Following Spike's interference, Buffy and the Scoobies are not talking to each other, consistent with Adam's plans. However, since he wants Buffy in the Initiative, Adam is displeased to discover that Willow still has possession of the encrypted disks Spike gave her which would have led her back. He refuses to remove Spike's behavior modification chip unless he rectifies this situation. Meanwhile, Riley is unsure why he is in Adam's lair, and Adam reveals that the government implanted a chip near Riley's heart, giving Adam complete control over Riley's motor functions.
In the aftermath of the Scoobies' fights, Xander dejectedly ponders his life direction, and is consoled by Anya, who tells him that she loves him. Tara and Willow work at decrypting the information disks, only to find that they suddenly decrypt themselves. Buffy returns to Adam's cave seeking more information, annoyed when she finds Spike there, and suspicious when he lets slip that he is aware of the Scoobies' falling out. Buffy realizes that Spike has deceived them and reunites with the original gang.
Willow reveals the information on the disks: that Adam is hiding at one of the Initiative's secret labs, and plans to build more cyborg demonoids like himself. Buffy realizes that the overcrowded holding cells at the Initiative are a form of Trojan horse warfare; Adam will release the demons and the resulting battle will leave many demon and human body parts. Furthermore, he is particularly keen for Buffy to be present to even the demon-human kill ratio. The gang brainstorms how to kill Adam, and find a difficult paralysis spell (which only Willow can cast) which must be incanted in Sumerian (which only Giles can speak) within striking distance of the victim (which only Buffy can survive). Xander jokingly suggests merging the whole gang into one body to allow the spell to be cast – an idea to which Rupert is surprisingly receptive.
Buffy, Xander, Giles and Willow break into the Initiative through the elevator shaft, but are captured by the Colonel. The gang attempt to explain the situation to the Colonel, but the presence of a "magic gourd" in their bag convinces the Colonel that they are crazy. Adam, watching this on surveillance, sees that Spike has succeeded in getting Buffy to the Initiative, but failed in keeping the gang apart; he orders Spike to be killed, but Spike escapes into the Initiative.
Suddenly, Adam cuts the power in the main part of the Initiative, locking the perimeter while releasing all the demons in the holding cells. The Colonel and soldiers go to engage with the demons, leaving two to guard the Scoobies. Buffy knocks both of them out. Willow finds air ducts leading to an area behind 314 that does not exist on the map; this is where Adam plans to build and release an army of hybrid cyborg monsters. Buffy leaves through a secret door while the rest prepare a spell.
Buffy finds Riley sitting unbound in a chair and unable to speak, still under Adam's control. Adam enters and, upon discovering that Buffy will not be balancing the demon-human kill ratio as he envisioned, orders Forrest, now turned into a killer cyborg demonoid, to kill her. As they battle, Riley uses a shard of glass to take out the chip embedded in his chest, freeing himself to attack his former best friend; they fight as Buffy escapes to take on Adam, and Riley uses a bottle of flammable gas to blow Forrest to pieces.
Buffy then engages with Adam. She rushes clumsily at him, but is knocked away with a punch to the gut. Rebounding quickly, Buffy and Adam exchange a high volume of blows: Buffy breaks the Polgara demon spike on Adam's left arm, but he reveals his right arm has been "upgraded" to a giant machine gun. Bombarded with gunfire, the Slayer runs behind a computer console for cover. Much like their previous encounters, Adam is clearly the superior, until the enjoining spell kicks in: Giles, Willow and Xander, by invoking the powers of the Slayer lineage ("from Last to ancient First"), merge their psyches in Buffy's body to form a fighter with Buffy's physical strength (Manus), Willow's magic power (Spiritus), Xander's bravery (Animus) and Giles's knowledge (Sophus). This composite being rises from the ashes, repelling Adam's missiles with a shield, and shutting his weapons arm down with a wave of the hand. Closing in, she easily evades every punch thrown by Adam, before countering with a devastating chain of strikes herself, and ripping out his uranium-powered "heart". Riley arrives in time to catch Buffy as she collapses.
Giving all of their strength and power to Buffy leaves the rest of the gang totally exhausted and vulnerable as a demon breaks into their room, but Spike kills it. Though unhappy that he tried to help Adam, Willow, Giles, and Xander decide to spare Spike out of fatigue and the fact that he just saved them. In a largely unseen battle, Buffy, Riley, Xander, Giles, Willow and Spike then join with the Initiative's soldiers to stop the demon attacks, saving 60% of the soldiers including Graham, while others including the Colonel are killed.
In an internal debriefing, the government decides to shut down the Initiative for good, and remove any paper trail of its existence. They praise Professor Walsh's vision of harnessing demons as a powerful military weapon, but conclude that demonkind cannot be controlled.
Just before entering Seishū High School, track star Katsuya Niimi and judo champion Susumu Karasawa see a girl crying as the school loses a baseball game. The boys decide to join the team and improve it in order to make her smile. The girl turns out to be Yuri Nakao, daughter of the baseball coach, and they learn the baseball team will be shut down if it doesn't start winning. The series follows the three, as well as pitcher Eiji Kurahashi, as Niimi and Karasawa learn about baseball and what it means to be one of nine players on a team, as they work together through high school make it to Kōshien.
At the start of Part One, Ko Kitamura, son of the owner of Kitamura Sports, lives in the same neighborhood as the batting center run by the Tsukishima family. Due to their proximity and the relationship between their businesses, the Kitamura and Tsukishima families have been close for many years, and their children go back and forth between the two homes. Because Ko and Wakaba are the same age and always together, Aoba is jealous of all the time Ko spends with her older sister. Aoba is a natural pitcher with excellent form, and Ko secretly trains to become as good as she is, even while publicly showing little interest in baseball. Then Wakaba dies in a swimming accident at a summer camp during fifth grade.
Part Two starts with Ko in his third year of junior high, as he continues training in secret. When he enters Seishu High School, he joins the baseball club along with his childhood friends, Akaishi and Nakanishi. However, the interim principal (the regular principal is on medical leave) has brought in a new head coach, and he in turn brings in transfer students from other schools as ringers just to play baseball. This team, led by their star, Yūhei Azuma, is the clear favorite of the school. Because the three friends refuse to take evaluation tests to join the first-string team, they are placed on the second-string "portable" team under the former head coach, Maeno, who has to use the Seishu Junior High School field for practice. This causes a rivalry between the two parts of the team. In the first summer practice scrimmage between them, the portable team loses by only a narrow margin.
During the summer vacation, while the first-string team plays in the prefectural qualifying tournament for Koshien, Maeno has the portable team practice at a recently closed elementary school with the support from a mysterious old man. The portable team also has six practice matches with other local high schools, all of which reached semifinals or higher in the regional preliminaries. Near the end of summer vacation, the interim principal decides to dissolve the portable team. However, Coach Maeno asks for a rematch scrimmage with the first-string team, after which the losing team would be dissolved and that coach would leave. The portable team, playing with Aoba, wins a narrow victory. The first-string team is dissolved, and the head coach and the interim principal leave to work at other schools.
In the spring, Ko becomes a second-year student and Aoba enters Seishu High School. Yūhei, who stays at Seishu despite having been on the former first-string team, moves in with Ko's family after the first-stringers' dormitory is closed. The reformed Seishu team goes on to prove themselves by defeating Sannō High School in the first round of the summer prefectural qualifying tournament. However, they lose to their second-round opponents, Ryuō, in overtime, ending Seishu's hopes of Koshien for the year. Ryuō subsequently reaches Koshien, advances up to the semifinals where they are narrowly beaten. However, Ryuō then goes on to win the spring invitational Koshien tournament later that same year.
As Ko and Aoba enter their summer break, a girl named Akane Takigawa with a striking resemblance to Wakaba moves in next door to Ko. This causes mixed feelings among the various characters, particularly Ko, Aoba, and Akaishi (who had also liked Wakaba). Akane soon becomes friends with Ko and Tsukishimas, and begins working in the Tsukishima cafe. As another year begins, the romantic subplots further solidify when Yūhei expresses an interest in Aoba. Meanwhile, Seishu gains a new assistant coach in the form of Yūhei's older brother Junpei, after Ichiyo agrees to marry him if Seishu makes it to Koshien.
When the prefectural summer baseball tournament starts, Seishu starts with a dominating shutout against its first-round opponent, Matsunami Municipal High School. In the second round, they face Sena Municipal High School led by Tatsumasa Miki, a former Seishu first-string player, which in the first round defeated the team headed by Seishu's former head coach. Seishu wins with a nearly perfect game, ending Part Two of the story.
Part Three starts with the prefectural tournament still in progress. After another win by Seishu, Akane is hospitalized due to an unspecified illness. Initially, Akaishi's play is affected by worrying about Akane's condition. Ko continues to perform well and promises Akane to go on a date with her if Seishu reaches Koshien. However, Akane's illness is more severe than expected, and she is scheduled for surgery on the morning of the prefectural final against Ryuō. Before the game begins, Ko tells Aoba he loves her more than anyone, but in such a way she thinks he is lying until after Seishu wins in extra innings, clinching a Koshien berth. In the final chapter, the morning before traveling to Koshien, Akaishi visits Akane recovering in the hospital and Ko and Aoba head for the train station holding hands.
The story focuses on the relationships of Kasumi Kishimoto, a high school student. When she enters Myōjō High School, she moves into her aunt's boarding house, where four boys attending the high school are tenants. Despite her steadfast determination to stay loyal to her boyfriend, who is studying abroad, Kasumi finds herself slowly falling in love with one of the boarders, Yūsaku.
''Jinbē'' is the story of the relationship between Jinpei and his stepdaughter, Miku. Miku's mother died after being married to Jinpei for a little over a year, when Miku was 13 years old, and Jinpei has been raising Miku alone since then. The series has a very delicate touch with the romantic issues. Adachi dealt with a similar situation, a brother and sister who are not related by blood, in his earlier series ''Miyuki''.
Katsuki Satoyama and his best friend Kyōta Kawakami, both age 15, enroll in Mizutani Boxing Gym to get close to their tomboyish crush, Katsuki Mizutani, whose father owns it. However, Satoyama soon finds out that she is distant from her father. Worse, it turns out that she hates boxing.
In a sparring match, everyone soon discovers Satoyama's hidden, yet unpolished, skill in boxing. Satoyama soon learns that Mizutani is really in love with boxing, but disdains it because it's a man's sport in which she cannot participate. Mizutani then takes it upon herself to be Satoyama's trainer and manager in order to reach the championship belt. Satoyama complies to be closer to his crush.
Satoyama is the son of Akamatsu and brought up by Rabbit Sakaguchi. He has the advantage of learning from both fathers - one through blood and other by being brought up by him.
The rest of the story shows his transformation of choosing boxing from a way to impress Mizutani to actually loving it and finally embracing it completely and becoming a pro boxer.
A slew of rivals who later turn into friends and well-wishers help him in this journey.
Rough tells the story of Keisuke Yamato, a 100 m freestyle swimmer, and Ami Ninomiya, a competitive diver as they overcome their family rivalry and fall in love with each other over the course of their high school years. Their families own competing confectionery stores and Ami has grown up hating Keisuke's family because her family believes her grandfather was driven to an early death after Keisuke's grandfather copied their signature "horned owl" manju and outsold them simply by adding "ears," making it that much larger.
After leaving for home after his first adventure on Denduron, Bobby finds out that his entire history and proof of existence had simply vanished, including his house. After seeing this, he decides to go to Cloral in order to stop Saint Dane, a demon traveler who wants the territories to go the wrong way, so he can recreate them in his own image. After Bobby, his uncle Press, and Loor, the traveler from Zadaa, arrive at the flume, Loor heads back to Zadaa and Bobby and uncle Press head to Cloral.
When they arrive, they find the clothes used by the people of Cloral, which were brought by acolytes, people on the territories who help the travelers. They also quickly realize that Cloral is an advanced society. They swim out of the cavern they arrived in, and they are attacked by sharks. Bobby is saved by Vo Spader, the traveler from Cloral. However, Spader does not know it yet. They board a jet-ski like vehicle called a skimmer, and head to Grallion, a giant barge called a habitat that serves as a city. Grallion is a farming habitat responsible for growing food on Cloral. When they arrive, Press informs Bobby that he has to tell Spader he is the new traveler of the territory soon.
The three of them stay there for a few weeks. One day, another habitat called Magorran, which is responsible for manufacturing, suddenly appears in the distance and is speeding full throttle towards Grallion. Despite auquaneer's and the barge officers efforts, the Barge does not slow down and Magorran crashes into Grallion. Bobby, Press, and Spader board Magorran, and find that everybody on Magorran is dead due to eating poisoned crops. Spader's father was also killed, although he gets half of a map that his father wanted him to have. Just as they were trying to figure out what happened on Magorran, Grallion was attacked by raiders (the Cloran equivalent of pirates) who bombarded Grallion with water cannons.
The raiders threatened to destroy Grallion with the cannons if Grallion does not pay a fee of ten cargo barges of food. The leader of the raiders said that apparently, all habitat's food, except for Grallion's, was poisoned too. Bobby recognizes the leader, Zy Roder, as Saint Dane in disguise. Spader comes up with a solution to save Grallion- diving over to the raider's ship, they disabled the engines which provided water for the cannons. However, halfway through their plan, they are discovered and chased by the raiders.
After the raiders chased them, Bobby decided to lead Spader to the flume. (Uncle Press was left on board.) Bobby then reaches the flume with Spader and activates it, taking both of them to Zadaa. The raiders were left behind. On Zadaa, after an encounter with a Rokador, they made it to the surface and went to a Batu (the name of the tribe) tournament to find Loor. Soon after, Bobby and Loor explained to Spader about how Saint Dane wanted to destroy all the territories in Halla. Sadly, Spader was only concerned with avenging his father by killing Saint Dane, whom they suspect poisoned the crops.
Bobby and Spader flume back to Cloral, where they find themselves heroes as Grallion defeated the raiders when their cannons were useless. Saint Dane (Zy Roder) escaped on a speedboat, though.
Bobby then advises Spader to go to Panger City, another habitat, to find his mother. When they get there, they discover that the only thing left is the other half of the map to the Lost City of Faar. It is then that Bobby, Press, and Spader are confronted by Rodar. He takes the map from them and looks at it, although they grab it back and escape to search for Faar.
Several hours later, they arrive right over the point where Faar is. Bobby, Press, and Spader sink down and enter the city, where they learn that the Faarians have invented something to cure the crops. They send out haulers (like a submarine) to start curing the crops. Because of this, Saint Dane knows where to strike missiles to keep the haulers inside. Press then tells Bobby and Spader to go get the people to evacuate the city, while he keeps trying to help.
Bobby and Spader warn the city and escape with them, and just afterwards the city collapses. Bobby decides to go with Spader back into the ruined city to find Press. After they find him, Bobby passes through the Council of Faar and find that the Old Man that he has talked to earlier in the book died desperately trying to reach a button. They decide to press it for him, and this causes Faar to rise back to the surface, so that now the haulers are able to get out. Saint Dane escapes, and they follow him to a second flume on Cloral, where they watch him escape to the territory of Veelox.
Set in the 1920s, Ayre "Mac" MacGillvary is a virginal 23-year-old young American who graduates from an exclusive British college. An orphan heiress to a vast fortune, Ayre is determined to find the right man for her first sexual encounter wherever he might be in the world. Rich enough not to venture forth alone, she brings along her best friend Catalina and the family chauffeur Cotton.
Ayre first travels to Morocco where she meets an ideal lover, an Arab sheik who offers to deflower her. He takes her away in his private airplane to an oasis in the desert, but during foreplay, while rubbing her nude body with honey, he falls asleep almost immediately. Giving up on the sheik, Ayre goes on to Spain, where she meets the toreador Angel, and sets out to seduce him. Into this group comes Paloma, a 14-year-old local Gypsy girl whom Ayre and Catalina take under their wing. A minor subplot involves Catalina meeting and pursuing Ayre's lawyer, Robert Stewart, a kilt-wearing Scotsman whom Catalina chooses to deflower her.
After several days of courtship and flirting, Angel makes love to Ayre one morning and he manages to stay awake. Unfortunately, after Ayre has succeeded in her quest to lose her virginity, Angel is gored while bullfighting the next day.
The injury leaves Angel unable to perform in the bedroom, and so Ayre makes it her mission in life to see to his recovery. Along the way, she takes up bullfighting herself as a way of getting her despondent lover motivated to stop moping. During this, the Arab sheik flies to Spain to abduct Ayre, but she manages to convince him that she has already lost her virginity and he lets her go.
Eventually, Ayre is successful in aiding Angel to full recovery which leads to a climactic lovemaking session between them. The film ends with Ayre and Angel getting married at a local church.
The story takes place on the planet Maris in the year 2387. Around this time, the civilization, led by Empress Admis, started a genocide program to kill all humans in order to lay eggs and reproduce on the planet. Three mysterious guns dubbed the "Zillion Weapon System" appear and three teen soldiers (JJ, Champ, and Apple) are chosen to wield them as a task force called (W.N.) (known as the White Knights in the English version), whose purpose is to fight back against the Nohzas.
Equipment of the White Nuts team: * Zillion (ジリオン): a mysterious weapon, impossible to analyze and reproduce. It fires a load of a strange substance, appearing as a red light that engulfs the target and disintegrates it. It uses a small red crystal ("zillionium") for ammunition, unstable and also impossible to reproduce. One of the guns is destroyed in episode 10 and reconstructed afterwards by Dave, changing its initially "flat" design to a more ergonomic one. All pistols are then rebuilt, allowing the use of special accessories that change them into a sub machine-gun, used by Apple, or a precision sniper rifle, used by Champ. * Ridingcepter (ライディングセプター): a motorcycle. It can carry a Sidecepter (サイドセプター), a Cargocepter (カーゴセプター) or a Cannoncepter (キャノンセプター). * Tricharger (トライチャージャー): a tricycle that can change into a versatile mobile suit. It has three forms, buggy form (バギーフォーム), kneeled form (ニールドフォーム) and armoretter form (アーモレーターフォーム). * Big Porter (ビッグポーター): a Vertical Take Off and Landing vehicle, prepared to carry one of three special crafts, named: ** Submarine Aqua-Carried (潜航艇アクアキャリッド), a yellow small submersible; ** Armoured Vehicle Land-Carried (装甲車ランドキャリッド), a red battle tank; ** Fighter Bomber Aero-Carried (戦闘爆撃機エアロキャリッド), a blue air-and-space fighter.
In the peaceful aftermath of the Nozsa wars, the charismatic heroes known as "White Nuts" have changed career paths to becoming music making rock stars. Their music career would soon be interrupted by a new threat of colonial settlers. Apple is kidnapped by the sadistic ODAMA Clan - a family of ruthless killers. Located in a heavily fortified mountain retreat, J.J. and company attempt a rescue mission with their laser weapon Zillion. But the former Knights only have a limited supply of Zillium for the Zillion guns. A mysterious stranger named Rick, a wondering bodyguard for the ODAMA Clan, turns out to be an old lover of Apple.
The story centres around Dr. Noah Noyes, an authoritarian doctor and father whose obsession with God's law leads him to neglect his family; his wife, Mrs. Noyes, an alcoholic who talks to animals; and Mottyl, Mrs. Noyes's blind cat. Noah and Mrs. Noyes have three sons, Shem, Japeth, and Ham. Shem is married to Hannah, who spends a great deal of time with Dr. Noyes. Japeth is married to Emma, a young girl of about 11, who refuses to consummate their marriage.
One day, an exhausted Yaweh visits Dr. Noyes. Yaweh is depressed to the point of wilfully allowing himself to die due to the treatment he has received from humanity. He tells Noyes that the people of the City threw offal, rotten fruit, and feces at his carriage and have assassinated him seven times. Yaweh remains depressed until he is inspired by a magic show Noah puts on to raise his spirits. Noah puts a penny under a glass bottle then fills the bottle with water. Due to refraction of the penny's image, the coin appears to vanish, but Yaweh becomes obsessed by the idea that the application of water can make things disappear.
Soon Yaweh tells Noah to build an ark in preparation for the flood. Noah is resolutely obedient, but some in his family react negatively. Ham quickly marries Lucy, a mysterious seven-foot-tall woman with webbed fingers (a trait found only in angels, according to the novel) who is eventually revealed to be Lucifer in female form. As Yaweh leaves, Mottyl hears flies buzzing from within Yaweh's carriage and knows that Yaweh has resigned himself to death.
Noah is adamant that Yaweh's edict must be followed to the letter and insists that there must be only two of every animal. Mrs. Noyes tries to bring Mottyl, who Noah has decreed must stay behind since he's chosen Yaweh's own two pet cats to represent felines on the ark. Noah sets fire to the house and barn, with Mottyl inside, offering all their additional animals as a giant sacrifice to Yaweh. Mrs. Noyes is enraged at the attempt to kill her cat and by the carnage in what is left of her home, and refuses to board the ark. Noah is concerned that if Mrs. Noyes does not come, the ark and its passengers will be doomed, as Yaweh's edict clearly states that Noah's wife must be aboard. Mrs. Noyes hides in Noah's orchard as the rain starts, but leaves when she notices Emma's sister Lotte, a "monkey child," trying to cross the river. Mrs. Noyes rescues Lotte and agrees to board only if Lotte can also come. Noah agrees to let Lotte on board, but has Japeth kill her shortly after. Mrs. Noyes again rebels, but ultimately agrees to board the ark and smuggles Mottyl aboard, hidden in her apron.
As the voyage begins Noah quickly imposes his will on his family by drawing a line between the "rebellious" elements (Mrs. Noyes, Emma, Ham, and Lucy) and the rest (himself, Hannah, Japeth, and Shem). One day, dolphins swim by the ark, attempting to befriend the inhabitants. Noah decides that the dolphins must be pirates and has Japeth slaughter them. Mrs. Noyes attempts to stop him, and once the "pirates" have been defeated, Noah locks Mrs. Noyes, Lucy, Ham, and Emma in the lower levels of the ark, forcing them to care for the animals alone. Meanwhile, Noah, Hannah, Shem, and Japeth enjoy quarters on the deck of the ark and freedom from heavy chores.
Noah notices that Japeth is becoming more preoccupied with sex and often eyes Hannah in a way that makes Noah wary. He decides that the solution is to force Emma to consummate their marriage. Noah has Emma brought to the deck and "inspects" her to see what the problem is. He decides that Emma's "tightness" is the reason why Japeth could not "gain entry" and requests that the Unicorn is brought to aid the problem. Noah uses the Unicorn to "open" Emma for Japeth, a process which traumatizes Emma and severely injures the Unicorn. When Japeth finds out what his father has done, he cuts off the Unicorn's horn. Emma is then forced to live on the top deck to be near her husband.
Mrs. Noyes, Lucy, and Ham decide to rebel against Noah and the others. They formulate a plan to burn through the locked door using the two demons on board. They get the door open and plan to close the armoury, where Japeth sleeps, from the outside so as to neutralize Japeth. Unfortunately, Japeth is patrolling the deck and captures the escapees. He ties up Mrs. Noyes, Lucy, and Ham and throws the demons overboard, which enrages Lucy. She breaks free of her bonds and curses Japeth so that his wounds will never heal properly and he will always smell of the violence he has inflicted on others. Mrs. Noyes, Ham, and Lucy are locked below again, this time with boards and chains locking the door from the outside.
Lucy plans another escape and has Crowe take a message to Emma to release them. Emma removes all the chains and bars while Noah and Hannah are preoccupied with praying, Shem is preoccupied with eating, and Japeth is preoccupied dressing his wounds. Mrs. Noyes, Lucy, and Ham bar the armoury and the chapel, locking in Noah, Hannah, and Japeth, but they are unable to find Shem.
While locked in the chapel, Hannah's labour begins. She asks Noah to call for help, but he refuses to call for anyone until the baby is born. Noah knows that the baby is likely his and is worried that it will be a "monkey child" like Lotte, as Japeth's dead twin brother was also monkey-like. When the baby is born dead it is indeed revealed to be a "monkey child". Ham, hearing Hannah's cries of pain, opens the chapel door to help Hannah. He is quickly brained by Shem, but not before he sees Hannah's child. Hannah wraps it in blankets to hide its hairy arms and throws the baby overboard.
A truce between the factions is tacitly called. The weather is sunny for the first time since the start of the rain, and Noah asks Emma to send a dove to look for land. When the dove does not return, they continue to send birds until Noah decides to send his own trained dove. Noah's dove returns with an olive branch, which Noah uses to prove Yaweh's edict. The other members of the ark remain unconvinced, as they know it is the same branch from the dove's cage. The novel ends with Mrs. Noyes sitting on deck with Mottyl, praying to the clouds for rain.
The Greek fisherman Demetrios and his father rescue Princess Antillia from a shipwreck without knowing that she is from the technologically advanced civilization of Atlantis. After rescuing the princess, Demetrios must travel beyond the Pillars of Hercules to take her home. After they are picked up at sea near Atlantis by a giant fish-like submarine boat, Demetrios, expecting to receive a reward for returning Antillia, is instead enslaved and forced to work in the crater of the volcano that dominates the center of the continent.
King Cronus is being manipulated by an ambitious usurper, Zaren, collaborating with the court sorcerer, Sonoy the Astrologer, who wishes to use the resources of Atlantis to conquer the known world. From deep within the continent's volcano, the slaves of Atlantis have been mining unique power crystals which absorb the sun's rays and can used to fire heat ray beams. The crystals were once used to produce light and heat, but due to its arrogance, corruption, and moral laxity, Atlantis has made the crystals into a deadly heat ray weapon. It has become "an abomination before Heaven".
Taken to the House of Fear, where a mad scientist turns slaves into mindless beast-humans, Demetrios is saved by being given the chance to undergo the "ordeal of fire and water". He fights with a giant ogre in a pit of burning coals. Demetrios outmaneuvers his clumsy opponent, setting fire to the ogre's hair. The fight contrasts with the uproarious laughter coming from the massive crowd in the coliseum, cheering on the spectacle. Later, after killing the ogre in a rising pool of water, Demetrios is declared a free citizen of Atlantis.
Impending doom hangs heavy in the air of Atlantis. The birds, animals, and even the insects are fleeing what appears to be the coming destruction of the continent. With the help of a kindly high-priest named Azar, who explains these signs of the apocalypse to him, Demetrios is later able to rescue Princess Antillia after helping the slaves to escape the coming destruction. Azar explains and demonstrates two small versions of the power crystal device. He also informs Demetrios that a huge crystal ray projector, a thousand times more powerful, is nearing completion. On the next full moon, Zaren plans to begin his campaign of conquest.
Demetrios pretends to ally himself with Zaren, supposedly working among the slaves to ensure that the crystal is completed on schedule. In fact, he is working with the slaves to sabotage the process. The crystals are formed deep within the volcano, hastening the impending destruction of Atlantis.
On the full moon, the now-completed crystal ray projector is displayed to the people of Atlantis. Just at that moment, however, the skies darken, the ground begins to shake, and the destruction of Atlantis begins. The volcano undergoes a cataclysmic eruption, and the continent proceeds to tear itself apart. The people of Atlantis panic, striving to escape their impending doom. Demetrios and Princess Antillia attempt to escape through the fleeing multitude. Zaren attempts to kill them, using the crystal ray projector, but instead kills many other citizens.
Azar attacks Zaren, using Zaren's own knife, leaving the large crystal to swing back and forth, out of control, firing bursts of energy at random. As Zaren finally overcomes Azar, he is himself destroyed by the weapon's energy beam. As lightning flashes and thunder roars, the entire continent begins sinking. Suddenly, and very quickly, it begins to rise; then, just as quickly, the sea bottom collapses. Atlantis suddenly plunges beneath the waves once and for all. The large crystal device atop the capital's large pyramid, the main power source for the entire continent, is inundated with seawater, short-circuits, and a massive explosion follows.
Various groups of survivors, including Demetrios and Antillia, flee to Greece and other parts of the world, where they are absorbed into other cultures, and The Legend of Atlantis is spread through the many peoples and nations that follow down through the centuries.
Dr. Frank Peralta is stabbed to death in his apartment one night. The detective on the case, Lt. Stevenson, quickly finds two witnesses putting Peralta's girlfriend, Terry Collins, at the scene. However, when Stevenson finds and questions Terry, she has an iron-clad alibi, and several witnesses of her own. It is revealed that Terry has an identical twin sister, Ruth, and the pair share a job and routinely switch places for their own benefit. Stevenson and the district attorney are unable to prosecute since the twins refuse to confirm which of them has the alibi.
Unable to accept the "perfect crime", Lt. Stevenson asks Dr. Scott Elliot for help. Scott is an expert on twin study, and has been routinely encountering the Collinses at their shared workplace but does not know which is which. As a front, Scott asks Terry and Ruth if he can study them individually as part of his research. The twins accept, though Ruth is worried that Scott might find out that Terry was at Peralta's apartment the night of the murder. However, Terry is attracted to Scott and insists that they can keep the secret for the sake of seeing him. She also comforts Ruth, reminding her that she was only at Peralta's apartment but didn't kill him.
From Scott's psychological tests and by spending time with them, he discovers that Ruth is kind and loving, while Terry is highly intelligent and insane, and has been manipulating Ruth almost their entire lives. Terry is jealous that people keep preferring Ruth over her, and is enraged yet again when Scott falls in love with Ruth instead of her. Terry starts methodically gaslighting Ruth, making her believe that she's hallucinating and going insane, in the hopes of pushing her to suicide.
Scott reports his findings to Stevenson, who advises him to warn Ruth immediately. That night, Scott arranges to meet with Ruth at his apartment, but Terry intercepts the message. Terry leaves Ruth alone in their apartment and sets a music box in a hidden place to encourage Ruth to believe she's developing the madness erroneously believed always to afflict one of two twins. Terry goes to meet Scott, and he explains everything he's learned about the twins' relationship and Terry’s intense rivalry with her innocent sister, knowing all along that he's speaking to Terry, not to Ruth. Scott also believes that Peralta, who didn't know they were twins, wooed Terry but was really in love with Ruth, and Terry killed him for it. When Scott receives a call from the Lieutenant Stevenson, Terry considers stabbing him in the back with the nearby scissors. Stevenson is at the twins' apartment, having gone there on a hunch, and says he's found Ruth dead.
Scott and Terry go to the sisters' apartment, where Terry "confesses" to Stevenson that her "sister" killed Peralta and committed suicide out of guilt. Terry confirms all of Scott's psychological test results, but she herself claims to be Ruth, and says that she's relieved that "Terry” is dead. Just then Ruth enters the room, alive and well, which causes Terry angrily to throw her glass at a mirror reflecting the real Ruth's image. Stevenson did visit Ruth on a hunch but only found her in distress, not dead; he then faked the 'phone call to trap Terry, who is arrested. Scott and Ruth are free to enjoy their future together.
Detective Jack Williams, who lost his left arm in the Tet Offensive, is shot dead in his apartment. His estranged friend, detective Mike Hammer (whose life Jack saved while losing his arm) is warned by police detective Pat Chambers to stay out of it but he nevertheless investigates the matter on his own. He speaks with Jack's widow Myrna, who says that they were attending a sex therapy clinic operated by the glamorous Dr. Charlotte Bennett. Hammer visits the clinic and finds a Government Issue bugging device in the doctor's office.
Hammer's secretary Velda identifies Jack's receipts for gasoline near Bear Mountain close to a summer camp run by Hammer's old friend Joe Butler. Mike and Velda visit Joe, who tells them of a military project in Saigon involving the use of drugs to turn prisoners of war into friendly spies and how Captain Romero developed a technique for mind control. Two cars of CIA agents pursue the three on a car chase that ends when Hammer throws a Molotov cocktail at one car, causing it to drive off a cliff into the water, and blocks the road with his vehicle then shoots the second car, causing it to explode.
The FBI trace the gun that killed Jack to special effects artist Harry Lundee, who had reported the gun stolen. Hammer visits him on set, where Lundee is shot in the back by a projectile knife fired by an unknown assassin and, in his dying breath, confesses that he laundered the gun to mobster Charlie Kalecki, but Kalecki is reluctant to speak with Hammer about any ties to Romero.
The CIA, wishing to distance itself from Romero's experiments, plants a series of clues in an attempt to lead Mike Hammer to Romero in order to have Hammer eliminate Romero for them. Chambers is instructed by the CIA to plant a photo of Romero in Jack's apartment as bait for Hammer and Romero gives Dr. Bennett a fake file about Jack's activities, which Hammer is upset to read during a visit to the Northridge Clinic. Hammer questions the sexual surrogate twins who worked with Jack, before observing Dr Bennett and her sex therapy team at work. While watching this session, Hammer hears the twins being attacked but is too late to prevent their deaths at the hands of a psychotic killer. In the wake of these extreme events, Hammer checks in on Dr Bennett at her practice and the two become lovers.
The twins' killer, Charles Kendricks, has been brainwashed by Romero, who sends him to abduct Velda. Romero's black ops squad capture Hammer, torture him and cover the badly-beaten Hammer with cheap liquor, intending to push him to his death in traffic. Hammer turns the tables on his captors, fights his way free and escapes. He races to Kendricks' apartment and stops him from killing Velda, then pursues Kendricks through the Manhattan streets and shoots him dead. Convinced that Kendricks was a puppet, Hammer confronts Detective Chambers. Chambers, again being secretly instructed by the CIA, tells Hammer that Kalecki supplied the gun that killed Jack and owned the apartment building where Kendricks lived.
Hammer captures Kalecki and forces him to drive back to the Northridge Clinic, where Romero has now set up a sequence of fortifications and death-traps. Hammer jumps out of the car before Romero sets off a mine, instantly killing Kalecki. Hammer kills all of Romero's goons commando-style then climbs over a wall and into the main building to confront Romero. After a brutal fight, Romero wrestles Hammer's gun from him but Hammer has plugged the barrel, so when Romero fires the gun it explodes in his face. Romero dies before Hammer can get the answers he wants about Jack's death. Searching Romero's office, Hammer finds Romero's black ops computer files.
Later, Hammer visits Dr Bennett at her home, bearing an expensively wrapped gift that turns out to be Jack's prosthetic arm. Hammer confronts her with the information he's uncovered: she was the intruder who murdered Jack Williams. Charlotte attempts to seduce Hammer and kill him with a hidden gun but he beats her to it while they embrace, shooting her in cold blood. With her dying breath, Dr. Bennett asks Hammer "How could you?" Using the famous closing line from Spillane's original novel, Hammer responds "It was easy."
In Saint Petersburg of 1805, Pierre Bezukhov, the illegitimate son of a rich nobleman, is introduced to high society. His friend, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, joins the Imperial Russian Army as aide-de-camp of General Mikhail Kutuzov in the War of the Third Coalition against Napoleon. As Pierre's father recognizes him, Pierre attracts the attention of Hélène Kuragina and marries her, only to learn through rumor that she has been unfaithful and slept with Fyodor Dolokhov, an intimate of Hélène's brother Anatole. Meanwhile, Andrei takes part in the failed campaign in Austria, where he witnesses the Battle of Schöngrabern and the Battle of Austerlitz, is badly wounded and mistaken for dead. He returns to his father's estate just in time to witness his wife Lisa die during childbirth.
In the end of 1809, Natasha, the young daughter of a count attends her first ball at age 16. Andrei Bolkonsky falls in love with her and intends to marry her, but his father demands they wait. Andrei travels abroad, and Natasha desperately longs for him. But she then meets the handsome Anatole Kuragin who falls in love with her and follows her with much passion. Overwhelmed Natasha decides she prefers him over Andrei. At the last minute, she regrets her choice and abandons her plans to elope with Anatole. However, Andrei has heard of her plans and declares their betrothal is over. Natasha suffers a nervous breakdown. Pierre, trying to calm her down, suddenly announces he loves her.
In 1812, Napoleon's Army invades Russia. Field Marshal Kutuzov is appointed by the Tsar to defend the land. Kutuzov asks Andrei to join him as a staff officer, but he requests a command in the field. Pierre approaches the battlefield of the upcoming confrontation between the armies during the Battle of Borodino, he volunteers to assist in an artillery battery. Andrei's unit waits in the reserve, but he is hit by a shell and both he and Anatole suffer severe wounds. The battle involves hundreds of thousands of soldiers, thousands of horses, hundreds of cannons firing from both sides. French Army forces the Russian Army to retreat leaving Moscow unprotected. Napoleon advances on Moscow.
As Moscow is set ablaze by the retreating Russians, the Rostovs flee their estate, taking wounded soldiers with them, and unbeknownst to them, also Andrei. Pierre, dressed as a peasant, tries to assassinate Napoleon but is taken prisoner. As the French are forced to retreat, he is marched for months with the Grande Armée, until being freed by partisans. The French Armies are defeated by Field Marshal Kutuzov in the Battle of Krasnoi. Andrei is recognized and is brought to his estate. He forgives Natasha on his deathbed. She reunites with Pierre as Moscow is being rebuilt.
After Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends arrive in Soul Society, Zaraki begins to hunt for the strongest fighter in their group before finding Ichigo. After a short skirmish, Zaraki stabs Ichigo's sword while stabbing him in the chest, seemingly killing him. as Kenpachi begins to walk away, when Ichigo stands up again, healed by the power of Zangetsu. During the fight, Ichigo becomes enough of a challenge that Zaraki removes his eyepatch, thus releasing the extra power it has been devouring. As they rush at each other, the exchange itself ends in a draw, with Ichigo falling first and Zaraki shortly after, both admitting defeat (though Zaraki's sword breaks in the end, after it is deflected by the sudden manifestation of Ichigo's hollow mask, which spared the latter from death). Zaraki later admits that he lost, but he needs to get stronger and pay Ichigo back. He finds himself happy he found someone strong to fight, before falling unconscious. He then decides to help Ichigo and frees his friends from imprisonment. Much later on, while searching for Ichigo with his friends in tow, they are headed off by 7th and 9th Division members. Zaraki battles their captains Sajin Komamura and Kaname Tōsen respectively, defeating Tōsen and fighting off Komamura before Komamura runs away to find Shigekuni Yamamoto Genryūsai. He does not see Ichigo and his friends off when they leave the Soul Society. He tells Yachiru that he and Ichigo will certainly meet again because they are the only ones who are what they seem to be. Kenpachi also helps fight off the Bount invasion and successfully defeats Maki Ichinose, a former member of his own squad who left after Kenpachi killed the former captain.
During the Arrancar arc, Zaraki appears to Ichigo as his instinct and desire to win, explaining to him that they were both the type of people who live to fight (or fight to live) battle after battle. After Orihime is taken to Hueco Mundo, Zaraki arrives with Byakuya Kuchiki to retrieve Tōshirō Hitsugaya's group and bring them back to Soul Society. Later, in Hueco Mundo, Kenpachi comes to Ichigo's aid during his battle with Nnoitra's Fracción Tesla, dealing the Arrancar a mortal blow with a single strike and then engaging the Espada Nnoitra in battle. Despite having "''more fun than he has had in a long time,''" he suffers enough injuries to realize that he may die if the fight continues. Kenpachi begins to have a few flashbacks to his Kendo training as he would grip his sword with two hands to deal Nnoitra a vicious, incapacitating blow. Unfortunately for Nnoitra during the ensuing fight Zaraki's eye-patch, which is a special seal that strongly 'consumes' his Spirit Pressure (this way battles will last longer allowing him to have more fun), is cut off allowing Kenpachi to fight at full power. When Nnoitra refuses to accept defeat and charges Kenpachi , the latter kills him with another strike. Zaraki then stands over Nnoitra's corpse, telling him their battle "was a blast". He later appears to save Ichigo from the Cero Espada Yammy by cutting off one of his legs, and further engaging him in combat with Byakuya Kuchiki. When it seems that Kenpachi and Byakuya are about to defeat him, Yammy undergoes a new transformation. as Byakuya and Zaraki ultimately defeat their opponent, though Kenpachi thought the fight was quite "boring". He is last seen being reprimanded by the Captain-Commander for losing his captain's haori in battle.
Seventeen months after the fight with Sōsuke Aizen, Kenpachi, along with all the other high-ranking members of the Gotei 13, are ordered to restore Ichigo's reiatsu. as he arrives with Byakuya, Hitsugaya, Ikkaku, Rukia, and Renji to aid in fighting Xcution. Kenpachi is engaged by Giriko Kutsuzawa and quickly slices the Fullbringer in half, finding him "boring".
After these events, a group of Quincy called the Wandenreich to appear and send their invading force of Sternritter to take over Soul Society. Zaraki manages to single-handedly kill Berenice Gabrielli, Jerome Quizbatt, and Loyd Lloyd without much difficulty. Kenpachi then confronts Yhwach, revealed to be Loyd's twin brother Royd Lloyd in disguise, and is defeated. After the Wandenreich leaves, Zaraki recovers and engages Unohana in what both expect to be a fight to the death, in order to train him in dealing with the Wandenreich. Despite being brought to the brink of death several times, and Captain Unohana finally releasing her Bankai, Zaraki ultimately cuts down Unohana, subsequently hearing his ''Zanpakutō'' and learning its name: . During the Wandenreich's second invasion, Zaraki uses Nozarashi's ax-like Shikai form against the Sternritter Gremmy Thoumeaux in an exhausting flight that leaves at the mercy of a quartet of female Sternritters before Ichigo saves him. After being healed twice, the second time being a consequence of being incapacitated while fighting Pernida, Zaraki joins Hitsugaya and Byakuya against Gerard. During the fight, as Yachiru reveals her true identity and sacrifices herself to awaken his full power, Zaraki manifests his ''Zanpakutō'''s Bankai form to overwhelm the Sternritter before his body begins to suffer from the strain caused by using the Bankai. He later helps in holding down Gerard for Hitsugaya and Byakuya to land the death blow. Ten years after the war, having become more composed with Ikkaku as his new vice-captain, Zaraki is last seen getting himself lost while attempting to attend Rukia's captain ceremony.
In a few weeks, Scottish teenager Liam will turn 16. The film opens with him using his tripod-mounted telescope outdoors on a clear night to show other children the stars and planets. He and his friends exemplify the violent "ned" subculture; they no longer attend school, but instead, hang around isolated areas or wander about all day long. They get money by illicitly selling untaxed cigarettes in a pub, and defy the police. Liam's mother is currently in prison, for a crime she did not commit. She will be released in a few weeks, in time for her son's 16th birthday. She has a boyfriend named Stan, who works as a drug dealer with Liam's grandfather, Rab.
Stan and Rab take Liam in Rab's car on a visit to his mother in Cornton Vale Prison, and try to force him to smuggle drugs to his mother while they create a distraction. In the event, Liam refuses to cooperate by passing the drugs over. When driving home his companions beat him up; he fights back and gets away. Liam arrives back to find that he has been expelled from his grandfather's flat, and his belongings thrown down into the front garden (including his telescope, which has been broken). Liam then moves to his sister Chantelle's nearby home in Port Glasgow. Chantelle agrees to let Liam live in her house if he's good to Chantelle's little son, Calum. She has been taking free evening classes to get work in a call centre, and implores Liam to do the same because she wants Liam to do something more 'constructive' with his own life.
When Liam takes Calum for a walk along Greenock Esplanade, his friend Pinball arrives in a stolen car and insists on taking them joyriding along the coast. They drive up through the Cloch caravan (trailer) park where Liam sees a caravan for sale in a spot overlooking the scenic Firth of Clyde. Liam, who loves his mother very much, fantasizes that he, his sister, and his mother can escape to the seaside and live in the caravan, away from Stan and Rab's wrath. To purchase it he and Pinball steal a delivery of drugs from Stan's house and sell them, doing the very things Liam once hated – claiming that they will never get anywhere by selling cheap cigarettes. They soon develop 'entrepreneur skills' and raise several thousand pounds, which they pay as a deposit towards the caravan in Liam's mother's name.
Liam's efforts attract the attention of the local drug 'godfather', Tony Douglas. Liam, who only wanted a peaceful life with his mother, agrees to work with them after the local godfather tells him to 'stay away from our shops'. Pinball, meanwhile, is thrown into the health club showers due to his disrespectful manner towards the dealer, and vows revenge. Liam and Pinball carry on selling drugs to the local area, with the help of Liam's other friends who deliver pizzas. Liam and Pinball meet again with members of the drug godfather's gang, and Liam joins them in their car. Pinball is kicked out, angering him further; the gang members advise Liam to 'dump' Pinball for good. They take Liam to a Glasgow nightclub and instruct him that he has to kill someone to join the gang. Liam attempts to do so, but is stopped by the gang, who inform him it was a test (which he has passed).
Liam, Chantelle, Calum and Suzanne (Chantelle's friend) drive to the caravan to have a picnic, only to discover that it has been burned down. Liam believes it was Stan who did it, and throws a rock through his window. That evening, Pinball turns up in Douglas's (stolen) car, telling Liam that he wants revenge. He proceeds to crash the car into the health club. Liam speaks to the godfather in the morning and, to his chagrin, is ordered to "take care of" the Pinball problem (i.e. to kill his friend). The next morning, Pinball—aware of Liam's intentions—first tries to stab Liam, then proudly tells him that he's the one who burnt down the caravan, not Stan. He then cuts his own face in rage. Liam is seen reassuring his injured friend after phoning for an ambulance, but in the next scene he notifies the godfather that the deed has "been done", leaving a viewer to infer that he has indeed murdered his friend.
Douglas promises to buy Liam an upscale apartment, and on the day before his birthday Liam's mother is released from the prison and taken to this new house on the coast of Gourock where she is welcomed with a party. She appears uneasy, and the next morning is found to have escaped to Stan's house. Liam blames this on Chantelle. Chantelle, now fully aware that Liam is dealing drugs, attempts to warn her little brother about their mother probably not being so thankful for Liam's efforts because she is too devoted to Stan, but this only provokes Liam even further. An enraged Liam goes to Stan's house, trying to convince his mother to go back to their new home, only to receive insults from Stan. In a struggle, Liam stabs Stan.
Liam is then seen walking alone on the stony beach. He is phoned by Chantelle, who reminds him that the day is his 16th birthday. She also tells him that the police have been looking for him, but that after everything that he has done, Chantelle still loves him. He walks towards the sea.
Anna (Miriam Yeung) is an aspiring actress, and her father was a monk of the Shaolin temple who defected to Japan after representing the temple during a martial arts tournament. There he met a Japanese woman and later bore Anna. He starts a martial school in Japan, although he dreams of being reconciled with his former mates.
Anna enters a martial arts tournament, which she hopes will lead to her getting her acting career started. She falls in love with the marketing executive (Ekin Cheng) who organized the tournament.
Opera singer superstar Renato Rossano (Mario Lanza) is drafted into the U.S. Army. His sergeant, "Bat" Batterson (James Whitmore), is an opera fan who admires Rossano and wishes Rossano to appraise his sister's (Doretta Morrow) singing voice. The rest of his platoon as well as the company commander disapproves of Batterson's showing favoritism to Rossano by excusing him from normal training.
Rossano schemes to have Batterson allow him to go to New York, supposedly to have his manager appraise Batterson's sister Brigit's singing voice but in reality allowing him to do a performance. After realizing he's been tricked, the sergeant sets out to make Rossano's military life considerably more difficult.
Following the infamous tragedy in Waco, Texas, in which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (A.T.F.) found themselves in a battle with an armed militia, the organization, led by director Maggie Hale (Kathy Baker), finds itself in a new fight. Agent Robyn O'Brien (Amy Brenneman) goes undercover to infiltrate a militia selling illegal street-sweeper guns, dismissing Hale's orders to stay away. When O'Brien gets held prisoner inside the militia's compound, the A.T.F. is left with the decision to start another Waco and attack the militia, or come up with another way to save her.
Iris Simpkins, a society columnist for ''The Daily Telegraph'' in London, is still madly in love with her ex, Jasper Bloom, despite the fact that he cheated on her and is emotionally needy. Devastated to discover he is engaged, she decides to get away for the holidays.
Amanda Woods, a movie trailer producer in Los Angeles, breaks up with her film composer boyfriend, Ethan, after he admits to cheating on her. Coming across Iris's listing of her cottage on a home swap website, she messages her. They agree to switch houses for two weeks starting the next day.
Iris happily settles into Amanda's large house, but Amanda decides she has made a mistake and plans to return home the next day. That night, Iris's handsome book editor brother, Graham, drops by after drinking too much at the local pub, asking to spend the night. Amanda agrees and after they talk. Graham unexpectedly kisses her on the lips, then she suggests they have sex as she does not expect to see him ever again. The next morning, despite having enjoyed their time together, they go their separate ways. That evening Graham meets friends at the pub for dinner and sees Amanda there, having decided to stay.
Iris meets Arthur Abbott, Amanda's elderly neighbor and an Oscar-winning screenwriter from the Golden Age of Film. Over dinner, Iris tells him about her troubles with Jasper. He gives her a long list of movies with strong female characters to watch so she can become "the leading lady of her own life."
Iris convinces Arthur to be the keynote speaker at a Writers Guild of America West gala and exercises with him so he can walk on stage without his walker. She also befriends Miles, a colleague of Ethan's who is dating aspiring actress Maggie. While at the video store looking for one of the movies on Arthur's list, he catches Maggie with another man. Iris explains her troubles with Jasper and they have dinner together to bring each other's spirits up on Christmas Eve.
Amanda opens up to Graham, telling him she has not cried since her parents divorced when she was 15. Surprising him at his house, she discovers he is a widower with two young daughters. He kept his daughters a secret because compartmentalizing his life helps him deal with the overwhelming responsibility of being a single working father, and he does not want to bring a woman into the girls' lives unless the relationship definitely has a future. They begin to think their relationship is more complicated than they can handle.
On the day of the screenwriter's gala, Maggie asks Miles to take her back, but he refuses. Jasper surprises Iris by showing up at Amanda's but, drawing on the example of the women from Arthur's films, she kicks him out. At the gala, Arthur walks onstage unassisted and Miles asks Iris out on a date for New Year's Eve. She agrees and kisses him.
Meanwhile, Graham tells Amanda he has fallen for her and while she says she does not return the sentiment, they agree to try to make a long-distance relationship work. While heading to the airport, Amanda breaks down crying. She runs back to the cottage and she and Graham make plans to spend New Year's Eve together with his daughters.
On New Year's Eve, Iris, Amanda, Miles, and Graham, with his daughters, all happily celebrate at Graham's house.
Bill Lowery is a salesman whose company has switched to a medical supply product line. He stays up late at night attempting to memorize medical terms in order to be familiar with the products in a week's time. As Bill leaves for work, his neighbor refers to his dog as an "encyclopedia". Bill shrugs it off, thinking his neighbor is joking. Bill puts in a full morning of work trying to cope with new terms, which include jibes from younger salesmen such as "teaching old dogs new 'trumpets'." A subordinate asks him about a good place to go for "dinosaur." Bill tries to find out why the co-worker is not using the correct word, but the co-worker walks away annoyed.
Bill goes home for lunch. His wife Kathy says their son is feeling ill, and didn't eat his "dinosaur". This makes Bill realize the bizarre neologisms he has been hearing are not just a practical joke.
Returning to the office, Bill finds that the word swaps appear even in printed form, such as his personnel file and car displays, and that the amount of gibberish has increased to the point where he can no longer understand anything that is said to him. He goes back home to find his son suffering from a very high fever. Bill picks up the boy and takes him to the emergency room, where Kathy has to handle everything because Bill cannot make himself understood. A doctor comes out of his son's room after some time to tell Bill and Kathy that their son is okay.
That night, following a quiet but content meal with Kathy, Bill sits down in his son's bedroom and picks up one of his ABC books. He uses it to begin studying the vocabulary of the language that he now needs to re-learn.
The protagonist is Tootle, a baby 4-4-2 locomotive attending train school. Tootle hopes to grow up to be the Flyer on the New York-Chicago route. His schoolwork includes tasks such as stopping at red flags and pulling a dining car without spilling the soup. His most important lesson is that he must always stay on the rails. Bill, his good friend and teacher, tells Tootle that trains are not professional unless they get 100 A+ on staying on the rails, no matter what. One day, when Tootle is practicing this lesson, a horse challenges him to a race to the river. Tootle is faster than the horse, but loses his lead when he turns a curve, so he gets off the tracks to tie with the horse. In the days that follow, Tootle becomes fond of playing in the meadow and not staying on the rails. Bill quickly discovers what Tootle has been doing. Not wanting to take away Tootle's chance at being a Flyer, Bill concocts a plan with the mayor to put Tootle back on the tracks. One day when Tootle is rolling down the tracks, he hops off to play in the meadow, but sees red flags everywhere in the grass. He grows frustrated at having to stop at red flags, as trains hate nothing more than stopping. Tootle then sees Bill with a green flag over the rails. Having learned his lesson, Tootle gets back on the track and says that playing in the meadow only brings red flags to trains. In response to the lesson learned, the town cheers for him and rewards Tootle the Flyer the route to Chicago. Many years later, an older and wiser Tootle teaches some new locomotives lessons, including "Stay on the rails no matter what."
The play starts with the prologue, which is a warning to the audience that the play is long and now is the time to stretch their legs because they are about to be sitting for a long time.
Once the play starts Calidorus and Pseudolus enter the stage, Calidorus is visibly upset. After Pseudolus pushes his master's son to tell him what is wrong, Calidorus shows him a letter he received. Pseudolus first mocks the poor handwriting it is written in then reads the letter, which says that Calidorus' lover Phoenicium, a prostitute, has been sold and the man who is supposed to come with the last of the money to pay for her and pick her up for her new master is coming very soon. Calidorus obviously wants to save her but he has no money of his own and his father won't lend him any to help save her. He turns to Pseudolus, who is his father's chief slave, for help. Pseudolus doesn't have the money they require to buy her, but thinks he can improvise a plan to get it and to save Phoenicium. At this time, Calidorus tells Pseudolus to be quiet, saying he hears the pimp Ballio, Phoenicium's master, leaving his house. Ballio enters the stage addressing his slaves, telling them that they aren't worth their keep and that they don't know how to behave. He claims beating them hurts him more than it hurts them and that they will steal anything if given the chance.
Ballio begins organizing his slaves and making preparations for his own birthday celebration, and says he will be off to the market to strike a deal with the fishmonger. After he organizes his slaves and assigns them all specific tasks for the day, he calls his prostitutes out of the house. He orders them to make themselves the most desirable companions for the day, and to earn him supplies based on their status with men in different markets—specifically, grain, meat, oil, and lard. Ballio promises swift and decisive punishment if his demands are not met.
Calidorus and Pseudolus have been watching Ballio throughout this entire speech from a hidden corner, making comments about his corruption and tyranny, and generally loathing his entire existence. Calidorus is deeply concerned about the future of Phoenicium and asks Pseudolus what he should do in order to keep Ballio from putting her on the streets. Pseudolus tells Calidorus not to worry about it, and that he will take care of it by delivering Ballio "a nice fat packet of trouble." This uncertain prospect is torturous to Calidorus, who claims that it's only natural that a lover must behave like a fool.
Ballio departs from his house to go to the market, with one of his slaves leading. Pseudolus calls out to him from their hiding place, and asks him to come and talk. Ballio is dismissive of Pseudolus, and tries to avoid him several times. Pseudolus finally successfully intercepts him, but Ballio still refuses to truly listen. He hints that there must be a promise of money in order for him to open his ears to Pseudolus and Calidorus' pleas.
Having appealed to his business side to pull him into conversation, Pseudolus and Calidorus try to play nice, apologizing for the fact that Calidorus does not have the money to buy his love's freedom. Ballio insists that Calidorus could have found a way to get the money and says that he must care more for duty than for love. Pseudolus begs him to give them more time to find the money when Ballio informs them that Phoenicium has already been sold for 2000 drachmae to the Macedonian officer, Polymachaeroplagides. Pseudolus and Calidorus then call Ballio all the dirty names and curses they can think of. Untouched by their words, Ballio says that if Calidorus can bring him the money before the officer pays the final amount owed, 500 drachmae, the deal with the officer will be off and Calidorus can take his love. Ballio then goes to town for his birthday preparations and Pseudolus beseeches Calidorus to find a sharp-witted friend to assist in taking Phoenicium from Ballio.
Uncertain as to how to get the girl, Pseudolus hatches a plan to obtain the 2000 drachmae by stealing it from Simo, the father of Calidorus. Pseudolus sees Simo coming with his neighbor Callipho, and hides and listens to their conversation. The two are discussing Simo's son, Calidorus, and the rumor that he wants to buy his true love's freedom. Simo doesn't think that it is proper for his son to be in love with a prostitute and doesn't want to believe the rumor. Callipho is trying to convince Simo to at least listen to his son to see if what they are hearing is true and to take pity on him because he is a man in love just as Simo was when he was young. Pseudolus decides to appear and greets them.
Simo asks Pseudolus about getting the money out of him by performing a "crafty and underhand trick." Pseudolus admits to wanting to get the money from him. Simo refuses to give Pseudolus the 2000 drachmae. Pseudolus retorts, "You'll give it to me. I'm only telling you, so that you can be on your guard." Pseudolus also promises that he will wage war on Ballio and get the girl from him on that very day. He asks Simo to give him money so that he can give it to Ballio should he succeed in winning the girl from the pimp. At long last Simo agrees to the bet: the treadmill for Pseudolous if he fails to get the girl by day's end and 2,000 drachmae from Simo if he succeeds. Callipho promises Pseudolus that if he gets the girl and if Simo does not give him the money, he will himself because he does not want to see his plan fail.
Pseudolus sees a Macedonian soldier approaching and figures that this is his chance. The two talk about how Harpax, the Macedonian soldier, has been ordered to meet with Ballio himself to give him the money. Pseudolus tricks Harpax into thinking he is Syrus, a slave of Ballio, and tries to get the 500 drachmae from Harpax by telling him that his master Ballio is working on a court case and can't meet with him at this time. Pseudolus says he can receive the money on his behalf. Harpax refuses to give the money up to anyone but Ballio. Harpax says he will leave with the money and come back at a different time. He leaves Pseudolus with a sealed letter from his master, the Macedonian general. Harpax tells Pseudolus he is staying in town in an old tavern and asks Pseudolus to send for him when Ballio is ready to meet. Harpax leaves and Calidorus arrives with his friend Charinus.
Right away Pseudolus and Charinus begin talking. Pseudolus is describing how he has pulled the wool over the Macedonian soldier's eyes, and boasts that the girl Calidorus loves will be in his arms today. The only problem is that Pseudolus requires a few things: a clever young man, a soldier's cloak, sword, and hat, and 500 drachmae. Charinus offers him the 500. Charinus and Calidorus say they know of just the clever slave who can help them. They then depart to go and collect the things that Pseudolus requires.
As they depart a slave boy creeps out of Ballio's house and speaks to the audience. He says that he needs to find money to give Ballio, his boss, a present before the day is over or he will be tortured. Since he is poor and has no money, he does not know what to do. Meanwhile, Ballio returns to his house with a cook. The two are arguing about how much the cook charges people for his services. Ballio is quite angry that he has to pay two drachmae instead of one to be able to have a cook for his birthday celebration. The cook is insulted and asks why he hired him. Ballio replies that he had to, because he was the only cook left. The cook immediately starts to make his own case, explaining in great detail why he is the best cook and that he doesn't even stand up for less than two drachmae. Ballio remains unconvinced and waits to see for himself what the cook can really do when the time for dinner comes.
Charinus and Calidorus have gotten the clever boy Pseudolus is in need of: Simia, another clever slave. Pseudolus and Simia discuss plans for getting Phoenicium from Ballio. Pseudolus is a bit anxious about Simia succeeding in duping Ballio. Simia is confident to the point of arrogance and is annoyed by Pseudolus' anxieties. Pseudolus takes Simia to meet Ballio and the scene switches between their interaction and Pseudolus' commentary as he watches the events unfold. The plan threatens to come unraveled when Ballio asks Simia the name of his master (which Simia does not know). Simia turns the question around by demanding that Ballio inspect the letter's seal and tell him the name of the sender so that he knows that Ballio is who he claims to be. Ballio consents and gives the name, Polymachaeroplagides. Ballio breaks the seal and reads the letter. Simia hands over the money gotten by Pseudolus from Charinus. Ballio and Simia go inside to retrieve Phoenicium. Pseudolus frets as he waits for them to come out. Eventually they do. As they exit the house, Simia consoles Phoenicium, who thinks she is being led to the Macedonian general, Polymachaeroplagides, by telling her that he is in fact taking her to her boyfriend Calidorus. Pseudolus is triumphant.
Ballio is also triumphant, boasting to Simo that they have won the bet because he has finally and successfully sold Phoenicium to the Macedonian general and placed her safely in the hands of his soldier Harpax. As the two discuss the matter the real Harpax arrives. The two think that he is an impersonator hired by Pseudolus.
Ballio and Simo ridicule and poke fun at Harpax in the hopes that he will admit that he is an imposter sent by Pseudolus to steal Phoenicium from Ballio. Ballio begins to mock him and asks how much this Harpax has spent on clothing to impersonate a soldier, claiming that his hat and shoes are rented. Ballio asks him how much Pseudolus has paid him. Harpax, of course, denies even knowing a Pseudolus and tells Ballio he delivered the letter with the seal to Ballio's servant earlier that day. Simo begins to realize that Pseudolus has been there first and has already tricked Harpax. He asks Harpax what the servant he gave the letter to looked like. As Harpax describes the slave, Ballio and Simo realize that Pseudolus has tricked them. Harpax and Simo then demand the money that is owed to them from Ballio. Ballio heads to the Forum to pay Harpax back and tells Simo he will pay him tomorrow. Simo admits that he has lost the bet he made with Pseudolus and goes to get the money from his house.
Pseudolus celebrates his victory, returning to the home of his master drunk. He is so drunk that he constantly belches in Simo's face. Eventually Simo hands him the money, asking if Pseudolus will cut the debt down any. Pseudolus refuses. Pseudolus then tells Simo to follow him. Simo believes that Pseudolus is attempting to embarrass him and tries to refuse; but Pseudolus insists. Pseudolus then reveals that he plans to go drinking with Simo and has no intent of embarrassing him. The play ends when Simo asks if Pseudolus would like to invite the audience. Pseudolus declines because he believes they wouldn't invite him, but does invite them to applaud.
