which Neal replies no. It cuts ahead to Neal wide awake, drinking coffee and eating bread with Ben. In a manic state, Neal tells Ben about the story he wants to write.
Neal encounters his friend Harry (Keanu Reeves), who suggests the two of them pick up some girls and take them out on a road trip in a stolen car. They all drive out into the country, flying down the roads. Later, at Neal's job at a tire plant, Neal's friend Jerry finds Neal obviously high, and saves him from getting in trouble.
Eventually, Neal makes amends with Joan, and decides to settle down with her. On his way to pick up a suit for a job interview, he runs into a drunk Harry, who asks him to come in for a beer. Neal ends up drunk, and Harry convinces him to call Mary (Gretchen Mol), his teenaged ex-girlfriend. When Mary sneaks out of her house, her mother calls the police, who arrest Neal just as he is about to leave. He is allowed to make a phone call, but he doesn't know Joan's phone number. When Mary refuses to testify against Neal, the charges are dropped. The police nevertheless hold him on the false premise of suspicion of burglary. After spending a two weeks in jail, Neal is released. He goes to Joan's house, but finds it empty; he waits, but eventually it is obvious she isn't coming back. He walks back down the porch, steals a car, and disappears.
Neal finishes writing the letter and places it in an envelope. Walking away, he throws the pages of his novel into the air, paper flying and landing everywhere.
The protagonist of the novel is a 13-year-old orphan named Tom Mullen. He lives in the Old Swan area of Liverpool with his hostile foster parents and his "brother", Brian.
One night, Tom and Brian creep out to investigate a mysterious excavation near their school and discover that the workmen have uncovered an old graveyard. As Tom is examining the burial ground, he falls into the dark endless pit.
Tom wakes up in the countryside near the sea. He sees a group of people gathered around the body of a drowned boy who looks exactly like Tom. Everyone thinks the boy is dead, but Tom does CPR and saves him. The boy's name is Tully Monaghan, and Tom is invited to live with his family. As Tom walks into their cottage, he notices a newspaper saying that the date is September 1847. He is not only somehow in Ireland, he has traveled back in time to the height of the Great Famine.
When the villagers come under attack from the owners of the land, Tom gets hit on the head and is catapulted back to his own time, 1974. He is devastated that he is no longer with the friendly Monaghans. During football practice Tom realizes he can simply jump back into the pit to return to the past. When he does this, however, he discovers that the Monaghans' cottage has been all but destroyed, Tully's father is dead, and the family has decided to move to Liverpool. Tom goes with them, but later again accidentally returns to the modern day.
The next night Tom once again jumps down into the grave. He returns to old Liverpool on March 13, 1848 – four months since he last saw the Monaghans. Tully's mother is now very ill with fever and his brother Brendan catches it too; both die in hospital.
Tom tells Tully and his sister Hannah, the only remaining members of the family, about his coming from the future. They figure out that Tully is Tom's great-grandfather and that the reason why Tom came to the past was that if Tully had died on the beach, Tom would never have been born. Tom decides to return to his own time, only to be literally kicked out of the house by his foster parents. That night Tom goes to the grave, takes Ma's and Brendan's coffins and buries them in a church graveyard.
A few months later, Tom's football coach asks him why he changed his last name to Monaghan. It turns out that the coach is Tom's long-lost father.
The novel tells the story of a fictional famous college football player at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during the early 1950s. The setting of the novel was changed to a fictional "Louisiana University" for the movie adaptation. The main character, Gavin Grey, wins the Heisman Trophy and then goes on to a professional career, but is sidetracked by alcoholism, failed business ventures, and marital difficulties among other misjudgments.
The novel is narrated by Grey's nephew, Donnie McClure, a historian who has written a biography of Confederate war hero J.E.B. Stuart. During his college career, Grey's heroics are often compared to Stuart's actions. Both are celebrated not only for their actions, but for their gentle behavior and consideration for others around them.
Grey's greatest moments came away from the football field. At a fraternity party, a carelessly placed cigarette ignites the dress of a young woman, who staggers back in fear and nearly starts a much larger fire by lighting a set of drapes. Despite a strong fear of fire, Grey saves the woman by leaping forward and dousing the flames. A few weeks later, Grey, McClure, and a UNC teammate, Lawrence, venture into a black neighborhood where Grey meets Narvel Blue, another one-time football star whose greatness was never realized because of bad grades, segregation, and bad luck. Blue and Grey compare attributes but decide that a foot-race must be held to determine which is the faster runner. Despite falling behind initially, Grey eventually overcomes Blue by a shade at the end of the race.
After a serious knee injury cuts short his professional career, he is miserable in retirement and returns to accept a lesser role with the Baltimore Colts. However, his season, and ultimately his football career, end after a knee injury in his third game. Grey is left calling every team in the NFL, begging for one more chance.
Grey is left to constantly reminisce about his glory days on the football field, boring and embarrassing those around him. His once-gawky and awkward nephew Donnie becomes a respected scholar and biographer, and his beauty queen wife, Babs, becomes a successful career woman. All of Grey's former teammates move toward their life off the gridiron with infinitely more grace, while Narvel Blue overcomes racism in the South to become a successful restaurateur.
As each day passes, Grey falls farther away from his moments of glory. And with each passing day, his relevance, sense of place, and his grasp of the world around him fade until he is diminished to little more than a ghost.
Hannie Caulder (Raquel Welch) is a frontier wife, living with her husband at a horse station between towns in the American West. After a disastrous failed bank robbery raid, the inept Clemens gang, three brothers, arrives at the horse station. After acting friendly, they murder Caulder's husband, gang-rape her, burn down the family house, and leave her for dead in the burning house. The brothers then go on a crime spree, while Caulder recruits bounty hunter Thomas Price (Robert Culp) to help her get revenge by training her to be a gunfighter. The pair travels to Mexico to have gunsmith Bailey (Christopher Lee) build her a specialized revolver, to be a fast draw specialist. In the meantime, the two grow closer. When ''bandidos'' surround the Bailey house, a gun battle erupts, but Hannie is unable to kill a man face-to-face. Price recommends she give up her quest for revenge, but she refuses, telling him to get out and that she was only using him and does not need him anymore. Price leaves, telling Hannie she is a bad liar.
As he goes, Price sees the Clemens brothers arrive in town. His attempt to take down Frank for a reward goes awry, because Emmett (Ernest Borgnine) throws a knife into Price's belly, mortally wounding him. Hannie goes after them, killing Frank (Jack Elam) in a whorehouse. The two brothers swear revenge on her, but she gets Rufus (Strother Martin) in a store when he tries to kill her. Hannie lures Emmett to an old prison for a showdown and almost meets the same fate as Price, but Emmett's attempt to throw a knife into her back is thwarted by the preacher, who shoots the gun from his hand. Hannie kills Emmett face-to-face, but realizes that Price was right – taking revenge will change her forever.
The film follows Karen Carpenter from the time of her "discovery" in 1966, her quick rise to stardom, to her untimely death by cardiac arrest (secondary to anorexia nervosa) in 1983. It begins in Karen's parents' home in Downey, California on February 4, 1983, and the viewer follows through the eyes of Karen's mother, Agnes Carpenter, as she discovers her body in a closet. The film then returns by flashback to 1966, and touches on major points in Karen's life including the duo's signing with the A&M record label, their initial success and subsequent decline, Karen's development of anorexia nervosa, her 14-month marriage to Thomas Burris, Karen's on-stage collapse in Las Vegas, her search for treatment for her anorexia nervosa, the attempt to restart her career, and finally a claim that she gradually developed a reliance on syrup of ipecac (a product that, unbeknownst to her, destroyed her heart and led to her cardiac arrest and death).
An unusual facet of the film is that, instead of actors, almost all of the parts are played by modified Barbie dolls. In particular, Haynes detailed Karen's worsening anorexia by subtly whittling away at the face and arms of the "Karen" Barbie doll. Sets were created properly scaled to the dolls, including locales such as the Carpenter home in Downey, Karen's apartment in Century City, restaurants, and recording studios. Details such as labels on wine bottles and Ex-Lax boxes were shrunk in proportion. Interspersed with the story are documentary-style segments detailing both facts about anorexia and the times in which Karen Carpenter lived, as well as blurred and distorted flashing segments that are intended to break the flow of the film. These segments were seen as melodramatic parodies of the documentary genre. The underlying and unauthorized soundtrack includes many popular hits of the day, including duets such as Elton John and Kiki Dee and Captain & Tennille, and songs by Gilbert O'Sullivan, Leon Russell, as well as the bulk of The Carpenters' hits themselves. However, the soundtrack also includes distinctive experimental synthesizer pieces that serve as motifs during extremely tense moments in the plot.
The tone of the film is sympathetic to Karen, especially in regard to her anorexia, but much of that sympathy is seemingly gained by making the other characters unsympathetic. Karen's parents, Harold and Agnes, are portrayed as overly controlling, attempting to keep Karen living at home even after she turned twenty-five. Agnes was portrayed as unaware of the extent of Karen's problem with anorexia. The duo's initial meeting with A&M Records owner Herb Alpert (who is simply called Mr. A&M in the credits) was inter-cut with stock footage of Vietnam War scenes. Richard Carpenter was portrayed as a rampant perfectionist who frequently sided with his parents against Karen, and he was also depicted as being more concerned with his and Karen's careers than with Karen's health. This culminated in a scene where Richard berates a fatigued and obviously ill Karen for not meeting business demands, yelling at her, "What are you trying to do? Ruin ''both'' of our careers?", causing her to break down in tears. Haynes then insinuated, during a fight between Richard and Karen over her renewed use of Ex-Lax, that Richard had a secret that he didn't want his parents to know about. Haynes' dark treatment of the film included using black captions which often blend in with the scene, rendering them unreadable.
Haynes also works spanking, a common theme in his works, into the film, through a repeated segment featuring a black-and-white overhead view of someone administering an over-the-knee spanking to the bare-bottomed adult Barbie Karen. The meaning of this segment is never discussed, leaving it to the viewer's imagination and serving as a motif breaking any intention of normality in the film.
In the North African campaign, the player's (Specter) fireteam consists "Jester" as well as SEALs "Killjoy" and "Simple". Specter's SEAL team battles the North African Patriotic Front (NAPF), the renamed Algerian Patriotic Front from SOCOM II U.S. Navy SEALs, led by the megalomaniac General Heydar Mahmood and Colonel Sarwat, his second-in-command. Mahmood had gained control of Algeria via a coup d'etat during the previous game, and now the NAPF has just launched an offensive into a neighboring unnamed country, while the SEAL team is enlisted to support local forces trying to repel the NAPF.
In the South Asian missions "Killjoy" and "Simple" are replaced by British Special Boat Service operatives "Flash" and "Chopper". In these missions the player battles a piracy organization called "The Fist and Fire".
The last missions take place in Poland where the SEALs battle a well funded, ultra-nationalist terrorist organization called the New Slavic Order (NSO). In these missions "Flash" and "Chopper" are replaced by GROM operatives "Deadpan" and "Coldkill".
U.C. 0105, twelve years after the Second Neo Zeon War,Nine and eight years respectively after the events of ''Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn'' and ''Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative'' in the theatrical film adaptation. the Earth Federation accepts the Republic of Zeon back in the fold. However, over the next few years, the Federation's greed and distrust of spacenoids leads them to form "Man Hunter" units to forcefully deport underprivileged or undesirable civilians around the world to the space colonies. A terrorist organization called Mafty is led by Bright Noa's son Hathaway Noa. Hathaway, who now goes by the name Mafty Navue Erin, is still haunted by his past actions regarding the death of Quess Paraya and reflecting upon the actions and beliefs of Char and Amuro. He started his terrorist actions against the Federation and its high officials as an act of revenge, using the new prototype unit, the RX-105 Ξ Gundam (Xi Gundam, "Ksee Gundam"). In response, Kenneth Sleg of the Earth Federation Space Forces assembles the Circe Unit, led by Lane Aim piloting the RX-104FF Penelope in order to stop Mafty.
The overall plot is very similar to the first story arc in the manga and anime, with eighth-grade girls Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki and Fuu Hououji finding themselves drawn from their respective field trips to the Tokyo Tower into the world of Cephiro. There, Master Mage Clef inform them that, in order to return to Tokyo, the three girls must become the Magic Knights and rescue Cephiro's current Pillar, Princess Emeraude (named as Princess Emerald in the English version), from her abductor, the high priest and antagonist Zagato (named as Zagat in the English version).
All of the characters from the first arc of the manga are present in the game, as well as anime-exclusive character Inouva. However, the game presents several new locations and characters, thus considerably expanding the overall plot. The player can also read each of the girls' journals, which receive new entries after key events in the game, providing their individual insights on the events.
Unlike in the manga and anime, all of Zagato's minions die throughout the game, including Ascot, Caldina and Rafarga.
Barry Wirth (Sam Worthington) is a retired small-time criminal who is released on parole following the death of his mother, so that he can care for his younger brother, Joey (Luke Pegler). Wirth was falsely convicted for murder by corrupt police detective Arnie DeViers (David Field), who is in the employ of criminal kingpin Chicka Martin (Gary Sweet). Shortly after Wirth is released, a corrupt accountant is arrested and his records seized, causing difficulties for Wirth's new employer, Darren "Dabba" Barrington (Timothy Spall), an ex criminal turned restaurateur whose money is seized along with that of Chicka. Wirth's friend Johnny "Spit" Spitieri (David Wenham), a heroin addict and small-time criminal, is arrested while conducting a drug deal and finds himself owing twenty thousand dollars to Chicka. DeViers continues to harass and threaten Wirth, even as the latter finds success as a chef in Dabba's restaurant. Despite his best efforts to remain clean, Wirth finds himself under increasing pressure to return to his criminal ways in order to help both Dabba and Spit.
The film depicts the rise and fall of Kate Crowley (Hazel O'Connor), an angry but creative young singer and songwriter. At the beginning of the film, she is discovered by Danny (Phil Daniels), a young man who desperately wants to become a promoter of music bands but is stuck working for another agent (who forces him to buy hundreds of copies of the singles of one of his artists, Suzie Sapphire, to fix the music charts). Danny takes an active part in controlling Kate's career, impressed with her talent if not her band, whom he promptly fires. He arranges auditions and reaches out to former friends, and in doing so Kate's new band, Breaking Glass, is formed. Breaking Glass consists of Kate on vocals and keyboard, best friends Tony (Mark Wingett) and Dave (Gary Tibbs) on lead and bass guitar respectively, the heroin-addicted and partially-deaf Ken (Jonathan Pryce) on saxophone and the 'mental' Mick (Peter-Hugo Daly) on drums.
Danny does his best to promote the band but finds it hard-going. The best he can do is several nights in a pub frequented by neo-Nazis, which, given Kate's anarchist and liberal tendencies that shine through in her songwriting, doesn't go well. After a brawl breaks out one night and the publican refuses to pay the band, Danny finally manages to persuade the anti-establishment Kate to record a demo tape. Danny and Kate then take the demo tape to some gig promoters who show no interest.
The band keep struggling to get by, despite being hassled by the police, and in the meantime Kate realises she is falling in love with Danny. The hard work eventually pays off when the gig promoters finally agree to help out but only by offering the band a contract that Danny describes as "feudal".
Several months pass as the band tours the country, building up a large fanbase. On Christmas Eve the band is stranded when their van breaks down and the British Rail train drivers are on strike. It is at this point that Danny and Kate kiss for the first time and become a couple.
Danny blackmails his former employer (by threatening to reveal how he paid Danny to rig the charts) into attending a gig in London. However, disaster strikes when the band begins to perform and a power-cut occurs. Encouraged by Danny and Mick, the band continues anyway and wins the hostile crowd over. Their performance greatly impresses the music agents Danny forced into coming, and the band is offered a record contract.
Almost immediately things do not go well. Firstly, the band are not amused by how the music agents demand changes to some of the 'offensive' lyrics to secure airplay (such as changing 'kick him in the arse' to 'punch him in the nose'). The recording of the first album does not go well and the agents also reveal that they think Danny is the problem. The chart rise of "Top of the Wheel", the band's first single, parallels the earlier success of Suzie Sapphire.
Forced into playing at a Rock Against Racism benefit concert, the band finds the organisation lacking and tries to leave, only to see a neo-Nazi rally approaching. They decide to play anyway (and a particularly controversial song), which results in a riot breaking out. Danny wants the band to leave but Kate insists on taunting the crowd. That changes when a young man who has been stabbed falls right in front of her, screaming in pain and desperation. This causes Kate to scream.
While recovering from her trauma, Kate is forced to audition for a famous music producer, Bob Woods (Jon Finch), who makes it clear that he wants to produce her music and also be involved with her. Kate's new songs seem to help her recover mentally, but the rest of the band are not so happy. Danny finds himself being pushed more and more into the sidelines and Ken has no saxophone part to play on the big new single.
On tour again, the agents start sowing seeds of discontent among the band, hinting heavily that Danny is the problem. This leads to a confrontation on the tour bus after which Danny storms out and quits. Woods now moves in as the band's manager and becomes Kate's new lover.
After much more success, including a platinum record, the band keeps falling apart. Mick quits, claiming to be bored of the simplistic drum patterns he's been given to play. Kate hates the pressures and lack of control that fame has brought her. Dave and Tony treat Ken terribly, hating him for being a junkie, and he quits the group too. By now the band's name has been amended to ''Kate & Breaking Glass''.
During a radio show which invites listeners to call in, Kate has trouble understanding her fans and gets angry when she is accused of being controlled by her record company, and even more so when someone she thinks is Danny calls in to accuse her of selling out. The next single released is "Big Brother", which features the 'offensive' lyrics completely changed as the music agents originally wanted, proving she has indeed sold out.
Mick and Ken meet with Danny and accuse him of abandoning them and ruining the band but all the same they plead with him to come back and help Kate, yet he refuses.
The film ends with a huge concert and the debut of a new song, although already drugged Kate is forced to go on stage by Chris Campbell, who forcibly holds her down while a doctor injects her in the buttocks with more drugs. Kate goes on with the band, performing the song "Eighth Day" (the American release of the film ends the movie after the song). After the song finishes Kate flees the stage into the London Underground, where she begins hallucinating people dressed as her and her former bandmates, and has a nervous breakdown.
The final scene shows Kate catatonic at a mental hospital where Danny comes to visit her and to bring her a synthesiser.
In Wabasha, Minnesota, retirees John Gustafson and Max Goldman are feuding next-door neighbors. Living alone, they spend their time ice fishing, trading insults, and pulling cruel practical jokes on each other, including John leaving a dead fish in Max's truck. Their rivalry irritates their friend Chuck, owner of the town bait shop, and Max's son Jacob, who is running for mayor. Dodging the attempts of IRS Agent Elliot Snyder to collect a serious debt, John supports his daughter Melanie when she separates from her husband Mike.
John and Max both find themselves attracted to Ariel Truax, a free-spirited English professor who moves in across the street. Chuck has Thanksgiving dinner with Ariel, prompting John and Max to compete for her affections. Chuck dies, and Max discovers John's IRS debt. John spends time with Ariel, revealing that he and Max used to be childhood friends. John and Ariel have sex – his first time since 1978 – and a jealous Max drives John's fishing shanty onto thin ice, which John narrowly escapes. He confronts Max, and the source of their animosity is revealed: Max resents John for marrying Max's high school sweetheart. John explains she was unfaithful and Max was happier with the woman he did marry, but Max reminds John that he will have nothing to offer Ariel once the IRS takes his house. With this on his mind, John ends his relationship with Ariel. Ariel then gives John advice, warning him that he will regret the risks he did not take in life.
Jacob is elected mayor, and Max continues courting Ariel. On Christmas, Melanie comes to visit and John is upset to learn she has reconciled with Mike. Giving Melanie the same warning Ariel gave him, he warns that she will regret the risks she did not take in life, and then John leaves for the local bar. At Melanie's request, Jacob asks Max to settle things with John, but the fathers are unable to mend their dispute and John storms out of the bar. Max soon follows and finds John in the snow, having suffered a heart attack. At the hospital, Max checks in by declaring he is John's friend. He tells Ariel what happened, and she reconciles with John as he recovers.
Max tries to resolve John's debt, but the unsympathetic Agent Snyder prepares to sell John's house and possessions. Barricading the house, Max leaves a fish in Snyder's car and buries him in snow, while Jacob manages to temporarily block the property's seizure. Spring arrives, and John and Ariel get married. As a wedding gift, Max informs John that he and Jacob have paid off the debt. The newlyweds drive off, but not before John finds Max has left a fish in the wedding limo car. Max leaves to find a date of his own, as Jacob and an officially divorced Melanie begin a new romance with each other.
The feud between Max and John has cooled and they have become good friends. Their children, Melanie and Jacob have become engaged. Meanwhile, John is enjoying his marriage to new wife Ariel. John and Max still call each other "moron" and "putz" respectively, but with friendly intentions.
The spring and summer fishing season is in full swing with the annual quest to catch "Catfish Hunter," an unusually large catfish that seems to enjoy eluding anyone that tries to catch it. However, the local bait shop closed after Chuck, the previous owner, died in the first movie. Maria Ragetti has purchased the property with the intent of converting it into a fancy Italian restaurant.
Irritated it will no longer be a bait shop, Max and John join forces to sabotage the restaurant. They are successful at first with their practical jokes. However, when Ariel learns what is going on, she tells John to apologize to Maria at once, and he does after Ariel kicks him out of the house. Max and Maria begin dating after discovering a shared passion for fishing, while her mother Francesca dates John's father, J.W.
To complicate things further, Jacob and Melanie call off their engagement due to stress from their parents' involvement. Upon hearing the news, John and Max reignite their feud and go back to their childish pranks again such as John cutting a hole in Max's fishing net and detaching the anchor to his boat. Max retaliates by disconnecting John's motor from his boat and broadcasting him nude (while Ariel was making a clay statue of him) at a Sears department store. Ariel is stressed out because of it and leaves John until things settle down. At the restaurant, Francesca is worried about all the time Maria spends with Max. She reminds her daughter of her five failed marriages and worries that Max will make it six.
After being convinced to take a long look at herself, Maria reluctantly stops seeing Max. Distraught over losing Ariel, John heads to the lake for his father's advice but finds that he has died in his favorite spot with a fishing pole in one hand and a can of beer in the other. Following the funeral and the spreading of J.W.'s ashes in the lake, John and Max call off their feud again.
After realizing that their own inability to properly plan a wedding is what drove their kids to call it off, they decide to set it right. They help Jacob and Melanie reconcile, explaining their drama. John decides to reconcile with Ariel and convinces Max to talk to Maria. He does and convinces her to take a chance on him, while convincing her mother that he's not going to be like her previous sons-in-laws. John and Max manage to catch "Catfish Hunter" but they reluctantly decide to release it so it can be with J.W. in the lake. After they let it go, they realize that they're late for a wedding happening in town and rush to the church as quickly as they can. The wedding is revealed to be for Max and Maria, who have reconciled (Jacob and Melanie have eloped). On the way to their honeymoon, they discover Max's one-eyed bulldog, Lucky, in the car with them, being put there by John earlier as a prank. Ragetti's is also reformed so it will be both a restaurant and a bait shop.
The film begins with Finbar "Barry" McMullen standing at the grave of his recently deceased father, along with his mother, who tells him that she's returning to her native Ireland to be with Finbar O'Shaughnessy (after whom Barry is named), her sweetheart of long ago. She tells Barry that while she gave Barry's father 35 of the best years of her life, she's going to start living life her way with Finbar O'Shaughnessy, the man she really loves.
Jack has purchased their parents' home and lives in it with his wife Molly. Jack is torn between his love for Molly and his lust for Ann, a former romantic interest of Barry.
Barry and the youngest brother Patrick ask to temporarily move in with Jack, to which he reluctantly agrees. Patrick plans to break his engagement to Susan, but becomes depressed when she breaks up with him. After much pleading, Susan decides to take him back. Patrick then decides to end the relationship for good for Leslie, an auto mechanic. They head to California together in a classic car that Leslie has been working on.
