''Mary'' is the story of Lev Glebovich Ganin, a Russian émigré and former White Guard Officer displaced by the Russian Revolution. Ganin is now living in a boarding house in Berlin, along with a young Russian girl, Klara, an old Russian poet, Podtyagin, his landlady, Lydia Nikolaevna Dorn and his neighbour, Aleksey Ivanovich Alfyorov, whom he meets in a dark, broken-down elevator at the onset of the novel. Through a series of conversations with Alfyorov and a photograph, Ganin discovers that his long-lost first love, Mary, is now the wife of his rather unappealing neighbour, and that she will be joining him soon. As Ganin realizes this, he effectively ends his relationship with his current girlfriend, Lyudmila, and begins to be consumed by his memories of his time in Russia with Mary, which Ganin notes "were perhaps the happiest days of his life". Enthralled by his vision of Mary and unable to let Alfyorov have her, Ganin contrives schemes in order to reunite with Mary, who he believes still loves him. Eventually, Ganin claims that he will leave Berlin the night before Mary is to arrive and his fellow residents throw a party for him the previous night. Ganin steadily plies Alfyorov with alcohol, heavily intoxicating him. Just before Alfyorov falls into his drunken sleep, he asks Ganin to set his alarm clock for half past seven, as Alfyorov intends to pick up Mary at the train station the next morning. The infatuated Ganin instead sets the clock for eleven and plans to meet Mary at the train station himself. However, as Ganin arrives at the train station, he realizes that "the world of memories in which Ganin had dwelt became what it was in reality the distant past... other than that image no Mary existed, nor could exist". Instead of meeting Mary, Ganin decides to board a train to France and "move on".

Amidst the central plot is a secondary, minor plot of an old Russian poet, Anton Sergeyevich Podtyagin, who appears to be an older version of Ganin. Podtyagin desires to eventually leave Berlin and arrive in Paris, but fails to do so on several occasions due to a series of unfortunate events (ie. loses passport).

In London, Sir Charles Braithwaite (Patrick Cargill), Commissioner for Scotland Yard, is struggling to solve an organized crime case. A gang has been performing robberies across Europe and the case has gone cold. England's Prime Minister, decides to request outside help to solve the case, which the press view as an insult. French Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Alan Arkin) is the one sent to assist. Sir Charles meets with Clouseau and briefs him on the case. Three suspects were in custody, but two, Frenchie LeBec (Tutte Lemkow) and Steven Frey (Michael Ripper) escaped. The only suspect still in custody is Addison Steele (Barry Foster).

Clouseau leaves to question Steele, but Sir Charles warns him not to trust anyone, even those in the Yard, as he is suspicious that there is a mole among their ranks. Clouseau arrives at the prison to interview Steele, who has been working as the prison's barber and when Clouseau arrives, Steele is cutting the hair of the warden's son, Clyde Hargreaves (Clive Francis). Once Clyde is finished, Steele tells Clouseau that he does not know who the leader of the gang is, but only knows him by the name of "Johnny Rainbow". Clouseau is tricked into a shave by Steele, and during the hot towel treatment, Steele uses chloroform to subdue Clouseau and escape custody.

When Clouseau returns to Scotland Yard, Superintendent Weaver (Frank Finlay) gives Clouseau some experimental disguised weapons that should help him with his investigation. Frenchie stalks Clouseau and attempts to assassinate the inspector, however Clouseau accidentally kills him with one of Weaver's weapons. Sir Charles is annoyed that Clouseau killed Frenchie, as they were unable to interrogate him. After Clouseau realizes his food has been poisoned, he finds a matchbook from a nearby inn called Tudor Arms on Frenchie's body. Clouseau goes to the inn to search for more leads, where he is seduced by two women that subdue and kidnap him. They pour rubber on his face, which they use to make a mold of the inspector's likeness.

Clouseau accidentally kills the owner of the inn (Arthur Lovegrove) by crushing him with a bed and realizes that he has a Johnny Rainbow tattoo. Clouseau goes to Frenchie's funeral in France to look for more leads, where he is attacked by the gang. Fortunately, Weaver's maid, Lisa Morell (Delia Boccardo), arrives and rescues him. Lisa reveals she is actually an agent for Interpol who has been sent to help him. Clouseau does not believe Lisa's story and arrests her, but his superior, Préfet de Police Geffrion (David Bauer), confirms she is telling the truth.

At the gang's hideout, Johnny Rainbow is revealed to be Clyde Hargreaves. He has used the cast of Clouseau's face to create several masks that resemble the inspector. Rainbow explains his daring plan: the gang will rob thirteen Swiss banks simultaneously, and Clouseau will take the fall for the crime. Clouseau learns of the plan and goes to the hideout to investigate. Two of Rainbow's men, Bomber LeBec (Anthony Ainley) and Stockton (Robert Russell) follow Clouseau and attempt to kidnap him, but Weaver arrives and foils this. However, he slips a train ticket from Le Havre, France to Zurich, Switzerland in Clouseau’s pocket and walks away, thus revealing him as the mole.

On the Train, Weaver attempts to kill Clouseau and later poses as him in Zurich. Lisa warns him about Weaver, not realizing she is really speaking to Weaver in disguise. Lisa is kidnapped by the gang and Rainbow puts on the disguise as Clouseau. Weaver and Rainbow feed the Swiss authorities false information about the robberies and order the bank presidents to put all their funds into the waiting armored cars outside for "safekeeping". The money is then switched into fake Lindt & Sprüngli vans. They take the money to one of Lindt’s chocolate factories and package the stolen money like chocolate bars and then put them into a ship on the Limmat River.

The real Clouseau is arrested for the robberies and is able to convince the authorities of the truth. Weaver attempts to escape by disguising himself as Clouseau, but is killed in a fight with Clouseau, which proves that Clouseau is innocent. Clouseau goes to rescue Lisa and chases after Steele, though he is eventually captured by Rainbow's men. Clouseau manages to escape using one of Weaver's weapons and sinks the ship. The heist is foiled, but Rainbow and his men escape. Clouseau returns to France after saying goodbye to a grateful Sir Charles.

Setting

''Lionheart'' s historical chronology puts forth that Richard the Lionheart's massacre of 3000 prisoners at the Siege of Acre, during the Third Crusade, was used by a villainous character as fuel for a ritual which tore the fabric of reality. This resulted in magic invading the game's world from other dimensions. The game itself takes place during the 16th century, which, due to the alternate reality setting, has been ravaged by uncontrolled magic and demonic creatures.

During the course of the game, a villain seeks to fully and permanently open the dimensional rift which was only temporarily cracked during the Third Crusade, while the player character, who is a descendant of Richard the Lionheart, attempts to stop it.

Several famous historical personas appear during the course of the game, most of them residing or imprisoned in Barcelona: Miguel de Cervantes, William Shakespeare, Galileo Galilei, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Leonardo da Vinci. This is impossible in the real-world history, but it is implied that they are being kept alive by the spirits inhabiting their bodies or other magical means.

Ruby (Judd) is a young woman in her early 20s and the narrator of the film. She leaves her small town in Tennessee, landing in Panama City, Florida, a summer resort town she visited as a child. Although she arrives there in fall, at the beginning of the off-season, she gets a job at Chambers Beach Emporium, a souvenir store run by Mildred Chambers (Lyman), overcoming the owner's initial rejection of her employment application by telling her "I've done retail before, and I work real cheap."

Over the course of a year she keeps a journal (from which the film's narration is taken) and contemplates her career ups and downs, her love life, her past, and her future. Ruby's introspective narration is interspersed with routine scenes at the souvenir store or conversations with her friend Rochelle (Dean), or the men she dates, Ricky (Mitchum) and Mike (Field).

In Prague, Czech Republic, single mother Helena (Isabelle Blais) is seduced by a successful, handsome man and travels with him to spend a weekend in Vienna, Austria. He then sells her to a human trafficking ring and she is brought to New York City to work as a sex slave. In Kyiv, Ukraine, sixteen-year-old Nadia (Laurence Leboeuf) enters a modelling competition, without her father's knowledge. She is selected by the bogus model agency to travel to New York with the other selected candidates, where she is forced into a life of sexual slavery. Nadia and Helena are placed in the same house in Washington and become friends.

In Manila, Philippines, twelve-year-old American tourist Annie Gray (Sarah-Jeanne Labrosse) is abducted in front of her mother in a busy street by sex traffickers. She is forced into a child brothel which primarily services sex tourists, overseen by an Australian man, Tommy.

In common, the girls become victims of a powerful international network of sex traffickers led by the powerful Sergei Karpovich (Robert Carlyle).

In New York, after the third death of young Eastern European prostitutes, Russian-American NYPD Detective Kate Morozov (Mira Sorvino) suspects that these women are being "trafficked" by human trafficking gangs. Kate becomes a Special Agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under her new boss, Bill Meehan (Donald Sutherland), the Special Agent-In-Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's New York Field Office.

At a party worked by Sergei's girls, Nadia attempts escape but is caught. As punishment, Helena is moved to a location in New York City.

Kate busts a salon where girls are being trafficked from the basement. One of the rescued girls is Helena. She tells Kate about her daughter in Prague, who is successfully rescued by Czech police before Karpovich's men can abduct her. Helena also mentions Sergei Karpovich and implores Kate to find Nadia. However, Helena is killed by a sniper bullet shortly after being moved to protective custody.

In Manila, Annie's mother remains to search for her daughter while her husband returns to the US. Meanwhile, Annie is held at a child brothel, awaiting transportation to the Middle East. She manages to call her mother and they overhear Tommy talking in the background. They later identify Tommy on the street and the brothel is identified by the police.