In the near future, robots are commonplace a part of everyday life like any other electrical appliance and are just as prone to malfunctions. When a robot malfunctions, it could pose a threat to people or property. Such robots are known as "runaways". Since they are more dangerous than the average machine, they are handled by a division of the police trained in robotics. The "runaway" squad, however, is treated as an easy and unexciting assignment, and often ridiculed.
Sgt. Jack R. Ramsay (Tom Selleck) is a veteran police officer who joined the runaway squad after an incident in which his fear of heights allowed a criminal to escape, which subsequently resulted in a family's death at the hands of that escaped criminal. After years on the job, Ramsay has found himself one of the division's few real experts. His new partner Karen Thompson (Cynthia Rhodes) is enthusiastic about the job, but he assures her there is little excitement involved, saying that mostly it involves flipping a switch. This changes when they find themselves handling a new threat the first robotic homicide. Investigating a household robot that murdered a family with a kitchen knife and handgun, Jack discovers strange integrated circuits, which not only override a robot's safety features but also direct it to attack humans. These circuits are not hacked chips, but created from a series of master templates, enabling them to be mass-produced.
Despite being unable to learn anything from uncooperative informants who end up dead, Ramsay refuses to give up and soon discovers the perpetrator is sociopathic genius Dr. Charles Luther (Gene Simmons). Luther, while working for a defense contractor, developed a program that allows a robot to thermographically identify a human from amidst cover and to even differentiate between humans. Seeing the profit potential, he killed his fellow researchers and tried to sell the technology on the black market. A failed attempt to arrest Luther complicated by Ramsay having to remove an explosive shell from Thompson's arm results in the recovery of another of Luther's weapons, a smart bullet: a miniature heat seeking missile capable of locking onto a human target's unique heat signature, pursuing them wherever they run, even around corners.
While investigating another of Luther's partners, Ramsay and Thompson find Jackie Rogers (Kirstie Alley), who was once Luther's lover. She double-crossed him and stole the circuit templates, intending to sell them herself. She is scared because she believes Luther will stop at nothing to kill her. When they create a ruse to transfer Jackie to safety, Luther attacks the police convoy with robotic smart bombs. They discover that the bombs are zeroing in on a bug in Jackie's purse; they throw the bag out the window before a bomb reaches the car.
Ramsay decides to make a public appearance with Jackie at a restaurant to draw Luther out, but instead Luther captures Thompson and wants Ramsay to exchange her for Jackie and the templates. Before making the exchange, Jackie gives some of the templates to Ramsay, for insurance that Luther won't kill her. But Luther kills her anyway, after discovering the templates missing. He then fires his smart bullets into the crowded restaurant and flees.
To retrieve the missing templates, Luther plans to attack Ramsay. He uses the police computers to discover everything about Ramsay's personal life, including his son. Once Ramsay discovers his information has been hacked, he races home to find his household robot damaged and his son Bobby (Joey Cramer) missing. Luther calls to confirm he kidnapped Bobby and wants to exchange him for the missing templates.
Ramsay agrees to meet Luther at an unfinished skyscraper. Luther gets the templates while in exchange Ramsay sends his son down in an elevator whereupon Luther informs him that a legion of "assassin" robots small, spider-like robots which kill by injecting their victims with acid are waiting to kill the first person exiting the elevator. Thompson arrives and helps Bobby stay out of reach of the robots. Furious, Luther begins firing smart bullets, but Ramsay turns on the robotic construction equipment, creating multiple heat sources which cause the bullets to miss. Ramsay uses this distraction to escape and jumps on the elevator to go down. However, the elevator malfunctions, and speeds up to the very top and stops. Ramsay is forced to overcome his fear of heights by reaching a reset button underneath the elevator to restart it, while encountering three robot spiders. Ramsay defeats the three spiders and restarts the elevator downward. The elevator then stops on the floor Luther is on, with Luther approaching an already exhausted Ramsay in the elevator and insults Ramsay about his experience up top, causing Ramsay to start the elevator down again. During the descent, Ramsay and Luther fight, but Ramsay gains the upper hand by stopping the elevator. The abrupt stop catapults Luther over the edge and onto the ground, in the midst of his robot spiders. Programmed to kill whoever came down from above, the robots rush Luther, injecting him several times.
Ramsay helps his son down and then cautiously approaches the motionless villain. Screaming, Luther reaches up to grab Ramsay, but falls back, dead, while the spiders self-destruct around him.
The novel is an eclectic historical journey across multiple periods of history, all connected by a single painting: Rembrandt van Rijn's ''Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer''. The work jumps from the golden age of Athens, to 17th Century Holland, to the rise of the American Empire; hopscotching from Aristotle, to Rembrandt, to Socrates, and back to Heller and even Jimmy Carter. It examines fundamental dichotomies in human existence under the guise of satire.
The hero of the novel is the mysterious and distinguished Rodolphe, who is really the Grand Duke of Gerolstein (a fictional grand duchy of Germany) but is disguised as a Parisian worker. Rodolphe can speak in argot, is extremely strong and a good fighter. Yet he also shows great compassion for the lower classes, good judgment, and a brilliant mind. He can navigate all layers of society in order to understand their problems, and to understand how the different social classes are linked. Rodolphe is accompanied by his friends Sir Walter Murph, an Englishman, and David, a gifted black doctor, formerly a slave.
The first figures they meet are Le Chourineur and La Goualeuse. Rodolphe saves La Goualeuse from Le Chourineur's brutality, and saves Le Chourineur from himself, knowing that the man still has some good in him. La Goualeuse is a prostitute, and Le Chourineur is a former butcher who has served 15 years in prison for murder. Both characters are grateful for Rodolphe's assistance, as are many other characters in the novel.
Though Rodolphe is described as a flawless man, Sue otherwise depicts the Parisian nobility as deaf to the misfortunes of the common people and focused on meaningless intrigues. For this reason, some, such as Alexandre Dumas, have considered the novel's ending a failure. Rodolphe goes back to Gerolstein to take on the role to which he was destined by birth, rather than staying in Paris to help the lower classes.
In a small Cornish seaside town, wounded war veteran Nat Hocken works part-time for a farmer, Mr Trigg. One day in early December he notices a large number of birds behaving strangely along the coast, behaviour he attributes to a recent cold snap. That night, Nat hears a tapping on his bedroom window and a bird pecks his hand, causing it to bleed. As the night progresses more birds congregate, including some that flock into his children's bedroom, but they leave at dawn.
The next day, Nat tells his fellow workers about the night's events, but is not believed. As he walks to the beach to dispose of some dead birds, he notices that what appear to be whitecaps on the sea is actually a large mass of seagulls apparently waiting for the tide to rise. On the radio, the BBC reports that birds have been massing all over Britain and that people have been attacked. Nat boards up the windows and chimneys of his cottage as a precaution.
Rushing on foot to pick up his daughter from the school bus stop, Nat spots Mr Trigg, and persuades him to give her a lift home in his car. Mr Trigg professes to be unfazed by the announcements and says that he plans to shoot the birds for fun. Nat declines an offer to join him, and walks home. Just as he arrives, the gulls descend and attack. Nat manages to reach his door with only minor injuries.
Massive flocks of birds gather, attacking anyone out in the open. A national emergency is declared, and people are told not to leave their homes. The radio news announcer states that that due to the "unprecedented nature of the emergency", the BBC will going silent for the night and will resume broadcasting the next morning. Nat brings the family into the kitchen for safety. During dinner they hear what sounds like aeroplanes overhead, followed by the sound of planes crashing. The attacks from the birds eventually die down, and Nat guesses that the birds will only attack at high tide.
The next morning, radio broadcasts do not resume. As the tide recedes, Nat and his family drive to Mr Trigg's farm to seek supplies. They pass piles of dead birds, with those still alive peering at them from afar. At the farm, they find that Mr Trigg, his wife, and their workman have been killed, and the postman's body lies by the road. The family gather supplies and return home, but soon the birds attack once again. Nat smokes his last cigarette, then throws the empty pack into the fire and watches it burn.
David, a showbiz artist, performing in nightclubs in Los Angeles, learns that his father who is pastor of an evangelical church in Atlanta is sick, and decides to go home. He learns that Frank has become the second of his father, and that he is married to Charlene. Fred announces to his son that he has a prostate cancer. David gradually abandons his old life and begins to occupy an important position in the church, which will attract Frank's jealousy.
In Hong Kong, three Triad crime syndicates fight for territory: Dragon Claw, the Imperial 9s (I9s) based in Tai O, and Golden Kane. After a police officer goes missing, the Hong Kong Police Force receive a ransom call. Disobeying orders from police chief Lee, Inspector Tequila Yuen heads to a Kowloon market alone to save the officer, but finds evidence that he is dead. Tequila's search leads him to a teahouse, where he unintentionally interrupts a business deal between Golden Kane and I9 members. Following a tip that the I9s killed the officer, and that the gang is working under Dragon Claw, Tequila heads to Tai O to investigate further.
In Tai O, Tequila tracks down Dragon Claw leader Jimmy Wong. Wong and Tequila have a complicated history: the inspector dated Wong's daughter Billie, and the couple had a child named Teko. At Wong's side are his henchmen: Dapang, and Jerry Ying, an undercover officer and Tequila's former partner. Wong reveals that the policeman's death is part of a larger plot by Golden Kane to gain more control of Hong Kong. The triad gang pinned the officer's death on the I9s to divert police attention. Additionally, they partnered with the Zakarovs, a Russian mafia from Chicago, to kidnap and hold Billie and Teko ransom in exchange for part of Wong's territory. When Golden Kane attacks Dragon Claw's Tai O base, Tequila promises Wong that he will find his family, and helps the crime boss escape.
Tequila eavesdrops on Golden Kane leader Yung Gi's conversation with Damon and Vladimir Zakarov. Impressed by the Zakarovs' philanthropy and social standing, Yung heads to Chicago to see how the Russians run their organization, as well as to facilitate ransom negotiations. Tequila and Jerry travel to the Zakarovs' penthouse in Chicago, splitting up to cover different floors, but are spotted by Vladimir. Tequila works his way to the top floor, and after a fight with Vladimir, causes the Russian to blow himself up with his own rocket launcher. He then tends to a wounded Jerry.
Tequila finds Damon and Yung at the Chicago History Museum, where they are negotiating the exchange of Billie and Teko. The gangsters agree to let Yung take Teko back to Hong Kong, and let Damon bring Billie. Yung leaves with Teko, while Tequila kills Damon. After reuniting with his lover, Tequila gets ambushed by Jerry, who kills Billie. After confirming that Wong paid Jerry to murder Billie, Tequila kills his former partner and takes his cell phone. A video on the cell phone reveals Wong's motives: to prevent the Zakarovs from executing Teko, Billie will leak the names of several Dragon Claw associates in court and get Wong convicted if the crime boss does not agree to the Zakarov's demands. Tequila texts Wong with Jerry's cell phone, claiming that Jerry killed the inspector.
Back in Hong Kong, Tequila confronts Yung in his office to strike a deal with the gangster. Yung refuses to let Teko go, so Tequila shows him text messages between Wong and Jerry that prove Dragon Claw will betray the gangster during the exchange. The two agree to a new plan: if Tequila kills Wong during the deal, then Yung will free Teko. However, after a fight with Dragon Claw members, Tequila shows up late to the new meeting location. A startled Wong escapes with Teko while Yung, Tequila, and Dapang are locked in a standoff. As Tequila breaks the standoff by chasing him, Dapang guns Yung down and escapes.
Tequila hijacks a nearby car and chases Wong to his estate. After he shoots down one of Wong's helicopters, it crashes through the locked front door of Wong's main stronghold. Tequila enters the estate to find that Wong and Dapang have taken Teko hostage. After a tense standoff, Wong agrees to let Teko go, in exchange for her and Tequila leaving Hong Kong forever. As she is being freed however, Teko warns her father that it's a trap, and gets shot in the arm by Wong as she runs to safety. With newfound fury, Tequila goes after Wong and Dapang, killing the latter. Armed with a high-powered sniper rifle, Wong attempts to kill Tequila with a headshot. Before he can pull the trigger, Teko shoves him over the balcony and he falls to his death.
As father and daughter reunite, Chief Lee arrives on the scene and returns Tequila's badge. Tequila and Teko leave the scene, together.
The ''Enterprise'' investigates a T Tauri class star system with a single Class M planet that was picked up on a long-range sensor scan near the Ngame Nebula. As they approach the planet, the ship encounters a wormhole and everyone except Lt. Commander Data briefly loses consciousness. When the crew regains their senses, some of the ship's sensors suggest it has been nearly a day since the wormhole encounter, but Data states they were only out for moments and the ship's instruments were affected by the wormhole. Following Data's suggestion, Captain Picard decides to send a probe into the system to avoid further harm to the ship. The probe reports only the presence of a frozen gas giant instead of the Class M planet from before; again, Data attributes this to the effects of the wormhole.
As the ship moves away from the system, the crew begin to find evidence that does not support Data's claims that they were unconscious for only 30 seconds. For example, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Crusher has found moss samples that show a full day of growth, and has found that Worf, complaining of a sore wrist, actually had his wrist broken and reset by a medical professional. Picard begins to suspect Data's claims, and believes the rest of the crew is suffering from missing time syndrome. Picard confronts Data on the issue, but Data cannot provide a rational answer. Further studies of the crew by Dr. Crusher show that Data's explanations are impossible; they have lost a day from the wormhole encounter, and there is evidence that Data tampered with the probe's readings to mask the Class M planet. Picard recognizes that Data's actions may be for the protection of the ''Enterprise'', but orders the ship to return to the system.
When they near the Class M planet, Ship's Counselor Troi is taken over by a mysterious energy pulse from the system, and starts to speak to the crew with a different voice. The entity that has taken over Troi informs Data that the plan has failed, and that their people will prepare to destroy the ''Enterprise''. Picard learns from Data and the entity that they are in the space of the Paxans, a highly advanced but very xenophobic race who have kept themselves hidden by firing a stun beam at any ship that nears their system and then moving it away; crews of such ships normally associate it with the effects of a wormhole and leave without incident. However, in the case of the ''Enterprise'', the stun beam did not affect Data; Data had revived the crew as the Paxans were attempting to move the ship, forcing a physical encounter that led to Worf's wrist being broken. Picard was able to offer the Paxans a deal as to attempt to conceal their previous meeting, using memory-wiping technology from the Paxans to forget their encounters with them, and ordered Data to behave as he did to protect the ship.
Picard is able to convince the Paxan in control of Troi that the previous plan failed because they left too many clues on the ''Enterprise'' that piqued human curiosity to solve the mystery and that if the ''Enterprise'' vanishes, it will cause others to come and investigate. The crew of the ''Enterprise'', with the help of the Paxans, work together to completely eradicate any possible clues; once completed, the crew is stunned again, and the ship moves away from Paxan space. When the crew revives this time, they accept Data's explanations without question and continue on their mission.
Clive Bissel (nicknamed "Bex", or "Bexy") is a married man with a baby son. He is the leader of a hooligan firm known as the ICC (Inter City Crew). His wife no longer approves of his activities as a football hooligan, which contrast to his respectable job as an estate agent. Even when his baby son injures himself with a craft knife Bexy has carelessly left lying around, he is unwilling to give up violence as he admits it gives him a "buzz". Conversely, Bexy's father shows acceptance of his son's lifestyle, happily taking a group photograph of the 'tooled up' gang and boasting of similar activities in his own era. However, he feels that Bex and his friends have gone soft because they now use weapons and worry too much about strategy, instead of just getting on with fighting rival mobs.
The film begins with a rival gang called "The Buccaneers" vandalising Bexy's Ford Sierra XR4x4 and spraying graffiti in a football dressing room while Bexy and his mates are playing football. Bexy's nemesis and leader of the Buccaneers, Yeti, then drives a white Volkswagen Golf GTi cabriolet across the football pitch.
With an imminent international football tournament in Holland, Bexy wants to form a 'National Firm' - comprising several rival gangs - big enough to take on the well organised and large international hooligan groups. Bexy meets leaders from other firms in the Tower Hotel in London, including the Buccaneers. The other gangs like the idea but do not like the idea of Bexy being top boy. The rival firms then agree to fight each other in order to determine who will lead the new, amalgamated firm into Europe.
Bex and his fellow hooligans only possess any kind of social status amongst their own groups, and Bex relishes being looked up to and admired by the younger men in his own firm. Bexy used his natural leadership qualities to cajole and encourage his peers, and uses intimidation to cement his position as leader of the ICC. These young men think of themselves as important, respected figures in their local community, but Bexy's wife tells him that the truth is somewhat different. Everyone thinks of him as a joke, she says, but because they fear his violent nature, few are willing to point out to him that he is not the working class hero he thinks he is.
The ICC survive violent clashes with the other gangs but must still defeat the Buccaneers. Bexy is relishing the chance to defeat Yeti. Bexy beats up Yeti during the ICC's clash with the Buccaneers. In his last moments, Bexy expresses astonishment and disbelief that Yeti has a gun, and says 'Oh, come on!' before Yeti pulls the trigger.
The closing scene depicts the surviving ICC members in a pub, honouring Bexy as a hero. They claim when they are fighting European firms at the forthcoming tournament, they will be doing so in memory of their dead leader. The hooligans from three different firms, who were fighting each other not long ago, agree that Bex was a visionary who brought them together, giving him legendary status, and that his death will not make them change their behaviour, as they vow to continue.
In the film's closing moments, the hooligan actors begin to attack the camera crew, throwing their drinks and chanting aggressively, thereby breaking the fourth wall and demonstrating that the events of the film are not entirely fictional.
Former LAPD detective Andre Shame is a private investigator who owns A Low Down Dirty Shame Investigations. He runs it with Peaches, whom he arrested six years earlier and for whom he has developed romantic feelings for. Despite the high-risk jobs, Shame is unable to keep the firm afloat, and may be forced to close.
Five years ago, Shame and a team of detectives went into Mexico to apprehend drug lord Ernesto Mendoza. Though Shame seemingly shot and killed Mendoza in a shoot-out, the other detectives were killed, with Shame and Sonny Rothmiller being the only survivors. This caused Shame to leave the force in disgrace.
In the present day, Rothmiller, who is now working for the DEA, tells him that Mendoza is still alive. He hires Shame to find the only witness who would testify against him...his ex-girlfriend Angela, who was caught in the middle of a love triangle with the two men. Angela escaped from the Witness Protection Program in New York and is in LA. Shame is hesitant at first, but seeing this as a chance to arrest the man who took everything from him, decides to take the case.
Shame gets information on one of Mendoza's lieutenants, Luis, Shame's former childhood acquaintance, then goes to a restaurant and has Luis warn Mendoza that Shame is coming for him. Upon arriving home, Shame is attacked by Mendoza's henchmen and warned by a very much alive Mendoza to back away.
With the help of Peaches and her roommate Wayman, Shame tracks Angela to a posh hotel, and calls Sonny. Shame explains that he originally went to Mexico for her. She tells Shame that she was going to testify against Mendoza, but Mendoza found her location, forcing her to flee. Shame discovers that Rothmiller is working for Mendoza, and the two barely escape Mendoza's thugs. Shame drops Angela at Peaches’.
Shame cleans himself up, then abducts Luis and takes him to an abandoned building. When Luis refuses to give Shame Mendoza's whereabouts, Shame has him stumble into a meeting of white supremacists. With the supremacists chasing him, he gives Shame his boss's location in exchange for a ride. But Shame leaves him at their mercy.
At the club, Shame and Mendoza exchange words, then get into a Mexican standoff with Mendoza using his date as a hostage. When Wayman attempts to get Shame's attention, Mendoza uses the distraction to escape. Shame goes to Peaches to find Angela gone (she and Peaches had gotten into an argument earlier), and Capt. Nunez waiting for him. He has Nunez place Peaches in protective custody, and heads off to find Angela.
Shame meets Angela at a storage locker and discovers the real reason Mendoza wants her dead: she stole $20 million of his money. At a motel, Shame receives a call from Mendoza informing him he has kidnapped Peaches; and will exchange her for Angela and his money. The two agree to meet at a Mendoza owned-shopping mall. Angela tries to convince Shame to leave with her, yet admitting that he cares for Peaches, Shame refuses and the two of them head to the mall.
Before the exchange, Sonny admits he killed the other detectives because they wouldn't take Mendoza's bribe without Shame. He left Shame alive to take the blame. Peaches and Angela are placed on the escalator, and Mendoza discovers that Angela is a mannequin. With a gun hidden on the escalator Peaches begins shooting. Shame kills the mercenaries hired by Sonny, Luis is attacked by the dogs that were supposed trying to kill Shame, and Sonny is killed by Angela.
Mendoza captures Peaches, only to be confronted by Shame. After winning a fistfight, Shame arrests Mendoza, who is then killed by Angela. She attempts to kill Shame, telling him she knows he won’t allow her to keep the money she stole. Peaches comes and fights off Angela. Nunez threatens to arrest Shame, but Shame reminds Nunez that he helped take down a drug lord, identified Sonny as the DEA mole, found a federal witness on the run (Angela, who is lead away in handcuffs for her crimes), and recovered $15 million in stolen drug money. Shame keeps $5 million for expenses, with Peaches getting perks of a romantic relationship with Shame.
While reading the Galactic Bible, the space hermit Eijin learns of a shocking prophecy: When the dark god Satan Goth awakens, the universe will be ravaged by giant monsters filled with rage. After Satan Goth appears and the prophecy is set in motion, Eijin orders Juspion, who Eijin has been tutoring, to stop him and combat the corrupted MegaBeasts. Juspion travels with his friends Anri the android and Miya the alien across the galaxy in his battleship Daileon to confront Satan Goth and his army. Eventually, Juspion land on Earth, which, it turns out, is a prolific source of megabeasts (it's explained that the dinosaurs were part of that group), and many of them are still asleep in various locations.
Amongst Juspion's arsenal, there is his Metal Tech Suit armor, made of a very rare mineral called Ejinium and equipped with a visor called Sensor Eye that can scan the environment with x-ray and night vision, and his Plasma Blazer Sword, which can be contracted for storage and can be infused with the plasma during combat, and his Beam Scanner Gun. His warship Daileon also houses the Super Planetary Combat Tank Garbin, which doubles as the Garbin Jet, and a motorcycle vehicle called Super Planetary Machine Iron Wolf. Daileon itself can transform into a giant robot called Super Planetary Battle Giant Daileon. Daileon is frequently Juspion's final and most devastating tool to be used against MegaBeasts.
Madison (Mary-Kate Olsen) and Alex (Ashley Olsen) Stewart are twin sisters from Illinois who are whisked away to Atlantis Resort in The Bahamas by their parents for winter break. Initially, the sisters are disappointed that they didn't get to go to Hawaii with their friends, but overcome it by enjoying their newly earned freedom in the form of their own suite, as well as the pristine beaches of the Caribbean.
Alex falls for "hottie" Jordan (Ben Easter), a worker at the resort. She's not the only one with her eye on Jordan – the spoiled heiress, Brianna Wallace (Megan Fox) is also in love with him, and plays dirty to get her way. Madison, meanwhile, is being wooed by cute, but brainless, Scott (Billy Aaron Brown), who in turn is being coached behind the scenes by Griffen (Austin Nichols), a childhood friend of Madison's with a not-so-subtle crush, to talk to Madison and eventually get her under his thumb.
The sisters' holiday of fun in the sun is interrupted when they cross paths with a man smuggling stolen artifacts. Though their parents are keeping a close eye on them, the sisters and Griffen must find a way to clear Jordan's name when their friend is wrongfully arrested for the crime. But only together, they overcome everything and understand the true meaning of sisterhood, along with having a great vacation.
Fifteen years ago, a powerful Overlord by the name of Zenon appeared in Veldime and cursed its human population. Since then, all its inhabitants have become demons and are to remain that way if the curse was not broken. However, a young man named Adell was the only human unaffected by the curse. Wanting to save his family and return them back to their true form, Adell decides to seek out Overlord Zenon and defeat him. Adell's mother tries to summon Zenon and fails, but instead summons Rozalin, Zenon's daughter. They later go on a quest to find Zenon and return Rozalin to him, and then defeat him so that the curse would be lifted, making his family and the rest of the world human again.
The story takes place in London, 1888. On the third night of the Jack the Ripper killings, Mr Slade, a research pathologist, arrives quite late at the home of Mr and Mrs Harley, looking to rent a room. Slade rents out a room and an attic, which he says he needs for his research work. Mrs Harley notices that Slade acts in a strange manner, for example turning several pictures of actresses to the wall, saying that he can feel their eyes on him. He also mentions that he is usually out late at night working, but he never explains what his research involves.
Mrs Harley's niece, Lily Bonner, arrives to stay at the house shortly afterwards; she is a beautiful stage actress and singer, recently returned from a successful stage production in Paris. Slade leaves the house for the evening, wearing an Ulster coat and carrying a small black bag, and meets Lily before her opening night in London. At the theatre an old colleague of Lily's, Annie Rowley (who has fallen on hard times), goes to see her backstage, but she is later murdered by the Ripper, and Inspector Warwick, who is investigating the murders, informs Lily and tells her that the suspect was seen wearing an Ulster coat and a small black bag. The next morning Warwick goes to see Lily again to ask a few questions, and Slade appears and gives some unorthodox opinions regarding the Ripper and says that he feels the police will never catch him. Mrs Harley's suspicions are further aroused when she smells burning coming from Slade's attic room, and she is convinced that he is the killer when she discovers that Slade had been burning his black bag; however Mr Harley remains unconvinced.
Lily is attracted to Slade, and he tells her that his mother was also an actress but also that, although she was beautiful, she was also evil and that he both loved and hated her. She behaved in an adulterous manner and his father became an alcoholic after she left him, and she ended her life as a 'woman of the streets' (i.e., a prostitute) and died on the streets in Whitechapel. Slade shows Lily a picture of his mother. Inspector Warwick then arrives to take Lily to the Black Museum, and Slade decides to join them, much to Warwick's displeasure. At the Museum, Slade makes numerous derisive comments about the gruesome nature of the exhibits, although he seems to take a particular interest in the five pictures on the wall of the five Ripper victims, before again telling Warwick that the police will never catch the Ripper.
That same evening, yet another woman is murdered and later Slade is seen washing his hands in the river. During the night, Lily is woken and goes downstairs to find Slade burning some items of clothing, including his Ulster coat, which appears to have blood stains on it, although Slade claims that he spilled some solution on the coat and it might be contaminated.
Meanwhile Warwick checks out Slade's credentials at the University hospital, and is told that Slade is involved in research and works very late hours. Lily asks Slade to meet her backstage at the theatre that evening, but before that Warwick decides to see if Slade's right thumbprint matches one left by the Ripper at the scene of one of his crimes, and enlists Mr Harley's help to search Slade's room. Warwick discovers the picture of Slade's mother in a drawer, but Lily catches them and complains to Warwick that he is harassing an innocent man. Warwick later tries to match the fingerprint, but his assistant notices the picture of Slade's mother and realises that it is Anne Lawrence, the Ripper's first victim, whose picture is on the wall of the Museum.
By this time Slade has gone to the theatre to see the show, but he observes all the lustful looks on the faces of many of the men in the audience as they watch Lily dancing, and becomes agitated, and when he goes to see her backstage he tells her that he hates other men looking at her in such a manner and begs her to go away with him somewhere, but when she resists he pulls a knife out of his pocket and prepares to cut her throat, but he cannot carry out the act, dropping the knife and escaping out of a window. The police, including Warwick, pursue Slade through Whitechapel, but Slade evades them and appears to drown himself in the river; however, despite Warwick and other officers searching for him in the river his body is not found and the possibility is left open that he may have escaped alive.
Stan, Kyle and Kenny decide to check on Cartman when he does not show up for school. They discover that he is having a tea party with his stuffed animals in his backyard. Their school counselor Mr. Mackey advises them to videotape Cartman, so he can study him psychologically.
Meanwhile, Cartman does not have a father to celebrate father-and-son day and asks his mother who he is. His mother explains that she met his father, a Native American named Chief Running Water, at the 12th annual "Drunken Barn Dance". However, Chief Running Water informs him that his mother is a slut and that he saw her with Chef later that night at the dance. Chef tells Cartman that his mother preferred Mr. Garrison over him. At a bar, Mr. Garrison admits to Cartman that he had sex with Mrs. Cartman, but then argues "But who here didn't!?", to which Mayor McDaniels, Principal Victoria, Jesus and Father Maxi share guilty glances with each other. Dr. Mephisto is willing to perform DNA testing to resolve the issue, but requires $3,000 for the test. Cartman gets depressed, as he does not have the money.
In the meantime, Kyle, Stan and Kenny watch ''America's Stupidest Home Videos''; they hear there's a $10,000 grand prize for the stupidest home video. They decide to enter the competition with the video they made of Cartman. Cartman approaches Kyle and Stan (Kenny was dragged to a train track by Stan's go-cart and killed by an oncoming train) with the depressing news about his lack of funds to find out his real father. Stan and Kyle agree that if they win the video contest they will give Cartman the $3,000 needed for the DNA testing. Cartman is overjoyed, but quickly becomes extremely furious after seeing the aired video. Though they do not win the competition, as Stan's grandfather wins with a videotape he made of Kenny's death, they receive a $3,000 runner-up prize instead, which is still enough for the DNA test. Dr. Mephesto calls together Cartman, his mother and all potential fathers (including the 1989 Denver Broncos), when he gets the test results which is where Kenny comes back to life. When he is about to reveal the identity of Cartman's father, a narrator states that the answer will be revealed in the new ''South Park'' episode four weeks later, much to Cartman's annoyance and anger.
A middle-aged man places a two-dollar bet on a horse at the track and wins. The widower with two teenaged daughters becomes hooked on gambling and within a week he begins cashing in his life savings to pay off his bookie. To make matters worse, he's being grifted for thousands of dollars by a beautiful con woman and her husband. To try to get even, the man begins betting on long shots.
Pinky Rose, a timid and awkward young woman, starts working at a health spa for the elderly in a small California desert town. She becomes enamored of Millie Lammoreaux, a relentlessly outgoing and self-absorbed co-worker who talks incessantly. Despite their stark personality differences, Pinky and Millie become roommates at the Purple Sage Apartments, owned by a drinking, womanizing, has-been Hollywood stunt double, Edgar Hart, and his wife Willie, a mysterious pregnant woman who rarely speaks and paints striking and unsettling murals.
Millie takes Pinky along on her visits to Dodge City, a local tavern and shooting range also owned by Willie and Edgar, where Millie continues expounding her petty opinions and interests to her new roommate. Millie's babble alienates most of her co-workers, neighbors, acquaintances, and would-be suitors; Pinky is the only person in Millie's orbit who enjoys her advice about dating, fashion, cuisine and interior decorating gleaned from women's magazines.
Tensions begin to rise between Pinky and Millie over their living situation. After a quarrel with Pinky one night, Millie leaves the apartment and returns with a drunken Edgar. Pinky begs Millie to consider Edgar's pregnant wife and not have sex with him. Millie, angry at what she perceives as Pinky's meddling and sabotaging her social life, yells at her and suggests she move out of the apartment. A distraught Pinky jumps off the apartment balcony into the swimming pool.
Pinky survives the suicide attempt but falls into a coma. Millie, feeling responsible, visits her in the hospital daily. When Pinky still fails to wake up, Millie contacts Pinky's parents in Texas, hoping their presence at the hospital will help her regain consciousness. When Pinky wakes up, she does not recognize her parents and furiously demands that they leave. Once sent home to live with Millie again, Pinky copies Millie's mannerisms and behavior—drinking and smoking, sleeping with Edgar, shooting guns at Dodge City—and demands to be called "Mildred", both women's birth name.
Millie becomes increasingly frustrated by Pinky's imitative shift in personality and begins to exhibit Pinky's timid and submissive personality herself. One night after Pinky has a bad dream, she shares a bed with Millie platonically. Edgar, soused again, enters their apartment and makes sexual overtures before casually telling them that Willie is about to give birth. Pinky and Millie drive to Edgar and Willie's house, where Willie is alone and in agonizing labor. Her baby is stillborn, as Pinky fails to summon medical help during the delivery as Millie told her to.
Later, Pinky and Millie are working at Dodge City, having again changed roles: Pinky has reverted to her child-like timidity and refers to Millie as her mother, while Millie has assumed Willie's role in running the tavern—even imitating Willie's make-up and attire. A delivery vendor at the tavern refers to Edgar's death from a "gun accident" when talking to Millie, who offers a pat, hollow reply that suggests the three women are complicit in Edgar's murder.
One morning the people of Rin wake up to find that the stream that flows down from the mountain has slowed to a trickle. By nightfall, it dries up completely; the villagers are alarmed and distressed by this unprecedented crisis. The stream is essential for the survival of the ''bukshah'', the herd of animals that plow the land and are rich sources of wool and milk, and hence also for the survival of the people of Rin. Because of the severity of the situation, six of the strongest, bravest villagers decide to climb the mountain - considered forbidden territory, with tales telling of a dragon living at its peak - in order to see what is wrong at the source of the stream. Strong Jonn of the Orchard, Brandon the furniture-maker, Marlie the weaver, Allun the baker, and Val and Ellis, the twin millers, volunteer to make the perilous journey. When it turns out that Rowan, the village weakling, has been given a map of the mountain that only reveals the path when he is holding it, the group reluctantly agree that Rowan must join them.
During the journey, the group must unravel riddles and persevere despite frightening situations to progress. One by one, each of the villagers breaks down and returns to the village when forced to confront their own greatest fears. Rowan, the most fearful of them all, proves to be the bravest after facing and overcoming each threat despite his fear. Having reached the dragon's lair at the top of the mountain, Rowan is able to get the dragon to breathe fire and melt the ice in and around its lair. The melted ice rushes down a channel inside the mountain and becomes the stream that runs down to the village of Rin, carrying the remaining villagers back home with it.
The Keeper of the Crystal – leader of the Maris people – is dying and a messenger brings this news to Rin Rowan of Rin learns that his mother, Jiller, is to choose the new leader from one of the three warring Maris clans. Doss of Pandellis, Asha of Umbray and Seaborn of Fisk are their names. When she falls victim to a strong poison, however, Rowan finds himself in the Chooser's position as well as trying to create the antidote to wake his mother from Death Sleep. Rowan then receives a riddle of how to make an antidote by bonding with the crystal and finding the recipe against the Keeper's will.
They then exit the cavern of the keeper to go to the island where Orin the first keeper went to make the antidote. They think that the water will be the answer to the second line, however Doss says that it is too obvious and that it would not be the sea water. Rowan then sights a slight glint in the trees and runs toward it. They discover that it is a pool of clear water. Seaborn is then asked to retrieve the water but once his hand touches the water, clear tubular leeches then get attached to his hand. He screams in pain and gives Rowan the water. Then a bird swoops down towards them, but is actually diving toward to the pool to grab some leeches. The pool then turns silver as the leeches bury themselves under the silver sand. In the centre of the pool is a moon flower and they decide that they will have to grab the flower with their hands since the "tears" that they need is the sap. Rowan then remembers that in Rin they use scarecrows to scare away crows and they construct a bird like kite using Seaborn's cape and sticks. They fly the kite near the pool and Rowan puts his and in the pool and grabs for the moonflower because all the other refuse to do it.
The 5th line means a quill from the bird that has not been plucked and exposed to air for a long time. They use Asha's cape which is silver as a mirror to attract the bird.
The venom of your greatest fear is the venom from the Great Serpent. They got the venom from the serpent while it was laying its eggs into the pool where Rowan got the moonflower from.
Links to ''Deltora Quest'': Maris is the name given by the people of Deltora to an island that lies in the Silver Sea. The island lies to the west of Deltora, and is home to the village of Rin. To the east of Maris lies the dangerous Land of the Zebak. Deltorans call the island "Maris" because for centuries they have traded with the fish-like Maris people who live on the island's east coast in the village of Maris.
Rowan's younger sister, Annad, is snatched from Rin by a flying monster. Rowan must travel to the land of the Zebak – Rin's greatest enemies – in order to rescue her. As she has several times before, the witch Sheba gives a prophecy to guide them on their quest:
:''Five strange fingers form fate's hand,'' :''Each plays a part at fate's command,'' :''The fiery blaze the answer keeps,'' :''And till its time each secret sleeps,'' :''When pain is truth and truth is pain,'' :''The painted shadows live again,'' :''Five leave but five do not return,'' :''Vain hope in pride and terror burn''
The five fingers become Rowan, his Zebak born traveller friend Zeel, Allun the baker, A Maris friend, Perlain, and Sheba through correspondence.
During the journey to Zebak City, Rowan and his companions have their own strengths that allow the four to safely reach the city. Rowan is given a gift by Sheba, that she tell him that he can only open then he's on Zebak land. Sheba turns the fire into green flames, burns Rowan's hand, and summons pain in his arm, only to have something to laugh at. Later, this gift should become handy, as it contained a special metal medallion owned by the people of Rin's ancestors, a bunch of dry branches, that by burning them, would summon the green flames again, show Sheba's face, and tell a new prophecy. And a little bit of grass from Rin, gathered by Sheba, for a grach.
There they discover a thrilling truth, that once long ago their people had been varied, in nature and strength, strong and weak, shy and outgoing. This had been when they were in captivity by the Zebak, but when three hundred years ago, the Zebak captors separated the prisoners, taking the strong people are their warrior slaves, brainwashing them into forgetting family left behind.
The story of what happened to the warriors was known, turning on their Zebak masters the helped the Travelers and the Maris repel them, and eventually settled into what is now Rin, but what happened to those left behind was not. The people left, gentle and timid, with the loss of their people began to decline, so when Rowan and his companions hear this tale there are only three survivors, a grandfather and his grandchildren, Shaaran, gentle like Rowan, and Norris- a throwback to his warrior lineage.
Five leave Rin, but five do not return, because along with bringing Annad home, Rowan and the others also bring the grandchildren to rejoin their people after many centuries apart.
When a young pregnant woman named Rosie Jones (Emilia Fox) boards a train, her enormous trunk starts leaking blood.
Questioned by the police about the dead bodies inside, Rosie calmly reveals they are her unfaithful husband and his mistress. Convicted of manslaughter, she is imprisoned in a unit for the criminally insane due to diminished responsibility.
Forty three years later, Walter Goodfellow (Rowan Atkinson), the village vicar of Little Wallop, is very busy writing the perfect sermon for a convention. He's completely oblivious to his family's problems: his wife Gloria's (Kristin Scott Thomas), unfulfilled emotional/sexual needs, starts an affair with her golf instructor Lance (Patrick Swayze), his teenage daughter Holly's (Tamsin Egerton) growing sex drive and physical maturity who constantly changes boyfriends; and his son Petey (Toby Parkes), a victim of bullying at school.
New housekeeper, Grace Hawkins (Maggie Smith), becomes involved in their lives, learning about their problems: neighbour Mr. Brown's Jack Russell terrier, barks non-stop, preventing Gloria from sleeping; Petey has bullies; and Gloria has an affair with Lance.
Grace sets out to solve the problems in her own way by killing Clarence as well as Mr. Brown, sabotaging the brakes on the bullies' bicycles which injures one of them and killing Lance with a flat iron outside the house for videotaping Holly undressing one night.
As Walter prepares the sermon for the conference, Grace suggests adding humour. Also, seeing he has let his relationship slide due to his devotion to God, she shows him he can love his wife and God by looking at the erotic references in the Song of Solomon. As the problems in the household seem to gradually clear, Walter leaves for his convention.
Gloria and Holly see Grace's photo on the news, showing her release and previous offences, and they begin to realise what she's done. She's Gloria's long-lost mother Rosie Jones, who's come to meet her. After briefly processing the flood of information, Gloria asserts that when having a problem with someone, one cannot just kill them.
Grace mentions this is the point she and her doctors could never agree on. Despite their disagreements, Gloria tries to help Grace with Lance's body, but cannot handle it. Over a cup of tea, the three women decide not to tell Walter or Petey any of what has happened.
Nagging congregant Mrs. Parker (Liz Smith) visits to discuss the problem of the "church flower arranging committee". Grace, erroneously believing Mrs. Parker is about to turn them in for her crimes, attempts to hit her with a frying pan but Gloria stops her. Mrs. Parker, shocked, has a heart attack and dies. Walter returns from the convention just then and sees Mrs. Parker's body, but not realizing she is dead. Soon after, Grace leaves the family when order is seemingly restored among them.
Walter then talks to Bob and Ted, the waterworks employees, who say there is too much algae and the vicar's pond needs to be drained. Remembering Grace's victims' bodies are in the pond, Gloria, with a strained smile, offers them some tea.
The film ends with an underwater shot depicting the bodies that had been placed in the pond, including the recently added Bob and Ted.
:The beasts are wiser than we know :And where they lead, four souls must go. :One to weep and one to fight, :One to dream and one for flight. :Four must make their sacrifice. :In the realm twixt fire and ice :The hunger will not be denied, :The hunger must be satisfied. :And in that blast of fiery breath, :The quest unites both life and death.
Winters have been getting colder and longer the past few years, posing mounting problems for the people of the valley of Rin. This year, in what should be spring the people are still in the dead of winter, with no end to the cold in sight. The people are worried, because if the winter continues much longer, their food storehouses will be empty. A decision is made to evacuate to the coast, to finish the winter with the Travelers and the Maris. The group departs, leaving behind Rowan, Brondon, Sharron and Norris. Rowan will care for his beloved Bukshah; Brondon will care for Lann, the elderly village leader; and the other two are newcomers to the group who returned with Rowan from the Land of the Zebak. When a new enemy, the ice creepers, are discovered, Rowan follows Sheba's advice. He takes Norris and Sharron, and sets off on a long trek through the land following the Bukshah. Along the way, Zeel joins the trek (thus completing the introductory rhyme; Sharron to weep, Norris to fight, Rowan to dream, and Zeel for flight). The Bukshah lead them to the mountain, where they learn some new and terrifying facts.
When the Bukshah are fenced, they cannot go up the mountain to eat the seals on the ice creeper nests, preventing the numbers from growing and the habitual spreading. When the ice creepers multiply they cause the cold to grow. When the Bukshah are free to roam, they make an annual pilgrimage to the mountain and keep the ice creepers under control, preventing the rise of a cold time.
Far more chilling is the extended truth about what happened to the people of the Valley of the Gold. In ''Travelers'', Rowan already discovered the truth about the destruction of the Valley of Gold. Due to the mountain berry plants the soil was loosened and the Valley was destroyed by a landslide. Here he learns much more.
When the Zebak invaded and word of the invasion was sent to the Valley, the message was received. Leaving only two behind (the Keepers of the Bukshah and the Silks), the villagers set out for the coast. On their way they were ambushed by the Zebak, captured and taken as slaves. One man escaped and returned to the Valley to warn the others. Fearing other attacks the three followed the Bukshah into the heart of the mountain where they were trapped by the landslide that destroyed the Valley as they knew it. Rowan and his companions learn this from the silks that were kept as up-to-date as possible. From this they learn the truth, that the people of Rin were once the people of the Valley of the Gold, that the land is their home, and has always been their home.
:"Yes," he said. "At last the people truly can come home."
In ''Space Rangers'', a relatively peaceful interstellar coalition is invaded by a powerful enemy; the organic warships of the Klissans. The player is a Ranger, one of a group of non-military volunteers who are given small ships, free rein and the task of helping to battle, understand and ultimately defeat the menace.
Long ago, the now wise and peaceful Gaal race was very aggressive and was creating a huge number of colonies. Due to large space distances it created a hyperjumper which could make holes in the galaxy. Soon one of the colonies met with the Klissan fleet. Although Gaal colony ships tried to communicate with these Klissan ships they failed to do so and were destroyed. Soon Makhpella, the mothership of all Klissans and Klissan fleet, invaded all outer Gaal colonies. The Gaal colony fleet was completely helpless and in order to save the original Gaal territories and the Gaal motherland itself from invasion, they decided not to jump back which would have given the Makhpella an opportunity to trace their route, but to blow up the remaining other colonies using the hyperjumper instead.
Not very long ago, everything was started by a Peleng captain called Rachekhan, one of the commanders of the Peleng fleet. He was thrown out of the fleet and became a pirate. Since he had access to secret documents and weaponry he stole a hyperjumper. While travelling with it he met Makhpella. It considered Rachekhan's pirate fleet an enemy and started chasing it. During this chase, Rachekhan and the Klissan fleets went through sectors colonized by the interstellar coalition which enabled Makhpella to spot the IC sectors, gaining knowledge of its locations, and identify all IC races as foes. So the war started.
Space Rangers features 6 races in total: the Interstellar Coalition races and the Klissans. The Interstellar Coalition consists of 5 races: Maloqs, Pelengs, Humans, Faeyans and Gaals. The Klissans are the new and unresearched form of life.
;Maloq :The Maloq race is very strong physically, but mentally weak. They are physically very big and eat a lot of food. Their equipment is the cheapest but it is also the most delicate, and deteriorates much quicker than other races'. The race is named after the C standard library function malloc.
;Peleng :The four handed Pelengs are usually very artful and Peleng criminals are the most successful. Also Pelengs have the strongest intelligence agency called "Dzuhallag". Peleng equipment is the 2nd cheapest and the 2nd most delicate.
;Human :Humans are the best economists. If not for the humans there would be no unified interstellar currency called "credits". Human equipment is in the middle of the spectrum for both price and robustness.
;Faeyan :Faeyans are very good technicians and scientists. Faeyans are hermaphrodites. Their equipment is the 2nd most expensive, and 2nd only in robustness.
;Gaal :The three eyed Gaals are leading philosophers and scientists. This race is the wisest compared to the other Interstellar Coalition races. Their equipment is the most expensive and the most robust.
During closing time at the Krusty Krab, Squidward answers a last-minute phone call. While he is about to reject the order due to the restaurant being closed, Mr. Krabs accepts it so he can earn more money. Mr. Krabs reveals that the order is for a pizza to be delivered to the customer's house, and Squidward argues that the restaurant does not serve pizza; Mr. Krabs makes a pizza out of Krabby Patties and sends SpongeBob and Squidward to deliver it.
Squidward makes SpongeBob drive the delivery boat, despite him still being in boating school. Attempting to drive, SpongeBob sends the boat in reverse and drives them out to the desert, where it runs out of gas. The two continue their delivery on foot when SpongeBob hears a truck approaching. He attempts to get the driver's attention using a "pioneer trick," but is almost run over and rescued by Squidward. Later, they are caught in a tornado, getting sucked in due to SpongeBob's refusal to let go of the customer's pizza. After landing, Squidward is unable to find the road, and SpongeBob uses another one of his pioneer tips to find civilization by observing moss on a rock. Squidward refuses and continues walking, unaware that SpongeBob's tip was correct.
As they continue walking, SpongeBob sings a song about the Krusty Krab pizza, annoying Squidward. When the two get hungry, SpongeBob advises Squidward to eat coral like a pioneer. He is disgusted and wants to eat the pizza instead, while SpongeBob insists that the pizza must be delivered to the customer. SpongeBob notices a giant rock while being chased by Squidward for the pizza, glad that they can ride it like the pioneers to the customer's house. Squidward is outraged and insists that SpongeBob's pioneer tips are nonsense, while SpongeBob runs him over with the rock.
When they arrive at the house, SpongeBob approaches the customer with the pizza. The customer is happy at first, but is upset that SpongeBob did not bring him a drink (which he didn't order), berates him and slams the door. Squidward sees SpongeBob sadly approaching him, and attempts to console him, but SpongeBob collapses to the ground, sobbing. Appalled at how SpongeBob was treated, and refusing to let their long journey be all for nothing, Squidward knocks on the door and angrily slams the pizza in the customer's face in retaliation for his behavior. He returns to SpongeBob saying that the delivery is completed, as they drive the rock back to the Krusty Krab, which is right across from the customer's house. The episode ends with a dismayed Squidward and a black-out.
''Where the Heart Is'' focuses on the personal lives of two district nurses in the small Yorkshire town of Skelthwaite. The official ITV website described the series as "an engaging story of life, love, family and people’s ever-changing fortunes in rural England. Set against the rugged landscape of Yorkshire, it follows the busy professional and family lives of District Nurses, as they bring nursing and emotional care to young and old alike." Initially, it mainly concentrated on the lives of two of the district health nurses, Peggy Snow (Pam Ferris) and Ruth Goddard (Sarah Lancashire). The story expands to focus on the lives of more Skelthwhaite residents, particularly those related to the nurses as well as those working in a local toilet paper factory.
Claudine, a fifteen-year-old girl, lives in Montigny, with her father, who is more interested in mollusks than in his daughter. Claudine attends the small village school, which is the primary location of her many adventures, presented as an intimate journal. The journal begins with the new school year, marked by the arrival of the new headmistress, Miss Sergent, and her assistant, Miss Aimée Lanthenay, as well as the boys' instructors, Mr. Duplessis and Mr. Rabastens. Although Claudine begins an affair early on with Miss Lanthenay, Miss Sergent soon discovers the liaison and discourages Miss Lanthenay, ultimately taking her on as her own lover. Claudine feels betrayed and causes trouble for the two women with the help of her friends, cynical Anaïs and childlike Marie Belhomme. Miss Lanthenay's sister Luce arrives at school, and Claudine mistreats her, but Luce idolizes Claudine nonetheless. Some major events of the school year documented in the novel are the final exams, the opening of the new school, and a ball to mark the visit of an important political minister to the town.
At the end of the book, everyone is at the ball when Miss Sergent's mother suddenly throws a man's shoe downstairs into the parlor from the living quarters upstairs. Everyone is silent downstairs as the elder Sergent yells at her daughter for disgracing the family by sleeping with the superintendent of the school district. Miss Sergent's attraction to the man had been mentioned earlier by Claudine, who dismissed it when Sergent stole Aimée away from her. Publicly humiliated, Miss Sergent runs off crying while Luce and Claudine laugh.
Sideshow Bob calls local right-wing talk show host Birch Barlow and complains about being unfairly imprisoned for the attempted murders of Selma Bouvier ("Black Widower") and Bart Simpson ("Cape Feare"). Barlow incites Springfield's residents to pressure Mayor Quimby into releasing Sideshow Bob. After his release, Bob becomes the Republican candidate for the Springfield mayoral election. Bart and Lisa attempts to prevent Bob's election by aiding Quimby's campaign. However, after Quimby falls ill after a meet-and-greet with senior citizens and takes a negligible amount of 'extra drowsy' cold and flu medicine, he loses a mayoral debate and Bob wins in a landslide.
Abusing his office, Bob proceeds to make the Simpsons' lives miserable, demoting Bart to kindergarten and threatening to demolish their house to build a new 'Matlock Expressway' (originally proposed by Quimby to pander to senior citizen voters). Bart and Lisa suspect the election was rigged but are unable to find any proof. Waylon Smithers, who worked for Sideshow Bob's campaign but fears he will now be persecuted by the conservative mayor for his perceived homosexuality, tells them to find a voter named Edgar Neubauer. Having not found it in the library or the telephone directory, Bart finds the name on a tombstone at the cemetery. When he and Lisa check other names on voting rolls, they notice that most voters for Bob are long dead, including celebrities such as The Big Bopper and pet animals such as Lisa's beloved cat Snowball.
Sideshow Bob is put on trial for electoral fraud. He is tricked into confessing and providing incriminating evidence when Bart and Lisa insinuate that Barlow committed the crime as Bob lacks the intelligence to plan it. Bob is found guilty, stripped of his position and sent to a minimum-security prison. With all of his mayoral decisions nullified and reversed, the Simpsons' house is saved, the expressway is put on hold, Bart returns to his proper grade, and Quimby reclaims his job as Springfield's rightful mayor.
One day, the twins Bubby and Bobby, intermarried with Bub and Bob, playing together to the tower where they live, are transformed into bubble-blowing dragons by the evil Dark Super Great Dragon that takes possession of the tower. The twins must climb the 80 floors of the tower to take seven colorful potions, free it from his clutches and regain their human forms.
Bub and Bob are young boys in the intro, indicating that this is a prequel to the series.
In the year 2199, Earth reached its maximum population point, causing humans to venture throughout the Milky Way in search of potential new planets to inhabit. 35,000 light years away from the galaxy, humans had discovered a planet with large floating continents, inhabited by a civilization far more advanced than those on Earth. A large war ensued that lead to the downfall of the natives, as humans began constructing large fortresses and buildings to strengthen their positions. Feeling the humans did not deserve to rule by force, a lone native pilots a caterpillar-treaded tank in an effort to vanquish the humans and bring peace to the planet.
The narrator is a London businessman named Bedford who withdraws to the countryside to write a play, by which he hopes to alleviate his financial problems. Bedford rents a small countryside house in Lympne, in Kent, where he wants to work in peace. He is bothered every afternoon, however, at precisely the same time, by a passer-by making odd noises. After two weeks Bedford accosts the man, who proves to be a reclusive physicist named Mr. Cavor. Bedford befriends Cavor when he learns he is developing a new material, ''cavorite'', which can negate the force of gravity.
When a sheet of cavorite is prematurely processed, it makes the air above it weightless and shoots off into space. Bedford sees in the commercial production of cavorite a possible source of "wealth enough to work any sort of social revolution we fancied; we might own and order the whole world". Cavor hits upon the idea of a spherical spaceship made of "steel, lined with glass", and with sliding "windows or blinds" made of cavorite by which it can be steered, and persuades a reluctant Bedford to undertake a voyage to the Moon; Cavor is certain there is no life there.
On the way to the Moon, they experience weightlessness, which Bedford finds "exceedingly restful". On the surface of the Moon the two men discover a desolate landscape, but as the Sun rises, the thin, frozen atmosphere vaporises and strange plants begin to grow with extraordinary rapidity. Bedford and Cavor leave the capsule, but in romping about get lost in the rapidly growing jungle. They hear for the first time a mysterious booming coming from beneath their feet. They encounter "great beasts", "monsters of mere fatness", that they dub "mooncalves", and five-foot-high "Selenites" tending them. At first they hide and crawl about, but growing hungry partake of some "monstrous coralline growths" of fungus that inebriate them. They wander drunkenly until they encounter a party of six extraterrestrials, who capture them. The insectoid lunar natives (referred to as "Selenites", after Selene, the Greek moon goddess) are part of a complex and technologically sophisticated society that lives underground, but this is revealed only in radio communications received from Cavor after Bedford's return to Earth.
Bedford and Cavor break out of captivity beneath the surface of the Moon and flee, killing several Selenites. In their flight they discover that gold is common on the Moon. In their attempt to find their way back to the surface and to their sphere, they come upon some Selenites carving up mooncalves but fight their way past. Back on the surface, they split up to search for their spaceship. Bedford finds it but returns to Earth without Cavor, who injured himself in a fall and was recaptured by the Selenites, as Bedford learns from a hastily scribbled note he left behind.
Chapter 20, "Mr. Bedford in Infinite Space", plays no role in the plot but is a remarkable set piece in which the narrator describes experiencing a quasi-mystical "pervading doubt of my own identity. . . the doubts within me could still argue: 'It is not you that is reading, it is Bedford—but ''you are not Bedford,'' you know. That's just where the mistake comes in.' 'Counfound it!' I cried, 'and if I am not Bedford, what ''am'' I? But in that direction no light was forthcoming, though the strangest fancies came drifting into my brain, queer remote suspicions like shadow seem from far away... Do you know I had an idea that really I was something quite outside not only the world, but all worlds, and out of space and time, and that this poor Bedford was just a peephole through which I looked at life..."
By good fortune, the narrator lands in the sea off the coast of Britain, near the seaside town of Littlestone, not far from his point of departure. His fortune is made by some gold he brings back, but he loses the sphere when a curious boy named Tommy Simmons climbs into the unattended sphere and shoots off into space. Bedford writes and publishes his story in ''The Strand Magazine'', then learns that "Mr. Julius Wendigee, a Dutch electrician, who has been experimenting with certain apparatus akin to the apparatus used by Mr. Tesla in America", has picked up fragments of radio communications from Cavor sent from inside the Moon. During a period of relative freedom Cavor has taught two Selenites English and learned much about lunar society.
Cavor's account explains that Selenites exist in thousands of forms and find fulfilment in carrying out the specific social function for which they have been brought up: specialisation is the essence of Selenite society. "With knowledge the Selenites grew and changed; mankind stored their knowledge about them and remained brutes—equipped," remarks the Grand Lunar, when he finally meets Cavor and hears about life on Earth. Unfortunately, Cavor reveals humanity's propensity for war; the lunar leader and those listening to the interview are "stricken with amazement". Bedford infers that it is for this reason that Cavor has been prevented from further broadcasting to Earth. Cavor's transmissions are cut off as he is trying to describe how to make cavorite. His final fate is unknown, but Bedford is sure that "we shall never… receive another message from the moon".
When night falls at the supermarket Marketropolis, the store products' mascots ("Ikes") come to life and interact with each other. Heroic cereal mascot Dex Dogtective is about to propose to his girlfriend Sunshine Goodness, a raisin mascot, but she goes missing just before he is able to do so.
Six months later, a Brand X representative called "Mr. Clipboard" arrives at Marketropolis and aggressively pushes Brand X's range of generic products to Leonard, the store's manager. In the world of the Ikes, the arrival of Lady X, the seductive Brand X detergent Ike, causes a commotion at Dex's club, the Copabanana.
Brand X products begin to replace previous products, which is mirrored in the Ikes' world with the deaths of several Ikes. After Dex's friend Daredevil Dan, a chocolate squirrel, disappears, Dex begins to investigate. After rebuffing Lady X's attempts to bring him to Brand X's side, Dex is locked in a dryer with Dan to be melted, but the two manage to escape. Dan and Dex find out that Brand X contains an addictive and toxic secret ingredient.
Dex and Dan attempt to initiate a product recall with Leonard's computer. A Brand X Ike cuts power just as they send the message. Dex then rallies the citizens of Marketropolis to fight the armies of Brand X in a massive food fight. The citizens win the battle by using the supermarket's electricity.
Dex rescues Sunshine, who had been held hostage in the Brand X tower, and escapes with the help of Dan. Mr. Clipboard then enters the Ikes' world, but he is taken down by Dex, who discovers that he is a robot controlled by Lady X. Lady X reveals that she had previously been the hideous Ike of an unsuccessful brand of prunes, and had been stealing Sunshine's essence to create a new brand. Dex and Sunshine defeat her, reverting her to her original form. With Brand X defeated and a cure found that revives the killed Ikes, Dex and Sunshine finally get married.
The story involves a money-obsessed dragon hunter named Seur Chong, who, with the aid of shamans, tries to follow in the footsteps of Andrew Yi, the greatest dragon hunter of all time. Seur Chong, however, is afflicted with the Dragon's Curse, and he must slay a blue dragon in order to survive.
Alex Hammond is an 11-year-old boy living in Los Angeles, California. His father Clem Hammond is a carpenter who has been struggling to find a job ever since the Great Depression hit the US. Alex's parents are separated and he is very close with his father. However, Clem does not have the resources to support Alex. As a result, he attempts to have outside intervention in supporting Alex such as enrolling him into military school and placing him into foster homes. Alex has run away from all of these places and exhibits temper tantrums because he does not want to be away from his father. His bursts of rage cause authorities and fellow inmates in various institutions to believe that he is crazy, specifically displaying the early traits of psychopathy, such as what is deemed to be "criminal versatility".
The story starts out in 1943, with Alex, Clem, and a social worker going from LA to the Valley Home For Boys in San Fernando Valley where Alex will live. However, he meets up with trouble there because one of his roommates Sammy decides to shoplift from a store. Even though Alex does not steal anything, the housemother Thelma Cavendish decides to punish him. This unfair act in the eyes of Alex causes him to attack her and he rips her dress. He decides to run away with Sammy.
They decide to burglarize a shop during the night, but the owners investigate as the boys are inside. Alex shoots one of the owners with a pistol that he had found when they broke in. Alex runs away, but he gets caught very soon. The police beat him and humiliate him. He finds out that his father died in a tragic accident while attempting to find him.
Alex goes to Juvenile Hall. There, he first sees the brutal violence that is so typical of a prison and other institutions. He quickly learns about the usefulness of such violence and how it can protect him from various injustices. It is also here that he learns about racial identity and racism. His love for reading and his high intelligence sets him apart from the other juvenile delinquents.
He is sent to Camarillo, a state mental institution to determine whether or not he is insane. There, he meets First Choice Floyd and Red Barzo who are two black heroin addicts. They teach him how to play poker and how to box. He also starts to masturbate. Eventually, Alex meets an older teen called Scabs. They regularly sneak out of the institution. One day, Scabs teaches Alex how to hot-wire a car, and they leave. Alex is not able to go back to the institution so he decides to stay in the city. It is not long before the authorities find him and they send him to Pacific Colony.
Alex regards the new institution as a lot worse than Camarillo. One night, one of the members of the staff nicknamed “The Jabber” beats Alex for a minor infraction that he did not commit. He fights back in self-defense, and hurts the Jabber. He gets into trouble again and gets sent back to Juvenile Hall before going to another juvenile institution at Whittier. He gets into one more fight.
At Whittier, Alex gets into more conflicts and he fights so that no one would regard him as a “punk.” (In other words, an inmate who gets sodomized) He finally decides to escape with a friend named Joe Altabella (also credited as "JoJo").
They escape successfully, to where they hide out with the rest of JoJo's family (primarily Italian-Americans), and Alex meets JoJo’s sister Teresa as well as their younger sister Lisa, the latter of whom seems to hold most affection for Alex over time. At this point in the novel, Alex is 13 and he starts to have sexual feelings for her as well as other girls. Soon, Alex meets Teresa’s 17-year-old boyfriend Wedo and the two boys begin to like each other. However, JoJo and Alex eventually get caught, both at separate instances. This time, Alex gets sent to Preston, an even stricter institution.