Barry shows no interest in a long-term relationship until he meets Audrey, a woman whom he accuses of "stealing" an apartment that he was trying to rent for himself. Although things do not go well between them at first, they warm to one another and start a relationship.
Molly learns of Jack's affair after finding a wrapped condom in his pants as she is cleaning up after him one day. She confronts Jack, but he refuses to discuss it.
Jack finally breaks it off for good with Ann. He then returns home determined to rebuild his wounded marriage, but not before paying a visit to his father's grave, promising (in a voice-over) that he will be a better husband to his wife than his father was, pouring a bottle of Irish whiskey over the grave.
Barry decides to move in with Audrey and take their relationship to the next level. The movie ends with all three brothers gathering at the family homestead with a newfound belief in love and a desire not to let the ghosts of the past stand in their way.
''Crash Nitro Kart'' features around twenty-seven characters, sixteen of which are playable. The sixteen characters are split into four teams of four with each team driving karts of a matching color.
"Team Bandicoot", which pilots blue karts, is led by Crash Bandicoot, the titular protagonist of the series. His kart is an all-round performer with exceptional acceleration. Coco Bandicoot, Crash's younger genius sister, programmed her kart's wheels to balance their speed better, improving her kart's turning ability. Crunch Bandicoot, Crash's friend, originally created by Doctor Neo Cortex to destroy Crash, pilots a kart with amazing momentum and speed but slow acceleration.Instruction Booklet, pp. 20-21. Fake Crash, an imperfect duplicate of Crash, becomes accessible as a playable character if the player performs 50 consecutive speed boosts on any track in Adventure Mode as a member of Team Cortex.Manzo, p. 80.
"Team Cortex", which pilots red karts, is led by Doctor Neo Cortex, Crash's archenemy and main antagonist of the series. Like Crash, Cortex pilots a kart that excels in acceleration. Doctor N. Gin, Doctor Cortex's right-hand man, is a mechanical genius who pilots a kart that specializes in turning ability. Tiny Tiger, Doctor Cortex's most faithful henchman, is a hulking giant who pilots a kart with a high top speed like Crunch. Doctor Nefarious Tropy, the self-proclaimed master of time, becomes accessible as a playable character if the player beats all the time records in Race Time Trial Mode.
"Team Oxide", which pilots yellow karts, is led by ''Crash Team Racing'' s main antagonist Nitrous Oxide. His henchmen, Zam and Zem, become accessible as playable characters if the player wins the Purple and Green Gem in Adventure Mode respectively. "Real Velo", the form Emperor Velo is seen at the end of Adventure Mode, is a part of the Yellow Team and becomes accessible as a playable character if the player wins the Adventure Mode twice: once as a member of Team Bandicoot and once as a member of Team Cortex.
"Team Trance", which pilots green karts, is led by N. Trance, the egg-like master of hypnotism. Dingodile and Polar, whom N. Trance has hypnotized, becomes accessible as playable characters if the player wins the Red and Blue Gem in Adventure Mode respectively. Pura, whom Trance has also hypnotized, becomes accessible as a playable character if the player performs 50 consecutive speed boosts on any track in Adventure Mode as a member of Team Bandicoot.
The main antagonist of the story, Emperor Velo XXVII, is the confident, dominating, bullying and contemptuous ruler of his own galaxy; he threatens to destroy Earth if Crash and Cortex's teams refuse to compete in his Galaxy Circuit. Velo is the final boss character of the game and races alongside two advisors who lay down offensive measures to slow the player down. Preceding Velo are four boss characters who possess "World Keys" that are needed to race against Velo. In order, the bosses consist of the following: Krunk, a hulking creature who feels that Earth is a copy of his home planet, Terra, and races to prove which planet is superior; Nash, a genetically engineered shark-like creature who was created to always move; Norm, a goblin-like mime who races alongside a larger and more obnoxious version of himself; and Geary, a robot as much obsessed with perfection as he is with cleaning.Manzo, pp. 69-70.
Aku Aku and Uka Uka serve as helpers throughout the game, giving tips and hints regarding driving skills, info on objects in the hub world, tips on how to use weapons effectively, and occasional warnings during races.
Crash, Coco and Crunch Bandicoot are relaxing while their nemesis, Doctor Neo Cortex, ponders his next course of action in regards to defeating the Bandicoots and achieving world domination. Suddenly, both groups are abducted by a mysterious white light that takes them to a large coliseum somewhere in another galaxy. This galaxy is ruled by Emperor Velo XXVII, who plans on having the teams race for the entertainment of his subjects. He promises the Earthlings that winning the races will win their freedom, but threatens them with the destruction of Earth if they refuse to race.
After both teams accept the challenge, Velo explains that the racers will compete on four worlds of his choosing, and promises a race against the galactic champion if the champions of those worlds are defeated. When Krunk, Nash, Norm, and Geary, the champions of Terra, Barin, Fenomena, and Teknee respectively, are defeated, the Earth racers go up against the galactic champion: Emperor Velo himself. The racers defeat Velo, but he refuses to send them back to Earth unless they win all of the time relics and defeat him again. Velo loses again to the Earth racers and literally explodes in a bout of fury, revealing himself to be a robot suit controlled by a small gremlin-like version of himself.
If Team Bandicoot win the race, Velo, having lost his influence over his subjects, dejectedly relinquishes his empire to the Bandicoots. Crash considers becoming the next emperor of the galaxy, but decides otherwise and gives control back to Velo in exchange for sending the Bandicoots back to Earth. If Team Cortex win the race, Velo struggles with Cortex over the possession of his scepter, only to be stopped by Tiny. Cortex uses the scepter's power in an attempt to return to Earth, but the scepter breaks and sends Cortex, N. Gin and Tiny to Terra instead. When they are confronted by the natives, Tiny repairs the scepter and is subsequently revered as a king, much to Cortex's annoyance.
A local man, Ben (Dana Andrews) encounters a fugitive Tom Keefer (Walter Brennan) from a murder charge while hunting in the Okefenokee Swamp looking for his dog. The two form a partnership in which Ben sells the animals hunted and trapped by both until townsfolk become suspicious. Also, Ben helps Julie, Keefer's daughter, who is living in straitened circumstances clean up and look more decent. Keefer is accused of murdering Deputy Shep Collins, but it was really the Dorson brothers who did so and then perjured themselves in evidence against Tom Keefer, assisted by Jesse Wick. Ben makes Wick confess so that Keefer will not be blamed anymore. He tries to take Keefer back to town where he can live a normal life, but they are shot at by the Dorson brothers. One of them sinks in a mudhole, and Keefer talks to the other man, saying he wants a normal life, and lets him go into the swamp. Ben and Keefer are found by the townsfolk. Once back in town, Keefer cleans up, and goes to the dance, smiling.
Mark Dixon is a police detective who was just demoted over his too-frequent use of violence. Because his own father was a criminal, he hates them even more than is acceptable to the force.
At a floating crap game in New York City run by gangster Tommy Scalise, the beautiful Morgan Taylor decides to leave for the night, with or without the man, Ken Paine, who brought her there. Effusive Texas tycoon Morrison offers to escort her home. This upsets Scalise, as Morrison is up $19,000 on his bank. Morrison says he is in town all week and "you'll get it back another night", but Paine tells Morgan she has to stay. She realizes he only brought her to the game so Morrison would follow, and is now determined to leave.
Paine slaps Morgan, whereupon Morrison starts a fistfight with Paine. Morrison is knocked out, but when the police arrive he has been stabbed to death. Dixon is one of the officers on the scene. He interrogates Scalise, whom he arrested two years earlier for murder but who was acquitted.
Scalise tells several lies about the crime, and implicates Paine. Dixon goes to Paine's apartment and questions him, but Paine becomes angry and starts a fight. Defending himself, Dixon does not know that a war injury has left Paine with a metal plate in his skull. When Paine falls, he hits his head and dies.
After his recent reprimand, Dixon does not dare report what has happened. Borrowing Paine's coat and putting a bandage on his own face where Paine had one, he lays a false trail suggesting that Paine has left town. Back at Paine's apartment he is almost seen by Morgan's father, cab driver Jiggs Taylor, who arrives and (having found out that Paine had slapped his daughter) noisily threatens him from outside his door, then leaves when there is no answer. Dixon then takes the body and dumps it in the river. It is soon found and, moving to cover himself, Dixon suggests that Scalise murdered Paine as well as Morrison.
As the case develops the detectives talk to Morgan and Jiggs Taylor. It is revealed that Morgan is Paine's estranged wife; the night of the murder is the first time she has seen him in months. She and Dixon begin to fall in love. In spite of Dixon's insisting that Scalise is the killer, Jiggs had been seen at Paine's apartment and is arrested. Dixon cannot bear to tell Morgan the truth, but he arranges to pay for a top lawyer for Jiggs, one who has never lost a murder case. For unspecified reasons the lawyer refuses a retainer.
After a fruitless confrontation with Scalise Dixon writes a letter, addressing the envelope to Inspector Foley and marking it "to be opened in the event of my death". He then arranges to meet with Scalise again, fully expecting to be murdered but reasoning that at least this time Scalise will be held responsible. Scalise has anticipated this, too, and has realized what happened to Paine. He refuses to kill Dixon, who is badly beaten instead. Then one of Scalise's men arrives with the news that the police have gotten the truth about Morrison out of another gang member. As the gang attempts escape in a car elevator, Dixon is wounded but manages to delay them by stalling it until the police arrive.
Back at the 16th Precinct, Foley - extremely proud of Dixon's work trapping Scalise - returns Dixon's letter to him, unopened, but Dixon tells him to read it. Foley arrests Dixon. Morgan is present, looking forward to starting a life with Dixon. Perplexed, she asks why he is now being taken into custody; Dixon asks Foley to show her the letter. Even knowing the truth her love for Dixon is undaunted. She confidently declares that he will not be punished for the accidental death.
Harry Fabian is an ambitious American hustler and con man on the make in London. He maintains a fractured relationship with the honest Mary Bristol, nightclub owner and businessman Phil Nosseross, and Helen, who is Phil's scheming wife.
While attempting a con at a wrestling match, Fabian witnesses Gregorius, a veteran Greek wrestler, arguing with his son Kristo, who has organised the fight, and who effectively controls all wrestling in London. After denouncing Kristo's event as tasteless exhibitionism that shames the sport's Greco-Roman traditions, Gregorius leaves with Nikolas, a fellow wrestler.
Fabian catches up with the two and befriends them, having realised that he can host wrestling in London without interference from Kristo if he can persuade his father to support the enterprise.
Fabian approaches Phil and Helen with his proposal, then asks for an investment. Incredulous, Phil offers to provide half of the required £400, if Fabian can equal it. Desperate, Fabian asks Figler, a panhandler and unofficial head of an informal society of street criminals, Googin, a forger, and Anna, a Thameside smuggler, but none can offer any help.
Fabian is eventually approached by Helen, who offers the £200 in exchange for a licence to continue running her own nightclub, having obtained the money by selling an expensive fur Phil recently bought for her. Fabian agrees, but tricks Helen by having Googin forge the licence.
Meanwhile, Phil is visited by associates of Kristo, who warn him to keep Fabian away from London's wrestling scene. Already suspecting Helen of duplicity, Phil neglects to warn Fabian, who proceeds to open his own gym with Gregorius and Nikolas as the stars, and Phil as a silent partner.
A furious Kristo visits the gym, only to discover that his father is supporting Fabian's endeavour. Meeting with Phil, the two plot to kill Fabian, but realise that they can only do so if Gregorius leaves Fabian. Phil meets with Fabian and removes his backing, suggesting that Fabian get Nikolas and The Strangler, a showy wrestler favoured by Kristo, into the ring together to keep the business going, knowing that Gregorius would never allow it.
Finding The Strangler's manager, Mickey Beer, Fabian convinces him to support the fight, and taunts The Strangler into confronting Gregorius and Nikolas. Gregorius agrees to the fight, convinced by Fabian that it will prove that his traditional style of wrestling is superior. Beer asks Fabian for £200 to cover his fee, so Fabian asks Phil for the money. Instead, Phil calls Kristo, informing him that The Strangler is in Fabian's gym.
Betrayed, Fabian steals the money from Mary, and returns to the gym. However, The Strangler goads Gregorius into a prolonged and brutal fight, during which Nikolas' wrist is broken.
Gregorius eventually defeats The Strangler in the ring as Kristo arrives, but dies minutes later in his son's arms from exhaustion. Seeing that both his business and protection are lost, Fabian flees.
In revenge of his father's death, Kristo puts a £1,000 bounty on Fabian's head, sending word to all of London's underworld. Fabian is hunted through the night, first by Kristo's men, then by Figler, who attempts to trap Fabian for the reward. Convinced that her licence is authentic, Helen leaves Phil, only to discover that the work is a worthless forgery.
She returns to Phil in desperation, only to discover that he has committed suicide, leaving everything to Molly, the club's elderly cleaner and flower stand operator.
Fabian eventually finds shelter at Anna's scow on the Thames, but has already been tracked down by Kristo. Mary arrives, and Fabian attempts to redeem himself by shouting to Kristo that Mary betrayed him, so that she will get the reward. As he runs towards where Kristo is standing on Hammersmith Bridge, he is caught and killed by The Strangler, who throws his body into the river. The Strangler is arrested moments later, and Kristo walks away from the scene.
A boy, known as the Bitmap Kid, has a pair of magic trousers that contain pockets with an infinite amount of storage space, and therefore he stores all of his toys in his pockets. One day the creatures who live in his pockets decide to keep his toys for themselves and play with them, so the Bitmap Kid must go on a journey to retrieve his toys from the creatures.
(1896)
After the First Punic War, Carthage is unable to fulfill promises made to its army of mercenaries, and finds itself under attack. The fictional title character, a priestess and the daughter of Hamilcar Barca, the foremost Carthaginian general, is the object of the obsessive lust of Matho, a leader of the mercenaries. With the help of the scheming freed slave, Spendius, Matho steals the sacred veil of Carthage, the Zaïmph, prompting Salammbô to enter the mercenaries' camp in an attempt to steal it back. The Zaïmph is an ornate bejewelled veil draped about the statue of the goddess Tanit in the ''sanctum sanctorum'' of her temple: the veil is the city's guardian and touching it will bring death to the perpetrator.
Stefanos struggles with his growing unhappiness and tries to drown it in alcohol. He gets drawn into the murder of Calvin Jeter and his conscience pulls him back to his earlier occupation. It becomes a journey through the harshest part of the American capital and the blackest part of the human soul.
After a prologue with Robert E. Lee smashing the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania due to him not losing Special Order 191, in October 1862, and the subsequent Anglo-French diplomatic recognition of the Confederate States of America. The embittered Abraham Lincoln tells British Ambassador Richard Lyons that the United States would eventually get even by finding a European ally to match both the United Kingdom and France; the Ambassador laughs scornfully, but Lincoln's prophecy comes true when by 1914 the US would be the firm ally of Imperial Germany.
In the larger Southern Victory Series context, the CSA and the USA remained hostile powers toward one another during the decades between 1862 and 1914. A second military defeat of the USA by the CSA in the Second Mexican War (1881-1882) greatly intensified the resentment and hatred of the Confederate States in the USA, where Remembrance Day becomes a grim official holiday marking the 1882 surrender and keeping alive the dream of revenge for the two humiliations inflicted by the South.
The novel's main plot begins on June 28, 1914, the same day Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg of Austria-Hungary, are assassinated in Sarajevo by Nedeljko Čabrinović with a bomb thrown into their car and explodes (as opposed to Gavrilo Princip with a gun in our timeline), with the incident drawing the European powers into a whirlwind of war. At the eruption of an alternate World War I known as the Great War, the USA and CSA find themselves on opposite sides of the divide between the Central Powers and the Entente Powers, respectively. The fighting in Europe quickly spreads to North America, where the pro-German United States under President Theodore Roosevelt and 75-year-old General George Armstrong Custer declare war on President Woodrow Wilson's CSA, which are allied with the United Kingdom, France, and Russia. After the Confederate seizure of Washington D.C. and invasion into Pennsylvania, and initial US invasions of Kentucky, Canada, and western Virginia, the conflict bogs down into trench warfare.
By the end of novel, in the autumn of 1915, the Confederates have been slowly driven out of Pennsylvania and back into Maryland, while poison gas assists the U.S. Army's slow advance through Kentucky. Across the Mississippi River, in the western part of the continent, the conflict is a war of movement, with the U.S. pushing deep into Sequoyah (our world's Oklahoma) and Confederate-owned Sonora. In the wider world the war has gone much the same as in actual history but the U.S has successfully conquered the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) from Britain, and Argentina has joined the Entente and is fighting Central-Powers' allied Chile.
In Canada, British and Canadian forces are slowly driven back to Guelph, Ontario and U.S. soldiers successfully establish a foothold on the north bank of the St Lawrence river. Winnipeg remains in Canadian hands, enabling Canada to remain in the war.
The novel ends with the beginning of a Marxist rebellion of African-Americans against the war-distracted government of the CSA.
Most of the characters in the book are everyday people caught up in the bigger world of a global war. One main character in the book who goes on to play a major role in the series is a Confederate artillery sergeant named Jake Featherston.
This book is followed by ''The Great War: Walk in Hell'', and then ''The Great War: Breakthroughs''.
The story takes place in the town of Snowflake, a small community somewhere in Colorado. The players are visiting the town for pleasure, for business, or are just passing through. The campaign begins on the road to the Clearwater Hotel, where the characters meet for the first time.
At the hotel, a woman named Cynthia Carmichael has been killed in her room, seemingly by a wild animal. The players investigate and are blamed for the murder by the local police.
In reality, Carmichael was killed by a werewolf named Ian McGuire, a slave to a Wilder Shk'ryth who plans to destroy the human race. He had been imprisoned in a nearby mountain for centuries by a local Native American tribe that had been performing a ritual to keep him trapped. He used Ian McGuire to escape.
Captain Vinka Kovalenko (Katharine Hepburn) lands a Soviet Air Force jet in West German territory, to the surprise of the United States Armed Forces, who take her prisoner. However, she is neither on a mission nor defecting, just upset about a personal matter back home.
Capt. Chuck Lockwood (Bob Hope) is eager to leave for London and visit his wealthy fiancée Connie (Noelle Middleton). A superior officer named Tarbell (Alan Gifford) cancels his furlough, ordering Chuck to sell the Soviet aviatrix on everything good about America and convince her to permanently come over to their side. The colonel even dangles a $100,000 bonus check made out to Vinka to be given if Lockwood succeeds.
Vinka is pursued by her former lover, engineer Ivan (Robert Helpmann). She shows no interest in Chuck, and is just as determined to sell him on Russian virtues as he is on influencing her. He describes her as cold and unappealing, but when Connie makes a surprise visit, Vinka strolls into Chuck's room wearing little else but a pajama top and her military medals. Connie becomes increasingly angry, more so when she finds out that Chuck is not as well-off financially as he has pretended to be.
Vinka begins to dress in an increasingly enticing manner. One night, at a Russian restaurant, comrades come to kidnap her. A sleeping potion meant for Chuck ends up in Tarbell's drink instead. Connie is also mistaken for Vinka in a cloakroom and taken captive.
The Russians misunderstand Vinka's intentions and charge her with treason. Chuck leads a daring aerial escape, and they end up falling in love. Money does not matter as much to Vinka as it does to Connie. As she and Lockwood are leaving for America, a Russian agent runs up, offering her the $100,000 check. She declines, but Lockwood grabs it.
Comic book fan Don Swan battles against a fictional film studio that is about to announce a film based on his favorite superhero, Commander Courage.
The Biskitts are a group of tiny anthropomorphic dogs who live on Biskitt Island and are committed to guarding the crown jewels of Biskitt Castle. Modeled after Robin Hood, the Biskitts still serve their recently deceased king while performing good deeds for the underprivileged inhabitants of their tiny island. It is explained in the opening narration that due to their good reputation for responsibility and security, other kings have entrusted their treasures to be safeguarded by the Biskitts.
The villain of the series is the king's mean-spirited, wasteful, younger brother King Max who rules the neighboring Lower Suburbia. In lieu of a proper coronation, Max constantly schemes to steal the royal treasure with the help of his hench-hounds Fang and Snarl and his jester Shecky. The Biskitts are also in danger of being captured and eaten by a large wildcat named Scratch.
Temporal Agent Daniels informs Captain Archer that three Reptilians have traveled back in time to Detroit, Michigan, to the year 2004, where they intend to produce a bio-weapon to annihilate humans. The Xindi Council had banned the use of bio-weapons, forcing the Reptilians to take extraordinary measures. Daniels sends Archer and Sub-Commander T'Pol back in time to investigate, and provides Archer with temporal tags, allowing them to bring back anything not belonging in 2004 to their own time-line.
Using a hand scanner, Archer is able to steal a vehicle, and T'Pol locates the Xindi bio-signs leading them to an abandoned factory on Carpenter Street. They notice Loomis, a blood bank employee, exiting the building. Suspecting something, they follow him home. After he tries to escape, T'Pol uses the Vulcan nerve pinch to stop him. When he awakes, he believes that Archer and T'Pol are police officers, and requests a lawyer. Archer punches him, and he admits delivering six bodies to his mysterious employers, each one for a different blood type. Archer comes up with a plan, and decides to pose as one of the victims.
After being delivered by Loomis, Archer realizes that they are developing some sort of a bio-weapon. Archer begins destroying their technology, and kills one of the three Reptilians. Two others try to escape with the deadly bio-agent, and Archer kills another one as they flee. The last Xindi escapes due to the interference of Loomis, who T'Pol stuns with her phaser. On the factory's roof, Archer corners him as he attempts to release the bio-agent. Archer and T'Pol tag all non-21st-century artifacts, and return to ''Enterprise''. Loomis, still groggy in his car, is apprehended by real police officers and attempts to explain the "lizard people" and their "ray guns."
Commanders T'Pol and Tucker remain captives of Paxton, who continues to broadcast his demand on all channels and frequencies. Paxton's action has an unsettling effect on the interspecies conference since it is clear that not all humans support it. On Mars, Paxton allows T'Pol and Tucker to see the baby, and T'Pol uses her scanner to learn that the child is unwell (and that Paxton has been using Rigelian gene therapy to treat himself). Seeking to fine-tune their attack, Paxton then threatens T'Pol in order to force Tucker to optimize the targeting system of the array.
''Enterprise'' is then ordered to Mars to destroy the array, but is turned away when a warning shot from the weapon damages the ship. Gannet Brooks, now in the brig, reveals to Ensign Mayweather she is a Starfleet Intelligence operative, and that Terra Prime probably has an operative aboard. Under the urging of Minister Samuels, the crew of ''Enterprise'' conceive a way to approach the deadly station undetected, using a shuttlepod hidden inside the tail of a comet. Captain Archer elects to lead the away mission, along with Lieutenant Reed, Doctor Phlox, and Mayweather.
En route, the shuttle's systems suddenly fail, nearly causing it to crash. Landing on Mars, the team then infiltrate Paxton's ship. Teaming up with Tucker, who has escaped his cell, they battle the Terra Prime followers in the control room. During the shootout, Paxton manages to lock the firing sequence — fortunately, Tucker has altered the targeting, and the beam misses. With Paxton under arrest, the hybrid child, named Elizabeth after Tucker's sister, is brought to Phlox, who unfortunately cannot do anything to save her. Investigations also reveal that Ensign Masaro was the spy, and he dies by his own hand. Back at Starfleet, Archer makes an impassioned speech to convince the delegates to explore the universe's mysteries together.
Based in the 1943 classic book of the same name by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the fable tells the story of an aviator (played by Richard Kiley) forced to make an emergency landing in the Sahara Desert. There he is befriended by a young boy, the Little Prince, who had descended to Earth from Asteroid B-612. In the days that follow, The Pilot hears about his past and various journeys throughout the Solar System.