In Kyiv, Nadia's father Viktor stresses about Nadia's disappearance. He locates details of the modelling agency and infiltrates the organisation by bonding with one of Karpovich's men. He is sent to Mexico City to help transport another shipment of girls. He is eventually sent to Washington, where he and Nadia are secretly reunited.

Using information from Helena, Kate locates the Washington brothel. While Nadia is away, ICE raid the brothel. Kate chases Viktor but when he mentions he is trying to rescue his daughter, she lets him escape. Nadia and Viktor are reunited in New York City.

Karpovich gives the name of the Manila brothel to his doctor. ICE raid the brothel and Dr Smith is arrested. However, Tommy is warned by a local police officer on the take and Annie and the other children are smuggled out just in time. The doctor gives the authorities Karpovich's name. Meanwhile, Annie and the other children are locked in a shipping container, awaiting their transportation. Due to missing paperwork and Tommy's execution, the container is abandoned on the docks.

Having no luck finding any new leads, Kate poses as a client on Karpovich's dating website and catches the attention of one of Karpovich's men. She pretends to travel from Moscow and is taken to the New York brothel. With Kate inside, ICE raid the building once Karpovich arrives. Karpovich is killed, along with several of his men. Nadia and Viktor are rescued.

In Manila, another of Annie's captors has a change of heart upon watching his daughter play. He calls the police and alerts them about the shipping container. Annie is rescued, along with the other children, and reunited with her parents. Karpovich's empire is dismantled, many other girls are rescued and his associates arrested.

Human Trafficking closes with images of people walking through crowded city streets, as a closing title caption announces that human trafficking is the third-most profitable criminal business in the world, with as many as 800,000 victims each year.

In Chicago, Harper Stewart is an up-and-coming author whose debut novel, ''Unfinished Business'', has been selected by Oprah's Book Club. Harper's devoted girlfriend Robyn is frustrated by his unwillingness to commit to her.

Harper travels to New York City to spend the weekend with old friends from college, before they all attend the wedding of Lance Sullivan, a running back for the New York Giants, and Mia Morgan. Serving as best man, Harper reunites with his friends Julian "Murch" Murchison and Jordan Armstrong, who has passed an advance copy of ''Unfinished Business'' around their inner circle of friends – upon whom the book is based.

None of the friends approve of Murch's domineering girlfriend Shelby, and Harper chastises Quentin Spivey for being unable to settle down in a job. The weekend reveals that Quentin has always been a free spirit, Lance has renounced his womanizing behavior, Harper is unsure about remaining a bachelor, and Murch has never been able to keep a secret. Flashbacks to their college days reveal that Lance met Mia through Harper, who almost slept with Jordan. Quentin antagonizes Lance about Mia, whom Lance believes has never been with another man. Learning Lance has a copy of his book, Harper worries he will discover that Harper and Mia had a one-night stand in college.

Confronting Harper about their mutual attraction, Jordan admits she wants to have sex with him that night, before Robyn arrives for the wedding the next day, and they share a kiss. Lance confronts Harper in the bathroom, but merely thanks him for his friendship; they are interrupted before Harper can come clean. As the groomsmen depart for the bachelor party, Jordan invites Harper to meet her later, and Murch finally stands up to Shelby.

At the party, Harper steals Lance's copy of ''Unfinished Business'', to the disgust of Quentin, who has deduced Harper's secret. As the party gets increasingly drunk, Murch falls for one of the strippers, Candy, and Harper calls Jordan, accepting her invitation. Finding the book in Harper's coat, Lance reads it and finds out the truth, realizing that Mia slept with Harper in college to get back at Lance for his numerous infidelities. Enraged, Lance attacks Harper for his betrayal and almost throws him off the balcony, but Quentin talks him down, and Lance calls off the wedding.

A badly beaten Harper arrives at Jordan's apartment. He blames her for circulating the book, but Jordan berates him for airing his own dirty laundry and leading her on. The next day, Harper meets Robyn at the airport. She notices his injuries, and Harper confesses. Disappointed, Robyn prepares to leave, but Harper declares how much he needs her, and she reluctantly agrees to help him save the wedding.

Arriving at the church with Candy, Murch breaks up with Shelby. Lance arrives, and his friends try desperately to stop him before he can tell his parents the wedding is off. Harper – who has never agreed with Lance's religious devotion – halts him by asking him to pray. While Robyn and Jordan tend to Mia, who is oblivious to the previous night's events, Harper manages to reason with Lance after much difficulty and assures him of his and Mia's love. After forcing Harper to pray with him, a tearful Lance proceeds with the wedding.

Harper gives a heartfelt speech praising Mia and Lance's love that visibly moves the couple, earning Lance's forgiveness. Shelby pushes a bridesmaid out of the way to seize the bouquet, while Quentin catches the garter. Jordan finds closure with Harper, telling him Robyn is the woman for him. On the dance floor, Harper thanks Robyn for her help and, in front of the entire wedding party asks her to marry him; she says yes. The film ends as everyone dances the electric slide to the song "Candy" by Cameo.

In a post-credit scene, Shelby and Quentin wake up in bed together, to their shock and disgust.

The novel is told entirely from the points of view of its elephant characters. Much like real elephants, all female elephants (cows) and prepubescent males (bulls) live in matrilineal family groups, and mature male elephants are loners. The main characters in the novel are mostly from the "She-S" family, into which Mud, a young cow who is pregnant with her first calf, has been adopted. Mud is blessed with visionary powers and can occasionally see into the future. Thrown into a drought, with human poachers becoming increasingly common, Mud and her family must find the legendary "Safe Place" where drought and poachers do not come. The "White Bone," a rib of a newborn elephant, is rumored to be lying somewhere in the savannah and is said to point in the direction of the Safe Place. After a slaughter which leaves most of Mud's adoptive family dead and her best friend, Date Bed, missing, Mud and the remaining She-S elephants set off to find the White Bone and Date Bed.

The novel is rather nihilistic, as it is unlikely that any of the characters ever reach the Safe Place, with a few possible exceptions. Hence, it is considered a powerful social commentary on the plight of endangered animals, showing their situation to be somewhat hopeless. Another main theme of the novel is the importance of family ties, and the fact that Mud, as an adopted member of the She-S family, feels alienated from the other elephants throughout.

Another theme of the novel acknowledges the old saying, "An elephant never forgets." The novel implies that elephants will eventually go senile, but as most are killed before their prime, the saying is usually true. The elephants are capable of remembering every minute detail of their lives, unlike humans, who tend to remember important events most strongly.

Michael Lander is a pilot who flies the Aldrich Blimp over NFL football games to film them for network television. He is also, secretly, deranged by years of torture as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, a bitter court martial on his return and a failed marriage. He longs to commit suicide and to take with him as many as possible of the cheerful, carefree American civilians he sees from his blimp each weekend.

Lander conspires with Dahlia Iyad, an operative from the Palestinian terrorist group Black September, to launch a suicide attack using a bomb composed of plastique and a quarter million steel darts, housed on the underside of the gondola of the blimp, which they will detonate over Tulane Stadium during a Super Bowl between the Miami Dolphins and the Washington Redskins. Dahlia and Black September, in turn, intend the attack as a wake-up call for the American people, to turn their attention and the world's to the plight of the Palestinians.

American and Israeli intelligence, led by Mossad agent David Kabakov and FBI agent Sam Corley, race to prevent the catastrophe. They piece together the path of the explosives into the country, and Dahlia's own movements.

In a spectacular conclusion, the bomb-carrying blimp is chased by helicopters as it approaches the packed stadium. The blimp manages to crash into the stadium, causing mass panic and destruction, but Kabakov's helicopter manages to pull the blimp out of the packed stadium just seconds before the weapon launches. The explosion kills hundreds, including Kabokav, but thanks to their efforts, they still managed to prevent the deaths of thousands of more people.

(This summary is based on the Lambeth Palace text.)

Gyngelayne is raised in the forest by his mother, who tries to keep him away from arms since she fears that her 'wild' son might otherwise come to harm. Gyngelayne is never told his real name by his mother. Instead, she calls him ‘Bewfiȝ’, since he is 'gentle of body' and has an attractive face. One day, Gyngelayne finds a dead knight in the forest. He dons the man's armour and goes to Glastonbury, where King Arthur is holding court. There he asks Arthur to dub him a knight although his upbringing is uncourtly. Arthur is so pleased by young Gyngelayne's sight that he gives him a name – Libeaus Desconus, ‘The Fair Unknown’ – and knights him that same day. Libeaus at once asks King Arthur if he might be offered the first challenge for which the king is required to provide a champion.

Soon a fair maiden, Ellyne, and a dwarf, Theodeley, come riding in. They have been sent by the lady of Synadowne, who has been imprisoned. Cannot Arthur send a knight to free her mistress? When Arthur grants the youthful Libeaus the quest, the maiden is angered, yet the king refuses to replace Libeaus with another knight.

Libeaus, Ellyne, and the dwarf set off on their journey, in acrimony. On the third day, Libeaus defeats a knight called Syr William Delaraunche, who had never yet been overcome in combat. Only now does Ellyne's ridicule of Lybeaus subside. Libeaus sends 'Syr William' to Arthur's court, where he is to tell the king who defeated him. Next morning, Libeaus is attacked by William's three cousins. He breaks one's thigh, another's arm and forces them all to go to Arthur's court, where they are to tell the king by whom they were defeated, and subject themselves to him.

In a wild forest, Libeaus saves a maiden from two giants and sends their heads to King Arthur. The maiden's father, an earl, offers Libeaus his daughter's hand in marriage, but Libeaus declines because he has a mission to accomplish. He is then given beautiful armour and a fine steed and he, the maiden Ellyne and the dwarf continue on their journey. Libeaus next defeats the Lord of Cardiff, winning a gyrfalcon, a scene that bears striking similarities with an episode in Chrétien de Troyes' twelfth century romance ''Erec and Enide'', retold in the Welsh Mabinogion tale ''Gereint and Enid''. He has the prize taken to Arthur, who is so satisfied with his knight that he decides to send him a hundred pounds. Libeaus uses the gold to hold a forty-days feast, and then moves on with his companions.