At Preston, an older boy, Kennedy, cons Alex out of his shoes. Out of great anger, Alex unscrews a fire hose nozzle and attacks him with it, almost killing him. Alex is unrepentant in the face of authorities. One of them wants to send Alex to San Quentin State Prison, but he is too young at the age of 13 so he is put into solitary confinement. He actually prefers this because he can be away from the violence and he can read in peace. Eventually, he serves his time and gets released into the custody of his aunt and her husband. Alex finds them to be quite hospitable and he helps them by working at their cafe.
However, after having walked out one day, this superficially placid exterior is shattered by the unjustly great indignance towards his lengthy absence from both relatives, his uncle threatening to attack him. Recalling prior attacks upon him ala "The Jabber", Alex threatens to kill them if they dare to attack him. He runs away and finds Wedo again. The older teen has become a heroin addict and must commit robbery in order to support his drug habit. The two youths begin to rob drugstores, taking the money and selling the drugs. One night, they attempt to rob a store, but the owners shoot Wedo with a shotgun. Alex gets hit, in a literary reprise of the event that brought him into the prison system to begin with, and he gives up. The novel ends with him drifting into unconsciousness, surrounded by the police as he is about to be taken to a hospital.
The two main versions of the game feature different plot lines. They share many of the same locations, but with completely different level designs and in a different order.
Before the events of ''Splinter Cell: Essentials'', Sam Fisher must deal with the recent loss of his daughter to a drunk driving accident. But he has little time to mourn, as he soon has to go on an undercover assignment which requires him to pose as a criminal in order to infiltrate a terrorist group based in the United States. This new mission forces Fisher into a new and very dangerous gray area, where the line between right and wrong is blurred even beyond what Fisher is used to, and thousands of innocent lives are in the balance.
In September 2007, Sam Fisher and rookie field agent John Hodge are being flown to Iceland to investigate suspicious activities at a geothermal plant, which is also John's training mission. After he averts a missile strike by terrorists during which Hodge is killed, he is met by Colonel Irving Lambert aboard the V-22 Osprey, who bears bad news: Sarah Fisher, Sam's only child, has died after being hit by a drunk driver. Overcome with grief, he is pulled out of active service.
Lambert offers him a job as a nonofficial cover operative, hoping that it will help him refocus. The NSA stages multiple bank robberies and killings to set up Fisher to infiltrate a domestic terror organization known as ''John Brown's Army'' (JBA). He is planned by the CIA to be sent to Ellsworth Prison in Kansas where he is placed in the same cell block as Jamie Washington, a JBA member, and begins digging a tunnel for escape. By February 2008, Fisher helps Washington escape, and is welcomed into the JBA.
At their compound, Emile Dufraisne, the leader of the JBA, gives Sam the order to shoot Cole Yeager, the pilot of the helicopter used to escape the prison, affecting Fisher's standing between the JBA and NSA. He is then sent on a mission to take over a Russian oil tanker in the Sea of Okhotsk, while receiving radio contact from Enrica Villablanca, the JBA's weapons expert. Sam needs to take over the tanker so that JBA ally Massoud Ibn-Yussif can use it to deliver one of Emile's bombs.
As soon as Fisher is finished, he is quickly flown to the Jin Mao Hotel in Shanghai. CIA operative Hisham Hamza, who has infiltrated Yussif's organization, orders him to record a meeting between Emile and a Pakistani nuclear scientist, Dr. Aswat. During the meeting, Aswat sells Emile several kilograms of ''red mercury'', an explosive material that can detonate with the force of a thermonuclear bomb. With Third Echelon on high alert, Fisher is told to collect a sample from the safe in the meeting room. While he does this, Carson Moss, the JBA's head of security, radios in and orders him to steal notes from Aswat's hotel room. The NSA then orders Aswat's assassination.
With both the red mercury and Dr. Aswat's notes, the JBA constructs a bomb which they wish to test. Emile sends Fisher to Cozumel to blow up a cruise ship. The success of the bomb is determined by the player and is therefore the first of the three major events. Fisher can choose to either let the bomb detonate, maintaining his cover with the JBA, prevent the explosion by jamming the signal, or framing Enrica by using her disarm code, if the player acquires it from her office during the third JBA HQ mission. Jamming the signal makes player lose JBA trust, while framing Enrica maintains both NSA and JBA trust. In both of these cases, non-detonation causes Dufraisne to kill Enrica in a fit of anger.
Emile then goes to a meeting in Kinshasa with Yussif and Alejandro Takfir, another ally of the JBA. Fisher bugs the meeting and finds out that the three terrorist leaders each have Red Mercury bombs. They plan to destroy Mexico City, Los Angeles and New York City. During the meeting, Hisham's cover is blown.
Emile orders Fisher to kill Hisham, who has fled to the Congolese presidential palace in a war-torn Kinshasa. Fisher takes up a position from the top of a radio tower with a sniper rifle. Fisher may shoot Hisham, or spare and extract him.
When Fisher returns to the headquarters, he is ordered to shoot Lambert, who was captured sneaking around the complex. The player can decide to either shoot Lambert or Washington. Shooting Lambert will maintain the JBA's trust, while shooting Washington will send the JBA into high alert and reveal Fisher as a traitor. Enrica, if she is still alive, discovers Fisher's NOC status, but allows him to pass into the labs underneath the HQ, even giving him his equipment if he does not have it already. When Sam arrives at the labs, he manages to kill Emile (and Washington if he did not kill him earlier) and disarms the bomb. A SWAT team then storms the compound, crashing in through the ceiling. This version of Double Agent is the official version to the story-line.
The ending depends upon completion of the following objectives: saving the cruise ship, Hisham and Lambert. * If Fisher fails all three, or fails two with the NSA standing below 33%, he initially surrenders to the SWAT team, but immediately escapes using a smoke grenade. * If Fisher fails two with the NSA standing above 33%, or completes two or three with the NSA standing below 33%, he is captured, charged with murder and conspiracy to commit terrorism, and pleads "not guilty". After the trial, however, Sam breaks out of prison and is on the run. * If Fisher completes two or three objectives with the NSA standing above 33%, he evades capture and escapes the compound by incapacitating a SWAT officer and donning his stolen uniform. In the unlocked bonus level, he boards a stolen Coast Guard vessel that Carson Moss is using to deliver the last bomb. Fisher kills Moss, disarms the bomb and escapes seconds before the Third Echelon destroys the vessel. This ending is the only one that finishes with "To be continued..."
Canonically, Sam saves the cruise ship, saves Hisham and shoots Lambert to maintain his cover.
In 2008, Sam and CIA agent Hisham Hamza are being flown to Iceland to investigate suspicious activities at a geothermal plant. However, the mission is aborted, with Irving Lambert activating a two-man Splinter Cell team to destroy the plant. Sam is met by Lambert aboard the Osprey to deliver bad news. Sarah Fisher, Sam's only child, has died after being hit by a drunk driver. Overcome with grief, he is unable to concentrate on his work and is pulled out of active service.
Lambert offers Sam a job as a non-official cover operative, hoping that by infiltrating ''John Brown's Army'' (JBA), will help Sam refocus. Acting in multiple staged bank robberies and killings, Fisher becomes an infamous criminal and is incarcerated in Ellsworth Prison, Kansas, where he befriends cellmate Jamie Washington, a JBA member. With indirect assistance from a Splinter Cell team, Fisher helps Washington escape, and is welcomed into the JBA.
At their compound in New Orleans, Sam finds an e-mail written by JBA member Cole Yeager describing his intentions to take over JBA. If he chooses to send this information to the NSA, they briefly extract Yeager for interrogation; the information can also be sent to JBA, in which case Yeager is killed by the terrorists. Sam is then sent to hijack a train in Grand Central Station, carrying a large sum of money, gold and jewelry. Because Lambert pretends to be an arms dealer for the JBA, Sam has access to his NSA equipment and is easily briefed.
After the JBA constructs a bomb using red mercury, Emile sends Fisher to Cozumel, Mexico to test it by blowing up a cruise ship. If the player chooses to sabotage the bomb detonation, Sam and Enrica are severely beaten. If the detonator is left operative, the bomb will go off with many victims. Unlike the other version, this decision does not affect the ending of the game.
Sam is then sent on a mission to take over a Russian oil tanker in the Sea of Okhotsk. Two computers on the tanker have an e-mail to Emile from an anonymous sender who intends to blow Lambert's cover as an arms dealer. Emile then goes to a meeting in Kinshasa with Alejandro Takfir and Massoud Ibn-Yussif, allies of the JBA, to buy more red mercury. He orders Fisher to kill Hisham and, depending on the player's actions, Sam will be reprimanded by Emile or Lambert. Fisher uncovers information that sets up a mission for a Splinter Cell team to sabotage a chemical bunker owned by Takfir. An e-mail on Massoud's computer reveals that there is a mole inside the NSA.
When Fisher returns to the headquarters, he discovers that Lambert has been taken hostage, and the terrorists are about to send off the Red Mercury. Sam must alter server information to confirm or deny Lambert's NSA ties; the choice either causes Lambert's death, or costs Sam significant JBA trust (respectively). Additionally, players can choose to disarm two of the red mercury bombs prior to their transportation, allowing Sam to prevent their detonation.
Regardless of player choices, the JBA discovers Sam is a spy during their final operation in New York. Assistant Director Williams authorizes the Fifth Freedom and orders Sam to kill all the top-ranking members of the JBA, while another Splinter Cell team disarms various Red Mercury bombs headed for Los Angeles by tanker. Enrica, unable to kill Fisher, assists Sam. Sam kills Emile and disables the last bomb on the rooftop. Enrica comes looking for Sam, but is shot and killed by a Splinter Cell agent. Enraged, Sam ambushes and kills the agent, leaving as he removes his cochlear implant using his knife. He accuses Williams of murdering Enrica and vows revenge; Williams says that they will find him first.
During the credits, a breaking news report is shown: any bombs Sam did not sabotage are detonated, killing thousands; however, any deactivated bombs are reported as being discovered. Additionally, if the Nashville bomb explodes, it is noted that the President has been killed during a visit, and he is succeeded by his vice president.
Homer Wells grows up in a Maine orphanage directed by avuncular Dr. Wilbur Larch. He is returned twice by foster parents: the first felt he was too quiet and the second beat him. Dr. Larch is addicted to ether and also secretly performs abortions. Conditions at the orphanage are sparse, but the children have love, are given respect, and are like an extended family. Each night before sleeping, Dr. Larch says to them, "Goodnight you Princes of Maine, you Kings of New England", as both an encouragement and a kind of blessing.
Homer, the oldest of the orphans, is very bright, helpful and even-tempered, so Larch trains him in obstetrics and abortions as an apprentice; despite Homer's never having attended high school. He disapproves of abortions, and, although he has been trained by Larch, he refuses to perform them. After several years, Homer is very skillful and confident in performing obstetrical duties. Larch wants him to take over after he retires, but Homer feels it's impossible, as he lacks formal medical education and he wants to see the outside world beyond the orphanage.
Homer leaves with Candy Kendall and her boyfriend Wally Worthington, a young couple who came to the clinic for an abortion. Wally is a pilot on leave from the service. Wally's mother, Olive, owns the Worthington family apple orchard where Homer settles as a worker. He lives on the Worthington estate in Cider House, the bunkhouse. Wally returns to World War II. Homer is exempt from this as Dr. Larch has diagnosed him with a heart condition.
While Wally is away, Candy starts flirting with Homer and they have an affair. He picks apples with Arthur Rose's team of migrant workers, employed seasonally at the orchard by the Worthingtons, and are illiterate. Homer reads them the posted rules of the Cider House, the workers observe the rules have been made without the occupants' consent by people who do not live there and so do not face their problems. Consequently, they feel that they can ignore them. Homer and Candy become much closer during harvest and spend more time together while Wally is fighting in Burma.
After Arthur and his team come back to work the following season, Homer discovers that Rose, Arthur's daughter, is pregnant. Candy finds out that the baby's father is Arthur. Homer decides he must help Rose, and performs an abortion with Arthur's assistance. A few days later, as Rose tries to run away, her father goes to say goodbye; she stabs him and flees. He then makes the injury worse, and as a last request, asks Homer and another worker to tell the police his death was a suicide.
Wally returns from Burma a paraplegic, and although she loves Homer, Candy decides to take care of Wally. Immediately after this, Homer learns Dr. Larch accidentally overdosed on ether. Homer decides he is most needed in the orphanage, where he is greeted joyously by both the children and staff. He learns not only did Larch fake his medical record to keep him out of the war, but also faked college credentials and also used reverse psychology to convince the orphanage board to appoint Homer as the next director. He fills the paternal role that Larch previously held for the children of the orphanage, telling them, "Goodnight you princes of Maine, you kings of New England".
In 1861, on the eve of the American Civil War, Scarlett O'Hara lives at Tara, her family's cotton plantation in Georgia, with her parents and two sisters and their many slaves. Scarlett is deeply attracted to Ashley Wilkes, and learns that he is to be married to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton. At an engagement party the next day at Ashley's home, Twelve Oaks, which is a nearby plantation, Scarlett makes an advance on Ashley but is rebuffed; however, she catches the attention of another guest, Rhett Butler. The party is disrupted by news of President Lincoln's call for volunteers to fight the South, and the Southern men rush to enlist in defense of the South. In a bid to arouse jealousy in Ashley, Scarlett marries Melanie's younger brother Charles before he leaves to fight. Following Charles's death while serving in the Confederate States Army, Scarlett's mother sends her to the Hamilton home in Atlanta, where she creates a scene by attending a charity bazaar in her mourning attire and waltzing with Rhett, now a blockade runner for the Confederacy.
The tide of war turns against the Confederacy after the Battle of Gettysburg, in which many of the men of Scarlett's town are killed. Eight months later, as the city is besieged by the Union Army in the Atlanta Campaign, Melanie gives birth with Scarlett's aid, and Rhett helps them flee the city. Once out of the city, Rhett chooses to go off to fight, leaving Scarlett to make her own way back to Tara. Upon her return home, Scarlett finds Tara deserted, except for her father, her sisters, and former slaves Mammy and Pork. Scarlett learns that her mother has just died of typhoid fever and her father has lost his mind. With Tara pillaged by Union troops and the fields untended, Scarlett vows to ensure the survival of herself and her family.
As the O'Haras toil in the cotton fields, Scarlett's father attempts to chase away a carpetbagger from his land but is thrown from his horse and killed. With the defeat of the Confederacy, Ashley also returns but finds he is of little help at Tara. When Scarlett begs him to run away with her, he confesses his desire for her and kisses her passionately, but says he cannot leave Melanie. Unable to pay the Reconstructionist taxes imposed on Tara, Scarlett dupes her younger sister Suellen's fiancé, the middle-aged and wealthy general store owner Frank Kennedy, into marrying her, by saying Suellen got tired of waiting and married another suitor. Frank, Ashley, Rhett, and several other accomplices make a night raid on a shanty town after Scarlett is attacked while driving through it alone, resulting in Frank's death. Shortly after Frank's funeral, Rhett proposes to Scarlett and she accepts.
Rhett and Scarlett have a daughter whom Rhett names Bonnie Blue, but Scarlett still pines for Ashley and, chagrined at the perceived ruin of her figure, refuses to have any more children or share a bed with Rhett. One day at Frank's mill, Scarlett and Ashley are seen embracing by Ashley's sister, India. Harboring an intense dislike of Scarlett, India eagerly spreads rumors. Later that evening, Rhett, having heard the rumors, forces Scarlett to attend a birthday party for Ashley. Melanie, however, stands by Scarlett. After returning home from the party, Scarlett finds Rhett downstairs drunk, and they argue about Ashley. Rhett kisses Scarlett against her will, stating his intent to have sex with her that night, and carries the struggling Scarlett to the bedroom.
The next day, Rhett apologizes for his behavior and offers Scarlett a divorce, which she rejects, saying that it would be a disgrace. When Rhett returns from an extended trip to London, in England, Scarlett informs him that she is pregnant, but an argument ensues which results in her falling down a flight of stairs and suffering a miscarriage. As she is recovering, tragedy strikes again; Bonnie dies while attempting to jump a fence with her pony. Scarlett and Rhett visit Melanie, who has suffered complications arising from a new pregnancy, on her deathbed. As Scarlett consoles Ashley, Rhett prepares to leave Atlanta. Having realized that it was him, and not Ashley, she truly loved all along, Scarlett pleads with Rhett to stay, but he rebuffs her and walks away into the morning fog. A distraught Scarlett resolves to return home to Tara, vowing to one day win Rhett back.
The film starts with Willy sick at home from school and pretending to be a hunter. Using his imagination to see his cat, Sissy, as the tiger, he torments Sissy with his water gun. He then shoots a BB gun at a sparrow flock at the local park outside his bedroom window, scaring them from the scene. Willy’s action angers an elderly lady named Sparina, who is the Sparrow Guardian. Sparina magically enters Willy's apartment unnoticed and turns Willy into a sparrow in hopes of teaching him to respect living things. However, she lacks enough spray to enable Willy to fly, making him defenseless against danger. Sparina quickly leaves to refill her magic hair spray. While Willy makes himself comfortable in his sparrow form, Sissy appears and sees Willy as food instead of her master. Sissy nearly eats Willy since Willy is unused to walking like a sparrow, but Willy’s younger sister, Tonya, saves him and puts him outside his window. Willy meets two other young sparrows, Red and T.J., who consult an elder sparrow named Cipur to teach Willy to fly. The three sparrows carry the flightless Willy to safety, escaping an incoming attack from a persistent, hungry Sissy.
Meanwhile, Sparina and Sissy both seek Willy.
In Cipur's nest, inside an attic, Cipur tells Willy that he wants to read and write like a human because human knowledge and technology fascinates him, but he keeps this secret in fear of the other sparrows shunning him. Cipur bargains to teach Willy how to fly if Willy teaches Cipur how to read. During the flying lesson, Sissy finds Willy and Cipur and attacks. Before she can eat Willy, Cipur intervenes and lures an angry Sissy atop the roof where he traps her head under a ceiling hatch. Guarding Willy, Cipur teaches him how to fly. Willy, in return, teaches Cipur how to read and write. One day, when Cipur goes to find food, Willy decides to leave the attic and explore the outer world after learning how to properly fly. He flies to the park and joins a young sparrow flock, which Red leads. They show Willy the barn that they once owned until Blackie, a big, black cat, overtook it.
The young sparrow flock, including Willy, flies across the city to the barn, unaware that Sissy was trailing them. Inside the barn, Willy sees a mouse waking Blackie and alerting him about the sparrows in the barn. Blackie attacks the sparrows and nearly eats one of them, named Amy. Willy, not leaving his new friend, drops a light bulb onto Blackie's head—distracting him long enough for Amy to flee the scene. After Willy escapes from the barn, Sissy appears. She becomes acquainted with Blackie, and since they both share a taste for sparrows, they want to eat Willy.
Willy flies to his apartment and writes a note to his worried family that he is fine and that he will soon return home. Willy then returns to Cipur's nest, but finds Cipur mad at him for not telling Cipur about an item called “The Elixir of Knowledge”. Willy is confused and does not know about this “elixir”, but Cipur both verbally and physically expels Willy from the nest, and then flies from his nest. Willy follows Cipur to a bar, and learns that he has been drinking alcohol with two rats who have convinced him that the alcohol will give him knowledge. The alcohol, however, only intoxicates Cipur and worsens his condition. Willy quickly returns Cipur to his nest, but Cipur still is mad at Willy for leaving him. Willy sadly leaves the nest and sees Amy flying to him. Willy flies to Amy and she tells him that Red is mad at Willy because he thinks Willy woke Blackie. Willy and Amy then settle into an indoor roof nest to seek shelter from a storm.
The next morning, Willy and Amy return to the park to find their friends, who all await them, only to see an angry Red. T.J. says that Willy must lose two feathers as punishment. When Willy refuses to take punishment, Red angrily fights Willy to make him submit. Willy, however, used to fighting as a human boy, easily beats Red and is made the flock’s leader. Sparina and Sissy find Willy, but Willy does not yet want to turn back into a boy until he helps his new friends. Willy then leads the flock back to the barn, with Sparina and Sissy trailing them.
Under Willy's leadership, the sparrows silence and bind the mouse who worked with Blackie, and then bind a sleeping Blackie in a sneak attack. The sparrows start eating the grain, but Sissy arrives at the barn ahead of the Sparina and frees Blackie. Blackie fights the sparrows and knocks them unconscious, and Sissy catches them and places them onto a sheet to prepare to eat them, eventually leaving only Willy to fight Blackie. Cipur then comes and helps Willy fight Blackie, but Blackie subdues them both and tries to eat them. Sparina saves Willy and Cipur via repeatedly hitting Blackie with a broom, permanently driving him from the barn.
Sparina wants to turn Willy back into a boy so that he can return to his home where his family is worried about him. Willy, however, refuses to be turned back into a human and would rather stay a sparrow if Cipur is not also turned into a human. Sparina then grants Willy to be the Sparrow Guardian. With little hesitation, Willy accepts. Sparina uses her magic spray to turn both Willy and Cipur into humans. The retired Sparina joins Cipur, who now wants to learn more about the human world, for something to eat. As Sparina and Cipur leave the barn together, Cipur reminds Willy that people never stop learning.
Willy, and the reconciled Sissy, walk home—and the young sparrow flock follows them.
Kyle Dunamis, the adventurous son of Stahn and Rutee, lives at an orphanage run by Rutee. With the orphanage on the brink of bankruptcy, Kyle defies his mother to go on a quest to search for funds, together with his best friend Loni. Finding a giant Lens, a mysterious girl named Reala emerges from it, claiming to be in search of a hero. Believing that he should become a hero like his parents, he follows Reala so he can prove himself as such. Finding the Lens missing, officials from the Order of Atamoni arrest Kyle and Lori for its theft. They escape with the help of the masked swordsman Judas. After this, Kyle becomes embroiled in the attempts by a man named Barbatos Goetia to kill those who accompanied his parents, eventually learning that Barbatos also killed Stahn when Kyle was five. During his quest, a series of Lens thefts is orchestrated by Elrane, the Holy Woman of the Order of Atamoni who is capable of performing miracles using Lens and seeks to bring happiness to the world through uniting it under a single religion.
During a great theft of Lens, Elrane attacks the group directly, sending them ten years into the future. In this period, the world is beset by conflict between the Order of Atamoni and factions wanting independence from its control. During their travels there, they are joined by Nanaly Fletch. While in this time period, Reala becomes conflicted about who she is, and the group encounters a figure known as the Goddess Fortuna. During this encounter, it is revealed that Elrane and Reala are avatars of Fortuna, designed to save the world and bring happiness to humanity in different ways. Due to her unstable emotions, Reala accidentally transports Nanaly into their time. Feeling guilty because of this, Reala confronts Elrane alone and is captured. Traveling to the ship where the stolen Lens is stored, the group confront Barbatos and Elrane, successfully defeating them and saving Reala. During this confrontation, they learn that "Judas" is in fact the resurrected Leon, who was brought back to life by Elrane just as Barbatos was, but rebelled against her when he knew her full plan.
However, their efforts result in the destruction of the ship, and Reala uses the energy of the Lens to send them through time again. They appear in an alternate timeline where the War of Heaven and Earth was won by the underground dwellers, and Barbatos and Elrane are hailed as saviors. Traveling back to the time of the War, when the initial interference was caused, they ally with Harold Belselius to return history to its proper state. While they are successful and Barbatos is felled, Elrane continues to distort history in her favor. Confronting her one last time, she is defeated, then they are confronted by Fortuna. Defeating her, the group realize that the only way to correct the distorted timeline is to destroy the Lens that forms Fortuna's life source, which will mean Reala will be erased from history. When Reala comes to terms with this and gives her blessing, Kyle destroys Fortuna's Lens, which erases all the changes wrought by her agents and returns the timeline to its original state, sending everyone back to their original times and conditions. In the corrected timeline, Kyle, now raised and trained by both Stahn and Rutee, goes on a journey to the temple where he first met Reala. While her Lens is missing, Kyle's strong will succeeds in bringing Reala back into existence and restoring his memories of her.
''Tales of Rebirth'' is set in a world where humans (called Huma) and beast people (Gajuma) coexist in relative peace. The world's magical power is called Force, which manifests in various people as control over an element or aspect of the physical laws. In ancient times, after a war sparked when Huma attempted to enslave Gajuma, both races joined forces to found the kingdom of Karegia. An unspecified time before the events of the game, Geyorkias, the ruler of a spirit race called the Sacred Beasts, sought to destroy the Huma as their dark emotions were fueling a primordial destructive force known as Yuris: the other Sacred Beasts put a stop to Geyorkias' plan by sealing him away, then acting to nullify Yuris' threat. The story opens with the death of Karegia's king, Ladras Lindblum, poisoned by the royal adviser Zilva Madigan: during his final moments, he releases his power into the world, causing many humans to become possessed by Force, including Veigue, Annie and Tytree. As the king has failed to name a successor, Karegia enters an interregnum at his death.
During the initial unleashing of the king's power, Veigue's Force of Ice goes out of control, causing his friend Claire to become imprisoned in an ice pillar. One year after this, Veigue is contacted by Eugene and Mao, who help free Claire from the ice pillar. Shortly after this, Claire is taken away by agents of Agarte, who is searching for the most beautiful Huma woman in the land. Veigue heads out with Eugene and Mao to rescue Claire, eventually joining forces with Annie, Tytree and Hilda. Upon reaching the royal capital of Balka, the group find Agarte using her Force of the Moon to resurrect Geyorkias in the belief that the spirit will save her kingdom from the chaos consuming it, having been prompted by Zilva. When summoned, Geyorkias declares his intent to destroy the Huma population, forcing the group to attack and destroy his physical form. With Geyorkias gone and Claire rescued, the group part ways, but are brought back together as outbreaks of racial violence from both Huma and Gajuma begin destabilizing Karegia, caused by the hatred the summoned Geyorkias released after his defeat. To quell the violence, the group decide to summon the other Sacred Beasts in the hope of purging Geyorkias' hatred from the land. After rescuing Agarte from a Huma mob, it is revealed that Agarte switched bodies with Claire. In the aftermath, Agarte reveals that she originally captured Claire so she could switch bodies and realize her love for her bodyguard Milhaust, as relations between Huma and Gajama are taboo. Unfortunately, the trauma of events has caused Agarte to lose her Force abilities, leaving Claire and Agarte trapped in each other's bodies.
After reviving the Sacred Beasts, the hatred is purged, but the racial tensions remain. Veigue begins to have difficulty in dealing with Claire's condition, and his cold attitude causes her to leave with Milhaust. Eventually, Veigue opens up to the rest of the group and overcomes his difficulties. As the continuing negative feelings of Karegia's population are starting to damage the world, the group decide to revive Georgyas again and bring him round to their way of thinking. At Geyorkias' resting place, Zilva appears and reveals herself as the mastermind behind the incidents, declaring that she will use Geyorkias to destroy the Humas and create a Gajuma-ruled kingdom. After her defeat, the party revive Geyorkias: he in turn reveals that the force influencing Zilva and spreading hatred was in fact Yuris, and that Yuris has become a threat to the world. The group travel to confront Yuris, but are initially sapped of strength by its negative emotions. The growing positive emotions of the people of Karegia as the racial disputes fade give them the strength to destroy Yuris' core. Agarte then recovers her Force, returns herself and Claire to their original bodies, and summons the Sacred Beasts to destroy Yuris. The effort costs Agarte her life, and she leaves Karegia in Milhaust's charge and reveals her love for him before dying. The group then go their separate ways to resolve the remaining conflicts in the land.
''Tales of the Abyss'' takes place on , a planet composed of elementary particles called . For much of Auldrant's history, only six fonons were known to exist, representing the elements of Shadow, Earth, Wind, Water, Fire and Light; but eventually a seventh fonon, controlling Sound, is discovered. Its discovery brings great chaos: using this newest Seventh Fonon allows one to read the future. One such Seventh Fonist, Yulia Jue, an important religious figure in the game, puts in place a future for the world for thousands of years to come, with the promise of unlimited prosperity at its end. This prophecy of the future's set path becomes known as the "Score" and is documented on "Fonstones" scattered throughout the world. The nations of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear and Malkuth have fought over the fragments of these tablets for generations, each uncovering them and hoping to discover the future before the other. Meanwhile, a holy order emerges dedicated to the reading of the Score and the keeping of the peace. This is headed by a Fon Master and maintains both religious/political and military branches. Finally, the Score and its promise of prosperity lead to a dangerous complacency within the general population of Auldrant; the slaughter of an entire people living on the island of Hod and the destruction of that landmass was countenanced because it was predicted in the Score.
Luke fon Fabre is a teenager who has been held in his manor for years by his uncle, the King of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, after being kidnapped and started suffering amnesia. As Luke's teacher and the Commandant of the Oracle Knight, Van, has to leave to search for the Fon Master Ion, a proud woman known as Tear Grants tries to kill him. As Luke intervenes, the Seventh Fonons in the two individuals' bodies react causing a hyperresonance, a reaction that sends the two flying to a land faraway. Tear then decides to escort Luke back to the manor in Kimlasca-Lanvaldear. However, the duo finds themselves in Malkuth. The two meet Fon Master Ion as well as Colonel Jade Curtiss from the Malkuth forces who informs them of an impending war. Jade requires Luke's status as a noble to convince the King of Kimlasca to stop his forces and prevent the war.
As Luke's group heads back to Kimlasca, they are aided by Fon Master Guardian Anise and Luke's servant Guy Cecil. Luke learns that Tear is Van's younger sister, who suspects Van of scheming to threaten the world. They also encounter the members from the Oracle Knights with one of them, Asch, sharing an extreme resemblance to Luke. In Kimlasca, Luke, Jade and Ion inform the King of their worries. Luke is then made an ambassador and is sent to Akzeriuth to help the people who are being poisoned by miasma. Van tells Luke he can neutralize the miasma by using his own hyperresonance which the King has been aware of to use him as a weapon. Luke decides to follow his master's plan. However, in Akzeriuth the hyperresonance destroys the land's Sephiroth tree, making the entire town be consumed by the miasma.
Blaming Luke for his actions, Asch also reveals Luke is the result of fomicry, a replica based on the real Luke fon Fabre: Asch. As Luke's friends abandon him for what he did to Akzeriuth, Luke starts detesting his current form and makes a promise to Tear to change for the best. He then starts working with Jade to protect the people of St. Binah whose town is also collapsing like Akzeriuth. In order to prevent more of these collapses, the group takes advantage of Luke's hyperresonance skills to move the land to the subarea, the Qliphoth. In the meantime, they are opposed by Van's forces except Asch who is against his master's wishes of a new world populated by replicas in order to go against the score. After making a peace treaty between Kimlasca and Malkuth, Luke's group defeats Van who falls to the Planet's Core.
A month after Van's defeat and moving the world population to the Qliphoth, the miasma starts affecting mankind. Additionally, a large number of replicas start appearing. Luke and Asch learn from the spirit of the Seventh Fonon, Lorelei, that Van has survived and took it. Grand Maestro Mohs from the Order of Lorelei forces Ion to read the Planet Score, killing him in the process. Mohs then forms the New Order of Lorelei with the Oracle Knights who are awaiting Van's return. Jade reveals that the miasma can be neutralized through a hyperresonance that sacrifices a large amount of lives. The replicas offer themselves in exchange that the rest of their kind are given home. Luke offers himself to perform the hyperresonance and although the plan is a success, Luke is left with little time to live.
The group then heads to confront the New Order of Lorelei who wish to follow Van's will. In confronting the remaining God Generals, Asch dies while helping Luke to reach Van. The group defeats Van who had sealed Lorelei inside his right arm and kill him. As the area starts collapsing, Luke decides to stay behind to free Lorelei. Two years later, he reappears to meet Tear and the rest of his friends.
Set in the Stone Age, Ishbo is the younger son of Mookoo, the leader of a tribe of cavemen. Ishbo is smarter than most of his tribesmen, but awkward and nerdy, living in the shadow of his much more physically impressive brother Thudnik. He hopes to use his superior intellect to become an inventor and raise his tribe above simple sticks and stones, but due to a combination of the flimsy materials available to him and the lack of support from his tribe they always fail. Ishbo also has had a lifelong crush on his childhood friend, Fardart. Much to his dismay, immediately after he finally expresses his love to her she is "clubbed" by Thudnik (and all that follows in the tradition of caveman stereotypes), and eventually married to him. Ishbo himself has never clubbed a woman, having his heart set on Fardart his whole life.
After Fardart is betrothed to Thudnik, Ishbo begins to believe that he will never club a woman. He at first is too attached to her to consider clubbing another woman, and is further discouraged after a particularly ill-fated attempt at clubbing. Ishbo becomes quite depressed, a feeling which is escalated by his failure to prove useful on a mammoth hunt. He falls into a large pile of mammoth dung, then is eaten by the mammoth, and eventually excreted (or extracted – the scene itself appears as a series of animated cave drawings) from the mammoth when it is finally killed by the rest of the tribesmen.
During an attempt on Mookoo's life, it is revealed that their rival tribe, the Binadraks, are planning on attacking them shortly. They train for battle but are bested by their enemies, who kill Mookoo and carry off Fardart, who disguised herself as a man to take part in the fight. Thudnik orders a retreat and they return to their home cave, which they decide to abandon in favour of finding a new home. Unable to convince the rest of the tribe to stay and fight, Ishbo decides to set out to avenge his father and rescue Fardart on his own. Thudnik declares him an enemy and swears to kill him if he sees him again.
On the way he gets lost, sees a vision of his father, and stumbles upon a tribe of Amazon cavewomen, who first plan to kill him but are then impressed by his stance against clubbing of women. His reward is freedom, but only if he agrees to impregnate all the Amazons, starting with their Queen. He is at first eager to do so, however he is unable to perform the task as his heart still belongs to Fardart. Offended that he has turned down a "gift" which many men have died trying to achieve, they chase him from their lands with spears.
Eventually he reaches the cave of the Binadrak tribe and spots Fardart. Surprisingly, she does not wish to be rescued, as her captors have supplied her with fine furs, plentiful food, and an attractive bone necklace. The tribe then rises up and chases after him, whereupon they meet the Amazon tribe and eventually his own tribe, who both join in the chase. The three groups together eventually chase him off the edge of a cliff, where he delivers a thoughtful monologue to the audience before reaching the ground, and his death.
The final scene is in a modern museum, where a group of school children are being given a guided tour. The guide reaches their caveman exhibit, featuring a life-sized "model" of Ishbo, where she explains how with fossils, they have been able to reconstruct the prehistoric cave man and discover how he looked in his life: in her words, "short and fat". However after she leaves Ishbo addresses the audience again, for the last time.
Rafi is a recently divorced, 37-year-old career woman from Manhattan who becomes romantically involved with David, a talented 23-year-old painter from the Upper West Side. Rafi shares all her secrets with her therapist Lisa who, unbeknownst to Rafi, is David's mother. Lisa is supportive of Rafi's relationship with a younger man before she learns who he is, discovers the connection and finds herself not only faced with the ethical and moral dilemma of counselling David's girlfriend, but also the reality that she feels differently about the relationship now that she knows her son is involved. Lisa consults her own therapist, and they decide that it is in the best interest of her patient Rafi for Lisa to continue treatment, as long as the relationship remains the "fling" it appears to be.
However, Lisa soon realizes that the relationship is serious, and tells Rafi that she is David's mother. Feeling embarrassed and betrayed, Rafi ends her treatment with Lisa. Their differences causing problems between them, Rafi and David break up. A couple of weeks later, David is enjoying a night on the town with his best friend Morris; David gets drunk and ends up sleeping with Sue, Rafi's friend from work. The same day, after bumping into each other at the supermarket and going back to David's place, David and Rafi start seeing each other again. They also try to make the relationship stronger by going to a Friday night dinner with David's family. The rift between Rafi and Lisa is patched up, although Rafi brings up the possibility of her and David having children, to which Lisa reacts strongly. A few days later, Rafi discovers that David had slept with Sue, and David and Rafi fight. After sulking for some time, David goes to seek Lisa's help as both his mother and as a therapist. She advises him to do what he can to keep the relationship, because it was through Rafi that Lisa was able to understand David's career as an artist. David goes back to Rafi to apologize and offer to give her a child because that is what she wants the most. At first, Rafi accepts his apology. They fall into bed together, and Rafi realizes how deep David's love must be for him to make such a sacrifice—he is so much younger than she is, and having a child at his age will more than likely negatively impact his art career. Somehow, she convinces him that love is not enough to keep a relationship going, and they break up.
A year later, David and Morris are seen leaving the first restaurant where he and Rafi had their first proper date. Going back to retrieve his forgotten hat, David spots Rafi but she does not see him; he gets his hat, rushes out the door, and hides. He defrosts the glass a bit to watch her, and she turns around and sees him. They share a smile before parting.
The visual novel ''Muv-Luv'' is divided into two parts. The first part, titled ''Muv-Luv Extra'', features playable character Takeru Shirogane (voiced by Takeshi Aiba in the Windows version and Soichiro Hoshi in ports) who wakes up one morning to find a beautiful young woman sleeping in his bed, just as an infuriated Sumika Kagami (voiced by Hiroko Taguchi, credited as Rika Fujiwara in the Windows version), Takeru's neighbor and childhood friend, comes to wake him up that morning. The young woman, Meiya Mitsurugi (voiced by Aki Okuda in the Windows version and Kazumi Okushima in ports), is the heiress to a financially powerful family and is determined to be Takeru's bride. As the story progresses, both girls compete for Takeru's affections while Takeru has recurring dreams about a marriage promise he made to a girl long ago. At first, he believes the girl was Sumika, but eventually realizes that it was actually Meiya. At the conclusion, Takeru must choose between which of the girls he truly loves. In addition, the player may also make decisions to choose between one of the three girls in the main supporting cast: Chizuru Sakaki (voiced by Masayo Kurata), Miki Tamase (voiced by Hitomi), and Kei Ayamine (voiced by Nagashima Yuuko).
The second part, ''Muv-Luv Unlimited'', starts with Takeru Shirogane waking up in his bed, reminiscent of the start of ''Muv-Luv Extra''; however, Takeru quickly realizes that neither Meiya nor Sumika come to wake him that morning. Upon leaving his house, he finds his neighborhood destroyed and Sumika's house crushed under the wreckage of a large mecha. Takeru later learns that he is in an alternate world to ''Extra'', where aliens called BETA (an acronym for "'''B'''eings of '''E'''xtra '''T'''errestrial origin which are '''A'''dversary of the human race") have invaded and mankind fights back against the alien aggressors with mecha called usually referred to in Japanese as simply .
''Muv-Luv Unlimited'' explains that the BETA first arrived on Earth in 1973 (in China and Canada) after arriving on the Moon in 1967 and being spotted on Mars in 1958. Subsequent battles with BETA resulted in the global population dropping to 2.4 billion with most of mainland Eurasia having been lost by the time the game starts in 2001. Most of the major characters from the ''Extra'' timeline are present in ''Unlimited'', notably excluding the ''Unlimited'' world's Takeru, who is said to be dead, and Sumika, who does not seem to exist in the ''Unlimited'' timeline. The characters are mostly identical to their ''Extra'' counterparts, with the notable exception of Yoroi, Takeru's best friend in Extra who, for reasons unclear, is a girl in this reality.
In the sequel ''Muv-Luv Alternative'', Takeru wakes up three years after the beginning of ''Unlimited'' to find himself back in his room. Although he first thinks that the events of ''Muv-Luv Unlimited'' were a dream, he soon feels that something is wrong, and leaves the house to find that he has been sent back in time to the beginning of the events in ''Unlimited''. Unwilling to accept the events at the end of ''Unlimited'', he decides to help professor Kouzuki save the Earth and mankind by bringing the mysterious Alternative IV plan — cancelled at the end of ''Unlimited'' — to fruition.
Suh Jung plays the mute Hee-jin, who operates a fishing resort, where she rents out small floating cottages and ferries her customers back and forth between land and the floats, controlling the only means of transport around. She also dispassionately takes care of her customers' needs by selling supplies, providing prostitutes from a local dabang or occasionally acting as one herself. However, when a man running from the law, Hyun-shik (Kim Yu-seok), comes to the resort, a bond starts to form between them.
At the start of the film, Hyun-shik arrives at the resort and is ferried to his float by Hee-jin. There is nothing unusual about their business relationship from the onset, but eventually Hee-jin is intrigued by Hyun-shik's obviously troubled past. When visiting his float one time, Hee-jin still resists Hyun-shik's forceful advances but does call in a prostitute to service him. Hyun-shik, however, only wants companionship from the prostitute and a relationship starts to form between them.
The two developing relationships between Hyun-shik and the prostitute and Hyun-shik and Hee-jin move the plot. Hee-jin looks after Hyun-shik, even saving him from two suicide attempts, the second one accomplished gruesomely by swallowing a string of fish hooks. The prostitute continues to take more and more time off her schedule to visit Hyun-shik, oblivious to his troubles and eventually Hee-jin becomes jealous. During one visit, Hee-jin ferries the prostitute to an empty float instead of Hyun-shik's, ties her up and duct tapes her mouth shut, which eventually leads to her death as she falls into the water. The next morning Hee-jin finds her drowned and submerges her body tied to her motorbike. The prostitute's pimp, who comes to find out what's happening, falls in the water after a fight with Hyun-shik. Hee-jin appears in the water and kills the pimp. He is then submerged near the prostitute.
After the murders, Hyun-shik's and Hee-jin's relationship stalls. Hyun-shik wants to leave the resort, but Hee-jin, who controls the only boat won't let him. When he attempts to swim out, Hee-jin has to save him and take him back to his float. Hyun-shik takes the boat and is set to leave. Hee-jin apparently attempts suicide in an effort to stop him by stuffing fish hooks into her vagina and falling into the water. This time it's Hyun-shik's turn to save her, by reeling her in with the still attached hooks.
Hyun-shik and Hee-jin continue their troubled relationship. A prostitute accidentally kicks a man's Rolex into the water, infuriating him. He calls divers to have them retrieve the watch. The divers discover the bodies of the prostitute and the pimp while Hee-jin and Hyun-shik wordlessly take off on his float. The film concludes in enigmatic fashion.
A young lady named Sun-hwa is sitting on a bench when an unusual man comes and sits by her side. She realizes that he is constantly looking at her and walks away, irritated. Her boyfriend comes and while they are talking, the silent man grabs and forcefully kisses her. Her boyfriend tries to pull him away to no avail. When he stops, the woman demands an apology. He starts walking and some soldiers among the crowd that gathered due to the spectacle beat and restrain him. The woman insults him and spits on his face. He remains silent.
Later, the woman is shopping in a bookstore where we see her tear a page from an art book about Egon Schiele she cannot afford to buy. She notices a wallet left on a book beside her and furtively tucks it into her purse, not knowing that it was planted by an associate of the man who kissed her. She hides in the toilet, takes all the money out of the wallet and leaves the store. She is accosted by the owner of the wallet, who demands his stolen wallet, claiming it had 10 million won (the rough equivalent of ) in it. As the wallet didn't contain that much money she is unable to give it to him, and he proposes a solution – a loan secured on her face and body. After a short time, she is unable to pay the loan shark and is at this point conveniently rescued by the silent man.
She is forcefully taken to a small brothel where she is to work, never leaving until her debt is paid.
She asks the madam for permission to see her boyfriend so that she can give her virginity to him, but when the boyfriend does not respond, the silent man attacks the boyfriend in their car. Adjustment to her new life is hard and her innocence is quickly taken away. The silent man, a pimp enforcer named Han-gi, watches her through the one-way mirror installed in her room. When she later sees him and recognizes him, she realized that he is the one who trapped her in this life and she attacks him.
One of the silent man's fellow pimps also develops a crush on the woman, paying to sleep with her and apologizing for ruining her life. She convinces him to help her escape, then he pulls the iron bars from her window and she sneaks away. Her freedom is short-lived, however, as the silent man finds her (through ingenious use of a T-shirt) and seizes her, taking her back to the brothel. First, though, he takes her to a beach, where they witness a woman committing suicide by drowning. In the sand the woman finds a torn-up photograph.
Back in the brothel the woman reconstructs the photo, taping it to her mirror; she has all of the pieces except the faces of the couple it depicts.
An attack by a rival nearly kills the silent man, but when he returns from the hospital he forbids any retaliation. One of his men kills his attacker anyway; Han-gi confesses to the police to save the man from execution. But the man for whom he has taken a fall is consumed by guilt and commits a crime so that he can be sent to the same prison. On the scheduled day of execution he escapes from his cell, finds the silent man, attacks him viciously, hen confesses everything to the guards, winning his boss's release.
Eventually the woman realizes that she is being spied upon in her room, smashing the mirror to reveal the silent man. It is revealed that the faces of the couple in the photograph are those of Han-gi and Sun-hwa. Han-gi pays the debt of the woman and she decides to stay with him, selling herself to fishermen in the back of a truck to earn them money. The film ends with them sitting by the waterfront, and then driving away, while the Swedish hymn "Blott en dag", written by Lina Sandell, is sung in Swedish in the background by Carola Häggkvist.
In 1906, Professor Sir Alexander Saxton, a British anthropologist, is returning to Europe by the Trans-Siberian Express from Shanghai to Moscow. With him is a crate containing the frozen remains of a primitive humanoid that he discovered in a cave in Manchuria. He hopes it is a missing link in human evolution. Doctor Wells, Saxton's friendly rival and Geological Society colleague, is also waiting to board. Also waiting is Polish Count Marion Petrovski and his wife, Countess Irina. With the couple is their spiritual advisor, an Eastern Orthodox monk named Father Pujardov, who proclaims to Saxton that the contents of the crate is evil. Additional passengers include Inspector Mirov and a squad of soldiers.
Saxton‘s eagerness to keep his scientific findings secret arouses the suspicion of Wells, who bribes a porter to investigate the crate. The porter is killed by the defrosted humanoid within, who escaped the crate after picking the lock and kills several more passengers. Wells performs an autopsy and deduces that the creature absorbs the skills and memories of its victims. When the humanoid is gunned down by Mirov, the threat seems to have been eliminated. Saxton and Wells discover that the real threat is a formless extraterrestrial that inhabited the body of the humanoid. Unknown to them, the creature has transferred itself into Mirov.
The extraterrestrial has been stranded on Earth for millions of years. It kills passengers with specific knowledge that could help it build a new spaceship. Eventually, Kozak Captain Kazan stabs and shoots Mirov. With Mirov dying, Pujardov, believing the creature to be Satan and having pledged allegiance to it prior, allows it to possess him. The passengers flee to the brake van while the alien murders Kazan, his men, and the Count. Saxton, having discovered the creature cannot use its powers when it is exposed to light, blinds it. The alien bargains with Saxton, tempting him with its advanced knowledge of technology and cures for diseases. When Saxton refuses, it resurrects all its victims as zombies, and has them attack Saxton.
Saxton and the countess fight their way through the train until they reach the van, where the other survivors have taken refuge. Saxton and Wells uncouple the van from the rest of the train containing the alien. Kazan's superiors send a telegram to a dispatch station ahead, instructing them to destroy the train by sending it down a siding overlooking a gorge. The survivors watch as the train crashes down the gorge and goes up in flames.
In 1989, U.S. Army Supply Specialist (SPC) Ray Elwood is a disillusioned enlisted soldier stationed in Stuttgart, West Germany. With much spare time, he participates in black marketeering and cooking heroin for several corrupt Military Police (MPs) led by the menacing Sergeant Saad. His firm yet empathic Commanding Officer, Colonel Berman, thinks of SPC Elwood as a close friend and has no idea he's stealing Brigade Command supplies and having an affair with his wife. However, Elwood's uneventful existence changes when a new First Sergeant (“Top” / 1SG), Robert E. Lee, joins the Brigade's supply company. Lee is a Vietnam combat veteran who presents a strict and intimidating demeanor, quickly determining that Elwood and his squad are engaged in graft and other criminal activities.
A three-man Army tank crew, under the strong influence of the heroin that Elwood cooked for the MPs, unintentionally kills two soldiers in charge of a weapons truck convoy by inadvertently crashing through a gas station's fuel pumps and detonating them. Elwood stumbles across the trucks, discovers and steals the weapons, and hides them in medical equipment boxes stored at a missile base. When later harassed by Lee for his extravagant barracks room, Elwood's attempt at bribery backfires; Lee subsequently revokes Elwood's privileges, destroys his property, and orders a new, inexperienced and by-the-book Soldier, PFC Knoll, to bunk in his room. To get back at Lee, Elwood begins a sexual relationship with his daughter, Robyn. Lee retaliates by making Elwood destroy his beloved Mercedes-Benz with an M60 machine gun during a live-fire weapons exercise. Lee also boobytraps a locker that is used to hide heroin with a grenade that kills Stoney, one of Elwood's friends.
Elwood sells the stolen weapons to a Turkish gangster, accepting a large amount of raw opium as payment. However, to save Knoll from being killed by Saad in a fight, Elwood is forced to make Saad a business partner in cooking the opium. In order to get the weapons out of the missile base and collect the drugs, Elwood sells out Berman so a competing Infantry Regiment can easily capture their positions during a mobilization/defense operations exercise. Later, Berman reluctantly tells Elwood he has been relieved from Brigade Command but this has given him time to reflect — he'll retire from the Army and buy a vineyard in California.
On 9 November, the night the Berlin Wall comes down, Elwood sneaks to the base swimming pool to meet Robyn while the opium is being cooked by his squad and the MPs. Knoll and Lee arrive. Elwood then discovers Knoll is actually an undercover 2nd Lieutenant from the Inspector General's Office and Criminal Investigation Division. While Knoll escorts Robyn away, she tells him her father intends to kill Elwood, something Knoll as a professional officer cannot allow. Meanwhile, Saad, intoxicated by the overwhelming opium fumes, provokes a shootout with Special Forces commandos sent to arrest everyone in the drug lab. Upstairs, just as Knoll prevents Lee at gunpoint from pushing Elwood out of a top-floor window, the building explodes from a growing gas leak and increasing heat generated by weapons fire. Elwood and Lee are blown out of the building's top floor by the massive impact. Elwood strangles Lee with his handcuffs and lands on top of him, surviving the fall.
In the aftermath, the Army's top commanders posthumously award Lee a Silver Star and also decorate Elwood, who is transferred to a new assignment in Hawaii. He tells his new commanding officer, who is just as dull-witted as Colonel Berman, that Robyn remains his girlfriend and she will be visiting soon. The film ends with Elwood submitting a requisition order for more excessive supplies.
The first few episodes deal with establishing the characters and setting. The two rivaling tribes of the forest; the warrior Barbs, led by the headstrong Zora, and the farmer Ants, led by the religious and peaceful Faygar, both live in fear of two things: the machines, and the Privileged, a power-hungry tribe led by the equally power-hungry Flame, who is assisted by his advisor Harmony, and warrior leader Shadow.
An outsider named Sky finds his way into the Barb tribe; he doesn't know where he came from, and his memory is messed up. He quickly makes friends there. An Ant whose name is Dan meets the Barb tribe, and decides he wants to be Barb, and not an Ant. Later, the Privs attack the Barb tribe, but Flame is defeated by Sky, and runs away.
During this time, Flame has also let one of the Discarded (the Privileged's slaves) become a Priv. Her name is Gwyn.
Following the attack, the Barbs and the Ants decide they must work together; they join forces, and decide, to avoid argument, that Sky must lead the tribes that are now working together. They make their base in the Ant tribe, and despite a few arguments, are willing to try to get along.
Flame sends Gwyn out as a spy to the tribes. She pretends to be an escaped Discard; she meets Dan, who is actually her brother. Despite her brother being there, she stays loyal to Flame and gives him crucial information. When she is going back to Privs (the Ants and Barbs don't know she's a spy yet) she asks Dan to come with her. He says no, and she goes back on her own.
With the new information, Flame kidnaps Faygar and Sky when they are out on a patrol. The Ants and Barbs are devastated about this, and Zora takes lead of the tribes.
Shadow and Harmony both are starting to get sick of Flame's selfishness, and they begin to scheme against him. Eventually, Flame and the Ant/Barbs decide a way to settle their differences: a game of passball (which is similar to the game Rugby). The Privs narrowly lose, and Harmony overthrows Flame, and Flame is taken by the Ant/Barbs and is kept prisoner. Although Harmony promised they would work together, she betrays Shadow and Discards him.
Faygar and Sky escape from the Discards: so does Shadow, and we don't see him again for the rest of the series (fans think he met with the 'Bird' tribe, see below). The tribes are overjoyed with the return of Faygar and Sky. Faygar and Zora have a few arguments, but then decide to share leadership of the tribe. Flame is set free, although he must work like the rest of the Ants and Barbs. Sky and Dan, out on a patrol, find a strange young boy, but it seems he can't speak. They take him back to the tribe and let him do what he wants.
Harmony needs a personal assistant. She chooses Gwyn. Although it seems like Gwyn is Harmony's slave at first, they soon become good friends. Very close, in fact. A mysterious Bird tribe comes and meets the Privs. It seems they want to trade. Harmony tells them they will meet with Zora and Faygar to discuss trading.
Eventually, they do meet at a meeting. Harmony realises the tribes have more in common than they thought, and it's as if they suddenly become friends. Except for the rude Bird tribe, who soon leave. Harmony also realises that friends are more important than power, and hands the throne back to Flame, who has also changed, and decides to free the Discards. The Privs say they hope they get to have more nights like this. Gwyn thinks about staying with her brother, but decides to stay with Privs, knowing that they'll get to see each other again soon.
After the meeting, the Birds come back to the Ant camp. It turns out the stranger who came to their tribe was their leader's brother. The Bird tribe came to take the boy back. Sky asks why he doesn't talk, and the leader says, "He only talks about things he likes." (The boy only had two lines in the show "Only the Prototype" and "BROTHER!". This means he likes his brother, and the machines). The 4 tribes now seem unified. The Birds leave, and the cast members of the Ant and Barb tribes stand around in a circle and Faygar says, "I'm sure we'll have many more adventures to come." They put their hands together and say "Yay!" and the credits end.
In a framing story, Leonard Nimoy is hosting a program about alien encounters, and begins the episode by talking about an "encounter" that occurred in Springfield.
Homer tells Lenny and Carl that they should sneak out of work early and start drinking beer. Homer puts in an old tape of them working into the security camera. That night at Moe's, after drinking over 10 beers, a drunken Homer is forced to walk home after taking a breathalyzer test, but takes a wrong path and ends up in the woods. In a clearing, he encounters a glowing, thin-boned alien. Although the alien tells him "Don't be afraid," Homer panics and runs home screaming.
The rest of the family do not believe Homer's story and his attempts to report the alien sighting to the police are dismissed by Chief Wiggum. Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully of the FBI hear of the sighting and go to investigate. After receiving no results from their psychological tests of him, Homer fails to provide any proof that he actually saw an alien. Homer is ridiculed by most of the neighborhood; even Marge refuses to believe in his claims, but Bart admits that he believes Homer. The next Friday night, the pair camp out in the forest. The alien arrives and promises peace, but Homer scares it away when he accidentally steps on their campfire and screams in pain. Bart captures the entire incident on tape.
Nimoy bids the audience goodnight. He is then reminded that the show still has ten minutes left by an off-screen Squeaky-Voiced Teen, at which point he runs to his car and leaves. The Squeaky-Voiced Teen takes over narrating duties.
Following the successful capture of the alien's existence, Homer and Bart present it to the media. Everyone in town finally believes Homer, even knocking on his door and asking Homer questions. During a church lecture, Reverend Lovejoy gets emotional talking about the character E.T. Meanwhile, Lisa maintains that there must be a logical explanation for the alien. Friday comes again and everyone goes to the forest. The alien appears, promising love, but the townspeople begin to riot, and charge at the alien. Lisa and Smithers stop them just in time, showing that the "alien" is actually Mr. Burns. Smithers explains that Burns receives longevity treatment once a week in order to cheat death; this leaves him disoriented, as well as giving him a soft, high-pitched voice as a result of a vocal cord scraping. Back to his normal self, Burns reveals that his green glow is due to many years of working in his nuclear plant. After threatening to bring "fear, famine [and] pestilence" instead of peace and love to the people of Springfield, he is given another booster injection from Dr. Nick. Reverting to his "alien" self, he begins to sing "Good Morning Starshine", with the entire crowd, even a returned Nimoy, Fox, and Dana, joining in.
The Squeaky-Voiced Teen closes the episode by reminding the viewers to "keep watching the skis! I mean skies."
The Joker and the Penguin break out of Arkham, racing to find a stash of stolen money hidden in a crypt at Gotham Cemetery. Joker is quickly intercepted by Batman and is electrocuted when he falls into a river by his super-charged joy buzzers. Penguin enters the cemetery. While searching through a crypt, Penguin accidentally cuts his hand while using his umbrella sword to open a coffin he hopes contains the money, finding a body instead. Blood from his hand drips on the corpse's heart, which brings it to life; it is none other than the vampire king Dracula, his body having been moved from Transylvania to Gotham City after his "death." Penguin is spared from being bitten thanks to a watchman, whom Dracula bites instead; once the watchman revives as a vampire, Dracula hypnotizes Penguin into serving him as his daytime sentinel.
One night, Batman witnesses a vampire attack but decides to put the incident at the back of his mind and, as Bruce Wayne, proceeds to host a corporate party at his manor. Dracula arrives, disguised as cultural anthropologist Dr. "Alucard," claiming to be visiting to study the Batman (believing his legacy influenced Batman's existence), and takes an interest in Vicki Vale, a reporter who is interviewing and dating Bruce. After failing to bite Bruce to quench his thirst, Dracula bites a waiter instead; the new vampire scares Bruce's butler Alfred. Bruce immediately deduces "''Alucard''" is Dracula, and the disappearances of Gotham citizens, who have been dubbed "Lost Ones" by the media, are because they are being turned into vampires. Due to eyewitnesses claiming to see a bat-like figure during the attacks, it is mistakenly reported Batman is the culprit. When Batman goes to Gotham Cemetery to look for Dracula's nest, he is chased down by a SWAT unit, all of whose members are taken by Dracula as they chase him back into the city. During a fight with Batman, Dracula offers to let him join his conquest of Gotham; Batman refuses. Just as Dracula has the Batman at his mercy, the sun rises, and Dracula is forced to retreat, vowing to kill Batman for rejecting his offer.
At the cemetery, Joker reappears alive and well and confronts Penguin. He asks where the treasure is, thinking Penguin has already found it, chasing him into Dracula's tomb. However, despite Penguin's warning not to open Dracula's coffin, Joker ends up "breakfast in bed, freshly-squeezed" for Dracula, much to Penguin's horror. Joker attacks a blood bank, leading to his capture by Batman. While Batman attempts to concoct an antidote from the Joker's infected cellular structure, Alfred discovers that Dracula once had a vampire bride, Carmilla Karnstein, who was killed by sunlight. However, during his research, Bruce stands up an understanding Vicki, who Dracula soon kidnaps. Finally, the Batman cures the Joker of his vampirism and ascertains the location of Dracula's lair in Gotham Cemetery before returning him to Arkham. He then proceeds to mass-produce the vaccine.
Dracula attempts to sacrifice Vicki's soul to reanimate Carmilla. Upon learning Vicki has been kidnapped, Batman rushes to Dracula's lair with his anti-vampirism vaccine and arsenal of weapons, defeating and curing all the "Lost Ones" that attack him in the catacombs beneath Gotham Cemetery. Batman then frees Vicki, disrupting the reanimation ritual. Dracula sends the Penguin to recapture Vicki while he fights Batman, who lures Dracula into the Batcave, where Batman would have the advantage over the vampire. In an attempt to aid his master, Alfred injects Dracula with the anti-vampirism vaccine, but it cannot cure a natural vampire. When Dracula resumes his pursuit, Batman incinerates him with his prototype solar energy storing machine by striking him with the sunlight stored within, reducing Dracula to a pile of ashes and bones with his remains secured by Alfred. This also frees the Penguin from his control, who, while chasing Vicki, finally finds the hidden treasure that caused all the trouble in the first place. Sadly, he is arrested and blamed for Dracula's kidnappings, causing the media to think he was forcing people to find the treasure. Batman is cleared of all charges, and he resumes protecting Gotham.
Several years after the events of ''Silver Fang -The Shooting Star Gin-'', Gin's son is born in the Japanese Alps. After the puppy's mother Sakura dies from an illness, an English Setter named GB pledges to bring him to the Ōu Mountains and reunite him with his father. GB decides to name the pup Weed, after the English word for wild plant, because he is "small but powerful". Upon arriving at Ōu, the pair learn that a monstrous creature is wreaking havoc and Ōu has fallen into turmoil. Gin is away, on a desperate search for his mate. Weed, GB, and other Ōu soldiers meet a team of dogs led by the German shepherd Jerome. Jerome explains that the monster is a mutated dog that escaped from a laboratory after killing several scientists. Weed's group joins them and they succeed in killing the monster, though lose several soldiers in the process, among them Gin's old ally, Smith.
The series then introduces Hōgen and Genba, Great Dane brothers who plan to create an army and overthrow Gin. When Gin and his close friends John and Akame are found by Hōgen and his troops, Akame escapes to alert Ōu, while Gin, John, and Hiro (a dog loyal to Gin) are taken as hostages. John escapes, but is killed while acting as a diversion for Hiro. Akame locates Weed and explains the situation, prompting him to search for dogs to join Ōu's army. Gin escapes and starts recruiting soldiers. Hōgen, alone after having to mercy kill Genba, launches his attack on Ōu. Weed clashes with Hōgen and is injured, but spirits of dead Ōu soldiers appear to give him strength. Weed defeats Hōgen but chooses not to kill him. Hōgen stumbles away and is found by Shōji Sudou, a policeman whose partner was killed by Genba and Hōgen. Shōji shoots and kills Hōgen.