As he travels through space, the Little Prince encounters several strange grown-ups on different planetoids, all with a skewed or curious way of looking at life. But it is not until he finally reaches Earth, that the Little Prince learns his most important life lessons of all, mainly from The Fox (Gene Wilder), and The Snake (Bob Fosse). Before the Little Prince dies, he shares those lessons with The Pilot. Although The Pilot tries to keep the Little Prince alive, the boy disappears in the morning and The Pilot searches for him in the desert but gives up after realizing that the Little Prince never existed. Soon The Pilot is able to start his plane and flies away but hears the laughter of the Little Prince in the starry night; he believes the boy has returned to space.
The film is divided into three parts, all of which concern the making of a low-budget movie featuring the same director, crew and substantially the same cast.
'''Part one''': Director Nick Reve (Steve Buscemi) is shooting a low-budget independent film in the middle of New York City. The catering crew are under-funded and apathetic, deciding not to replace a carton of milk that has been on the craft service table for a week. The scene being shot is a difficult one; a young woman, Ellen, reproaches her elderly mother (Rica Martens) for not intervening when the father beat Ellen as a child. On the set, just about everything that can go wrong does go wrong; shots are spoiled because of how the mic boom is visible; the camera assistant fails to keep the shot in focus; Cora, the actress playing the mother, forgets her lines and Nicole, the actress playing Ellen, becomes increasingly unfocused and careless. A dispirited Nick calls for a rehearsal without camera to refresh the actors.
When Nicole (Catherine Keener) berates herself for acting badly, Cora (Rica Martens) reassures her with a gesture that reminds Nicole of a similar gesture made by her own terminally ill mother. Nicole is so upset by the memory that she turns in an unexpectedly passionate performance; and Cora, startled by Nicole's sudden intensity, is equally good. Watching them, Nick becomes enthusiastic all over again. Unfortunately, it was not captured on film; cinematographer and camera operator Wolf (Dermot Mulroney), who has been diluting the sub-standard coffee with the spoiled milk, was vomiting in the toilet throughout. Nick ruefully calls for another take. This time, a sudden and insistent beeping sound distracts the actors. Nobody can tell where it's coming from; and Nick flies into a rage, berating everyone on the crew and cast for their inadequacies. He then wakes up in his own bed; the beeping sound was his own alarm clock. He has dreamed the entire segment. It is 4:30 a.m. and he is due on set.
'''Part two''': Early the same morning, the film's lead actor Chad Palomino (James LeGros) is getting dressed in Nicole's hotel room. They have spent the night together, and Chad suggests that they might get together again later; Nicole politely declines. Chad and Nicole arrive on the set separately. Nicole's character ''Ellen'' and Chad's character ''Damian'' have been in love for years but have never admitted it until the scene being shot on this day. Shooting the scene is made practically impossible by Chad's irregular acting. He keeps changing his mind about where to stand and continually moves to places where he is either invisible or badly lit by scenic light. Nicole becomes increasingly frustrated by Chad's egomania; and, when he starts to stroke her head, she briefly loses her cool, then apologizes. An irritated Chad demands a private talk with Nick. He tells Nick that he has slept with Nicole and makes out that it was she, not he, who had wanted to continue the relationship. Desperate to keep Chad happy, Nick agrees that Nicole is not very good. Nicole overhears this conversation on the sound mixer's headphones. Pretending to be contrite, she asks Nick if they can improvise a little; but, when they do so, she announces to everyone that, although she slept with Chad, she is not at all interested in him. Chad loses his temper and quits the movie. Relieved that he will no longer have to please Chad, Nick calls him a "Hostess Twinkie motherfucker" and a fight breaks out. Nick beats Chad senseless and fires him. He apologises to Nicole and confesses that he loves her. They kiss—then Nicole abruptly wakes up, still in her bed, having dreamed the entire segment.
'''Part three''': Later the same day, the crew is setting up for a dream sequence in which Nicole, as Ellen, stands still while a dwarf walks around her holding an apple. Nick claims to have learned a lesson from his own dream: That sometimes, "you just got to roll with things." Nicole admits that she had a dream with Nick in it but doesn't tell him what happened. Nick manages to keep up his positive attitude despite the various mishaps that occur: The smoke machine fails to work, then it catches fire, then his senile mother Cora arrives on the set. However, the ill-tempered dwarf actor Tito (Peter Dinklage) complains that a dwarf in a dream sequence is cliché and walks off the set in disgust. Nick's confidence collapses, and he announces that the movie is over. At that moment, his mother intervenes, grabbing the apple, moving to Tito's mark and announcing that she is "ready". The crew scrambles to shoot the scene, and her manic performance injects fresh energy and conviction into it. Nick is delighted and decides to keep the new dream sequence, and there is a tense moment while the sound mixer records 30 seconds of room tone. The entire cast and crew manages to remain silent, and during this moment they each daydream about different things. They go on to shooting the next sequence.
''Enterprise'' returns to Earth in order to attend the formation of a "Coalition of Planets". Nathan Samuels, a United Earth government minister, gives a speech, but he fails to mention the contribution they made to get the aliens to work collaboratively. A woman, later identified as Susan Khouri, staggers over to T'Pol and produces a vial containing a hair follicle, before collapsing and dying from a phaser wound. Back on board ''Enterprise'', Doctor Phlox examines the hair's DNA, learning it is from the child of Commander T'Pol and Commander Tucker, but T'Pol denies ever being pregnant.
Captain Archer meets with Samuels, who is concerned that news of the child will stir xenophobic sentiment. Lieutenant Reed is ordered by Archer to liaise with Harris of Section 31. He is informed that Khouri was a member of Terra Prime, an anti-alien movement. Meanwhile, in the Terra Prime headquarters on the Moon, John Frederick Paxton and Doctor Mercer discuss the child. After Mercer leaves, Paxton sends for Daniel Greaves and tells him to deal with Mercer. On Earth, Archer tells Samuels that he knows that the minister was a former member of Terra Prime and convinces him to provide a case file on Khouri. Meanwhile, Ensign Mayweather gives his reporter ex-girlfriend, Gannet Brooks, a tour of the ship.
On the Moon, Paxton watches footage of Colonel Phillip Green ("The Savage Curtain"). Greaves enters and updates Paxton on the status of the child, and Paxton injects himself in the neck with an unknown substance. Phlox then reports that Khouri's body contained traces of a substance used in a zero-gravity mining facility. T'Pol and Tucker volunteer for an away mission to the Moon. Disguised as miners, they are quickly detained after Brooks apparently leaks details of the mission. Paxton reveals that the entire complex is a warp capable ship, and the vessel travels to Mars where it takes control of the verteron array, which normally protects the Earth from comets. He uses the array to fire a warning shot and issue an ultimatum — that all non-humans must immediately leave Earth.
''Enterprise'' is en route to the Berengarius system, one of the proposed locations for a Starfleet starbase, when it is approached by an Orion Syndicate vessel. Captain Archer is invited to visit the Orion ship by its captain, Harrad-Sar. During the visit, Archer and Lieutenant Reed are entertained by three Orion dancers, Navaar, D'Nesh, and Maras. Archer negotiates with Harrad-Sar and they agree to a joint magnesite mining operation, and at Harrad-Sar's insistence the three slaves are given to him. They return to ''Enterprise'' with the slaves and set a course to survey the planet.
En route, the presence of the Orions begins having an effect on the crew: men become increasingly aggressive, while women increasingly suffer from headaches. Navaar focuses her attentions on Archer, while D'Nesh seduces Commander Kelby. Arriving at the planet, a sluggish Archer orders Reed to destroy another ship, but he refuses and it escapes. Kelby meanwhile sabotages the warp drive before Commander Tucker can physically stop him. Afterwards, Doctor Phlox determines that the Orions are producing pheromones, causing the crew's adrenaline levels to spike. Only Commander T'Pol and Tucker remain unaffected, since she is Vulcan and he shares her immunity because of their psychic bond.
The Orions are placed under guard in the decontamination chamber. Harrad-Sar returns in his vessel and attacks the now disabled ''Enterprise'', and then begins to tow it away. He reveals that, in fact, the Syndicate seeks Archer's head, and in this matter he is the slave and the Orion women are his masters. The Orions escape and travel to the Bridge, as do T'Pol and Tucker. Navaar tells Archer to arrest T'Pol, but Tucker stuns all the male crew-members with his phaser, and Tucker and T'Pol disable the Orion ship with a pulse sent from ''Enterprise'' deflector dish. They send the Orions back to their ship, and T'Pol finally admits she would personally like Tucker to return, and he replies that he has already requested a transfer back to ''Enterprise''.
With the ship unable to decrease speed below warp 5, and the warp core reaching dangerous levels, ''Columbia'' and Commander Tucker rendezvous to provide assistance. However the crew realise that the transporter cannot be used at warp, so the ships will need to maneuver in close proximity in order for Tucker to be transferred. Captain Archer releases Lieutenant Reed from the brig to perform the transfer. Once on ''Enterprise'', Tucker successfully performs a rapid non-standard cold boot on the warp engine, which purges the Klingon subroutines. Tucker then agrees to remain onboard temporarily to assist with repairs.
Meanwhile, physician Antaak and a badly beaten Doctor Phlox update General K'Vagh on their progress. K'Vagh contacts Admiral Krell, who tells him that if a cure is not completed soon, the facility will be eradicated in order to contain the disease. Back on ''Enterprise'', Archer questions Reed about his recent actions, and is contacted by Harris from Section 31, a secretive agency within Starfleet. Harris reveals that Phlox is on an important mission and little else, but Reed reveals his location as Qu'Vat; Harris contacts Krell, to inform him that ''Enterprise'' is on the way, and Krell reveals that he used Harris. ''Enterprise'' arrives at the colony, and Archer beams down to the base with Marab to confront the Klingons and Phlox.
Krell's Klingon battlecruiser and two Birds of Prey arrive in orbit and Krell orders the ships to destroy the colony. ''Enterprise'' attempts to intervene but is engaged by the Birds of Prey. ''Columbia'' arrives and joins combat with the two Birds of Prey, while ''Enterprise'' impedes the battlecruiser. Meanwhile, Phlox infects a voluntarily restrained Archer, as he needs human antibodies for the cure. Antaak then transports a canister of the virus onto the battlecruiser which infects the crew, including Krell. Needing the cure from Phlox, Krell stands down the attack and the Klingon High Council soon agrees to distribute the cure throughout the Empire.
Harris contacts Reed, thanking him and confirming that the plan proceeded as per Section 31's projections, stabilizing the leadership of the Klingon Empire while scaring it off from augment experimentation.
''Enterprise'' returns to Earth in time for the launch of the second NX class starship, ''Columbia'', and Commander Tucker prepares for his transfer. Meanwhile, Ensign Sato and Doctor Phlox are attacked in San Francisco, and Phlox is kidnapped. Captain Archer and Lieutenant Reed investigate the scene, and Reed is given a secret assignment by a secretive agent that he seems to know. Commander T'Pol, seeking information from Sato, conducts her first mind-meld, and the two realize that the attackers spoke Rigelian. They discover that a Rigelian freighter recently left orbit and head off in pursuit.
On ''Columbia'', Tucker ruffles a few feathers of his new team, and Captain Hernandez asks the reasons behind his transfer. Later, T'Pol, in her quarters, begins to meditate and mentally goes to her white cloud quiet place only to have a slightly confused, but still amused, Tucker show up there and start arguing with her. The moment of the shared vision (despite being on different ships) is broken when a disoriented Tucker appears to come out of a momentary daydream on ''Columbia''. ''Enterprise'' locates a destroyed Rigelian ship, and while investigating, they are suddenly attacked and boarded. MACOs repel the attack and a captured alien is taken to Sickbay, where scanners show that despite his human appearance, he is in fact Klingon. Archer then discovers Reed's complicity in evidence tampering and confines him to the brig. Archer also learns that the boarders sabotaged the ship, and he orders maximum speed in order to prevent the warp core from overloading. The ship increases speed to warp 5.2, the fastest it has ever been.
Phlox is taken to ''Qu'Vat'', a Klingon colony where General K'Vagh and Doctor Antaak seek his help to cure a Klingon plague. To Phlox's horror, K'Vagh kills an infected Klingon so that an autopsy can be performed. Phlox determines that the victim's DNA has been supplemented with that of a genetically augmented human. Phlox also learns from Antaak that they experimented with augmented DNA after the events seen in "Borderland", but it self-mutated and escaped. Antaak and Phlox are told that they have five days to cure the outbreak before it is too late. Antaak suggests that the only course of action is to create stable augmented Klingons, but Phlox refuses to assist further.
The game's plot follows the player's exposure of a human conspiracy that leads to a planned invasion by insectoid aliens. Ultimately, the player's squad travels to the aliens' homeworld, destroys their queen (whose design is lifted from the ''Alien'' design), and seemingly thwarts the invasion. Then, in the final cutscene, Tegel reveals himself as an alien in disguise. He was manipulating the player into assisting the aliens all along, and the final mission on their homeworld was supposed to have been a suicide mission. How the unproduced sequel would have followed up on this revelation is unknown.
Senator Vrax (Geno Silva), fresh from the Romulan Senate, is disappointed that Admiral Valdore (Brian Thompson) and scientist Nijil's (J. Michael Flynn) drone program has failed to provoke a rift between Human, Andorian, Vulcan and Tellarite races as they had hoped (seen in "Babel One" and "United"). In fact, the opposite has happened – political discord throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants has declined. Now that a second drone vessel is ready to be launched, Valdore suggests a mission against the ''Enterprise'' in order to impress the Senate. Nijil argues that the pilot requires time to recover from his previous exertions, but Valdore insists and prioritizes the mission.
On ''Enterprise'', analysis of data gathered in the previous encounter with the Romulan ship reveals that the ship is being piloted telepathically by an Andorian. Commander Shran (Jeffrey Combs) explains that the data indicates that the pilot is probably a member of the Aenar, a white-skinned and blind Andorian sub-race. This, however, seems unlikely, since the Aenar are few in number, reclusive pacifists, and inhabitants of the isolated extreme northern polar region of their moon. Shran and Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) then beam down to contact the Aenar. The Aenar's spokesperson, Lissan (Alicia Adams), initially declines to assist as the Aenar do not want to get involved in a war. However, a young Aenar named Jhamel (Alexandra Lydon) decides to help, since doing so may help locate Gareb (Scott Allen Rinker), her missing brother.
Meanwhile, Doctor Phlox (John Billingsley), Commander T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), and Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker III (Connor Trinneer) work in Sickbay on their own "telepresence" unit to help counter the drone ship. T'Pol volunteers to test it, and a concerned Tucker finds it increasingly difficult to balance his duties and emotions. Jhamel then tests the unit, with better results. Later, when the drone ships reappear and attack, she is able to contact the drone pilot, and it is indeed her long-lost brother, who was tricked into working with the Romulans. Learning the deception of his "helpers", he turns the drones on each other and both are soon destroyed, and Valdore angrily kills him in retribution. With the threat resolved, the Andorians depart ''Enterprise'' and Tucker requests to leave the ship to join the ''Columbia''.
It is November 2154, and Captain Archer and Ensign Sato spend time preparing for the arrival of Ambassador Gral and the Tellarite delegation, by practicing being blunt, complaining, and arguing. En route to the trade summit on "Babel One", they detect a distress call from the Andorian warship, ''Kumari'', now under attack. ''Enterprise'' alters its course to assist, and arrives to find Commander Shran, Lieutenant Talas, and 17 other survivors in escape-pods. Archer goes to meet him in Sickbay, and an angry Shran claims that both the Andorian Ambassador's and his ship were attacked and destroyed by a powerful Tellarite vessel.
Scans of the debris indicate Tellarite weapon signatures, and recovered sensor data shows a Tellarite vessel firing. With both delegations on board, and accusations of duplicity rising between the groups, Archer considers taking the Andorians to their homeworld. At full warp, ''Enterprise'' is suddenly attacked by an Andorian ship. When attempts at communicating fail, Archer demands that Shran intervene — he complies by explaining how to knock out its shields — but the attempt is ineffective. ''Enterprise'' is spared only when the attacking ship has to retreat because of a fluctuating power grid. T'Pol then notices that the "Andorian" and "Tellarite" ships have the same energy signature. The alien vessel is then tracked, and it appears to be capable of holographically disguising itself. Shran is unconvinced, and using Talas as a distraction, manages to escape and capture Gral, before order is restored. However, when Archer convinces Shran to examine the evidence, a member of the Tellarite delegation is able to wrest a weapon from Talas, and shoots her.
Meanwhile, Commander Tucker, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed and two MACOs beam aboard the ship, only to find it deserted and without life support. Although the MACOs are beamed back, the transporter is damaged before Tucker and Reed can be rescued. They are able to locate an oxygen supply within the ship's systems, but become stranded when the vessel warps away, and make their way to an empty bridge. On Romulus, it is revealed that the ship is actually a drone, controlled by a pilot under the command of Romulan Admiral Valdore, supported by a scientist called Nijil, in an attempt to prevent a regional détente.
In the year 2017, a satellite on Earth detects a gravitational imbalance in the direction of Lyra, initially believed to be a black hole. Its suspicious X-ray emissions are subjected to noise removal algorithms, revealing the voice message recorded aboard a fictional future Voyager spacecraft, still in the solar system. Before the cause can be determined, additional identical signals are detected throughout the year from other distant gravity-based phenomena. This is considered proof of faster-than-light travel, and the wormhole responsible is pinpointed to be in the core of Saturn's moon Titan. By temporarily entering a ''baby universe'' still in a state of cosmic inflation, the signal was able to bypass the known laws of physics and travel at infinite speed. The wormholes themselves became known as ''Inflation Holes''.
Human travel follows almost two centuries later in 2197. With a tunnel dug into Titan's depths, and a prototype ''Inflation Drive'' on board, two astronauts make the first manned faster-than-light voyage, traveling almost three parsecs. Further exploration of Inflation Holes finds a planet 10 parsecs away with a wormhole core similar to Titan's, formerly inhabited by an extinct alien species. The planet is in a bizarre "apple core" shape, with all of the equatorial planetary mass consumed by frequent alien use of Inflation Drive technology. Three giant longitudinal rings surround what is dubbed as the ''Quantum Core'', and ruins exist upon the fragmented Core itself, but electromagnetic radiation inside the Core is severely limited, making exploration slow and difficult.
By 2246, a base has been built on the planet and dubbed ''Watcher's Nest''. A 12-member expedition is in progress when an unscheduled arrival is detected by command, but the expedition is already inside the Core and radio signals cannot reach them to deliver the recall order. The expedition team thereby encounters their first ''Ghoul'' and are wiped out. Later encounters also follow. Autopsies in 2252 by a group called ''Alchemy'' reveal artificial genetic modifications, and these genes become the main focus of research into the Ghoul. When applied to monkeys, the genes expand the scope of the animal's senses, but scientists cannot determine how or why.
After two decades of research, by 2272, one of the lead scientists, Doctor Kessler, is frustrated with the project's slow progress on animals. Believing the gene sequences to be a message from an advanced alien species, he leads the effort to begin creating genetically modified humans, to witness the effect on humans as the Ghoul intended. In 2275, Alchemy objects to the use of human guinea pigs, and officially shuts the project down—but not before at least one test subject and one of the only successful Human/Ghoul hybrids is removed by persons unknown.
''Enterprise'' is ordered to Vulcan after 12 Vulcans and 31 humans die in the bombing of the United Earth Embassy, including Vice-Admiral Forrest, who is killed saving the life of Ambassador Soval. Captain Archer meets with the head of the Vulcan High Command, Administrator V'Las, who concedes that the Syrrannites, a Vulcan faction, might have been responsible. This is possible since, although they claim peaceful tenets, they follow a "corrupted" form of the teachings of the Vulcan philosopher and father of Vulcan logic, Surak. Further, initial video and DNA evidence lead to a Vulcan named T'Pau, a known Syrrannite.
Koss arrives on board ''Enterprise'' to speak to his wife, T'Pol. He gives her an IDIC pendant from her mother, who he explains is also a Syrrannite. The pendant projects a map showing a path across a desert on Vulcan called “the Forge”, which Archer believes will lead them to both T'Pau and T'Pol's mother. T'Pol and Archer leave the ship and begin to make the crossing, following the map. They soon encounter another traveller, calling himself Arev, who assists, but remains distrustful of them. A sand-fire storm kills Arev, but before he dies, he forcefully performs a mind meld with Archer to transfer his katra. After burying him, a focused Archer leads T'Pol directly to the concealed T'Karath Sanctuary, where they are quickly captured.
Back on ''Enterprise'', Doctor Phlox discovers that the DNA was planted. Commander Tucker and he then examine security scans near a checkpoint in the embassy and single out a hooded man holding a suspicious package. Furthermore, they notice that the guard at the checkpoint seems to already know who the bomber is. Unfortunately, the guard is in a coma from the blast, and Archer and T'Pol are incommunicado. Though it violates standard Vulcan ethics, Phlox and Tucker consider a mind meld, and Soval decides to perform it himself. To his surprise, he discovers that the suspect is Stel, a Vulcan investigator attached to V'Las. Soval then resolves to inform the High Command.
Andrea Sachs, a recent graduate of Brown University with a degree in English, moves to New York City with her best friend, Lily, a graduate student at Columbia. Andrea hopes to find a career in publishing and blankets the city with her résumé. She believes she'll be closer to her dream of working for ''The New Yorker'' if she can get a job in the magazine industry. She gets a surprise interview at the Elias-Clark Group and is hired as junior assistant for Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine ''Runway''. Although she knows little of the fashion world, everyone tells her that "a million girls would die for [her] job". If she manages to work for Miranda for a year, people tell her, she can have her choice of jobs within the magazine industry.
At a celebrity party, Andrea meets Christian Collinsworth, a charismatic Yale graduate who is considered one of the hot, new up-and-coming writers of their generation. They are attracted to each other, which complicates her relationship with her boyfriend, Alex.
Andrea's relationships become entangled because of her new job. Lily increasingly turns to alcohol and picks up dubious men to relieve the pressure of graduate school. Alex, struggling with his own demanding job as an inner-city schoolteacher, grows frustrated with Andrea's long hours and constant stress. Andrea's relationship with her family also suffers. Matters finally come to a head when her co-worker, Emily, gets mononucleosis and Andrea must travel to Paris with Miranda in her stead. In Paris, she has a surprise encounter with Christian. Later that night, Miranda finally lets down her guard and asks Andrea what she has learned, and where she wants to work afterwards. She promises to place phone calls to people she knows at the ''New Yorker'' on Andrea's behalf once her year is up and suggests she take on some small writing assignments at ''Runway''.
Back at the hotel, Andrea gets urgent calls from Alex and her parents asking her to call them. She does and learns that Lily is comatose after driving drunk and wrecking a car. Though her family and Alex pressure her to return home, she tells Miranda she will honor her commitment to ''Runway''. Miranda is pleased, and says her future in magazine publishing is bright, but phones with another impossible demand at Christian Dior's Paris fashion show. Andrea decides that her family and friends are more important than her job, and realizes to her horror that she is becoming more and more like Miranda. She refuses to comply with Miranda's latest outrageous request, and when Miranda scolds her publicly, Andrea replies, "Fuck you, Miranda. ''Fuck you''." She is fired on the spot, and returns home to reconnect with friends and family. Her romantic relationship with Alex is beyond repair, but they remain friends. Lily recovers and is lucky to receive only community service for her DUI charge.
In the last chapter Andrea learns her dispute with Miranda made her a minor celebrity when the incident made ''Page Six''. Afraid she has been blacklisted from publishing for good, she moves back with her parents. She works on short fiction and finances her unemployment with profits made from reselling the designer clothing she was provided for her Paris trip. ''Seventeen'' buys one of her stories. At the novel's end, she returns to the Elias-Clark building to discuss a position at one of the company's other magazines and sees Miranda's new junior assistant, who looks as harried and put-upon as she once did.
A brother and sister that are employees at a diamond mineshaft company stumble upon the discovery of a legendary diamond, the "White Fire", and a band of criminals set out to take it from them.
The game begins at the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre. The player takes on the role of Ahmed, who must incapacitate the shooter Baruch Goldstein, and subsequently fight Israeli forces. The player then takes the role of a 13 year old boy named Mann. Mann steals a flag from the back of a Merkava tank, and is killed by the enraged tank crew.