In a forest, Libeaus catches a many-coloured hunting dog at Ellyne's request. A man called Sir Otis claims that it is his, but Libeaus refuses to give it up. He soon finds himself faced by a full-fledged army, which he defeats single-handedly. Sir Otis, too, is sent to Arthur's court. And after many adventures in Ireland and Wales, Libeaus arrives at the beautiful Isle of Gold ('Jl de Ore'), a city of castles and palaces. Its lady is besieged by a Saracen giant called Maugys. After a long and eventful fight, Libeaus is able to kill the giant. La Dame Amour, Lady of the Island, offers the hero her love, and lordship over the Jl de Ore. Libeaus gladly accepts, and for twelve months he lives a life of 'recreauntise'. When one day Libeaus meets the maiden Ellyne, she points out to Libeaus that he has been disloyal to his lord in abandoning his quest. He feels deeply ashamed and leaves the Jl de Ore. With him he takes his horse, his armour and Jurflete, La Dame Amour's steward, whom he makes his squire. They travel onwards, he, Ellyne and his new squire, towards Synadowne.

Arriving at Synadowne at last, Libeaus defeats Lanwarde, the city's steward, who has the habit of fighting every knight who comes to the city looking for a place to stay. Libeaus asks who the knight is who is holding the Lady of Synadowne prisoner. Lanwarde informs Libeaus that the Lady of Synadowne is being held captive not by any knight but by two clerics who practice black magic (‘nigermansye’): :"Quod Lambert, 'Be Seint John! :Knyght, sir, is ther none :That durste hir away lede. :Twoo clerkys ben hir foone, :Fekyll off bloode and bone, :That hauyth y-doo this dede."

Lanwarde informs Libeaus that these two clerics, called Jrayne and Mabon, have created a 'paleys', an edifice which no nobleman dares enter, and they say that they will kill the lady unless she transfers all of her power to Mabon.

Next morning, Libeaus enters this palace and, leading his horse by the reins, finds nobody there but minstrels playing their music. Going deeper into the palace, searching for someone to fight with, he passes magnificent columns and stained glass windows and sits down on the raised platform at the far end of the space. The minstrels who had been playing now vanish, the earth shakes, and stones fall down. On the field outside appear the two clerics, Mabon and Jrayne, armed and on horseback. They are intent on killing Libeaus, who does battle with them both, but Jrayne disappears before Libeaus can deal him the final blow: he was too busy slaying Mabon, 'the more shreweos'.

Depressed, Libeaus sits down in the palace hall: Jrayne might well cause him trouble in the future. While Libeaus contemplates his situation, a window appears in one of the walls, and a serpent with wings and a woman's face crawls through. It speaks, asserting that it is 'young', and then kisses a terrified Libeaus. Consequently, it changes into a beautiful young woman: the Lady of Synadowne. She thanks Libeaus for freeing her, and tells him that he has slain both of the evil clerks. She also tells him that the only way the curse which had changed her into a serpent could be lifted was by kissing Gawain or someone else of his kin. Then the lady offers herself and her many possessions to Libeaus, who gladly accepts.

After seven joyous days in Synadowne, Libeaus and the Lady of Synadowne go to King Arthur's court, where Arthur grants Libeaus the lady's hand. A forty-day feast follows, after which the newly-weds are escorted back to Synadowne by Arthur and his knights, where they live happily together for many years.

Four years after the events of ''Digimon Adventure'', the Digital World is invaded by the Digimon Emperor, who is enslaving Digimon with the Dark Rings while building Control Spires that negate Digivolution. To fight him, three new DigiDestined are recruited, each gaining an ancient Digimon for a partner. The three, along with T.K. and Kari, each possess a D-3, a new type of Digivice that allows them to open a gate to be transported to the Digital World through any computer. They are also given D-Terminals that hold Crest-themed Digi-Eggs that allow their Digimon partners to undergo Armor Digivolution to counter the presence of Control Spires. The Digimon Emperor, revealed to be boy genius Ken Ichijoji, flees to the Digital World. Assisted by Ken's partner, Wormmon, the DigiDestined defeat Ken.

While the DigiDestined rebuild the Digital World, Davis, Yolei, and Cody unlock normal Digivolution. At the same time, they ally themselves with a reformed Ken, who joins the team to fight Arukenimon, a Digimon who revives the Control Spires as other Digimon. When the Control Spire Digimon prove to be stronger than them, the DigiDestined learn DNA Digivolution, which enable two champion-level Digimon to merge into a stronger ultimate-level one. When Arukenimon creates BlackWarGreymon, he begins to destroy each Destiny Stones, hoping to fight Azulongmon, who appears when each Stone is destroyed. After BlackWarGreymon flees, Azulongmon warns the DigiDestined about an impending threat behind Arukenimon and Mummymon.

During Christmas, Control Spires appear across the human world, bringing Digimon with them. While the DigiDestined set off with Imperialdramon to destroy them with the help of the international DigiDestined, Arukenimon and Mummymon begin kidnapping several children for Yukio Oikawa, a friend of Cody's father who dreams of entering the Digital World. Once the DigiDestined return to Japan, they fight the Daemon Corps, and their leader, Daemon, while Oikawa uses the Dark Spore inside Ken to implant them into the children. After Daemon is imprisoned in the Dark Ocean, BlackWarGreymon sacrifices himself to seal the portal to the Digital World at Highton View Terrace, before Oikawa and the kids can transport there.

The DigiDestined are transported to a Dream World with Oikawa and the kids and learn he was controlled by Myotismon. Myotismon splits from Oikawa and uses the energy from the Dark Spores to be reborn as MaloMyotismon. With help from the DigiDestined all over the world, the DigiDestined defeat MaloMyotismon, and Oikawa sacrifices himself to rebuild the Digital World. Twenty five years later, humans and Digimon live together.

Brothers Joe and Paul Fabrini are independent truck drivers who make a meager living transporting goods. Joe convinces Paul to start their own small, one-truck business, staying one step ahead of loan shark Farnsworth, who is trying to repossess their truck.

At a diner, Joe is attracted to waitress Cassie Hartley. Later, on their way to Los Angeles, the brothers pick up a hitchhiker; Joe is pleased when it turns out to be Cassie, who quit after her boss tried to get a bit too friendly with her. They park at a diner for a meal and chat with a trucker acquaintance, McNamara, who is extremely overworked and tired; later, back on the road, the brothers and Cassie find themselves driving behind McNamara and soon become aware that he must be asleep at the wheel. They put themselves in danger trying to awaken him, but McNamara's truck goes off the road and explodes in flames.

At his home just outside of Los Angeles, Paul is reunited with his patient though worried wife, Pearl, who would rather have Paul settle down in a safer, more regular job. Paul is troubled about his future, too, but will not leave his brother "out on a limb as long as he thinks we have a chance in this business". In the city, Joe finds Cassie a place to stay. They talk and begin to establish a relationship.

The next morning, from a window overlooking the market, Joe's good friend Ed Carlsen watches Joe get into a brief fistfight. Ed is a trucking business owner and former driver; he calls Joe up to his office and offers him a job. Joe insists on remaining independent. Ed's wife, Lana Carlsen has wanted Joe for years but he has always rebuffed her advances.

Ed gives Joe a tip on a load which results in the brothers earning enough money to finally pay off Farnsworth. On the return trip, Paul falls asleep at the wheel, causing an accident which costs him his right arm and wrecks the truck.

When Ed hires Joe as a driver, Lana persuades her husband to make him the traffic manager instead; she starts dropping by the office frequently. Joe continues to spurn her advances. One night, when Lana drives a drunk, unconscious Ed home from a party, she murders him on impulse, by leaving him in the garage with the car motor still idling. When the police investigate, it appears to be an accident. She later gives Joe a half-interest as a partner in the business in a subsequent attempt to attract him.

Paul has been bitter over his inability to land a proper job in order to support his wife and plan a family. He returns to work as a dispatcher for Joe. Joe does a fine job managing the business, but when Lana learns he plans to marry Cassie, she becomes so enraged she reveals to him that she killed Ed so that she could have him. She then goes to the police, accusing Joe of forcing her to help commit murder. Joe is tried based on no evidence except the accusation made by Lana. During the trial, a guilt-ridden Lana breaks down on the witness stand, laughing hysterically and claiming the electric garage doors made her do it.

After Lana is determined to be insane, the case is dismissed. Joe considers going back to the road, but Cassie, Paul - who happily announces that Pearl and he are having a baby - and the boys manage to convince him otherwise. He thus returns to the trucking business that he had dreamed of owning, with his brother as traffic manager and Cassie as his bride-to-be.

Part 1: The Argentine

In Havana in 1964, Che Guevara is interviewed by Lisa Howard who asks him if reform throughout Latin America might not blunt the "message of the Cuban Revolution".

In 1955, at a gathering in Mexico City, Guevara first meets Fidel Castro. He listens to Castro's plans and signs on as a member of the July 26th Movement.

There is a return to 1964 for Guevara's address before the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, where he makes an impassioned speech against American imperialism, and defends the executions his regime has committed, declaring "this is a battle to the death."

March 1957. Guevara deals with debilitating bouts of asthma as his group of revolutionaries meet up with Castro's. Together, they attack an army barracks in the Sierra Maestra on 28 May 1957. After that, they begin to win over the rural peasant population of Cuba and receive increasing support, while battling both the government and traitors in their midst. Gradually, however, the government loses control of most of the rural areas. Soon afterward, the 26 July Movement forges alliances with other revolutionary movements in Cuba, and begin to assault towns and villages. Most fall to the rebels with little to no resistance.