Later, Weed encounters a dog named Yukimura, and learns that a group of monkeys have been terrorizing the area. Leading them is Shōgun, a vicious baboon that feeds on young monkeys and puppies. Shōgun had previously attacked Yukimura and his family, permanently damaging his adopted father Saheiji. Weed, his comrades, Yukimura, and several rebellious monkeys attack Shōgun and his followers. Yukimura is able to injure Shōgun enough to ensure his death, but dies in the process. Saheiji reveals that Yukimura was Weed's brother: Sakura, too sick to care for all of her children, had given two of her puppies to Saheiji to raise as foster sons.
While Jerome is in Hokkaidō, he is captured by a Russian German shepherd named Victor, who aims to conquer the island. Jerome escapes and alerts Hakurō, a former Ōu soldier who resides in Hokkaidō. Hakurō and several of his sons are attacked and killed by Victor's forces. Gin and Weed go to Hokkaidō, but are unable to defeat Victor's troops. Jerome rejoins the Ōu soldiers with Lydia and Maxim, two subordinates of Victor. Angry at Maxim's betrayal, Victor orders a friend of Maxim, Alam, to kill him. Alam feels an intense regret for following orders, but later learns that Maxim survived. Alam decides to drown Victor by dragging him underwater and entangling him in seaweed. With Victor gone, Lydia chooses to stay with Jerome while Maxim and his remaining subordinates swim back to Russia.
While traveling, Weed meets his other brother, Joe. First Joe dislikes Gin for leaving Sakura unattended in the Alps. He is unaware that Sakura had left Ōu under the false impression that Gin was dead, and that Gin had been unaware of Sakura's leaving. Joe explains that a large hybrid bear has attacked and killed his mate, Hitomi. Weed's group joins Joe to defeat the animal. During the battle, GB dies saving Weed, and Weed vows to avenge him. Weed knocks himself and the bear into a river. The bear dies after hitting a floodgate and Weed manages to survive. He returns to Ōu and learns that his mate, Koyuki, is pregnant. Weeks later, she gives birth to four pups.
Partonopeus is represented as having lived in the days of Clovis, king of France. He is seized while hunting in the Ardennes, and carried off to a mysterious castle with invisible inhabitants. Melior, empress of Constantinople, comes to him at night, stipulating that he must not attempt to see her for two and a half years. After successfully fighting against the Saracens, led by Sornegur, king of Denmark, he returns to the castle, armed with an enchanted lantern that breaks the spell. The consequent misfortunes have a happy ending.
The tale had a continuation giving the adventures of Fursin or Anselet, the nephew of Sornegur.
Skizz, an alien interpreter, crash lands on Earth and his ship self-destructs to stop it falling into the wrong hands. He is saved from the military by a young girl called Roxy.
''Note: The following summary is not a definite description of how the adventure may play out, but rather the path most supported in the ''Tempest Feud'' book.''
Regardless of which era the adventure is set in, the heroes are hired by the Hutt Popara of the Anjiliac clan to locate and retrieve his son Mika, who has gone missing. They are either offered the highly sought-after coordinates through the Indrexu Spiral in the Tion Cluster if they work for an organization or a financial reward if they are freelancers. Mika went missing after the planet Endregaad was quarantined by the Corporate Sector Authority following the outbreak of a lethal plague, and has not been heard from since.
The heroes are granted a ship and travel to Endregaad with a shipment of medicinal spice to show Popara’s goodwill toward the Corporate Sector Authority. Upon reaching the Joxin system, where Endregaad is located, the heroes deliver the spice to Lieutenant Commander Angela Krin of the Corporate Sector Authority, but are not allowed to land on the planet. Despite this, they run the blockade and hide their ship on Endregaad. In the planet's capital, Tel Bollin, they learn that a new type of spice called tempest is being sold across the planet. Tempest makes its users fly into berserker rages and is highly addictive. They also meet Orgamon, one of Mika's Nikto bodyguards, who informs them that the Hutt can be found north of the city, in a place called Temple Valley.
The heroes travel to Temple Valley with a caravan of Humans and reach the small community to find that Mika is further to the north, examining a freighter that crashed a matter of weeks ago. Arriving at the scene, the heroes find the lost Hutt and are soon attacked by raiders searching for tempest spice. After defeating their attackers, the heroes run the blockade yet again, and return with Mika to his father, to Popara's great joy and gratitude.
A couple of months after the events in Act One, the heroes are invited to a dinner in Popara’s home on Nar Shaddaa to discuss a few "loose ends" from their adventure on Endregaad. At the banquet, Popara the Hutt asks the heroes to investigate the rising number of tempest addicts in Hutt Space. Popara is later killed from food poisoning as the heroes are talking to him. They are accused of killing the Hutt and escape into the lower levels of Nar Shaddaa. Mika vanishes and Popara's other son, Zonnos, takes over the clan.
In a cantina on Nar Shaddaa, the heroes find Mika and join up with him, and he takes them to see a contact of his—Angela Krin of the Corporate Sector Authority, whom they met in Act One. She has provided them with a cargo skiff to help in their escape from Nar Shaddaa. They are also contacted by Vago the Hutt, Popara's assistant, who doesn’t believe that they killed Popara, and offers them a ship to leave the planet with. When they enter the docking bay, they are attacked by Zonnos's guards. Mika and a couple of the heroes are captured and brought to Zonnos. The remaining heroes manage to escape with the Evocii, a species living in the depths of Nar Shaddaa.
A while later, they find out via a holorecording that their companions are about to be executed, and hurry to Popara’s former home to rescue them. They find that Zonnos is addicted to tempest and fight him and his guards, resulting in the death of Zonnos and the freeing of their companions. Meanwhile, Mika has used his secret Force powers to escape his cell. With Zonnos dead, Mika takes over the clan and thanks the heroes for their help.
Between acts two and three, tempest has spread to all corners of the galaxy and begun corrupting entire urban populations. Roughly two months after the death of Zonnos, the heroes are contacted by Angela Krin, who has found that the Endregaad Plague is very similar to a virus native to Varl, the Hutt homeworld. In addition, if exposed to common spice, the Varl virus turns into tempest spice. Krin suspects that the tempest spice is manufactured on Varl and wants the heroes to investigate the matter for her. She informs the heroes that a ship called ''Barabi Run'' is used for spice shipment to Varl. Krin wants the heroes to capture it and find the tempest's manufacturing plant so that they can destroy it.
The heroes capture ''Barabi Run'' and find out that the manufacturing plant is on Varl. They travel in secret to that planet and locate the plant, which is fact a starship named "Tempest". They manage to rescue Vago the Hutt, who has a neural scrambler attached to the back of his head by Mika. The neural scrambler forces him to obey the commands given to him by one of Popara's Twi'lek Force adepts, who now serves Mika. They proceed to the ship's bridge to find Mika, who explains that he was the mastermind behind the tempest spice all along. The heroes defeat Mika and his guards as ''Tempest'' takes off for a hyperspace jump. Assisted by a couple of their companions left behind to guard the heroes' ship, they manage to destroy the tempest manufacturing ship before it leaves the system, while the heroes on ''Tempest'' escape in escape pods.
Vago the Hutt, free from Mika's captivity, now takes over Popara's former clan himself and thanks the heroes for their help.
The series centers around three protagonists: Grubitsch "Grubbs" Grady, Cornelius "Kernel" Fleck and Bec MacConn. Although they meet each other at various points, they are from separate times; Grubbs lives in the present day, Kernel in the 1970s and Bec in around 450AD. The books detail their fight against the demon master Lord Loss, his many demon familiars and the mysterious Shadow, who promises to destroy the human universe and to even stop death. Together with The Disciples, the main characters attempt to thwart the Demonata from destroying the world.
Dr. Guy Carson is a young scientist and cowboy-at-heart, raised on a southwestern ranch and bored with city life. That is, until the prestigious genetic engineering corporation GeneDyne offers Carson a six-month position as a lab researcher at its Mount Dragon Remote Desert Testing Facility in Jornada del Muerto desert in New Mexico. Carson accepts and soon finds that the Mount Dragon laboratory is testing far more promising and dangerous things than Carson ever expected. Scientists at the facility spend months isolated from the outside world, essentially locked in the guarded facility within a Level 5 containment lab, as they research a vaccine for the influenza virus. With the help of his feisty lab assistant, Susanna Cabeza de Vaca, Carson begins to unlock the mysteries of the spontaneously mutating influenza virus, dubbed “X-FLU”.
Over time, Carson and DeVaca discover that their predecessor Dr. Franklin Burt, was literally driven mad by his time at Mount Dragon and was institutionalized. Burt’s death is not the only one caused by the facility; an emergency quarantine prompted by the contamination of the Level 5 lab by a chimp infected with the deadly X-FLU results in the death of researcher Rosalind Brandon-Smith. Soon, more human harm follows as Carson’s friend and messmate Dr. Andrew Vanderwagon spontaneously punctures his own eye with a fork and attempts to commit suicide and kill others. Through researching Burt’s descent to madness, Carson and DeVaca realize that what occurred with Vanderwagon closely resembled the behavior of Burt toward the end. In fact, everyone at the facility except for Carson and DeVaca begin to display abnormal and erratic behavior that Carson at first presumes is the result of tight quarters or contamination by X-FLU.
However, Carson has an epiphany after conducting further tests on influenza and discovers that what caused the virus to mutate is Burt’s filtering system — a system that was used to filter the artificial blood product PurBlood that GeneDyne is releasing in hospitals across the nation in mere days. Burt’s journal confirms that PurBlood is in fact contaminated; Burt’s filtering system caused the contamination by mutating the cells in the artificial blood.
Carson and DeVaca are the only workers at the Mount Dragon facility who did not undergo a PurBlood transfusion for beta testing, and thus are the only ones not driven to insanity by the contamination. They set off an explosion to destroy the facility and flee from its homicidal and suicidal inhabitants. Attempting to alert officials before PurBlood can be introduced across the nation, resulting in an epidemic, Carson and DeVaca set off on horseback across the arid New Mexico desert, hundreds of miles from the nearest civilization. They are chased by the security director, an eccentric Englishman named Nye whose PurBlood-induced madness has led him to believe that there is a treasure buried in the desert and that Carson and DeVaca are trying to steal it from him. After days of thirst and starvation, Carson and DeVaca find water—and the remains of the worthless “treasure” of Spanish explorer Mondragón—before engaging in a fight-to-the-death battle with Nye. Carson and DeVaca are injured, but survive, and make it to a nearby cattle ranch in time to spread the word about the dangers of PurBlood.
Aside from the action-ridden plot of Carson and DeVaca, the novel highlights political and scientific battle between the CEO of GeneDyne, Brent Scopes, and his former best friend, Charles Levine, over the ethics of genetic modification. Scopes argues that genetic modification, such as that involved in the creation of PurBlood, will one day lead to a healthier human race. Levine counters that the extent of the dangers of genetically modified products is unknown, and that humans should proceed with caution in genetically altering or engineering products that could change the biological make-up of humanity. In the end, Scopes and Levine are exposed to the mutated influenza virus X-FLU and resolve their differences before dying.
In 1890s London, Robert Angier and Alfred Borden work as shills for a magician under the mentorship of John Cutter, an engineer who designs stage magic. During a water tank trick, Angier's wife Julia fails to escape and drowns. Angier, devastated, blames Borden for using a riskier knot, causing her death. When Angier asks Borden which knot he used, Borden claims not to know. The two become bitter enemies and rivals.
Angier and Borden launch their own magic careers, with Angier working with Cutter, and Borden with the mysterious Fallon. Angier sabotages one of Borden's performances when he slips a real bullet into Borden's pistol during a bullet-catch trick, resulting in Borden losing two of his fingers. Borden reciprocates by sabotaging Angier's disappearing bird act, killing the bird on stage and injuring a volunteer from the audience. Borden develops a trick he calls the Transported Man, in which he appears to travel instantly between two wardrobes on opposite ends of the stage. Unable to discern Borden's method, Angier hires a double, Gerald Root, to perform his own version of the trick. The imitation is a greater success, but Angier is dissatisfied, as he ends the trick hidden under the stage while Root basks in the applause. Root threatens to blackmail Angier and Cutter after being approached by Borden.
Obsessed with figuring out Borden's trick, Angier has his assistant, Olivia, spy on Borden to learn how he performs the Transported Man. However, Olivia falls in love with Borden and becomes his assistant. With her help, Borden sabotages Angier's act, crippling his leg in the process. Confronted by Angier, Olivia gives him a copy of Borden's encoded diary. Angier acquires the keyword to decode it, "TESLA", by threatening to kill Fallon.
The diary takes Angier to America to meet scientist Nikola Tesla, who Angier believes built a teleportation machine for Borden. Tesla warns Angier about the dangers of obsession, but agrees to create the machine for him. Angier finishes reading the diary, where Borden reveals that he has no connection to Tesla, and that he faked his diary in order to send Angier on a wild goose chase. Tesla builds a machine for Angier, but instead of teleporting objects, Tesla's machine duplicates anything placed inside it a short distance away. Tesla is driven from Colorado Springs by agents of his rival, Thomas Edison, but has the machine delivered to Angier. He advises Angier to destroy it, saying it will bring him only misery.
Borden's wife, Sarah, is driven to suicide by his contradictory personality, alternately loving and cold. Borden tells Olivia that he never loved Sarah, and that he loves her more. Tired of Borden and Angier's feud, Olivia leaves the relationship. In London, Angier debuts the "Real Transported Man" using Tesla's machine, appearing to have teleported across the theater. Borden sneaks backstage and witnesses Angier fall through a trapdoor and drown in a tank. He is discovered by Cutter and turned over to the police. Unable to prove his innocence, Borden is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Tesla's machine is sold off to the wealthy Lord Caldlow, a purported magic enthusiast. Cutter visits Caldlow to advise him to destroy the machine and is shocked to discover that Caldlow is Angier, alive and well.
Angier visits Borden in prison, accompanied by Borden's daughter Jess. Borden offers the secret to his "Transported Man" in exchange for his daughter's safety, but Angier rebuffs him, saying that his own trick is better. Cutter is disgusted that Angier allowed Borden to be sentenced to death, but agrees to help dispose of Tesla's machine. Borden is hanged for Angier's murder.
Angier goes back to the theatre. A stranger enters and shoots Angier, revealing himself as Alfred Borden. Angier discovers "Borden" was an identity shared by a pair of identical twins. The brothers performed the original Transported Man together; when one was "Borden", the other was disguised as "Fallon". Alfred loved Sarah while his dead brother had loved Olivia. A dying Angier reveals that every performance a duplicate would fall into the tank and drown and that every time he used the machine he was unsure if he would end up dead or not. The theater catches fire and burns, while Borden reunites with his daughter, who has been rescued by Cutter.
Otis is a mischievous, carefree Holstein cow who lives on a farm where, unbeknownst to humans, the animals are anthropomorphic. He prefers having fun with his best friends — Pip the mouse, Freddy the ferret, Peck the rooster, and Pig the pig — rather than following strict rules and accepting responsibility. This annoys his stern and uptight adoptive father Ben, the leader of the farm's community. After Otis interrupts a routine morning roll call and meeting with his usual antics, Ben warns Otis that he will never find true happiness unless he acts more responsibly and maturely. That same day, Otis meets a widowed pregnant cow named Daisy, who has moved to the farm with her friend Bessy.
That night, after the farmer goes to bed, the animals throw a wild party in the barn, but Ben guards the fence line. Otis is assigned a shift along with Ben, but Otis cleverly talks himself out of that work. Before he leaves, Ben tells him that the night he found him as a calf stumbling alone in a meadow, he saw the stars dance, which reminded him that his place was at the farm. Soon after, Ben fights a pack of evil coyotes who threaten to raid the farm's chicken coop until he is bitten on the leg by their leader Dag. The coyotes pile on Ben, who grabs Dag's leg and uses him to overpower his followers. He threatens to punch Dag but lets him go, scaring the coyotes away in defeat. Ben then falls to the ground, exhausted and fatally injured. Otis is alerted and runs outside to his father, who soon dies from his injuries. Early the next morning, the farmer buries Ben's body; and after he leaves, the other animals gather at Ben's grave marker except for Otis, who sits alone at his father's post.
The farm's community elects Otis as their new leader, who shirks his duties by leaving Freddy and Peck in charge of the coop. With the help of three trouble-making Jersey cows, he teaches a lesson to a mean-spirited youngster nicknamed "Snotty Boy" for his cow tipping, then eludes the police. Later that night, Otis shares a romantic moment with Daisy, who reveals that she and Bessy are the only surviving members of their herd after a flood. Otis comforts her but witnesses the coyotes chasing a rabbit, and he leaves to seek revenge on them. After engaging them to no avail, Dag recognizes Otis as Ben’s son, taunting him with how he let his father die by letting him face the coyote pack alone while he was having fun with his friends. Taking advantage of Otis' lack of strength, Dag proposes a deal: he and his pack will take some of the farm's animals at random times, and if Otis tries to intervene, the coyotes will openly kill them all. Realizing his chances for victory are slim, Otis ultimately decides to leave the farm.
The next morning, before leaving, Otis is informed that the coyotes have kidnapped the hens, including Maddy, a chick who looks up to him. Otis, who did not expect the coyotes to arrive until nightfall, sets out to the coyotes' junkyard den to confront them and gains the upper hand until Dag bites his leg. Pip, Pig, Freddy, Peck, Ben's old mule friend Miles, a colony of gophers who live near the farm, and the Jersey Cows arrive to help him. Dag tries to attack Otis from behind, but he is alerted when Peck, who has struggled with his crow throughout the film, successfully crows a warning. Otis thwarts Dag's attack and threatens to punch him like Ben did but instead warns him to never return to the farm before sending him flying out of the junkyard.
On their way home, Pip informs Otis that Daisy went into labor after he left. The animals then steal a biker gang's motorcycles from a diner and return to the barnyard in time to witness Daisy giving birth to a calf that she names "Li'l Ben". Otis takes full responsibility as the new leader of the farm community as he watches the stars take the form of himself, Daisy, and Li'l Ben dancing.
In a mid-credits scene, Mrs. Beady, a neighbor who correctly suspects that the animals are anthropomorphic, is getting ready for bed. She is frightened to find that Wild Mike, an animal of unknown species, is hiding in her hair while looking in her mirror.
A woman yearning for a child asks a witch for advice, and is presented with a barley which she is told to go home and plant (in the first English translation of 1847 by Mary Howitt, the tale opens with a beggar woman giving a peasant's wife a barleycorn in exchange for food). After the barleycorn is planted and sprouts, a tiny girl named Thumbelina (Tommelise) emerges from its flower.
One night, Thumbelina, asleep in her walnut-shell cradle, is carried off by a toad who wants her as a bride for her son. With the help of friendly fish and a butterfly, Thumbelina escapes the toad and her son, and drifts on a lily pad until captured by a stag beetle who later discards her when his friends reject her company.
Thumbelina tries to protect herself from the elements. When winter comes, she is in desperate straits. She is finally given shelter by an old field mouse and tends her dwelling in gratitude. Thumbelina sees a swallow who is injured while visiting a mole, a neighbor of the field mouse. She meets the swallow one night and finds out what happened to him. She keeps on visiting the swallow during midnight without telling the field mouse and tries to help him gain strength and she frequently spends time with him singing songs and telling him stories and listening to his stories in the winter until spring arrives. The swallow, after becoming healthy, promises that he would come to that spot again and flies away saying goodbye to Thumbelina.
At the end of winter, the mouse suggests Thumbelina marry the mole, but Thumbelina finds the prospect of being married to such a creature repulsive because he spends all his days underground and never sees the sun or sky, even though he is impressive with his knowledge of ancient history and lots of other topics. The field mouse keeps pushing Thumbelina into the marriage, insisting the mole is a good match for her. Eventually Thumbelina sees little choice but to agree, but cannot bear the thought of the mole keeping her underground and never seeing the sun.
However, at the last minute, Thumbelina escapes the situation by fleeing to a far land with the swallow. In a sunny field of flowers, Thumbelina meets a tiny flower-fairy prince just her size and to her liking, and they wed. She receives a pair of wings to accompany her husband on his travels from flower to flower, and a new name, Maia. In the end, the swallow is heartbroken once Thumbelina marries the flower-fairy prince, and flies off eventually arriving at a small house. There, he tells Thumbelina's story to a man who is implied to be Andersen himself, who chronicles the story in a book.
Lily is a sheltered art student from Michigan attending college in California. She finds an apartment, and she soon notices that her roommates, Tanya (a friendly lesbian artist who becomes a good friend to Lily), Bridgette (a cruel and taunting artist who initially takes an immediate dislike to her), and Robert (the silent but talented musician), all art students, aren't quite normal.
One day, Lily discovers a box of items belonging to Ivy, a girl that she has never met before. In the box, she finds nude pictures of the girl and her diary. She is soon drawn to the content, also desiring to have the girl's sexual confidence and fearlessness. In class, she has trouble expressing herself, unlike Gredin, an attractive co-student and sculptor whom she soon starts dating. Meanwhile, she has found a job, babysitting Daphna, the daughter of her art teacher Donald Falk, who betrayed his wife and had sex with other women.
Slowly, Lily becomes obsessed with Ivy's letters and photos and attempts to take over her image. She cuts her hair and starts wearing more revealing clothes. Gredin grows even more attracted to her, and they begin a sexual relationship. He is unamused by the amount of private time that she spends with Donald, but she explains that it's because of the babysitting. She inspires Donald to perform art again, having noticed that he's been afraid to express himself. She agrees to pose nude for him. He falls in love with her, which affects his marriage to Angela.
One day, Lily catches Gredin and Bridgette together. Feeling upset, she pierces her belly button and starts to rebel, thereby estranging herself from her friends. At a Halloween party, she enjoys the attention that she is getting from men, and she amuses herself; until she sees Gredin intimately dancing with another girl. Trying to make him jealous, she kisses a masked guy, who turns out to be Robert. She eventually has sex with Gredin, but he dumps her the next day. However, he explains that she has changed too much.
Meanwhile, Angela has found Donald's drawing of Lily and thinks that he is having an affair with her. Donald, already depressed since he saw Lily kissing Gredin, takes it out on Lily. He later claims that he is in love with her and tries to kiss her. She is initially unamused by his attempts, but they eventually engage in sexual activity. They are interrupted by the door buzzer, Lily leaves and is soon reunited with Gredin.
Not much later, Lily is invited for dinner with the Falk family during Thanksgiving and brings Gredin with her, which upsets Donald. After being asked to put Daphna to bed, she ends up in the hall alone with Donald and he forces himself upon her. She tries to stop him, but has no success. They are eventually caught in the act by Daphna; who runs away. As Daphna runs out of the home, Gredin sees the dishelved Lily and goes outside as Daphna is hit by a car.
Lily; who is traumatized by what happened that night, returns home and destroys everything that has to do with Ivy. She then showers and afterwards, Gredin arrives at Lily's place to reveal that Daphna has survived. A psychotic Donald knocks him out before he enters Lily's room and attacks her. Gredin tries to save her, but Donald beats him up and tries to stab him with scissors. As Lily runs away, Robert approaches Donald and claims that the police are on their way but is thrown down the stairs. Donald then follows Lily to the roof and falls to his death.
In the aftermath of the events, Lily contemplates dropping out of school and moving back to Michigan. However, Lily and Gredin say they love each other, and they decide to be with each other and Lily decides to stay in California.
The main character is a dwarf, tall, at the court of an Italian City-state in the Renaissance. The exact time and location are unclear, but the presence of the character named ''Bernardo'', who is unmistakably modeled on Leonardo da Vinci, suggests that the story takes place in a fictional version of Milan around the time of Leonardo's stay at the court of the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, from 1482 to 1499. There is a reference to Santa Croce being in the immediate surroundings, but this is possibly mixed up with the Basilica di Santa Croce di Firenze, so the story could actually be set in Florence. At the same time, Lagerkvist includes Bernardo/Leonardo's creation of ''The Last Supper'' and ''Mona Lisa'' in the plot, which were done in Milan and Florence, respectively. Further, the prince that inspired Niccolò Machiavelli to write ''The Prince'' has been assumed to be Cesare Borgia, who also employed Leonardo da Vinci as a military architect, a role he (as ''Bernardo'') plays alongside his painting work in ''The Dwarf''. In this way aspects of all these historical places and people are mixed into the background of the novel.
The dwarf is the narrator, obviously obsessed with writing down his experiences in a form of diary. Everything in the novel is described from his viewpoint, mostly in retrospect, ranging from a few hours or minutes to several weeks or months after the actual events.
The dwarf is a profound misanthrope and generally embodies all things evil. He hates almost every person at the court except for the prince (who is the ruler of the city-state, rather king than prince), or rather aspects of him. He loves war, brutality and fixed positions. While almost all other characters of the novel develop during the chain of events, the dwarf does not change. He is still exactly the same character from the first to the last page. He is deeply religious, but his take on Christianity includes the belief in a non-forgiving God. He is impressed with Bernardo's science but soon repelled by its relentless search for truth.
When the dwarf is ordered to assassinate a number of enemies of the prince using poisoned wine, he takes this opportunity to assassinate one of the prince's rivals, simply because the dwarf dislikes the rival and the rival is having an affair with the prince's wife.
The novel ends with the dwarf being strapped in chains at the bottom of the royal castle, never to be released again. He is seemingly convicted for flogging the prince's wife to death in anger over her sins. However he takes this sentence lightly, since, as he says, "soon the prince will need his dwarf again".
The game opens with Commander Zod shooting the Bitmap Brothers Logo off the screen. Meanwhile, a Supply Ship is adrift in space. Its occupants, two robots named Brad and Allan, wake up to the radio buzzer. The two find two new messages from Commander Zod. The first shows Zod telling about his delivery, one hour overdue; the second shows him threatening to "kick their red butts" if he finds out about them slacking off. Allan and Brad just resume their mission. The two constantly steer the ship in a bunch of twists and turns (one sends them knocking the game's title into the opening credits, which are just visible in space), and finally arriving at their first destination. Their mission sends them across twenty levels on five planets, fighting enemy soldiers. Only when the five planets are conquered will the party begin.
After the final level, Zod gets a promotion to Supreme Space Colonel. Zod and the other soldiers celebrate by drinking many cans of rocket fuel, and by the next morning, so many discarded cans litter the ground that Brad and Allan are sick. Zod gets into the Supply Ship with Brad and Allan and decides to show them how to fly the spacecraft. Zod uses the ship to pull acrobatic stunts in space, leaving Brad thrilled. When Allan pulls another can of rocket fuel from the box, he notices a "do not shake" warning on its side. He shakes it up and tosses it to Zod. When Zod opens the can, an explosion blows the ship apart. Brad and Allan are hurled off, and Zod's hat can be seen floating in deep space.
The "gold diggers" are four aspiring actresses: Polly (Ruby Keeler), an ingenue; Carol (Joan Blondell), a torch singer; Trixie (Aline MacMahon), a comedian; and Fay (Ginger Rogers), a glamour puss.
The film was made in 1933, during the Great Depression, and contains numerous direct references to it. It begins with a rehearsal for a stage show, which is interrupted by the producer's creditors who close down the show because of unpaid bills.
At the unglamorous apartment shared by three of the four actresses (Polly, Carol, and Trixie), the producer, Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks), is in despair because he has everything he needs to put on a show, except money. He hears Brad Roberts (Dick Powell), the girls' neighbor and Polly's boyfriend, playing the piano. Brad is a brilliant songwriter and singer who not only has written the music for a show, but also offers Hopkins $15,000 in cash to back the production. Of course, they all think he is kidding, but he insists that he is serious – he offers to back the show, but refuses to perform in it, despite his talent and voice.
Brad comes through with the money and the show goes into production, but the girls are suspicious that he must be a criminal since he is cagey about his past and will not appear in the show, even though he is clearly more talented than the aging juvenile lead (Clarence Nordstrom) they have hired. It turns out, however, that Brad is in fact a millionaire's son whose family does not want him associating with the theatre. On opening night, in order to save the show when the juvenile cannot perform (due to his lumbago acting up), Brad is forced to play the lead role.
With the resulting publicity, Brad's brother J. Lawrence Bradford (Warren William) and family lawyer Faneuil H. Peabody (Guy Kibbee) discover what he is doing and go to New York to save him from being seduced by a "gold digger".
Lawrence mistakenly identifies Carol as Polly, and his heavy-handed effort to dissuade the "cheap and vulgar" showgirl from marrying Brad by buying her off annoys her so much that Carol plays along, but the two fall in love. Meanwhile, Trixie targets "Fanny" the lawyer as the perfect rich sap ripe for exploitation. When Lawrence finds out that Brad and the real Polly have wed, he threatens to have the marriage annulled, but relents when Carol refuses to marry him if he does. Trixie marries Faneuil. All the "gold diggers" (except Fay) end up with wealthy men.
The strip has followed the adventures of its hero Nick Jarvis from his debut as a 20-year-old footballer to his present-day role as the billionaire owner of fictitious football club Warbury Warriors. When the strip started Nick was an apprentice engineer and an amateur footballer playing for his home team, the non-league side Oakvale, who had just been drawn against Manchester United in the third round of the FA Cup. Oakville were subsequently well beaten in this match, however, Jarvis played well and was spotted by Jim Cassidy and Alex McCabe, who were the manager and chairman of the fictional Thamesford Football Club. Cassidy and McCabe subsequently approached Jarvis to play on a trial basis for Thamesford, however, he initially rejected this offer, but later changed his mind and played against Ashton. After impressing in his trial match, he signed for Thamesford on a permanent basis, however, he soon found himself facing a charge of making love to an under aged girl. At his subsequent trial, Jarvis was found not guilty after the prosecution's witness was star struck and found not to be able to distinguish between the fact and fantasy.
Thamesford subsequently celebrated their 50th anniversary by touring Mexico during the 1986 World Cup, where Nick was kidnapped after his teammate Gary Lewis claimed that he was Thamesford's most valuable player. The kidnappers subsequently asked McCabe for half of Jarvis reported value of £900 thousand. McCabe initially refused to negotiate with the kidnappers, but was told that he would need to look for a whole new team and manager if he didn't pay the ransom. As a result, McCabe paid the ransom to one of the kidnappers, who told McCabe that Jarvis would be freed if he got back to his fellow kidnappers within two hours. However, he was subsequently killed in a landslide, before he got back to his fellow kidnappers. As a result, his fellow kidnapper was about to harm Jarvis, before he managed to escape with the kidnapper's sister to the nearest town. Jarvis was subsequently approached to play in the village's annual football game, where he scored a couple of goals before they gave him a lift back to the team's hotel. He then had a holiday in Acapulco with his girlfriend, before flying back to England for the player of the year awards and pre-season training.
Lewis subsequently turned up with an ex-girlfriend of Jarvis's to the player of the year awards, where he got drunk and attempted to drive them both home. On the way home, a cat ran out in the middle of the road and caused Lewis to crash the car, however, thinking that she was dead and fearing being done for manslaughter, he swapped places with her. His girlfriend subsequently regained consciousness but had amnesia and could not remember what had happened. As a result, she was charged with careless driving as well as being drunk in charge of a car. Jarvis quickly realised that Lewis had framed his ex, however, Lewis denied this and fell out with Jarvis on the pitch and were both fined £400. Jarvis was subsequently placed on the transfer list by Cassidy at his own request, before he realised how he could prove that Lewis had framed her. After proving it, Jarvis spoke to McCabe and Cassidy and told them what had happened, McCabe subsequently tried to take a business approach by selling Lewis while bribing Jarvis and his ex-girlfriend. However, the local sports reporter had a tip-off from Hazel's flatmate and ran a story about it, before Lewis was arrested and found guilty of Perverting the course of justice. Jarvis subsequently came off the transfer list and scored against Liverpool, while McCabe had a heart attack during the game, before he died of lung cancer and advanced heart disease. McCabe's widower subsequently sold the club to a gangster called Eddie Carlton for £11 million, who becomes the chairman of Thamesford. Jarvis meets Carlton in a nightclub after he had been chatted up by the chairman's lover: Angel, before he is carpeted by him after the next game.
Thamesford is subsequently drawn against Oakvale away in the FA Cup before the players are invited to a Christmas party at Carlton's home. Angel subsequently blackmails Jarvis into having sex at the party and later into being her stud, after he discovers Carlton's secret plans to turn Thameford's stadium into a leisure centre and housing. Jarvis subsequently tips the press off about the development, which forces Carlton to hold a press conference, where he confirms the plans but denies reports that he doesn't care about the club. Carlton also ordered his minder to start a witch hunt in order to find out who tipped off the press, before he reads about Oakville having odds of 100–1 against beating Thamesford in the FA Cup and bets £5000 on his team to lose. Carlton then walks into the changing room on the day of the game and offers the players, a spiked glass of champagne and a chance to bury the hatchet with a pre-match toast "to an easy win today and more victories in 1987". After the game, Thamesford's fans were furious with the players and accused them of being bribed to throw the match as they lost 2–1 to Oakville. Carlton's minder subsequently discovered that Angel had been seeing Jarvis behind the chairman's back and reported back to his boss, who assumed that she had told Jarvis everything. Carlton subsequently confronted her and is about to throw her out on the streets, before he realises that she knows enough about him to be a threat to him. As a result, his minder locks Angel in a bedroom, while his boss decided what to do with her and Jarvis, however, she flees to Jarvis flat. After knocking them both unconscious and carrying them into the bedroom, Carlton's minder subsequently burnt the flat down, by placing a lit match into a wastepaper basket in an attempt to kill them both. However, Jarvis wakes up in time and manages to save them both by throwing Angel, out of the bedroom window, before jumping out after her. Carlton's minder subsequently informs his boss about the fire, who implements a contingency plan and does a runner to Brazil, before his minder is arrested. After the truth came out about the Oakville match, the fans got behind the team again, while Angel wanted to settle down with Jarvis who refused to get involved with her.
Over the next few years plot lines included Jarvis being framed for drug possession; a club chairman from America fleeing a guilt-ridden past; helping a Russian player and his wife defect to the West; and getting involved with a juvenile delinquent with promising football skills and an abusive father. Jarvis was even called up for the 1990 World Cup but went missing and was forced to marry the pregnant daughter of a mob boss.
Arthur Crampton was Thamesford's fourth chairman since 1986, who died in his sleep shortly after Thamesford had won the UEFA Cup. His son Rodney Crampton who had gambling debts subsequently inherited his 51% stake in the football club, as well as his house Crampton Manor.
After attempting to murder Nick, the chairman drained the club's bank accounts and nearly bankrupted it, before fleeing the country. Nick sold the property to pay some of the club's debts, but a disgruntled former director of the club persuaded their bank to initiate bankruptcy procedures. Nick and Cassidy were forced to sell every player except Nick and a few younger players, filling out the squad from cheap (or free) transfers from lower-league clubs.
During May 1994, after Thamesford had won the FA Cup, Nick decided to give away all of his shares in Thamesford to the season ticket holders in order to continue playing in the Premier League. However, he struggled to find another club and that managers felt intimated by him because he used to be the chairman at Thamesford and was scared of him stamping his authority on them. As a result, the only club that was interested in him was the non-league conference side: Warbury Warriors.
Jarvis joined the Warbury Warriors as player-manager, under a brief from chairman Eric Openshaw to get the side to the Premier League by 1998 (which would have meant getting promotion every year afterwards). Openshaw had a bet with the owner of a supermarket chain that he could do this; if Warbury failed, he would bankrupt the club and hand their ground over to his rival. Openshaw was nearly successful, since the side lost the 1998 Division One play-off final. By that time it was irrelevant; a former player burned the stadium down the previous year, invalidating the bet.
Warbury reached the Premiership the following year, struggling before finding their feet in their second season. Openshaw's refusal to spend money on extra players took its toll during their third season, and the side was relegated. Toward the end of that season, two corrupt businessmen (Charles Bullion-Browne and Jeremy Grubbet) purchased Warbury to close the club down, since they only wanted the land Gasworks Road stadium sat on. Jarvis was forced out, and the club went briefly out of business. Their plan eventually failed when it was discovered that a "ransom strip" around the whole ground was owned by an old lady named Ethel, who would not give permission for the ground to be used for anything other than sport. Without the stadium, they lost interest in their acquisition and sold it back to Openshaw. Jarvis played for an Australian club until his leg was severed in a shark attack. Although his leg was reattached, his playing days were over. He returned to Warbury near the end of the season, but since the players were out of condition, the training facilities dilapidated, and the club having forfeited any points from the matches they didn't play, they were again relegated.
In Division Two the side won promotion easily, but the season was marred by two events. Openshaw's wife Vanessa was kidnapped by a gang who forced the club to lose 9-0 to Manchester United in a League Cup match. The criminals' ineptitude made it easy for the police to catch them, however, and the result was voided (although United won the rematch). Due to injuries to their main goalkeepers Jarvis signed an American goalkeeper, Chuck Rivers. Rivers suffered from depression and abused drugs; he committed suicide after some of his former drug dealers nearly killed one of his teammates.
In the Championship (the former Division One), Openshaw sold part of the club to a Russian gangster known as Boris Anokov. Gary Lewis (now managing a nearby pub) hatched a new plot: he would fake his own death at Jarvis' hands and claim the insurance money. Anokov found Lewis useful; he made him turn the pub into a brothel, giving Lewis the money to buy the pub and transfer it to Boris. Lewis never bought the pub, fleeing to the Cayman Islands with Boris' money. Jarvis was nearly convicted for the murder, but Lewis eventually confessed to the crime (after Anokov was killed by a rival gangster) and was imprisoned.
After a poor start to the 2005–06 season (and being refused permission to sign Joe Rock, a player from ''The Premier''), Jarvis attempted to resign and become manager of Portsmouth. However, Openshaw recorded an insulting phone call made by Jarvis, edited it and replayed it to Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandarić; Jarvis seemed to be turning down the job offer and insulting Mandaric. A Chinese businesswoman (Li Ming) bought the club to turn them into the country's top side, and Openshaw remained in charge. Desperate to receive a £10 million payout promised by Li if Warbury was promoted to the Premiership, Openshaw convinced Jarvis to sign Ramiro Alvarez (a player from Juventus). Alvarez, however, spoke no English, played badly and went AWOL when Jarvis refused to play him in the first team (as promised by Openshaw). Alvarez' high salary caused unrest between Jarvis and the players. Li Ming was unhappy with her investment, telling Jarvis he would be fired if Warbury failed to reach the Premiership at the end of the season.
As the season continued, Jarvis and Li Ming began to fall in love, and during a session of martial arts they decided to pursue a relationship. When Openshaw vanished under mysterious circumstances, Vanessa discovered that he arranged a DNA test for his son Todd which had proven he was not the boy's father (Jarvis was). Meanwhile, Warbury won the play-off final and would be returning to the Premiership after a four-year absence. Li Ming's father discovered her relationship with Jarvis, and demanded its end. Her rivalry with Vanessa for Jarvis' affections led her to fire him.
Openshaw returned several weeks after he disappeared; he had gone hiking to Devon to clear his head after finding out about Todd's lineage. He then walked the moors for some time, before being bitten by a snake (and claiming it was an adder, though he suffered no ill-effects from the bite). Looking for help, he found a pub run by a woman called Doris. Eric and Doris fell in love; when they returned to Warbury, Eric told Vanessa he would divorce her and marry Doris.
Li Ming was unable to find a new manager, as none of the candidates (including Sven-Göran Eriksson) were suitable. She rehired Nick, telling him she did not want to restart their relationship. When she informed her father she would not be handing over control of the club to her brother, her father slapped her and told his daughter that he would cut off her trust fund. With the club in dire straits (and favourites for relegation at the end of the season), Li Ming found herself under pressure to raise money to buy new players. With the transfer window about to close until January, Li Ming secured an investment fund to buy players; the conditions were that she was only given a limited selection of players to choose from and if they were sold, the fund would take most of the profits.
Due to bad blood between Li Ming and her father, the Warbury chairwoman was attacked in the Warbury club car park and then kidnapped. Li's captors demanded a £2 million ransom from Li's father. As Li's father and brother finally reached the hideout, Li was escaping. She heard a shot and ran outside, to see her father lying motionless on the floor. Her brother, Chan, told her the captors had shot him; he then turned the gun on Li, saying he had to kill her because their father favoured Li . Li tried to reason with Chan; their father woke up and distracted him, and he dropped the gun. However, after punching Li Chan grabbed the gun. About to shoot, he slipped, fell down a well and died. Li's father then told her he was sorry for trying to control her decisions and left everything to her.
Warbury managed to scramble to mid-table with a late run of good results, before they achieved their highest-ever finish of fourth place in the 2007–08 season, entering the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history. Despite mediocre league form in the 2008–09 season (mostly due to club captain Kurt Panzer suffering mental health problems caused by his being blackmailed by a German couple whose son he had unwittingly killed in his youth), Warbury progressed through to the Champions League final, where they were victorious.
Amid the backdrop of Warbury's European adventure, Nick and Li Ming had begun a relationship and by the summer of 2009 had agreed to get married. However, Li Ming announced at a formal dinner (without consulting him beforehand) that Nick would leave his job as Warbury manager to become manager of the Chinese national team. Nick was so outraged by this action that he ended his relationship with Li Ming, who in turn withdrew her financial support for Warbury and attempted to have the club bankrupted. She eventually sold the now almost-worthless club to star French player Fabian De Guisson, who in turn sold it on to dunce defender Scrapper Griswell. Just as it looked like Scrapper had bought a dud, a saviour appeared at the last minute in the guise of Sheikh Mustapha Futti Khalub.
;Li Ming Wong kidnapping: When Li Ming took over at Warbury, her father was unhappy about it. When Li began a relationship with Jarvis, her father ordered her to end it and fire him. She did, but eventually gave him his job back. During summer 2006, her father visited Li at Gasworks Road with her brother Chan. Li was attacked by thugs in the car park but fought them off, believing the attack to be orchestrated by her father. A short time later, Li was attacked by the same thugs at her house and kidnapped. The kidnappers demanded £2 million from Li's father. Li's father and brother went to the place where Li was being held with the ransom. Meanwhile, Li hatched a plan to escape from where she was being held. As Li's father and brother arrived she killed one of the three kidnappers, escaped and knocked the remaining two kidnappers out. She heard a single gunshot, and raced up to find her father lying on the ground. She turned to Chan for help, only to see that he was pointing the gun at her. Chan revealed he had shot their father and would do the same to her, as he was sick of being made to feel worthless by them both. Li pleaded with him; as he prepared to shoot, their father distracted him by calling out. Li kicked the gun out of her brothers hand; when Chan recovered his gun and prepared to shoot again, he stumbled and fell 150 ft down an unused mine shaft to his death. Li made peace with her dying father, who left his £15 billion fortune to her.
;Scrapper and Bertha's wedding: During summer 2006, Scrapper Griswell married his girlfriend Bertha. Since Bertha was a champion bog snorkeller, the wedding was held at a peat bog in Wales where the annual bog-snorkelling tournament took place. Rufus's Uncle Luis provided music and entertainment for the wedding. During the reception Fabian first made advances towards Vanessa Openshaw, taking her outside to a portable toilet for some privacy. However, Fabian's nanny Mona discovered what they were up to, and pushed the portable toilet over. Meanwhile, due to Scrapper's negligence the party was disrupted by a flood and the guests had to swim to safety through the bog. Fabian and Vanessa's portable toilet drifted out into open water; they were airlifted to safety, with a news report suggesting they used the toilet as a makeshift boat.
;Fabian in court: During February 2007 Fabian de Guisson began attending relationship counselling with his partner Vanessa Openshaw, with both claiming the other was cheating on them. The counsellor, Celia Montgomery, decided to see them both separately. At their first session, Fabian made advances towards her, Soon after, Fabian was signing copies of his autobiography ''Je Suis Magnifique'' at a Warbury bookshop, when he saw Montgomery. He asked her whether she would be pressing charges. As she struggled to get away, her dress caught in the door and came off, leaving her in her underwear in the street. Fabian ended up in court, accused of sexual harassment. The case went badly, however, Fabian's lawyer lied that he had acted because of a mental condition. As a result, Fabian was sent to a mental hospital. There, he made a plan to seduce his doctor so that she would sign his release papers. However, after he made love to the wrong doctor his real doctor arrived, diagnosing him with narcissism.
;Los Angeles trip: In summer 2007, Li Ming Wong organised a tournament in Los Angeles. A few days into the trip, Jarvis arranged for him, Eric, Scrapper, Gerald, Fabian, Phil and Callum to have a plane tour of the Grand Canyon. However, plane trouble soon forced the pilots to crash-land in the water. Scrapper took the others on a raft to go for help. However, the strong current blew the raft off course, leaving the five in the raft in danger and Jarvis and the two pilots stranded. With a flare gun and a rope from the cockpit, Nick and the pilots were able to pull themselves to safety. The players' raft went down a waterfall, leaving the five stranded in a clearing. Scrapper and Callum went to find food, as Gerald told Eric, Fabian and Phil the legend of Bigfoot. The anxious players hear a gunshot from the woods. Three hillbillies emerge and engage in conversation with the players before Scrapper returns with Callum, attacks the hillbillies and escapes with the rest of the team. They find refuge in a cave, and Scrapper volunteers to search for the nearest town. When the others awaken, they find a large, gorilla-like monster standing at the cave's entrance. Gerald screams, only for the "monster" to pull off its fake head and reveal itself as Scrapper. The hillbillies, he explained, wanted him to wear this costume to bring back tourists and make people think a Bigfoot-type creature lived there. Openshaw wanted to leave, and looked for Scrapper. When he sees a gorilla-type monster searching through a bin and calls it, Scrapper asked why he was shouting. They turned to see the real monster, and ran for their lives.
;Jim Sykes: Ewan Merenghi's agent, Jim Sykes, arrived early one season. Ewan's wife Cindy wished to be his agent and talked to Sykes about doing so. Sykes rejected Cindy's offer, but the two met at a hotel later on with Cindy attempting to bribe Sykes into accepting. During an investigation by the FA, it was discovered that Openshaw bribed Sykes during Merenghi's signing. Openshaw met Sykes and asked him for help, which Sykes refused. Openshaw went to church to pray for a way out; soon after, Sykes was found dead in his apartment from a gunshot wound to the head. Openshaw was arrested and questioned; his lack of an alibi and clear motive made him the prime suspect. Kyle Banner (Cindy Merenghi's ex-boyfriend), it turned out, killed Sykes to keep him from warning Merenghi about Banner.
;Story's conclusion in 2009: During the 2009 preseason Warbury toured China, during which Jarvis and Li Ming planned to marry. During a banquet, Li Ming informed the guests that she had arranged for Jarvis to become manager of China's national team so they could win the World Cup. Angry at not being consulted, Jarvis turned down the job offer. The wedding was called off, with Li Ming vowing revenge. She sold the club to Fabian, who thought he had a bargain until Jarvis and Openshaw told him the club no longer had a stadium or any players; instead, they had a points deduction for going into bankruptcy and failing to provide a team. The only asset the club had was a piece of farmland which could only be developed as a football stadium. Fabian sold the land to Scrapper, who thought he could use it for housing since Fabian did not disclose the football-stadium provision. As Scrapper and his wife surveyed their seemingly-worthless land, a wealthy sheik offered to buy it.
At this point, Striker parted company with The Sun a second time, and the story was continued in weekly magazine Nuts. The Sheikh bought the bankrupt club from Scraper and with Eric's help was able to persuade the Premier League not to expel them. Despite the heavy points deductions imposed on the club, Nick was able to steer them to Premier League survival on the last day, only for he and Eric to be sacked days later for not being high-profile enough for the Sheikh's liking. After a nine-month run in Nuts, Striker went on hiatus for two-and-a-half years.
During January 2013 when the strip returned to ''The Sun'' for a second time, it was revealed that Warbury had suffered successive relegations and were now playing in League One. It was also revealed that they had been threatened with bankruptcy and expulsion from the Football League due to an unpaid tax bill.
Nick and Eric had both retired from football in the meantime, with the former having become a television pundit (a job which he quickly lost after repeatedly staring at his female co-host's legs). It subsequently turned out that the Sheikh's kingdom had fallen into a financial crisis, and in order to raise enough money to prevent it from being annexed by the United Arab Emirates, he sold the club back to Li Ming, who had since come to regret her actions in attempting to destroy the club four years previously, and quickly moved to re-hire Nick and Eric. Taking over a poor team which had been assembled by the Sheikh and a succession of intervening managers, Nick managed to haul them up from an unimpressive mid-table spot to promotion via the play-offs, during which time he temporarily came out of retirement due to the team's strikers being injured, inexperienced or talentless. In the summer, he began reassembling part of his old squad for the campaign in the Championship. In the meantime, Li Ming's presence in China became increasingly consistent, dealing with her late-father's businesses. During this time, she developed an acquaintance with Zhu Fang, a senior Chinese Communist Party official. Over time, Zhu Fang's intentions became more evident, with him revealing he wished to construct a factory in Warbury, making electronics/weaponry for the Chinese government, taking advantage of Li Ming's strong financial presence back in the United Kingdom. She soon became guilt-ridden with the plan and backed out, cutting all ties with Fang. Soon after, Fang planted a weighted bomb in Li Ming's office in the Gasworks Road Stadium. Bomb Disposal units deemed it a fake. Whilst back in China, Zhu Fang's plans were revealed to his peers, he was prosecuted and sentenced to death, his political position terminated immediately. The club excelled into the Premiership under Jarvis's leadership, with him continuing this success until Autumn 2014; when he and Li Ming, his then wife, began their honeymoon. A few days into the event, an explosion occurred, killing Li Ming. Nick was not present in the yacht at the time. It was revealed that the now-deceased Zhu Fang had a bomb placed in the yacht, fulfilling his death wish for revenge, stating the last was "merely to scare her". An unnamed man was shown walking away from the explosion, thought to be an employee of Fang. The incident took a toll on Nick's mental health, he contacted Eric and claimed that he no longer wanted anything to do with Warbury Warriors and would step down. Further attempts at contact by Eric failed, with Nick seemingly disappearing. Back at Warbury, Eric assumed full running of the club. Initially divided about whom to appoint as manager, he was blackmailed by long-suffering second-in-command, Dave Boreham, with Boreham holding the fact that Eric appointed Ajabu Ndonga, an underage teenage African footballer, for the club in 2010. Dave threatened to report Eric's misconduct to FIFA, for violating rules concerning young players. During Dave's management, he laid off many of the older players, or put them on the bench as substitutes. Many players opposed Boreham's reign over the club, with a few deciding to leave also. Although despite this, Warbury continued to flourish in the Premier league. As the months went on, former player, Fabian de Guisson, who had been crippled by an injury from falling out of a window a few months before, was appointed assistant manager by Eric, much to Dave's disgust. Eric believed that this move would be popular amongst the team, although this was not the case. Lead striker and star player, Callum Angelo took the decision to leave at the end of his contract. Claiming De Guisson's managerial position was one of the reasons he was leaving. This brought the club into disrepute, Fabian asked Scrapper Griswell, who had been "on the bench" for much of the previous games to play "up front", he agreed. Meanwhile, Eric discovered he was innocent of any wrongdoing regarding Ndonga and promptly informed Boreham, who resigned as manager before Eric reported him to the police. De Guisson assumed the managerial position full-time shortly after.
Nick, meanwhile, had been living a life away from the public eye, still on the Isle of Man, where he was still recovering from the mental anguish of losing Li Ming. He had inherited the club after Li Ming's death and took the decision to sell it. While visiting a Solicitors on the Isle of Man to begin proceedings of selling the club to Eric, he learnt he was left an excess of 1 billion pounds in Li Ming's will. This prompted Nick to consider what he was doing. In a series of flashbacks, he recalled Li Ming telling him to pursue with Warbury, although also remembering his father's dying words to move on to a larger club. He later informed the Solicitors that he was no longer interested in selling Warbury to Eric and returned to England, where he told Eric in person. After Eric had learnt of Nick's intentions, he asked him why he wanted to return, Nick replied it was what Li would have wanted.
At the start of the 2015–16 season, Warbury were deducted a total of 30 points, as they had entered administration, but not exited it before the start of the season and financial irregularities over Jarvis decision to make Sports TV a part of the club's business.
As the comic era opened, Eric and Vanessa were taking money out of a cash machine, while three bank robbers ran out of the bank dressed in masks of Prince Charles, The Queen and Tony Blair carrying £100 thousand in cash. Eric subsequently managed to delay the robbers by pretending that his car which was parked in the way of their getaway vehicle wouldn't start. As a result, the robbers subsequently abandoned the money and ran off, as the police turned up before Warbury were drawn at home to Manchester United in the Carling Cup later that day. The robbers subsequently hatched a plan to get revenge on Openshaw by kidnapping his wife and placing a £2 thousand bet on Warbury to lose to Manchester United 9–0 in four different bookies. They subsequently traced her movements before kidnapping her ahead of the game and taking her to their hideout where Pickaxe Pete was waiting for them as he wanted in on their plans.
The Russian author Kartsev, living in Munich in 1982 (just like Voinovich himself), time travels to the Moscow of 2042. After the "Great August Revolution", the new leader referred to as "Genialissimus" has changed the Soviet Union... up to a certain point. After Vladimir Lenin's dream of the world revolution narrowed down to Joseph Stalin's theory of "Socialism in one country", Genialissimus has decided to start from building "Communism in one city", namely in Moscow.
The ideology has changed somewhat, into a hodgepodge of Marxism–Leninism and Russian Orthodoxy (the Genialissimus is also Patriarch). The country is ruled by the '''CPGB – The Communist Party of State Security''', a merger of the Communist Party and the KGB. The decay from which the Soviet Union suffered has worsened.
The rest of the Soviet Union, where people barely survive, has been separated by a Berlin type of wall from the "paradise" of Moscow, where communism has been realized. Within the wall everyone gets everything by the communist principle, "according to his needs", though their needs are not decided by themselves, but by the Genialissimus. Most people have "ordinary needs", but a chosen few have "extraordinary needs". For the first-mentioned group, life is dismal even within the privileged "Moscorep" ('''Mos'''cow '''Co'''mmunist '''Rep'''ublic).
The situation finally gets so desperate that people throw themselves in the arms of the "liberator", a dissident writer and acquaintance of Kartsev, the slavophile Sim Karnavalov (an apparent mockery of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn), who enters Moscow on a white horse and proclaims himself Tsar Serafim the First. Thus, communism is abandoned and society digresses back into feudal autocracy.
The story is narrated by Alfred Jones, a translator for a large chocolate company in Switzerland. Jones, in his 50s, lost his left hand while working as a fireman during The Blitz. Jones is a widower when he meets the young Anna-Luise Fischer in a local restaurant. Jones is surprised to learn that Anna-Luise is the daughter of Dr Fischer, who has become rich after inventing a perfumed toothpaste and whose dinner parties are famous (or infamous) around Geneva. After a brief courtship, the two are married.
Anna-Luise is estranged from her father, the Fischer of the book's title. Jones goes to see Fischer to inform him that he and Anna-Luise are married, but Fischer is indifferent to the information. Later, however, he invites Jones to one of his dinner parties; Anna-Luise warns Jones not to go, saying that these parties are nothing more than an opportunity for her father to humiliate the rich sycophants (whom she calls “the Toads,” her malapropism for “toadies”) in his coterie. Jones goes anyway when Anna-Luise relents, saying that one dinner party can’t corrupt him.
At the party, Fischer and his guests explain some of the rules: If a guest follows all the rules, he or she receives a present (or prize) at the end of the meal. The presents are usually tailored to each guest and are worth a substantial amount of money. However, the rules include complete submission to the humiliations of Fischer, which always include barbed verbal taunts that focus on each guest’s failings or insecurities.
At this particular party, the dinner consists solely of porridge. One guest asks for sugar, but Fischer only provides salt. Fischer explains to Jones that the guests must eat the porridge to receive their presents, and that this is all part of his experiment to see how far the rich will go to debase themselves for more riches. The guests all eat the porridge except for Jones, who earns himself the enmity of the Toads by abstaining. Jones doesn’t receive another invitation for some time.
Anna-Luise fills Jones in on the dissolution of her parents’ marriage. Her mother had developed a friendship with an employee of Mr Kips, one of the Toads, based on their mutual love of Mozart. When Fischer found out, he paid Kips’ firm fifty thousand francs to fire the man, and then hounded his wife until she "willed herself" to die. Jones and Anna-Luise encounter the man, Steiner, in a local record shop, and Anna-Luise's resemblance to her mother (Anna) gives Steiner a heart attack.
Meanwhile, he and Anna-Luise discuss having children, but she says she would prefer to wait until after the skiing season is over because she wouldn’t want to ski while pregnant. The two go on a skiing trip, and while Jones (who doesn’t ski) waits in the lodge, Anna-Luise collides with a tree after swerving to avoid a young boy who had sprained his ankle while skiing a course that was too tough for him. She suffers a severe head injury and bleeds enough to stain the front of her white sweater red. She later dies at the hospital, leaving Jones broken and lonesome. He attempts suicide by drinking whiskey laced with aspirin, but it only leaves him drowsy.
The next day he responds to an invitation to visit Fischer in his office. Fischer offers to give Jones the money held in trust for Anna-Luise, but Jones refuses it. Fischer is surprised, and asks Jones to attend his next dinner party with the Toads, which he promises will be the last.
This party, the "Bomb Party" of the novel's alternative title, fills the longest chapter of the book. The party is held outside sometime around New Year's Day, where enormous bonfires keep the guests warm around Fischer's lawn. The meal is exquisite. Following dinner, Dr. Fischer explains the rules for that night's experiment. He has hidden six crackers in a bran tub. Inside five of them are cheques for two million francs apiece, with the name left blank. Inside the sixth is a small bomb. The guests are expected to draw crackers and open them one by one.
One of the Toads, a stooped man named Kips, says that gambling is immoral and refuses to take part, leaving the party instead, and leaving Jones to consider that it is only Kips and himself who take the Doctor's threat of a bomb in the last cracker seriously; the other Toads seem to be disbelieving, especially Mrs Montgomery, who passes off Fischer's bomb threat as playful, untrue banter. The other Toads begin to take the crackers; a hack actor named Deane, immediately goes into a role from one of his movies as a soldier volunteering for a dangerous mission, rambling dialogue to himself while he stands near the bucket. Two other Toads, the widow Montgomery and the accountant Belmont, rush up and draw their crackers, realising that the odds favour the earlier selectors. Both draw crackers with cheques inside. Deane finally snaps out of his delusion long enough to draw a cracker, and when he finds a cheque inside, he passes out from either shock or inebriation.
This leaves just Jones and the retired military officer, the Divisionnaire. The Divisionnaire takes a cracker but won’t open it. Jones, still considering suicide as a way to avoid his lonely future, takes a cracker, opens it, and finds a cheque. The Divisionnaire remains paralysed by fear, so Jones roots around for the last cracker (which would have gone to Kips) and opens it as well, finding the last cheque, meaning that the Divisionnaire must hold the bomb. While Fischer torments the Divisionnaire for his cowardice, Jones offers to buy the Divisionnaire's cracker for two million francs. Over Fischer's objections, Jones takes the fatal cracker and runs off into the snow, where he opens the cracker to find nothing. Steiner suddenly wanders up to Jones, saying he came to confront Fischer and to spit in his face. Fischer arrives and after a brief conversation about whether he has achieved his goals with his experiment, says that it is "time to sleep" but heads away from the house. A few moments later, Jones and Steiner hear a crack, and rush off to find Fischer, who has shot himself with a revolver.
The novel ends with Jones saying that he is no longer considering suicide and has even struck up a small friendship with Steiner where the two meet for coffee and mourn their lost loves. Jones says he rarely sees any of the Toads and avoids Geneva for the most part; he did once see Mrs. Montgomery, who called him “Mr Smith,” allowing Jones to pretend he didn’t hear her and walk away.
The ''Enterprise-D'' is docked at Earth Station McKinley, undergoing repairs and refitting following its battle with the Borg. The episode follows the interactions of three members of the crew with their family members. Lt. Worf's (Michael Dorn) adoptive human parents, Sergey (Theodore Bikel) and Helena Rozhenko (Georgia Brown) visit the ''Enterprise'', having only just learned about his discommendation. Worf, though believing love and support is too human, at first is embarrassed by this, but in the end appreciates their concern. Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) retrieves a chest, kept in storage on Earth, containing her late husband Jack's mementos, including a holographic recording he made for Wesley (Wil Wheaton) when their child was only 10 weeks old. Beverly, though worried that the two of them have only recently truly come to terms with Jack's death, eventually gives the recording to Wesley. Wesley runs the recording and is uplifted by the message.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), recovering from his Borg assimilation, visits his family's vineyard in La Barre, France, which is run by his elder brother Robert (Jeremy Kemp) along with his wife Marie (Samantha Eggar) and son René (David Birkin). Jean-Luc is considering a position on Earth with an underwater research project called Atlantis. Robert has always been jealous of his brother's success and is concerned that Jean-Luc's presence will drive René to also join Starfleet. The two have a bitter argument and end up wrestling each other in a mud puddle, eventually culminating in an emotional reunion, with Jean-Luc breaking down and crying, admitting his sense of powerlessness and guilt at the things he did while under the influence of the Borg, particularly the death of Admiral J. P. Hanson, Picard's long-time friend and mentor. Robert states that Jean-Luc will have to learn to live with what he did, regardless of where he goes. Jean-Luc decides to go back to the ''Enterprise''. The two spend the night getting drunk as they resolve their differences. After Jean-Luc leaves, Robert decides to let René follow his dream to join Starfleet as René sits under a tree and looks up at space.
The play begins with Brown's (David Mann) brother, L.B., and his wife, Sarah, in their house very early in the morning. Their daughter, Milay (whose real name is Millie Jean), soon comes in after being awakened at her own house by her parents. She soon learns that her grandfather (Brown and L.B.'s father) had died, and they need help preparing for the funeral. After a little convincing, Milay decides to help with funeral arrangements.