One year later, Mariam, Ahmed's sister, visits her husband Khaled in prison. She is shocked by the sight of track marks on his arm. She infers from this that the guards have got him hooked on drugs in order to torture him. In order to free her husband, she and Ahmed kidnap an Israeli general. After taking the general to an abandoned building, Ahmed and Mariam are attacked by the Israeli military, and are themselves captured. The player then takes on the role of Khaled, who has been forced to become a spy for Israel in order to escape being tortured in prison. In order to rescue Miriam and Ahmed he interrogates his Shin Bet contact to find out where they are being held, after which Khaled infiltrates Shin Bet's headquarters and frees Ahmed and Miriam. The story then advances to the Battle of Jenin where Ahmed and Khaled are leading the resistance against the Israel Defense Forces attack on the refugee camp.
After Israeli forces break the siege, Khaled is executed in front of Miriam and his son. Miriam takes a hand grenade from a soldier and pulls the pin, committing suicide. On the roof of the building, Ahmed stares at his last bullet.
Mona Dearly can't unlock her car so, as her keys fit her son's Yugo, she takes that and drives off. On a bend, the brakes fail completely and she drives off a cliff into the Hudson River. Clarence, fishing in the river, sees it happen. Chief Wyatt Rash observes there are no skid marks on the road.
Her long-suffering husband Phil and son Jeph, show no grief when learning of Mona's death, an abusive, belligerent heavy drinker, loved by none. (Jeph is more concerned about his car.)
Ellie Rash (Wyatt's daughter) wants to celebrate as the Dearlys treated Bobby (her fiancé and Jeph's business partner) badly. JB Landscaping is not doing well due to Jeph's laziness and poor behavior.
Phil and Rona, who are having an affair, meet at the Charm Motel. He expresses happiness about Mona's death but denies involvement. Bobby meets Murph, his older brother, who has been helping him financially. Murpf suspects he had a hand in Mona's death.
Wyatt's investigation takes him to Jeph, who claims that Bobby threatened and attacked Mona. Lucinda, the local mechanic specializing in Yugos (driven by everyone in town) informs Wyatt that the car Mona was driving had been tampered with in multiple ways.
Phil tells Wyatt he had been a battered husband, as Mona suspected he was having an affair. He also claims Jeph and Mona had had an argument on the evening before the accident. Bobby tells Wyatt he hated Mona and that they had had an argument over Jeph's pay. She would not let him dissolve the partnership unless Bobby bought them out. Phil and Jeph leave Mona's wake very early.
Meanwhile, Wyatt breaks into the Dearlys', finding that Mona's and Jeph's car keys had been switched. Phil expresses his gratitude to Bobby for killing Mona. Bobby then confesses to Ellie that he rigged Jeph's car, as Jeph was destroying their business. She then announces she is pregnant. Clarence overhears their conversation.
Phil tells Wyatt he spotted Bobby near the Dearly residence on the night before the accident, claiming that he did not say this earlier because Wyatt and Bobby wil soon be family. Jeph, who is ''also'' involved with Rona, finds out about Phil's affair with her. Bobby tells Wyatt that Mona threatened him, not the other way around, and that he was in the Hideaway the evening before the accident, which Valerie tells him is not true. Murph later tries to cover Bobby on this. Valerie also gives him a sharp gardening tool with the letters "JB" on it.
Phil is found dead in a pond at the Charm Motel. Murph tells Ellie, who fears that Bobby, who left their house that night, did it. When Rona finds out, she tries to leave town. It turns out Jeph did not help Phil when he fell into the water after he threatened to expose him, Rona, and Bobby.
Police learn that Jeph is threatening suicide because of Rona's leaving. He reveals that a drunken Mona had unrepentantly chopped off his hand when they fought over a bottle of beer. He also states that Phil was not his biological father, adding that, despite all that, he did not kill either of them. Wyatt manages to take the gun away from Jeph.
Wyatt then tells Bobby privately that Clarence confessed to killing Phil, because he could not stand the idea of Bobby going to jail with the baby on the way. Clarence was watching Phil - who had seen Bobby rig the car - tampering with it some more and then switching the keys in the house. Bobby's initial tampering had been superficial and did not contribute to the accident, whereas Phil's did.
Wyatt promises Bobby to keep quiet about Bobby's involvement as long as he takes good care of Ellie and the baby. Finally, Bobby and Ellie get married and Clarence gets taken away.
The story revolves around Yoko Inoue (played by Yo Hitoto), a young Japanese woman doing research on Taiwanese composer Jiang Wen-Ye, whose work is featured on the soundtrack. The late composer's Japanese wife and daughter also make appearances as themselves.
In the Arctic, an unknown aircraft is shot down by an American jet fighter. The aircraft crashes and its cargo, an atomic bomb, explodes. The explosion awakens a giant prehistoric turtle with tusks. Japanese scientists on an expedition nearby, Dr. Hidaka, his assistant Kyoko and reporter Aoyagi, are given a stone tablet by an Eskimo chief, who explains that the creature is called Gamera. Gamera destroys the expedition ship and escapes. Sightings of flying saucers soon surface in Japan. In Sagami Bay, Toshio (a boy forced to release his pet turtle) and his family encounter Gamera, who attacks their lighthouse. However, Gamera saves Toshio from falling to his death. Toshio becomes attached to Gamera after finding his pet turtle gone, believing it turned into Gamera.
Upon returning to Japan, Dr. Hidaka, Kyoko, and Aoyagi accompany the military when Gamera approaches a geothermal power plant. Despite attempts to prevent its approach, Gamera proceeds to attack the power plant and devours the flames around it. Dr. Hidaka consults with Dr. Murase and the military recommends using experimental freezing bombs. The bombs postpone Gamera's assault as the military rig the area with explosives and succeed in turning the monster on its back. Gamera pulls in its limbs, expels flames, and takes flights, spinning around like a flying saucer. Toshio and his sister Nobuyo visit Dr. Hidaka while staying in Tokyo with their uncle. Toshio explains to Dr. Hidaka that Gamera is lonely and not evil. Dr. Hidaka, meanwhile, has observed that Gamera consumes fossil fuels and may seek atomic bombs for their energy. Meanwhile, disasters and accidents start to occur: Koto Ward is struck by flash floods and ships collide in Tokyo Bay. Dr. Hidaka claims that may be Gamera the cause due to hiding in the bay.
An international scientific conference is called upon and decide to use the "Z Plan", based at Oshima Island. Gamera lands at Haneda Airport and proceeds to wreak havoc in Tokyo. Toshio and his family evacuate, but Toshio runs away. The military keep Gamera at bay at an oil refinery by feeding it petroleum via trains, while the Z Plan continues preparations. As Nobuyo searches for her brother, Toshio makes attempts to breach restricted areas to see Gamera until he is caught at Oshima. Dr. Murase later informs Nobuyo of Toshio's safety. The Z Plan is eventually completed and Gamera is lured to Oshima by lighting an oil slick path. However, a typhoon blows the fire out. Aoyagi starts a bonfire to lure back Gamera, but it is also extinguished by the typhoon. A nearby volcano erupts, successfully luring Gamera back. The next day, the Z Plan is put into action: Gamera is lured into the nose cone of a giant rocket and launched to Mars. The world celebrates and Toshio tells Dr. Hidaka he will become a scientist so he can visit Gamera. Toshio bids the monster farewell.
Needing a third species' codes to arm the weapon, Xindi-Reptilians inject their prisoner, Ensign Hoshi Sato, with neural-parasites. With the Xindi superweapon about to be armed and time running out, Captain Jonathan Archer tries to persuade the Xindi-Aquatics to help him and his Xindi allies destroy it. Sato's kidnapping, and Archer's promises to shut down the 70-plus known spheres (initially a partial, desperate bluff), finally convinces the Aquatics into believing that the Sphere Builders, and not the humans, may indeed represent their true enemy.
A battle between Archer's Xindi fleet and the Reptilian-Insectoid fleet soon breaks out around the superweapon. Locating Sato on board a Reptilian ship, a small squad of MACOs, led by Major Hayes and with the support of Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, transports on board the ship to extract her. With the space battle ongoing, the transporter system is damaged so that no more than two personnel can beam out at a time. Holding off the Reptilians on the ship, Hayes sends one of his men and Sato out first, and then the rest of the team, but just as Hayes, now alone, is beaming out, a Reptilian soldier fires through his chest. Back on board ''Enterprise'', he tells Reed who his MACO successor should be, moments before he dies.
With the "threads of time" turning against them, the Sphere Builders decide to intervene by creating spatial distortions around the weapon. The distortions hinder ''Enterprise'' and the rest of Archer's Xindi fleet, and destroy a number of Aquatic ships, which buys the Reptilians enough time to activate the codes. Dolim (Scott MacDonald) has the superweapon enter a vortex and head for Earth, escorted by two allied ships. Inside one of the vessels, having witnessed the interference of the Guardians, the Insectoid leader begins to doubt the motives of the Reptilians. Since the Reptilians already have the Insectoids' launch code, Dolim destroys the Insectoid's ship. Far behind via the vortex, and needing to close the distance with speed, Archer takes a Xindi recommendation to pursue Dolim using Degra's faster spaceship, taking a sickened Sato with his team to guide them through the superweapon.
5 years after the events of the previous film, the conglomerate Omni Consumer Products (OCP) have succeeded in their plan from prior films and have acquired the city of Detroit via bankruptcy, but are now struggling with their plans to create the new Delta City. The Delta City dream of the now-deceased OCP CEO lives on with the help of the Japanese Kanemitsu Corporation, which has bought a controlling stake in OCP and is trying to finance the plan. Kanemitsu, CEO of the Kanemitsu Corporation, proceeds with the plans to remove the current citizens in order to create Delta City, but is dubious about the competence of his new "partners". Due to passive resistance by the Detroit Police Department toward mass eviction, OCP creates a heavily armed private security force called the Urban Rehabilitators, nicknamed "Rehabs", under the command of Paul McDaggett, to forcibly relocate the evicted citizens such as the residents of the now condemned Cadillac Heights. Nikko Halloran, a young resident of Cadillac Heights skilled with computers, loses her parents in the relocation process.
RoboCop and partner Anne Lewis try to defend civilians from the Rehabs one night, but McDaggett mortally wounds Lewis, who eventually dies. Unable to fight back because of his "Fourth Directive" programming, RoboCop is saved by members of a resistance movement composed of Nikko and residents from Cadillac Heights and eventually joins them. Because he was severely damaged during the shoot-out, RoboCop's systems efficiency plummets, and he asks the resistance to summon Dr. Lazarus, one of the scientists who created him. Upon arrival she begins to treat him, deleting the Fourth Directive in the process. During an earlier raid on an armory, the resistance picked up a jet-pack prototype, originally intended for RoboCop's use, which Lazarus modifies and upgrades to hold RoboCop.
After recovering from his injuries, RoboCop conducts a one-man campaign against the Rehabs and OCP. He finds McDaggett and attempts to subdue him. However, McDaggett successfully escapes and then obtains information from a disgruntled resistance member about where the resistance fighters' base is located. CEO Kanemitsu has developed his own ninja androids called "Otomo" and sends one to assist McDaggett overcome the resistance of anti-OCP militia forces. The Rehabs attack and most of the resistance members are either killed or taken prisoner. When RoboCop returns to the rebel base to find it abandoned, one Otomo unit arrives and attacks him. RoboCop experiences another power drain and his left arm and auto gun is destroyed, but eventually he successfully overcomes his opponent with his arm-mounted gun. Nikko infiltrates the OCP building and assists a captured Lazarus in broadcasting an improvised video, revealing OCP as responsible for the city's high crime rates and incriminating them for removing and killing the Cadillac Heights residents. The broadcast causes OCP's stock to plunge, financially ruining and bankrupting the company.
Meanwhile, McDaggett decides to execute an all-out strike against Cadillac Heights with the help of the Detroit police, but the police officers, enraged at the company's callous ways, refuse to comply and instead defect to the resistance, escalating the rebellion against OCP into a full-scale war. As a result, McDaggett turns to hiring street gangs and hooligans to assist with his plans.
Having heard Lazarus' broadcast, RoboCop provides aerial support for the entrenched resistance forces. He then proceeds to the OCP building and confronts the waiting McDaggett. RoboCop is then attacked, and nearly defeated, by two Otomo robots. Nikko and Lazarus succeed in reprogramming them using a wireless link from a laptop computer, having them attack each other. The Otomos' self-destruct system activate, forcing RoboCop to flee with Nikko and Lazarus. The flaming discharge from the jetpack immobilizes McDaggett, leaving him to perish in the blast.
As Old Detroit is being cleaned up, Kanemitsu arrives and finally comes face to face with RoboCop along with his group, while his translator tells the OCP president on Kanemitsu's behalf that he is fired, as the corporation shuts down OCP for good and plans to leave Detroit. Kanemitsu then bows to RoboCop and the group in respect. The CEO compliments RoboCop and asks for his name, to which he responds with, "My friends call me Murphy. You call me RoboCop."
God appears as a kindly old man to Jerry Landers, an assistant supermarket manager. After a few failed attempts in trying to set up an "interview," God tells Jerry that he has been selected to be His messenger to the modern world, much like a contemporary Moses. Timidly at first, Landers tells his wife, children and a religion editor of the ''Los Angeles Times'' of his encounters with God and soon becomes a national icon of comedic fodder.
Jerry soon appears on television with Dinah Shore and describes the look God takes when he encounters him. The next day, after Jerry is stranded from a car breakdown, God appears as a taxi driver to take Jerry home, where they are met by a bunch of chanting "religious nuts." Before he disappears, God consoles Jerry that he has the "strength that comes from knowing."
Skeptical at first, Landers finds his life turned upside down as a group of theologians attempt to discredit him by challenging him to answer a series of questions written in Aramaic while locked in a hotel room alone to prove God is contacting him directly. To Jerry's relief after an agonizing wait, God, working as room service, delivers food to Jerry and answers the questions. After being sued for slander by a charismatic preacher that God directed Jerry to call a "phony", Jerry decides to prove his story in a court of law.
Jerry argues that if God's existence is a reasonable possibility, then He can materialize and sit in the witness chair if He so chooses. At first, God fails to appear and the judge threatens to charge Jerry with contempt for "what you apparently thought was a clever stunt." Jerry argues that when everyone waited for a moment to see what would happen when he raised the mere possibility of God making a personal appearance in the courtroom, it proved that He at least deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Suddenly, without opening the doors, God appears and asks to be sworn in, concluding the procedure with "So help me Me." "If it pleases the court, and even if it doesn't please the court, I'm God, your honor."
God provides some miracles, first in the form of a few rather impressive card tricks for the judge. Then, to help the people believe, he leaves the stand, walks a few steps and, with everyone watching, literally disappears before their eyes. His disembodied voice then issues a parting shot: "It can work. If you find it hard to believe in Me, maybe it will help to know that I believe in you."
Sometime later, after hearing the ringing of a public telephone, Jerry meets up with God once again. God states he's going on a trip to spend some time with animals. Jerry expresses worry that they failed, but God compares him to Johnny Appleseed, saying he was given the best seeds and they will take root. Jerry then says he has lost his job and that everybody thinks he's a nut, but God assures him that there are other supermarkets and that he's in "good company". God had said to Jerry earlier: "lose a job; save a world." God gets ready to leave and says that he will not be coming back. Jerry then asks what if he needs to talk with him. God says to him "I'll tell you what, you talk. I'll listen." He then disappears. Jerry smiles as God departs.
After tricking Marge into believing that the model for the Burly paper towel corporation Chad Sexington would have dinner with the Simpsons, Homer takes the family to the Pimento Grove to watch live performers as compensation. One of the acts is a hypnotist called Mesmerino. Homer volunteers, and Mesmerino hypnotizes him into thinking he is twelve years old again. As Homer starts to reminisce, he starts screaming incessantly all through the night. The next day, Homer's co-workers Lenny and Carl bring him home early from work, still screaming, and Lisa and Marge finally manage to calm him down with some Yaqui tea.
Homer starts to recall the events leading up to the scream-inducing incident: beginning when he, Lenny, and Carl were hiking in the woods and were confronted by a young Fat Tony, only to be saved by a young Moe. Upon noticing that his bar was empty, the present-day Moe arrives at the Simpsons' home and recalls that while they sat by a fire that night, they saw a near-meltdown at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. The next day, they went to the old quarry for a swim, and Homer jumped in, only to find that there was no water but only mud. However, Homer recalls that there was no water in the quarry because something was blocking the inlet pipe. When Homer unblocked it, he found a rotting corpse in his lap, causing him to scream so much his voice changed from puberty.
Back in the present, the Simpsons decide to investigate. They go to the old quarry where they meet Chief Wiggum, who comes with them. Marge uses Burly paper towels to drain the water from the quarry. Finding nothing left of the corpse but a skeleton, they take its skull with them and travel through the pipe to emerge through a hatch in Mr. Burns's office. They confront him about the body, but he insists he did not murder anyone. He tells them that the dead man is Waylon Smithers' father, Waylon Smithers Sr. He shows an old surveillance tape, filmed during the imminent meltdown in which Smithers' father sacrificed himself by going into an unstable reactor core in order to prevent the meltdown and succumbed to the radiation. Burns then kept the truth from Smithers, who then enters the room, having heard the entire story. Burns apologizes to him, saying he wanted to spare him from knowing the truth about his father's real death. However, Smithers admits that he is glad that his father died as a real hero rather than from a tribe of savage Amazons, which Burns told him earlier in Smithers's life.
Declaring the case of the haunted quarry solved, Homer stores the skull in his "Memories" box, despite Marge's insistence to give it to Smithers. Just then, Moe arrives, having found some clues to the case. Despite Homer and Marge telling him the case has been solved, upon seeing Moe despondent, they decide to humour him by letting him show them his clues, which continues through the credits. It ends with Homer's screaming heard during the Gracie Films and Fox logos.
Lisa's teacher, Miss Hoover, announces to her class that she has Lyme disease, and is taking a leave of absence prompting her to be replaced by substitute teacher Mr. Bergstrom.
Mr. Bergstrom is dressed as a cowboy, setting the scene as Texas, 1830. He adds there are three things wrong with his costume and whoever guesses them will win his hat. Lisa states that his belt said "State of Texas" but Texas was not a state until 1845, the revolver was not invented until 1835 and that Mr. Bergstrom appears to be of Jewish descent and there were no Jewish cowboys. Mr. Bergstrom is impressed by Lisa's knowledge and rewards her with his cowboy hat, also adding that he was wearing a digital watch. Due to his unorthodox teaching methods and friendly nature, Lisa starts to develop a crush on him. Lisa runs into Mr. Bergstrom at a museum and is embarrassed when Homer displays his ignorance. Sensing a void in their relationship, Mr. Bergstrom takes Homer aside to suggest he be a more positive role model.
At Marge's suggestion, Lisa goes to invite Mr. Bergstrom to dinner at their home, but is devastated to find Miss Hoover back and Mr. Bergstrom gone. She rushes to his apartment and learns that he has accepted a new job in Capital City. She rushes to the train station and confesses that she will be lost without him. Mr. Bergstrom replies that the life of a substitute teacher is transient, and he has to help the more needy. He writes her a note and tells her that any time she feels alone, its contents are all she needs to know. He boards the train and departs. Lisa opens the note: it reads "You are Lisa Simpson."
Meanwhile, Bart's class prepares to elect a class president. Mrs. Krabappel nominates Martin, while Sherri and Terri nominate Bart. During a debate with Martin, Bart tells jokes and wins the class over. Certain of Bart's victory, none of the children in his class—including Bart—votes, giving Martin the victory with just two votes.
Devastated by Mr. Bergstrom's departure, Lisa takes her grief out on the insensitive Homer, calling him a "baboon". Marge tells Homer to console Lisa, explaining how their daughter is hurting and needs her father. Homer confesses to Lisa that he cannot imagine her experience, as he has never lost anyone special, and cheers her up by mimicking a monkey. Lisa apologizes for calling him a "baboon". Finding Bart seething over the election result, Homer comforts him by pointing out that being class president would have involved extra work with little reward. Finally, passing Maggie's room, he places her pacifier in her mouth. Homer goes to bed with Marge happily that night, saying he is "on the biggest roll" of his life.
At the Xindi Council, Degra reports that the weapon to destroy Earth should be ready in a matter of weeks. The coordinates provided by Tarquin (in "Exile") lead the ''Enterprise'' to a planet, and the crew decide to hide the ship behind a moon while a shuttlepod crewed by Captain Archer, Lieutenant Reed and Major Hayes approaches it. Evading detection, they land and enter a Xindi settlement, where they find a great quantity of kemocite being refined. They then observe Gralik Durr and two associates discussing the deal they have to mine the kemocite for Degra. The away team beams up a canister of kemocite for analysis, and then follow Gralik back to his home, where they confront him.
T'Pol's analysis shows that the Xindi probe which attacked Earth (in "The Expanse") contained kemocite. Archer then tells Gralik that Degra will use the kemocite to build a weapon, but the Arboreal denies any knowledge of the plan. Back on ''Enterprise'', Commander Tucker also learns that the kemocite is the key to Reptilian rifle technology. Archer approves his idea to reverse engineer a rifle, but Tucker unknowingly triggers a self-destruct sequence and the weapon is beamed into space, where it explodes.
On the planet, Archer decides not to destroy the kemocite mining complex as he does not want the Xindi to think of them as aggressors. Gralik explains that Degra told him that the kemocite was for research, and explains how the Avian race were assumed to be made extinct in the Xindi Civil War. A Reptilian shuttle arrives early, carrying Degra, to collect the final shipment of kemocite. Gralik takes the away team to a cave that will protect them from scans, but they are soon discovered by robotic drones sent by the Reptilians. When Gralik returns home, he is confronted by Degra, who reveals the true purpose of the kemocite, to build a weapon to destroy a ruthless alien species. T'Pol in the meantime has modified the canister of kemocite so that the ship can track it. Archer manages to sneak it aboard the Xindi shuttle and after the Reptilians leave, Archer thanks Gralik for his trust and help.
The game begins with the player-controlled protagonist and their friend, Drevin, serving as mercenaries in the army of Valdis, a warlord who has aligned himself with a race of Dark Wizards and wields the magical Sword of Zaramoth. The player character and Drevin are ordered to capture a temple held by dryads. After the temple is captured, however, Valdis attacks the mercenaries. Drevin is killed, and the player character is knocked unconscious.
The player character regains consciousness in the custody of the dryads. Rather than execute them, the dryads allow the player to earn their freedom by helping them in the war against Valdis. After the protagonist earns freedom, they discover that they are infected with the Plague, a mysterious disease created by the Dark Wizards that drives its victims to insanity. After being cured by the water from an Elven shrine, they return to their hometown.
On the way home, the player character rescues an old man from Plague-maddened dryads. The old man describes an event called the Great Cataclysm, caused when the Sword of Zaramoth that Valdis wields struck a magical shield called the Shield of Azunai. The blow shattered the shield, causing a catastrophe that ended the First Age. Valdis hopes to cause another such catastrophe by gathering the shards of the Shield of Azunai so he can shatter it again. The old man explains the Plague, saying that it is caused by crystals created during the Great Cataclysm that give license to the souls of Zaramoth's army to possess the living.
After the player character returns home, they begin to gather the pieces of the shield to use it against Valdis. After they gather all of the pieces, they take them to the Agallan giants so that they can re-forge the shield. As they re-forge it, they place a medallion in the center of it for added durability. This medallion had previously been worn by Drevin; he gave it to the player character before he died.
With the shield re-forged, the player character travels to Valdis' stronghold known as Zaramoth's Horns. The shield protects them from the Dark Wizards, but the battle with Valdis himself proves to be a stalemate until the old man appears and takes the shield from the player character. He gives the shield to Valdis, revealing that he is a Dark Wizard. Valdis tries to destroy the shield with the Sword of Zaramoth, but when he strikes the shield, his sword shatters instead. Valdis and the player character resume the battle, in which Valdis is killed.