On 15 October 1958, the guerrillas approach the town of Las Villas. The Battle of Santa Clara is depicted with Guevara demonstrating his tactical skill as the guerrillas engage in street-to-street fighting and derail a train carrying Cuban soldiers and armaments. Near the film's end, they are victorious. With the Cuban Revolution now over, Guevara heads to Havana, remarking "we won the war, the revolution starts now."

Part 2: Guerrilla

The second part begins on 3 November 1966 with Guevara arriving in Bolivia disguised as a middle-aged representative of the Organization of American States hailing from Uruguay, who subsequently drives into the mountains to meet his men. The film is organized by the number of days that he was in the country. On Day 26, there is solidarity among Guevara's men despite his status as a foreigner. By Day 67, Guevara, however, has been set up for betrayal. He tries to recruit some peasants only to be mistaken for a cocaine smuggler, and the Bolivian Communist Party, led by Mario Monje, refuse to support the armed struggle. On Day 100, there is a shortage of food and Guevara exercises discipline to resolve conflicts between his Cuban and Bolivian followers.

By Day 113, some of the guerrillas have deserted, and, upon capture, have led the Bolivian Army to the revolutionaries' base camp, which contained vast stockpiles of food, much-needed supplies, and intelligence identifying much of the group as Cubans. Much to Che's disappointment Tamara "Tania" Bunke, Guevara's revolutionary contact has botched elaborate preparations and given away their identity. On Day 141, the guerrillas capture Bolivian soldiers that refuse to join the revolution and are free to return to their villages. CIA and US Army Special Forces advisers arrive to supervise anti-insurgent activity and to train the Bolivian Army. On Day 169, Guevara's visiting friend, the French intellectual Régis Debray, is captured at Muyupampa by the Bolivian Army along with two of Che's last contacts with the outside world. A Bolivian airstrike then occurs against Che's guerrillas on Day 219, driving them deeper into hiding. By this time, Che has split his forces; his best fighters travel with him in one column, while another column contains other personnel, including Tania, and carries much of the remaining supplies.

Guevara grows sick and by Day 280 can barely breathe as a result of his acute asthma. Nevertheless, he continues to lead his group towards the other column of revolutionaries. On Day 302, the Bolivian Army wipes out the other column, killing Tania Bunke, Juan Acuña Ñunez, and several others in an ambush as they attempt to cross the Vado del Yeso after a local informant tells the Bolivian troops about the movements of the rebels. By Day 340, Guevara is trapped by the Bolivian Army in the Yuro Ravine near the village of La Higuera. Che is wounded and captured. The next day, a helicopter lands and Cuban American CIA agent Alejandro Ramírez (a fictionalized version of Félix Rodríguez) emerges to interrogate Che, but without success. The Bolivian high command then phones and orders Guevara's execution. He is shot on 9 October 1967, and his corpse lashed to a helicopter's landing skids and flown out.

In a final flashback scene, Guevara is aboard the ''Granma'' in 1956, looking out over the ocean, as the Cuban Revolution is about to begin. He sees the Castro brothers alone at the bow of the ship; Fidel is talking and Raúl is taking notes. Guevara hands a peeled orange to one of his comrades and returns his gaze to the lone brothers before the scene fades to black.

Nora, a waitress with two teenage daughters, struggles to raise them in a trailer park as a single parent after her husband abandons the family. After repeatedly skipping school to go on dates, Trudi, the elder daughter, quits school and gets a job as a waitress alongside her mother. Meanwhile, the younger daughter, Shade, spends most of her time watching the movies of Mexican film star Elvia Rivero and dreams of finding a boyfriend for her mother.

After being dumped by the boy she was seeing, Trudi meets Dank, a British petrologist, at the restaurant where she's working. They eventually sleep together, and she tells him that her promiscuity is caused by the fact that she lost her virginity in a gang rape perpetrated by local boys she knew. Returning home the following night, her mother tells her that she has one month to find a new home because Trudi has slept with a man.

Shade tries to seduce Darius, her friend, by dressing up in a wig and costume à la Olivia Newton-John, Darius's supposed dream girl, at her sister's suggestion. After her seduction attempt fails, presumably because he is gay, she runs into Javier, the local projectionist, who teases her over her outfit before giving her a ride home on his bike. Afterwards she sets her mother up on a date with Raymond, a married man who was revealed earlier in the film to be having an intermittent affair with her mother. As they do not want to reveal their connection to the eavesdropping Shade, they make wry conversation where Raymond claims to work as a gravedigger and Nora as a brain surgeon.

Trudi discovers she is pregnant with Dank's child, but when he fails to return from an expedition, decides to go to Dallas and give up her child for adoption rather than have an abortion. While Trudi is away, Nora begins an affair with Hamlet Humphrey, a man who installs satellite dishes, while the girls' biological father, John, reappears.

Shade falls in love with Javier and tries to reconnect with her father. Initially disturbed by Hamlet Humphrey, she warms to him after he reveals that he is familiar with the movies of Elvia Rivero and compares Nora to her.

Shade goes to Dallas with her mother and Hamlet for the birth of Trudi's baby. After giving birth to a daughter, Trudi tells Shade that she'll be staying in the city, as their home holds too many bad memories for her. On their way home, Shade spots a sign advertising day-glo rocks like the one Dank gave her sister. She goes to confront Dank but instead learns that he was killed in an accident while looking for rocks. Walking off into the desert, Shade realizes that Dank always loved Trudi and vows to eventually tell her what happened.

The work expresses the author's atheism by having a dying man (a libertine) tell a priest about what he views as the mistakes of a pious life.

According to John Phillips, Emeritus Professor of French Literature and Culture at London Metropolitan University:

Of all the direct expressions of atheism in Sade's work, the ''Dialogue''... is probably the most incisive and, at the same time, the most artistically satisfying... The influence of Sade's Jesuit training in rhetorical debate is the mainspring of this brilliant dramatic essay, which, as the title suggests, is not so much theatre as philosophical dialogue. But what makes the work charming as well as persuasive is the impish humour that lies behind its characters and situation.Phillips, John (2005). ''The Marquis de Sade: a very short introduction.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp.37-38. .

However, Steven Barbone, of San Diego State University notes that:

We can postulate one of two things: Sade was entirely pleased with this manuscript and saw no reason to make any changes to it or Sade completely gave up on the dialogue and had decided to abandon it. The reason for either of these hypotheses is that the manuscript itself contains almost no trace of Sade’s editing. It is up to the reader to divine whether the “Dialogue between the Priest and a Dying Man” is Sade’s position or not. Either way, it is worth reading even in the very unlikely event that it presents a position Sade would have repudiated. (This may be the case: near the beginning of October 1788, Sade himself made a catalogue of his works, and the “Dialogue” is omitted.) de Sade, Donatien-Alphonse-François. Dialogue between a priest and a dying man. English version and introduction by Steven Barbone. ''Philosophy and Theology'', Vol. 12 (2), 2000.

As a child, Dragon Eye Morrison undergoes electro-shock treatment for his aggressive behavior. The levels of sheer energy absorbed by his body over the years allow him to channel and conduct electricity. Now an adult, Morrison works in the city as a reptile investigator and has learned to channel his rage through the performance of aggressive guitar-based noise. Meanwhile, Thunderbolt Buddha, a TV repair man turned vigilante, who has the same electro-conductive powers after a childhood accident, goes after crime bosses and gangsters. When both men learn of each other's existence, Thunderbolt Buddha challenges Morrison to a final showdown on the rooftops of Tokyo.

Jean Rice, a young London art teacher, travels to a seaside resort (not specified but partly filmed in Morecambe) to visit her family. She is emotionally confused, having had a row with her fiancé Graham, who wants her to emigrate with him to Africa. She also is deeply concerned about the Suez Crisis, having seen Mick, her soldier brother, go to the war. She has attended a peace rally in Trafalgar Square that was directed against prime minister Anthony Eden.

She finds that the resort has declined from its pre-war heyday and is now drawing waning crowds, despite being in mid-season. The music-hall act of her father Archie Rice (Olivier) plays to a small number of increasingly uninterested spectators. Her family is deeply dysfunctional and her beloved grandfather Billy, once one of the leading stars of the music hall, lives in quiet retirement with his son Archie, Archie's second wife Phoebe and Archie's son Frank.

Jean goes to the theatre where her father is playing. As well as being an undischarged bankrupt and a semi-alcoholic, he is desperately short of money and is hounded by creditors—the income-tax people as well as his unpaid cast. He is adored by his cynical son Frank and watched with mild amusement by his father, but his relationship with Phoebe is strained. He is a womaniser, and she is well aware of his tendencies, openly commenting on them to the rest of the family. He is often found drinking heavily.

With his latest show drawing to a close, Archie is desperate to secure a new show for the winter season. While acting as master of ceremonies at a Miss Great Britain beauty contest, he charms Tina Lapford, the young woman who finished in second place. Soon he is involved in an affair with her. Her wealthy and ambitious parents want her to have an entertainment career and are willing to put up the money for Archie's new show, if it includes her. They shake hands on the deal.

While this is going on, the radio reports that Mick has been captured by the Egyptians at Suez after a major firefight. Archie seems oblivious of the news and the distress of his family. He is fixated with his dream of restarting his stalled career and his affair. Jean discovers the affair and tells her grandfather. Acting out of what he believes are his son's best interests, and not knowing of the money for the next show, Billy goes to the girl's parents and tells them that Archie is already married and bankrupt. They swiftly break off all connections with Archie.