The next morning, Sarah and Milay are talking together while L.B. is upstairs crying. We soon learn that Milay was divorced and had a son who died. But before more can be learned, Mr. Brown and Cora come in and get acquainted with everyone. Everyone is surprised to learn that Brown is Cora's father and that Madea is her mother. Soon after, Will and his wife, Kim, come in. Will's overly drunk mother, Vera (singer Nicci Gilbert) comes in after them crying hysterically. She jumps upon seeing Brown, believing it was he that had died. When she is told it is her father that has died, she nearly collapses, and begins to cry again. Vera begins to insult Cora about her weight, and Cora starts yelling and pulls out a gun, and begins to act like her mother Madea, very crazy.
Meanwhile, the ladies are at the church when Tracey Stevens walks in. She tells them that she is pregnant and the father is a married man. Sarah gives Tracey her number and address and tells her to stop by any time. Soon only Cora is left in the church when Rev. Henry Oliver walks in. Cora soon takes a liking to the reverend as the two develop a romance.
Later, Tracey comes to the house and goes off with Sarah. Milay's ex-husband, Gerald shows up, giving his sympathy and planning to come to the funeral. Milay is outraged, mainly because Gerald didn't have the decency to come to their own son's funeral. Once Gerald leaves, Tracey then comes back and sees Will, stating that he is her baby's father. The revelation startles everyone, especially Kim, who storms out in tears.
Sarah, in a musical number, prays to God and hopes her family will be healed. After continuing to angrily reject Will's apologies, Sarah speaks to Kim, who tells her to make a list with every good thing Will had ever done for her along with every bad one. She continues, saying that if the bad outweighed the good, then she was free to let Will go. But if the good were to outweigh the bad, then she should fight completely for her marriage. Later, Tracy reveals that she is not pregnant and reveals her intentions, and Will and Kim finally reconcile. Gerald and Milay also reconcile. In a special feature on the DVD while Brown is teaching the guys how to play golf Madea calls "The Brown's House" looking for Cora and Brown telling them that she is in jail and she will tell them what she did in the next play called ''Madea Goes to Jail''.
Truman Capote, known in New York City society for his wit and fashion flair as much as he is recognized in literary circles as the celebrated writer of ''Other Voices, Other Rooms'' and ''Breakfast at Tiffany's'', reads a brief article about the murder of a farming family in Holcomb, Kansas, in the back pages of the ''New York Times'' of November 16, 1959.
Curious as to how the residents would react to a brutal massacre in their midst, the author and his friend, Nelle Harper Lee, who has just published her novel ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', travel from New York to the rural Midwestern town, ostensibly so Capote can interview people for a magazine article. Once there, he realizes there might be enough material for what he eventually describes as a "nonfiction novel".
Capote's dress and demeanor both amuse and dismay law enforcement officials. He allows the less ostentatious Lee to act as a buffer between himself and those whose trust he needs to gain in order to obtain as much background information as possible.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation's lead detective on the case, Alvin Dewey, has refused to cooperate with the writer. But when his starstruck wife Marie meets Capote in a grocery store, she invites him and Lee to Christmas dinner. He eventually wins over his host with personal anecdotes about Humphrey Bogart, John Huston, Frank Sinatra, and the like.
As a result, when ex-convicts Richard Hickock and Perry Smith are apprehended in Las Vegas and extradited to Holcomb, permission is given to Capote to interview them in their cells. The two defendants are tried and found guilty, but a lengthy period of appeals begins. Capote's society and literary friends in New York, like Slim Keith and Babe Paley, press him for juicy gossip about the case and inquire when they can expect to read the book.
Capote forms an attachment to Smith. He empathizes with the convicted killer's unhappy childhood, and Smith's remorseful manner, genuine sincerity, and obvious intelligence impress him. The criminal's reciprocal feelings become evident, although Smith has difficulty dealing with his emotions. As soon as Smith learns that Truman plans to title his book ''In Cold Blood'', which suggests the author thinks of him only as a merciless killer, he violently subdues Capote and nearly rapes him.
Smith steadfastly refuses to describe the night of the murders. This greatly angers Capote, who wants to hear details not only as a writer in search of the truth but as someone who finds it difficult to believe a loved one could be guilty of such a crime. Smith eventually acquiesces and discusses what transpired.
Capote then finds himself entangled in a personal and professional dilemma. As much as he wants Smith to be sentenced to life in prison, a death by hanging would provide a far more sensational ending for readers of his book. He begins to unravel psychologically as the legal appeals drag on, unable to complete his book without an ending.
Years go by. Hickock and Smith finally exhaust all their options and now ask that Capote be present at their April 14, 1965 execution. He complies reluctantly with their request. Afterward, he learns Smith bequeathed his meager belongings to him, and among them he finds a charcoal sketch of him the killer had drawn.
During a fire drill at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, the employees panic and fail to evacuate the plant within 15 minutes. Outraged, Mr. Burns announces his workers must compete in a team-building exercise at a snow-covered mountain retreat. Due to a misunderstanding, Homer brings his family along by mistake for a vacation. The employees must work in pairs: Homer is partnered with Burns, while Smithers competes alone due to an odd number of participants (having originally thought the drawing was rigged so that he and Burns would be team-mates). The goal is to reach a cabin at the mountaintop which contains food and alcohol; the last team to arrive will be fired.
Burns persuades Homer to cheat by using a snowmobile to reach the cabin. Arriving early, they enjoy the comfortable surroundings and each other's company. They clink their champagne glasses and inadvertently cause an avalanche that buries the entire cabin. They make several attempts to escape but only cause more avalanches. Homer and Burns start blaming each other for causing the avalanches. They realize it may take days to be rescued and pass the time by playing games and building snowmen dressed in their clothes. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa attempt to help Smithers get to the cabin, but inadvertently waste time looking for food and searching for gold, much to Smithers' dismay. Lenny and Carl arrive at the right spot but find the cabin gone and unaware it is buried beneath them, so they leave. The other employees reach a ranger station, thinking it is their destination. When the workers realize that Homer and Burns have yet to arrive, they suspect something bad has happened to them. After a few hours in the cabin, Homer and Burns are beset by cabin fever and have paranoid thoughts. After a vicious struggle, Burns accidentally ignites the propane tank, launching the building from the snow and propelling it toward the workers, who are preparing a rescue operation.
When the fuel is spent, the cabin comes to a halt just inches from hitting the ranger station, and Burns and Homer emerge cold and disheveled. Burns reminds everyone of the contest, so the workers rush inside. Lenny is fired after being the last person in the cabin. After Burns realizes his workers have learned the value of teamwork and announces that no one will be fired after all. Lenny prepares to harangue Burns for firing him but falls in a pit of snow. The workers and Homer's family celebrate their shared victory while Homer and Burns eye each other suspiciously.
While at warp speed, a huge alien vessel overtakes and swallows ''Enterprise'', disabling the ship's engines and weapons. When the scanners register neither the alien ship nor its numerous energy-wisp-like incorporeal beings, Captain Archer takes Lieutenant Reed and Commander Tucker on an away mission to the interior. While there, Tucker is visibly "entered" by one of the beings before being returned to his normal state. Doctor Phlox's examination reveals no lingering effects.
Later, Tucker is possessed again, and is soon located in the mess hall enjoying the simple pleasures of food. When asked, the alien possessing Tucker says that they are explorers who merely want to experience the tangible nature of the corporeal state they long evolved from. In exchange, the crew would be permitted to have out of body experiences by "crossing" in to the incorporeal realm. Archer, doubtful of the aliens' intentions, demands the release of his ship, and the return of Tucker's consciousness, both of which quickly happen. ''Enterprise'' is now freed, but the engines are not operational. While making repairs, the crew starts displaying signs of possession one-by-one. Similar events occur throughout the ship, including the takeover of Reed, Ensign Sato, and 22 others.
Ensign Mayweather, pursued by one of the aliens, finds sanctuary in the nacelle catwalk area, so Archer orders the uninfected crew there. Sub-Commander T'Pol then proposes a plan to use her more disciplined mind to try to uncover the beings' intentions. Archer is opposed, but assents given that there is no alternative. T'Pol is soon overcome and discovers that the aliens plan to co-opt the 82 crew-member's bodies to save themselves from their failing ship. Archer, T'Pol and Phlox then hatch a plan to forcibly expel the beings by asphyxiating the infected crew. Though he has some trouble with an infected Tucker, Phlox is able to reach the atmospheric controls and floods the ship with carbon dioxide, and the aliens are forced to return to their ship. When the alien ship attempts to pursue ''Enterprise'', Archer destroys it with two torpedoes.
Upon leaving the Enolian homeworld, Captain Archer and Commander Tucker are mistakenly identified as smugglers and arrested. They are placed on a prison transport headed for the penal colony known as Canamar. Among their fellow prisoners is a man named Kuroda, and a hulking Nausicaan. Back on ''Enterprise'', Sub-Commander T'Pol, having found the abandoned shuttlepod, manages to convince an Enolian official that Archer and Tucker are innocent. Just as they are about to be released, however, Kuroda breaks free and takes down the guard and pilot.
When the vessel comes under attack from Enolian patrol ships, Archer convinces Kuroda to allow Tucker to assist them. Tucker manages to create a plasma cloud diversion, allowing the transport to jump to warp. Kuroda is impressed with Archer's ploy. In fact, Kuroda has come to respect Archer and asks him to join him on his next endeavor. As the two men talk, Kuroda reveals that he was 14 when he first spent time in a penal colony. He was innocent, but he still spent five years in prison, and started making a living as a criminal after he was released. Kuroda also finally reveals that they will rendezvous with another ship at Tamaal and destroy the transport. Archer, determined to save the other prisoners, enlists Tucker's aid.
Tucker is freed under the pretence of fixing a docking hatch, and manages to render the Nausicaan unconscious, but draws the attention of Kuroda, who realizes that Archer has been plotting against him all along. The transport soon docks, but when the doors open, Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Mayweather appear. The crew evacuate the transport, which is now in a decaying orbit, but Kuroda refuses to leave. Back on ''Enterprise'', the Enolian official demands a report for his superiors. Archer tersely informs the official that he and Tucker were falsely arrested, and wonders how many others on their way to Canamar do not belong there.
17-year old Cody Maverick, a young northern rockhopper penguin who lives in Shiverpool, Antarctica, with his mother Edna and his older brother Glen, is visited by a reality film crew who begin filming a documentary about his aspiration to make it as a surfer. Cody has yearned to be a professional surfer ever since meeting the famous surfer Big Z many years ago, so when a talent scout shorebird named Michael Abromowitz arrives to find entrants for the Big Z Memorial surfing contest on Pen-Gu Island, Cody jumps at the chance. En route to the contest, Cody befriends another entrant, Chicken Joe, a nice, but dim-witted rooster surfer from Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
The entrants arrive at Pen-Gu Island, where Cody meets and immediately falls in love with Lani Aliikai, a female gentoo penguin who is a lifeguard. He also meets the contest's arrogant champion, Tank "The Shredder" Evans, who has won the Big Z Memorial nine times since it was first held after Z's presumed death during a previous match ten years ago. Cody sees Tank vandalizing Big Z's memorial and immediately challenges him to a surfing duel. Tank wins the duel while Cody nearly drowns and is stung by a sea urchin named Ivan. Lani rescues him and takes him to her uncle, "Geek", to help Cody recover from his injuries. Cody wakes up, but cannot find the souvenir necklace given to him as a child by Big Z. Geek then finds it in his hut.
While returning the necklace, Geek finds Cody sitting on a koa log and offers to help him make a surfboard. They attempt to take the log back to Geek's house, only to lose control of it and end up on a beach far away from the house. When Cody gets to the beach, he discovers a shack full of old trophies and surfboards, which used to belong to Big Z. After observing Geek walking sadly into the shack, he realizes that Geek is actually Big Z himself. Thrilled, Cody asks him to teach him how to surf. Z reluctantly agrees, but tells Cody he has to make his own board first. The attempt does not go well, however, as an impatient Cody refuses to listen to Z's advice and crafts a weak and unstable board that shatters upon hitting the water. Angry, Cody storms off and runs into Lani, who eventually persuades him to return. Cody spends the night working patiently on a new board.
Z compliments Cody on his new board, and Cody is eager to start training. Z instead has him do menial tasks seemingly unrelated to surfing. Finally, when Cody starts having fun, Z and Lani teach him how to surf the waves. Afterwards, Cody asks Z if he will come watch the contest, but Z refuses, revealing that he faked his death because he realized he couldn't compete with his then-new rival Tank, and that he had become too focused on winning. Not impressed that Z gave up, Cody throws the necklace Z gave him into the sea, meets up with Joe, and gets back to the contest just as it begins.
Tank makes it to the finals, as do Cody and Joe. In the semifinals, Tank battles with Cody, with Tank trying to throw him off his board, but Tank falls off his own board and loses. During the finals, however, Tank appears and tries to knock Joe off his board. Cody intervenes at the last minute, sending himself and Tank into an area of the beach known as the Boneyards, which consists of dangerously sharp rock outcroppings and has killed many surfers who have ventured there. Tank punches Cody off his board before crashing, and is rescued by Lani. Z, who had secretly been watching Cody's performance, rescues Cody from a gigantic wave and helps him get back to the beach safely.
Z and Cody find out that Joe won by default since Tank and Cody were disqualified. However, Cody accepts the loss, having decided he would rather just have fun instead. Z reveals himself to the spectators and invites all of them to surf at his beach, where he joins Cody in tube-riding. Cody finishes his interview with a reflection of the past events and then joins the rest of his friends in the water.
The discovery of a derelict pod with a long-dead human pilot opens up a mystery. Some of the crew speculate he is the first human to invent warp drive technology, Zefram Cochrane, but DNA profiling reveal the remains are not his. Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed examine the mysterious pod and discover, via a floor panel, that it is larger on the inside than the outside. They also recover a device from the core which still has a weak energy signature. Shortly afterwards, a Suliban ship arrives and claims salvage rights, but Captain Archer refuses to yield it without explanation. They open fire, and beam in a boarding party, but are finally repelled.
Undaunted, ''Enterprise'' then sets course to rendezvous with ''Tal'Kir'', a Vulcan ship. Doctor Phlox's scans reveal the dead pilot has multi-generational DNA fragments from several alien species including Vulcan, Terrelian, and Rigelian. Seeking answers, Archer and Sub-Commander T'Pol enter time-traveller Agent Daniels' cabin, and they learn from his enclyopedic database that the pod is from the 31st century. Meanwhile, Tucker and Reed, on returning to the pod, get stuck in a recurring time-loop. This heightens T'Pol's concerns and she discusses the situation with Archer, who feels they must have more information on the Temporal Cold War.
Tholians arrive, demanding the pod and warning ''Enterprise'' of temporal radiation. Again, Archer refuses, and they leave after he threatens to destroy it. The crew, reaching the rendezvous destination, discover that the Tholians have disabled the ''Tal'Kir'', and soon disable ''Enterprise'' as well. The Suliban arrive and a battle ensues between them and the Tholians. The Tholians succeed in destroying the Suliban ships. After working through another time-loop, Archer and Reed booby-trap the pod and send it out into space, but the Tholians immediately disarm the device. Tucker then gets the temporal distress beacon to power up, and soon the future ship and its contents dematerialize. The Tholians leave, and ''Enterprise'' assists the Vulcan ship, as Archer's way of thanking the Vulcan High Command for their support and help.
The Andorians and the Vulcans are locked in battle over a planet situated on the frontier between their two systems. The Andorians call it "Weytahn," and the Vulcans "Paan Mokar", and it is claimed by both sides. Andorian Commander Shran, however, has broken the treaty and reoccupied a settlement. With the Vulcans calling for a cease fire, Shran seeks Captain Archer's help with negotiations. Vulcan Ambassador Soval is reluctant to bring Archer in as mediator, but three Vulcans have been taken hostage, and Shran only trusts Archer (particularly since the events of "The Andorian Incident").
Archer and Sub-Commander T'Pol head down to the planet for a meeting with Shran. His lieutenant, Tarah, is especially wary of T'Pol, but Archer manages to convince Shran to release one of the hostages as a sign of good faith. Soval then agrees to negotiations, but remains skeptical. Meanwhile, Shran has a tense moment with Tarah, who objects to his attempts to negotiate with the Vulcans. She would rather fight to reclaim the planet for the Andorians. As the shuttlepod nears the planet, it is fired on and forced to crash-land. Soval suggests the Andorians are trying to sabotage the peace talks, but Archer doesn't believe Shran would resort to such tactics. Shran is furious that Archer's shuttle was downed, but Tarah claims that it was the Vulcans trying to frame the Andorians.
Meanwhile, on ''Enterprise'', Commander Tucker must keep the Vulcan and Andorian vessels from firing on each another. To do so, he maneuvers between the two groups. Down on the surface, Archer, T'Pol, and Soval are attempting to make their way to Shran's location, when Soval is shot. Archer discovers that renegade Andorians are behind the attack, and captures Tarah. She initially denies involvement, but eventually confesses, and angrily informs Shran that there are others who feel the same way. With the situation under control, and with Archer's help, the two sides agree to a ceasefire and continued peace talks.
Doctor Phlox tells Sub−Commander T'Pol that his treatment of her potentially fatal disease, Pa'nar Syndrome, is losing effectiveness, so he would like to make confidential inquiries with Vulcan doctors attending an interspecies medical exchange on the planet ''Enterprise'' is now orbiting. T'Pol resists, but Phlox chooses to go anyway. Before he does, his second wife, Feezal, arrives to help install a new microscope, and she soon begins making amorous advances on Commander Tucker. A confused Tucker cannot quite wrap his mind around polygamy, which, in Denobulan culture, is quite a normal practice.
On the planet, Phlox's inquiries with the Vulcans yield little information. When the Vulcans request to visit and interview Phlox and T'Pol, it is clear that the subterfuge had failed, since the Vulcans trick T'Pol into providing a medical sample, which confirms their suspicions. Pa'nar Syndrome is only transmitted via mind-meld, a practice which is considered taboo on the Vulcan homeworld. Captain Archer is upset to learn about T'Pol's condition from the Vulcans. Archer then pays his own visit to the Vulcans - a visit which is no more fruitful than Phlox's first. One of the doctors, Yuris, sets up a secret meeting with T'Pol to give her the information she seeks. He reveals a closely guarded secret: he himself is a mind–melder. T'Pol tells Yuris that the meld which gave her the disease was forced on her. Yuris begs her to tell the others before the Vulcan High Command is informed of her condition, but she declines.
It then comes out that T'Pol could lose her commission since Pa'nar is a stigmatized disease. Archer uses a loophole in Vulcan protocol to force a hearing. T'Pol remains silent, but Archer stands by his science officer, all the while resisting the Vulcan doctors. Yuris then reveals his status as a melder, and exposes T'Pol's secret. As a result, he is suspended, but T'Pol is allowed to remain on ''Enterprise''. She continues to stand her ground and states her intent to inform the High Command of recent events, hoping to defend Yuris and encourage others to challenge prejudice.
Commander Tucker is off-ship testing the new autopilot technology on one of ''Enterprise's'' shuttle pods. Without warning, his craft is approached and fired upon by an Arkonian ship. With the main systems damaged and central power lost, he is forced to crash-land on one of the system's many moons. On the moon, Tucker survives the crash and tries to repair the communications systems. He realizes that he is not alone, and is ambushed by the Arkonian pilot, who has also crashed on the moon. After turns taking each other prisoner, a truce of sorts occurs as they both realize that surviving is their main goal.
Meanwhile, having lost contact with the shuttle, ''Enterprise'' commences a search of the area. They are soon intercepted by a large ship belonging to Arkonians, who claim this region as their own. The Arkonians are territorial and aggressive, and have their own strained history with the Vulcans. While they demand that ''Enterprise'' immediately set course out of their system, their captain is reluctantly persuaded by Captain Archer to agree to a combined search of the sixty-two moons.
Finally, Tucker is able to use the surviving technology from both shuttles to get the transmitter working, managing to contact ''Enterprise''. To complicate matters, the sun is slowly rising, and the temperature on the moon is becoming lethally hot. Moreover, since the moon's atmosphere interferes with the shuttle pods' power systems, ''Enterprise'' will have to beam the survivors up. The Arkonian, Zho'Kaan, is in too much physiological distress to survive transport, and Tucker refuses to abandon him. Archer then has the Arkonians launch a shuttle modified to function in the moon's atmosphere. Later, with the crew back on board, Zho'Kaan tells Tucker that he is thankful that he failed to shoot down Tucker's pod. Sub-Commander T'Pol concedes that the rescue has allowed for friendlier and more productive relations with the Arkonians in one day than the Vulcans managed over a hundred years.
Since childhood, Monica Wright and Quincy McCall have wanted to be professional basketball stars. However, as a girl, Monica has to work hard to establish herself, while as a boy, Quincy's natural star potential is recognized and encouraged early on. As the two struggle to reach their goals of playing professionally, they must also deal with their emotions for each other.
The first quarter of the story takes place in 1981, when Monica's family moved to Los Angeles from Atlanta, moving into the house next door to Quincy's. Quincy's father Zeke is the star shooting guard for the Los Angeles Clippers. Quincy and Monica are drawn to each other instantly, sharing a love of basketball. Quincy is shocked that a girl could ever love basketball as much as he did, and he is even more shocked when Monica beats him during their first ever game of one on one. He angrily knocks her down during game point, and accidentally cuts her face. Their mothers intervene and soon Quincy and Monica have made up. Monica proves tougher than Quincy ever could've imagined in another person, and he draws closer to her, asking her to be his girlfriend. Monica accepts and they share their first kiss, but it isn't long before they insult each other and are rolling around on the grass fighting, with Monica clearly winning.
The second quarter of the story begins in 1988, when Monica and Quincy are the respective leaders of the Crenshaw High School men's and women's basketball teams. Scouts have taken clear notice of Quincy, who many see as one of the top prospects in the country. He is extremely popular with the other students, could have any girl in school that he wanted to, and dates one of the prettiest girls in school, but is still good friends and neighbors with Monica. Monica, on the other hand, struggles with her fiery emotions on the court, often resulting in technical fouls at critical moments of games, damaging potential scouting opportunities such as UCLA. She also secretly still harbors feelings for Quincy, but struggles to express them as he is always surrounded by other girls. Monica also struggles with her mother, Camille, who pressures her to give up basketball and "act like a lady." Through soul searching, Monica learns to control her emotions and leads her team to the state championship game. When she and her team come up short, Monica is devastated.
Monica begins to recover from the championship loss with the help of her older sister, Lena, who gives her a makeover. Lena even finds Monica a college friend to take her to her spring dance. Despite taking Shawnna Easton, Quincy notices Monica and compliments her appearance. Later that night, they both speak outside her window and reveal to each other how their dates didn't turn out as they'd hoped. Monica asks Quincy to open her letter from USC; which reveals she has been accepted. Quincy has accepted an offer from USC as well, and they celebrate with a kiss. This leads to them finally acting on their feelings, making love that night.
The third quarter begins during their freshman year at USC, Monica and Quincy are managing themselves as athletes, students, and a couple. While Quincy finds instant success on the court, Monica struggles for playing time behind senior guard Sidra O'Neal. Monica frequently has run-ins with her head coach Ellie Davis while her relationship in Quincy becomes more and more strained. Quincy struggles to deal with the media attention, while clashing against his father's efforts to convince Quincy to finish college before going pro. Monica finally earns the starting point guard spot at the end of the season. When Quincy discovers his father's infidelity he asks Monica to break her curfew to stay with him and she refuses. The next day Quincy blatantly cheats on Monica and makes sure she sees him, and the couple breaks up.
The fourth quarter follows the plot to 1993, a few years before the establishment of the WNBA. Monica is playing professional basketball with an International Women's Basketball Association (IBWA) team in Barcelona. Monica misses home, but can't imagine a life that doesn't include basketball. While Monica leads her team to a dominant victory in the championship game, she starts to realize that her love for basketball isn't the same as it was before.
Having left USC after his freshman season, Quincy is now engaged and in his fifth year in the pros, trying to find a role with his new team, the Los Angeles Lakers. He's had a difficult season, but finally finds some playing time when his coach subs him to replace Nick Van Exel. Immediately, Quincy bricks a three point shot, but makes up for it on the very next play with a showtime steal-dunk. But just as quickly as it seems he has turned his bad streak around, he suffers a devastating knee injury when he lands awkwardly after the play, tearing his ACL. His family rushes to the hospital to be with him, but his now divorced parents still have friction when they see each other. Monica hears about Quincy's injury, and flies home to see him. While visiting Quincy in the hospital, she learns that he is engaged to be married when his fiancée visits his room.
Monica has returned home and also falls into the usual squabbles with her mother Camille over old resentments. Camille tells Monica that she had to give up her own dreams after having children and she resents Monica for not appreciating the sacrifices she made for her family. Monica counter-argues that Camille never made her feel loved and accepted, because she kept trying to force her to give up her goals for a stereotypical "woman's role" in life that she didn't want.
Quincy completes physical therapy, while his wedding draws closer. Monica has quit basketball to work at a bank. Seeing how unhappy Monica is, Camille encourages her to fight for her career and the man she loves. Quincy and Monica meet and reminisce before Monica challenges him to a game of one-on-one, with high stakes; if he loses, he calls off the wedding and chooses Monica. Quincy agrees and wins, but can no longer be apart from Monica and chooses her instead. By 1998, Monica is playing in the new WNBA (as part of the Los Angeles Sparks) with her husband Quincy and their toddler daughter cheering.
In a post-credits scene, Quincy and Monica's daughter is shown playing basketball at a playground.
Count Voivoide Arminius Chousescu Dracula dies with a stake in his heart, and his daughter Nadja (Elina Löwensohn) shows up to claim the body, hoping that his death will free her from the life her father has forced on her. She has the body cremated and prepares to take the ashes to Brooklyn and pay a visit to her twin brother Edgar whom she hasn't seen for a long time. Before she leaves, however, she stops for a drink and meets Lucy. Lucy is also feeling a sense of emptiness, so she takes Nadja home. They appear to cheer each other up, and they wind up having sex together.
So, who killed Dracula? Van Helsing (Peter Fonda), of course. And Helsing's nephew Jim, who also happens to be Lucy's husband, has to bail him out of jail. Helsing knows that, if Dracula's body is not destroyed properly, he'll be back. When Helsing learns that Dracula's body has been removed from the morgue, he enlists Jim's help.
Meanwhile, Nadja goes to visit Edgar and meets his nurse and live-in lover Cassandra. Edgar is sick. Nadja persuades Cassandra to move Edgar to her apartment where she can help him by transfusing him with plasma from the blood of shark embryos , which is what Nadja uses to stay healthy. Edgar revives enough to drink some of Nadja's blood. However, Lucy has fallen under Nadja's mesmerism. She leads both Jim and Van Helsing to Edgar's house where Nadja is staying with her Renfield. Edgar awakens long enough to warn Cassandra to leave the house, as she is in danger. Cassandra, who just happens to be Van Helsing's daughter, attempts to escape, with Nadja pursuing her, Lucy pursuing Nadja, and Jim pursuing Lucy. Cassandra runs into a gas station where it looks like two burly mechanics are going to protect her, but Nadja mesmerizes them and kills one of them. A policeman enters the gas station and shoots Nadja in the abdomen.
Edgar is improving. He unites with the Helsings to stop Nadja. He receives a "psychic fax" from Nadja, telling him that she is injured and must return to Transylvania. She also mentions that she's taking Cassandra with her, so Edgar and the Helsings high-tail it to Transylvania, too. As they approach the castle, Nadja begins a transfusion of Cassandra's blood while Cassandra sleeps. While Jim fights with Nadja's Renfield, Edgar and Helsing drive a stake through Nadja's heart. Lucy is released, Nadja is destroyed, and Cassandra wakes up. However, not all is as it seems. Nadja narrates the epilogue: "They cut off my head...burned my body...no one knew...no one suspected that I was now alive in Cassandra's body. Edgar and I were married at City Hall...there is a better way to live."
Upon learning that the Romulans and other major powers have signed non-aggression pacts with the Dominion, Starfleet Command orders Captain Benjamin Sisko to prevent further Dominion reinforcements from reaching Cardassia from their home territory in the Gamma Quadrant. DS9 crew members Jadzia Dax, Miles O'Brien, and Rom devise a plan to block the wormhole with a field of self-replicating, cloaked mines. The mines cannot be activated until they are entirely deployed, which will take some time to complete. Shortly after deployment begins, Dominion representative Weyoun declares that Deep Space Nine will be attacked unless the mines are removed.
Since Starfleet reinforcements are unavailable, Sisko asks the Klingon General Martok to patrol the border while the ''Defiant'' continues deployment. Sisko endorses the non-aggression pact offered to Bajor by the Dominion, in the hope that it will keep Bajor out of the coming war. Sisko officiates Rom's marriage to his fiancée Leeta before she and other Bajorans evacuate the station as a result of the non-aggression agreement.
Starfleet personnel remain to defend the station until the mines are completely deployed. Dominion forces attack and are met by DS9's armaments and Martok's vessel, the ''Rotarran''. After the minefield is activated, Sisko orders the Starfleet personnel to evacuate as well, surrendering DS9 to the Dominion. He announces that while the Dominion was occupied with DS9, a combined Starfleet/Klingon task force wiped out an important Dominion shipyard. During the evacuation, Dax and her lover Worf are assigned to separate ships, and agree to marry if they survive the war.
Captain Sisko's son Jake remains on DS9 to serve as a reporter for the Federation News Service while the station is occupied by the Dominion. Rom remains as well, acting as a spy for Starfleet while working at his brother Quark's bar. Bajoran liaison officer Kira disables the station's systems by activating a pre-set computer program; and then she, Quark, and security chief Odo welcome the Dominion occupiers, led by Weyoun and the Cardassian Gul Dukat, to the station. Dukat reclaims the station commander's office, where he finds the baseball Sisko left behind – a message to him that Sisko will return.
Sisko is upset to learn that Jake has remained behind, but cannot return to DS9 and jeopardize his crew for the sake of one man, even his own son. Soon, the ''Defiant'' and ''Rotarran'' join a massive armada of Starfleet and Klingon vessels.
Dr. Wilhelmina "Wil" Pang is a successful young American surgeon living in New York City. Wil is a lesbian but is closeted to her mother Gao and her mother's friends. Wil is forced by her mother to come to a gathering at the restaurant Planet China with family friends where her mother has plans to set her up with a son of a friend, but Wil is drawn to Vivian, the daughter of one of the Chinese mothers who recently got a divorce. They run into each other at the hospital where Wil works, only to discover that Vivian's father is Wil's boss, Dr. Shing. Vivian and her father have a tense relationship since Vivian is currently pursuing her love of modern dance instead of the more respectable ballet.
Wil comes home to discover her mother has been kicked out by her grandfather for being pregnant out of wedlock, bringing shame to the family. Wil asks for the identity of the father, but Gao refuses to answer. From then on, Gao lives with Wil.
Vivian invites Wil to one of her dance shows and after the show, the two hang out. Vivian reveals the fact that they had met once before when they were children; Vivian kissed Wil on the nose after Wil rescued her from bullies; Wil ran away afterward. Vivian and Wil go to Vivian's apartment and the two kiss. The couple goes on several dates, but Wil is afraid of kissing Vivian in public. At Vivian's request, Wil presents Vivian to her mother as a friend so that they can meet and the three share an awkward dinner. It is revealed later that her mother knows of her homosexuality, but is in denial.
Set up by Wil, Gao goes on several dates to find a man to be a father to her unborn child, but remains unattached. She debates on whether to accept the affections of Cho, a man who has loved her for 15 years and is willing to parent her child.
Vivian reveals to Wil that she was accepted into a prestigious ballet program in Paris and is considering the offer. Wil congratulates Vivian and gives her encouragement to accept the offer. While Vivian still debates on the offer, Vivian's father speaks to Wil and presses her to convince Vivian to accept the offer. Wil withdraws from Vivian, and Vivian accepts the job in Paris.
After Wil’s grandmother passes away unexpectedly, Gao accepts Cho's marriage proposal. At the wedding, Wil interrupts with a love note from the father of the child saying how much he loves her and wants to marry her despite their age gap. Wil points out the elderly pharmacist, Old Yu, as the man she loves. Old Yu protests, and Little Yu, his son, stands up and announces that he is the one. Wil and her mother run out of the wedding and onto a bus, laughing. After an emotional talk with her mother, Wil rushes to the airport to catch Vivian. Wil apologizes, but Vivian challenges Wil to kiss her to prove her sincerity. Unable to publicly display her love out of fear, Wil is left at the terminal as Vivian leaves for Paris.
Three months later, Wil goes to another party at Planet China, where Gao and Little Yu are now a couple. Wil sees Vivian, who has come to see her mother. Wil approaches Vivian and asks her to dance. They dance and kiss. Gao and Vivian's mother smile at each other while giving a thumbs up. Some people leave in disgust, but Wil and Vivian ignore them, while everyone else joins in to dance.
In between credits, Gao has Wil and Vivian, family and friends over at her apartment for a function. Gao asks Wil about having babies, to which she reacts with a spit take.
In Chicago, Darius Lovehall is a poet who is giving a reading at the Sanctuary, an upscale nightclub presenting jazz and poetry to a bohemian clientele. Shortly before his set, he meets Nina Mosley, a gifted photographer. They exchange small talk, and Darius makes his interest clear when he retitles his love poem "A Blues For Nina". A mutual attraction is sparked between them. Darius runs into Nina for the second time at the record store and asked her out for drinks. Nina told him it was bad timing, but Darius was not taking no for an answer. He talks his friend Sheila into letting him copy Nina's address from the check she wrote, goes to another record store to get the CD she was for and then shows up at her place unexpectedly to deliver the CD and ask her out for a second time. They have sex on the first date, but neither Darius or Nina are sure what to do next. Nina has just gotten out of a relationship and is unsure if she still cares for her old boyfriend; Darius, meanwhile, is unsure about whether or not to admit that he really cares for Nina.
Just as Darius dares to begin believing that Nina could be "the one," Nina's ex-beau Marvin invites her to join him in New York to try to work things out. After a night with Darius, Nina tells him that she is going to New York because of unfinished business. More as a test of Darius' feelings than as an earnest attempt to resolve things with Marvin, Nina leaves, only to return to find that Darius has been fooling around with another woman. At this, Nina steps out with Darius' self-satisfied buddy Hollywood, sparking a blowup between the men and a reconciliation between the lovers, which does not last, requiring yet another separation and subsequent attempt to set things right.
Chan Chi-kwong (Howard Sit) is a young boy who lives with his father (Felix Wong) and stepmother (Karen Mok). He blames his stepmother for the suicide of his mother 3 years earlier and continually runs away from home. One day, while walking to school, he meets an eccentric old man (Feng Xiaogang) in the park who accidentally pours a magic potion he has created down a drain. The next day, a huge tree has grown from a seedling in the drain. Kwong goes to the man's house and steals the potion, falling and breaking it as he tries to run away. Some of the potion enters a cut in his hand, and the next day he wakes up to find he has grown to the age of 20 overnight. Kwong (Andy Lau) is thrilled that he has become an adult and is able to finally run away from home without being recognized. As he gets older each day, he learns more about being an adult and about the situations of those around him.
Academia Island is an elite school that various genius students from across the globe attend. Among them are Yusuke Amamiya, Joh Ohara and Megumi Misaki who with Takuji Yano and Mari Aikawa sought to create a suit strong enough for space exploration. However, three of their classmates and friends Kenji Tsukigata, Rui Senda, and Goh Omura felt their talents were being wasted and leave to join an evil organization called Volt who offers to raise their full scientific potential. As a result, when Yusuke and company saw them leaving, Kenji draws a gun on the three with Takuji and Mari taking the fatal blow. Soon after, one of the professors at the school Professor Hoshi pitches in to help Yusuke and his friends complete the suits so they can serve to prepare against Volt.
And then in 1988, the present day, with Kenji, Rui, and Goh now known as Doctors Kemp, Mazenda and Obular, Volt begins its attack by devastating Academia Island. As a result, Yusuke, Joh, and Megumi take up the suits they created and become the Livemen to battle against their former classmates and Volt. Though they managed to get Goh to leave Volt, the organization recruits new members in Doctor Ashura and the aliens Guildos and Butchy. Soon after, the Livemen are joined by Tetsuya and Jun-ichi, the respective younger brothers of Takuji and Mari, while learning that there is a darker agenda behind Volt that only its leader Bias knows.
Sun-jae (Kim Hye-soo) leaves her unfaithful husband, Sung-joon, and moves into an old apartment with her daughter, Tae-su. She takes a pair of bright pink high heels she found in a subway car, only to discover that they are cursed. Her obsession grows, arousing envy and greed with nightmarish visions. Tae-su and Sun-jae's best friend, Kim Mi-hee (Go Soo-hee), also fall victim to the shoes, resulting in hysteria and theft. Mi-hee dies after she takes the shoes, and Sun-jae tries to get rid of them. However, the pink shoes always return to Tae-su and further horrifying Sun-jae.
With the help of her new boyfriend, In-cheol (Kim Sung-soo), Sun-jae tries to uncover the mystery behind the pink shoes before it kills her and Tae-su. She discovers that the person who takes them will die with their feet chopped off. The mystery leads to an old woman who lives in a basement below Sun-jae. The old woman identifies Sun-jae as Oki, which confuses her. It is revealed that in the old woman's youth, during the last years of the Japanese occupation of Korea, the old woman was a servant for a vain and sadistic dancer named Oki. She was often abused by Oki, which left her hunchbacked and scared of her.
Oki was jealous of a prominent dancer named Keiko, who was the daughter of a high-ranking officer, and very talented. This is made worse when she is gifted pink shoes from a male dancer who had been her lover. Oki wanted the shoes for herself and paid the old woman to steal them. One night, a pregnant Keiko witnessed her lover and Oki having sex. When she fled out of betrayal and grief, the man tried to stop Keiko. Fed up with being second and realizing the man loves Keiko, Oki murdered Keiko and dumped her body. She wasn't aware that the old woman had witnessed Keiko's murder. Keiko's ghost then gets her revenge on both the man and Oki, leading to their deaths. The old woman warns her that the same fate will befall on Sun-jae if she doesn't return to shoes to Keiko at once.
At Keiko's gravesite, Sun-jae returns the pink shoes, hoping this will end the haunting. She visits In-cheol only to discover he has found out that she killed her husband. When she learns that Tae-su told him the truth, she hurries home to try to kill her. She chases Tae-su to the subway station tracks. While trying to find her, she is confronted by the ghost of Keiko, who tells her the truth. It is revealed that Sun-jae is the reincarnation of Oki, revealing why the old woman feared her upon their first meeting. Keiko shows how Sun-jae murdered her husband, Mi-hee, In-cheol, and attempted to kill her own daughter. As Sun-jae tries to escape, she is faced with a deformed Keiko, who finally claims her.
In a brief moment the scene switches back to 1944. Keiko is seen dancing passionately during rehearsals and wearing the pink shoes given to her.
The last scene reveals Tae-su practicing her ballet in her mother's bedroom. In a post-credits scene, a grown up Tae-su picks up the pink shoes in the park (suggesting that Keiko meant for Tae-su to inherit the shoes).
Following a failed attempt by the Rebel Alliance to destroy the second Death Star, Emperor Palpatine orders Darth Vader to take command of the newly reconstructed battlestation and move it to the forest moon of Endor to be completed in secret. Shortly thereafter, he learns of a major Rebel supply base on the planet D'rinba IV and diverts its course to the planet, intending to use the battlestation's superlaser to destroy it. Intercepting this information, the Alliance assembles a team of Force-sensitive individuals to sneak on board and disable the station. However, Vader soon learns of their presence and has the station put on alert. The situation becomes a race against time for the members of the infiltration party, as they must attempt to succeed in their mission while avoiding the station's stormtrooper contingent and, late in the mission, a party member's fall to the dark side of the Force.
In 1983, a young boy named Billy Parks is frightened and has difficulty falling asleep after waking up from a nightmare. His mother Mary assures him the monster he thinks is in the closet is imaginary. As he tries to fall asleep again, a dark apparition emerges from his closet and spirits him away.
In present-day 2002, the plot focuses on a Psychology grad student named Julia Lund and the events that turned her life upside down. As a child, she experienced horrifying night terrors that manifested after witnessing her father commit suicide but has seemingly overcome the problem. She reunites with a childhood friend, a now grown-up Billy (Jon Abrahams). In the diner, Billy is constantly startled by the flickering lights, as he is now deathly afraid of the dark. He tells her that he believes their night terrors are caused by something otherworldly, as he was kidnapped by mysterious creatures as a child and went missing for two days. He warns her to stay out of the dark before shooting himself.
Julia stays over at her paramedic boyfriend Paul Loomis' apartment for comfort and to grieve. Loomis has two roommates whom he is subservient to, paying their portion of the rent and utilities. When he passively asks them to contribute, they mock him, to the point of joking about keeping the money he gave them for the electric bill. The roommates, not him, appear in charge even when one of them sees his girlfriend nude and flirts with her. That night Julia hears the shower running and investigates to find a mysterious black fluid erupting from the sink drain, and the bathroom mirror reveals an opening to alternate dimension filled with mysterious creatures. Paul hears her screams and comes to her aid only to find her alone. He suggests that she might have been sleepwalking, since she does not remember what happened.
At his funeral, Julia consoles Billy's parents and meets up with two of his friends and roommates, Terry Alba and Sam Burnside, who slowly begin to believe his claims, as they also experienced night terrors as children and suspect they are returning. Offended by Sam's careless comments, Julia visits Billy's childhood room and discovers his drawer filled with batteries. Terry shows up and apologizes for Sam's insensitivity and informs her that Billy used to talk a lot about Julia and his experiences with night terrors, and why he was obsessed with staying out of the dark.
As Julia is driving in the middle of nowhere, an unknown creature sprints across the windshield as the car mysteriously stops. After she manages to fix the issue, she is startled by a vision of Billy and stumbles onto the road only to nearly get hit by an oncoming truck. Julia visits Paul's apartment for comfort only to discover him drunk with his friends Troy and Darren. She leaves in disgust.
At Terry and Sam's apartment, the trio study Billy's diary. Terry and Sam ask Julia if she has experienced any return of the night terrors, which she denies. Terry explains her night terrors started when she was 5 years old, after witnessing her sister drown in a lake where her family would spend their summers. In one instance, she disappeared from her bedroom and returned in the dog house, and as her father reached in to get her, she stabbed him in the eye with a kitchen knife, as she was convinced he was some kind of demon.
Julia is at first skeptical but slowly starts to believe in her friends' stories after meeting a little girl named Sarah, one of Dr. Booth's patients who also suffers from night terrors which started after her mother's untimely death. Sarah claims "They" are going to eat her in her horrible nightmares, and the only thing that keeps them away is lights. She then starts picking at a strange mark on her arm, a similar mark that also appeared on Billy's hand, Sam's shoulder, and Terry's ankle. Terry and Sam are soon taken by the creatures.
Julia finally believes the stories when she discovers the mark left by "Them" on her forehead and pulls out a long black needle. She runs to Paul's apartment in fear. Paul, now convinced that Julia is insane, drugs her drink with a sleeping pill and attempts to call Dr. Booth. Realizing he drugged her, she runs to the subway station to vomit the sleeping pill out, only to get trapped in the station as the closing gates lock her in.
Trapped, she is forced to ride a train home and is the only passenger. The train's lights start to flicker, and the vehicle stops completely. She gets off and sees all the light bulbs burst in the train tunnel before the creatures assault her. Julia manages to escape and is finally discovered by a group of engineers who attempt to help her, only for Julia to violently assault them with shards of glass, convinced they are not human.
She is committed to Dr. Booth's mental institution, where she is attacked once more and transported into the separate dimension she previously saw, only this time inside of a closet. She screams for help to Dr. Booth and an orderly, neither of whom can see or hear her. Dr. Booth closes the door, and the creatures drag Julia away.
The story centers on Lancelot's rescue of Guinevere after she has been abducted by Meleagant, the malevolent son of King Bademagu, the righteous ruler of the nearby Kingdom of Gorre. It deals with Lancelot's trials rescuing Guinevere, and his struggle to balance his duties as a warrior and as a lover bound by societal conventions.
The book begins with Guinevere being abducted by Meleagant, who has tricked Arthur into allowing him to do so. After Gawain protests Arthur’s decision to let them go, Arthur allows Gawain to pursue them. While Gawain is searching for the pair, he runs into the (then unnamed) Lancelot who, after riding his horse to death, convinces Gawain to lend him a horse in pursuit of the queen. Lancelot then speeds after Guinevere. When Gawain catches up to him, Lancelot has worn out his new horse to death just as he did his previous one. Lancelot encounters a cart-driving dwarf, who says he will tell Lancelot where Guinevere and her captor went if Lancelot agrees to ride in his cart. Lancelot boards the cart reluctantly as this is a dishonorable form of transport for a knight. Gawain, unwilling to demean himself in this manner, chooses to follow on horseback. Along this journey they encounter many obstacles. Lancelot is regularly derided by locals along his journey for having reduced himself to such a lowly stature by riding in the aforementioned cart. His first trial comes when a maiden offers a bed for the knights, but refuses to let Lancelot lie on it. It is then revealed to be a trap to kill the knights, but it does not faze Lancelot, as after escaping the trap, he returns to sleep in the very bed in which the trap was set.
After many more encounters with beautiful women and rude knights, Lancelot and Gawain decide to part ways so that they may cover more ground. Lancelot endures many trials, including battling three axe-bearing men, lifting a heavy slab of stone from a mysterious tomb, battling a foreign army from Logres, settling a dispute among those loyal to him over who may host him for the night, fighting against an overly prideful knight, and crossing an extremely sharp "sword-bridge". Lancelot finds Guinevere in the castle of Gorre, and rescues her from Meleagant. However, he is subsequently driven away by her coldness, which is later revealed to be caused by his initial hesitation to enter the cart. Lancelot leaves to find Gawain but is drawn back through his misadventures, and Guinevere apologizes for turning him away. Lancelot breaks into her tower and they spend a passionate night together. He injures his hand during his break-in, and blood from this injury stains Guinevere's sheets. Lancelot sneaks out of the tower before sunrise, and Meleagant accuses Guinevere of committing adultery with Kay, who is the only wounded knight known of nearby. Lancelot challenges Meleagant to a fight to defend Guinevere’s honor. After Meleagant’s father interferes, Meleagant and Lancelot agree to fight in a year's time. During this year, Lancelot is tricked by another dwarf and forced into imprisonment while Guinevere is allowed to return home. When it comes time to duel, Lancelot bargains with his captors to let him go and fight, and he promises to return. When Lancelot fights in the tournament, Guinevere asks him to lose in order to prove his love. He obliges, but when he begins to intentionally throw the battle, Guinevere changes her mind, now instructing him to win instead. Lancelot complies and beats the other tournament competitors, returning to his captors following the battle. Meleagant finds out from the captor's husband that the captor's wife was the one who agreed to release Lancelot temporarily (to fight at the tournament). Meleagant orders Lancelot to be locked away in a master craftsman's castle and Lancelot is imprisoned.
In a continuation, we learn that the woman whom Lancelot had much earlier saved from kidnapping (she ordered Lancelot to sever her stalker's head) was actually Meleagant's sister. She searches for Lancelot in order to return his favor. She finds an axe, and the rope used by Lancelot to pull up food, and sends up the axe instead. Lancelot chops his way out and escapes with her to a secluded home that she owns. Meanwhile, Gawain prepares to battle Meleagant, since Lancelot is missing (a one-year rematch after the second duel was established). Lancelot arrives on time and, at last, fights Meleagant, who loses his temper and his arm (to Lancelot's sword), and is subsequently beheaded by Lancelot. Guinevere tepidly embraces Lancelot (they are in public) in the end.
Set in turn-of-the-century New York, wealthy playboy Charles Hill (Fred Astaire) is causing difficulties for his guardian, Aunt Lettie (Marjorie Main) and lawyer, Max (Keenan Wynn). Prone to fall in love then ditching his showgirl brides-to-be at the altar, the compensation bills are mounting. After the most recent episode, he hears Angela (Vera-Ellen) leading a Salvation Army band in song. He falls in love at first sight and when she scoffs at him, telling him that if he were in love his feet would leave the ground, he promptly floats high into the air. He pursues her, even vowing to do an honest day's work for the first time in his life. After various attempts to convince her, Angela's feeling finally cause ''her'' feet to leave the ground. After a couple of misunderstandings are resolved, they float dancing into the air together, to a chorus of well-wishers below as the film ends.
The Bow is set entirely on a rotting 40-foot boat anchored off the coast of Korea. An old man (Jeon Seong-hwang) maintains it as a fishing platform for tourists with the help of a beautiful 16-year-old girl (Han Yeo-reum) who appears to be mute. Visitors to the boat chat about the rumors. He brought her out when she was just six years old. Her parents are looking for her. He plans to marry her on her 17th birthday. The stories sound farfetched, as does the idea that the old man is also a fortune teller, but they all turn out to be basically true. She is everything to him: a kidnap victim/daughter/girlfriend/fiancée. The old man fends off the fishermen, who make advances at the girl, by shooting arrows at them while the girl just smiles. He predicts fortune by shooting three arrows at a Bodhisattva image on the side of the boat as the girl swings dangerously in front of it. The girl whispers in his ear and he whispers in the person's ear his fortune. She's not a bad archer either and is more than capable of protecting herself. When he's not wielding the bow as a weapon, the old man converts it into a musical instrument and plays it like a violin.
The old man's arrangements start to come apart when the boat is visited by a fishing party that includes a sweet-natured student (Seo Ji-seok) who falls in love with the girl at first sight and is profoundly concerned about her situation. She, too, falls for him, and the old man starts to fear that his marriage day, carefully marked on his calendar, may never come to pass.
The student comes to take her away as her parents are searching for her still, but the old man tries to prevent them from leaving by shooting arrows at him but she stands in front. The old man tries to commit suicide out of shame. She returns and marries him. They each liberate a chicken as part of the ceremony. They leave on the boat to consummate the marriage. The student releases the hen but hits the cock but later releases it too. The old man starts to play his bow and the girl falls asleep. He shoots an arrow in the sky and jumps into the ocean. The boat returns to the student. However, the girl acts as though someone is having sex with her and suddenly the arrow shot earlier strikes between her legs in the plank. She has an orgasm and bleeds. As they leave the old boat starts following them and after she waves sink. Then this message comes onscreen as an end note:
"Strength and a beautiful sound like in the tautness of a bow. I want to live like this until the day I die."
In Alaska (referred to as "a faraway place at the edge of the world") the old elf Iki-Iäkäs is dying, because the musicbox which plays his life's melody is about to stop. Iki-Iäkäs sends three elves, Toivo, Kauko and Hande, to Finland (whence the elves were driven away by the evil and greedy Näsä) to find the key to the music box so that it can be rewound.
After forgetting to fill the tank of their aeroplane, the elves crash into the woods. They manage to steal fuel from a nearby farm, the occupants of which are completely unaware of the elves' presence and the true intentions of their bizarre guest Pentti. Pentti is, in actuality, a Näsä sent to steal the elves' Book of Knowledge which holds the answer to every question. Despite getting the gas, they can't leave, because the propeller was twisted in the crash and so Kauko, an elf of an established carpenter family, begins to make a new one out of wood.
As a comedic touch, the three elves speak in a mixture of Finnish and English. This is mostly Finnish but (almost) every line contains a few words or phrases replaced by English in random places.
Barbara Liversidge is a no-nonsense, outspoken, nosey, middle-aged doctor's receptionist with a sharp tongue. She has been married to her husband Ted, a mild-mannered taxi driver, for 40 years. Barbara is by far the dominant figure in the relationship, but Ted does occasionally stand up to her. The pair live in Pudsey, Leeds, West Yorkshire with their twenty-something son Neil, who drifts between jobs and a succession of short-term relationships. Their daughter, the long-suffering Linda, is married to Martin Pond, a TV presenter who has his own slot on the local news, ''Pond Life'', which generally involves him making a fool of himself. Jean is Barbara's appearance-obsessed sister (Barbara once claims she's had so much plastic surgery that "she literally doesn't know her arse from her elbow") who marries the simpering Phil. Barbara's colleague at the doctor's surgery, Doreen, often regales Barbara with tales of the bizarre situations she and her never-seen husband Clive find themselves in.
Much of the humour revolves around Barbara's tactlessness and her family's fear of getting on the wrong side of her. While the family often complain about her, they usually find they struggle to manage when Barbara doesn't take charge. Although the show initially appears to have a very traditional sitcom setting, surreal humour is frequently used, such as Barbara baking a cake that looks like Judi Dench and a taxidermist friend of Ted's stuffing and mounting his dead wife. There were also some more drama-based plots, such as Linda's discovery she can't have any more children after the birth of her son George. In a particularly dark development, the final episode ("Who Shot Barbara?") ends with an unseen assailant shooting Barbara from behind - a cliffhanger which is never resolved.
On Christmas Eve in Europe in 1944, at the height of World War II, former Broadway star Captain Bob Wallace and aspiring performer Private Phil Davis entertain the 151st division with a soldier's show. The men have just received word their beloved Major General Thomas F. Waverly has been relieved of his command. Waverly arrives and delivers an emotional farewell. The men send him off with a rousing chorus of "The Old Man". After Waverly departs, enemy bombers attack the area and everyone takes cover. Davis shields Wallace from a collapsing wall and is wounded by debris. Wallace asks how he can pay back Davis for saving his life, and Davis suggests they become a duo act. Bob is not fond of the idea, but feels obliged to agree.
After the war, the two make it big, first as performers, then as producers, launching a hit musical, ''Playing Around''. They receive a letter supposedly from their old Mess Sergeant, Ben "Freckle Face" Haynes, asking them to view his sisters' act. They watch Betty and Judy sing at Novello's, a Florida nightclub. Phil, who likes to play matchmaker, notices Bob is interested in Betty. After the performance, the four meet, and Phil and Judy immediately hit it off. Betty and Bob, however, argue about Bob's cynicism, and the fact it was actually Judy who wrote the letter instead of Ben. Bing Crosby as Bob Wallace and Danny Kaye as Phil Davis
Finding out from Judy that the girls' landlord is falsely suing them for a damaged rug, and has even gone so far as to call the police to get his money, Phil gives them tickets he and Bob had purchased to spend Christmas in New York City. Bob and Phil improvise a performance to buy the girls time, then flee to the train, where they now have to sit up in the Club Car, much to Bob's chagrin.
The girls convince Phil and Bob to forgo New York and spend Christmas with them in Pine Tree, Vermont, where they are booked as performers. Upon arriving in Vermont, they find all the tourists have left due to no snow and unseasonably warm weather. They arrive at the empty Columbia Inn and are aghast to discover that General Waverly is the landlord of the hotel, has sunk his life savings into it, and is on the verge of bankruptcy. Phil and Bob decide to invite some of the cast of ''Playing Around'' to Pine Tree to stage a show to draw in the guests, and include Betty and Judy in the show. Betty and Bob's romance starts to bloom.
Later, Bob discovers Waverly received a humiliating rejection letter to his request to rejoin the army. Bob determines to prove to the General he is not forgotten, and calls up Ed Harrison, another old Army buddy who now has his own variety show, for help. Ed suggests they put the general on the show and make a big scene of his misfortune and Bob's kindness, which would be free advertising for Bob and Phil. Bob strongly rejects the idea. Unfortunately, the housekeeper Emma eavesdrops on the other phone for the first half of the conversation. She relays Ed's idea to Betty, who becomes suddenly cold towards a baffled Bob.
Phil and Judy stage a phony engagement, thinking Betty is trying to avoid romance because she does not want to leave Judy unprotected. However, this backfires when Betty accepts a gig in New York and leaves. Phil and Judy admit the truth to Bob, who becomes enraged and hurries to New York to tell Betty. They partially reconcile, but he meets up with Harrison before he has a chance to find out what really was bothering her. Betty sees Bob go on Harrison's show and invite the entire 151st division to secretly join him at Pine Tree to surprise General Waverly, at Bob and Phil's expense. Realizing she was mistaken, Betty returns to Vermont just in time to be in the show.
Once again on Christmas Eve, the soldiers surprise General Waverly with another rousing chorus of "The Old Man" when he arrives at the show, bringing him to tears. During the performance, Betty and Bob become engaged, and Judy and Phil decide to go through with their own engagement. As everyone sings "White Christmas", a thick snowfall at last blankets Vermont.
The newly established P-Fleet travels to a remote region of space. They approach an anomaly, identified as a "maggot hole". On the bridge of the C.P.P. ''Potkustartti'', Captain James B. Pirk (Samuli Torssonen) reminisces about his experiences since the end of the previous film, ''Star Wreck V: Lost Contact''. Pirk was stranded on Earth at the end of the 20th century, his spaceship destroyed, his crew dispersed to avoid changing Earth's history.
Years later, Pirk realized that Earth's history had not developed as expected since first contact with the Vulgars. Instead of helping Mankind to conquer space, the Vulgars were corrupted by rock star Jeffrey Cochbrane, who sold their spaceship to the Russians. Pirk takes matters into his own hands, and with his old crew members Commander Dwarf (Timo Vuorensola) and Commander Info (Antti Satama), he locates the spaceship of the Vulgars. Gaining the trust of the Russian President, he builds the spaceship C.P.P. ''Potkustartti'' and subsequently the "P-Fleet". Due to his monopoly on superior technology, Pirk takes control of the Earth and becomes its emperor.
Pirk desires further conquest. He takes the fleet through the maggot hole to a parallel universe, in which history has taken a different path. Pirk announces his intent to conquer the parallel universe to Captain Johnny K. Sherrypie, the commander of the Babel 13 space station. Sherrypie resists and sends his fleet to counter Pirk's. Babel 13's fleet is devastated. Sherrypie surrenders to the P-Fleet's forces and lures Pirk and his security detail with promises of shore leave and sexual encounters with the Babel 13's female personnel.
Sherrypie and his crew later try to assassinate Pirk, but he and his men escape. Battle resumes with the arrival of the ''Excavator'', commanded by Festerbester. In a bitter fight, the P-Fleet suffers considerable losses, and the ''Excavator'' inflicts heavy damage on the ''Potkustartti''. Crippled, the ''Potkustartti'' is set on a collision course, and the bridge personnel evacuate to Fukov's ship, the C.P.P. ''Kalinka''. The destructive force of the ''Potkustartti'' ramming the ''Excavator'' during a "twist core split" (a parody of ''Star Trek'' s "warp core breach") destroys both ships. The remaining five P-Fleet ships approach Babel 13, preparing to destroy it, but Sherrypie's security officer Mikhail Garybrandy (Jari Ahola) has primed the station's reactor to blow up. The blast destroys the other ships, but the ''Kalinka'' escapes through the maggot hole, spiraling out of control and crashing into what appears to be ice age Earth. Pirk, Info and Dwarf beam down to safety as the ship crashes. The ending mirrors Pirk's initial predicament: he is stranded without a ship during an uneventful time in history. Info suggests he go into power save mode and revive himself in the distant future to stop the fleet from entering the maggot hole. The scene shifts to Earth's orbit where a cloud of high tech debris exists, suggesting that they are trapped in a post-apocalyptic future, not the prehistoric past.
Three bank robbers – Eddie, Jojo and Sammy - plan what they think is a perfect bank heist. As they exit the bank one of them throws the money in the trunk of what looks like their car but is just identical. Dejected, the leader of the crew, Eddie, muses that the human factor is what goes wrong with his plans and that what he needs is robots – something that he can control and that will follow orders exactly. The three part ways, and Eddie is left to come up with his next plan. Eddie finds his inspiration as he watches some Doberman Pinschers chase off a couple of boys who were chasing some boys who were trying to rob a junkyard. He poses as a journalist doing a story about trained military dogs, and he convinces an Air Force dog handler named Barney to work with him in a dog training business. At the same time, Eddie reconnects with Jojo and Sammy to come up with a plan to rob a payroll from a bank, including building a replica of the bank.
When Barney is discharged from the Air Force, he comes to work with Eddie and is surprised when Eddie has Dobermans for Barney to train instead of German Shepherds, which is what Barney is accustomed to training. Barney, unaware that Eddie is planning to use the dogs in his heist, reluctantly agrees to train the six Dobermans, to which Eddie bestows the names of famous bank robbers (Dillinger, Bonnie, Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson and Ma Barker). They are accompanied by a bulldog that Eddie names J. Edgar, after J. Edgar Hoover. As Barney trains the dogs, he becomes suspicious and figures out the bank robbery plot on his own. Barney confronts Eddie, who tells Barney that he is free to leave and not to worry about the dogs. Eddie reveals that if Barney leaves, he’ll kill the dogs. Barney has also become close with Eddie’s girlfriend, June, and she convinces Barney to stay and finish the job. Eddie outlines the specifics of the plan to Barney, which, if successful, will net the crew $600,000 if all of the dogs come back successfully. For his part Barney wants half of the take, but he agrees to a one-fourth share after some convincing by Sammy. June is left out of the arrangement but gets a promise from Eddie to receive $15,000 out of his share. June realizes that Eddie sees her as disposable, and she and Barney get even closer behind Eddie’s back.