The Xindi Council meet to discuss the progress of ''Enterprise''. Although the Reptilians and Insectoids want to attack the humans, Degra advises them to continue with the plan to build the superweapon. On ''Enterprise'', Sub-Commander T'Pol continues to help Commander Tucker with Vulcan neuropressure sessions. The crew, seeking the formula for a compound to reinforce the ship's hull against spatial anomalies, approach a planet with a vast floating alien bazaar. Captain Archer leads an away team to meet with B'Rat Ud, a chemist who they have met before.
After bartering, he sells them the formula for liquid trellium-D, and also informs them that the Xindi recently visited a merchant nearby. Archer meets the merchant, Zjod, a slaver who tries to sell him a female called Rajiin. Archer refuses and leaves, but Rajiin chases after him. Following a fight between Archer and Zjod, the away team leave with Rajiin, and Archer promises to return her to her home planet. Later she approaches Archer in his quarters, and as she nears him she puts him in a trance, and he no longer remembers her visit. Meanwhile, T'Pol and Tucker attempt to replicate the chemical from B'Rat's formula but the first attempt fails.
Afterwards, T'Pol returns to her cabin and is surprised to find Rajiin inside. She tries to resist, but is soon overcome. Rajiin attempts to flee using the transporter, but is quickly captured and placed in the brig. As Archer attempts to question her, Lieutenant Reed informs him that two Reptilian ships are on an intercept course. Rajiin admits she was gathering information for the Xindi. Reptilians, after running battles with the crew, retrieve Rajiin and take her back to one of the ships. ''Enterprise'' attempts to pursue, but the Xindi enter a subspace vortex. Afterwards, the Council convenes again to discuss the development and construction of a new bio-weapon, a project helped by Archer's bio-data that was stolen by Rajiin.
As ''Enterprise'' continues to travel through the Delphic Expanse, the ship is damaged by destructive spatial anomalies. With most of the primary systems off-line, Ensign Mayweather notices another ship nearby but no life-signs are detected. Captain Archer leads Lieutenant Reed and several MACOs on an away mission, and discover the crew are all dead. Taking what they can, they return and resume their mission.
Soon another vessel approaches ''Enterprise'', and a group of aliens beam on board, stealing weapons, food and equipment. The crew finally prevails, and one of the aliens, an Osaarian called Orgoth, is captured. Archer hopes to recover the stolen items, but the Osaarians have masked their ion trail. He then confronts Orgoth in the brig. He explains they were traders attempting to find new trade routes, but after being hit by the spatial anomalies they were unable to leave and resorted to piracy.
The crew are able to track the Osaarian vessel, finding a large 1,000-year-old sphere constructed out of a single alloy. Archer and his away team discover a series of habitat modules containing most of the stolen items. The crew also finds a cargo manifest, and Ensign Sato soon learns they had also recently attacked a Xindi ship. Archer once again confronts Orgoth, demanding to know everything about the Xindi. To make him talk, he drags the Osaarian to an airlock, initiating the decompression cycle. Orgoth reveals that they downloaded the Xindi database, and provides the access codes to their computer. When the alien ship returns, Mayweather maneuvers ''Enterprise'' close enough for Sato to download 90% of the database. Archer sends Orgoth back to his people.
The story begins in 1980s Moscow. Vladimir Mashkov, aka Uncle Vova, a generic but gruff construction foreman, is relaxing at home after a stressful day at work. His wife asks him to buy some groceries, so Vova goes out to the nearest store. Standing right in the city centre on Kalinin Prospekt (now New Arbat Avenue), is a barefoot man, dressed in a tattered coat, who appeals to passersby with a strange request: "Tell me the number of your planet in the Tentura? Or at least the number of your galaxy in the spiral?". Uncle Vova and a young Georgian student with a violin (The Violinist) stop and talk to the strange man. During a short conversation, the stranger shows them a teleportation device he calls a "traveler". Uncle Vova decides to test the veracity of the stranger's story, and despite the stranger's warnings, presses a random button on the device. Suddenly, Uncle Vova and the Violinist find themselves transported to the planet "Pluke" in the "Kin-dza-dza" galaxy.
The natives of the planet appear human, with deceptively primitive-looking technology and a barbaric culture, which satirically resembles that of humans. They are telepathic; the only spoken words normally used in their culture are "ku" (koo) and "kyu" (kyoo), the former stands for everything good, the latter being a swear word that stands for every bad thing. However, the Plukanians are able to quickly adapt to speaking and understanding Russian and Georgian. The society of Pluke is divided into two categories: "Chatlanians" and "Patsaks" ("пацак" is a backward spelling of "кацап", a derogatory term for Russians). The difference is ascertained only by means of a small handheld device, the "visator", similar in appearance to a flash drive; when pointed at a member of the Chatlanian group, an orange light on the device comes on; when pointed at a member of the Patsak group, a green light comes on. It is also noted that the social differences between Patsaks and Chatlanians are not constant: Pluke being a Chatlanian planet, Chatlanians are privileged, and a system of rituals must be followed by the Patsaks to show flattery; however, there are Patsak planets where Patsaks hold the upper hand and where Chatlanians are subservient. The "visator" shows that Uncle Vova and the Violinist are Patsaks.
The only group allowed to use weapons ("tranklucators") and enforce their will are the "ecilopps" ("police" spelled backwards). Outside being a Patsak or Chatlanin, respect towards others is determined by the color of their pants; different shades require those of lower social standing to "ku" at them a predetermined number of times, displaying their submission. The nominal leader of the Plukanian society is Mr. P-Zh; everybody makes their best to display fervent worship to him and disrespect is severely punished; however, when encountered in person, P-Zh appears harmless and dumb. The fuel of Pluke is called "luts" and is made from water. All naturally present water has apparently been processed into luts, so drinking water is a valuable commodity (in fact, it can only be made from luts).
A good deal of the plot is based on the fact that ordinary wooden matchsticks ("ketse") are considered to be extremely valuable on Pluke. Uncle Vova and the Violinist meet two locals, Uef and Bi, who at various points either help or abandon the Earthling duo in their quest to return to Earth, which at various times involves repairing Uef and Bi's ship or raiding P-Zh's private compound.
Uncle Vova and the Violinist finally encounter the man from the film's beginning, but he disappears, making it uncertain if he took them with him. The film then jumps back to the very beginning. As Uncle Vova heads outside, however, there is no man at the city center; furthermore, when he runs into the Violinist there, they do not recognize each other. Suddenly, a passing tractor with a flashing, orange light reminds them of the "ecilopps", and they both reflexively squat and say, "ku!", as it was required on Pluke. They immediately recognize each other. Uncle Vova, looking at the sky, hears the sound of a song performed by the Uef and Bi.
Ryo was adopted by the Sasaki family as a baby, much to the delight of his new adoptive sister, Ayame. His new parents chose not to tell him that he was adopted, however, and he didn't discover this fact until his teens. Ryo's life was shortly dealt another blow when his adoptive parents were killed in a car accident. Ayame abandoned her nursing studies in order to get a job and support Ryo through high school. One of the first people Ryo met at high school was Kaho Nagira. She begged him to join the literature club, which was in danger of being closed due to low membership. Surprising even himself, Ryo agreed to join, and he and Kaho became friends. Ryo found it difficult to settle into life at his new school, and sometimes had run-ins with other students. It was in the aftermath of one of these fights that he met the school nurse, Kaori Shito, and the two struck up an unlikely friendship. Throughout his time at high school, Ryo often visited her office in order to take naps and skip class, or simply to talk with her.
In Ryo's third year of high school, Kyoko Ashihara joined the literature club. She was a first-year student and a friend of Kaho's. Ryo found himself touched by Kyoko's plight—living by herself, apart from both of her parents—and did his best to be kind to her. Ryo has a low opinion of Yuka Otowa. She is looked down upon at the school because she prostitutes herself to other students. However, at the same time, Ryo has found himself defending her to other people and helping her in times of crisis, though he doesn't understand why he bothers. Although Ryo once said he hated Yuka for what she does, his hatred slowly disappears soon after. Tomonori Sugimura is Ryo's best friend at high school. After he met Kaho at the school festival, he asked Ryo to introduce the two of them properly, hoping to develop a relationship with her. Ryo did so, despite his own interest in Kaho. Tomonori and Kaho started dating shortly thereafter. Miyu Shizuhara is a friend of Kaho's who Ryo met when he heard her playing the piano in the music room. Miyu quickly warmed to him, and they soon became friends.
Moscow ''militsiya'' officer Arkady Renko is called to the site of three dead bodies – two men and one woman – in a secluded clearing near the Gorky Park ice rink. All have been shot in the chest and their faces and finger tips removed; the two men were also shot in the mouth. Renko becomes anxious when the KGB refuses to take over the investigation. Renko traces the woman's skates to a movie set worker, Irina Asanova, who claims that they were stolen. Based on the forensics, the pathologist identifies one young man as a foreigner, likely an American. Renko asks Professor Levi Andreev to reconstruct the faces of the woman and the American man.
At the dacha of Chief Prosecutor Iamskoy, Renko makes the acquaintance of American sable importer Jack Osborne, who is accompanied by Asanova. Renko also crosses paths with William Kirwill, a New York detective who is investigating the disappearance of his brother James.
Renko eventually identifies the victims: James Kirwill and two friends of Asanova. He discovers that they were constructing a chest for Osborne. Renko's suspicion of Osborne mounts following several polite but tense conversations in social settings. When a KGB officer attempts to kill Asanova with an injected overdose, Renko saves her. Nursing her, they become involved romantically although she doesn't entirely trust him. Kirwill finally finds out about Osborne's chest. It was designed to smuggle out six live sables and break the Soviet monopoly, potentially earning Osborne millions. Osborne had promised Asanova's friends to smuggle them out of the Soviet Union; he tells Asanova her friend is in Manhattan.
Renko confronts Asanova with Prof. Andreev's reconstructed head of her female friend, forcing her to accept they have been murdered. She confesses to the plot and flees. Renko and Kirwill go to retrieve the second reconstructed head, but a KGB agent emerges with it. They follow him to Iamskoy's dacha and watch as Osborne and Iamskoy supervise the head's destruction. To Kirwill's horror, it is his brother's head, but they overhear a deal between Osborne and Iamskoy. Renko confronts Iamskoy in a bath house and Iamskoy admits that he kept Renko on the case to force Osborne to pay a larger bribe to smuggle out the sables. He offers to cut Renko in, but Renko reveals that he has recorded their conversation. Iamskoy wrestles Renko for his gun, which goes off and kills Iamskoy.
Osborne flees to Stockholm. The KGB allows Renko to travel to supervise an exchange. He is to receive the sables from Osborne and kill them and Osborne. Renko meets Osborne at his apartment and finds Asanova there. She confesses that she fled to Osborne, who has included her freedom in the deal, and promises Renko that his freedom can also be included. She reveals that Osborne is planning a double cross as he has 12 sables, not just six. Renko meets with Kirwill and they predict that, following the exchange, the KGB will kill Asanova, Renko and Osborne. Kirwill agrees to be at the exchange to help Renko and Asanova.
The next morning, Renko and three KGB agents meet Osborne at a farm. They come across Kirwill's body tied to a tree with his intestines hanging out. Osborne announces that he gutted Kirwill after Kirwill killed his dogs. Osborne produces six dead sables and asks the men to lower their weapons. Renko realizes that neither side will let the other live. When Osborne shoots a KGB agent, Renko grabs Asanova and runs for the woods. KGB Major Pribluda then kills the other KGB agent before Osborne kills Pribluda.
Osborne tries to shoot Renko, who finds live sables in cages. Asanova emerges from the woods and Osborne threatens to kill her if Renko does not surrender. When Renko emerges to give up, Asanova shoots Osborne. Renko, too, shoots Osborne before Asanova kills Osborne. She asks Renko to go away with her, but Renko reveals he agreed to kill Osborne in return for her safety and freedom from the Soviet Union, and that they would both be killed if Renko did not return. Renko returns to his job in Moscow.
Renko ends up freeing the sables, which run off into the woods as Asanova's voice repeats Renko's promise that they will meet again one day.
The elderly Jake Sisko (Tony Todd) is visited by Melanie (Rachel Robinson), an aspiring writer, who is curious to learn why Jake gave up writing. Jake tells her his story, revealed as flashbacks in the episode.
When Jake was eighteen, his father Captain Benjamin Sisko took him on the USS ''Defiant'' to observe an inversion of the Bajoran Wormhole. The inversion causes a malfunction in the ''Defiant'' s warp drive; a bolt of energy strikes Benjamin, causing him to vanish into subspace. Believing him dead, Jake and the crew of Deep Space Nine mourn him; but a few months later, Jake catches sight of his father for a brief moment. A year after the incident, Benjamin appears again, but the crew is unable to return him to the normal flow of time.
When the Klingon Empire assumes control of Deep Space Nine, Jake returns to Earth. He eventually achieves success as an author, marries and settles down. When his father appears again, Jake introduces him to his wife and shows him the books he's published. He apologizes for moving on with his life instead of attempting to save his father, but Benjamin is proud of his son's accomplishments. When Benjamin disappears again, Jake decides to help him; he returns to school to study subspace mechanics, abandoning his writing career and marriage.
Decades later, the wormhole is to undergo another inversion, and Jake attempts to recreate the accident on the ''Defiant''. The attempt briefly sends him into subspace with his father. During this "visit", Benjamin is disappointed that Jake has abandoned his writing and marriage in order to save him, and begs him to return to his true passions and live out his life for his own sake. Jake returns without his father and tries to determine what went wrong with the rescue attempt. But eventually he honors his father's request to rebuild his life by returning to writing.
On the night of Melanie's visit, Jake knows his father will appear again. He has injected himself with a lethal hypospray dose, believing that, by dying when his father is present, Jake will allow him to return to a time before the warp core incident. The next morning, Benjamin appears as expected, and Jake tells him that his death will give them both a "second chance". Jake dies in his father's arms; Benjamin finds himself back on the ''Defiant'', and dodges the energy discharge. Confused, young Jake asks what happened. Benjamin tearfully responds, "I guess we were just lucky this time."
Peter is a self-conscious employee at a publishing firm who attends a party. There he meets Rita, a seemingly carefree part-time bartender who hopes to be a graphic designer. The two realize a mutual attraction and begin dating. Over time, Rita reveals her fears about the world, and her hesitancy to invest in joy or dreams when she expects bad things are more likely to happen than good. Despite this, she falls in love with Peter and agrees to marry him.
Some time later, the two marry. At their wedding reception, they encounter an unknown Old Man who was passing by and wanted to wish the couple good luck. The Old Man asks to kiss the bride before he leaves and Rita agrees, charmed. As they kiss, Rita and the Old Man magically exchange bodies. Confused and disoriented, Rita wanders away, now inhabiting an elderly male form, while "Rita" and Peter embark on a honeymoon in Jamaica. During the trip, Peter is confused by his wife's new personality and inability to remember basic details of her own life. When they return home, "Rita" seems back to her old self and kisses Peter. After the kiss, Peter realizes this isn't his wife and concludes the impostor read Rita's diary to better masquerade as her. Panicked, he demands her return then leaves the apartment.
At the bar where Rita worked, Peter sees the Old Man from the wedding reception. They talk and Peter realizes this is the real Rita, who has been living as the Old Man (whose name is Julius). They hope to make another body swap, but discover the Old Man has fled to stay with Rita's parents the Boyles, telling them the marriage is in turmoil and separation is needed. Peter meets Leah, Julius's daughter, and learns the Old Man is a retired widower who has terminal cancer, with maybe a year left to live. As they consider what to do, Peter and Rita live together as a couple again. Rita now appreciates life more deeply, while Peter realizes he loves her despite the shell she inhabits changing how they relate physically.
Peter and Rita finally confront Julius, but the Old Man himself isn't sure how to cause the body swap. He came upon their wedding by chance and envied the bride's youth due to his fear of dying. Rita realizes that during their kiss, she had felt envy for the Old Man as well, wishing she could be someone who had already survived into old age despite any obstacles. As the two realize they no longer have the fears they felt that day, Rita and Julius exchange souls again. Julius takes his leave as Rita and Peter reunite.
Georgia Mozell, Eve Marks and Maddy Mozell are adult sisters. Self-obsessed Georgia (Keaton) is the editor of her own wildly successful self-titled women's magazine. Maddy (Kudrow) is a vacuous soap opera actress who has always struggled for her own identity. Party planner Eve (Ryan) struggles to balance her family life with her career while also caring for their father. All three sisters are still wounded by their parents' divorce, after many years of acrimony, which resulted in their mother Pat (Leachman) essentially abandoning them all.
Despite being as busy with her own life as the others, Eve is the only one of the three who deals with the long term hospitalization of their cantankerous seventy-nine-year-old father, Lou Mozell (Matthau), when he enters the early stages of dementia and has to be hospitalized. Lou has a history of alcoholism and womanizing, and despite a hurtful incident years earlier, Eve takes charge of her father's care. In addition to answering his frequent, often incoherent phone calls, she visits him in the hospital nearly every day. Maddy occasionally visits as well, but also saddles Eve with the care of her large dog, Buck.
Flashbacks show Eve, Maddy and Georgia visiting Lou one Christmas after he attempted suicide after Pat left him. Eve confronts her mother, who admits she only had children because she believed that was what was normal, but discovered it wasn't actually what she wanted out of life. She goes back to her father and they go Christmas tree shopping together. Lou's joyful nature helps Eve to forget the pain of her mother's rejection.
In another flashback, Lou drunkenly crashes the birthday party of Eve's young son, Jesse, and when Eve tells him to leave he angrily tells her that she was a mistake. Eve's husband, outraged, forces Lou to leave and declares he's never to return to their house again.
Fed up and overwhelmed with caring for her father, siblings and an especially demanding client, Eve disconnects all the phones in her house. At an event Eve planned, where Georgia is the keynote speaker, Georgia uses Lou's illness to promote her magazine and claims that she's been more involved in his care than she actually is. Afterward, Maddy, Eve and Georgia argue viciously, until they're halted by the news that Lou's health has worsened.
All three sisters rush to the hospital and reconcile at their father's bedside. As they wait for Lou to emerge from a coma, they try to remember the name of an actress whose name Eve has been struggling to recall for weeks. Lou suddenly says it's June Allyson before passing away.
Some time later, Eve, Maddy and Georgia are together in Eve's kitchen for Thanksgiving. Eve teaches Georgia how to make her stuffing recipe, which Georgia had previously stolen and given to a newspaper as hers. Georgia and Maddy begin to playfully throw flour at each other, and Eve takes a moment to enjoy being together with her sisters before joining in.
The film is based on the life of Japanese academic and author Hyakken Uchida (1889–1971). It opens with him resigning as professor of German, in the period immediately before the Second World War. The plot is centered on his relationship with his former students, who care for him in his old age. Many of the movie's vignettes, like the search for a missing cat and the time Uchida spent in a one-room hut after his home was destroyed in a bombing raid, come from Uchida's own writings, but the movie also gives Kurosawa the chance to comment on aspects of modern Japanese history like the American occupation of Japan that he had only been able to explore indirectly in his earlier works.
The story describes the joys and pains of the ordinary marriage of Ira and Maggie Moran as they travel from Baltimore to attend a funeral and back home again in one day. It also examines Maggie's attempts to reconcile her son and daughter-in-law. During the journey to the funeral, we learn how both Ira and Maggie have forgone their youthful dreams and feel they have settled for an "ordinary life." We experience how they exasperate each other—Maggie too talkative, too meddling; Ira too logical, uncommunicative, and too judgmental. A few detours during their 90-mile drive reveal Ira and Maggie's "incompatibilities, disappointments, unmet expectations—and lasting love".
Edward Hoagland describes the novel: "Maggie, surprised by life, which did not live up to her honeymoon, has become an incorrigible prompter. And she has horned in to bring about the birth of her first grandchild by stopping a 17-year-old girl named Fiona at the door of an abortion clinic and steering her into marrying Maggie's son, Jesse, who is the father and, like Fiona, a dropout from high school....The book's principal event is a 90-mile trip that Maggie and Ira make from Baltimore...to a country town in Pennsylvania where a high school classmate has suddenly scheduled an elaborate funeral for her husband. Maggie...indulges her habit of pouring her heart out to every listening stranger, which naturally infuriates Ira, who, uncommunicative to start with, has reached the point where Maggie can divine his moods only from the pop songs of the 1950s that he whistles....Maggie, although exasperating,...is trying to make a difference, to connect or unite people, beat the drum for forgiveness and compromise. As Ira explains, "It's Maggie's weakness. She believes it's all right to alter people's lives. She thinks the people she loves are better than they really are, and so then she starts changing things around to suit her point of view of them."Hoagland, Edward (September 11, 1988),[https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/11/books/about-maggie-who-tried-too-hard.html?pagewanted=1] "About Maggie, Who Tried too hard," ''New York Times''
Shah Guido G. is the nickname of Guido Garshthavastra, the hereditary Secretary-General of the United Nations ("Sekjen"), a tyrant who rules the Earth from a levitating island called Atlantis.
Philo Plat is an aristocrat who secretly plots Shah Guido G.'s downfall. When he learns that the stations that power the Sky-Island's anti-gravitational beams are close to critical, Plat convinces Shah Guido G. to order in a division of Waves (female shock-troops whose name derives from the WAVES of the United States Navy) to put down a supposed rebellion by the technicians.
As Plat suspected, the weight of the Waves' cruisers is sufficient to overload the Sky-Island's power generators, causing it to plummet to the ground, thereby liberating the people from tyranny. The story ends with the punning punchline: "Why, once more in history, Atlantis sank beneath the Waves."
Part 1 opens in Persepolis. The Persian emperor, Mycetes, dispatches troops to dispose of Tamburlaine, a Scythian shepherd and, at that point, a nomadic bandit. In the same scene, Mycetes' brother Cosroe plots to overthrow Mycetes and assume the throne.
The scene shifts to Scythia, where Tamburlaine is shown wooing, capturing, and winning Zenocrate, the daughter of the Egyptian king. Confronted by Mycetes' soldiers, he persuades first the soldiers and then Cosroe to join him in a fight against Mycetes. Although he promises Cosroe the Persian throne, Tamburlaine reneges on this promise and, after defeating Mycetes, takes personal control of the Persian Empire.
Now a powerful figure, Tamburlaine turns his attention to Bajazeth, emperor of the Turks. He defeats Bajazeth and his tributary kings, capturing the emperor and his wife Zabina. The victorious Tamburlaine keeps the defeated ruler in a cage and feeds him scraps from his table, releasing Bajazeth only to use him as a footstool. Bajazeth later kills himself on stage by bashing his head against the bars upon hearing of Tamburlaine's next victory. Upon finding his body, Zabina does likewise.
After conquering Africa and naming himself emperor of that continent, Tamburlaine sets his eyes on Damascus, a target which places the Egyptian sultan, his to-be father-in-law, directly in his path. Zenocrate pleads with her future husband to spare her father. He complies, instead making the sultan a tributary king. The play ends with the wedding of Tamburlaine and Zenocrate, who is crowned Empress of Persia.
In Part 2, Tamburlaine grooms his sons to be conquerors in his wake as he continues to attack neighbouring kingdoms. His oldest son, Calyphas, preferring to stay by his mother's side and not risk death, incurs Tamburlaine's wrath. Meanwhile, the son of Bajazeth, Callapine, escapes from Tamburlaine's jail and gathers a group of tributary kings to his side, planning to avenge his father. Callapine and Tamburlaine meet in battle, where Tamburlaine is victorious. But finding that Calyphas remained in his tent during the battle, Tamburlaine kills him in anger. Tamburlaine then forces the defeated kings to pull his chariot to his next battlefield, declaring, : Holla ye pampered jades of Asia! : What, can ye draw but twenty miles a day? Upon reaching Babylon, which holds out against him, Tamburlaine displays further acts of extravagant savagery. When the governor of the city attempts to save his life in return for revealing the city treasury, Tamburlaine has him hanged from the city walls and shot. He orders the inhabitants—men, women, and children—to be bound and thrown into a nearby lake. Lastly, Tamburlaine scornfully burns a copy of the Qur'an and claims to be greater than God. In the final act, he becomes ill but manages to defeat one more foe before he dies. He bids his sons to conquer the remainder of the earth as he departs life.