While Archie is still digesting this turn of events, news arrives that Mick has been killed by the Egyptians. Mick's body is returned and a civic commemoration is attended by the whole town. It is reported that he will be awarded a Victoria Cross for his actions. Archie is still too busy fixating on his career to notice how his family is falling apart at the news. His brother-in-law wants to help the family to relocate to Canada and help him run a hotel but Archie rebuffs him. Instead he persuades an impresario to promote a new show, with his father, who is keen to amend for stopping the Lapford funding, as the headline attraction. Billy, despite his age, is still extremely popular, and there is a public demand for his return.

On the opening night, Billy collapses and dies just before he's due on stage, completing the estrangement of the family. Phoebe and Frank are determined to go to Canada, and Archie is set on staying in Britain, even if it means going to jail. The film ends with Archie making an apparently final performance to an apathetic audience.

While the rest of his high school graduating class is heading to the same old kind of college, skateboarder Eric Rivers and his best friends, Dustin, a goal-oriented workaholic, and misfit slacker Matt have one last summer roadtrip together to follow their dream of getting noticed by the professional skateboarding world—and getting paid to skate. When skating legend Jimmy Wilson's skate demo tour hits town, the boys figure that as soon as he sees their fierce tricks, he'll sign them up for his renowned skate team immediately, right? Unfortunately, the guys are intercepted by Jimmy's road manager and they can't get their foot in the door, much less their boards. But they do get some free advice: keep skating, stay true to yourself, and stay in the game—if you're good, you'll get noticed. Following their dream—and Jimmy's national tour—Eric, Dustin and Matt start their own skate team, reluctantly sponsored by Dustin and his college fund.

After recruiting laid-back ladies man Lou "Sweet Lou" Singer to join their crew and provide the van for their tour, team Super Duper launches the ride of their lives in an outrageous road trip from Chicago to Santa Monica. The professional scene doesn't exactly welcome nobody, but these outsiders stick together through extreme misadventures. In their quest to go pro, they meet professional vert skating champions Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist and Pierre Luc Gagnon, skate pro Bam Margera and his crew Preston Lacy, Ehren Danger McGhehey and Jason Wee Man Acuña, as well as sexy skate chick Jamie as they grind handrails across America and force the skateboarding world to give 'em a piece of the action.

"Welcome to My Mortuary" (prologue)

In South Central Los Angeles, a trio of drug dealers—Stack, Ball and Bulldog—arrive at Simms' Funeral Home to purchase some drugs from Mr. Simms, the mortuary's eccentric owner.

Mr. Simms claims that he found the drugs in an alley, and has safely stored them in his mortuary. He asks the dealers to help him get the drugs, and as the four make their way through the building, relates stories about some of the dead bodies in the funeral home. The first casket contains the body of Clarence Smith, a man who was rumored to have heard voices of the dead calling his name.

"Rogue Cop Revelation"

During his first night on the job, young black police officer Clarence Smith is taken by his new white partner, Newton Hauser, to the scene of what initially appears to be a routine traffic stop of a well-dressed black man by two white cops. When Smith runs the car's license plates, he learns that the man is in fact Martin Ezekiel Moorehouse, a city councilman and black rights activist who has recently been on a crusade to eliminate police corruption in the city. Smith watches in horror as Newton, along with fellow white officers, Billy Crumfield and Strom Richmond, brutally beat Moorehouse with their nightsticks and vandalize his car. When Smith insists that Moorehouse should be taken to a hospital, the officers appear to agree. Smith tells Newton that Billy and Strom should be reported for what they did, but Newton tells Smith that officers are not to break "the code" and rat each other out. Smith and Newton leave in their car. Strom and Billy don't take Moorehouse to the hospital. Instead, they drive Moorehouse's car to the docks. Strom shoots the battered Moorehouse up with some of the heroin that he, Newton, and Billy have been dealing, plants some in his car, then pushes it into the water with Moorehouse still inside. Moorehouse is posthumously and falsely labeled a hypocrite.

One year later, Smith has left the police force and is now a guilt-consumed drunk. On a walk in his neighborhood, he sees a mural of Moorehouse. Smith then has a vision of a crucified Moorehouse haunting him with the words "Bring them to me!" In response, Smith convinces the three criminal police officers to meet him at Moorehouse's grave on the anniversary of the murder. Once there, Smith denounces the officers for killing Moorehouse and destroying his reputation. The officers begin to insult Moorehouse, with Strom urinating on Moorehouse's grave and then ordering Billy to do the same thing. As Newton and Strom prepare to kill Smith, a zombified Moorehouse bursts from the grave to drag Billy beneath the ground by his genitals. Moorehouse's coffin bursts from the ground, opening to reveal Billy's mutilated corpse, with Moorehouse standing above the grave, clutching Billy's still-beating heart.

Strom and Newton open fire on Moorehouse, but the bullets have no effect, prompting them to flee in horror. A lengthy chase ensues, with the two cops fleeing by patrol car. As Newton is driving the vehicle, Moorehouse jumps on top of the vehicle and decapitates Strom with his bare hands. Terrified, Newton exits his vehicle and shoots its gas tank, though the ensuing explosion doesn't rid him of Moorehouse. Moorehouse then chases Newton into an alley, where he telekinetically throws used hypodermic needles into the cop's body, pinning him to Moorehouse's wall mural. After Newton is killed, his body melts into the mural, becoming a painting of himself crucified.

His vengeance nearly complete, Moorehouse accosts Smith, asking him why he did not help him when he was being beaten. The story ends with Smith in a mental hospital. Two orderlies outside his cell mention that he killed the officers and that he used to be an officer himself. Moorehouse is never mentioned.

Stack, Ball, and Bulldog think Mr. Simms is crazy after hearing the story. After looking into another casket, the contents of which are not seen, Mr. Simms tells them a story about a boy named Walter.

"Boys Do Get Bruised"

Walter Johnson is a quiet and sensitive boy who transfers to a new school one day with bruises around his cheek and eye. Walter's caring teacher, Richard Garvey, notices the bruises and talks to Walter. He initially thinks that the school bully, Tyrone, gave him the bruises. Although Tyrone has bullied Walter, Walter claims that the bruises came after he was attacked by a monster. A few days later, he shows up with a bruised arm. While the other children play, Walter sits inside and draws pictures of Tyrone and the monster. Walter explains to Garvey that he can overcome something he doesn't like, such as the monster he keeps talking about, by destroying an image of it. After Garvey leaves, Walter crumples up the drawing of Tyrone, causing the real Tyrone to suffer spontaneous injuries.

Later that night, Garvey visits Walter's home and asks Walter's mother, Sissy, about the monster. Sissy claims that Walter's injuries are the result of his own clumsiness; she then tells Walter not to reveal anything about the monster to anyone else. Sissy's domineering boyfriend, Carl, comes home. Mr. Garvey eventually leaves. Seen through Walter's imagination, it is revealed that Carl is, in actuality, the "monster". Thinking that Walter is mocking him by drawing him as a monster, Carl begins to attack Walter and then hits and whips Sissy with a belt when she intervenes.

Garvey turns around to check on Walter and sees Carl beating Sissy through the window. Garvey runs into the house and begins to fight Carl. In a long fight sequence, Carl knocks out Garvey and almost kills a valiant Sissy. With Carl's attention elsewhere, Walter grabs a drawing he made of the monster, and begins to fold and crumple it. Carl's body crumples and collapses in a similar fashion. Sissy stomps on the wadded-up paper to kill Carl. Finally, Garvey gives the paper to Walter, who burns it. Sissy and Walter look on, relieved, as Carl's body is burned.

Back in Simms' Funeral Home, Carl's burnt and mangled corpse is revealed to be inside the coffin. The gangsters close the casket, causing a doll to fall off a nearby shelf. For his next story, Mr. Simms shows them the doll, mentioning that he originally found it in a home in the South. Simms explains that it is not an ordinary doll, but a vessel for a lost soul.

"KKK Comeuppance"

Duke Metger is an obnoxious and highly racist Southern senator and a one-time member of the Ku Klux Klan who is currently running for governor. The senator is in his office filming a campaign commercial when he sees protesters outside the office. Jewish and African-American groups have teamed up to protest against Metger for being a racist, a former Klansman, and for setting up his office at an old slave plantation previously owned by his ancestor, Nathan Wilkes. One individual, Eli, tells the reporter that the plantation is haunted by dolls animated by the souls of Wilkes's previously tortured slaves, warning the news crews and everyone else at the scene that it is not a myth.

Meanwhile, Metger also discusses the myth of the tortured slaves with his African-American "image-maker" assistant Rhodie Willis. Metger explains how Wilkes, upon hearing that his slaves would be freed at the end of the Civil War, flew into a murderous rage and massacred all of them. The two notice a large painting of Miss Cobbs, the hoodoo witch who transferred the slaves' souls inside a number of small dolls that she created, surrounded by the dolls themselves, which Metger refers to as "Negro dolls". According to legend, the dolls are supposedly still in the house. One of the dolls is seen under the floorboard as Rhodie leaves. While Metger and Rhodie are working on Metger's media skills, Rhodie suddenly stumbles and falls down the stairs to his death. At the funeral, Eli warns Metger to leave the house before he ends up like Rhodie. In the limo after Rhodie's funeral, Metger notices the doll and orders his African-American driver to pull over so he can throw the doll out the window and into the street.

Later, Metger re-watches Rhodie's footage and realizes that he died because he tripped over the doll. After noticing a blank spot on the painting, Metger comes in contact with the little doll itself, now animated, and has a fight with it. Metger is injured, but he manages to stop the doll by beating it with an American Flag. He also damages the painting with the flag, which starts to bleed. Metger takes the doll outside to his porch and ties it to a dart board. He then blasts the doll with his shotgun, and goes back inside to rant at the painting.