On the day of the bank robbery, all six dogs do exactly what they are trained to do and enter the bank one at a time, lying down and waiting for the command to start the robbery. Dillinger is the last to enter and carries the note giving the instructions to the tellers. Just before he’s supposed to blow the dog whistles corresponding to each dog, Barney has second thoughts (because June , looking for a bigger share, tells him the dogs will be killed afterwards to get rid of evidence) and leaves the command post across the street. Eddie and June are left to finish the operation and blow the whistles. While Sammy and Jojo head back to the training ranch, sprinkling dirt from the ranch along the way as a sort of trail of breadcrumbs, June picks up where Barney left off. The operation goes off exactly as planned, and the dogs collect the money and head home. One of the Dobermans is hit by a car, and another dog collects that dog’s saddlebag and continues on its way. Another dog is distracted by a standard poodle in a backyard and stops to make friends with it. Eddie connect with Sammy and Jojo at the ranch, but June goes to a different spot and blows the whistles again, giving the command to the dogs to attack the bank robbers. She blows the whistles again, and the dogs collect the bags of money and run to June’s location, where she hopes to get the money, but the dogs will not let her have it. They're not robots--only Barney had any feeling for them, so they feel no connection to anyone else. She tries to get the whistles to signal to the dogs one more time, but J. Edgar takes the whistles and runs off as the Dobermans follow him. June runs after the dogs but can’t catch them. As June watches, J. Edgar and the five remaining Dobermans run into a valley carrying the bags of money.
Arkady Renko, former Chief Investigator of the Moscow Town Prosecutor's Office, is serving a self-imposed exile in Siberia to avoid being detained for his actions in ''Gorky Park'' several years earlier, despite the Soviet Union's ostensibly increasing liberalization. He procures menial employment as a fish gutter on the "slime line" of a large Arctic Sea factory ship called the ''Polar Star'', part of a joint Soviet-American fishing exercise within detente.
He is brought to the attention of Viktor Marchuk, the ship's captain, after a young woman named Zina Patiashvili is found dead in a net full of freshly-caught fish. Due to his past as a homicide investigator, he is given the task of finding out what happened to her—to the dislike of political officer Volovoi. Hess, the ship's chief electrical engineer—an elaborate blind for his espionage activities—welcomes Arkady more warmly. Researching the girl's background, he discovers an open and somewhat radical Georgian personality, known for her many lovers (including the Captain, before she became a crew member) and fondness for underground music. Looking into her death also attracts the attention of the ship's main gang, led by Karp Korobetz—the ship's leading fisher and Arkady's former prisoner. The American corporate representative on board, Susan Hightower, takes an interest in the case.
Arkady grows weary of the investigation, largely due to the obstructive actions of many of his shipmates—many of whom are concerned that it will delay a long-awaited shore leave at Dutch Harbour. Renko finally decides to go along with the original verdict of suicide, letting the ship's crew disembark. Though lacking proper authorization to go ashore himself, Arkady is sponsored in an impromptu shore leave by "Fleet Electrical Engineer" Hess.
Whilst there, he starts to enter into a relationship with Susan before encountering Volovoi in a nearby dwelling. Volovoi threatens him but is killed by a disgruntled Karp, who then locks Arkady in and sets the building on fire. The investigator manages to escape and "accidentally" falls into the water to wash off any incriminating odors. Questions are raised, but nothing is decided. Arkady has no evidence against Karp and, having already survived an attempt on his life, fears he will be attacked again. Entering the icy North, the American trawler freezes into the ice whilst trailing the ''Polar Star''. Arkady learns of Karp's relationship with Zina and her attempts to defect aboard the American ship, as well the secret spy cable running underneath the vessel that is operated by Hess. Arkady ventures out into the ice towards the American ship, and Karp casually follows and eventually catches up with him. On board they find evidence that Zina was killed and stowed on board in one of the lockers. Arkady also finds indications that the Americans were deceiving Hess by transmitting the acoustic signatures of numerous other decommissioned American vessels.
Karp kills the killer, scaring off the Americans and allowing him and Renko to escape. After a final foiled attempt to finish Arkady off, Karp finally decides, with draconian Russian justice awaiting him back home, to drown himself in the icy water. When the ''Polar Star'' returns to Vladivostok, Arkady says farewell to Susan and his fellow crewmen, suddenly finding himself in the party's favour again.
Now back in Moscow, Arkady Renko struggles to keep the peace in a town overrun by organized crime and the economic recession caused by the death-throes of the Soviet Union. The lawlessness of the new Moscow is brought home to him when one of this informants, a Russian Jewish black marketer named Rudy Rosen, is killed by a fire bomb. Suspicion for the act is divided among each of the leading gangs, such as one led by a new Soviet "entrepreneur" or the ever troublesome Chechens.
Whilst looking over Rosen's apartment, Arkady is confused by an incoming fax asking "where is Red Square?", as well as several connections to Germany, specifically Munich. He also is amazed to hear the voice of Irina Asanova, his long lost love from ''Gorky Park'', announcing for the recently unblocked American propaganda station Radio Liberty, operating out of Munich. Uncovering more and more connections to Germany, and once again facing suppression at home - including the killing of his partner - Arkady manages to coerce the prosecutor to allow him to go to the recently reunified Germany, in an unofficial capacity.
He looks up leads in the Rosen case, as well as trying to re-connect with Irina, but finds she wants nothing to do with him. He soon enters a strained but beneficial relationship with a German police officer called Peter Schmidt, who describes his grandfather's escapades as one of Heinrich Himmler's art collectors, particularly of revolutionary avant garde Russian art, presently persecuted by the Soviet regime. Arkady finds himself a rival in Max Albov, Irina's colleague at Radio Liberty, whom he had previously encountered in Moscow and starts to suspect of involvement with Rosen. Irina repents of her dislike for Arkady, after learning that he had not been living as the spoiled apparatchik he had been portrayed, and awkwardly all three of them head for Berlin. At an art exhibition, the avant garde piece by Malevich called "Red Square" is proudly shown to audiences. Increasingly finding his present company intertwined with the case, Arkady realizes that he has stumbled across a vast, and deadly, art smuggling operation.
In an effort to silence him, Arkady is framed in the death of the Chechen leader Makhmud and has to dodge the inevitable reprisal. Arranging to get the painting, Arkady and Irina head back to Moscow - well aware of the staged coup of Communist Party hard-liners. He arranges a swap, knowing full well that it is a trap. During a fire-fight in rural Moscow where the stash of paintings are kept, both he and Max escape, and settle into the confusion of the coup and protests. Arkady finds himself cornered, but is saved by Chechen gang members who have learned the real cause of their leader's death. Together with Irina again, they stand with the other protesters and press as tanks march towards Russia's new impromptu parliament, the White House.
The film centers around 10-year-old intelligent Elijah Butler (Justin 'DJ' Spaulding) living in New York. His mother (Mary J. Blige) is a hard-working woman who has spent the last several years attending night school – with the eventual goal of becoming a lawyer. Given that she is from a lower-class area, she is having a tough time finding employment as a legal secretary. Her fiancé, Cee (Harold Perrineau), a photographer and supporter of the family, has a genuine bond with Elijah. Later, Cee is incarcerated after assaulting an officer who began harassing him on a street corner for taking pictures of passing pedestrians. He ends up serving twenty-five to life term for having three consecutive charges.
Later that night, Elijah and his best friend, Thomas Wilson (Dominique Walters), find themselves incarcerated at a juvenile correctional facility for playing a prank on a police officer with a laser pointer. When Elijah's mother comes to get him and is told he could not be released, Elijah is taken from her with both trying their best to get to one another. She assaults an officer by stabbing him with a pen and then is taken to a mental institution. The officer she assaulted tried to stop her when she tries to take Elijah out of the facility. Elijah has one visit with his mother, who is unaware of her surroundings due to obvious medication given from the facility. Elijah eventually is released from the juvenile facility and put in a foster home.
The film picks up years later, and Elijah (Q-Tip) is now a sensitive adult with dreams of becoming an artist with the support of his girlfriend Jolie (Denee Rivera). He is offered a spot at a prestigious art school under scholarship, but it gets taken away and is now unable to afford the tuition. Much to the chagrin of Cee who Elijah still sees through prison visits, Elijah considers a foray into the world of drug dealing. Though he eventually decides against that route, he winds up in jail for accidentally killing one of his foster brothers Big Pete (Fat Joe) by pushing him on to the subway tracks during an altercation. Elijah is then found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to fifteen years to life.
When he gets to jail, he is reunited with Thomas (Eric McCollum). Having a hard time adapting to prison life, Elijah takes an art class and paints works of art that impresses his fellow prisoners; however, due to funds, the art class is discontinued, much to his dismay. The prisoners are then subjected to hard labor on an abandoned building. Elijah then stages an uprising by setting fire to the building, which puts him in solitary confinement. Life for the prisoners gets worse when the officers take away the water, gym, physical education and classes, which sends Elijah to his breaking and he decides to break out.
Elijah concocts a plan to break out of prison and enlists the help of Thomas, his cellmate Harris (Danny Hoch), KT (Clay Da Raider), Brown (Bobbito Garcia), and Jay (Hassan Johnson), who works as an electrician in the jail. Before the group proceeds with the plan, Harris bails out at the last minute. The group uses a ladder to break through the window and press a button that opens the gate. As the group makes their way to a police car, Jay stabs Thomas multiple times in the back with a screwdriver as revenge. (Earlier in the film, Thomas stole toilet paper from Jay and he tried to stab Thomas, who turned the tables on him and slit his mouth and sent him to protective custody.) Elijah goes back to save Thomas, who ends up dying in his arms. He ends up getting stuck in between a four-wall fence while holding an officer hostage and is then killed by a shotgun blast to the chest.
Sometime later, Elijah's artwork of people he drew during his time in prison ends up at an art gallery, with visitors looking at each one. The camera then zooms in on a painting of Elijah and Thomas as kids as the film ends.
Set in rural New Brunswick, Canada in 1974, the novel's protagonist is Michael Skid, the privileged son of the town judge. After a falling out with his friend Tom Donnerel, Michael befriends Madonna and Silver Brassaurd, a brother and sister who draw him into the orbit of Everette Hutch, a charismatic and violent man who ultimately leads the three youths to commit murder.
In Lyon in 1943, Fontaine, a member of the French Resistance, jumps out of the car that is taking him to Montluc prison. He is immediately apprehended, and his German captors handcuff him, beat him, and lock him up. Throughout his time in prison, Fontaine regularly hears gunfire as other inmates are executed.
At first, Fontaine is placed in a cell on the ground floor of Montluc. He communicates with his neighbor by tapping on the wall and is regularly able to talk to Terry, a member of a small group that is allowed to exercise in a courtyard unsupervised, from his window. Terry takes Fontaine's letters to his family and superiors in the Resistance and gets him a safety pin so he can remove his handcuffs.
After fifteen days, Fontaine is moved to a cell on the top floor of Montluc, and he is no longer made to wear handcuffs. His new neighbor, Blanchet, is an elderly man who refuses to respond to his taps on the wall, but he gets to know several other inmates on his daily trips to empty his slop bucket and wash his face, even though the guards regularly admonish them for talking. After Blanchet faints while emptying his slop bucket, he and Fontaine begin to talk to each other at their windows.
Fontaine notices the wooden door of his cell is made up of thick boards joined together by a softer wood, so he sharpens the end of a spoon and begins to chisel away at the joints. After weeks of slow, silent, meticulous work, which involves keeping track of and disposing of every wood shaving and figuring out how to camouflage the damage he is doing to the door, he is able to get out of his cell into the hallway at will. He then makes some rope using most of his linens and the wire from his bed frame.
Some of Fontaine's fellow inmates begin to believe he may actually be able to figure out a way to escape from Montluc, and Orsini, who helped alert Fontaine to approaching guards while he was chiseling at his door, asks to come along. Fontaine shares his plan with Orsini, but Orsini thinks it is too complicated and instead tries to make a run for it one day as the inmates walk to empty their slop buckets. He is caught and returned to his cell while the plans are made for his execution, and he tells Fontaine to fashion hooks to scale the prison walls from the frame of the lighting fixture in his cell.
Fontaine makes more rope out of some cloth items he receives in a package, and Blanchet even donates a blanket to his escape effort. As time goes on, however, the other inmates begin to doubt Fontaine will ever really try to escape, and another prisoner refuses to join his plan, calling it unrealistic.
Shortly after learning he has been sentenced to death, Fontaine is given a cellmate. The young soldier, François Jost, says he has been convicted of desertion, but Fontaine suspects he may have been planted by the Nazis to get information. Fontaine spends some time feeling Jost out and ultimately decides to trust the boy and escape with him, knowing he would have to be killed otherwise.
One day, Fontaine says his goodbyes and tells Jost his plan. Jost understands he does not really have a choice, so he gets on board and helps make some more rope. The pair go into the hallway that night and reach the roof via a skylight. Fontaine slowly leads the way across the roof, taking advantage of the auditory cover provided by passing trains, and descends into a courtyard, where he kills a German guard. He and Jost climb a building and hook a rope across the gap between the inner and outer walls of the prison compound, but Fontaine loses his nerve and just sits there. Several hours later, he finally shimmies across the rope and drops down into the streets of Lyon, and he and Jost walk away from Montluc undetected.
Eli Michaelson (Alan Rickman), a self-involved chemistry professor, learns he has been awarded the Nobel Prize. After verbally abusing his wife, son, colleagues, and nominal girlfriend, he heads off to Sweden with his wife, Sarah (Mary Steenburgen), to collect his award. His son, Barkley (Bryan Greenberg), misses the flight.
Barkley Michaelson has chosen to study not chemistry but anthropology, and this perceived failure triggers constant torrents of abuse from his father. His missing the flight, though, is the apparently innocent result of having been kidnapped by the deranged Thaddeus James (Shawn Hatosy), who claims to be Eli Michaelson's son by the wife of a former colleague. Thaddeus successfully obtains a ransom of $2 million, which he then splits with Barkley who, it appears, has orchestrated the kidnapping to obtain money from his father.
Shortly after Barkley's release, Thaddeus rents a garage apartment from the Michaelsons and begins to charm Eli with his knowledge of chemistry. Barkley undertakes a campaign of psychological terror aimed at Thaddeus and his girlfriend, performance artist City Hall (Eliza Dushku). This ultimately results in the death of Thaddeus and commitment to a mental hospital for City.
Meanwhile, Barkley kidnaps Eli and threatens to expose the scientific fraud that led to Eli receiving a Nobel Prize that he did not deserve. Eli's long-suffering wife, Sarah, demands a divorce while praising her son for his devious behavior.
In the final scenes, Sarah, Barkley, and Sarah's police detective boyfriend, Max Mariner (Bill Pullman) are seen on a tropical beach. Mariner appears to have been in the dark through most of the movie, but has figured out towards the end that he wants to be with Sarah and can live with the theft of $2 million from her scoundrel husband. Eli is seen in his classroom unrepentantly flirting with another student. He has lost his wife, son, and the money, but he still has his Nobel Prize and the professor position.
In 2008, David Jefferson Adams becomes the 44th President of the United States following a disputed election and a tie vote in the Electoral College (and subsequent tie-breaker by the United States House of Representatives), becoming the most hated and unpopular president in U.S. history.
A combination of foreign terrorist attacks and poor economic conditions contributes to civil unrest. As a result, rioting springs up all throughout the United States, resulting in domestic terrorism. In response, President Adams uses the Homeland Security Act and declares martial law on many areas of the country, but it is particularly concentrated on the West Coast.
Four years later, during the 2012 U.S. presidential plection, the Supreme Court of the United States disqualifies all the popular presidential candidates from several states, effectively handing Adams his reelection. The public reacts violently when incumbent Adams accepts a second term.
During the Inauguration Ball in Washington, D.C. on the night of January 20, 2013, a low-yield tactical nuclear weapon is detonated in an apparent groundburst, presumably having been concealed there in advance. The yield is sufficient to destroy most of the city, killing Adams, his cabinet, and most of the U.S. Congress, effectively wiping out the presidential line of succession and thrusting the United States into total chaos.
The European Union Parliament meets in an emergency session, and votes to send peacekeepers to the Washington Metropolitan Area to secure international interests and protection of European citizens in the United States. As secessionist sentiment rises in America, the governor of California declares home rule, and California secedes from the Union on April 15, 2013. Texas follows a few days later, on April 17, 2013, taking neighboring states with it and re-forming the Republic of Texas. Other factions form in the following months, and by 2014, all hopes for a peaceful resolution are gone, and the Second American Civil War begins.
Early in the war, Russia invades and occupies Alaska, using the expanded military operations of the European Union as an excuse. The invasion is personally led by President Nicholai Vladekov, an ex-general and former Soviet hardliner, who claims that Alaska was never really part of the United States and that Russia is merely reclaiming its former territory. What little resistance does occur is confused and disorganized, making the invasion largely unopposed.
Later, Interpol reveals the results of its investigation regarding the Inauguration Day bombing. President Vladekov had been dealing weapons on the black market for more than thirty years and masterminded the D.C. bombing as part of his goal to disrupt the world economy so that Russia could regain its military dominance, and more easily control Europe. Protests throughout Russia force Vladekov to declare martial law in Moscow.
After the former contiguous United States is unified under one faction, the independent Commonwealth of Hawaii agrees to join the new government. Vladekov refuses to cede control of Alaska, so the faction's forces prepare to invade the state and drive the Russians out of North America. A closing cinematic depicts the aftermath of the war.
If the invasion fails, the reunified U.S. is still suffering unrest and faces an uncertain future. If the invasion succeeds and the player faction's reputation is very good, the troubled American states are "united again under uncommon greatness" – a leader whose merciful acts and strategic and tactical brilliance will be spoken of for centuries to come. If the player faction's reputation is very bad, the U.S. transforms into a new fascist state, "one that will never again feel the sting of dissent".
The factions in the game include the entirety or portions of the following states:
'''California Commonwealth''': Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah '''Commonwealth of Hawaii''': Hawaii (non-playable faction) '''Confederacy''': Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia '''European Union Occupation''': Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia '''Great Plains Federation''': Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin '''New England Alliance''': Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Vermont '''Pacifica''': Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming '''Republic of Texas''': Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas *'''Russia''': Alaska (only multiplayer)
Solo is an android designed as a military killing machine. He is sent to Central America by General Haynes to battle guerrilla insurgents, but a flaw develops in his programming and he develops a conscience and compassion. His developers try to take him back for deprogramming, but he flees to the jungle in a helicopter. His main energy supply was damaged during the first mission, forcing him to switch to his much less powerful secondary power. He joins a small village community that is under constant threat from guerilla attackers, and he protects them in exchange for use of their electric generator (they previously used it to power a television). There he learns to 'bluff' from a child that befriends him, Miguel.
Solo helps the villagers drive off local Warlord Rio and his small army, but the combat is detected by a military satellite. A black ops team is sent to recover or destroy Solo, while they ally with Rio. The highly sadistic black ops leader, Colonel Frank Madden, who has an intense hatred for Solo as he sees Solo renders the Black Ops members like him out of job, brings in Dr. Bill Stewart, Solo's creator, as a lure, leaving the man mortally wounded but Solo survives. Having occupied the village, the militiamen and black ops team attempt to kill Solo, but he manages to kill them.
Rio is betrayed by Madden, who tries to kill Solo with an automatic grenade launcher. Solo is able to fight Madden in hand-to-hand combat and non-fatally break his spine. Suddenly a helicopter delivers a more powerful version of the android, which is armed with a multi-barreled gun and has Madden's face. The MkII kills Madden and proceeds to hunt down Solo. Solo rescues the villagers and destroys the MkII android, using his acquired bluffing skills. After the temple the two androids fought in collapses, causing the military to pull out believing both units are destroyed and unrecoverable, Miguel mourns Solo believing he was destroyed by cave-in, but Miguel starts to hear Solo, laughing, as he knows he has earned his freedom.
A bottle with a manuscript inside it is thrown into the sea. It floats to the coast of England, where a sailor discovers the bottle and opens it to read the manuscript. Bowen Tyler narrates.
During World War I, Bowen Tyler and Lisa Clayton are passengers on the ship torpedoed by Captain von Schoenvorts. Along with a few surviving British officers, Tyler persuades the other men to take over the surfacing submarine, this being their only chance for survival. After they confront the Germans on the deck, a fight ensues, and they seize the German U-boat. Tyler takes command, hoping to sail to a British port. Von Schoenvorts has his crew steer toward a safe sea port, but German officer Dietz breaks loose and smashes the sub's radio.
Off course and running out of fuel in the South Atlantic, the U-boat and its crew happen across an uncharted subcontinent called Caprona, a fantastical land of lush vegetation where dinosaurs still roam, co-existing with primitive man. There are also deposits of crude oil. If the Germans and British work together, the oil can be refined and enable their escape from the island. Tyler and von Schoenvorts agree to work together.
Tyler discovers the secret of Caprona: individuals evolve not through natural selection but by migrating northward across the island. With the submarine working again, a sudden outbreak of volcanic eruptions occurs across the island. Dietz starts a mutiny, shoots Captain von Schoenvorts, and takes command. He abandons Tyler and Clayton in Caprona in an attempt to escape, but the U-boat cannot function in the boiling waters, and the crew is killed as it sinks. Tyler and Clayton are stranded, and being the only survivors of their group, are forced to move northward. Tyler throws the bottle with the manuscript inside it that's seen at the beginning of the film.
In the days after the Dunkirk evacuation in the Second World War, recently commissioned Second Lieutenant Jim Perry (Niven), a pre-war Territorial private soldier, is posted to the (fictional) Duke of Glendon's Light Infantry, known as the "Dogs", to train replacements to fill its depleted ranks. He is joined by Sergeant Ned Fletcher (Hartnell), a veteran of the British Expeditionary Force.
In contrast to Perry we are introduced to the squad who are shocked to have been conscripted to the army. Evan Lloyd an unscrupulous rent collector, Sid Beck (Leslie Dwyer) a travel agent, Geoffrey Stainer (Jimmie Hanley) a friend of Lloyd's, Ted Brewer (Stanley Holloway) a plumber working in parliament, Herbert Davenport (Raymond Huntley) a department store manager with his young employee Bill Parsons (Hugh Burden) and finally Scottish farm labourer Luke (John Laurie).
A patient, mild-mannered officer, Perry does his strenuous best to turn the bunch of grumbling ex-civilians into soldiers, earning himself their intense dislike. The conscripts also mistakenly believe that their drill sergeant Fletcher is treating them harshly due to a minor incident where Lloyd spilt tea on the older man. Lloyd decides to air this grievance with Perry by reporting Fletcher for being unfair to the squad. When Perry approaches Fletcher over Lloyd's accusation, Fletcher in fact discloses that he is pleased with the way they are developing and even goes so far to state that a few of the men (including Lloud) could be future NCOs.
When Parsons appears to desert his post, Perry takes a kindly stance with the young man and learns that his wife is being threatened by debt collectors. Perry speaks up for the young man at his court martial and he is allowed rejoin the unit. The other men go on a training exercise and to "avenge" Perry's treatment of Parsons they sabotage the war game bringing shame on the battalion. Perry angrily rebukes the men who afterwards learn that Parsons was saved by Perry. Eventually the men come to respect both sergeant Fletcher and Perry.
After completing their training, the battalion is transferred to North Africa to face Rommel's ''Afrika Korps'', but their troopship is torpedoed en route and they are forced to abandon ship. When Sergeant Fletcher is trapped below deck by a burning vehicle, both Perry and Private Luke (John Laurie) intervene and work to save him. The survivors are evacuated to a nearby destroyer and are taken to Gibraltar, missing the invasion entirely.
When they eventually arrive in North Africa, the platoon is assigned to guard a small town. Perry appropriates a cafe as his headquarters, much to the disgust of the pacifist owner, Rispoli (Peter Ustinov). He instructs the men to respect the cafe owner and the men form a bond after playing darts and allowing Rispoli to join in. When the Germans attack, Perry and his men fiercely defend their positions, aided by Rispoli.
As the battle seems to turn, the Germans approach the British position under a white flag and invite Perry to surrender to save his men. Perry through his interpreter Beck tell the Germans to "Go to Hell!". The besieged British soldiers fix bayonets and join other surviving units in advancing on the enemy, hidden in the smoke from explosions. The film ends with two veteran "Dogs" appreciatively reading about the men's bravery.
Newlyweds Paul Lester (Ireland) and his wife Nancy (Randolph) are invited to visit Paul's friend Ed Stevens. They arrive to find Stevens gone and a mysterious phone call gets Paul to the other end of town. While he's away, Nancy is assaulted by a would-be burglar. Paul thinks there's something more going on than a missing persons case or a burglary and tries to interest Police Detective Frontelli (Leonard) in looking into it, but Frontelli is initially skeptical. When Stevens turns up under the wheels of a truck along with evidence tying him to an earlier hit-and-run murder, Paul is certain that there's some kind of organized conspiracy afoot. What he finds is a town slowly coming under siege from a secret band of anti-Semitic thugs masquerading as a patriotic organization, with whom Stevens had been involved and tried to quit. Paul and Nancy's situation goes from bad to dangerous when they accidentally stumble upon evidence that could hang the murderers.
Some of the music cues from the original soundtrack by Herschel Burke Gilbert were re-used in Season One of the 1950s television series Adventures of Superman.
A few days after Ichigo becomes a Soul Reaper, Chad accepts a cursed cockatiel whose previous owners have all died horrible deaths. The bird is in fact the container for the spirit of a dead child, Yuichi Shibata, placed there by a hollow who uses him as bait. Chad is forced to fight the hollow despite not being able to see it, assisted by Rukia Kuchiki. Ichigo defeats the hollow then performs Konso on Yuichi. Later on, when Uryū Ishida's duel with Ichigo unleashes a multitude of hollows upon the town, Chad is pressed into battle with another hollow. It is this event that awakens his spiritual powers, which manifest as armor on his right arm.
After Rukia is taken back to Soul Society, Chad and Orihime Inoue are trained by Yoruichi Shihouin to consciously call upon their powers when needed. After a week, Chad leaves for Soul Society with Orihime, Uryū, Yoruichi, and Ichigo. When the group is separated once entering ''Seireitei'', Chad ends up alone. Chad meets his match in Shunsui Kyōraku, captain of the 8th Division in the Gotei 13. Kyōraku easily beats Chad, leaving him heavily injured but alive. After being freed by Kenpachi Zaraki of the 11th Division and Rukia is rescued, Uryū, Chad, Ichigo and Orihime depart for the living world. In Karakura Town, Ichigo, Chad and Orihime are attacked by Ulquiorra Schiffer and Yammy Riyalgo, two of the first arrancars to invade Karakura Town. When the second invasion led by the Espada Grimmjow Jeagerjaques commences, Chad is attacked by an arrancar but is saved by Ichigo. Noting that he is unable to fight alongside Ichigo, Chad turns to Kisuke Urahara for help, asking for training.
After Orihime is captured by Sōsuke Aizen, Chad joins Ichigo and his friends to rescue her from Hueco Mundo. After making their way to Las Noches and the group splits up, Chad runs into the Privaron Espada Gantenbainne Mosqueda. His victory is short-lived, however, as the 5th Espada, Nnoitora Jiruga, severely wounds him and leaves him for dead. Chad and Gantenbainne are eventually found by the Exequias, who plan to finish them off, but Retsu Unohana and Isane Kotetsu interrupt, and the former heals him. He later appears with Rukia and Renji to aid Ichigo and fight off the Exequias, but is defeated by the Cero Espada Yammy.
After the 17 month time skip, Chad appears as an ally of Xcution, a group of humans with supernatural powers called Fullbring. Having learned that he is a Fullbringer himself, Chad agrees to help restore Ichigo's Soul Reaper abilities for Xcution's needs. However, unaware that Xcution was using him for their plan to attack the Soul Society, Chad is attacked by Shūkurō Tsukishima and falls under the influence of his Fullbring to serve as an enforcer. But when he and Orihime experience a mental breakdown after Tsukishima attempts to "add" more details to their fake memories, Chad is knocked out by Urahara and Isshin before his mind is restored after Tsukishima's eventual death. Not too long afterwards, Chad accompanies his friends (sans Uryu) to Hueco Mundo in order to save the Arrancars from the Wandenreich. When Ichigo departs to assist the Soul Society against the Wandenreich invasion, Chad, Orihime and Urahara are grievously injured by Quilge Opie and fall to his arrows. They are then saved when Opie is killed by Grimmjow, whom they later join forces with.
Ten years later, Chad is now a professional boxer and challenger to the WBO World Heavyweight Title.
The plot centers on Grace, an elderly widow who lives alone in a dreary New York City apartment. She has twice tried and failed to commit suicide, so she decides to hire Seymour, a hit man, to kill her and then do in others like her who are old, alone and tired of living. To her way of thinking, this professional killer will be committing acts of mercy, not murder.
Iris King, a widow still grieving 8 months after losing her husband, lives in a high-crime area in Connecticut and works in a baking factory. She lives from paycheck to paycheck as she raises her two children, Kelly and Richard. With money already tight for the family, Kelly learns she is pregnant, making matters worse.
Iris makes the acquaintance of Stanley Cox, a cook in the bakery's canteen, when he comes to her aid after her purse is snatched on a bus. But as their friendship develops, she notices peculiarities about Stanley. Witnessing his inability to pick out a specific medication, Iris finally realizes the truth: Stanley is illiterate. When she innocently mentions this to Stanley's boss, Stanley is fired the next day over food safety and lawsuit concerns. Unable to get steady work afterwards, Stanley moves into a garage to live. He is also forced to put his elderly father (who lived with him) in a shabby retirement home, where the old man dies after only a few weeks. Broken by these events, Stanley asks Iris if she could teach him to read. He explains that his traveling-salesman father moved him between dozens of schools all over the country when Stanley was a boy, resulting in his developing no reading or writing skills from this lack of educational stability. Iris agrees and starts giving him basic reading lessons, and he gradually grows close to her and her family. During one of these reading exercises, Stanley confides in her that he has wanted to be intimate with her since they first met, but Iris is hesitant.
Iris tests Stanley's developing reading skills by making a map for him to use to meet her at a nearby street corner, but Stanley gets hopelessly lost. Later, Iris visits a discouraged Stanley at his garage residence to try to get him to resume his lessons. Stanley, who invents things as a hobby, is at work on an elaborate cake cooling machine he designed that can potentially outperform similar commercial equipment. Iris is impressed by the device and Stanley says a nearby company was also and even offered him a job. He agrees to start reading again with Iris, and in time learns to write short sentences. The two of them begin to grow close again.
Stanley and Iris finally decide to consummate their relationship, but Iris is still clinging to her late husband's memory. This threatens their budding relationship further. Unwilling to give up on Iris because she never gave up on him, Stanley finally goes to see her. Iris hands him an unmailed letter she wrote him, and Stanley surprises her by reading it aloud nearly perfectly. Iris, now ready to start letting go of the past, accompanies Stanley to a fancy hotel where they order room service and spend the night together.
Stanley soon moves to Detroit for a new, well-paying job he has been offered, his inventing ability finally having paid off. Several months later, back in Connecticut, Iris is carrying groceries home when a new car pulls up next to her, with Stanley behind the wheel. Stanley tells her he just got a raise and plans to buy a large fixer-upper house in Detroit – and that he wants the family to come live there with him, with her as his wife. Iris accepts.
The plot involves the dark goings-on in Hemingford, Nebraska, a town near Gatlin, the original film's setting. Not long after the events of the first film, the people of Hemingford decide to adopt the surviving children from Gatlin and help them start new lives. The well-meaning locals are however unaware that the children return to the cornfield where one of the cult members, Micah, is possessed by He Who Walks Behind the Rows, the demonic entity the cult worships.
Caught in the middle are city reporter John Garrett and his son Danny, who are having a bitter falling-out over John's failed relationship with Danny's mother. John is in town working on a story about the children to save his downward-spiraling career. He runs into two of his former coworkers, Bobby Knite and fellow reporter Wayde McKenzie, who are on their way out of town. Later they are killed in a nearby cornfield after taking a shortcut in their van; a mysterious, powerful storm that lasts only minutes causes the surprisingly-sharp cornstalks to wreak havoc. Back in town, John meets bed-and-breakfast owner Angela Casual and they soon become lovers. Looking to distance himself from his father, Danny befriends orphaned local girl Lacey, who tells him some disturbing details about Gatlin.
Micah and the other children murder local woman Ruby Burke by sabotaging the hydraulic jacks supporting her house while she is underneath it, causing it to descend and crush her. Micah then kills another townsperson in the town, David Simpson, during church services with a knife and a wooden voodoo doll, which causes him to bleed to death from his nose. John starts to question the town doctor about what is going on, but the doctor acts suspiciously and asks John to leave. The doctor is later stabbed to death in his office by the children. Micah and the children later kill Mrs. Burke's sister, Mrs. West, in the road and make it look like she was struck by a car.
John partners with Frank Red Bear, a Native American professor at the state university, trying to make sense of the recent chaos and death. Frank leads John to ancient Native American rock paintings, telling him that Native Americans believed the area around Gatlin and Hemingford to hold special power which can magnify good or bad, and that children are especially vulnerable: Frank recites a story which tells of children killing their elders, but also how in the end with a funeral pyre a good spirit will emerge, further stipulating that the rock paintings show this has not yet come to pass.
As they investigate the local corn storage, they discover that town residents have been selling spoiled corn from the previous year's harvest along with the new crop to maximize profits. Growing on the spoiled corn is a dark-green acidic toxin which they believe is filling the town's air and contributing to a spate of delusions in the children, rendering them emotionless and violent. The Sheriff discovers them spying on the site, ties them up, and leaves them to be killed by a corn harvester, but they escape. Along the way, John questions Frank further about what's going on, with Frank telling how Native Americans believed in a spirit who would seek revenge for perceived wrongs done to the land, with He Who Walks Behind the Rows being this spirit.
The Sheriff and the rest of the Hemingford adults attend an emergency town-hall meeting to discuss the situation, but the children lock them inside and set the building afire, killing them all. The children then kidnap Angela and Lacey and take them out to the cornfield where they pressure a confused Danny to join them in sacrificing Lacey. John and Frank arrive driving the harvester. One of the children shoots Frank with an arrow, wounding him. Danny and John free Lacey and Angela and attempt to escape but the cornfield seems endless and they shortly return to where they started. Micah attempts to harness the power of He Who Walks Behind the Rows until Frank restarts the harvester, before he dies. Micah's robe gets caught in the machine and he calls for help. His face transforms, first into the demon that possessed him, then back to himself. Danny runs in to help him but is too late. The harvester pulls Micah in, killing him. The rest of the children scatter, and Danny, Angela, Lacey, and John leave the clearing.
John and Danny later reconcile as they burn Frank's body on traditional Native American funeral pyre, before they, Angela, and Lacey drive off together. Some time later, Frank is seen doing additions to the rock paintings to show that the story has come to pass, with his spirit having become the protector of the area.
On January 5, 1900, four friends arrive for a dinner at the London home of their inventor friend George. He is absent, then suddenly appears, bedraggled and exhausted. He recounts what happened to him.
At the group's earlier dinner on New Year's Eve, George says time is "the fourth dimension". He shows David Filby, Dr. Philip Hillyer, Anthony Bridewell, and Walter Kemp a scale model time machine. When a tiny lever on it is pressed, the device disappears. George says it went forward in time, but his friends doubt his story. They leave George's house, Filby reluctantly as he senses George is not himself. Shortly thereafter, George retires to his private laboratory which holds a full-size time machine.
Once seated in the time machine, George travels forward, first in small increments and then to 1917. He meets Filby's son, James, who says Filby died in a war. George returns to the time machine and stops in 1940 during the Blitz, finding himself in the midst of "a new war". A disillusioned George then travels to 1966. People are rushing to fallout shelters as air raid sirens are blaring. An elderly James Filby urges George to take cover. George barely makes it back to his time machine as a nuclear satellite detonates, causing a volcanic eruption. The approaching lava rises, cools, and hardens, trapping George as he travels far into the future. Eventually the lava wears away, revealing a lush, unspoiled landscape.
George stops at October 12, 802,701, near the base of a sphinx. He encounters young men and women wearing simple clothing gathered at a stream. One woman, carried off by the current, screams for help, but her companions show no concern. George rescues her. Her name is Weena and her people are the Eloi; they do not operate machines, work, or read, and know little of their history. One young male shows George a library, but the books crumble to dust when touched. Outraged, he decides to leave, but his machine has been dragged into the closed sphinx. Weena, who stays with him, says that Morlocks are responsible and they only come out at night. A hideous-looking Morlock jumps out and tries to drag Weena away, but is warded off by George's torch fire.
The next day, Weena shows George domed structures dotting the landscape: air shafts lead down to the Morlocks' caverns. Weena then shows him an ancient museum where "talking rings" tell of long-ago war between east and west that lasted 326 years and contaminated the atmosphere. Another ring describes humanity's struggle for survival; many lived underground, while some eventually returned to the surface. George realizes this was the beginning of the speciation that resulted in the Morlocks and Eloi. He starts to climb down a shaft, but stops when sirens emerge and blare from the sphinx. The Eloi go into a trance-like state and head for the opened doors at the sphinx's base. The sirens stop and the doors close, trapping Weena and others inside.
George returns to the air shafts and enters the caverns. He discovers that the Eloi are food for the Morlocks. He finds Weena and fights off the creatures, finally inspiring the Eloi to defend themselves. George sets fires and urges the Eloi to climb back to the surface. He directs them to gather tree branches and drop them down the shafts. The resulting fires cause the caverns to collapse.
The next morning, George finds the sphinx's doors open. His time machine is inside. When he enters, the doors close, and he is attacked by Morlocks. He escapes in his machine and returns to 1900.
After George recounts his story, his friends remain skeptical. He produces a flower Weena gave him, and Filby, an amateur botanist, identifies it as an unknown species. George bids his guests good evening. Filby returns shortly after to find George and his time machine gone. His housekeeper, Mrs. Watchett, notes that nothing is missing except three books that she is unable to identify. When Mrs. Watchett wonders if George will ever return, Filby knowingly remarks that "he has all the time in the world".
Laura Mars is a glamorous fashion photographer who specializes in stylized violence. In the middle of controversy over whether her photographs glorify violence and are degrading to women, Laura begins seeing, in first person through the eyes of the killer, real-time visions of the murders of her friends and colleagues.
John Neville, the lieutenant in charge of the case, shows Laura unpublished police photographs of unsolved murders that very closely mirror Laura's fashion shoots. Laura's visions continue, including visions of the killer stalking her and continuing to murder those around her. Meanwhile, Laura and Neville fall in love. He gives her a gun as protection. Meanwhile, the police consider Laura's driver Tommy and ex-husband Michael to be their prime suspects. When they find photographs of murdered models in Tommy's apartment, the police try to arrest him but shoot him dead when he tries to escape.
At her apartment, Laura is affected by a vision of the killer murdering Michael. The killer attempts to break in through her front door, but Laura deadbolts it before they can enter. Upon hearing her distress, Neville (who had been on his way to meet her) breaks through her balcony window. He proceeds to tell Laura that Tommy was the killer and begins an elaborate explanation of his motivations and back story. Knowing Tommy well, Laura recognizes this as a lie. Neville, still talking about the killer, uses "I". Laura realizes that Neville is the killer. Neville details more of his own story, slipping between multiple personalities. When the violent personality tries to kill Laura, his more sensitive personality reasserts dominance. He takes her hand, which holds the gun he gave her, and asks her to kill him. Distraught, she does so then calls the police.
Wehrmacht officer Heinrich Gimpel astonishes his 10-year-old daughter, Alicia, with a secret that has been hidden from her all her life: the family is Jewish. He explains that the Gimpels, their friends Walther and Esther Stutzman, and their extended families all belong to the remnants of Jews who now survive by hiding in plain sight within the very society that wants them dead. Now old enough, by family tradition, to be trusted with this life-or-death deception, Alicia is obliged to hide the truth from her friends, her classmates, and even her younger sisters, even as she is forced to regard her school's racist curriculum from a new perspective that leaves her sick and angry over all the anti-Semitic propaganda that she had always learned and parroted without question.
Meanwhile, Heinrich finds himself caught in the marital strife between his co-worker, Willi Dorsch, and Willi's wife, Erika. Willi, doubting Erika's fidelity due to her constant flirting with Heinrich, begins an extra-marital affair with his secretary. Embittered by her husband's infidelity, Erika seeks to have a retaliatory affair with Heinrich. He resists, which leads to Erika accusing him of being a Jew and Heinrich being arrested by the Sicherheitspolizei. It is only after Erika realizes that her accusation caused Heinrich's children to be taken as well that she confesses her lie and attempts to commit suicide, unaware the entire time that Heinrich and his family actually are Jewish.
Esther Stutzman, who works as a receptionist in a doctor's office, also experiences a close call with Nazi policies when her friends Richard and Maria Klein, closeted Jews like herself, bring their ailing eight-month-old baby, Paul, in for a checkup. The diagnosis, Tay–Sachs disease, is a disease known to be prevalent among Jews. A subsequent investigation into his family background would spell doom for his parents and any names that they might be forced to reveal under torture. Although Esther's husband, Walther, is able to hack into the Reich's computer network and change the Klein's family history, it is the revelation that Reichsführer-SS Lothar Prützmann has a nephew with Tay-Sachs that brings the investigation to a halt.
In the background, the death of the current Führer, Kurt Haldweim (modelled on the real-life Austrian president Kurt Waldheim), causes him to be replaced by the reform-minded Heinz Buckliger, who relaxes the oppressive laws of the Reich. In a secret speech, with word-of-mouth spreading it to the populace, the new Führer denounces his predecessors and says that the Reich committed crimes in the past. Reactionary opposition rallies around the SS, and the populist Gauleiter of Berlin, Rolf Stolle, champions accelerated reform.
Things come to a head with the announcement of relatively free elections: candidates need not be Nazi Party members though they must be Aryan. Led by Reichsführer-SS Lothar Prützmann, the SS carries out a conservative ''coup d'état'', imprisons the Führer, and installs former High Commissioner of Ostland Affairs, Odilo Globocnik, as the new Führer. However, Stolle instigates a ''people power'' movement, which the Wehrmacht supports. The ''coup d'état'' is defeated after Walther Stutzman salts the country's computer network with the information about Reichsführer-SS Prützmann's Tay-Sachs afflicted nephew. Soon, Berlin comes to the conclusion that Prützmann is a Jew, which definitively turns the tide against the coup. In the aftermath, Prützmann kills himself, Globocnik is lynched, and Buckliger is re-enstated as Führer (albeit harrowed by his detainment and eclipsed by the popular Stolle).
At the end of the novel, elections deliver a pro-reform majority to the Reichstag, with Stolle as its speaker, and produces a mandate for the independence of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in a concurrent referendum. Also, the Gimpels and the Stutzmans gather to tell the ten-year-old Francesca that she is a Jew.
Doc returns to a failed Western Biological Laboratories and a changed Cannery Row after serving in the army during World War II. Mack and the Boys are still living in the Palace Flophouse, but Lee Chong has sold his general store to Joseph and Mary Rivas. Since the death of its original owner Dora, the local brothel, The Bear Flag Restaurant, is now being run by Dora's older sister Fauna, a former mission worker previously known as Flora. Under Fauna, the girls of the Bear Flag study etiquette and posture with the goal of joining Fauna's list of "gold stars," former employees of the Bear Flag who have married and left their employ there.
As Doc tries to rebuild his neglected business, the latest Bear Flag resident Suzy is causing trouble. Fauna knows Suzy isn't cut out to be a working girl, but her soft heart always causes her to fall for a hard luck story. Deciding to make Suzy one of her gold star girls, Fauna plots to throw Suzy into the arms of an unwitting Doc and enlists the aid of Mack and the Boys.
After a disastrous party hosted by Mack and the Boys, Suzy leaves the Bear Flag, but not to marry Doc. Choosing to live alone, Suzy moves into an empty boiler in a vacant lot and takes a job at the local diner, the Golden Poppy. While Cannery Row is stunned over Suzy's actions and Doc wrestles with a critical project, Hazel, one of the Boys living in the Palace Flophouse, struggles with his own demons. Having been told by Fauna in an astrological reading he will become President of the United States, Hazel fights destiny. To practice for high office, Hazel understands that he must learn to make difficult decisions — one of which is breaking Doc's arm, for he’s realized that this, arousing Suzy's sympathy, is the only way to bring the couple together. Realizing Doc's broken arm will keep him from a much-needed collecting expedition, Mack and the Boys teach Suzy to drive a car. Suzy and the injured Doc head off to the coast for the collecting expedition.
Following a Coast Guard discovery of a large shipment of drugs and guns headed for the United States, intel has revealed that a powerful drug lord, Antonio Paulo, is trying to increase his power in parts of Colombia. This drug lord controls entire regions in remote parts of the country and employs many well-armed guerrillas to fight for him in exchange for money and weapons to aid their anti-government cause. He is known for his heavy-handed actions, including the torture of captured Colombian and American soldiers.
Iran's fundamentalist government has given way to a less hardline administration, friendly to the West. A significant portion of the old guard, appalled with the new government's embracing of economic relationships with the "corrupt, morally evil" western powers, has taken up arms in a second revolution against the state. While government forces aided by NATO troops have managed to keep control of Tehran, fundamentalist rebels have seized control of the oil terminal on Kharg Island and production facilities to the north and Bandar Shahpur. Oil represents three-quarters of Iran's economy and a serious risk to the interests of western investors. NATO and the UN have both agreed that military intervention, led by the United States, is warranted. Delta Force has been tasked with being the spearhead of the coalition forces.
Long ago, the Great Mother Spirit created demons, guardians, and humans. During 2089, only a few demons and guardians remain and in the city of Neo-Shinjuku. The guardian, Tsunami Shijo (an ancient fire manipulator from days long ago) is out to aid a fledgling human race. Tsunami is looking for a human who was transformed into a monster by drugs. This leads him to Mr. Takamiya, the Demon leader, who killed his lover.
Tsunami becomes involved with a woman who just lost her fiancé and her arm, and now wants to figure out why this has happened. Meanwhile, the Demon leader is still alive and plotting to enslave mankind.
Paul Robaix, a famous director, wants to film the Puccini opera on location in Japan under the title ''Madame Butterfly'', with the dialogue spoken in English and the score sung in Italian. His wife, Lucy Dell, has been the leading lady in all of his greatest films, and she is more famous. He feels that she overshadows him and he would like to achieve success independent of her. By choosing to film ''Madam Butterfly'', he can select a different leading lady without hurting her feelings, because she, as a blue-eyed, red-headed comedy actress, would not be suitable to play a Japanese woman in a tragedy. As a surprise, she visits him in Japan while he's searching for a leading lady. To surprise him further, she disguises herself as a geisha at a dinner party, planning to unveil her identity during the meal.
But she is delighted to discover that everyone at the dinner party, including her husband, believes her to be a Japanese woman. When she learns that the studio has decided to only give her husband enough funds to film the movie in black and white because there are no big stars in the film, she decides that she will audition for the role of Butterfly, without telling her husband, but that the studio will know and therefore give him the budget he needs to make the film he wants.
She gets the part and is wonderful. Through the course of the film, Lucy Dell begins to become concerned that Yoko will steal her husband's affections, though he never does develop feelings for the invented character.
When viewing the film's negatives, with the colors reversed, he figures out her duplicity and, thinking she is doing it to steal credit from him so that once again he will not get the artistic praise he deserves, he becomes furious. To retaliate, he decides to proposition Yoko. Greatly distressed, she flees. Paul then entertains the idea of divorce for what he sees as him being betrayed by his wife.
Their "reunion" before the premiere is cold, Paul believing she will expose her identity there for betraying him, and Lucy believing that Paul was trying to sleep with Yoko. Her original plan was, at the end of the premiere, to reveal Yoko's true identity, which will astound Hollywood and practically guarantee her an Oscar. Instead, her then trusted friend, Kazumi, gives her a present of a fan that was owned by a very popular geisha. The fan was inscribed with the saying: "No one before you, my husband, not even I." So, she takes off her geisha makeup, appears as herself, tells everyone that Yoko went into a convent and will no longer be performing, and keeps her identity secret. She and her husband reconcile when he informs Lucy that he knew she was Yoko.
NYPD detectives Liam Casey (Ian Holm) and Joey Allegretto (James Gandolfini) are conducting a surveillance operation against Jordan Washington (Shiek Mahmud-Bey), a notorious drug dealer. On a tip from an informant, they venture into an apartment block where Washington is reported to be hiding. After Casey shoots the lock, Washington fires a submachine gun through his front door, seriously wounding Casey. Police backup units arrive and swarm the building, but Washington executes a cunning escape in an NYPD squad car after killing two cops. In a surprising move, District Attorney Morganstern (Ron Leibman) appoints Casey's son Sean (Andy García), an ex-cop and recently appointed ADA, to prosecute Washington when he is caught. In the process, he passes over the more experienced ADA Elihu Harrison (Colm Feore), who plans to oppose him in an upcoming judicial election.
At Washington's trial, his defense attorney Sam Vigoda (Richard Dreyfuss) does not dispute his client's responsibility for killing the cops but argues that the police were intending to murder Washington. Washington claims that he had been bribing a group of corrupt cops, led by Kurt Kleinhoff, in return for protection while dealing drugs; Vigoda argues that Washington became a target when he refused to match an offer by a rival dealer, Carlos Alvarez, to give the cops more money. Although inexperienced, Sean mounts a strong argument questioning Washington's credibility and wins the case. Washington is sentenced to consecutive life terms without parole. A member of Vigoda's legal team, Peggy Lindstrom (Lena Olin), begins an affair with Sean after the conclusion of the trial. In private, Vigoda discloses to Sean why he undertook Washington's defense: after his 15-year-old daughter died from a drug overdose, Vigoda has been determined to bring down the system of corrupt police enabling the operations of drug-dealers.
After Morganstern suffers a severe heart attack and is unable to run for re-election, Sean is asked to run for D.A. in his place. Sean wins the election over Harrison. Meanwhile, when Kleinhoff's decomposed body is discovered floating in the river, his address book reveals the names of several officers from precincts who responded to the Washington shooting. A number of officers confess their entanglement in the bribery and narcotics scandal. Sean confronts Allegretto, who admits that he took bribes while also plotting to murder Washington. Allegretto later commits suicide. Casey later discloses to Sean that he forged a judge's signature on Washington's arrest warrant. Sean asks Morganstern, who is recovering at the hospital, for advice on how to deal with the scandal. Morganstern tells Sean that being D.A. will be a tough job, but he believes Sean "will be better at it than most".
Following a voluntary admission of guilt by Casey about the forgery in a private consultation with Judge Dominick Impelliteri (Dominic Chianese), the judge decides to fill out a new warrant and purposely obviates the technicality. He also suggests to Sean that he destroy the invalid warrant. Sean tells Vigoda that he plans to resign as D.A., but Vigoda urges him not to quit. The film ends with Casey giving the introductory lecture for a new class of assistant district attorneys; urging them to approach their job with diligence and integrity.
One evening while eating dinner in bed, Homer seems to be having heart problems but is not concerned. The next morning, Marge makes him oatmeal for breakfast but he rejects it in favor of bacon and eggs, despite the chest pains he has just been feeling. Driving to work, he hears an irregular thumping noise, and is relieved when a gas station mechanic tells him it is his heart, not his car.
At work, Mr. Burns observes Homer eating and sleeping at his post. He fires him, and berates his gross incompetence. At this, Homer has a heart attack. Dr. Hibbert informs him and Marge that he needs coronary artery bypass surgery, which will cost $30,000. Hearing this, Homer has another heart attack, and the fee rises to $40,000. This is far beyond the Simpsons' means. Homer manages to obtain an insurance policy, but has another heart attack as he is signing the contract, which causes it to be immediately revoked. He then approaches leaders of various religious communities, hoping for help, without success.
Finally, he decides to be treated by Dr. Nick Riviera, who will perform any operation for $129.95. The doctor rents a tape to learn how to perform this operation, but something else has been recorded over important parts of the tape. In the operating theater he does not know where to start, but Lisa, who has been reading up on the subject, calls down instructions from her place in the viewing gallery. The operation is a complete success.
A new virus strain has infected rice crops in East Asia causing massive famine; the virus is also revealed to be found in the UK but because of its selectivity does not affect the country's agriculture. After the introduction of a new pesticide, developed in preference to breeding resistant crops, a mutated virus appears and infects the staple crops of West Asia and Europe such as wheat and barley—all of the grasses (thus the novel's title). It threatens a famine engulfing the whole of the Old World, while Australasia and the Americas attempt to impose rigorous quarantine to keep the virus out.
The novel follows the struggles of engineer John Custance and his friend, civil servant Roger Buckley, as, along with their families, they make their way across an England which is rapidly descending into anarchy, hoping to reach the safety of John's brother's potato farm in an isolated Westmorland valley. Buckley, having advance warning of the government's plot to hydrogen bomb major cities, alerts Custance to evacuate. Picking up a travelling companion in a gun shop owner named Pirrie after an attempt to procure arms, they find they must sacrifice many of their morals in order to stay alive. At one point, when their food supply runs out, they kill a family to take their bread. The protagonist justifies this with the belief that "it was them or us."
By the time they reach the valley, they have accumulated a considerable entourage as a result of their encounters with other groups of survivors along the way. They find that John's brother is unable to let them all in to the heavily defended valley. Pirrie prevents John from taking only his immediate family into the valley; instead, the group takes the valley by force. Pirrie and John's brother are killed; John takes possession of the valley.
Jake (played by Danny Glover), a reclusive Vietnam War veteran, has lived in a cabin in the woods of the Pacific Northwest for 35 years, plagued with guilt over the loss of men under his command. His only interaction with other people is when he drives into town to sell firewood and buy supplies from Kate (played by Linda Hamilton). His life is changed when he is visited by Henry, an ex-platoon member (played by David Strathairn). Henry is dying of lung cancer caused by exposure to Agent Orange, and entrusts the care of his half-Vietnamese daughter, Lenny, to Jake.
Jake refuses, but Henry leaves in the night, leaving Lenny behind and giving Jake little choice but to look after her. Lenny proves troublesome and interrupts Jake's way of life. Over time however, Lenny encourages Jake to reach out to other veterans living nearby in self-imposed isolation.
During a party at the Simpsons' house, Homer humiliates himself by getting drunk, insulting guests, and leering at Maude Flanders' cleavage. At church the next day, Marge signs up for marriage counseling at a weekend retreat hosted by Reverend Lovejoy and his wife Helen. When Homer learns the retreat will be held at Catfish Lake, he packs his fishing equipment, but Marge tells him they are only attending to resolve their marital problems. On the way to the retreat, Homer stops at a bait shop and learns of the legendary catfish General Sherman.
At the lake the next morning, Homer tries to sneak away to fish, but Marge is upset that he would choose fishing over their marriage. Instead of returning to bed, Homer takes a walk and finds an abandoned fishing pole on a dock. As he grabs the pole with General Sherman on the line, the fish yanks him from the pier into a small rowboat and onto the lake. From their cabin window, Marge grows angry watching Homer battle General Sherman. Marge attends the marriage workshops alone while Homer triumphantly docks with General Sherman aboard the boat. When Homer returns, Marge tells him their marriage is in serious trouble if he values fishing more than his wife. To prove his love for her, Homer releases the fish, which swims away.
While Marge and Homer are away, Grampa babysits Bart and Lisa, who trick their grandfather into letting them throw a party. After the party ends, the house is a total mess. When Grampa cries, they fear their mess will land him in trouble with their parents, so they frantically clean the house. Once home, Marge praises Grampa for the house's cleanliness. He reveals his secret is "pretending to cry" to con his grandchildren into cleaning it. Bart and Lisa realize they were tricked as Grampa leaves while laughing at them.
While attending a comic book convention dressed as his superhero alter ego Bartman, Bart sees the first issue of ''Radioactive Man'' for $100 at Comic Book Guy's Android's Dungeon. Since he does not have enough money to buy it, he decides to get a job. Bart performs back-breaking labor for Mrs. Glick, who gives him only fifty cents for all of his hard work.
When Bart sees Milhouse and Martin at the Android's Dungeon, he persuades them to pool their money and buy the comic book. Since none of them is willing to let the comic book out of his sight, they spend the night together in Bart's tree house. They get progressively more paranoid and Bart grows convinced Martin and Milhouse are conspiring against him as a thunderstorm approaches.
When Martin gets up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, Bart thinks he plans to steal the comic and ties him up. Milhouse tries to alert Marge that Bart has gone crazy, but Bart thinks he is making a move for the comic and tackles him. Milhouse falls over the side of the treehouse, but Bart catches him precariously by his sleeve. When a gale of wind takes hold of the comic, Bart is forced to decide between grabbing it and rescuing Milhouse. After Bart pulls Milhouse to safety, the comic blows out the door and onto the ground, where it is shredded by Santa's Little Helper and struck by lightning. The next morning, the three boys reflect on how their inability to share the comic led to its destruction, while a bird lines its nest with a scrap from the last page.
During a medical visit, Blue, who is half Navajo, discovers that he has only one or two months to live and decides to escape. He kidnaps Dr. Reynolds and forces him to drive to Arizona, to visit a mountain lake sacred to the Navajo people. The trip forces both to confront their sense of self and life choices.
When the ''Viking 1'' space probe lands on Minerva in 1976 it takes a picture of a native Minervan wielding a primitive tool, thus proving the existence of intelligent life on other worlds.
The main action of the story involves separate American and Soviet missions, who both pay lip service to non-interference with Minervan society, but in the course of their research, the teams' respective political ideologies inevitably come to the fore. This leads the teams and their commanders back home to use the Minervans in a transparent analogy to Third World/Cold War proxy conflicts on Earth. One of the Americans saves the life of a female Minervan after she gives birth. Eventually Minervans get their hands on high tech items like steel hatchets, rubber rafts, and finally AK-74s, which severely disrupt their way of life.
The story took place in 8162, and followed a team of former game players, the Claws, led by Dragon. The exact nature of the game is only hinted at, but it basically involves team members trying to get to a certain part of various ruined cityscapes, with the opposing team members trying absolutely anything to stop them. It was used as an opiate for the masses, to ease unrest about global concerns as the Earth moves closer to the sun.
At the start of the series, the game has been banned for the levels of violence involved, but Dragon, one of the most successful players, is having trouble adapting to civilian life with his wife, Tanya, who he lives with on a farm. He is contacted by Deller, an agent of N.U.R.S.E [National Union of Retired Sports Experts], who offers him, and his old team, the Claws, a role as government enforcers. Dragon initially declines, but when the farm is attacked by another former team, The Wildcats, he changes his mind. Unknown to him, the Wildcats has been hired by Deller for this purpose. A sub-plot dealt with the brother of a deceased Wildcat seeking vengeance against Deller, which resulted in Dragon's family being kidnapped when they were mistaken for Deller's family.
Dragon is reunited with the other Claws – Mercy (an ex-vigilante), Steel (a samurai honour-bound to Dragon since the latter saved his life in the Tokyo Riots of 8156), Digit (who had a computerised brain) and Scavenger (to quote, "No-one quite knows who or what Scavenger really is..."), and they are given a brief to stop the many former game teams who are causing trouble. Among these were The Vanishing Ladies, Split Infinity and the Jones Boys, but the recurring threat was the Evil Dead, led by Dragon's old nemesis Slaughterhouse.
Other adversaries were the mechanoid freelance peace-keeping agent Death's Head, who was hired by the surviving members of the Evil Dead, and was heavily damaged when he clashed with Dragon, leading to his redesign and leading into the launch of his own title, and a future take on the vigilante Scourge.
The main plotline concerns N.U.R.S.E's manipulation of the Claws, who were revealed to be involved in corrupt dealings and had actually reformed the Claws as "bully-boys" to take out and intimidate any gang that challenged N.U.R.S.E.. They deliberately kept Dragon from his family so he won't question his orders, eventually sending Deller to kill Dragon's wife; he was unable to do it, but his presence led to the family being abducted by another rogue Game team (who believed they were Deller's family and who had a grudge against him). Dragon eventually teamed up with Slaughterhouse and Deller in overcoming N.U.R.S.E's corrupt kingpin Matron in #9.
With N.U.R.S.E. closed down and the Claws directly under the control of the World Development Council, Dragon elects to stay on leading the Claws, with Deller now as part of the team.
The final issue, #10, left several plot threads dangling. Dragon is still unaware of much of Deller's part in the N.U.R.S.E. conspiracy (or that Deller has murdered a villain who knew the truth), while the fate of his wife, Tanya, last seen in a burning building, is unknown.
For the 2004 edition of the charity project ''Just One Page'', Furman and artist Paul Ridgon created an epilogue/teaser for Dragon's Claws, which was later recoloured and reprinted in the 2008 trade paperback. It featured Dragon holding a defeated Slaughterhouse at gunpoint, after a battle where Slaughterhouse was responsible for leading an army in sacking whole cities and killed two of the Claws. Dragon debated whether or not to simply kill his nemesis and end the conflict forever, or "play it by the book one last time" and live up to what the Claws are meant to represent. It was not revealed what decision he took.
The book is divided into five parts, each of which has numerous chapters.
On a windy January day in Hanover, Nebraska, Alexandra Bergson is with her five-year-old brother Emil, whose little kitten has climbed a telegraph pole and is afraid to come down. Alexandra asks her neighbor and friend Carl Linstrum to retrieve the kitten. Later, Alexandra finds Emil in the general store with Marie Tovesky. They are playing with the kitten. Marie lives in Omaha and is visiting her uncle Joe Tovesky.
Alexandra's father is dying, and it is his wish that she run the farm after he is gone. Alexandra and her brothers Oscar and Lou later visit Ivar, known as Crazy Ivar because of his unorthodox views. For instance, he sleeps in a hammock, believes in killing no living thing and goes barefoot summer and winter. But he is known for healing sick animals. Alexandra is concerned about their hogs as the hogs of many of their neighbors are dying. Crazy Ivar advises her to keep their hogs clean rather than letting them live in filth and to give them fresh, clean water and good food. This simply confirms Oscar's and Lou's opinion that Ivar deserves the name Crazy Ivar. Alexandra, however, starts making plans for where she will relocate the hogs.
After years of crop failure, many of the Bergson's neighbors are selling out, even if it means taking a loss. Then they learn the Linstrums have also decided to leave. Oscar and Lou want to leave too, but neither their mother nor Alexandra will. After visiting villages downwards to see how they are getting on, Alexandra talks her brothers into mortgaging the farm to buy more land, in hopes of ending up as rich landowners.