The film tells the story of a woman who reluctantly leaves her overbearing husband and infant child to pursue a career in the music industry. Aspiring vocalist, Olivia King (Diana Ross) performs at small lounge in Atlanta, Georgia in 1981. Following her performance, she is approached by a music executive who advises her of the myriad opportunities awaiting her in the larger music market of New York City. Initially, King declines his offer, returning home to her husband (Brian Stokes Mitchell), who dismisses the idea of her relocating and general career aspirations. Feeling depressed, conflicted and trapped in her marriage, Olivia King leaves her home in the middle of the night, promising to return for her daughter.
Eighteen years later, in St. Louis, Missouri, King's daughter, Kayla Harris (Brandy Norwood), now 19 years old, has won a contest to meet famous superstar Olivia King, of whom Kayla is a huge fan. Following Olivia's concert, Olivia and Kayla share a meal, during which Kayla details her own musical aspirations and invites Olivia to one of her performance at a small local club. When Kayla returns home from dinner, her father is shocked to learn that the star Kayla got to meet was Olivia King, but, does not tell Kayla the truth of maternal parentage. The next day, Kayla's father confronts Olivia at her concert venue, warning her to stay away from their daughter. At Kayla's performance, she worries that Olivia will not appear, but, she does, shortly after Kayla begins to sing. Following the show, Olivia reveals to Kayla that she is her mother. Kayla is stunned, upset, and quickly leaves the club. Kayla is shaken, argues with her father, and refuses to speak to Olivia, even when she offers to help her with her career. Kayla's best friend advises her to accept Olivia's help with her music career, as it is the least she owes her.
Kayla reluctantly agrees to go to New York City with Olivia, who makes futile attempts to build a relationship with her daughter. Olivia introduces Kayla to her industry contacts, and with Olivia's strong recommendation and Kayla's talent, she is quickly signed to a recording contract. While beginning to record her first album, Kayla continues to live with Olivia in her penthouse apartment, with Olivia trying not to behave like an overbearing stage mother as she pursues success. Kayla then begins a steamy romance with a handsome older music executive, Ric Ortega (Allen Payne) whom her mother does not trust and warns against, but, Kayla ignores her mother. Despite her growing success and initial hit single, ''Have You Ever?'', Kayla continues to harbor bitter feelings towards Olivia, which boil over during their record label's Grammy Party. After Kayla's performance, Olivia is asked to perform by the head of the label, causing Kayla to resent her mother for "stealing her spotlight". Kayla's moves in with Ric. However, after discovering that Ric revealed her true parentage to the press and betrayed her, just as her mother had warned, Kayla dissolves their relationship. Kayla, feeling regretful, follows her mother to her cabin, where Olivia is finding refuge from the scandal. As they spend time at the cabin and truly communicate for the first time, the women begin to finally understand each other. Eventually, Kayla processes her feelings about her mother and her decision to leave the family. The movie closes with Olivia and Kayla returning to St. Louis for a concert Kayla is giving. As the show draws to a close, she calls her mother to the stage and they perform the duet, ''Love Is All That Matters''. Kayla's friend and family look on from the audience.
The movie was a Nielsen ratings success, debuting at #16 for the week. Initially airing on ABC, the telefilm has since been syndicated by VH1, MTV, BET, Centric and TV One (U.S. TV channel) where it still is a recurrent favorite.
Set in the country of South Africa, the story begins with a cheetah cub being orphaned after his mother was killed by lions. The cub is found on the side of the road by a young boy named Xan (Alexander Michaeletos) and his father Peter (Campbell Scott). Initially reluctant to take in a wild animal, Peter agrees to let Xan take care of the cub. They name him "Duma", the Swahili name for cheetah. Over the years, Duma becomes a part of the family, being closely raised by Xan. As he nears adulthood, Peter and Xan decide to teach Duma how to run by having him chase alongside Peter's motorcycle, which can barely keep up with him. But with Duma almost fully grown, to Xan's dismay, his father tells him that it is time to take his friend to his real home before he grows too old to survive in his native habitat. His father says to Xan, "Duma has to live the life he was born to—or he'll never be fully alive."
Xan reluctantly agrees, but their plans must be put on hold when his father suddenly falls ill and dies and Xan and his mother (Hope Davis) must move to Johannesburg. Duma comes with them, which wreaks havoc on their life in the city. Xan's aunt is terrified of Duma, who likes to sneak up and surprise her, and when Duma escapes and pays a disastrous visit to Xan's school, the two of them must flee the city to keep Duma from being put into captivity. Not knowing where to go, Xan gets an idea—he'll carry out the plan his dad had outlined, taking Duma home in the neighboring country of Botswana, over the scorching Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, through the Okavango Delta and into the Erongo Mountains.
Xan begins to drive to his destination in his father's old motorcycle, with Duma in the sidecar. After running out of fuel and water in the grasslands, they find some shade underneath a crashed airplane. There, they are confronted by Ripkuna (Eamonn Walker), a mysterious drifter on a journey of his own. While Xan isn't at all that sure he can trust Rip, he agrees to go with him. Xan manages to turn the immobile motorcycle into a desert sailboat out of a parachute from the plane wreck. The trio make their way until they encounter the untraversable scrub brush of the Kalahari Desert and must abandon the motorcycle. While trying to find shelter, Rip is trapped in an abandoned diamond mine by a cave in, and Xan decides to leave him, as he suspects that he has been leading him to town instead of the jungle to sell Duma and collect a reward for finding him. However, when Duma is caught in a trap and Xan is knocked unconscious by a boar, Rip rescues both of them, having escaped the mine through a ventilation shaft.
Soon, they reach the Okavango Delta, where Xan is attacked by the deadly wildlife and the churning rapids of the Thamalakane River, but it's too late for him to turn back now. Xan, Rip and Duma press through the Okavango, and finally the Erongo Mountains, on the border of Botswana and Namibia are in sight. However, once they get there, Xan is suddenly set upon by a swarm of tsetse flies. To protect him from their lethal bite, Rip huddles over Xan and is bitten by hundreds of flies. He soon develops sleeping sickness, and Xan takes him to a nearby village where he can be cared for; it is soon revealed that those taking care of him are actually his own family. Later that night, outside the village, Duma is out on his own and starts calling out into the mountains. Duma finds another cheetah calling to him, and they bond rather quickly. It is never explained whether this is another male cheetah, or is in fact one of Duma's siblings. Xan hears this activity, and realizes that this is where he and Duma must part. Xan says goodbye to Duma, and Duma comes to Xan and says a final goodbye, and goes back to play with his new friend. Xan returns to Rip in the village. Before the credits, it shows Xan being reunited with his mother.
''Misalliance'' is an ironic examination of the mating instincts of a varied group of people gathered at a wealthy man's country home on a summer weekend. Most of the romantic interest centers on the host's daughter, Hypatia Tarleton, a typical Shaw heroine who exemplifies his lifelong theory that in courtship, women are the relentless pursuers and men the apprehensively pursued.
Hypatia is the daughter of newly-wealthy John Tarleton who made his fortune in the unglamorous but lucrative underwear business. She is fed up with the stuffy conventions that surround her and with the hyperactive talk of the men in her life. Hypatia is engaged to Bentley Summerhays, an intellectually bright but physically and emotionally underdeveloped aristocrat.
Hypatia is restless with her engagement as the play starts, even as it is revealed she has also had a proposal of engagement from her betrothed's father, Lord Summerhays. She has no desire to be a nurse to the elderly and is in no hurry to be made a widow. She longs for some adventure to drop out of the sky, and it does ... an aircraft crashes through the roof of the conservatory to close the end of the first act.
At the beginning of Act II, it is revealed that the aircraft brings two unexpected guests. The pilot, Joey Percival, is a handsome young man who immediately arouses Hypatia's hunting instinct. The passenger, Lina Szczepanowska, is a female dare-devil of a circus acrobat whose vitality and directness inflame all the other men at the house-party.
An additional uninvited guest arrives in the form of Gunner. He is a cashier who is very unhappy with his lot in life. He blames the wealthy class in particular for the plight of the ordinary worker, and he blames John Tarleton in particular for a romantic dalliance that he once had with Gunner's mother. Gunner arrives with intent to kill Tarleton but hides inside a piece of furniture. From this position, he becomes wise to Hypatia's pursuit of Percival. His character comes to introduce the themes of socialism to the play, as well as serving to question the conventional views on marriage and social order.
All together there are eight marriage proposals offered for consideration in the course of one summer afternoon. The question of whether any one of these combinations of marriage might be an auspicious alliance, or a misalliance, prompts one of the prospective husbands to utter the famous Shavian speculation: :"If marriages were made by putting all the men's names into one sack and the women's names into another, and having them taken out by a blind-folded child like lottery numbers, there would be just as high a percentage of happy marriages as we have now."
Part of Shaw's premise is in the irony that men spend so much energy courting a woman who will be obedient and subservient to them, when what they really desire is a strong woman who will be their equal. Shaw's idea of such an "ideal woman", one present throughout his works, is embodied in this case by the character of Lina Szczepanowska. She is a death-defying Polish acrobat who accompanies Percival on his flight and subsequently becomes the object of affection for Summerhays, Tarleton, Bentley and Johnny. The affirmation of her role as Shaw's archetypical ideal woman is her speech (the longest by far in the work) in which she rejects Johnny's offer of marriage in favor of retaining her independence...financially, intellectually and physically. She takes Bentley, who finds a shaky new courage, up into the air with her at the conclusion of the play.
When the Simpsons' television set breaks, Marge tells her children how she and Homer met in a flashback. Marge and Homer were both high school seniors in 1974. Homer and his close friend Barney earned detention for smoking in the boys' restroom. Unlike Homer, Marge was studious, but she was also sent to detention for burning a bra at a feminist rally. Homer instantly fell in love with Marge the first time he saw her in the detention room. Despite his father Abe's warning that he was aiming too high, Homer was determined to win Marge's heart.
To impress Marge, Homer joined her debate team, where he learned she was romantically interested in the more articulate Artie Ziff. Homer asked Marge to tutor him in French and she accepted his invitation to the senior prom. When Homer confessed that he was not enrolled in French class and was only using the ruse to spend time with her, Marge scolded him for making her needlessly stay awake late the night before a debate tournament. She lost the debate to Artie, who asked her to be his prom date. Homer was unaware Marge accepted Artie's invitation and unexpectedly arrived at her house on prom night. When Artie arrived moments later, Homer despondently left her house and attended the prom alone.
Artie and Marge were crowned prom king and queen and shared the first dance. Marge found a heartbroken Homer crying in the hallway. He confessed his feelings for her and although she was sympathetic, she urged him to accept her love for Artie. At Inspiration Point after the prom, Artie tried to make out with Marge in the back seat of his car; when he tore her dress in a fit of passion, Marge slapped him and demanded to be taken home, passing by Homer walking alone after he ran out of money to pay for his limousine rental. Realizing she was in love with Homer, and spurred on by overhearing her father criticise him, Marge returned in her car to pick him up and apologized for her foolish mistake she made. Homer fixed the torn strap of her dress with the corsage he had bought for her. As Marge ends her flashback, Lisa and Maggie are touched, but Bart makes gagging sounds of disgust.
The book follows Phèdre nó Delaunay's life from birth. She's born with a mote in her eye, which makes her appear inappropriate for service as a religious courtesan, but it is revealed that this is actually a sign that she is an 'anguissette' or sexual masochist, deriving sexual pleasure from pain. Her bond is purchased by a nobleman who does train her as a courtesan, and discovers a plot against her homeland which she has a chance to interrupt.
The story unfolds in flashbacks, giving details of two separate relationships that become intertwined.
At a performance of ''Café Müller'', a dance-theatre piece by Pina Bausch, Benigno Martín and Marco Zuluaga are seated next to each other. They are strangers, but Benigno notices the tears on Marco's face at one point during the performance.
Marco is a journalist and travel writer who sees a TV interview with Lydia González, a famous matador. He thinks that an article about her would be interesting and contacts her in a bar, where she asks him to take her home. The news that she has broken up with her boyfriend "el Niño de Valencia", another matador, has been all over the tabloids. When Marco confesses that he is a journalist who knows nothing about bullfighting, she becomes angry and abruptly exits his car outside her house. He starts to drive off but stops when he hears a scream from inside her house. Lydia rushes out and gets into his car. Marco goes inside to kill the snake, an act that leaves him weeping. Having shared some vulnerability, they become friends and, later on, lovers. Marco attends a wedding and is surprised to see Lydia there, since she had said that she did not want to go. The wedding is that of Marco's former fiancée, Ángela, who had the same phobia of snakes as Lydia; Marco had been very much in love with Ángela and had difficulty getting over her, which was why he wept over things he could not share with her. Lydia says that she has something important to say, but she prefers to wait until after the bullfight that afternoon, during which she is gored and becomes comatose. Marco remains by her side at the hospital and befriends Benigno, who recognizes him from the theatre performance. A doctor tells Marco that, while there are miracle-stories of people who have come out of comas, there is no reason for him to remain hopeful about Lydia.
Benigno is obsessed with Alicia Roncero, a beautiful dancer whom he watches practicing in the studio that he can see into from the apartment where he lives with his invalid mother. To care for her, he became a nurse and a beautician. After his mother dies, he finds the courage to talk to Alicia when she drops her wallet on the street. As they walk to her house, she talks about dancing and her enjoyment of silent black and white films. When she enters her building, Benigno notices that it is also the office of Dr. Roncero, a psychiatrist. As a ruse to gain access to Alicia's apartment, Benigno makes an appointment to see the doctor. In response to the doctor's questions, Benigno talks about the years he cared for his mother and says that he is lonely and a virgin. Afterward, a shocked Alicia sees him leaving her room, from which he has taken a hair clip. That night she is struck by a car and becomes comatose. In the hospital, where Benigno is assigned to care for Alicia, he talks to her as if she were awake and brings her dancing and silent film mementos. He tells Marco that he should talk to Lydia because, even when in a coma, women understand men's problems. In response to Dr. Roncero's questioning, Benigno says that he is gay, presumably so that the doctor will not be suspicious of his intimate care of Alicia.
"El Niño de Valencia," whom Marco finds in Lydia's room one day, tells Marco that Lydia and he had reconciled, that before the goring incident she intended to tell Marco that. He also says that, now that he has recovered from his own injuries, he should be the one attending to Lydia. Marco goes into Alicia's room and starts opening his heart to her. When Benigno appears, he tells Marco that he always thought Marco and Lydia would separate. A nurse expresses concern that Alicia has not had a period in two months and appears bloated. In the hospital parking lot, Benigno tells Marco of his desire to marry Alicia. Marco is taken aback, pointing out that Alicia cannot express her will in any way. Benigno remains unpersuaded.
The hospital staff discover that Alicia is pregnant because she was raped. Further investigation reveals that her chart does not indicate her missed period. Benigno admits to falsifying the chart and claims that he did this so as not to alarm anyone, as other comatose patients have also missed their periods. Another orderly reports having overheard Benigno's conversation with Marco about wanting to marry Alicia.
Unaware of Alicia's pregnancy, Marco leaves for Jordan to write a travel book. Months later, he reads in a newspaper that Lydia has died without awakening from her coma. When he calls the hospital to talk to Benigno, a nurse tells him that Benigno is in prison for Alicia's rape and urges him to return for Benigno’s sake because “he has no one.” Benigno, who has been denied information about Alicia since his imprisonment, asks Marco to find out what has happened to her. Marco stays in Benigno's apartment, from which he sees Alicia in the dance studio doing rehab exercises with her teacher, Katrina. From Benigno's lawyer, Marco learns that Alicia had a stillborn baby. The lawyer urges him not to tell Benigno about the baby or Alicia's recovery.
Marco, who adheres to this request, receives a voicemail from Benigno saying that he cannot live without Alicia and has decided to "take off.” Marco rushes to the prison, where Benigno has left him a farewell letter. Benigno had written that he hopes to take only enough pills to leave him in a comatose state in which he can join Alicia. He asks Marco to talk to him and tell him everything. Marco visits Benigno's grave and tells him about the stillbirth and Alicia’s recovery.
The film ends in the theatre where it began, with Alicia and Katrina sitting a few rows behind Marco at the dance performance. During intermission, Alicia asks a distraught-looking Marco if he is alright. When the performance continues, Marco is seen turning back to look at a smiling Alicia and, echoing a caption that had appeared for the couples "Marco y Lydia" and "Benigno y Alicia," the words “Marco y Alicia” appear on the screen.
Twenty years ago in a magic-filled dimension, the forces of darkness came into power and a war called the "Great Battle" between good and evil began all while the citizens of the human world remained unaware. An army of monsters, led by a magnificent warrior named Morticon, swarmed the land with their sights set on taking over the magical realm, the human realm, and beyond. The army of Morticon, opposed by five wizards, the most powerful wizard of all Leanbow, cast a spell to pushed back the dark forces and closes the walls of the underworld forever. The Gatekeeper sealed the gates for all eternity. The army of Light successfully thwarted the dark forces' attempt to take the surface world, but the five wizards lost their lives. Leanbow, who sealed himself on their side of the Gate to make sure evil sources do not escape, journeyed to the underworld.
In the present day, the city of Briarwood is struck by an earthquake, which proves powerful enough to crack the seal and allow evil to renew its attempt to invade the Earth. The sorceress Udonna, alerted to their return, seeks out the warriors of legend, Briarwood teenagers Nick, Chip, Xander, and sisters Madison and Vida, to become the Power Rangers alongside her. While Nick is reluctant at first, he realizes his destiny and joins the others in the fight against the Master of the Underworld and his numerous minions. When Udonna briefly loses her Ranger powers to the mysterious Koragg, it is up to the team to save the Earth on their own. They are assisted by Udonna's bumbling apprentice, Clare, and eventually Jenji the Genie Cat and his master Daggeron, the Solaris Knight.
Using their powerful magic and incredible martial arts skills, the Mystic Force Rangers must rely on teamwork to save the day. Later, in a shocking surprise, it is revealed that Koragg is none other than Leanbow, the greatest and the strongest of the five original wizards. In a fight with Udonna, Koragg takes over Udonna's magical staff filled with the power of goodness. Over time, Udonna's magical staff, along with the knowledge that Nick is actually his and Udonna's missing son Bowen, helps Koragg turn back to his original self, allowing him to use his powers to transform into the Wolf Warrior. In the end, the Rangers come together to defeat the Master of the Underworld with the help of Briarwood's people with the power of truth and goodness. With the forces of darkness defeated, Nick, Udonna, and Leanbow leave Briarwood to meet Nick's adoptive parents while the remaining Rangers stay behind to protect their home.
An old friend Bertie went to preparatory school with, Reginald "Kipper" Herring, is staying with Bertie for a week. Bertie eagerly accepts an invitation from his aunt, Aunt Dahlia, to her home, Brinkley Court, since Jeeves is about to go to Herne Bay on holiday. Aunt Dahlia's husband, Bertie's Uncle Tom, is trying to make a business deal with an American named Homer Cream. While the two of them are in Harrogate, Mr. Cream's wife Adela Cream, an author of mystery stories, and their son Wilbert Cream are staying at Brinkley Court. The mischievous Roberta "Bobbie" Wickham, and Aubrey Upjohn, who was once Bertie and Kipper's oppressive headmaster, will also be there, along with Phyllis Mills. She is Upjohn's stepdaughter and Aunt Dahlia's goddaughter. Upjohn hopes to stand for a local election after giving a speech at the Market Snodsbury grammar school, and Phyllis is typing his speech.
Before going to Brinkley Court, Bertie learns that Kipper, who works for a weekly paper and is vengeful towards Upjohn, wrote a scathing, anonymous review of Upjohn's recently published book. Jeeves tells Bertie that Willie Cream is a notorious troublemaking playboy known as "Broadway Willie". After Jeeves leaves, Bertie sees a jarring announcement in ''The Times'' stating that he, Bertie, is engaged to Bobbie.
At Brinkley Court, Bertie finds Wilbert Cream reading poetry to Phyllis. He then finds Bobbie, who assures him that the engagement announcement was merely to scare her mother, who dislikes Bertie, into approving the man Bobbie really wants to marry, Reginald Herring.
Upjohn is urging his daughter Phyllis to marry Wilbert. Aunt Dahlia, disapproving of Willie's reputation, wants to prevent the match. Since Brinkley Court’s butler, Seppings, is away on holiday, Aunt Dahlia engages the renowned psychiatrist Sir Roderick Glossop to step in as his replacement, adopting the alias “Swordfish”, so that he may observe and report on Wilbert's behaviour. Bertie tries to keep Wilbert away from Phyllis. By letter, Jeeves informs Bertie that Willie Cream is a kleptomaniac. Uncle Tom's silver cow-creamer goes missing.
While Bobbie is away, Kipper comes to Brinkley Court. He was engaged to Bobbie, but thinks it is over after seeing the marriage announcement for Bertie and Bobbie. He is relieved when Bertie tells him the announcement was fake. Glossop searches Wilbert Cream's room for the cow-creamer, and bonds with Bertie. Bobbie ends her engagement to Kipper after reading an angry letter he wrote when he first saw the marriage announcement, and proclaims she will marry Bertie. Bertie does not want to marry her, but is prevented by his personal code from turning down any woman, so he drives to Herne Bay to get help from Jeeves. Jeeves agrees to return to Brinkley with Bertie. Bobbie soon forgives Kipper's letter, but Kipper, to spite Bobbie, becomes engaged to Phyllis.
Aunt Dahlia tells Bertie that Wilbert Cream did not steal the cow-creamer. Uncle Tom sold it to him. Meanwhile, Upjohn intends to sue Kipper's paper for libel. While his review was mostly legitimate, a small libellous portion was secretly added by Bobbie. Apologetic, Bobbie reconciles with Kipper. Glossop suggests that Kipper save his job by rescuing Upjohn from drowning. After Bertie and Bobbie fail to push Upjohn in the nearby lake, Bertie and Phyllis's dog Poppet fall in instead. Kipper dives in to help Bertie, mistaking him for Upjohn, and Wilbert dives in to help Phyllis's dog Poppet. Moved, Phyllis gets engaged to Wilbert. This initially upsets Aunt Dahlia, though it turns out that Wilbert is not actually the infamous Broadway Willie: that is his younger brother, Wilfred.
Upjohn becomes aware that Kipper wrote the scathing review and refuses to stay in the same house. Jeeves packs for Upjohn, neglecting to pack Upjohn's typed speech. After receiving the typescript from Jeeves, Bobbie makes Upjohn withdraw his libel suit before she returns it to him.
Thinking Wilbert stole it, Glossop confiscated the cow-creamer. Adela Cream finds the cow-creamer in Glossop's room and thinks he stole it. To prevent a misunderstanding, Glossop has revealed his true occupation. Following Jeeves's advice, Glossop has claimed he had been brought to observe Bertie and had recovered the cow-creamer from Bertie's room. Bertie is upset that the Cream family thinks he is a kleptomaniac, but Jeeves placates Bertie by saying that he has the satisfaction of helping his uncle. Bertie, remembering receiving gifts from Uncle Tom while at prep school, replies, "How right you are, Jeeves!".
The programme followed the exploits of Simon Bodger and his puppet companion, Badger, a badly-behaved badger with a proclivity for mashed potato. The first four series focused on Bodger's jobs as a handyman and his attempts to hide Badger from his superiors. Series 1 was set at Troff's Nosherama, a café where Bodger worked as a cook. Series 2 and 3 were set at Letsby Avenue Junior School. Series 4 was set at Chessington World of Adventures, a real theme park in Surrey.