In the midst of his latest racist rant, Metger realizes more doll images in the painting have faded to white. Metger finds the previously blasted doll in the hallway, which attacks again and chases Metger into his office. Metger manages to lock the doll outside but sees that the painting has all the doll images faded to white. Terrified, Metger turns around to see an army of dolls, led by the same doll he blasted. He covers himself in the American flag as the dolls converge and devour him. Miss Cobbs then disappears from the painting and manifests herself in the room, holding the first doll in her arms, satisfied at the carnage taking place before them.

Meanwhile, the dealers have grown impatient and ready for the drugs, not wanting to listen to any more of Mr. Simms's strange stories. Ball notices a corpse in another room, and alerts the others to come and see it. When Simms asks them if they knew the man inside the casket, Bulldog says that he was just someone they had seen around their neighborhood. Mr. Simms proceeds to explain the final moments of the man known as Crazy K.

"Hard-Core Convert"

Jerome "Crazy K" Johns is a hardened gangster and homicidal psychopath who has killed many people mercilessly. He is driving down the streets of Los Angeles when he encounters his rival, Li'l Deke, whom he pursues and guns down. In retaliation, Li'l Deke's associates shoot at Crazy K. Before they can finish him off, the police arrive at the scene and gun down the attackers. Crazy K, badly injured but still alive, is arrested and sent to prison, serving a life sentence without parole.

Four years later, Dr. Cushing arrives at Crazy K's prison cell and transfers him to her facility for an experimental trial, mentioning that he'll be released from prison if he agrees to it and completes it. Crazy K meets an inmate who happens to be a homicidal white supremacist that raves about killing black people and the end of days for blacks. This angers Crazy K and causes him to punch him in the face. The man then asks Crazy K the race of the victims he killed, silencing Crazy K. The man grows fond of him and he tells him that there will be a few black people who will be spared as long as they think like him. Crazy K is told by Dr. Cushing that she purposely put him there to meet someone who is just like him. She then tells him that she has been hired by the government to administer a rehabilitation process on Crazy K, in hopes that he will change his ways. If he fails to redeem himself, he is told that he will rot in solitary confinement for the rest of his life.

Crazy K is put through a process of torture to make him learn the consequences of his actions. First, his hair (with a "K" cut into the front) is shaved off. He is then loaded onto a gyroscopic modulator, forced to visualize images involving KKK members and actual photographs of lynching victims, interspersed with grisly, stylized footage of gang violence and his own actions. Dr. Cushing expounds on the fact that Crazy K killed many innocent black people without remorse or second thought.

For the next part of the trial, Crazy K is put into a sensory deprivation chamber, where he is confronted by the souls of the people he has killed, intentionally or otherwise, including his friends and an innocent little girl. Despite hinting at his own personal abuse in his childhood, Crazy K refuses to accept any responsibility for his crimes, and Dr. Cushing tearfully warns him that he won't get another chance for forgiveness. Having refused the opportunity to redeem himself, Crazy K is transported back to the moment when he was shot. This time, he is finished off by the three gunmen, who leave his corpse abandoned in the street.

"Welcome to My Mortuary" (epilogue)

Following the telling of Crazy K's story, Stack, Ball, and Bulldog are revealed to be Crazy K's killers. In a heated turn of events, the dealers, having grown hostile with Simms and unnerved by the revelation that he knows their crime, threaten Simms, telling him he'll be killed unless he gives them their drugs. Simms leads them deeper into the funeral home and tells them their "reward" is in three closed caskets. Each drug dealer finds that the casket he opens contains their own corpse, revealing that they were dead all this time.

After disarming them, Simms explains that after the murder of Crazy K, they were killed by Crazy K's associates as retaliation (although in the story, they were shot and killed by the police, which is eventually proven false by Crazy K's Death and Mr Simms's Confirmation). Bulldog asks Simms how they can be dead when they are all seemingly alive, together in the same funeral home. Simms tells them that the funeral home is actually Hell and he transforms into Satan. The drug dealers scream in horror at this sight, as the walls of the funeral home shatter to reveal an inferno that consumes them. They are left to burn with all the tortured souls while Satan laughs.

The story is told by Max Morden, a self-aware, retired art historian attempting to reconcile himself to the deaths of those he loved as a child and as an adult.

The novel is written as a reflective journal; the setting always in flux, wholly dependent upon the topic or theme Max feels inclined to write about. Despite the constant fluctuations, Max returns to three settings: his childhood memories of the Graces—a wealthy middle-class family living in a rented cottage home, the "Cedars"—during the summer holidays; the months leading up to the death of his wife, Anna; and his present stay at the Cedars cottage home in Ballyless—where he has retreated since Anna's death. These three settings are heavily diced and jumbled together for the novel's entire duration.

Max's final days with Anna were awkward; Max does not know how to act with his soon-to-be-dead wife. Scenes of Anna's dying days are more full of commentary than with actual details, as are most of the novel's settings. It's through these commentaries that we learn of Max's choice to return to the cottage of his childhood memories (after Anna's death), confirming that a room would be available for residence during a visit with his adult daughter, Claire.

We learn of the Cedars' current house-maid, Miss Vavasour, and her other tenant: a retired army Colonel, often described as a background character (even during his important role in the denouement). The Colonel is also seen, at the beginning of Max's stay, to have a crush on Miss Vavasour; Max suspects Miss Vavasour had entertained the Colonel's slight infatuation prior to Max's own arrival.

Despite the actual present day setting of the novel (everything is written by Max, after Anna's death, while he stays in the Cedars' house), the underlying motivation to Max's redaction of memories, the single setting which ties the novel together, are Max's childhood memories. With Max's unreliable, unorganised and omitted iteration of events, we gradually learn the names of the Graces: Chloe, the wild daughter; Myles, the mute brother; Connie, the mother; Carlo, the father; and finally the twins' nursemaid, Rose. After brief encounters, and fruitless moments of curiosity, Max becomes infatuated with Connie Grace upon first sight; seeing her lounging at the beach launches him to acquaint Chloe and Myles in, what Max stipulates to have been a conscious effort to get inside the Cedars, hence, closer to Mrs. Grace. He succeeds. Later, Max recounts being invited on a picnic—for what reasons or what specific time during the summer is never explicitly stated—where Max, in awe, catches an unkempt glance at her pelvic area. This day of "illicit invitation" climaxes when Max is pulled to the ground, and snuggled closely with Connie and Rose in a game of hide-and-seek.

The latter half of his summer memories (the relation of Max's memories in the second part of the novel), however, revolve around Max's awkward relationship with Chloe: a girl with a spastic personality and blunt demeanor whom Max describes as one who "[does] not play, on her own or otherwise". Chloe is shown as a volatile character: flagrantly kissing Max in a Cinema, rough-housing with her brother Myles, and what was hinted as hypersexuality earlier, is quite possibly confirmed as hypersexuality in the book's final moments.

We soon learn that Chloe and Myles like to tease Rose, who is young and timid enough to feel bullied. Max, another day, climbs a tree in the yard of the Cedars' house, and soon spots Rose crying not too far from him. Mrs. Grace soon emerges, comforting Rose. Max overhears (rather, Max remembers overhearing) key words from their conversation: "love him" and "Mr. Grace". Assuming this to mean Rose and Mr. Grace are having an affair, he tells Chloe and Myles. The ending of the book entwines the exact moment of Anna's death with Chloe and Myles drowning in the sea itself as Max and Rose look on. Max, done with his childhood memories, offers a final memory of a near-death episode while he was inebriated. The Colonel does not physically save Max, rather finds him knocked unconscious by a rock (from a drunken stumble). His daughter scolds him at the hospital, assumingly being told he nearly killed himself, and tells him to come home with her. It is revealed at this point that Miss Vavasour is Rose herself and she was in love with Mrs. Grace. Max finishes with a redaction of himself standing in the sea after Anna's death (an allegory is made between crashing waves and tumultuous periods of his life). We are to assume that he will leave the Cedars' home to be cared for by his daughter, Claire.

While other kids at the elite North Point Academy spend countless hours studying, Handsome Davis sees it as nothing more than a system of control over one's mind. That's why Handsome and his three best friends, Sammy, Victor and the cribsheet genius Applebee, have banded together and found ways to cheat on their tests all through their school years. Everything had been going along smoothly until the gang entered their final year of high school and the stakes were upped by the school's principal, Mrs. Stark. If they get caught cheating again Stark will make a note in their permanent records and possibly kill their chances of getting into college. But can Handsome convince his pals to pull off one last great cheat with him, outsmarting Stark and the system, even if it means possibly destroying their friendships?

Kenneth Winslow is an extremely shy but knowledgeable technical writer who orders a sex-doll.

He develops a relationship with "Nikki," to the point of talking and even arguing with her. Kenneth begins to display bizarre behavior, and starts to feel stalked by Nikki. Their relationship evolves into a love-hate situation, and at one point he even beats the doll.

At work, Kenneth meets Lisa, a temp, with whom he begins to develop a relationship. Kenneth encourages Lisa to resemble Nikki by cutting her hair the way Nikki has it and wearing the same clothes Nikki has. As his imagined relationship with Nikki becomes more sinister and dominating, Kenneth resorts to cutting up and disposing of the doll.

Lisa eventually becomes aware of Nikki's existence, and promptly breaks up with Kenneth. Later, a bound and gagged Lisa is discovered by Kenneth's landlord, and Kenneth bludgeons him with a hammer. Kenneth then begins to transform Lisa into the doll. He dresses her up in Nikki's clothes, straps her down, and begins to replace her blood with embalming fluid.

Lisa manages to escape from her restraints and attacks Kenneth with a small statue, rendering him unconscious. At this point the police arrive, and when they see Lisa over the unconscious Kenneth they shoot her. Lisa, wearing Nikki's clothes, falls dead in the crate Nikki came in, thus completing her transformation. Kenneth is believed to be Lisa's victim, and is not charged with a crime.