Sixteen years later, the farms are now prosperous. Alexandra and her brothers have divided up their inheritance, and Emil has just returned from college. The Linstrum farm has failed, and Marie, now married to Frank Shabata, has bought it. That same day, the Bergsons are surprised by a visit from Carl Linstrum, whom they have not seen for thirteen years. [Note: Carl says it has been sixteen years, but this is a textual error. John Bergson died sixteen years earlier, and Carl's family left during the drought that occurred three years later. ] Having failed at a job in Chicago, he is on his way to Alaska, but decides to stay with Alexandra for a while. Carl notices the growing flirtatious relationship between Emil and Marie. Lou and Oscar suspect that Carl wants to marry Alexandra, and are resentful at the idea that Carl might end up owning Alexandra's share of the farm, which they still view as belonging to them and which would otherwise be inherited by their children. This causes problems between Alexandra and her brothers, and they stop speaking to each other. Carl, recognizing a problem, decides to leave for Alaska. At the same time, Emil announces he is leaving to travel through Mexico. Alexandra is left alone.
Alexandra spends the winter alone, except for occasional visits from Marie, whom she visits with Mrs. Lee, Lou's mother-in-law. She also has an increased number of the mysterious dreams she has had since girlhood. These dreams are about a strong, god-like male figure who carries her over the fields.
Emil returns from Mexico City. His best friend, Amédée, is now married with a young son. At a fair at the French church, Emil and Marie kiss for the first time. They later confess their illicit love, and Emil determines to leave for law school in Michigan. Before he leaves, Amédée dies from a ruptured appendix, and as a result both Emil and Marie realize what they value most. Before leaving for Michigan, Emil stops by Marie's farm to say one last goodbye, and they fall into a passionate embrace beneath the white mulberry tree. They stay there for several hours, until Marie's husband, Frank, finds them and shoots them in a drunken rage. He flees to Omaha, where he later turns himself in for the crime. Ivar discovers Emil's abandoned horse, leading him to search for the boy and discover the bodies.
After Emil's death Alexandra is distraught, in shock, and slightly dazed. She goes off in a rainstorm. Ivar goes looking for her and brings her back home, where she sleeps fitfully and dreams about death. She then decides to visit Frank in Lincoln where he is incarcerated. While in town she walks by Emil's university campus, comes upon a polite young man who reminds her of Emil, and feels better. The next day she talks to Frank in prison. He is bedraggled and can barely speak properly, and she promises to do what she can to see him released; she bears no ill will toward him. She then receives a telegram from Carl, telling her that he is back. They decide to marry, unconcerned with the approval of her brothers.
A new contact binary asteroid is discovered by an amateur astronomer, Dr. Angus Millar, having been missed by the SPACEGUARD due to a combination of factors. It is named Kali and is determined to be on course to hit Earth in about a year's time. ''Goliath'', having been at Jupiter L4, leaves for Deimos to receive the ATLAS propulsion module - designed for attaching with the asteroid and slowly deflecting it to a safe course using nuclear fusion-powered thrusters. Then, having loaded hydrogen fuel at Europa, ''Goliath'' reaches Kali and starts the ATLAS.
Extremists from The Reborn, believing collision with Kali is meant to be, had planted bombs in the ATLAS and they explode just moments after the activation of ATLAS. However, most of the fuel tanks of ATLAS remain functional and the plan is changed to use ''Goliath'' itself to propel the asteroid. Meanwhile, a contingency plan is discussed by Earth's government to use nuclear weapons to break up the peanut shaped asteroid with enough energy that the fragments miss Earth.
With Kali getting closer to Sun, it starts ejecting material from vents and is also adjudged to be a probable extinct comet. The resulting venting cancels off a bit of the deflection, taking it too close to the margin of error. Meanwhile Earth's government affirms the usage of nuclear weapons as the success of ''Goliath'' s mission isn't deemed certain enough.
At Kali, ''Goliath'' suffers damage due to the spacecraft sinking a few meters into the asteroid, after weeks of pushing against it. As a result, ''Goliath'' loses its fuel and is stuck on the asteroid. With the nuclear weapon plan in effect, the ''Goliath'' crew make peace with their upcoming deaths and indulge in pleasure-seeking.
The manufacture of nuclear weapons had been abandoned for many years and the weapon intended for Kali is hurriedly put together. When it is fired towards the asteroid, the weapon proves defective and doesn't explode, though it impacts with a high enough anomalous velocity that the asteroid breaks into two; with ''Goliath'' and its crew intact. The part carrying ''Goliath'', Kali 1, stays on course to go safely past Earth, with the crew to be retrieved later by the help of another spaceship.
The other part, Kali 2, enters into the Earth's atmosphere. It causes the deaths of a hundred thousand people and a trillion dollars' worth of damage. It reaches as close as sixty kilometers above surface, before skipping off the Earth's atmosphere.
The storyline opens in Tokyo where JM (Rikiya Kurokawa), a rich young IT worker and sometime computer hacker, is attempting to purchase a 1967 model Citroën DS, or Goddess, as it is known to French car aficionados. JM lives in a pristine but unfriendly hi-tech apartment. The smog filled city is blue-grey and bleak. He rarely speaks to his live-in girlfriend and is preoccupied with other possessions—his latest snorkeling gear as well as the pet snakes and other exotic reptiles he keeps in the flat. After tracing, on the Internet, a perfectly restored Citroën owned by a couple in Australia, JM abandons his job and flies out to purchase the rare car, which he thinks can fill the emptiness in his life.
No one meets JM at the airport but he eventually finds the home where the car is located and meets BG (Rose Byrne), a blind and emotionally unstable young woman. BG, who is minding a young child, explains that the couple did not actually own the Citroën and that the husband shot his wife and then killed himself after a violent argument over money. She shows him the car and tells him, after he has test driven it, that she can take him to its real owner, who is somewhere in the Outback, a five-day drive away. Intoxicated by the vehicle, JM agrees. BG abandons the child at a service station, instructing her not to trust anyone, after calling the police to pick the girl up.
As BG and JM journey into the spectacular but harsh landscape, the viewer is taken on a series of complex and often confusing flashbacks which attempt to illustrate the dark tragedies that have shaped their respective lives. JM became fabulously wealthy after a friend gave him the computer password to a major bank. The friend, who claims the reason he is not using the password himself is that he is getting married, is run over and killed by a passing truck. JM's infatuation with the car is apparently an attempt to fill the emotional gap created by his friend's death and the barren life he leads in Tokyo, which, he tells BG, is alien and "just like Mars".
Flashbacks reveal BG was sexually attacked three years earlier by a young boxer from a travelling circus, who is frustrated in his attempts by a Chastity belt. BG then escaped into the bush where she was protected by wild dingoes. As a young child, she was also sexually abused by her grandfather (who is her blood father) and traumatised by Marie (Elise McCredie), her disoriented and deeply religious mother. Grandpa (Nicholas Hope), who was a hippie, a wine maker and then an opal miner, believes his outback existence frees him from all moral constraints.
BG's favourite radio show is the obituary notices program and she is infatuated by the sound of insects splattering on the Citroën's windscreen, which, she explains to JM, is the "sound of death". Although blind, BG carries a pistol which she fires occasionally: the first time at two sinister men who pull alongside the car during JM's test drive and later, in the outback, to destroy the radio she uses to listen to the obituary notices. Unbeknownst to JM, BG's grandfather owns the car and she is leading JM to him not to consummate the car's sale but in order to kill the old man.
In the course of their journey through an unremittingly hostile world inhabited by cruel outback men and women, the couple become friends and, after JM teaches BG how to dance, tentative lovers. BG eventually finds her grandfather and confronts him in his rundown opal mine. She had planned to shoot him but, having reconciled her past in the course of the trip and found someone who genuinely cares for her, decides not to go ahead with it. The film ends with BG and JM travelling off together in the Citroën, both having come to terms with their past.
Sheriff John Biebe is one of the townsfolk in Mystery, Alaska who play in "the Saturday Game" — a weekly hockey game played on an open pond. The entire hockey-mad town turns out every week to watch. Donna, John's wife, arrives with the latest edition of Sports Illustrated, which features an article on the town and the Saturday Game. While describing team members' strengths, it refers to John as being "slow in the feet"; but it concludes with a statement that in the ability to skate, the Mystery team rivals any team in the National Hockey League (NHL).
Judge Burns and his son Birdie get into an argument about the game, with the judge saying that Birdie doesn't play well because he doesn't pass. During the next week, John is called into the Mayor's office to be told that he is being dropped from the Saturday game, in favour of Stevie Weeks.
John congratulates Stevie at the diner, but is called away because Connor Banks, the team's best player, has just shot someone. The deputy explains that Connor and a representative checking out the town for Price World (a business chain embodying a threat to local business) got into an argument. Connor fired a shot to frighten him, but the bullet ricocheted and hit the rep in the foot. Charles “Charlie” Danner, the author of the Sports Illustrated article, arrives at the town hall in a helicopter. He explains that as a result of his article, the NHL suggested that the New York Rangers be brought up to Mystery to play the town's team in a televised exhibition game.
At the town meeting, the mayor re-introduces Charlie, who seems to have been unpopular while growing up in Mystery. Charlie was once romantically connected with Donna. Initially feelings about the match are mixed, but then Birdie indicates his eagerness to play and the game is given a rousing endorsement. Later when John is approached by the mayor, he assumes that he will be invited back onto the team. However, the mayor wants John only to coach: Judge Burns has refused to do so. John says that he doesn’t know how to coach.
Connor Banks' arraignment is brought before Judge Burns and his attorney Bailey Pruit accepts a trial date for the following week. Connor doesn't want a trial so soon because if he loses, he would miss the upcoming game. Bailey tells him not to worry because no jury will lock up the town’s star player. At Connor’s trial, Bailey asks the victim, Mr. Walsh, what he thinks of Mystery, and asks him to confirm verbatim transcripts of his disparaging the town. The jury delivers a "not guilty" verdict. Amid much jubilation, Judge Burns angrily addresses those assembled, telling them that they have exalted the hockey game above what is right, disgracing themselves and his courtroom. Birdie confronts him in his chambers, saying he feels that his father has always been ashamed of him for staying in town to play hockey, instead of going to college.
It emerges that the Rangers players are not keen to play the match, which they disparage as a joke. Crew from the TV network arrive. They want to call the team the Mystery Eskimos, to which John and the mayor take offense. John asks Judge Burns to coach as he doesn’t know how to, but the Judge turns him down.
Preparations for the match continue. It becomes obvious that this is now much more than a game of pond hockey.
Charlie tells the mayor that the Rangers players have filed a grievance with their players' union, so they are no longer coming. The mayor punches Charlie, giving him a bloody nose. Judge Burns tells Bailey that there is a hearing in New York over the legal dispute. He says it might be useful for Mystery to have a presence, and suggests a few legal arguments Bailey could use.
At the hearing, Bailey makes an impassioned plea for the game to continue. Unfortunately, he suffers a fatal heart attack while arguing the case. After the funeral back in Mystery, it is revealed that he won the case, and the game is back on. John confronts the judge, saying that since he sent Bailey to New York, he now has to take over coaching. The judge agrees only if John comes back on the team as captain.
Under the guidance of the judge, the team trains frantically for the match.
The Rangers players arrive and are greeted by the mayor and townsfolk, who are all amazed at their size. John must deal with Charlie driving drunkenly on a Zamboni. They talk and Charlie reveals his bitterness towards Mystery, which he believes has rejected him. John points out that bringing the Rangers to Mystery could destroy the town if its team were to lose badly.
During the match, the Mystery team take time to settle, but eventually go ahead two goals to nothing in the first period. One of the goals is scored by Stevie, who impresses the commentators with his speed. In the second period the Rangers score five unanswered goals. Birdie costs the team a goal through his desire to “go it alone” when he should have passed. Unwilling to accept defeat, Mystery scores two goals in the third period, including one from a pass that Birdie makes instead of shooting for goal himself. As the clock ticks down, Connor has a chance to level the scores, but his shot hits the crossbar. The game is over, with the score 5 – 4 for the Rangers. Both the Mystery team and spectators appear completely deflated until Judge Burns claps for them, after which even the Rangers players applaud them.
The following day the Rangers leave. Both Stevie Weeks and Connor Banks have been given minor league contracts, and they fly out with the Rangers.
Journalists Kate Montgomery and Mike Logan married three months after meeting on the White House lawn. Although the marriage didn't last, there are two common threads between them—their 15-year-old daughter Abby and their all-consuming adoration of the newspaper ink that rubs off on their fingers. While Mike has become one of New York's larger-than-life journalists, Kate's hard-nosed reporting from around the world has earned her an impressive reputation. When Kate accepts a job offer that's just too good to pass up, she becomes the first female managing editor of the ''New York Sun''—and she's now Mike's boss as well.
Her staff also includes no-nonsense, seen-it-all police reporter Ernie Trainor; intense and somewhat neurotic financial reporter Alan Mesnick; "On the Town" columnist Belinda Carhardt, who has a few miles on her; and the newsroom's jaded and judgmental editorial assistant Donna French, who manages to remain ultra-hip in a sea of tweeds and khakis.
''Survivor's Quest'' opens with a meeting between Talon Karrde and Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker. Karrde's people had earlier picked up an urgent transmission, addressed to Luke, coming from Admiral Voss Parck on the planet Nirauan. Before the message could be passed on, however, it had been stolen by a member of Karrde's own organisation, one Dean Jinzler. Fearing that the message might be somehow connected with the unknown menace Parck and Baron Fel had warned them about two years previous, Luke and Mara decide to head out to Nirauan.
There, they learn that the message had in fact come from Chiss Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano (or "Formbi"). The Chiss have found the remains of the pioneering Jedi expedition, Outbound Flight Project, which had been mercilessly destroyed by Grand Admiral Thrawn many years previous. Now, the Chiss wish to hand over their find to the New Republic, and Luke and Mara join the odd group—which includes a squad of stormtroopers from the 501st, a remnant of an alien people, the Geroons, who owe a strange debt to the people of Outbound Flight, and a false New Republic Ambassador—which will visit the site of the tragedy.
As they voyage on the ''Chaf Envoy'' deeper into Chiss space, into a treacherous cluster of stars known as the Redoubt, Luke and Mara grow more uneasy. Occurrences of sabotage and theft only serve to deepen their suspicions. On top of that, Mara begins to feel torn between her duty to the New Republic and her troubled respect for the Empire.
The expedition reaches its destination: the remains of the Dreadnaughts that made up the Outbound Flight project. Not only are the ships fairly intact, but Mara can sense life. There are survivors, possibly hundreds of them. Suddenly, everything comes together in a whirlwind of events. The supposedly peaceloving Geroons instead are revealed to be the bloodthirsty Vagaari, who desire revenge against the Chiss and Outbound Flight for their defeat at the hand of Admiral Thrawn years before. Luke, Mara, the Chiss, the Imperials, and the embittered survivors now must work together against the Vagaari if any of them are to come out alive.
They manage to defeat the Vagaari, who in turn sabotage the ''Chaf Envoy'' and commandeer one of the Dreadnaughts. The Vagaari then head back through the Redoubt to attack the Chiss command center, leaving Luke, Mara, and the others practically stranded. Following the welcome discovery of a Delta-Twelve Skysprite, however, Luke and Mara are soon pursuing the rogue Dreadnaught. They catch up to it and make their way aboard. They find out that the main Vagaari "colony ship" is actually a starfighter carrier that is beginning to overwhelm Chiss defenses. Using a fake signal, Luke and Mara trick the Vagaari into believing the Dreadnaught to be a friendly ship. However, Luke and Mara use the Dreadnaught under their control after a showdown with a droideka and the fanatical Vagaari Estosh, to aid the Chiss fighters and to defeat the other Vagaari forces.
The survivors are entrusted into the care of the Empire of the Hand, and Luke and Mara finally have time to settle down and enjoy their marriage.
Eli and Joshua are being taken into foster care with William and Amanda Porter of Chicago after the death of their father, who was killed by Eli. The two boys do not mix well with a home in modern Chicago; their formal, Amish-like clothes from Gatlin, Eli's fire-and-brimstone prayer at dinner, and them bringing a suitcase full of corn to Chicago strike their new parents and neighbors as unusual. On his first night in Chicago, after everyone else has gone to sleep, Eli quietly leaves the Porters', taking his corn-filled suitcase, and heads to an empty factory on the other side of a nearby cornfield. There he prays to "He Who Walks Behind the Rows" and plants corn seeds on the factory grounds; rows of corn appear almost instantly.
The next day the boys start school, and Eli nearly gets into a fight with T-Loc, a student in Joshua's grade, and harshly criticizes Joshua for playing basketball with some of the other students. Disgusted with their classmates' modern lifestyle, Eli decides to bring He Who Walks Behind the Rows to Chicago, which soon kills a homeless man who finds the cornfield. Joshua makes friends with neighbors Maria and Malcolm and spends less time with Eli.
The social worker who brought Eli and Joshua to the Porters' discovers that Eli was originally adopted from Gatlin, Nebraska (the town from the first film) and that he has not aged since 1964. She tries to warn the Porters, but Eli quickly burns her alive. Amanda notices Eli's strange mannerisms, and when she tries to cut down his cornfield it attacks her. She attempts to escape, but she trips on a pole and her head is impaled on a broken pipe, killing her instantly. William finds the cornfield Eli has planted and realizes that with its seemingly-perfect nature invulnerable to disease, able to grow out-of-season and in the worst of soil, it could be a highly-marketable product. Despite his wife's death, which Eli arranged, William finds backers and looks forward to the massive profits Eli's strain of corn will bring.
Eli neglects to inform his foster father of another property the corn possesses: it turns children who eat it into followers of "He Who Walks Behind the Rows". Eli decisively sways his high-school classmates towards his beliefs, turning them against the principal and directing them to abandon basketball and other previously-typical activities. Alarmed at Eli's converting the students, the principal attempts to inform other staff, but they don't believe him, as Eli's efforts have actually restored order at the school to a degree few had thought possible.
By the time Joshua realizes the full truth, Eli has killed their foster parents, the school principal, and Malcolm and Maria's parents, and he now has full control of his fellow students. Joshua confronts him, revealing that he has gone back to Gatlin (which resulted in Malcolm's death) and found the Bible of "He Who Walks Behind the Rows" which Eli holds sacred and, together with his own body, can survive indefinitely if one is intact. Eli roars "Give me the book!" and charges. Joshua throws it down, and as Eli scrambles to pick it up Joshua stabs Eli and the book with a sickle, destroying both.
After Eli dies, "He Who Walks Behind the Rows" rises from the cornfield: a grotesque monster with several tentacles. It kills several of Eli's followers who have slipped from his control in horrific ways, including T-Loc. After a brief struggle, Joshua repeatedly stabs the sickle at the monster's lower body, which resembles a large tree root sticking out of the ground. "He Who Walks Behind the Rows" collapses and dies.
As the film closes, the first shipment of Eli's corn arrives in Germany, the beginning of shipments all over the world.
Michael Lucas plays Marcus Von Halpern, head of a New York fashion empire with a manipulative side, who enlists the help of Valentine Moore, played by Gus Mattox. Von Halpern wants Moore, a world-renowned photographer and "player", to seduce Sebastian Lacroix (Wilfried Knight), the new lover of Von Halpern's ex-boyfriend, Tom Mercedes (Kent Larson). Moore agrees on one condition: he gets a night with Von Halpern as his reward.
Lacroix receives a call from his modeling agent informing him that he's booked for a photo-shoot with Moore. His boyfriend, Mercedes, warns Lacroix about Moore's reputation and advises him that Moore is not trustworthy. This segues into the first sex scene of the film, with Lacroix and Mercedes each topping the other in a flip-flop encounter.
In the following scene, Mercedes is seduced by his employee Matt Cody (Owen Hawk). They engage in sexual activity on the conference table in the boardroom when the cleaning guy (Mario Ortiz) shows up and joins in.
Meanwhile, Moore sets up his photography session with Lacroix and engages another model, J., to seduce Lacroix. Lacroix is later guilt-ridden.
Cody meets with Von Halpern, who wants to solicit information about Cody's boss, Von Halpern's ex-boyfriend, Mercedes. Another sex scene ensues. Von Halpern's current boyfriend Bobby (Bruce Beckham) discovers Von Halpern's infidelity and seduces Moore to get even. Since Von Halpern has reneged on his payment to Moore in the form of a night together, Moore responds favorably to Bobby's advances.
The cameo appearances occur during the final scene, set as the opening night of Moore's new gallery exhibit. There is an additional plot twist as a main character is murdered at the end.
In the series, Ed is an "electro-genetically" enhanced teen who works for Dojo Deliveries, a courier service, in the futuristic Progress City. Ed uses his cyber sleuthing skills to thwart identity theft and other information-based crimes. He and his courier pals Burn, Deets, Fizz, and Loogie (accompanied by his puppet Dr. Pinch), along with their friend and mentor Ol’ Skool, must battle the ultimate evil – Simon Bedlam, an industrialist who has taken over a significant portion of Progress City, employing stealing from, data mining, or outright destroying his competitors.
After witnessing a brutal murder ordered by gang boss Eddie Kim on prosecutor Daniel Hayes in Hawaii, Sean Jones is escorted by FBI agents Neville Flynn and John Sanders on a Boeing 747-400 to testify in a trial against Kim in Los Angeles. Kim arranges for a time-release crate full of venomous snakes to be placed in the cargo hold in an attempt to bring down the plane before it reaches Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). To ensure the snakes indiscriminately attack everybody without the need for provocation, he has one of his henchmen disguised as an airport ground employee spray the passengers' leis with a special pheromone which makes the snakes highly aggressive.
The crate opens midway through the flight and the snakes make their way through the cabin, with a viper attacking an electric panel in the process, thus shutting down the power. A couple having sex in a bathroom and a man using another bathroom are the first people killed. The plane's captain, Sam McKeon, investigates the power outage and fixes an electrical short, but is killed by the viper that caused it. Co-pilot Rick, unaware of the snakes, believes Sam has suffered a heart attack and continues toward LAX. Some of the snakes attack Rick, and while fending them off he accidentally releases the oxygen masks throughout the plane, causing most of the snakes to drop into the cabin with them. Numerous passengers, including Agent Sanders, are killed when the snakes invade the cabin.
The surviving passengers, who have made their way to the front of the plane, put up blockades of luggage in a desperate attempt to stop the snakes. Rick is attacked and the plane starts to dip downwards, causing a food trolley to crash through the luggage blockade. The passengers flee to the upstairs first class cabin before blocking the stairwell with an inflatable life raft. Flynn and flight attendant Claire regain control of the plane while Rick retakes the controls and has Flynn go into the cargo hold to restore the air conditioning/ventilation system. Flynn contacts FBI Special Agent Hank Harris on the ground, who gets in touch with ophiologist Dr. Steven Price, Customs' main source for animal smuggling cases.
Based on pictures of the reptiles emailed to him via a passenger's mobile phone, Price believes a Los Angeles snake dealer known for illegally importing exotic and highly dangerous snakes to be responsible. After a shootout, a tactical interrogation occurs wherein the dealer is injured by a snakebite. With Harris withholding the antivenom, the dealer finally reveals that Kim hired him to obtain the snakes and adds how the latter managed to smuggle them on board the plane and make them aggressive. Price injects the injured dealer with the antivenom and commandeers his supply of antivenom for the victims on the plane based on the list given to him, while Harris gives orders to have Eddie Kim arrested and tried for death on multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.
Harris contacts Flynn, telling him that antivenom will be ready for the passengers when they land. However, Flynn discovers that the cockpit is filled with snakes and Rick is dead. After a brief discussion, Troy, Three Gs' bodyguard, agrees to land the plane based on experience playing a flight simulator. After everyone gets prepared, Flynn shoots out two windows with his pistol, causing the plane to depressurize. The snakes are blown out of the cockpit and the lower floor of the plane. Despite his lack of real-world experience, Troy makes an emergency landing and the plane makes it to the terminal. The passengers exit the plane and antivenom is given to those who need it.
Just as Flynn and Sean are about to disembark the plane, a remaining snake jumps out and bites Sean in the chest. Flynn draws his gun and shoots the snake, and paramedics rush to Sean, who is unharmed, but traumatised, due to a ballistic vest he wore throughout the ordeal after his rescue from Kim's henchmen. As a token of gratitude, Sean later takes Flynn to Bali and teaches him how to surf.
The game's story (narrated by Peter JasonPaul Green, ''Encyclopedia of Weird Westerns'', Performing Arts, 2009, p.66.) follows the exploits of a wanted outlaw named Jericho Cross and his employment in an ancient vampire-hunting order known as the Darkwatch. After unwittingly releasing the Darkwatch's greatest enemy, a vampire lord named Lazarus Malkoth, Jericho is conscripted into the Darkwatch as an elite operative. Jericho, however, is slowly turning into a vampire himself, as a result of being bitten by Lazarus. The game outlines either Jericho's struggle for humanity or his descent into darkness, depending on the player's actions.
The game begins in the Arizona Territory in 1876 with Jericho attempting to rob a Darkwatch train that is transporting the captured Lazarus Malkoth to the Darkwatch Citadel, a frequently mentioned and often visited location in the game. His actions inadvertently release Lazarus into the West. In a seeming bit of mercy, Lazarus bites Jericho and gives him the curse of the vampire, causing him to slowly turn into one. The game continues with the introduction of Darkwatch agent Cassidy Sharp as well as the appearance of Shadow, Jericho's undead horse whom he fed on and turned in a frenzy after being bitten by Lazarus.
As the game progresses, Jericho finally makes his way to the Darkwatch Citadel, where he meets General Clay Cartwright, the current leader of the order. Cartwright puts him through Torture Maze, the Darkwatch initiation exercise which was designed as a test for Darkwatch Regulators, but Jericho gets a special version specially designed by Cartwright to kill him. When Jericho passes the test anyway, he begins to do missions for the Darkwatch. Missions include tasks ranging from fixing some of the damage he has caused to acquiring Darkwatch equipment, such as the Darklight Prism, a stone that allows vampires within its vicinity to both use their powers and walk in sunlight. On some of his missions Jericho is accompanied by other Darkwatch forces including his new partner, a sultry and vicious temptress named Tala. Eventually, during their night of passion, Tala lures him to bite her and inherits some portion of his power, transforming herself into a half-vampire creature similar to him.[http://www.gamestar.com/11_04/games/explore_darkwatch_interview.shtml Darkwatch: Interview with the Vampire Cowboy], GameStar, April 11, 2004. She then betrays the Darkwatch from within, allowing hordes of the undead to invade its headquarters.
A final showdown ensues with Lazarus, in which Jericho arises victorious, and a choice is given for him to side with either Cassidy or Tala. Either Jericho rids the West of the Curse of Lazarus, or he becomes the Curse; the player's choice determines how the game ends. If the character were to choose the good option, then the final fight will be against the vampiric Tala; if the player chooses to take Lazarus' curse for himself, then he must fight the ghost of Cassidy. The bad ending shows the now-monstrous Jericho killing Tala and riding into the night, while the good ending shows Cassidy's soul being released.
'''Jericho Cross''' (voiced by Christopher Corey Smith): The protagonist of the game, a jaded American Civil War deserter and drifter who became a gunslinger and train robber. During his "one last job", he releases Lazarus Malkoth from his prison in a failed attempt to steal the contents. While dueling with Lazarus, Jericho gets bitten and infected by the vampire curse. His already deadly skills are enhanced by his vampire powers that afford him superhuman strength, increased endurance, enhanced agility, and heightened senses, in the form of the bioluminescent red orb that regenerated from his empty eye socket. Shadow is Jericho's demonic horse that appears at his beckon. According to the developers, they created "deep psychological profiles of every character in the game" with "hope that Jericho's character arc — as this desperate lone wolf that is robbing trains with a subconscious death wish — makes a believable transition into this half-vampire hybrid gunslinger and will ultimately envelop the player in his destiny: which is a guy that can be either a hero or a terror. Basically, we just want people to care about this character and what happens to him — and I can't think of a first-person shooter that's really made us do that yet". '''Cassidy Sharp''' (voiced by Jennifer Hale): The game's first female protagonist. Cassidy is the agent who attempts to stop Jericho on the train in the game's opening sequence. After the explosion of Lazarus' prison, she joins Jericho but is soon murdered by Lazarus. Cassidy returns as a good ghost and befriends Jericho, aiding him in his mission to stop Lazarus. As a little girl, Cassidy was orphaned in a vampire attack and then raised as a ward of the Darkwatch. Eventually, she became the most serious and dangerous agent in the organisation, yet really she is also deeply insecure about herself. If fought as the final boss, she turns into an angel. '''Tala''' (meaning "Stalking Wolf") (voiced by Rose McGowan): The game's second female protagonist. Tala is a Native American shaman and a power-hungry Darkwatch agent. When she was young, Tala lost her seer mother and became an outcast from her own tribe, fearful of her mediumship abilities.Jeremy Dunham, [http://uk.ign.com/articles/2005/08/10/darkwatch-and-death-came-with-them Darkwatch: And Death Came with Them...], IGN, August 10, 2005. Her father was then killed by a band of fur traders and she herself was kidnapped and abused by them, until her captors were killed by vampires. Tala was then herself rescued by the Darkwatch troops, who turned her into one of their own. However, her experiences made her extremely bitter, and she began pursuing ever more power at any cost, secretly desiring to get revenge upon the world for the death of her parents. Despite her ruthlessness, Tala quickly rose through the Darkwatch ranks due to her fearless battle efficiency.[http://pcgames.gwn.com/news/story.php/id/8038/Darkwatch_Character_Bios_Unveiled.html Darkwatch Character Bios Unveiled], FileFactory Gameworld Network, August 31, 2005. The developers described her as not evil but "just ambitious". Tala is the only character who uses kicks in the game, due to the artists deciding that "some of the combat moves the actress performed fit the character so well that we changed the combat system she's using". If fought as the final boss, she turns into a demon. According to GameSpy, Tala is "without question, the more difficult boss to battle". '''Lazarus Malkoth''' (voiced by Keith Szarabajka): A Roman who first founded the Darkwatch society in 66 AD in order to battle the dark forces responsible for the decline of the Roman Empire. He eventually got possessed by a demon and himself became a powerful vampire and turned on the organization he founded, raising an undead army to aid him in his task. The Darkwatch then pursued Lazarus across Europe and later America. During the game's development, the villain's name was Scourge. *'''Clay Cartwright''' (voiced by Michael Bell): The brutal and scheming field commander of the Darkwatch. An American Civil War veteran in the rank of brigadier general, Cartwright snipes Jericho and enslaves him, forcing him to participate in a series of trials before inducting him into the organization.
The year is 1938, and the Great Depression has hit the Dowdel family hard. 15-year-old Mary Alice is sent downstate to live with Grandma Dowdel while her mother and father remain in Chicago. Her brother, Joey Dowdel, joins the army while Mary Alice is less than thrilled with the arrangement. Grandma's Hickory farming community could not be more different from Chicago if it tried, and the grandmother Mary Alice remembers from childhood is a no-nonsense country gal.
Having no choice in the matter, Mary Alice arrives by train in September with her beloved cat Bootsie and prized Philco radio. Day one in the new high school finds Mary Alice getting on the wrong side of the local bully, Mildred Burdick. Mildred brazenly follows Mary Alice home, demanding a dollar---but Grandma Dowdel turns the tables on the tyrant, slyly untying Mildred's stolen horse. Faced with a barefoot 5-mile-hike home, Mildred loses interest in making trouble for Mary Alice. October brings plenty of other trouble, however, when another teen hooligan - August Fluke Jr. - gets in the habit of knocking down privies for pre-Halloween amusement. With the help of a strategically strung wire and a pan of glue, Grandma Dowdel trips up Augie's trickery, with a hot coat of glue that sticks "till kingdom come." Luckily, Grandma's treats prove far sweeter than her tricks: at the party, Mrs. Dowdel dishes up home-baked pies made with "borrowed" pecans and pumpkins. Moonlit winter nights find Grandma and Mary Alice trapping foxes; with the extra money, Grandma buys Joey a train ticket and he arrives just in time for the Christmas pageant. But when Mildred Burdick's illegitimate baby turns up in the manger, Christmas is anything but a silent night.
Mary Alice stirs the town up by submitting anonymous articles to a community newspaper and a new boy---Royce McNabb---arrives just in time for Valentine's Day. Carleen develops an instant crush on Royce. With the help of best friend Ina-Rae, Mary Alice fools Carleen into believing that Royce sent Ina-Rae a valentine. Meanwhile, Grandma hosts a tea for the Daughters of the American Revolution and country bumpkin Effie Wilcox learns that the hoity-toity Mrs. L.J. Weidenbach is her long-lost sister.
In spring, Grandma takes in a New York artist, Arnold Green, as a boarder for a whopping $2.50 a day as Mary Alice invites Royce over for an ostensibly "study" focused-date. The snake Grandma keeps in the attic drops down on Maxine Patch, the postmistress, whom Green was painting naked, or nude, as he prefers, leaving Maxine shamed (as she ran through town ''au naturel'') and Arnold in shock. Grandma moonlights as matchmaker, introducing Green to Mary Alice's English teacher, Miss Butler. Mary Alice survives her first tornado, and the school year wraps up with a hayride that finds Royce and Mary Alice promising to exchange letters. A year down yonder leaves Mary Alice with a more tenderhearted view of country life and Grandma Dowdel, and she hesitates to head back to Chicago. Wedding bells ring at the end of World War II, and Mary Alice returns to marry Royce McNabb in Grandma's front room.
Akira Uehara volunteers to deliver homework to Nanako Momoi, his classmate and crush. At Nanako's home, her grandfather's invention causes Akira and Nanako to exchange bodies; the invention is destroyed shortly after its use. Nanako is thrilled with the exchange as it complements her tomboy personality; she begins dating her friend Makoto Shiina. Meanwhile, Akira's effeminate personality combined with Nanako's beauty garners the courtship of his friend, Shinnosuke Senbongi, to his discomfort.
The series continues episodically and focuses on Akira's deteriorating resolve to return to his body and his hesitation in reconciling Shinnosuke's feelings. Eventually, Akira decides to accept the new status quo but a new invention unintentionally reverses the exchange; the invention is destroyed after its use once again and Nanako's grandfather becomes amnesiac. On the behest of Akira and the friends, Shinnosuke begins researching on how to build a machine to reenact the exchange. Eight years later, Shinnosuke succeeds allowing the four to reunite with their respective lovers.
; :Akira is an effeminate male with a crush Nanako Momoi. After exchanging bodies with her, his personality and Nanako's feminine appearance causes his popularity to soar. His best friend, Shinnosuke Senbongi, learns his secret and becomes enamored with his new appearance. Initially, Akira was adamant on returning to his body and maintaining his masculinity. During the series, he reluctantly reconciles Shinnosuke's feelings and upon realizing everyone is happier with the new status quo, resigns to live in Nanako's body. He is voiced by Kenji Nojima in the three radio dramas and is portrayed by Shun Shioya in the live action film. ; :Nanako is an extreme tomboy with an insensitive personality. Like Akira Uehara, she becomes popular with the students and Akira's parents after the exchange due to her personality and Akira's masculine appearance. Initially Nanako intended to return to her body after having fun as a male and was very strict on how Akira treated her body. She resolves to stay in Akira's body and relents her body's ownership to Akira after she falls completely in love with her friend, Makoto Shiina. Her parents learn about the exchange and are supportive of the status quo as they accept Nanako's hopelessness as a female. She is voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro in the three radio dramas and is portrayed by Mai Takahashi in the live action film. ; :Sebongi is Akira Uehara's childhood friend. He falls for Akira, in Nanako's body, and wholly accepts the body exchange. Shinnosuke uses his wits in order to make Akira acknowledge his growing attraction towards him. He is voiced by Kōsuke Toriumi in the three radio drama and is portrayed by Taigo Fujisawa in the live action film. ; :Makoto is a good matured girl who is Nanako Momoi's friend. She is unaware of the exchange and begins dating Nanako, in Akira's body, while maintaining her friendship with Akira, in Nanako's body. Her brother, , is overprotective of her and threatens any males who comes close to her. She is voiced by Rie Kugimiya in the three radio dramas and is portrayed by Akie Suzuki in the live action film. ; :Manzou is Nanako Momoi's grandfather. He is overweight, lazy, perverted, and fails as an inventor. After the exchange, he refuses to rebuild the machine as he is happier having a feminine granddaughter who does the house chores. In the second accident which undoes Akira and Nanako's exchange, he becomes amnesiac from a head injury. He is voiced by Kenichi Ogata in the three radio dramas and is portrayed by Masahiro Sato in the live action film.Credits from
Still a virgin after 15 years in a convent, the demure Isabelle earns her living in New York City by writing pornography, which she researches by buying magazines and hiring videos. In a café, she befriends Thomas, who has amnesia after falling from a window. In another café, an accountant called Edward is befriended by Sofia, who pushed Thomas out of the window because, she says, he introduced her to drugs at the age of 12 and made her into a celebrated porn actress. She now wants revenge on Jacques, a crooked businessman for whom both Thomas and Edward worked. Learning from Edward that Thomas has data on disk that could destroy Jacques, she steals Jacques' phone number from Edward's address book while he is in the restroom. Upon returning, Edward gives her the address of a house upstate where she can hide. After contacting Jacques to blackmail him, she meets Edward at Grand Central Terminal, where he mentions that Sofia should not talk about the disks with anyone, since Jacques kills anyone who knows about them. Having agreed to meet one of Jacques' men at Grand Central to give him the address to her apartment where the disks are, Sofia urges Edward to come with her to the house upstate, afraid both she and Edward will end up being killed. She then leaves the station only to see Jacques' hit men shoving Edward into a car. They take him to an abandoned building to torture him and leave him for dead.
Meanwhile, in a hired video Thomas sees Sofia in action and his memory starts returning. With Isabelle he retraces his steps and finds the flat where he and Sofia lived. Isabelle dresses in one of Sofia's sexy outfits and is on the point of losing her virginity to him when someone enters and the two hastily hide. It is Jacques' hit men looking for Sofia, who arrives shortly thereafter only to be tied up by the hit men who begin to torture her. Bursting out, Thomas and Isabelle throw one hit man out of the window and, freeing Sofia, make off with her in the other hit man's car. Sofia suggests they head for the empty country cottage Edward had told her about. On the way Isabelle posts the disks to her publisher, asking him to expose the evil of Jacques after having viewed the files while at the apartment.
When the surviving hit man traces them to the cottage, he wounds Sofia before being shot dead by Edward who arrives in a stolen car. The four make off before the police arrive and Isabelle directs them to her former convent, where they are given sanctuary and the dying Sofia is tended. But the convent is surrounded by armed police, who want Edward for murder. Thomas, his conscience awakened by the kindness and care Isabelle has shown, by the realisation of his criminal past, and by guilt over the fate of Sofia, walks out of the front gate and is killed instantly by a police marksman.
In England after World War II, a sedate, bored lower-class couple—Michael and Margaret Banks—are lured into fronting a racehorse scheme. Michael is befriended by William Hencher, a well-meaning but lost soul who fell into association with a ruthless gang during the war. After his mother's death, Hencher wants to repay the Bankses for their allowing him to rent a room in their home, where he had lived with his mother for twenty years. Knowing Michael likes horses, Hencher invites him to the heist of the racehorse Rock Castle—which goes awry, leading to Hencher's death. The gang members then keep Michael under wraps. Realizing that Margaret is becoming suspicious of Michael's absence, they force Michael to call and tell her to meet him at a party. In order to ensure that Michael will front as the owner of the stolen stallion, they kidnap Margaret while distracting Michael with two women, both sexual predators. The heavy of the gang, Thick, beats Margaret mercilessly with a truncheon after she attempts to escape; Larry, the kingpin of the gang, slashes and rapes her. Meanwhile, Michael finds pleasure in a femme fatale, Sybilline, the mistress of Larry—as well as two other women. Badly beaten in a street fight with a constable, Michael attempts to redeem himself from both criminal activity and infidelity by thwarting the race, which has been set up in order to allow Larry to retire to America in comfort.
The player can choose to play as either members of the Time Sweepers (anthropomorphic cat) or the Tom Toms (pig) on their mission to prevent a threat which will result in a global catastrophe by finding the eight fragments of the all-powerful Big Crystal. Some Tom Tom pigs accidentally destroy the legendary Big Crystal upon discovering it. As a result, the Time Sweepers and the Tom Toms then fight past many time glitch monsters and with each other. Upon completing levels when playing as the Time Sweepers, a short cinematic plays of the mysterious Time Angel, who wants her crystal repaired. At the end of the game, the player's Time Sweepers join with a team which must go to a mysterious part of an alternate universe to defeat the Scissor Demon, a mission from which they cannot return. The team is easily defeated by the demon until a squad of Tom Toms, including the player's custom Tom Toms, arrive. The Tom Toms' leader gives the player's Time Sweeper the other half of the big crystal which enables the player to hurt the Demon. Once the Scissor Demon is defeated, it dissolves. The screen then fades to white, at which point the Angel thanks the Time Sweepers and the Tom-Toms for their efforts.
Tambu is the main character of the novel. The novel opens with the news that Tambu’s older brother, Nhamo, had just died. Tambu is not upset about this because Nhamo studied at a missionary school away from home with his uncle Babamukuru and his family. The only thing Tambu desires is to attend school, but her family is very poor and does not have enough money to pay her school fees. Tambu’s uncle, Babamukuru, and his family came to visit the homestead. Because of Babamakuru’s success, he is worshiped whenever he comes to visit. During the visit, Babamukuru suggests that Tambu should take Nhamo's place and attend the missionary school by his house. Upon arriving, she soon becomes close to her cousin Nyasha and completely focuses on her studies. During term break, everyone returns to visit the family back in the homestead. Tambu does not want to go back as she is much more comfortable living with Babamukuru.
Towards the end of the term, there is an exam administered at Tambu’s school. This exam is to test the students and offer them an opportunity to study at a well known missionary school. Tambu excels on the exam and is offered a scholarship to attend this well known school. In the new school Tambu is introduced to many cultural changes; however, she remains resistant to the changes. As always she is fully focused on her studies. Consequently, she remains cautious of her daily situations and nervous of the conditions that surround her.
A very young girl is home alone for the first time with only her dog for company. Listening to the news, she hears of a killer on the loose in her neighborhood. Terrified, she locks all the doors and windows, but she forgets about the basement window and it is left unlocked. She goes to bed, taking her dog to her room with her and letting it sleep under her bed. She wakes in the night to hear a dripping sound coming from the bathroom. The dripping noise frightens her, but she is too scared to get out of bed and find out what it is. To reassure herself, she reaches a hand toward the floor for the dog and is rewarded by a reassuring lick on her hand. The next morning when she wakes, she goes to the bathroom for a drink of water only to find her dead, mutilated dog hanging in the shower with his blood slowly dripping onto the tiles. On the shower wall, written in the dog's blood, are the words "HUMANS CAN LICK TOO."
Other story variations feature a nearsighted old woman rather than a young girl. The fate of the dog also varies, from the dog simply being hanged to it being skinned, disemboweled, or otherwise mutilated. The message is sometimes written on the floor or on the bathroom mirror rather than on the wall. Some versions include the parents' return and their discovery of the killer hiding elsewhere in the house, frequently in the basement, the girl's bedroom closet, or under her bed. In other versions, the girl's parents arrive back in the morning and ask if their daughter had a good night. When she tells them that her dog had kept her calm by licking her hand, she is told that the dog in question had been locked either in the basement or outside. The story usually either ends with the killer never being found and/or the girl dying.
In common with most adaptations of the book, it includes scenes and characters from ''Through the Looking-Glass''.
Alice is unwillingly preparing a presentation of the song "Cherry Ripe" for a garden party. Nagged by her governess (Dilys Laye) and facing stage fright, strangers and a song she dislikes, Alice runs out of the house and hides in the woods. An apple falls down from the tree and hovers in Alice's face. She then encounters the White Rabbit (voiced by Richard Coombs) and follows him down the rabbit hole, landing in Wonderland.
In an attempt to enter a small door and hide in a beautiful garden, Alice shrinks and grows into a giant, floods a room with tears and shrinks to mouse size. She meets Mr. Mouse (Ken Dodd) and his avian friends who attend a boring history lecture and participate in a Caucus Race. Alice again encounters the White Rabbit, who directs her to his house. Alice comes across a bottle of liquid which makes her grow and traps her in the house. The White Rabbit and his gardeners Pat (Jason Byrne) and Bill (Paddy Joyce) attempt to remove Alice but she shrinks again.
Wandering in long grass, she meets Major Caterpillar (Ben Kingsley), who tells her not to be afraid when performing. After he transforms into a butterfly, Alice returns to normal size by eating part of his mushroom. In a nearby manor house she meets the musical Duchess (Elizabeth Spriggs), her baby, her pepper-obsessed, plate-throwing cook (Sheila Hancock) and the Cheshire Cat (Whoopi Goldberg). The baby is left in Alice's care but turns into a pig and is released. The Cheshire Cat advises Alice to visit the Mad Hatter and his friends the March Hare and Dormouse.
Meeting the trio at a tea party, Alice is given advice on the fun of performing and how to get around stage fright. The Mad Hatter (Martin Short) leaps onto the table to perform as he previously had at a concert of the wicked Queen of Hearts. Alice leaves when the Mad Hatter and March Hare start to cause havoc and bully the Dormouse.
Alice once again finds the small door and manages to enter the garden, which is actually a labyrinth maze belonging to the Queen of Hearts (Miranda Richardson). The Queen invites her to a bizarre game of croquet, but her love for beheading people annoys Alice. The Cheshire Cat's head appears in the sky and is ordered to be executed, but Alice's logic stays the order. Alice escapes the croquet game and meets the Gryphon (voiced by Donald Sinden) and Mock Turtle (Gene Wilder). The two sing with Alice, encouraging her and teaching her the Lobster Quadrille dance. Alice then wanders away and meets the White Knight (Christopher Lloyd), who encourages her to be brave when she goes home.
Alice meets some talking flowers: a Tiger-Lily (voiced by Joanna Lumley), the most sensible of all, some roses, who are rude and not too bothered about Alice being lost, and some daisies, who are rascals. Having the flowers help her, Alice walks off then meets Tweedledum and Tweedledee (Robbie Coltrane and George Wendt), who have some antics with her before getting into a fight. Alice is then taken by a pair of card soldiers to the royal court, where the Knave of Hearts (Jason Flemyng) is put on trial for apparently stealing the Queen's jam tarts. Alice is then called to the stand, but she uses some mushroom to grow to great heights. She sees the jam tarts have been untouched and the trial is pointless. She openly criticises the Queen, King Cedric and the people of Wonderland. The White Rabbit, who is present at the court, reveals he lured Alice into Wonderland to conquer her fears and asks her if she has self-confidence. Upon Alice answering yes, he states, "then you don't need us anymore." He then sends her back home using the same hovering apple that brought her there in the first place.
Awakening back home seconds after the apple fell, Alice courageously sings in front of her parents and their guests (who all resemble the Wonderland characters), but instead of singing "Cherry Ripe", she sings the Lobster Quadrille. The audience, to Alice's delight, enjoy her performance. Alice spots her cat Dinah in the audience, who is really the Cheshire Cat who grins at her in congratulations.
Alice follows a large white rabbit down a rabbit hole. She finds a tiny door but cannot fit through it. When she finds a bottle labeled "Drink me" she does so and shrinks, but not enough to pass through the door. She then eats a cake labeled "Eat me" and grows larger. She finds a fan that enables her to shrink enough to get through the door to the Beautiful Garden, where she tries to get a dog to play with her. She enters the White Rabbit's tiny house but suddenly enlarges to her normal size. In order to get out, she uses the fan.
She enters a kitchen, in which there is a cook and a woman holding a baby. She persuades the woman to give her the child and takes the infant outside after the cook starts throwing things. The baby then turns into a pig and squirms out of her grip. The woman turns out to be a duchess. The Duchess's Cheshire Cat appears and disappears a couple of times to Alice and directs her to the Mad Hatter's Mad Tea Party. After a while, she leaves.
The Queen invites Alice to join the royal procession, a parade of marching playing cards and others, headed by the White Rabbit. When Alice unintentionally offends the Queen, the latter summons the executioner. Alice boxes the executioner's ears then flees when all the playing cards come for her. She wakes up to realize that it was all a dream.
The main characters are a former novelist named Richard Callum and his wife Frankie, who own a pub called the White Lion. Richard has hired a secretary to help out on his new book, Patricia Wells, who turns out to have an obsession for Callum. A visiting scientist named Harsen reveals, ultimately, that the reason for the extreme heat is that an alien race of spiders are "beaming in" scouts from their home planet via a radio wave ray, which generates intense amounts of heat as a side effect.
The spiders themselves are carnivorous and eat humans, and give off bodily heat intense enough to burn alive any person who gets too close to them. Together with Harsen, Patricia, and science fiction author Vernon Stone, the Callums try to make it to the island's radio station to call for help so that they can thwart the invasion.
Ten-year-old Bastian Bux is a shy and outcast bibliophile and lives with his widowed father. One day on his way to school, Bastian is chased by bullies but escapes by hiding in a bookstore, annoying the bookseller, Mr. Coreander. Bastian's interest in books leads him to ask about the one Coreander is reading, but the bookseller advises against reading it, saying that it is not a "safe" story like regular books. With his curiosity piqued, Bastian secretly takes the book, titled ''The Neverending Story'', leaving a note promising to return it, and hides in the school's attic to read.
The book describes the fantasy world of Fantasia slowly being devoured by a malevolent force called "The Nothing". The Childlike Empress, who rules Fantasia, has fallen ill, and the young warrior Atreyu is tasked to discover a cure, believing that once the Empress is well, the Nothing will no longer be a threat. Atreyu is given a medallion called the Auryn that can guide and protect him in the quest. As Atreyu sets out, the Nothing summons a vicious and highly intelligent wolf-like creature named Gmork to kill Atreyu.
Atreyu's quest directs him to the giant, turtle-like adviser Morla the Ancient One in the Swamps of Sadness. Though the Auryn protects Atreyu, his beloved horse Artax is lost to the swamp, and he continues alone. Morla, who is allergic to young humans, doesn't have the answers that Atreyu seeks, but reluctantly directs him to the Southern Oracle, ten thousand miles distant. Gmork closes in as Atreyu succumbs to exhaustion trying to escape the Swamps, but is narrowly saved by the luck dragon Falkor. Falkor takes him to the home of two gnomes who live near the gates to the Southern Oracle. Atreyu crosses the first gate, but is perplexed when the second gate—a mirror that shows the viewer's true self—reveals a boy which Bastian recognizes as himself. Atreyu eventually meets the Southern Oracle, who tells him that the only way to save the Empress is to find a human child who lives beyond the boundaries of Fantasia to give her a new name. Atreyu and Falkor flee, as the Nothing consumes the Southern Oracle.
In flight, Atreyu is knocked from Falkor's back into the Sea of Possibilities, losing the Auryn in the process. He wakes on the shore of some abandoned ruins, where he finds several murals depicting his adventure, including one of Gmork. Gmork then reveals himself and explains that Fantasia represents humanity's imagination and is thus without boundaries, while the Nothing is a manifestation of the loss of hopes and dreams. Atreyu battles and kills Gmork, as the Nothing begins to consume the ruins.
Falkor manages to retrieve the Auryn and rescue Atreyu. The two find themselves in a void with only small fragments of Fantasia remaining, fearing that they have failed, until they spot the Empress' Ivory Tower among the fragments. Inside, Atreyu apologizes for failing the Empress, but she assures him that he has succeeded in bringing to her a human child who has been following his quest Bastian. She further explains that, just as Bastian is following Atreyu's story, "others" are following Bastian's, making this part of the Neverending Story. As the Nothing begins to consume the Tower, the Empress explains that Bastian must call out her new name to save Fantasia. Disbelieving he has been incorporated with the story, he denies these events actually happened. He gives in after she pleads directly to him to call out her new name, running to the window of the attic to call out "Moon Child".
Bastian awakes with the Empress, who presents him with a grain of sand the sole remnant of Fantasia. The Empress tells Bastian that he has the power to bring Fantasia back with his imagination. Bastian re-creates Fantasia and flies on Falkor's back to see the land and its inhabitants restored, including Atreyu and Artax. When Falkor asks what his next wish will be, Bastian brings Falkor to the real world to chase down the school bullies. The film narrates that Bastian had many more wishes and adventures, "But that's another story".
The player enters the city of RHEM on a railway car. The car goes into a dead-end station with a rotatable track. The player is unable to leave because the track is not yet rotated. While the player is on his way to the switch to rotate the station track, a previous prisoner of RHEM beats the player to the switch he was after and leaves in the player's railway car. The player must then wander the city of Rhem in search of a second railway station.
Each of the quarters of the letter is located in a different area not shown on the map provided in the game's package.
The Simpson family's dog, Santa's Little Helper, runs away from home to the dog racing track, where he mates with a female greyhound named She's The Fastest. She gives birth to a litter of 25 puppies after her owner, the Rich Texan, gives her to the Simpsons. They quickly become too difficult to manage, so Homer and Marge try giving them away. They soon find that the puppies do not like being separated, so Mr. Burns offers to take them all. Fearing he will mistreat them, Lisa persuades her parents to refuse Burns' offer, but he and Smithers secretly steal the puppies.
After Chief Wiggum casually remarks that Burns has the puppies, Bart and Lisa sneak into Burns Manor. They are surprised to see him bathing and doting on the dogs. One of them stands up on its hind legs, reminding Burns of actor Rory Calhoun; he names this one "Little Monty." Bart and Lisa learn that he plans to kill the other 24 puppies and make a tuxedo from their pelts when he performs a song, using his wardrobe of macabre clothing fashioned from animal hides to make several costume changes.
Bart and Lisa slip inside the mansion to retrieve the litter. The children and puppies slide down a laundry chute to the basement, where Burns and Smithers are waiting for them. To trick Burns into freeing the puppies, Bart mixes them up so that he cannot tell which one is Little Monty. After Little Monty stands on Burns' command, Bart reels a clothesline so that socks dangle overhead to get all the puppies to stand. Burns briefly considers killing all the puppies and the children, but cannot bring himself to do it since they all remind him of Calhoun. The Simpsons then let Burns keep the puppies, who grow to become world champion racing dogs and earn him millions of dollars in prize money, depressing Homer.
Across the Nightingale Floor is set in a fictional world based on Japan during the Sengoku period, and follows the story of a sixteen-year-old boy named Tomasu and fifteen-year-old girl named Kaede.
Tomasu, a member of The Hidden by birth, returns from exploring the mountains to find members of his family slaughtered. Trying to escape he unhorses Iida Sadamu, leader of the Tohan, who led the slaughter of The Hidden. Chased by Iida's men, Tomasu is rescued by Lord Shigeru of the Otori. Shigeru takes Tomasu with him to protect, and later adopts him. However he deems his name unsuitable because of its Hidden roots and renames him Takeo. On the road Takeo loses his voice temporarily and his hearing becomes superhuman.
On the journey to Shigeru's home, the two stop at an inn where they meet Maruyama Naomi, a powerful female ruler from the Seishuu. Lady Maruyama is found to have been against the persecution of the Hidden and urges Takeo to tell her about the slaughter. At night, when Takeo is in his room, he overhears Lady Maruyama and Shigeru expressing their love for one another.
Eventually, the pair reach Lord Shigeru's home in Hagi, where Takeo is received with astonishment by an old maid named Chiyo and Shigeru's ex-instructor, Ichiro. Takeo is slowly accepted by the household and is later adopted as Shigeru's son, under the condition that Shigeru marries Shirakawa Kaede, the most beautiful maiden in the Three Countries. However, Takeo is under the threat of Shigeru's uncles' sons, who try to murder him during practice every day.
Later, Takeo meets Muto Kenji (also known as the Fox), the master of the Muto clan, who reveals to him that Takeo's father was the most skilled assassin of the Kikuta, the greatest family of the Tribe. Kenji, after informing Takeo of this, starts to train him in the arts of the Tribe.
In autumn, Takeo sneaks out of the house one day and explores Hagi, where he meets a merchant who he'd saved when he was one of the Hidden. The merchant, recognizing him, calls him by his real name. Takeo denies it and flees. When the time comes, Shigeru and Takeo and others start preparing their trip to Tsuwano where they would meet Shigeru's future wife, Shirakawa Kaede.
At Tsuwano they meet Kaede (who has been held hostage by the Noguchi since she was seven and forced to sleep in the maid's rooms. She has been constantly harassed by the guards who wanted to have her. Not long before she had reached Tsuwano, a guard had tried to rape her, only to be stabbed with a knife). She is under the protection of her kinswoman Lady Maruyama (with whom Shigeru has had a secret relationship for almost ten years), and is accompanied by Kenji's niece, Shizuka, who is half Muto and half Kikuta.
But it is Takeo and Kaede who immediately find a connection between them. They stop at the shrine at Terayama, at the time of the Festival of the Dead, to visit the grave of Shigeru's brother, Takeshi, and for Shigeru to discuss war plans with the Abbott. As an army headed by Lord Arai musters from the west, they arrive at Inuyama in the 9th month. Shigeru plans for Takeo to assassinate Iida that night, but the Tribe, not wanting to risk Takeo (and appreciating the stability that Iida brings), abducts him so that his training can be finished.
Thus the treachery plays itself out: Shigeru is crucified on the castle wall, and Lady Maruyama and her daughter drown whilst attempting to escape. Takeo makes a deal with the Tribe that allows him to bring Shigeru's body down in return for joining them. Takeo, together with Kenji and Yuki, sneaks into the castle at night and bring Shigeru down from the wall.
Shigeru, dying from his wounds, asks Takeo to bury him at Terayama, next to his brother's grave. Then Takeo decapitates him in order to end his pain. During the invasion of the castle at Inuyama, Takeo discovers Kaede with the corpse of Iida Sadamu, whom she had killed when he attempted to rape her; the two of them make love. After carrying out Shigeru's wishes and killing the other Tohan lords, Takeo honors his promise to the Tribe and departs with them just as Arai and his army arrive, leaving Kaede unconscious from his Kikuta Stare and in the care of Muto Shizuka.
Kaede slowly recovers from the Kikuta sleep given to her by Takeo, with dreams of the White Goddess: ''Be patient. He will come for you.'' Afterwards she travels towards home, accompanied by Shizuka. Arai is furious that Takeo has gone off with the Tribe, and realizes that he had underestimated them. He sends his men to search for him, and to assassinate Shizuka, his ex-lover whom he now fears because of her association with the Tribe. However, the attempt fails. Kaede is pregnant with Takeo's child, but Shizuka creates the notion of a secret marriage with Shigeru before his death to explain the coming child.
Meanwhile, Takeo is kept hidden inside a Tribe house in Yamagata. Kikuta Akio, one of his abductors, is charged with teaching him, despite their mutual hatred. Under the disguise of traveling acrobats, they head north to Matsue. Yuki, Kenji's daughter, enters a relationship with Takeo as directed to by the Tribe, though she has genuine affection for him. One day she leaves suddenly, pregnant with his child, whom the tribe hope will inherit Takeo's extraordinary abilities.
Kaede returns to her childhood home to find the estate in disrepair, her mother dead, and her father in despair after losing a battle to Arai and not having the courage to take his own life. She determines, despite her gender, to take over Shirakawa. She attracts the interest of an Imperial noble who lives nearby, Lord Fujiwara, who assists her in return for hearing her secrets. Makoto, a monk from Terayama, visits and accidentally reveals that there was no marriage between Kaede and Shigeru. In disgrace, her father decides their whole family must take their lives, and attacks Kaede. Shizuka and Kondo (a retainer, and member of the tribe) rescue her by killing him. Kaede goes into labour, miscarries her child, and becomes gravely ill.
The Tribe become frustrated with Takeo's disobedience, and send him on a mission as a last chance. They believe Shigeru compiled records on the Tribe, so Takeo goes to his old house with Akio to retrieve them—Takeo being the only one who could get across the nightingale floor without being detected. Takeo discovers the records are at Terayama, but decides to escape from the Tribe. He shakes off Akio, and makes his way south, with winter closing in. On the way he is taken to a blind woman who delivers the prophecy that would haunt him: "''Your lands will stretch from sea to sea...Five battles will buy you peace, four to win and one to lose. Many must die, but you yourself are safe from death, except at the hands of your own son.''" After evading several attempts on his life by the Tribe, he reaches Terayama the last day before the pass is closed by snow.
Once Spring thaws the snow, Kaede excuses herself from Fujiwara, stating her intention to visit Arai, her overlord, to discuss her future. He reluctantly agrees, and she travels via Terayama, as she has heard that Takeo is there. They meet, and as Takeo is under a death sentence from the Tribe, Kaede sends Shizuka and Kondo away. Against advice, Takeo and Kaede marry at Terayama.
Soon after Kaede and Takeo's marriage, messengers arrive at Terayama from his Uncles with a threat, and the head of Ichiro, his old teacher. The Otori army lies in wait to ambush him, so Takeo leads them over the mountains, and across the river near Kibi, with the assistance of a bridge made by Jo-an and some outcasts. His second-in-command is the homosexual monk Makoto, a friend of his from Terayama; Makoto criticizes many of Takeo's unorthodox methods, but nonetheless is very loyal to him. After a minor skirmish with some bandits, they lead the army to Maruyama, the domain that Lady Maruyama left to Kaede. Lady Maruyama's son-in-law, Iida Nariaki, a cousin to Iida Sadamu, has marched in to Maruyama just ahead of them, but Iida's army gets caught between the Maruyama and Takeo's armies, and are defeated. Takeo takes up Maruyama as his base of operations, and he and Kaede prepare to restore the domain
Meanwhile, Shizuka and Kondo Kiichi arrive at the hidden Muto village, and are reunited with her uncle, Kenji, and her two sons. She fears the consequences that will come from Kaede's rash marriage. From Kenji she learns of the Kikuta's belief in the existence of records on the tribe compiled by Shigeru before his death. They decide to send Kondo to Arai, to gauge his reaction to Kaede's marriage, and his feeling towards his sons by Shizuka. Kenji also tells her how his daughter Yuki was recently married to Akio, but was forced to take her life after her son by Takeo was born, because the Kikuta were suspicious of her love for Takeo. The child will remain with the Kikuta, who have their own plans concerning the boy and Takeo's futures. Kenji's grief at his daughter's death has caused him to split from the Kikuta; regretful of his betrayal of Shigeru, he now tries to rally the other families of the Tribe to help Takeo.