From series 5, the character Mousey was introduced, a puppeted mouse with a fondness for cheese. The show was now set at Bodger's rented home and later his B&B hotel. Series 5-7 rarely mentioned Bodger's employment, suggesting he was now unemployed. The later series still focused on Bodger's attempts to hide Badger from figures of authority, his landlady from Series 5-7 and the tourist information officer in series 9. These later episodes increased the slapstick humour with prominent comic sound effects and incidental music.
The Monster Squad is a club of pre-teens who idolize classic monster movies and their non-human stars. Club leader Sean Crenshaw (Andre Gower), whose younger sister, Phoebe (Ashley Bank), desperately wants to join the club, is given the diary of legendary monster hunter Dr. Abraham Van Helsing (Jack Gwillim), but his excitement abates when he finds it is written in German. Sean and the rest of the Monster Squad his best friend and second in command Patrick Rhodes (Robby Kiger), clumsy overweight Horace (Brent Chalem), tough older kid Rudy (Ryan Lambert) and little Eugene (Michael Faustino), go to visit an elderly man, known as the "Scary German Guy" (Leonardo Cimino), actually a kind gentleman and a former concentration camp prisoner, to translate the diary.
The diary describes, in great detail, an amulet that is composed of concentrated good. One day out of every century, as the forces of good and evil reach a balance, the otherwise indestructible amulet becomes vulnerable to destruction. With the next day of balance happening within a few days, at the stroke of midnight, the kids realize they must gain possession of the amulet and use it with an incantation from Van Helsing's diary to open a wormhole in the universe and cast the monsters into Limbo. As shown in the film's prelude, Van Helsing had unsuccessfully attempted this one hundred years ago in order to defeat his old adversary Count Dracula (Duncan Regehr); his apprentices then emigrated to the United States to hide the amulet, where it was out of Dracula's immediate reach.
Nevertheless, Dracula seeks to obtain the amulet so that he can take control of the world and plunge it into darkness. To this end, he assembles several of his most dangerous and monstrous allies: The Mummy (Michael MacKay), the Gill-man (Tom Woodruff Jr.), The Wolf Man (Carl Thibault), and in addition, three school girls (Mary Albee, Joan-Carrol Baron, and Julie Merrill) whom the Count transforms into his vampiric consorts. Dracula then steals a crate from a B-25 Mitchell in flight, containing Frankenstein's monster (Tom Noonan), thus completing his army. However, Frankenstein's monster is reluctant to aid Dracula, and wanders into the forest where he encounters Phoebe. Rather than being afraid, she shows him the kindness he has always sought, and they become friends. After Phoebe proves to the Monster Squad that Frankenstein's monster is not evil, he chooses to help the boys instead of Dracula. The Wolfman, when reverting to human form (Jonathan Gries), is a recalcitrant follower of Dracula, and has been making calls to the police about the forthcoming carnage, which are dismissed as prank calls.
The amulet is buried in a stone room beneath a house that Dracula and the other monsters now occupy and where Van Helsing's diary was found. The secret room is littered with wards which prevent the monsters from taking it. The Monster Squad break into the house and acquire the amulet and narrowly escape Dracula's grasp. They confer with The Scary German Guy who informs them that the incantation must be read by a female virgin. As midnight approaches, the Squad makes their way to a local cathedral to make their last stand. Meanwhile, Dracula destroys their clubhouse with dynamite, drawing the attention of Sean's father, Police Detective Del (Stephen Macht), who has been charged with investigating the strange occurrences in town (as caused by Dracula's cohorts), but remains quite skeptical about their supernatural causes until he sees Dracula in person.
Unfortunately, the doors to the cathedral are locked, so the incantation must be read on the stoop, leaving the Squad vulnerable. They enlist Patrick's beautiful elder sister Lisa (Lisa Fuller) to help them, as she is the only virgin they know. However, the incantation fails since Lisa is actually not a virgin anymore. As the monsters close in, the Squad deduces that Phoebe must complete the task of opening the portal, and the German Guy attempts to help her read the incantation as the rest of the Squad fends off the monsters.
In the ensuing battle, Dracula's consorts, the Mummy, the Gill-man, and the Wolfman are defeated. Dracula arrives to destroy the amulet when Frankenstein's monster intervenes, impaling him on a wrought-iron cross. Phoebe finishes the incantation, opening the portal which begins to consume the bodies of the monsters. Dracula, still alive, attempts to drag Sean in with him. Sean impales Dracula with a wooden stake as Patrick grabs Sean before he can be sucked into the portal. Having briefly escaped from Limbo, Van Helsing appears, gives a thumbs up to Sean on a job well done, and pulls Dracula to his doom. As Frankenstein's monster is drawn into the portal, Phoebe holds onto him and pleads for him to stay. Knowing he doesn't belong on Earth, Frankenstein's monster lets go of Phoebe's hand, but accepts her gift of a stuffed animal to remember her by. The portal then closes, ensuring the world's safety.
In the aftermath, the United States Army arrives on the scene, having received a letter from Eugene earlier on asking for their help against the monsters. When the confused general fails to make sense of the situation, Sean steps forward and presents the man with his business card, identifying himself and his friends as "The Monster Squad".
The series starred a ''Tyrannosaurus'', a ''Triceratops'', a ''Stegosaurus'', and a ''Pteranodon'' that were transformed into super warriors by an interdimensional criminal named Argor Zardok. They rebelled against the alien criminal and battle with Argor's second group of warriors known as the evil Raptors. Eventually, the Raptors' objective is to cause global warming by increasing the Earth's temperature, which will make life on earth more comfortable for dinosaurs.
''The Diviners'' follows the story of fictional Canadian novelist, Morag Gunn. Morag's life is believed to be loosely based upon Laurence's personal experiences. Aritha Van Herk argues that when observing all of Laurence's work, it is evident that ''The Diviners'' explicitly connects the author's emotions, experiences, and professional development to the protagonist more than any of her other novels.
The novel begins in Morag's rural Ontario cabin. Morag wakes up one morning and finds a note from her daughter, Pique, explaining that she has left home to learn about her Metis heritage. Flashbacks explore Morag's adolescence when she embarked on a similar journey many years ago. As a novelist, Morag also struggles with her writing, and frequently questions her understanding of the world. She contemplates how words can describe the natural environment around her, but struggles without attaining success - she believes that nature is capable of both nurturing life and destroying it, and contemplates the strange duality.
Morag begins to have more flashbacks. She reflects on her traumatic childhood, including the death of her parents who both died from polio, and her transition into a foster care household. Morag's foster parents, Christie and Prin, were of a significantly lower economic standing than her biological parents, and she did not treat them with respect. Christie's eccentric actions ignore social norms, and provides a platform for the novel's critique of socioeconomic class. Morag yearns to leave home, and enrolls in university, moving to Winnipeg where she initiates a relationship with an older professor, Brooke Skelton. Their relationship appears normal, and they are later married.
Skelton begins to verbally abuse Morag, and she begins an affair with fellow Metis and childhood friend, Jules Tonnerre. Morag attempts to become pregnant with Jules, and Pique is conceived. Her marriage with Skelton ends, and she moves to Vancouver to focus on writing.
Morag produces her first novel, and then moves to England. She continues to focus on writing, but must also care for Pique. She becomes lonely and moves back to Canada, where she learns that Christie is dying.
The novel's final section returns to the present. Morag finishes her latest novel, and Pique returns home.
''Savage Empire'' is a novel in which two societies have been warring for many years: the psionic Aventine Empire and the barbarians who practice magic.
After the events in ''Ultima VI'', the Avatar is transported by a friend's failed experiment with an obsidian "moonstone" to the otherworldly Valley of Eodon, a large jungle-like world filled with various tribes. These tribes have been magically drawn from varying periods and locations in history, such as the aboriginal nations of Mesoamerica and tropical Africa. The valley of Eodon is actually on Earth, but it is inaccessible and unmappable.
At the time of the arrival of the Avatar, the place is under attack from the insect-like Myrmidex. The Avatar needs to understand and master some aspects of their stone-age tribal culture and their "jungle magic" to find a way to bring peace to the valley. The main plot involves getting all thirteen tribes to join in an alliance against the Myrmidex. Each tribe has its own demands before joining, ranging from defeating a Tyrannosaurus rex to recovering their holy statue. This mixture of worlds was created by a huge corrupted moonstone that the Myrmidex possess, which has to be destroyed to prevent it collapsing in instability.
The player commands the Avatar and a party generally consisting of up to four other characters. However, two set events in the game add a character to the party even if this limit has been reached, resulting in a maximum party size of seven characters.
Party characters: The Avatar: The recurring protagonist of ''Ultima'' games. Aiela: A Kurak princess whom the Avatar rescues from the raiding Urali tribe. Dokray: A powerful warrior of the Pindiro tribe and an alternate version of Dupre from the regular ''Ultima'' series. Jimmy: A journalist from the modern world transported into Eodon along with the Avatar. Johann: An anthropologist from the modern world, Dr. Johann Spector is initially encountered as Zipactriotl, a usurping shaman of the Nahuatla tribe. He is later saved from his madness and joins the Avatar. Kysstaa: A warrior of the Sakkhra tribe, a group of humanoid lizards. Rafkin: An anthropologist from the modern world transported into Eodon along with the Avatar. Shamuru: A nomadic warrior of the Barako tribe and an alternate version of Shamino. Triolo: A shaman's apprentice with the Kurak tribe and an alternate version of Iolo. Ugyuk: A Neanderthal-like member of the Haakur tribe and rival to Dokray. *Yunapotli: A golden automaton created by the ancient Kotl.
Other characters: Darden: The barbaric usurping chieftain of the Urali tribe and kidnapper of Aiela. Intanya: The powerful shaman of the Kurak tribe who rescues the Avatar and provides him with healing. Seggallion: A recurring character from the ''Ultima'' series, he has a cameo appearance in an abandoned village. Xyxxxtl: Queen of the Myrmidex and essentially the final boss of the game, she can be engaged in limited conversation prior to combat.
During the final days of the American Civil War, the Union army payroll train is hijacked by Confederates led by Capt. Pierre Cordona and Sgt. Tuscarora Phillips. Their scheme suggests that the Confederates must have gotten detailed inside information about the transport. Col. Cord McNally's close friend, Lt. Ned Forsythe, is fatally injured in the raid, and during the pursuit McNally's squad is spread thinner and thinner until he is left on his own. After Cordona and his men capture him, McNally tricks them by leading them into a Union camp and raising the alarm. Cordona and Tuscarora are captured, but will not reveal to McNally the identity of the traitor who sold them the information about the train.
Despite this development, the three men gain a mutual respect for each other, and after the war ends, McNally visits Cordona and Phillips as they are being released. He asks them once more about the traitors, but all they can provide is a physical description. McNally then tells Cordona and Tuscarora that if they should come across these men again, to contact him through a friend of his, Pat Cronin, who is the sheriff of Blackthorne in Texas.
Sometime later, McNally is contacted by Pat with a message from Cordona, who is staying at the local hotel. When he arrives in Blackthorne, McNally meets a young woman, Shasta Delaney, who has come to report the murder of her employer by a deputy of Rio Lobo's sheriff, "Blue Tom" Hendricks. Shortly afterwards, a posse from Rio Lobo arrives and wants to take Delaney away. Delaney identifies their leader, "Whitey" Carter, as the murderer she was referring to. When one of the posse aims a gun at Cronin, Delaney shoots Whitey from under the table, resulting in a shoot-out in which McNally, Cronin and Cordona finish off the posse.
Cordona identifies Whitey as one of the traitors that McNally is looking for. He tells McNally that Tuscarora had contacted him and told him that his father and other ranchers are having land stolen by a rich man named Ketcham, who had the previous sheriff killed and installed Hendricks in his place. McNally, Cordona, and Delaney go to Rio Lobo, where they find the people living in terror of Hendricks and his men. Tuscarora's girlfriend Maria hides them in her house, while her friend Amelita distracts Hendricks' men. Hendricks has Tuscarora arrested on trumped-up charges, so McNally's group goes to get help from Tuscarora's father, Old Man Philips.
McNally, Cordona, and Philips sneak into Ketcham's ranch, and McNally discovers that Ketcham is really Union Sergeant Major Ike Gorman, the second traitor he was searching for. McNally attacks Gorman and forces him to sign the deeds back to their rightful owners. Taking Gorman hostage, they send Cordona ahead to find the United States Cavalry. Upon arrival in Rio Lobo, they discover that Hendricks has beaten Maria and disfigured Amelita's face with a knife, for helping McNally. Amelita swears to McNally she will kill Hendricks.
The men force Hendricks' party out of the jail and hole up there with Tuscarora to await the Cavalry. However, Hendricks' men capture Cordona before he gets far, and offer to trade him for Gorman. During the prisoner exchange, Cordona manages to give his captors the slip. McNally tells Hendricks Gorman is no longer of any use to the sheriff, since he signed back the deeds. Hendricks guns his boss down in rage, starting a firefight in which he and McNally are wounded.
After a failed attempt to blow up the cantina McNally's allies are using as a base, Hendricks' men are outflanked by the rest of the townspeople, who have rallied to help. Hendricks' men turn and run. Hendricks shoots at them, but he has been using his rifle as a crutch and, with its muzzle clogged with dust, it explodes in his face. As he stumbles to his horse, Amelita shoots him, thus ridding the town of its final menace.
At the opening of the story, Lovel meets Oldbuck while taking a coach from Edinburgh. Oldbuck, interested as he is in antiquities, has with him Gordon's ''Itinerarium'', a book about Roman ruins. The book interests Lovel, to the surprise of Oldbuck and by their shared interest the two become friends. Oldbuck invites Lovel to come to Monkbarns and takes the opportunity of a willing listener to divulge his ancient knowledge. In the process of which, Oldbuck shows Lovel a plot of land he purchased at great cost where he found an inscription "A.D.L.L", which Oldbuck takes to mean "''Agricola Dicavit Libens Lubens''". Edie Ochiltree, the local beggar, disputes the antiquary's history, in one of the more amusing scenes of the story (see image at left).
Taking refuge on a cliff Oldbuck decides to introduce Lovel to his good friend, Sir Arthur Wardour. When Sir Arthur arrives, Lovel meets Arthur's daughter, Isabella and the two realize they have seen each other before. Because Lovel is illegitimate, she knows her father would not approve of a marriage between them. When she sees Lovel standing in the road waiting to talk to her, she convinces her father to take the long way home, walking down to the beach. Luckily, Edie Ochiltree, having the insight that someone may be trapped on the beach not knowing that the tide was coming in, finds the Wardours and helps them escape the rising waters. Then, Lovel appears and gets them to relative safety, huddling on the side of a rocky cliff. Finally, Oldbuck arrives with men and ropes to pull the four up over the cliff to safety.
A while later, Oldbuck takes Lovel, the Wardours, his niece and nephew, Dousterswivel and a minister to the ancient ruins of Saint Ruth on Sir Arthur's property. While exploring the property, they discuss an ancient treasure that they believe to be buried at the ruins. Captain M'Intyre dominates Isabella's attention, which she leaves in favor of Lovel's to the dismay of M'Intyre. M'Intyre, angered at this slight, discovers that Lovel is in the military, but realizes he knows of no one named Lovel in his division and calls him out upon the topic. They agree to a duel and return to the scene to fight for their individual honor. Lovel's bullet strikes best and leaves M'Intyre bleeding on the ground, when Lovel flees with Edie to avoid a potential arrest. In their hiding, Edie and Lovel see Dousterswivel and Sir Arthur return to the ruins, looking for treasure. They see Dousterswivel attempting to convince Sir Arthur of his magical abilities to find gold and he does conveniently find a small bag under a stone. After they leave, Lovel boards a military ship and departs.
Oldbuck, understanding Dousterswivel's knavery, confronts him about his cons and takes Sir Arthur back to the ruins to look for treasure without Dousterswivel's magical intervention. Digging further under the same stone under which Dousterswivel had previously found treasure, they discover a chest full of silver, which Sir Arthur promptly takes back home. Edie hangs behind and whispers for Dousterswivel to join him. Then, showing the con artist the lid to the chest, with the phrase "Search 1" written on it. Edie convinces the German mage that this phrase means there is a second chest nearby, this time full of gold. They return at night and dig, but cannot find another chest. Just as Dousterswivel is starting to realize that Edie is mocking him, Steenie Mucklebackit jumps from the shadows and knocks Dousterswivel unconscious.
Steenie and Edie flee to Steenie's house, where Steenie shows him Dousterswivel's pocketbook, accidentally picked up during the excitement. Edie makes him promise to return the pocketbook and then leaves. Alas, Steenie is not long for this world and dies in a fishing accident the next day. As the family is in mourning, Elspeth, Steenie's grandmother, comes out of a long senility to tell Edie to take a ring and a message to Lord Glenallan. Oldbuck, whose land the Mucklebackits occupy, comes to help carry the casket and pay his respects, to the awe and thanks of the family.
Edie meets Lord Glenallan and gives him the ring and tells him to go visit Elspeth. Glenallan does and learns from her his own history. He had married a woman named Eveline Neville, who his mother helped convince was his sister after she had already become pregnant. Eveline attempts to commit suicide by jumping into the sea. She is taken from the water barely alive and dies after giving birth. The child is taken by another maid named Theresa and is raised by Glenallan's younger brother as his own illegitimate son. Glenallan does not know this. Glenallan never recovers from believing that he committed a violation of nature. Elspeth tells him that Eveline was not his sister and that his marriage with her was perfectly legitimate. It relieves his mind and he desires to find his son.
Meanwhile, Edie is arrested for attacking Douster-swivel. Oldbuck proves that Dousterswivel is merely a thief and frees Edie, who immediately goes upon a mission. Oldbuck then receives word that Sir Arthur, who has been heavily in debt, is under arrest and has the valuables of his home being taken. Edie returns with money sent by Wardour's son and an order to stop the arrest.
Finally, a mistake causes the national warning system—a series of towers with fires that can be lit to warn of invasion—to be lit and everyone believes the French are invading. Oldbuck dons his sword and travels to town to help with defence along with his nephew, who promptly assumes the role of a commander. As they prepare for the defence, Lord Glenallan comes in with his highland troops. Finally, Lovel and Captain Wardour arrive to take command of the defence and it is revealed that Lovel is actually Major Neville. Further, Oldbuck realizes that Major Neville is Glenallan's son and the two are reunited. Major Neville becomes the next Lord Glenallan and is now free to marry Isabella Wardour.
In the 1930s Eric Stoner, nicknamed "The Kid", is an up-and-coming poker player in New Orleans. He hears that Lancey Howard, a longtime master of the game nicknamed "The Man", is in town, and sees it as his chance to finally become the Man himself. The Kid's friend Shooter cautions him, reminding the Kid how Shooter thought he was the best five-card stud player in the world, until Howard "gutted" him when they played.
Howard arranges a game with wealthy and corrupt William Jefferson Slade, who secures Shooter's services as dealer. Howard wins $6,000 from Slade over a 30-hour game, angering Slade and wounding his pride. That night at Slade's home, he tries to bribe Shooter into cheating in the Kid's favor when the two players meet. Shooter declines, but Slade calls in Shooter's markers worth $12,000, and blackmails him by threatening to reveal damaging information about Shooter's sleazy wife, Melba. Shooter agonizes over his decision, having spent the last 25 years building a reputation for integrity.
With the Kid's girl Christian visiting her parents, Melba tries to seduce him, even though she and Christian are close friends. Out of respect for Shooter, he rebuffs her, and spends the day before the game with Christian at her family's farm.
The Kid intentionally arrives late to the game. The big game starts with six players, including Howard and the Kid, with Shooter playing as he deals and Lady Fingers relieving him whenever Shooter needs a break. In the first big confrontation between the Kid and Howard, the Kid is short $2,000 and Slade steps in to stake him. Several hours later, Howard busts a player called Pig, perhaps with a bluff, and the remaining players take a break. Following the break, Lady Fingers, who has been delighting in needling Howard all evening, takes over as dealer and continues to needle him.
As the game wears on, Shooter only deals, and then after another hand when Howard outplays them, two more players, Yeller and Sokal, drop out. That leaves just Howard and the Kid. After a few unlikely wins, the Kid calls for a break and confronts Shooter, who admits to being forced into cheating by Slade. The Kid insists he can win on his own and tells Shooter to deal straight or he will blow the whistle, destroying Shooter's reputation. Before the game resumes, Melba succeeds in seducing the Kid. Christian makes a surprise visit to the room, catches them after the fact and walks out on the Kid.
Slade tells the Kid that Shooter will continue to cheat for him and confronts him with a menacing thug, but the Kid flatly refuses. Back at the game, the Kid maneuvers to have Shooter replaced by Lady Fingers, lying that Shooter is ill. He then wins several major pots from Howard, who is visibly losing confidence.
During the final hand Howard beats the Kid with a queen-high straight flush. The Kid turns over his cards to show he has a full house, aces full of tens. This loss devastates the Kid, who not only loses all his money in this final hand, but also an additional $5,000 raise from Howard which the Kid called before Howard showed his hand. Howard then mocks the Kid, telling him that he will always be "second best" as long as Howard is around. As the Kid leaves the table, he is ridiculed by both Slade and Melba, and consoled by Shooter.
Following the game, the Kid leaves the hotel and loses a penny pitch to the shoe shine boy he had beaten at the same game at the film's opening. Around the corner, he runs into Christian and they embrace.
In some cuts, the film ends with a freeze-frame on Steve McQueen's face following his penny-pitching loss. Turner Classic Movies and the DVD feature the ending with Christian. Jewison wanted to end the film with the freeze-frame but was overruled by the producer.
The cockfight scene was cut by British censors.
''The Gun Seller'' tells the story of retired Army officer Thomas Lang, who lives a somewhat hand-to-mouth existence in London, his attention focused mainly on drinking whisky and riding his motorcycle. His income stems from a variety of bodyguard, strong-arm and mercenary jobs he undertakes, utilizing the skills he learned and contacts he made during his time in the Army.
After being approached in Amsterdam by a man asking him to assassinate American businessman Alexander Woolf, Lang attempts to warn the intended victim at his Belgravia flat, finding Woolf gone and instead clashing with (and incapacitating) a mercenary, then encountering Woolf's daughter Sarah. Afterward Lang finds himself under intense scrutiny from both the Ministry of Defence and the Central Intelligence Agency, who claim Woolf is an international drug smuggler currently under investigation. Intrigued by the sudden interest of two government agencies, Lang attempts to track down the man who approached him in Amsterdam, unexpectedly finding him in London, and even more unexpectedly discovering that the man is Alexander Woolf himself.
Eventually Woolf and his daughter agree to meet Lang at dinner and answer his questions. The elder Woolf explains that he tried to hire Lang as a hitman to see if he was a "good man", and admits he is under investigation, but not for selling drugs. Rather, Woolf is of interest because of what he knows about a next-generation light attack helicopter. More disturbingly, Woolf and Sarah claim that a conspiracy is under way to stage a terrorist attack and subsequently promote the light helicopter by sending one in to eliminate the terrorists. Lang is skeptical, but begins to believe the story after he is kidnapped and interrogated about Woolf. He frees himself, finding a heavily tortured Alexander Woolf in a nearby room. Woolf is killed shortly thereafter as Lang makes his escape, killing his captors in the process.
With Sarah missing and now certain the conspiracy is real, Lang attempts to determine the main conspirators, aided by a friend of Sarah's named Ronnie. After some investigating he centers on a CIA Deputy Director named Barnes, who (forcibly) takes him to meet the head conspirator: billionaire Naimh Murdah. Murdah, owner of the company that manufactures the helicopter, openly admits to the plot and plainly states that Lang will be helping to carry out the terrorist attack, backing up his declaration with an open and explicit threat on Sarah's life. To illustrate his point, Murdah casually kills a CIA agent who accompanied Lang and Barnes to his home.
Lang is placed within a small terrorist group called the Sword of Justice as a Minnesotan named Ricky, officially to gather intelligence and minimize casualties. A Dutch politician is seemingly shot dead by Lang in Switzerland as a warm up activity by the Sword of Justice, although it was a set-up and the politician was briefed and was wearing body armour. During a brief return to London Lang encounters Sarah and confronts her regarding pictures, provided to him by his friend and handler Solomon, showing Sarah and Barnes together. Sarah admits to being a part of the conspiracy, but swears her father's death was never part of the arrangement.