Much later, he re-orders another Nikki. While buying flowers for Nikki, he notices the attractive brunette at the floral shop. The viewer is left to assume that Kenneth's obsessive love triangle cycle will start all over again.

In a world of music and musical plants, a mad scientist is experimenting with the seeds of those plants to create a child, Noiseman. After giving Noiseman a potion to grow faster the scientist couldn't control him anymore and accidentally split his body into a ghost and a crystal with a machine of his. Noiseman is now in control of the whole city, brainwashing people to capture those ghosts and telling the people that the music fruit is forbidden. Tobio who also was brainwashed got hit by a music fruit and remembered the past, where everyone would enjoy the music. He tries to convince Noiseman that his doing is wrong and he should return the captured ghosts to their crystals but without success. Now the underground people are trying their best to help the ghosts with the help of Tobio's childhood friend.

This booklet about badgers features trivia questions, a giant poster, and profiles of many of the badger characters that are featured in the series. They include cartoons, fun facts, and the story information. The booklet was illustrated by Peter Standley.

A spaceship, propelled by a prototype photon engine, sets off for Venus, which at that time, is an enigmatic and unexplored planet covered by clouds. The tasks of the crew are a) to test the prototype engine in field conditions and b) to locate and set radio beacons on the so called "Uranium Golconda" (a place with incredibly large heavy metals deposits), presumably, found somewhere on the second planet of the Solar System.

As the crew ventures into the depths of Venus, unknown dangers take them out one by one, so only four of six return home after accomplishing the mission — all badly damaged, both physically and mentally. However, their feat was the first milestone in colonizing Venus and the first step into the 21st century.

The first of the film's four parts is titled ''Rumble''. The events start with two groups of rival teenagers hanging out in a bar, playing pool. They end up fighting and the main character Park Sung-bin accidentally kills another youth. He is thrown to prison for the next seven years.

The second part is titled ''Nightmare'' after the dreams Sung-bin still has about the man he killed. Sung-bin is trying to get back on track after being released from prison. He manages to get a job in a garage with the help of his brother, but his father still seems to loathe him for his past misdeeds. Eventually Sung-bin ends up saving a local crime boss, Kim Tae-hoon from a brutal beating and gets a job from him.

The next segment, ''Modern Man'', intermixes fake documentary style interviews with a long fight between Kim Tae-hoon and Suk-hwan, an old friend of Sung-bin who was with him on the night that Sung-bin killed the man. Suk-hwan is now a police officer and his part of the interview tells about his job fighting crime while Kim Tae-hoon's interview segments show him speaking about his career in crime.

The last, longest segment is titled ''Die Bad''. Sung-bin is taking control of his own group after Kim Tae-hoon is taken to prison. Sung-bin recruits a gang of youths, including Suk-hwan's brother, to serve as knife fodder in largely meaningless fights. In the end, Suk-hwan confronts and kills Sung-bin, but his brother is also killed.

The movie begins with old film footage of World War II with a narrator explaining that Germany produced hundreds of U-boats to control the Atlantic. In 1942, groups of U-boats known as wolfpacks sank over a thousand Allied ships. The Germans began winning the war and if they continued to succeed in destroying the Allies, the Germans will conquer all of Europe. In 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill declared that stopping the U-boats was their main priority. With new technology and the United States committed to the war, the Allies begin destroying the U-boats and bringing an end to the wolfpacks.

In June 1943, Lt. Cmdr. Randall Sullivan (Caan) talks about his upcoming mission with Admiral Kentz (Berkeley). Kentz asks about Sullivan's COB Nathan Travers (Macy) and says he's a good man and Sullivan could learn something from him and bids Sullivan farewell. Elsewhere, as Travers prepares to depart home for the Swordfish, wife Rachel (Holly) makes him promise to come home safe. Two months later, Travers is on board the fictional USS ''Swordfish'' (based on the real submarine in World War II), captained by Sullivan, who has the crew constantly perform general quarters drills.

Meanwhile, the fictional ''U-429'' (based on the real ''U-429'' submarine), captained by Jonas Herdt (Schweiger)survives a depth charge attack by an American destroyer, after which U-429 sinks the ship. After playing chess with his First Watch Officer Ludwig Cremer (Kretschmann), Jonas receives a message from home. The message informs Jonas the German city of Hamburg got bombed. The bombing destroyed his daughter's school and there were no survivors, implying that Jonas' daughter was killed.

On the ''Swordfish'', XO Teddy Goodman (Gregg) becomes increasingly sick with a rash on his stomach, which the doctor believes is meningitis, an extremely contagious disease that can sometimes be fatal. Unknown to the crew, CO Sullivan too has a rash on his arm, indicating he has contracted meningitis.

Meanwhile, German U-boat ''U-821'' sinks the British merchant vessel ''Achilles''. Since there hasn't been any U-boat activity in the area for a while, the closest Allied vessel, the ''Swordfish'', goes to investigate.

Radio operator Virgil Wright (Huntington) hears music played by Glenn Miller coming from the ''U-821'', and Sullivan prepares the crew to attack. ''U-821'' detects the two torpedoes fired from the ''Swordfish'' and it dodges them, getting into attack position in the process. XO Goodman dies from his sickness. COB Travers takes his place, allowing the ''Swordfish'' to fire a third torpedo and destroy the ''U-821'', but the delay caused by Goodman's death allows the U-boat to locate the ''Swordfish'' and fire a torpedo before being destroyed.

U-821's torpedo explodes near the Swordfish. The explosive wave fatally damages the boat, killing most of the crew and forcing the American sub to surface. CO Sullivan, COB Travers, and six other crew (Wright, engineers Abers (Sisto), and Ox (Gallagher), and torpedomen Miller (Somerholder), Cooper (Giovinazzo), and Romano (Morgan) abandon ship and are taken prisoner by ''U-429''.

The Germans split their prisoners into two groups: Travers, Ox, Cooper, and Miller in the bow and Sullivan, Wright, Abers, and Romano in the stern. Wright nurses Sullivan and discovers his rash, where Abers recognizes it as meningitis and the group realizes that if the Germans don't kill them, the disease will.

Days later, U-428 prepares to attack an American destroyer, the fictional USS ''Logan'' (based on the real . Travers and his group break free of their bonds. They are able to fire one of the German sub's torpedoes off course, away from the Logan. When the torpedo detonates the ''Logan'' is alerted to the U-boat's presence. The ''Logan'' then attacks ''U-429'' with depth charges. The explosions allows CO Sullivan's group to break free as well. Sullivan protects his crew by fighting off a German guard, but he succumbs to his illness in the process.

Meanwhile, the meningitis spreads and kills two thirds of the German crew, including Romano of the American crew. Later on, Travers has a hallucination of Rachel, who reminds him of his promise to come home.

With no other choice, U-429's CO Jonas decides to have Travers' men work with his remaining crew in order to save them all. They plan to sail to the US coast and be taken into custody. As both crews reluctantly work together, Jonas explains to Travers that he saved Travers' men in defiance of the standing protocol of capturing only the captain and COB of an enemy ship. He says he personally saved all of them because he's grown tired of the war and he felt strong for himself by saving lives instead of taking them.

Jonas says if they come across either enemy, they must guarantee that their men will go home. During their travel to the US coast, Klause (Heger), the ''U-429'''s quartermaster, becomes disillusioned with Jonas working with the Americans and orchestrates a mutiny, along with two other crew members, Lieutenant Bauer and the ''U-429'''s radio operator Christophe. Abers and Wright subdue Christophe, who makes a distress call to other U-boats, and engineer Hans (Thorsen) knocks out Bauer to save Ox. Klause unsuccessfully attempts to use the last bow torpedo to blow up the boat and with his knife fatally stabs Jonas in the back. Travers reacts by using a hoist chain to break Klause's neck, killing him quickly. With his dying breath, Jonas gives command of the boat to Cremer.

The U-429 crew again encounters the ''Logan'' and tries to make contact with the destroyer, but they're attacked by ''U-1221'', another U-boat that responded to the distress call. U-1221 fires several torpedoes in an attempt to sink the ''U-429'', while the ''Logan'' is once again put on the alert. Enduring heavy damage as they evade every torpedo attack, two German crew members try to convince Cremer to fight back, but he refuses to fire on his own countrymen.

Abers and Travers convince Cremer to fight, only for him to reveal that they only have one torpedo left in the stern. After passing on top of the enemy submarine to align the stern tubes with it, the crew uses the last torpedo to destroy the ''U-1221'', but it doesn't detonate. ''U-1221'' fires another torpedo ''U-429'' but it doesn't cause any serious damage. Before the torpedo explodes, the ''Logan'' locates the ''U-1221'' with its sonar and fires its guns into the water, destroying the U-boat.

When Travers makes contact with the ''Logan'', Captain Samuel Littleton (Ellis) orders Travers to take the Enigma. Travers falsifies that they're sinking and disconnects with the ''Logan'', keeping his promise to Cremer to never let the ''U-429'' be captured. The crew floods the boat and are rescued by the ''Logan''.

Returning home, Travers argues with Kentz about the Germans saving their lives. Kentz says the Germans are still the enemy, but he'll do his best to have them taken care of. Travers and Rachel are reunited and they go visit Cremer in a POW compound, where Rachel thanks Cremer for saving her husband's life. Travers gives him cigarettes and tells Cremer that it's good to see him as Travers leaves and Cremer watches on.

The film's main character is Byeong-gu, a man who believes that aliens from Andromeda are about to attack Earth and that he is the only one who can prevent them. With his childlike circus-performer girlfriend, he kidnaps a powerful pharmaceutical executive whom he believes to be a top ranking extraterrestrial able to contact the Andromedan prince during the upcoming eclipse. After imprisoning the man in his basement workshop, Byeong-gu proceeds to torture him.