In Maruyama, they start restoring the land and estates. Takeo is threatened by the local Tribe members, so using Shigeru's records, he has them rounded up and the adults executed. His mind turns to Hagi, and he concocts a plan to invade it by sea. He travels to Oshima island to meet his childhood friend Terada Fumio, whose family have now become pirates, to seek an alliance. Kaede wants to accompany him, but he tells her to stay. On the way he meets Ryoma, an illegitimate son of his Uncle, Masahiro. He makes an agreement with Fumio's father, but his return is delayed by typhoons, and he almost drowns in a storm.
Despite Sugita's objections, Kaede rides to Shirakawa with Hiroshi, and finds that Shoji, the Shirakawa retainer, had given up her sisters to Fujiwara, and returned her hostage to his family. Shocked, she hides the records on the Tribe at the nearby Shrine, and rides to demand her sisters return. Fujiwara abducts her, and only Hiroshi escapes to later bring the news to Maruyama. Fujiwara declares her marriage to Takeo to be illegal, and he forces her to marry him. Their marriage is celibate: he is not interested in her as a woman, but as a treasure, to be locked away, well-cared for but not given any information. However, one of Shizuka's cousins manages to bring Kaede messages for a time- until Fujiwara discovers her and has her murdered.
Takeo returns and hears the news of Kaede's abduction. His army marches towards Shirakawa, but discovers not only Fujiwara's garrison, but Arai's larger army. Caught between them, Takeo is defeated but manages to extract his forces. They retreat to the coast as Maruyama surrenders to Arai's men, hoping for Fumio to come by boat, but the weather delays him. Takeo submits to Arai, but rather than killing him, they enter into an alliance against the Otori lords (Shigeru's uncles), but to dispel rumors about him being one of the hidden, Takeo is forced to kill the outcast Jo-an. Kenji, turned against the Kikuta because of the murder of his daughter, comes to Takeo and brings a truce, and an alliance on behalf of the Tribe, save the Kikuta. Before they leave, Fumio demonstrates to Takeo the use of a firearm, an invention obtained from the white barbarians.
Arai's army marches north, and Takeo sails around the coast to Hagi. With Kenji and Taku, Arai and Shizuka's younger son, they sneak into the castle, and kill the lords and their families. When Arai's army arrives, he betrays Takeo; he intended to use Takeo to take out the Otori Lords for him, removing the last obstacle to his total rule of the Three Countries. Enraged, Takeo threatens to kill Arai's sons Zenko and Taku (who are standing next to him) which makes Arai pause. Fumio shoots Arai dead with the firearm, and at that moment a huge earthquake rocks the entire three countries. It destroys Arai's army, and in Shirakawa it destroys Fujiwara and his household in an example of Deus ex machina. Kondo Kiichi, in a last act of loyalty to Kaede, sacrifices himself to hold Fujiwara inside his burning house. However, Kaede's oiled hair accidentally catches fire.
The Kikuta master, Kotaro, sneaks into Takeo's house to assassinate him, as he did to his father years before. With Kenji and Taku's help, they defeat him, but Takeo loses 2 fingers, and goes into a delirium from the poisoned blade that cut him. After he recovers, and despite the onset of winter, he rushes south to find what happened to Kaede. Makoto, his longtime friend, decides to leave him, but promises to continue to pray for him and for all his people at the temple They come to the shrine to find Kaede, Shizuka, and her new husband Dr Ishida alive, with the tribal records safe. But Kaede's hair is shorn, terrible burns marring her neck; Takeo gently covers her scars with his maimed hand. As it starts to snow, Takeo prays the spring would bring healing to their lands and their marriage.
''Dead or Alive 4'' focuses on the story of Helena Douglas taking over the mantle of the Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee as its second chairman, determined to fight against the corruption within the organization. After losing both her father and her beloved mother to the darkness of conspiracy, Helena chose to place herself in the middle of the maelstrom in order to put an end to the chain of tragedy once and for all.
The man who holds the true power at DOATEC, Victor Donovan, locked himself in the Bio Lab Core again to continue coveting his dream of creating the perfect human weapon. His new project, code named "Alpha-152", is the result of the ultimate evolution of hyper-cloning technology, birthed from a DNA sample of Kasumi.
The main storyline continues with the war between the Mugen Tenshin Ninja Clan and DOATEC. After Ayane successfully defeats DOATEC's last creation, Omega, Hayate returned to the Mugen Tenshin clan, taking over the leadership. Now leader, his heart burns with the desire of revenge as he goes on a quest to put an end to DOATEC for the innumerable pain the Ninjas have suffered from the organization. During the fourth tournament, Hayate brought together the most powerful group of Ninjas known to man. He is accompanied by Ayane, Ryu Hayabusa, and other members of the Mugen Tenshin; Kasumi, though reluctant and fearing the worst, is dragged into the events herself as she follows her brother.
The forces of Mugen Tenshin launches an assault on DOATEC's primary headquarters, the gigantic 999 meter Tri-tower building. Other competitors such as Brad Wong, Eliot, Jann Lee, Kokoro, Leifang, and Zack were also among the chaos during the assault. Hayate is approached by a luchadora named La Mariposa who reveals to him about her manipulation of him in coming to destroy DOATEC. Hayate thanks her, stating that she did him a favor, and he battles her to repay her. Hayate later comes across a vengeful Bayman, who vows to finish off Donovan for his betrayal to him. Hayate also states his reasons for wanting revenge on the mad scientist as well. Bayman tells Hayate not to interfere in his revenge but Hayate states that he cannot let him fool things up while the ninjas proceed with their assault. La Mariposa reveals to Helena about her involvement in DOATEC's Epsilon project before the second tournament and Hayate coming to DOATEC. La Mariposa angrily resents Donovan and wants to put an end to all of his motives. Helena reveals to her that stopping Alpha-152 from awakening is now impossible due to her shutdown mechanism being destroyed, and only one option is left to stop Alpha. Kasumi later confronts Helena, telling her to stop the war between DOATEC and the Mugen Tenshin. Helena refuses, stating that Hayate and the others will stop at nothing until DOATEC is destroyed, and she is willing do anything to stop Donovan and Alpha-152 from causing havoc in the world. Helena attempts to shoot Kasumi with a handgun but Kasumi is saved by Hayabusa. Helena later comes across Christie who reveals that she was her mother's killer. Almost breaking down in sadness over her loss and now boiling with anger, Helena fights Christie.
The ninjas' assault left the Tri-towers in an inferno, and the buildings' auto-destruct sequence activated by Helena lead to the buildings' ultimate destruction. Walking through the burning buildings, Helena reflects on the certain events of her life while the ninjas continue their assault and Kasumi fights Alpha-152. Helena decides to commit suicide by going up to the Tri-tower Heliport between the three buildings and letting herself be consumed by the flames of the burning buildings as Kasumi and Ayane helplessly watch from a distance. Suddenly, Zack came flying in with a chopper, saving her before the Tri-tower buildings fell to dust.
With the media full of school shootings, terrorist threats, and child abductions, the parents of South Park grow excessively concerned about the safety of their children. Tweek is scared the most by the media reports, and his parents serve only to exacerbate his fears by turning their house into a virtual prison and playing cruel intellectual games with him designed by intention to increase his safety. As a result, Tweek loses his ability to empathize with others – even refusing to assist a crippled person, whose powerchair ran out of battery power, and is now stuck on some train tracks, resulting in him getting killed by an oncoming train. After a real child abductor (pretending to be the "Ghost of Human Kindness") fails to kidnap Tweek, the parents of South Park are put on high alert.
Taking advantage of expensive technology, the City commissions the owner of City Wok, Mr. Lu Kim to build a huge wall around the city similar to the Great Wall of China. Media reports continue to file in — it first convinces them they should not leave their children alone for a moment, prompting the parents to go with them anywhere they go. A later report convinces them they cannot even trust their own neighbors and family friends, forcing the parents to sever ties with each other. The kids, annoyed and embarrassed by their parents' actions, initially blame Tweek for their parents' paranoia, but soon decide that they'd have inevitably resorted to something this stupid eventually.
Despite trying to avoid being a stereotype and having no experience in construction, Mr. Kim reluctantly agrees to build the wall. He builds a very impressive one single-handedly. After he is finished, a band of Mongols appear out of nowhere and attack the wall because: "Every time us Chinese put up a wall stupid Mongorianzh have to come and knock it down," as he puts it, in a reference to Chinese history. Although he tries desperately to rout the enemy by himself, he proves to be no match for the Mongols' increasingly clever tactics, which include redirecting a heat-seeking missile with a flaming baseball and making use of a Trojan Horse filled with sweet and sour pork. Enraged, Kim vows vengeance for the rest of his life.
Meanwhile, back within the town a news report states that the parents are most likely to abduct their own children. Blindly believing what they have been told, they send their children from the city in a tearful ceremony in order to avoid putting their children in danger of being kidnapped by their own parents. As they leave, the children wonder about how stupid their parents are sometimes.
Within the week, the children join forces with the Mongols, having apparently learned their language, and expressing anger at their parents' irresponsible and irrational behavior, Even though the Mongolians weren't here in South Park to abduct all the children of South Park, they just wanted to have them to become part of their group to break down the city wall. The Mongols then move on the wall again, where Mr. Kim is dressed for battle. He then does his "war dance", but while he is doing this, the children wheel a large cart laden with explosives in behind him and blow up the wall. The parents arrive to investigate the explosion, and are reunited with their kids. They realize that they overreacted to the news stories, and that to cut themselves off from the rest of the world with the wall denies new possibilities. Mayor McDaniels orders Mr. Lu Kim to "tear down this wall," angering him once more since building the wall was a waste of time. Despite the reunion, the parents believe their children have forgotten them in the short space of four days and use simple English to convince them to return home (with Stan muttering to Kyle, "Jesus Christ, dude, they've done some stupid crap before, but Jesus Christ.").
The story begins with the destruction of the dragon settlement, South Point, home to Fortune, a young Natural dragon. Fleeing, he joins with the Charmed dragon Cumber on a desperate quest to reach the fabled citadel of the Charmed at Covamere. As they journey, the two dragons witness the growing conflict between the Charmed and the Naturals, which threatens to culminate in all-out war between the two species. They encounter signs everywhere that magic is leaving the world: trolls lie dying beneath the landscape, giants build enigmatic stone circles and faeries are evolving into proto-humans.
The two dragon armies come together. Leading the Naturals is an insane dragon named Shatter, while the Charmed commander is a military monster called Wraith. Wraith's ambition is to breach the Maze of Covamere, at the very centre of which lies the ultimate power of the Seed of Charm.
Fortune and Cumber, along with a growing band of companions from both races (including Gossamer, Brace, Scoff, Velvet, and others), thread their way through the conflict, seeking a way to unite both dragon species to face the greater threat that faces them all: the world is turning its back on magic and all dragons are facing extinction. When Fortune finally faces Wraith inside the Maze of Covamere, both dragons learn a dark secret from their shared past. When the ancient, immortal basilisk Ocher enters the fray, even Fortune is tempted by the power offered by the Seed of Charm.
Dragoncharm ends in the aftermath of the turning of the world, the very moment when magic departs, leaving in its wake the natural world we humans know today. The story, following the lives of the surviving dragons, is picked up in Dragonstorm.
Bill Nugent, an anthropology professor, is approached by Carla Thomas, a young woman whose father was murdered in the woods in Northern California. She suspects that his death was caused by a Bigfoot who, according to legend, resides in the woods in the region. Despite a number of disappearances and brutal murders including the death of a young couple, the manual emasculation of a biker, and the butchering of two Girl Scouts police have deemed the theory of a Bigfoot being responsible a hoax. Carla requests to accompany Bill along with four of his students Roy, Pete, Gary, and Linda on an expedition aiming to prove Bigfoot's existence.
They embark by boat along a river, and first camp on the property of an elderly man, Lou Carlson, who has claimed to witness the Bigfoot. Lou allows them to stay but is evasive when they attempt to speak to him. When one of the students, Roy, bribes Lou with alcohol, Lou suggests they seek out Wanda, a recluse who resides deep in the woods, and supposedly holds more information about the Bigfoot. Meanwhile, a hunter camping nearby is attacked and impaled by the Bigfoot on a jagged branch.
The next day, Nugent and his five companions visit the nearby town, where they glean from locals more information about Wanda: She is the daughter of a deranged preacher, Emmet McGinty, whose followers were rumored to engage in inbreeding, cannibalism, and human sacrifice. Emmet has since committed suicide. After learning of this, the group returns to the woods. That night, after the five have fallen asleep, they are awoken by the sound of chanting. Bill and Roy follow the sound, and stumble upon a Satanic sexual ritual involving Wanda around an effigy of Bigfoot; among the practitioners is a local sheriff. Bill interrupts the ritual by firing a gun, causing the cultists to scatter.
In the morning, Bill and the others find their boat missing, and large footprints left on the shore. After making plaster casts of the footprints, they push onward. That night, the Bigfoot attacks Linda and Gary while the two have sex, but they survive. The group eventually reach Wanda's cabin, bribing her with candy, but she has a nervous breakdown when the Bigfoot is mentioned. That night, Pete is attacked by the Bigfoot, who causes him to shoot himself with his rifle. The others attempt to locate Pete, but find he has disappeared.
Bill decides to hypnotize Wanda the next day, causing her to recall her abusive childhood: As a teenager, Wanda was brutally raped by the Bigfoot, an event her religious fanatic father, Emmet, witnessed in horror, convinced the beast was a demon. Emmet unsuccessfully attempted to induce an abortion by forcing Wanda to drink poison. Wanda eventually gave birth to the mutant half-human child, but Emmet killed it moments after its birth. In retaliation, Wanda burned her father alive in his barn, staging it to look like a suicide.
Hoping to find evidence of Wanda's Bigfoot child, Bill explores a cemetery nearby, where he digs up the skeletal remains of the infant Bigfoot, which appear to be more animal than human. The Bigfoot appears in the cemetery, and absconds with its dead spawn as Bill and the others fearfully barricade themselves in Wanda's cabin. Hours later, the Bigfoot hangs Pete's mutilated body on the porch before breaking into the home. Ignoring a dissonantly calm Wanda, the Bigfoot strangles Carla to death as the others barricade themselves in the kitchen. The Bigfoot breaks into the kitchen, where he disembowels Gary. Roy attempts to stop him, but the Bigfoot smashes his head through the window and cuts his throat on the glass, before impaling Linda with a pitchfork. Finally, the Bigfoot burns Bill's face on the hot stove, leaving him for dead.
Sometime later, Bill lies helplessly in a hospital bed, having been found unconscious in the woods, his face horribly burned. When detectives inquire about Carla and the four students, all of whom are missing, Bill recounts his version of events to them. Both the police and attending doctors receive his story with disbelief, and the hospital psychologist deems him criminally insane.
As Sam Phillips and his son Tony are playing outside their farm, Sam is suddenly abducted by a bright light. Three years later, the light returns and plants a seed. A half-human, half-alien creature develops from the seed, and is hit by a car; the couple in the car are soon killed. The creature then goes to a cottage nearby, where it attacks and impregnates the young woman living there before dissolving. When she awakens later, her belly rapidly grows to a gargantuan size until she gives birth to a fully formed Sam, killing her. Sam washes himself, steals the driver's clothes and leaves in the car.
Sam seeks out Tony, who lives in an apartment building in London with his mother Rachel, her new Canadian-American boyfriend Joe Daniels, and French au pair Analise Mercier. Tony has recurring nightmares where he wakes up soaked in another person's blood. Sam picks Tony up from school and is found by Rachel. Despite Joe's consternation Sam goes to live with the family, claiming that he can't remember anything. After Tony sees Sam eating the eggs of his pet snake, Sam comforts him and drinks his blood. Tony soon discovers he has paranormal powers, which he uses to send a human-sized toy soldier to slaughter a neighbour who killed his snake and to bring a toy clown to life.
Sam and Rachel visit the farm where they used to live, leaving Tony in Analise's care. During a game of hide-and-seek with Tony, Analise is knocked out by the clown and used as a womb for the alien eggs. Tony sends a toy tank to attack her boyfriend Michael, who is killed by a panther as he tries to flee. Meanwhile, while Sam and Rachel make love at the farm, his skin starts to bleed and decompose. Joe takes Tony to the farm, where Sam takes his son up a hill towards the alien light. Sam, now taking the form of an alien, uses his scream to kill Joe. Sam and Tony enter the light and return to the alien world, leaving Rachel behind. Arriving at home the next day, Rachel finds the apartment full of eggs. As she picks up an egg, Rachel is killed by a newborn creature.
Director Harry Bromley Davenport originally intended the film to end with Rachel coming home to find the apartment filled with clones of Tony, having apparently come from the alien eggs which the real Tony had left in the refrigerator. The clones then greet Rachel and rub her growing belly as Rachel is now pregnant with Sam’s second child. Rachel then smiles at the scene.
Executive producer Robert Shaye, not thinking the scene's special effects were convincing enough, edited it out and released it for its New York debut with the film ending when Rachel sits down in the field after Sam and Tony have left. Davenport, however, not wanting to have it end on such an abrupt note, created another ending which had Rachel going back to the apartment, picking up one of the eggs, and being attacked by a face-grabbing creature similar to the one that attacked the woman in the cottage. The UK 2018 Blu-Ray release of ''Xtro'' included this ending.
November 1941, North Africa. A British commando unit, ordered to assassinate German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, raids his headquarters. The operation results in many casualties, but Rommel is not one of them. He is actually convalescing in a German hospital with nasal diphtheria. However, a phone call from Adolf Hitler returns him to the North African theater, where the British Eighth Army, under General Bernard Montgomery, prepare to counterattack and defeat the Axis forces at El Alamein. Rommel is ordered by Hitler to stand fast and not retreat, but Rommel considers the order foolish and a waste of both armor and infantry; as a result, he becomes increasingly disillusioned with Hitler after his pleas to evacuate his men are dismissed.
Rommel again falls ill and is returned to Germany, where he is hospitalized. An old family friend, Dr. Karl Strölin, Lord Mayor of Stuttgart, visits him to request he join a group plotting to overthrow Hitler. Rommel is hesitant. After his recuperation, Rommel is transferred to Normandy, where he is placed in charge of defending the Atlantic Wall. After inspection, he realizes the "wall" offers little protection against an Allied invasion. He and his superior, Field Marshal von Rundstedt, are handicapped by Hitler's astrological belief that the real invasion will come at Calais. As a result, on D-Day, the Allies invade Normandy and secure a beachhead. For Rommel, this is the final straw; he joins the conspiracy to remove Hitler from power. Later, however, Rommel is seriously injured when his staff car is strafed by an Allied plane.
Meanwhile, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg plants a bomb where Hitler confers with his general staff at the Wolf's Lair. It explodes on cue, but the Führer survives. Thousands of suspects are tracked down and executed. An official silence surrounds Rommel. Soon after, General Wilhelm Burgdorf is sent by Hitler to offer Rommel a stark choice: (a) execution by garroting for committing treason, or (b) painless suicide, with the promise that his wife and son will be well looked after. Rommel chooses the latter. For the last time, he bids his wife and son goodbye and climbs into Burgdorf's car for a rendezvous with his own fate. As the film ends, Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivers a speech in the House of Commons praising Rommel's military genius.
''Desperate Housewives'' focuses on the residents living in the suburban neighborhood of Wisteria Lane. In previous episodes, Mike Delfino (James Denton) learns that he is the biological father of Zach Young (Cody Kasch), whose adopted parents, Mary Alice (Brenda Strong) and Paul (Mark Moses), killed Mike's previous girlfriend and Zach's biological mother years earlier. Mike kidnapped Paul and left him stranded in the desert while Zach holds Mike's current girlfriend, Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) hostage as part of his plan to kill Mike."One Wonderful Day". Larry Shaw (director), John Pardee (writer), Joey Murphy (writer), Marc Cherry (writer), Tom Spezialy (writer), Kevin Murphy (writer). ''Desperate Housewives''. ABC. May 22, 2005. Season 1, no. 23. Tom Scavo (Doug Savant) quit his job and decided to become a stay-at-home father, forcing his wife, Lynette (Felicity Huffman) to reenter the work force. Gabrielle Solis's (Eva Longoria) affair with her teenage gardener, John Rowland (Jesse Metcalfe), is exposed just as she discovers she is pregnant and her husband, Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira), is sentenced to time in prison. Bree Van de Kamp (Marcia Cross) learned that her husband, Rex (Steven Culp), died while awaiting surgery. Also, Betty Applewhite (Alfre Woodard) and her son, Matthew (Mehcad Brooks), moved to Wisteria Lane.
Mike arrives home to find Zach holding Susan hostage. Before Zach has the opportunity to kill Mike, Susan wrestles the gun away from him and Zach runs away. Later, Susan discovers that Mike does not want to press charges against Zach, who is still missing. When she questions him, Mike confesses that Zach is his biological son. Susan tearfully congratulates Mike, but tells him that she cannot keep dating him if he continues to search for Zach, given Zach's history with her daughter Julie.
Rex's mother, Phyllis Van de Kamp (Shirley Knight), comes to town for Rex's funeral. She and Bree clash heads throughout her visit, especially when Phyllis claims that Bree made Rex miserable during his last years, prompting Bree to disinvite her from the funeral. Eventually, Bree reconsiders; however, during the service, Bree discovers that Rex is being buried in his high school tie, which Phyllis insisted but Bree expressly forbade. Bree changes Rex's tie in the middle of the funeral.
With Carlos in prison, John assumes that he and Gabrielle will continue their relationship, but Gabrielle is livid after John told Carlos about their affair. Meanwhile, Carlos demands a paternity test if he and Gabrielle are to work on their marriage. Unwilling to actually take a test, Gabrielle obtains another patient's results and passes them off to Carlos as her own. Nevertheless, Carlos tells her that he is not satisfied.
Lynette interviews for a job in an advertisement firm. Her interviewer, an irritable woman named Nina Fletcher (Joely Fisher), is skeptical of Lynette's competence after learning that she has four children, but asks her to come back for a final interview with her boss anyway. After Tom throws out his back, Lynette is forced to bring Penny, her toddler, to the second interview. Despite these unusual circumstances, Lynette manages to impress Nina's boss, Ed Ferrara (Currie Graham), who hires her on the spot.
As Betty, a former concert pianist, continues to get settled in the neighborhood, she agrees to play at Rex's funeral. Later, she and Matthew bring a tray of food to a chained prisoner in their basement.
Mrs. Streibel, the art teacher, gives the boys detention for making a phallus out of clay in art class. Enraged, they take revenge by toilet papering her house that night. Kyle is horrified to discover that she has kids and soon regrets the deed, later having nightmares about it. The next day, the boys are called to the counsellor's office, and Cartman comes up with a ridiculously elaborate alibi involving Ally Sheedy and Scientologists. With Kyle struggling to comprehend the details of this convoluted story, Cartman grows concerned that he may confess. Cartman decides to eliminate the risk of Kyle confessing by taking matters into his own hands. He takes Kyle on a boat ride on Stark's Pond and begins to beat him to death with a wiffle bat, which was the only weapon he could afford. Kyle, nevertheless, is so guilt-ridden that he does not defend himself.
Officer Barbrady absurdly exaggerates the weight of the crime and begins an investigation (since he really has nothing better to do that day), but is unable to come up with any solid leads. He seeks help from Josh, a convicted toilet-paperer, who is serving a three-week sentence in Park County Juvenile Hall for toilet papering over 600 houses in less than a year. After several interviews, during which Josh applies psychological pressure on Barbrady, he comes a little closer to solving the case. Later, Barbrady forces a confession out of Butters after injecting him with sodium pentothal and interrogating him for over forty hours, but Butters' parents, furious, arrive to absolve him for confessing to a crime that he did not commit, which he has apparently done before. After seeing Butters get in trouble for their actions, Stan and Kenny are finally convinced that they ought to confess. Stan tells Cartman that, if he has a conscience, he will do the same. Cartman, however, is completely oblivious to the concept of "feeling bad for other people" and is utterly bewildered at his friends' reasoning. He attempts to kill all three of them in a last-ditch attempt, but fails due to once again using the wiffle bat.
The next morning, Barbrady brings Josh along with him to Principal Victoria's office, but before he can speak, Mr. Mackey announces that the true toilet paperer has already confessed. Just then, Stan, Kyle and Kenny rush into the office, only to find out that it is Cartman, having obviously done it in a bid to secure a better deal for himself: each of the boys ends up with two-week detention, except for Cartman, who gets only one for "being brave" (Cartman considered it a pyrrhic victory, as he later laments having to spend one week of detention). Kyle is outraged and he finds this unfair because he was supposed to confess and do the right thing not Cartman. Josh manages to trick the police and flee. At the conclusion of the episode, he calls Officer Barbrady and thanks him for enabling his escape. Despite Barbrady's pleas—"Josh, you have to go back to Juvenile Hall: you only have a three-week sentence!"—Josh puts down the phone and, armed with bags of toilet paper, slowly approaches the White House as sinister music plays in the background.
During a work expedition in Nepal, photo-journalists Ted Harrison and his girlfriend Marjorie are attacked by a werewolf. The werewolf snatches Marjorie and Ted attempts to rescue her but gets bitten in the shoulder. He manages to kill the werewolf with his shotgun, but not before it kills Marjorie.
Seeking isolation, Ted moves into a trailer in the woods. Eventually, he invites his sister, Janet, and his nephew, Brett, to a meal at his home by the lake. Upon seeing him, the family dog, Thor, runs into the woods. Picking up a scent, Thor is led to human remains hanging from a tree branch. Meanwhile, Ted lies to Janet, telling her that Marjorie left him and went back to Seattle. Janet invites him to stay with them but he declines and insists they leave before sunset.
The next day, authorities investigate the remains of several missing hikers and a Forest Ranger, found in the woods near Ted’s trailer. Fearful of being found guilty, Ted calls Janet and accepts her offer. Upon arrival, Thor is again suspicious of Ted and acts hostile towards him. Later that evening, Thor follows Ted into the woods and finds him turned into a werewolf and handcuffed to a tree. Meanwhile, Janet goes into the woods looking for Thor. Aware of the danger, Thor leads her safely back to the house.
The next morning, Janet sees a news report of the killings and confronts her brother about not telling her his motive for accepting her invitation and asks him to stay permanently. Ted tries to warn her by advising she pay attention to Thor’s sudden behavior changes. He also hints that the murders had been done by a wolf. She ignores him. Later, as the sun sets, he leaves his trailer in hopes of chaining himself up again. Thor, knowing what is happening, barks until Brett lets him out of the house. He runs to the woods to find that Ted was too late in handcuffing himself. Thor follows Ted’s trail back to the backyard and Ted attacks him but the dog fights back. Janet wakes up and turns on the deck lights, scaring Ted away. She sees an injured Thor and calls the Sheriff; however, when she goes to Ted's trailer to tell him, she finds a book about werewolves, with gruesome pictures of Marjorie's body and some of Ted's victims attached to it. She also finds a journal in which Ted details his turmoil with not finding a cure for his "disease” and his hopes of finding peace near his family. Later that night, the traveling salesman who had previously tried to frame Thor for an attack, returns to Janet’s yard with the intention of killing Thor, but is instead fatally wounded by Ted.
The sheriff questions Janet about Thor and informs her of the salesman being attacked by a wild animal; his mutilated body was found near her property. She asks if it could have been a wolf, but the sheriff dismisses it and advises her to send Thor to the dog pound. Not believing Thor could be the killer, she confronts Ted, who provokes Thor to attack him. As a result, Thor is taken to the pound. Ted urinates on Thor's doghouse and is hostile towards Brett.
That night, Janet confronts Ted in the woods. He accuses her of not listening to his warnings and knowing the truth all along. As he transforms, she flees back to the house and retrieves a revolver hidden in the kitchen. Meanwhile, Brett manages to sneak out and free Thor from the dog pound. Thor returns home just as Ted is about to attack Janet. A vicious fight ensues, ending with Ted throwing Thor across the room, seemingly killing him. Brett, having returned home, is nearly strangled by Ted, but Janet fires several rounds into him. Then, Thor throws himself at Ted, knocking them both through the window and into the yard. Ted, severely injured, retreats into the woods, but Thor tracks him until sunrise. Ted, now human, emerges from behind a tree and tells a reluctant Thor to "do it.” Thor kills Ted. After, Janet apologizes to Thor for taking him to the pound. Suddenly, Thor as a werewolf growls at her, but it turns out to be a nightmare; Janet, Brett, and Thor are healing from their ordeal.
The show is set in the future, some time after the year 2086, when two aliens from the planets Andor and Kirwin travel to Earth to search for allies against the expansionist Crown Empire led by the Queen of the Crown. In return for the help, the two aliens gave mankind construction plans for a hyperdrive device. After this key event in human history, interstellar travel flourished and a huge number of colonies emerged in distant star-systems. Alongside the growth of human activities in space, criminal activities also grew, and the new colonies required defense against various threats, including the Crown Empire. A group known as "BETA" (Bureau for Extra-Terrestrial Affairs) was founded to cope with these tasks, with a "Ranger" division being a part of it. BETA is shown to be the major military and exploratory arm of Earth. The organization's headquarters are on Earth. BETA sustains several bases on and around Earth, such as the Longshot Research Facility in the Grand Canyon and the BETA space station in Earth's orbit.
Most of the colonies portrayed in the show specialized in either agriculture or mining "star stones". Many of the planets on the show have names that evoke ideas of a Western setting, Nebraska, Mesa, Ozark, and Prairie being a few.
After the catalyst first episode, "Phoenix", where one of the main characters, Zachary Foxx, loses his wife to the Queen of the Crown, he puts together a group called the Galaxy Rangers, dedicated to providing law and order across the new frontier, ultimately trying to get rid of the Crown Empire. Each ranger is equipped with an experimental piece of tech called the Series-5 to boost natural abilities.
The Series-5 Brain Implant, or S5, is implied to be the closest mankind will ever get to merging with cybernetics. The S5 implant enables a dramatic boost of innate abilities due to its unique conversion of bio-electrical power generated by alpha radiation stored within the badges worn by the Galaxy Rangers.
The Crown Empire, also known as the "Crown," is ruled by the Queen of the Crown, whose intentions and motivations are described as being evil. She controls a large number of planets in a vast section of the galaxy, all of which she rules as a cruel tyrant. The Queen controls her empire using creatures called ''Slaver Lords'' with whom she has a psychic link. ''Slaver Lords'' derive their power from the psychic energy of other beings. After the Empire encountered humans, the Queen discovered that they were more suitable for energy extraction than any other previously encountered species.
''Junk'' is told in the first person, with each chapter having a different character narrating. At the beginning of the story, fourteen-year old Gemma Brogan is spending time with David 'Tar' Lawson, a boy of the same age. Tar is a victim of physical abuse at the hands of his father, and — as he later realises — emotional abuse from his mother. Both of his parents are alcoholics. After a particularly violent incident, he decides to run away to Bristol, even though he knows no-one there and has no money. Gemma, despite having loving (albeit strict) parents, also decides to leave home and join Tar in Bristol shortly afterwards.
In Bristol, Tar sleeps rough, interacting regularly only with Skolly, a local newsagent who likes his naive, trusting attitude. Skolly eventually introduces Tar to Richard, an absent-minded, vegan anarchist, who opens up abandoned houses for use as squats. Tar joins Richard and his friends Vonny, an eighteen-year old 'motherly' woman; and her boyfriend Jerry, who is described as a bit useless. Between them, the young adults support Tar financially in order to keep him safe and away from his father, even though it is illegal. Gemma comes 'to visit', intending to stay. Vonny is frustrated by this, as she does not see it as the same situation; they are protecting Tar, but Gemma is unafraid and merely wants a more 'interesting' life. Vonny reluctantly allows Gemma to remain with them, but she insists that both teenagers notify their families from a telephone box that they are safe. Tar is happy with their situation, but Gemma gradually grows more restless, wanting to find some people their own age.
The adults decide after a few weeks that Gemma must return home. Richard holds a 'farewell' party in the abandoned house and, to Vonny's chagrin, he invites Lily and Rob, a couple whom she suspects to be on hard drugs. Gemma is enamoured with Lily from the moment she sees her. The two girls connect instantly, and Lily invites the pair to stay the night with them. Whilst they are there, Lily and Rob encourage Gemma and Tar to smoke heroin with them, and they do, believing that only smoking it will not get them addicted. The pair are subsequently invited to live with Lily and Rob, and they do.
Tar and Gemma live with Lily and Rob for a long time, and in the early days, it is all fun. They have frequent parties, shoplift to feed themselves, and heat their house with fuel from skips. They know all the local squatters and drug-users, becoming particularly close to Sally, another girl their age. However, their heroin-smoking habit quickly turns into long-term addiction. Eventually, the girls become prostitutes to fund their habit.
After an event involving a friend who overdoses at their home, the police arrest Tar. He is sent to a drug rehabilitation centre as an alternative to prison, and receives treatment. Through counselling, he also faces some of the trauma he has endured. He leaves the centre clean, determined to stay off drugs, but he uses heroin almost immediately once he arrives back at the squat.
Lily, who does not work in the massage parlours as Gemma and Sally do, and instead works on the street with the protection of Rob, discovers she is pregnant. She decides to keep the baby, and the five of them vow to get clean. They travel to Wales, with the aim of getting themselves away from heroin and detoxing in a safe environment. However, the trip quickly falls apart. Rob and Sally both smuggle some heroin along with them, Tar hitchhikes back to Bristol on the second day, and Lily discovers Rob's heroin and injects some herself. Gemma initially resists, but once she realises she is the only one still trying to stop using drugs, she starts using them again. They return to Bristol, scared by what they have realised about their addictions: that they truly cannot stop just because they want to.
In time, Lily has the baby and continues to inject heroin whilst the baby is breastfeeding. Meanwhile, Rob starts cottaging himself in public toilets, to fund their habit. Tar has totally changed; the naive, joyful person he once was, has been replaced by someone who lies to and steals from his friends and even from Gemma. Both boys become drug dealers. They have a traumatic experience when they discover a friend and his girlfriend dead after overdosing. However, they do nothing to alert the authorities, instead just stealing their drug stash.
The catalyst comes when Gemma realises that she, too, is pregnant. After a particularly vulnerable moment with Lily, who non-verbally admits she is overwhelmed, Gemma realises that she cannot let the same thing happen to her own baby. She leaves the house in the middle of the night and phones the police, telling them the address of the house and that it is being used to deal drugs. Tar, Rob and Lily are arrested, and Tar takes the rap again, which means he is given a custodial sentence. Meanwhile, Gemma locates Vonny and asks for her help. She allows Vonny to get in touch with her parents, who come to the hospital where she has been admitted with severe withdrawal symptoms. For the first time in three-and-a-half years, the Brogans are reunited with their daughter, who asks to come home.
Gemma returns to live in her hometown drug-free. She gives birth to her daughter Oona, whilst waiting for Tar to come out of prison. However, once he is released, Gemma realises that she no longer feels the same way about Tar, and they end their relationship. The reader learns that Tar ends up forcing his way into Gemma's home and hits her at least once, in a bleak repetition of his own father's behaviour. Gemma remains free of heroin, once she has gone through withdrawal, whereas Tar finds it much more difficult and slips several times, even though he is on methadone. The story ends with Tar having a new girlfriend and seeing Oona occasionally whilst lamenting the life he lost, still craving heroin and still holding onto the hope that Gemma will one day agree to renew their romantic relationship.
A group of boys, evacuated during World War II from London to a coastal town, form a gang and play war games. Too young to fight in the war and afraid it will be over by the time they come of age, the group members, who are also in the school's Army Cadet Force, initiate a battle with the local teenagers. Curlew, a local youth, invites an Austrian Jewish refugee with whom he has formed a close relationship to take part in the shenanigans. At first the Jewish boy, Stein, is scorned because of his "Germanic" heritage but is later allowed to join. When Stein runs off during a fight, the youths decide to give him a fake court-martial and execution, but real bullets are used by a freak mistake and Stein is killed.
The story is narrated by Sir George Vernon's 35-year-old cousin, Malcolm François de Lorraine Vernon. Raised in France, he became enamored of Mary, Queen of Scots, when she was a youth there, and followed her to Scotland. Historically speaking, Mary was captured, imprisoned, and forced to abdicate the Scottish throne in July 1567, but in the novel, Malcolm receives word of Mary's capture in the Fall. He immediately flees to England, and heads to Haddon Hall to take refuge with Sir George. On the way, he meets and becomes friends with John Manners, son of Sir George's hated enemy Thomas Manners (Lord Rutland).
Years earlier, Sir George had suggested that Malcolm marry George's daughter Dorothy as a way to keep the Vernon properties held by Vernons. Dorothy at the time had been an awkward adolescent; she now is a mature, strong-willed, red-headed beauty. On his way to Haddon Hall, Malcolm (still in the company of John Manners) encounters Dorothy, her aunt, and her friend Madge, all of whom live at Haddon Hall. Catching glimpses of each other, John Manners and Dorothy instantly begin to be attracted to each other. Malcolm, by contrast, sees his cousin as too beautiful and strong-willed to make a good wife.
As the book progresses, Dorothy and John develop a secret romance, aided by Malcolm and hidden from her father, who first presses her to marry Malcolm, and then the son of the Earl of Derby. Various dramatic elements include a chapter in which Dorothy is imprisoned in her bedroom, but manages to disguise herself as Malcolm to escape and meet John; John fails to recognize her, thinking her a male stranger, and makes some embarrassing remarks about his previous love affairs, and then when he realizes she is a woman, fails to recognize her as Dorothy, but attempts to kiss her, causing her to reveal herself. Later, John disguises himself and takes a job as a household servant at Haddon Hall to be able to spend time with Dorothy; she fails to recognize him for days until he reveals himself.
This ruse ends when Dorothy quarrels with her father, who attempts to strike her. John jumps in the way and is struck unconscious, and a distraught Dorothy reveals that this is the lover her father suspected her of having. Her father orders him imprisoned in the dungeon, to be hanged the next day if the blow to his head does not kill him, but Malcolm, aided by Dorothy's Aunt (also named Dorothy), arrange for his escape.
Subsequently, Queen Mary escapes from Scotland and takes secret refuge at Lord Rutland's estate.
Queen Elizabeth arrives to visit Haddon Hall. Sir George brings the Stanlys (the Earl of Derby and his oafish son) to ratify the marriage contract before the Queen, but Dorothy publicly humiliates the Stanlys, ruining the arrangements and amusing the Queen. Meanwhile, her father has already begun to nurse a hope she might marry the Queen's favorite, Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester.
Unable to see John for an extended period of time, and knowing that the seductive Queen Mary is staying at his home, Dorothy becomes crazed with jealousy and tells Queen Elizabeth of Queen Mary's location. Elizabeth rouses a troop of soldiers to arrest Mary. Remorse-stricken, Dorothy attempts to arrive at Lord Rutland's before the troops, but fails, and John, his father, and Queen Mary are all arrested, and Dorothy's father finds out John's identity.
Malcolm shares a carriage with Queen Mary and a sleeping, exhausted, Dorothy for the return to Haddon Hall, and during the trip Mary manages to regain his allegiance and romantic interest (despite his being engaged to Madge) and he promises to help her escape to France. Mary also attempts to gain the allegiance of the Earl of Leicester, but he betrays her to Elizabeth, resulting in Malcolm's arrest.
Queen Elizabeth tells Dorothy she will free John and Lord Rutland if Dorothy can prove that they planned only to get Mary out of Scotland, and had no part in any conspiracy to place Mary on the throne of England. By speaking with him in the dungeon, which is equipped with a speaking tube for eavesdropping, Dorothy exonerates John and his father, and they are set free. Elizabeth decides Malcolm may go free as well, provided he leaves England and returns to France.
Sir George, furious at Malcolm's part in aiding Dorothy and John's romance, tells him to leave Haddon Hall, so Malcolm gathers his belongings and apologizes to Madge and prepares to head to Lord Rutland's estate, where he will await the passport allowing him to leave England. As he leaves, Madge joins him, forgiving him, and they plan that she will accompany him to France as his wife.
In the final chapter of the novel, during a party in Queen Elizabeth's honor, Dorothy tricks her father into letting her steal away for a few crucial minutes, supposedly to court the Earl of Leicester's affections. Instead, she is met by John, who literally carries her off despite her last-minute uncertainty, and they elope to his father's hall where they bid farewell to Malcolm and Madge, who move to France and don't see them again (as of the close of the novel, forty years later).
When a bomb explodes on a baggage carousel at Heathrow Airport, killing his ex-wife, psychologist David Markham tries to unravel the mystery surrounding her seemingly pointless death. But with unresolved questions about himself, his job, and his loving but adulterous wife, Sally, he soon finds himself immersed in the deeper waters of middle-class revolution originating from the gated community of Chelsea Marina, an upper middle-class enclave of salaried professionals.
When a protest at a cat show turns ugly and he is beaten up by angry cat lovers, then arrested and tried, Markham enlists in the cause of the rebellious Chelseans – imagining he will uncover the persons and causes responsible for his ex-wife's murder. Slowly, he succumbs to the call of subversion and gradually finds himself a terrorist functionary, planting smoke bombs, participating in firebombing and clashing with police at protests.
Other characters include Markham's wife, who continues to use her arm canes though her leg injuries from an accident with a tram have completely healed; Kay Churchill, a sociopathic college film studies lecturer who has become a terrorist cell leader (she takes Markham for a lover and he lives in her home); a troubled priest and his Chinese girlfriend; a former MI5 bombmaker and scientist turned revolutionary, and Richard Gould, a seemingly kindly pediatrician who is the terrorist mastermind behind the whole revolution.
Ultimately, as Markham gets closer to the pediatrician, Markham uncovers clues explaining his former wife's murder. While Markham had previously thought the bombing to be a random attack, he finds that the Heathrow bomb did have an intended target. As police and security forces close in on Chelsea Marina, Markham joins the other protesters on the barricades and he crosses over from infiltrator to member of the revolution.
''The Dream Master'' is set in a future where the forces of overpopulation and technology have created a world where humanity suffocates psychologically beneath its own mass while abiding in relative physical comfort. This is a world ripe for psychotherapeutic innovations, such as the "neuroparticipant therapy" in which the protagonist, Charles Render, specializes. In neuroparticipation, the patient is hooked into a gigantic simulation controlled directly by the analyst's mind; the analyst then works with the patient to construct dreams—nightmares, wish-fulfillment, etc.--that afford insight into the underlying neuroses of the patient, and in some cases the possibility of direct intervention. (For example, a man submerging himself in a fantasy world sees it utterly destroyed at Render's hands, and is thus "cured" of his obsession with it.)
Render, the leader in his field, takes on a patient with an unusual problem. Eileen Shallot aspires to become a neuroparticipant therapist herself, but is somewhat hampered by congenital blindness. Not having experienced visual sensation in the same way as her patients, she would be unable to convincingly construct visual dreams for them; indeed, in a case of eye-envy, her own neurotic desire to see through the eyes of her patients might prevent her from treating them effectively. However, she explains to Render, if a practicing neuroparticipant therapist is willing to work with her, he can expose her to the full range of visual stimuli in a controlled environment, free of her own attachments to the issue, and enable her to pursue her career.
Despite his better sense and the advice of colleagues, Render agrees to go along with the treatment. But as they progress, Eileen's hunger for visual stimulation continues to grow, and she begins to assert her will against Render's, subsuming him into her own dreams.
In a slum area called Easy Street, the police are failing to maintain law and order.
The Little Tramp, a down-and-out derelict, is sleeping rough outside the Hope Mission near the streets of a lawless slum. The sounds of a service in progress draws him wearily inside. After the sermon from the preacher, he is entranced by a beautiful mission worker and organist and he stays after the service. Holding his hand, she pleads him to join the mission, inspiring his religious "awakening". He vows to reform, returning the collection box that he slipped into capacious pants.
Spotting a help-wanted ad for a job at the police station, the Tramp accepts and is assigned the rough-and-tumble Easy Street as his beat. Upon entering the street he finds a bully roughing up the locals and pilfering their money. The Tramp gets on the wrong side of the bully and after a brief chase, the Tramp finds him impervious to his blows. In a display of his great strength, the bully bends a gas streetlamp in two, whereupon Charlie leaps on his back, covers his head with the lamp, and turns on the gas, rendering him unconscious.
After giving him one more shot of gas, he calls the squad to retrieve the Bully. For the moment, the Tramp becomes the cock-of-the-walk in the locality, frightening away the denizens by simply spinning around to face them. Then he helps a woman (who turns out to be the Bully's wife) who has stolen food from a street vendor but she rather 'rewards' him by nearly dropping a flower pot on his head. The mission worker happens by and takes him across the way to another apartment where a couple has a large brood of children whom Charlie feeds by scattering bread crumbs among them as if he were feeding chickens.
The bully is put in handcuffs by the police but manages to escape from the station and returns to Easy Street. After a battle with his wife, he attacks the Tramp. He chases the Tramp fanatically until he manages to knock the bully unconscious by dropping a heavy stove on his head from a two-story window. On returning to his beat on Easy Street, the unruly mob knocks the Tramp unconscious and drops him into a nearby cellar where he manages to save the Mission worker from a nasty junkie after accidentally sitting on the drug addict's upturned needle. Supercharged by the effects of the drug, he takes on the mob and heroically defeats them all, and as a consequence restores peace and order to Easy Street.
By the end of the film, a New Mission is built on Easy Street and the inhabitants flock to it, even including the former bully: now a well-dressed respectable, churchgoing citizen. Arm in arm, The Derelict and The Mission Worker follow them into the church.
When English painter Colin is dumped by his childhood love and fiancée, he decides to travel to a place with the most hopeful name he can find. He arrives in Hope, a quiet town in Vermont in autumn, and showing clear signs of emotional distress, checks into a hotel. He tries to forget his troubles by drawing the eccentric town residents and asks for "rubbers" instead of erasers at a store, causing the small-town locals to go on alert. The casual request embodies cultural differences with Americans and Brits and causes some misunderstandings between the characters. The quirky, outlandish hotel manager, Joanie, sees the state he is in, calls over her friend Mandy, a nursing home attendant, to talk with him and take his mind off his troubles. The small town residents all know each other and have boring predictable lives, but by bringing Colin and Mandy together, Joanie and her fellow Hope residents add some romance and drama to their own lives. A pair of opposites, Colin is a reserved English artist and Mandy is a free spirited Vermont person that decorates her room with "her symbol" of butterflies. Eventually they fall in love with each other, with Colin healing and building a new life while finally getting over the break-up with his ex-girlfriend Vera.
Suddenly though, the attractive, sophisticated, witty and charming Vera shows up to get Colin back. Extremely self-confident and oblivious to anyone's ideas or feelings that do not match hers, Vera denies that Colin is no longer interested and relentlessly pursues him, while finding out about him and Mandy. Vera exploits Mandy's insecurities about her new relationship with Colin and being a simple country person, while manipulating Colin's memories of their shared romantic and cultural history. Vera and Colin's twenty years together adds to Vera's leverage, of couples that inevitably take each other for granted or stay together out of habit, but Colin tells her that, "In one minute...short span of time...you not only became unimportant as an aim in life, but also the very thing I need to flee from in order to find happiness".
Later Colin goes to Vera's hotel room to tell her to leave Mandy and him alone and go back to England, however, she changes into sexy underwear while smoking and sets off the fire alarm. Mandy sees the two together in front of the hotel during the fire evacuation and assumes Colin took her back. Colin tries to clear up the misunderstanding with Mandy but the only thing she wants from him is a promise to never contact her again. Colin agrees on the condition that she get a passport. The residents of Hope are small town unsophisticates but very familiar with personal dilemmas and the ordinary common feelings in everyone's lives, of loneliness, heart-break, confusion, and naturally join in Colin and Mandy's drama. With other motives, Colin flatters the town mayor with a personal portrait and accepts an offer of an "appreciation gift".
Vera tells Colin that the town mayor found out her genealogy is linked to Hope, Vermont but Colin reveals to her that it was faked to convince Vera that they are over while refocusing her fixation with him to instead become the Queen of Hope at the town festival. Vera is finally convinced by Colin that their romance is over and decides to enjoy the consolation of becoming the Queen of Hope.
After Colin leaves Hope, Joanie tells Mandy that Colin's cousin was supposed to meet him, but forgot to cancel the meeting and that she should pick him up at Hope Springs. When Mandy gets there, she finds it is Colin and he proposes, giving her a vintage butterfly engagement ring with their names engraved in it. Colin carries her back to the hotel, where they pass and wave to Vera, Mr. and Mrs. Peterson and the residents of Shiny Shores where Mandy lives and works. Mandy tells him that she is too heavy to be carried through the whole town and warns him of hurting his back. When they finally get to the hotel and undress, Colin's back is hurt despite Mandy's warnings. They are happily reunited with no more complications from others and look forward to traveling back to England together, with Colin finding happiness when he least expected it.
The evil Storm Witch has cast a spell that imprisoned Crystal Pony's friends in her castle in order to rule Ponyland. The player's role is to collect crystals to free the ponies and defeat the witch once and for all, after which the ponies can live, finally, "happily ever after."
According to the tale, more than 10,000 years ago, a race of shepherd people colonized the banks of the river Ai, in a land called Mnar, forming the cities of Thraa, Ilarnek, and Kadatheron (not to be confused with Kadath), which rose to great intellectual and mercantile prowess. Craving more land, a group of these hardy people migrated to the shores of a lonely and vast lake at the heart of Mnar, founding the city of Sarnath.
But the settlers were not alone. Not far from Sarnath was the ancient grey-stone city of Ib, inhabited by a queer race who had descended from the moon. Lovecraft described them as "in hue as green as the lake and the mists that rise above it.... They had bulging eyes, pouting, flabby lips, and curious ears, and were without voices." These beings worshipped a strange god known as Bokrug, the ''Great Water Lizard'', although it was more their physical form that caused the people of Sarnath to despise them.
The citizens of Sarnath killed all the creatures inhabiting Ib, destroyed the city, and took their idol as a trophy, placing it in Sarnath's main temple. The next night, the idol mysteriously vanished, and Taran-Ish, the high-priest of Sarnath, was found dead. Before dying, he had scrawled a single word onto the empty altar: "DOOM".
One thousand years later, Sarnath was at the zenith of both its power and decadence. Nobles from distant cities were invited to the feast in honor of Ib's destruction. That night, however, the revelry was disrupted by strange lights over the lake, heavy greenish mists, and the tidal marker, the granite pillar Akurion, was mostly submerged. Soon, many visitors fled, maddened by fear.
After this, some of the survivors reported seeing the long-dead inhabitants of Ib peering from the windows of the city's towers instead of the king and his retinue, while others refused to say exactly what they had seen. Those who returned saw nothing of those unlucky enough to be left behind; only empty marsh, many water lizards, and most disturbingly, the missing idol. Ever since then, Bokrug remained the chief god in the land of Mnar.
The events in the story occur one day after the events of the 1st book. It introduces Ando Mitsuo, a coroner still struggling with his son's death, being assigned to do the autopsy of his old classmate, Ryūji Takayama. He and his colleague, Miyashita, find a tumor in Ryūji's heart, which is believed to be his cause of death. Puzzled as the tumor appears similar to smallpox (which was eradicated in 1979), Ando completes the autopsy and, upon finding a newspaper poking through a suture, is reminded of Ryūji's cryptography hobby. Finding the newspaper numbers interesting, he decodes them and discovers that they spell "RING", perplexing Ando.
In the search for the message's meaning, Ando soon meets Ryūji's assistant and lover, Mai Takano. Mentioning a videotape that Ryūji watched before dying, Mai believes that it is connected to his death through a curse. Learning of Kazuyuki Asakawa, Ryūji's friend and the protagonist of ''Ring'', Ando considers speaking to him, only to learn that Asakawa and his family were involved in a car accident. Finding that Asakawa is the sole survivor and catatonic, Ando investigates relevant evidence and learns that his wife and child were dead well before the car crashed and that a tape recorder and word processor were in the vehicle.
Trying to reach Mai, Ando finds her missing and investigates her seemingly abandoned condominium; he finds what he believes to be a copy of the supposedly cursed videotape, albeit almost entirely recorded over, and believes an unknown entity is hiding somewhere in the condo. Learning that Asakawa's tape deck and word processor went to his next of kin, Ando retrieves the word processor from his brother and copies the files.
Finding a document about the videotape, Ando reads that the curse spreads through a tape and can only be stopped by copying and sharing it with someone else; despite disputing the files as pseudoscientific, Ando and Miyashita continue reading into them, and discover that the Ring Virus started with the murder of psychic Sadako Yamamura. Additionally, Miyashita soon discovers that a virus connects all of the victims and comes in two forms: a ring-shaped virus which kills the host, and a broken version of the same virus (similar to a sperm cell) which is dormant.
One week after Mai's disappearance, her corpse is found in the ventilation shaft of a barely used office building. Additionally, despite having given no physical indication that she was pregnant, Mai's corpse shows signs that she gave birth prior to her death. Upon visiting the crime scene, Ando meets a beautiful woman named Masako who introduces herself as Mai's older sister. After having sex with Masako, Ando later receives a fax containing information on Sadako from Miyashita, only to realize that Masako is identical to Sadako.
Believing that Masako is Sadako reborn, Ando receives a note from her explaining that Mai was infected with the 2nd "sperm" ring virus which targeted her womb; this allowed Sadako to conceive herself within Mai and control her, before birthing herself within a week and disposing of Mai's corpse. Also revealing that the Ring Virus can also spread through literary descriptions, Sadako has ensured that Asakawa's brother is able to publish a book on Kazuyuki's files, allowing the virus to spread internationally. She then concludes that Ando is infected with the dormant virus and, should he interfere in any way, she will activate it and kill him; conversely, in exchange for Ando's co-operation, Sadako will resurrect Ando's dead son.
Finally learning that Ryūji worked with Sadako to ensure her resurrection, Ando realizes that Ryūji deliberately influenced both himself and Mai. By supernaturally causing the paper code to appear to Ando and making Mai watch the tape when she was most fertile, Ryūji was the mastermind behind the plan, doing so to be spared and revived by Sadako. An epilogue shows Ando playing with his son, Takanori, whereupon Ryūji arrives and implies that he acted for the greater good.
The film centres on Cyril and Shirley, a loving London couple whose "badly-placed" optimism inspired the title of the film; they live in the King's Cross area of London. The plot centres on the interaction of Cyril and his family with members of England's different social classes, including his elderly mother, who lives in a gentrifying neighbourhood; Valerie, his "nouveau riche" sister; Laetitia and Rupert, his mother's upper-middle class neighbours; and a country traveller who stays with Cyril and whom they nickname E.T. because he repeatedly fails to make his way home. Both Cyril and Shirley are highly critical of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and Shirley names one of her cacti after her.
The film's second half has been described as more thematically serious compared to the first half. One central event to the film is when Cyril's mother loses her keys, and she then is forced to rely on her wealthy neighbours and her children for assistance, displaying a stark contrast between the lifestyles of the different classes. At one point, Mrs. Bender's lexicon differs significantly from that of Laetitia, such as when the latter corrects her for using the term "toilet" as opposed to "lavatory" and when Laetitia tells Mrs. Bender "chop chop" when the latter is, in her view, taking too long to ascend the stairs to her house. Later, Valerie throws their mother an "indescribably vulgar" party for her 70th birthday.
In 1979, the Pope sends a priest on a mission to protect a newborn baby, Christine York, identified in New York City by Satanists as one chosen to be the mother of Satan's child after witnessing a comet arching over the moon at the Vatican. However, a few Vatican knights (led by a corrupt cardinal) insist that she must be killed.
In 1999, Satan possesses an investment banker in a restaurant before destroying the restaurant and the people inside. Suicidal and alcoholic former police detective Jericho Cane, depressed since his wife and daughter's contract killings, works for a private security company and blames God for his plight. Jericho and co-worker Bobby Chicago are assigned to protect the possessed banker. A priest, Thomas Aquinas (presumably named after St. Thomas Aquinas) fails to kill the banker. Jericho captures Aquinas, who tells Jericho: "The thousand years has ended, the dark angel is loosed from his prison" and says that a female is central. Aquinas is then arrested by the New York City Police Department. Marge Francis, an NYPD detective and Jericho's former colleague, tells Jericho that Aquinas has no tongue.
Jericho and Bobby investigate Aquinas' apartment, where they find his tongue in a jar and messages and symbols written in blood on the walls. Marge arrives, revealing that Aquinas was trained by the Vatican and sent to New York before disappearing. Jericho questions Father Kovak, a priest who knew Aquinas. Kovak says that Aquinas was driven mad by forces Jericho could not understand. Satan enters Aquinas' hospital, and crucifies him on the ceiling. After he is brought down and presumed dead, Aquinas wakes up, grabs a syringe to attack Jericho, but is shot by one of the police officers. Jericho and Chicago read in Latin "Christ in New York" carved into Aquinas' skin; they begin searching for any similar names and come across Christine York in her apartment.
Jericho and Chicago rescue her from being killed by the Vatican knights. However, Satan blows up Chicago's van, killing him and setting the apartment in flames. Jericho fights off Mabel, and he and Christine flee the burning apartment. Satan kills Mabel for her failure; Marge and another officer, both revealed to be Satanists, demand Jericho surrenders Christine. Jericho feigns surrender before killing them both, escapes with Christine, while Satan resurrects Marge to rally the other Satanists to do his bidding. Taking refuge in the church, Father Kovak tells Jericho and Christine that Satan must impregnate her by midnight on New Year's Eve to usher in the "end of days". Despite Jericho's skepticism, Christine accepts Kovak's protection, and Jericho returns to his apartment.
Satan confronts Jericho in his apartment and tries to tempt him into giving up Christine in exchange for resurrecting his dead family. After Jericho resists his temptations, Chicago comes knocking into his apartment's door soon after. Skeptical of his claims of survival, Jericho shoots Chicago in the arm to test if Satan has possessed Chicago's body. Satisfied that it is indeed Chicago, the two agree to retrieve Christine from the church.
Back at the church, Jericho stops the cardinal and his knights from killing Christine. Satan reappears and kills the Vatican clergy. Chicago betrays Jericho, leaving him to be beaten and crucified by a mob of Satanists, revealing that he made a pact with Satan, who resurrected him after the van exploded. After Chicago leaves with Christine, Kovak finds and rescues Jericho. After his recovery, Jericho tracks down the Satanists to their lair. Jericho kills Marge once again and rescues Christine after he convinces Chicago to resist Satan's influence, only for Satan to burn Chicago to death for breaking their pact. Jericho destroys the lair with a grenade as he and Christine escape into a subway tunnel and board a train. Satan follows them on the train, killing the driver. Jericho, however, separates the train in two before firing another grenade at Satan, destroying the train car Satan was in. With the banker's body now irreparably damaged, Satan abandons his host to pursue Jericho and Christine, leaving the banker to die.
As they flee, Jericho and Christine arrive to another church, where he renews his faith in God and prays for strength. Satan as a massive, winged creature emerges underneath the church to possess Jericho. Satan, now in Jericho's body, attempts to rape Christine, but responding to her pleas, Jericho is able to resist long enough to deliberately impale himself on a sword protruding from a statue of the archangel Michael, sacrificing himself to prevent Satan's endgame. At the stroke of midnight, God frees Jericho and sends Satan back to hell as the world celebrates a new millennium. Jericho sees his wife and daughter waiting for him in the afterlife. Jericho dies peacefully, and Christine tearfully embraces him before the police and the ambulance arrive to take Jericho's body away.
After learning that Mr. Burns wants his employees to clean litter from a highway maintained by his company on a Saturday, Homer fakes his own death using a dummy to avoid it. When Marge discovers his scheme the next day, she makes Homer go to the Springfield Hall of Records to explain he is not dead. He argues with a clerk who claims that Homer's mother is still alive, although he thinks she died while he was young. Homer visits what he thinks is her grave, only to find that it belongs to Walt Whitman. After falling into a grave that had been dug for him, Homer is approached by a woman who chastises him for falling into her son's grave. Homer recognizes her as his mother Mona, and they share an emotional reunion.
Lisa soon bonds with her paternal grandmother, but notices Mona runs inside the house when a police car drives by. Suspicious, Lisa shares her concerns with Bart, who raided Mona's purse and found several driver's licenses with different names. Marge and Homer wonder why Mona left her son and never returned for 26 years. The family confronts Mona, who reveals the truth about her past. In 1969, Mona joined a group of hippies to protest a germ warfare laboratory owned by Mr. Burns which was preparing to poison everyone in Springfield. The group detonated an "antibiotic bomb" inside the lab, killing all the germs. An angry Burns was trampled by the hippies while attempting to stop them. When Mona went back to help Burns, she was recognized as one of the perpetrators, forcing her to leave Homer and his father Abe and go into hiding.
After learning that he never received any of the weekly care packages his mother sent, Homer goes to the post office to claim them, taking Mona with him. While they are there, Burns recognizes Mona and calls the FBI, who track her to the Simpsons home. Before she can be arrested, Homer receives an anonymous tip that his mother is about to be arrested and he helps her escape. The tipster is later revealed to be Chief Wiggum, who was a security guard at Burns' lab until the antibiotic mist cured his asthma and allowed him to finally enroll in the police academy. Realizing she must again go into hiding, Mona says goodbye to Homer as she departs with another group of hippies. After she leaves, Homer sits alone on his car and watches the stars well into the night.