Lang and Sword of Justice arrive in Casablanca and successfully take control of the American embassy there, holding a number of hostages. Barnes, Murdah, Sarah, and a number of other conspirators arrive in Casablanca to direct Lang and ensure the success of the plot. Lang covertly leaves the Embassy as directed, but as Murdah is talking to him Lang pulls a gun, slipped to him by Sarah as part of a plan they made in London. Lang forces Murdah into the Embassy at gunpoint and handcuffs him to a fire escape on the roof, then orders him to call off the helicopter attack. Murdah refuses, certain the attack will not come since he is in the line of fire, but Lang contends the greed of the remaining conspirators will ensure the attack goes as planned. Just as Lang predicted, the helicopter attacks, killing one of the terrorists, but before it can make another pass Lang shoots it down with a Javelin missile he smuggled into the embassy earlier.
Footage of the helicopter's attack and destruction is shown worldwide via news networks covering the siege, ruining any chance of any military investing in the helicopter. Lang releases a statement (via the terrorists) to CNN outlining the conspiracy, ensuring that the plot is thwarted. The Ministry of Defence flies a tired Lang and Solomon back to England. After landing Lang is greeted by Ronnie, who managed to force the Ministry to allow her to ride with him from the airport, and makes it quite clear she is happy to see him.
Sometime in the future, computers have evolved into sentient, mobile life-forms known as 'Rakonans'. They then proceed to conquer numerous planets, depleting the natural resources until nothing is left, and then swarming in a locust-like fashion to the next planet. The consequence of this is that humans then enter into conflict with the Rakonans in order to survive.
The game sees the player acting as a Llanerk (a type of assault aircraft in the form of a flying saucer) pilot for the 'Royal Guild of Spacing'. During the course of the game, nine planets must be 'sterilised' by removing a set number of Rakonan units.
Apocalypse is notable for the extremely high review scores awarded by The Micro User, and was only the second game on the Archimedes to feature fast, realtime true 3D polygon graphics (the first being David Braben's Zarch (1988), published by Superior Software).
Category:1990 video games Category:Shoot 'em ups Category:Acorn Archimedes games Category:Video games developed in the United Kingdom
It is a first-person account of a travelling drug salesman. He goes to different places around the world, peddling a memory erasing drug. Various minor characters act as outlets for the authors musings on memory. Told through a mental haze of pretty much every drug ever invented and smattered with promiscuous sexual encounters of all varieties, the protagonist eventually begins sampling his own product. Pages of deja vu and disjointed thought lead him to meet with the inventor of the drug in Arizona. The author is an epileptic and took his seizures and temporary memory loss as part of his inspiration for the book.
The memory loss also gives him an interesting transitional device for forwarding the plot without having to get caught up in details he wishes to omit.
Discharged because of a battle wound that has left him lame in one leg, a young Roman officer Marcus Flavius Aquila tries to discover the truth about the disappearance of his father's legion in northern Britain. Disguised as a Greek oculist and travelling beyond Hadrian's Wall with his freed ex-slave, the British native hunter Esca, Marcus finds that a demoralized and mutinous Ninth Legion was annihilated by a great rising of the northern tribes. In part, this disgrace was redeemed through a heroic last stand by a small remnant (including Marcus's father) around the legion's eagle standard. Marcus's hope of seeing the lost legion re-established is dashed, but he is able to bring back the gilded bronze eagle so that it can no longer serve as a symbol of Roman defeat – and thus will no longer be a danger to the frontier's security. Rewarded by Rome for his services, he decides to settle as a landowner and farmer in Britain with his British wife, Cottia, and his freed friend, Esca.
The Demon Lord Makamuge intends to conquer both the game world and the real world, and it's up to Goemon and his friends to prevent this from happening.
Hepburn stars as Laura Lansing, a wealthy, world-famous pampered novelist who faces the crisis of her career when her publisher rejects her latest book. Faced with retirement, she makes a bet to prove that she has not lost touch with her readers: she will live with a middle-class family in the suburbs for seven days or give up writing forever. In the home of Walter and Melody Gomphers, Lansing turns the family's life upside down with her outlandish behavior. She struggles to relate to their children, meddles in the couple's marital matters and jeopardizes the conditions of her bet.
The plot of the game centers around a megalomaniac named Kreel who has become a global threat and is threatening various nations with his seemingly unstoppable armies. Players take the role of two pilots named 'Hatch' and 'Walker', who are part of an international force devoted to fighting Kreel and his varied minions. As the campaign progresses, the source of Kreel's power is revealed to be Red Mercury, which provides his forces with their nigh-invulnerability.
The game has various endings depending on what actions the player takes during the final battle, or if the player loses all lives. These include a costly nuclear war, Kreel choking to death on a chicken bone, a happy ending selling "I survived the Red Mercury war" baseball caps, both pilots being served as the main course at Kreel's grand victory ceremony, or Hatch being brainwashed by the Red Mercury and becoming Kreel's willing servant and destroying the mothership and remaining planetary defense forces.
In April 2153, an alien probe attacks Earth, cutting a destructive swath 4,000 km long, from Florida to Venezuela, killing millions, including Commander Tucker's younger sister, Elizabeth. ''Enterprise'' is recalled to Earth by Admiral Forrest. On the way, Captain Archer is kidnapped by the Suliban Cabal. He accuses the Suliban leader, Silik, of being responsible for the Earth attack, but Silik professes ignorance. The Cabal's sponsor, a vague and shadowy holographic human from the distant future, informs Archer about the Temporal Cold War and the Xindi, the race that attacked Earth. He claims the Xindi have been told by another Cold War faction that their home-world will be destroyed, in 400 years, by Humans.
''Enterprise'' is again ambushed, attacked by a Klingon Bird of Prey commanded by Captain Duras at the behest of the Klingon High Council. Fortunately, three other Starfleet vessels arrive, forcing it to retreat. Archer relates his encounters to Starfleet and the Vulcan High Command, and it is clear that the Xindi of the present are pre-empting the destruction of their home-world in the future. Ambassador Soval is dubious of Archer's temporal war argument, and tries to dissuade him from venturing into the Delphic Expanse, a dangerous section of space that once destroyed the Vulcan ship ''Vaankara''.
Archer, acting on advice from the shadowy informant, scans the crashed probe, revealing a component with an unmistakable date stamp placing the date of construction at 420 years in the future. Starfleet orders Archer to take ''Enterprise'' to the Expanse to try to stop the Xindi. Starfleet refits the ''Enterprise'' with improved weapons, shields, and a detachment of MACOs (Military Assault Command Operations soldiers) are stationed aboard for the mission.
Ambassador Soval informs T'Pol that her assignment on ''Enterprise'' has been terminated by the High Command, who deem this to be purely a human matter. T'Pol logically points out that if they needed a Vulcan on the Enterprise before, they are in greater need now, so her assignment should be continued. She debates, but does not disobey. Enterprise begins their journey towards the Expanse, and to return T'Pol to Vulcan. They are again attacked by Duras, but Archer retaliates using his new torpedoes at 10% and then 50% strength. The Klingon warbird limps away. T'Pol reveals she has resigned from the Vulcan High Command and wishes to stay on the ship. After she tells Archer that "you need me", the detour to Vulcan is cancelled.
After a three-month journey, ''Enterprise'' nears the Expanse and is again attacked by Duras. Archer decides to use the 100% setting on his torpedoes, and Duras' ship is destroyed. The Enterprise continues on into the Delphic expanse.
The crew of the ''Enterprise'' encounters Skalaar, a Tellarite who is surprisingly friendly and offers to give them a tour of a nearby planet. Skalaar is actually a bounty hunter and abducts Captain Archer, planning to turn him over to the Klingons for payment. The Klingons have placed a substantial price on Archer's head since his escape from Rura Penthe. Archer soon learns that Skalaar plans on using the reward to buy back ''Tezra'', his previous ship.
On ''Enterprise'', Sub-Commander T'Pol and Doctor Phlox begin an hours-long decontamination after a recent away mission. T'Pol begins acting strangely, and begins making sexual overtures to Phlox. It appears that a microbe has activated pon farr, the Vulcan sex drive. Phlox races to find a treatment, but T'Pol's actions become more and more erratic. Finally, she knocks Phlox out and escapes from decontamination. Lieutenant Reed and a security team manage to subdue her. Later, T'Pol wakes up feeling more or less her usual self, and embarrassed by her actions, Phlox promises not to mention what happened to anyone.
Meanwhile, Skalaar runs into trouble when a rival bounty hunter tracks him down and demands that he turn over Archer. Skalaar refuses, and the rival opens fire. In the battle, Archer convinces Skalaar to temporarily free him, and the two men land on a nearby planet to make repairs. As they work, Archer learns more about Skalaar's circumstances. Skalaar turns Archer over to the Klingons as planned, but ends up receiving only two-thirds of the promised reward. In revenge, he alerts ''Enterprise'' to the location of the Klingon ship, and Archer escapes in an escape pod. ''Enterprise'' arrives and retrieves Archer, damaging the Klingon ship enough to end the battle. Some time later, Skalaar contacts Archer and warns that the price on Archer's head will probably double. Grateful, Archer bids Skalaar farewell.
As ''Enterprise'' is about to investigate a dark matter cloud, Captain Archer is informed by Admiral Forrest that his former Starfleet colleague, Captain Robinson, has died in a rock climbing accident. Archer, seeking solitude, desires to travel into the nebula in a shuttlepod armed with spatial charges to excite the dark matter. Sub-Commander T'Pol, noting that captains are prohibited from traveling off-ship unaccompanied, joins him and convinces him to tell the story of his friend Robinson and the Warp 5 program.
In a series of flashbacks, Commander Archer meets with Commodore Forrest, and is informed that although he excelled in simulations, his colleague Commander Robinson has been awarded the test ship, the ''NX Alpha''. Disappointed, Archer goes to the 602 Club, a local bar, bumping into Robinson there. Later, Robinson takes the scheduled flight aboard the ''NX Alpha'', breaking the warp 2.0 barrier. He refuses a command from Forrest to stop and instead increases speed; the craft soon destabilizes and is destroyed as it approaches warp 2.2, but Robinson escapes. The Vulcans argue that the warp program should be postponed, but Archer wants the program, and his father's engine research, to continue. Archer, and his new friend Lieutenant Tucker, then go to the 602 Club to discuss the problem. Robinson arrives and blames Archer's father, and he and Archer end up in a fist fight.
The next day Archer discovers Robinson packing up the contents of his locker. He concedes that it is primarily an intermix problem, but that the engine could still work. Archer and Robinson then steal the ''NX Beta'', with Tucker in flight control, but it starts to suffer the same issues as the ''Alpha''. As Starfleet security detains Tucker, Archer and Robinson coax the engines to warp 2.5. Archer and Robinson are reprimanded, and the program is grounded for a year, but they have proved that his father's design was sound.
Archer launches his final two charges into the cloud, and a breathtaking nebula slowly reveals itself. Archer calls T'Pol to watch the actual nebula with her eyes, rather than monitor it through the sensors. T'Pol mentions the human tradition of first discoverers of astronomical phenomena having naming rights. Archer makes a sarcastic crack about calling it the "T'Pol/Archer Nebula". T'Pol gently responds that she was thinking Archer could name it the "Robinson Nebula", after his friend.
While exploring a hypergiant star, ''Enterprise'' makes first contact with an advanced and very friendly alien race known as the Vissians. The two starships' crews are happy to intermingle. Commander Tucker becomes intrigued when he meets a Vissian couple in the mess hall accompanied by a third member of their race, and learns that the being, which has no name, is a "cogenitor" - a third gender in Vissian biology. Cogenitors are needed to complete reproduction: they do not genetically contribute to offspring, but supply an enzyme required for fertilization. Since cogenitors only constitute 3% of the population, Vissians must apply to have a cogenitor assigned to them when they intend to conceive a child. Cogenitors are considered mentally deficient, and are not citizens on equal terms with men and women.
Elsewhere on the ship, Lieutenant Reed finds himself the romantic focus of a female Vissian crewmember - their tactical officer. Captain Archer bonds with the alien captain while on a three-day reconnaissance of the star in a small probe. Tucker becomes increasingly intent on the rights of the cogenitor and learns, with the help of Doctor Phlox, that they are actually equally intelligent. On the alien vessel, without the couple's knowledge, Tucker secretly encourages the cogenitor to learn to read, while building a friendship with them. Despite having a near-total lack of education available, the cogenitor is an insatiable learner. Soon learning the importance of names, the cogenitor asks to be called Charles (Commander Tucker's own first name). Tucker entertains the cogenitor on the ''Enterprise'', showing the cogenitor the 1951 movie ''The Day the Earth Stood Still''.
'Charles' soon realizes that future life in Vissian society would be unfulfilling. The cogenitor requests political asylum. Archer now returns to find himself in the middle of a first contact diplomatic crisis, with the Vissians confused and defensive at Tucker's interference in their traditions. Tucker appeals to Archer's sense of justice, but he sides with the Vissians. With the cogenitor returned, the Vissians hope good relations with the humans can continue. Later communications reveal that Charles has committed suicide, thereby delaying the birth of the child and straining the relations between the two species. Archer summons Tucker and severely reprimands him for his lack of professionalism and judgment.
At the request of the Denobulan Science Academy, ''Enterprise'' goes to extract a group of three geologists from a planet where xenophobic militants have taken charge and decreed that all off-worlders must evacuate. Being experienced with caving, Ensign Mayweather is chosen to lead Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed on the underground rescue mission. They have only three days to return to the surface with the scientists before the negotiated government ceasefire expires.
As the ''Enterprise'' nears the planet, it comes to the aid of an alien evacuee transport, suffering from a dangerous radiation leak. The most seriously injured of the various aliens brought aboard is Hudak, an Antaran, whose species has a centuries long history of conflict and animosity with the Denobulans. Though suffering from a fatal case of radiation poisoning, and being the first time the two species have interacted in generations, he immediately refuses help from Doctor Phlox. Archer orders Phlox to treat him, but he reluctantly declines, since Denobulan medical ethics places the patient's wishes above all other considerations.
Underground, the crew make good progress, but Mayweather injures his leg. Leaving him behind, Reed and Tucker soon locate the Denobulan geologists, who are happily engaged in recording the various rare and precious geological features of the cavern. With time running out, Tucker is insistent the group departs, while the scientists downplay the level of the threat, but finally assent. Back on the ship, using tact and diplomacy of his own, Phlox endeavors to help Hudak, but his initial attempts end in failure. Phlox, for his part, is also upset at the mutual hatred between the two species - but since Hudak refuses to be treated, Phlox must wait. Eventually, Hudak reflects on Phlox's words and agrees to the lifesaving procedure. An agreement is then reached in which the three Denobulans are granted passage home aboard the same transport as Hudak.
''FUBAR'' is the story of two lifelong friends, Terry Cahill (Dave Lawrence) and Dean Murdoch (Paul Spence), who have grown up together: shotgunning their first beers, forming their first garage band, and growing the great Canadian mullet known as "Hockey Hair". The lives of these Alberta everymen are brought to the big screen by documentarian Farrel Mitchner (Gordon Skilling), a young director who decides to take a look at Terry and Dean through a lens, exploring the depths of their friendship, the fragility of life, growing up gracefully, and the art and science of drinking beer "like a man".
Their lives are complicated by a snubbing by their "party leader" Troy, better known as Tron (Andrew Sparacino). When Farrel discovers that Dean is hiding a serious case of testicular cancer, the wheels are set in motion for Dean to seek treatment from Dr. S.C. Lim (Dr. S.C. Lim). With Dean's last weekend before surgery approaching, Terry decides to take Dean, Farrel and the film crew camping. Things take an unexpected turn by the third day, and Terry and Dean must cope with further tragedy.
Corporate engineer Joe Ross has invented a potentially lucrative “Process,” the precise nature of which is not revealed. While on a retreat on the island of St. Estèphe, he meets wealthy stranger Julian "Jimmy" Dell and attracts the interest of one of the company's new secretaries, Susan Ricci.
Jimmy wants to introduce Joe to his sister, an Olympic-class tennis player, in New York and asks him to deliver a package to her. Susan sits near Joe on the airplane back to New York, converses with him about how "you never know who anybody is," and talks about unwitting drug mules. Suddenly afraid the package might contain something illegal, he opens it on the plane, but finds only a 1939 edition of the book ''Budge on Tennis'', which he damages while opening. Once home, he buys an intact copy of the book, which he drops at Jimmy's sister’s building, and keeps the original at his office.
Jimmy suggests that Joe's boss, Mr. Klein, might not give him fair compensation for his work. Jimmy invites Joe to dinner, and seemingly on a lark opens a Swiss bank account for him with the token balance of 15 Swiss francs. Taking him to dinner at a club requiring membership, Jimmy has Joe sign a certificate to join. Over dinner, he advises Joe to consult legal counsel about his position in the company regarding the Process. He invites Joe to meet with his own lawyer, and tells him to bring along the only copy of the Process.
When Joe learns that Jimmy's sister does not exist, he realizes Jimmy is a con artist attempting to steal the Process. Joe contacts Pat McCune, a woman he met on the island who Susan told him was an FBI agent, and whose business card Susan kept. McCune’s FBI squad enlists him in a sting operation to catch Jimmy. While fitting Joe with a wire for his planned meeting with Jimmy, an FBI agent explains the Spanish Prisoner con, a version of which Jimmy has been running on Joe. When Jimmy never shows up for the meeting, Joe realizes McCune is actually part of Jimmy's con game, and that his Process has been stolen.
Joe attempts to explain what happened to his employer and the police, but finds that Jimmy has made it appear that he has sold his Process to the Japanese. The Swiss bank account that Jimmy opened for him makes it look as though he is hiding assets, and the certificate he signed to join the club turns out to be a request for political asylum in Venezuela, which has no extradition treaty with the United States. The police show Joe that Jimmy's apartment is a façade, and that the club's members-only room was a normal restaurant. Joe is also framed for the murder of the company lawyer, George Lang.
On the run, Joe reconnects with Susan, who says she believes his story. Joe remembers that the hotel on the island maintains video surveillance, which could prove that Jimmy was there. Susan takes him to the airport so he can fly back to the island. Seeing a police roadblock on the way to the airport, she convinces him to drive to Boston.
At the airport in Boston, Susan gives Joe a plane ticket, and a camera bag, which unbeknownst to him contains a gun. Before passing through security, he realizes that Jimmy left his fingerprints on the book Joe was to deliver. He leaves the airport with Susan, still not realizing she is working against him. They purchase ferry tickets to return home. While Susan leaves to call Klein to inform him about the book, Joe attempts to board the ferry with the plane ticket, only to realize the ticket is for Venezuela, and that he was being set up.
On the ferry, Jimmy suddenly appears and Susan turns on Joe; the final step of the con will be Joe's death, made to appear as a suicide. Jimmy reveals what he has done with the Process, and turns his gun on Joe, but is hit with a tranquilizer dart shot by US Marshals pretending to be Japanese tourists. They reveal that they have been following Jimmy for months, and that Mr. Klein plotted the con to keep all the profits for himself. Susan asks Joe for mercy, but he nonchalantly tells her she must "spend some time in [her] room", meaning prison.
The plots of the ''Touhou Project'' revolve around the strange phenomena that occur in the fictional realm of , which ZUN designed with a human village in some remote mountain recesses in Japan. Originally, it was simply called "a remote separated land of a human village in an eastern country." Long before ''Touhou Project'''s story begins, many non-humans like ''yōkai'' lived with some humans in the area. After a few humans disappeared into Gensokyo, many humans became afraid of approaching this area, while others settled there to exterminate ''yōkai''. However, as time went on, humans developed civilization and multiplied in number, and thus ''yōkai'' worried about how the balance between humans and ''yōkai'' would be affected. 500 years before ''Embodiment of Scarlet Devil'' (EoSD), the ''yōkai'' sage Yukari Yakumo developed the "boundary of phantasm and substance," which was favored by the yōkai and protected the balance. This was called the "Yōkai Expansion Project" and made Gensokyo a phantasmal world that automatically called out to the weakened ''yōkai'' of the outside world. Other things that disappear from the outside world, like extinct animals, lost tools, and architecture, appear in Gensokyo. Since Gensokyo was a plot of land in Japan that is separated by a barrier, it is Japan that is immediately outside of this barrier.
As a result of the seal, Gensokyo became inaccessible from the outside world, and similarly, those in Gensokyo were unable to leave. Gensokyo's existence could not be confirmed from the outside world, nor could the outside world be confirmed within Gensokyo. As a result, the isolated community developed its own civilization, separate from the outside world. Although separated by a barrier, it is a bordering world to its outside, as opposed to being in a parallel universe. There are no seas in Gensokyo, since it is landlocked. In Gensokyo, there are few humans, and various kinds of ''yōkai''. Some species include magicians, beasts, therianthropes, vampires, ''bōrei'', tengu, mermaids, kappa, and ''yōkai'' (a kind of miscellaneous group). There are others species that could be ''yōkai'' depending on definition, like fairies, spirits, ''yūrei'', ''onryō'', poltergeists, hermits, oni, and gods which are all portrayed in human female form.
In present Gensokyo, presented in all ''Touhou Project'' games since EoSD, magical and spiritual qualities prevail compared to the outside world where unscientific phenomena were dismissed as "superstition" around the time of the Meiji era. The only known gateway from the outside world into Gensokyo is the Hakurei Shrine on the border of Gensokyo. The spell card rules were also established to keep up the relationship between humans and ''yōkai'' in a mock style, which was necessary for the preservation of the balance of Gensokyo. The "Great Hakurei Barrier," managed by past Hakurei ''miko'', was constructed several decades before EoSD, which is described as a "barrier of common sense," and is thus a strong logical barrier that not even ''yōkai'' can pass through. The ''yōkai'' opposed its construction at first before understanding its usefulness.
In Gensokyo, events called "incidents" occur once in a while. An incident is an event that affects all of Gensokyo and is of unknown cause at the time it occurs.''Perfect Memento in Strict Sense'' pp. 112–116 "Hakurei Reimu." ''Touhou Project'' mainly focuses on incidents that affects the entirety of Gensokyo in its stories, but there are also works like ''Mountain of Faith'' that are centered on lesser-scale events.
Frequently, incidents are due to a ''yōkai'' whim or curiosity, and usually Reimu Hakurei would go to investigate it and find and chastise the perpetrator. While Reimu is usually the one to resolve incidents, there are cases where Marisa Kirisame and other characters would resolve them. When a major incident occurs, the spirits and fairies are affected by the incident and experience an increase in power for the duration incident."Sangetsusei Part 2 Separate volume edition, volume 1, p. 129-143 "番外編 酒三杯にして……"
With its focus on bishōjo characters, the ''Touhou'' series possesses a large cast compared to other shooting games. While they are not developed nearly to the standards of a story-based game, many players love them. One example is Hong Meiling, affectionately called Chūgoku (China), the stage 3 boss of ''Embodiment of Scarlet Devil'', who won a popularity contest in Japan out of all ''Touhou'' characters. Among the vast array of characters, only six named characters are male. One (Genjii) is a turtle, one is a cat (Sokrates), two (Youki Konpaku and Myouren Hijiri) are only mentioned in passing, one (Rinnosuke Morichika) who is a merchant is only featured in the serialized novel, and the last (Unzan) is a cloud-like entity. There is also one before all these (Shingyoku), but this character has three forms of different genders, so this character may not exactly be male.
Though each game features a collection of different characters, the main protagonist of the series is always Reimu Hakurei, joined by Marisa Kirisame after the second game. Exceptions to this include ''Shoot the Bullet'' and ''Double Spoiler'' (Aya Shameimaru is playable on both, and Hatate Himekaidou can become playable in ''Double Spoiler''), ''Fairy Wars'' (which has Cirno as the sole playable character), ''Impossible Spell Card'' and ''Gold Rush'' (where only Seija Kijin is playable), and ''Violet Detector'' (where only Sumireko Usami is playable).