It soon appears that the executive's company poisoned Byeong-gu's mother in a pharmaceuticals test, and that it is vengeance fueled psychosis that causes Byeong-gu to believe the executive is an alien.

When a detective comes calling to investigate the disappearance, the executive tries to escape but is thwarted by Byeong-gu. The detective at first finds nothing unusual but on his way out sees Byeong-gu's dog (appropriately named Earth) gnawing on the bones of his master's past victims. After contacting a partner in the police force he is killed by Byeong-gu's bees, is hacked up and fed to the dog. Byeong-gu then crucifies the executive and breaks his leg with the back of his axe, to punish him for his attempted escape. In a desperate move, the executive convinces Byeong-gu that the bottle of benzene in his car trunk is the antidote for his comatose mother.

As Byeong-gu races to the hospital to deliver the antidote, the executive frees himself by pulling his hands through the nails. He then travels deeper into his captor’s lair, finding evidence of his grim research. Photos of mutilated corpses are littered with blood scrawled notebooks, while hands and brains of past ‘subjects’ reside in jars. Reading through the journals the executive discovers Byeong-gu's traumatic past: his father was a coal miner who lost one of his arms due to his dangerous work and was killed by his wife when he attempted to attack her and his son. The child was beaten in school and was a victim of the sadistic whims of his cruel teachers. He showed early signs of violence, such as stabbing a fellow school mate with a kitchen knife. His mother was then poisoned in the aforementioned incident and at a protest his former girlfriend was beaten to death. He slowly went mad from the violence that surrounded him.

As this is happening, the dead detective's partner arrives and finds the frantic executive. And Byeong-gu, after desperately rushing to the hospital to give the 'antidote' to his comatose mother, killing her, becomes ever more enraged. He returns home to kill the alien, only to find the detective there as well. After a brief struggle and a bizarre turn of events, he captures both of them and plans on killing them both. The frantic executive then admits to being an alien and proceeds to spin an outlandish tale which stretches back to the time of the dinosaurs, about how his race was originally trying to save humanity by experimenting on the genetic code of his mother. He also agrees, in what appears to be a time-buying move, to contact the alien prince at the pharmaceutical company factory.

Byeong-gu leaves the detective all his notes, saying that if he does not make it, he will have the responsibility of saving the planet. At the factory, the executive triggers a computer controlled robotic arm to kill Byeong-gu's girlfriend, and after a long struggle, he beats his captor almost to death. When the police arrive, they shoot Byeong-gu, and as he bleeds to death he wonders aloud, "Now who will save the earth?"

When the aliens do arrive and beam up the executive aboard their ship, we learn he is in fact the alien king himself. Disgusted and angered by the torture and corruption and evils of the world, he deems Earth a failed experiment and blasts it from creation. As the credits roll still photographs recap the entire journey of Byeong-gu's life, focusing instead on the beautiful, happy moments of a young boy and man with his father and mother and girlfriend.

''Playtime'' is set in a futuristic, hyper-consumerist Paris. The story is structured in six sequences, linked by two characters who repeatedly encounter one another over the course of a day: ''Barbara'', a young American tourist visiting Paris with an American tourist group and ''Monsieur Hulot'', a befuddled Frenchman lost in the new modernity of Paris. The sequences are as follows: * The Airport: The American tour group arrives at the ultra-modern and impersonal Orly Airport. * The Offices: M. Hulot arrives at one of the glass and steel buildings for an important meeting but gets lost in a maze of disguised rooms and offices, eventually stumbling into a trade exhibition of lookalike business office designs and furniture nearly identical to those in the rest of the building.

• The Trade Exhibition: M. Hulot and the American tourists are introduced to the latest modern gadgets, including a door that slams "in golden silence" and a broom with headlights, while the Paris of legend goes all but unnoticed save for a flower-seller's stall and a single reflection of the Eiffel Tower in a glass door.
• The Apartments: As night falls, M. Hulot meets an old friend who invites him to his sparsely furnished, ultra-modern and glass-fronted flat. This sequence is filmed entirely from the street, observing M. Hulot and other building residents through uncurtained floor-to-ceiling picture windows.
• The Royal Garden: This sequence takes up almost the entire second half of the film. At the restaurant, M. Hulot reunites with several characters he has periodically encountered during the day, along with a few new ones, including a nostalgic ballad singer and a boisterous American businessman.
• The Carousel of Cars: M. Hulot buys Barbara two small gifts as mementos of Paris before her departure. In the midst of a complex ballet of cars in a traffic circle, the tourists' bus returns to the airport.

''Shasta McNasty'' focused on three friends—Scott, Dennis and Randy—who are part of the rap rock band Shasta McNasty. After signing to Da Funk Records, the three friends relocate from Chicago to LA where they find out that the label has become defunct. Keeping their advance money that they'd been given, they rent an apartment in Venice Beach where they share a kitchen with their next door neighbor Diana. The first half of the series focused on the band, their landlord, odd jobbing to make rent and generally getting up to mischief, while the second half of the season focused on them working at the local bar for their friend Vern, hoping to get signed by a label again and the developing relationship between Scott and Diana.

The series' concluding episode is set ten years later, and is presented as an episode of "Behind the Band 2010" (a parody of ''Behind the Music''). It is revealed that Shasta McNasty did become a famous, highly successful band; nevertheless, ego, addiction, in-fighting, and creative differences took their toll.

The series was retooled mid-season, including a month-long break two months after the debut and being renamed ''Shasta'': the characters abandon the hip hop premise and remove narrative devices like breaking the fourth wall.

In 1992, ITN reporter Michael Henderson travels to Sarajevo, the besieged capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the ongoing war. There, he meets American star journalist Jimmy Flynn on the chase for the most exciting stories and pictures.

Henderson and Flynn have friendly discussions and differences in the intervals between reporting. They stay at the Holiday Inn, which was the primary hotel for the press in Sarajevo during the siege. After a previous translator proves corrupt and inept, ITN hires Risto Bavić to be Henderson's translator.

Their work permits them harrowing and unobstructed views of the suffering of the people of Sarajevo. The situation changes when Henderson makes a report from Ljubica Ivezic, an orphanage located on the front lines, in which two hundred children live in desperate conditions. After increasingly indiscriminate attacks fail to make the lead story in the United Kingdom, Henderson makes the orphanage his lead story to try to bring full attention to the war and encourage the evacuation of the children to safety.

When American aid worker Nina organizes a UN-sanctioned bus-borne evacuation of Sarajevan children to Italy, Henderson convinces her to include Emira, a Bosniak girl from the orphanage, to whom Henderson had made a promise to evacuate. Nina knows this is an illegal act – only transfers to relatives abroad have been authorised – but the orphanage director allows it because of the desperate circumstances. Henderson and his cameraman accompany the evacuation under the pretense of covering it as a news story. However, Bosnian Serbs hinder the evacuation at several points along its route. In the final harassment, armed Chetniks halt the bus, select and forcibly disembark the Bosniak Muslim children, and take them away on their lorry, presumably to kill them.

Henderson makes it home to London with Emira, adopting her into his family. After several months, Henderson receives word from a former producer in Sarajevo that Emira's estranged mother wants her back. Henderson, who didn't know that her mother was living, returns to Sarajevo, now driven not only by the siege but also by organised crime, and seeks out Risto, who has become a Bosnian soldier.

Henderson asks him to help find Emira's mother. They discover from a relative that Emira was put into the orphanage as an infant by her mother under familial pressure. When Risto is killed in his home by a sniper, Henderson asks for help from Zeljko, a concierge at the Holiday Inn, who Henderson had helped in the past. Zeljko negotiates the streets and road-blocks that lead to Emira's mother, who is desperate for the girl to live with her. However, she is persuaded that Emira is happy in England and so signs the adoption papers.

A running joke in the movie is the designation by a UN official that Sarajevo was only the 14th worst crisis in the world. In the middle of the movie, Harun, a cellist friend of Risto, says that he would play a concert on the streets of Sarajevo once it is designated the worst place on Earth. Though he acknowledges the danger, he claims that "the people will die happily listening to my music." The movie ends with Harun holding a "concert of peace" on a hill overlooking Sarajevo, playing his cello to hundreds of Sarajevans. Among the attendees are Henderson, Flynn and several children from the orphanage. Henderson gives Harun a sad smile; the concert is beautiful, but it also means that Sarajevo had, indeed, become the worst place on Earth.

The closing credits say that Emira still lives in England.

In North Carolina, Ricky Bobby is a man who grew up dreaming of going fast. Born in the backseat of a racing car on country roads while his father, Reese, accidentally missed the turnoff for the hospital due to driving too fast, Bobby grew up not knowing his father, only seeing him once in 10 years where he was kicked out of Bobby's school for inappropriate behavior. Fifteen years later, while working on the pit crew of Dennit Racing driver Terry Cheveaux, Bobby acts as a replacement driver after Terry decides to take a bathroom break while in last place. After finishing third in the race, Bobby gains fame and fortune at Dennit Racing. While racing, he meets his future wife Carley, after she flashes her breasts.

Years after becoming an NASCAR superstar, Bobby persuades Dennit Racing to field a second team for his best friend Cal Naughton Jr. Bobby and Naughton become an unstoppable duo on the track, but are soon introduced to their new teammate, openly gay French Formula One driver Jean Girard. Girard soon outperforms both Bobby and Naughton to become Dennit Racing's latest success story. Desperate to win, Bobby exceeds his limitations and crashes at Lowe's Motor Speedway. His declining performance subsequently gets him fired from his team; furthermore, Carley divorces him and leaves him for Naughton, causing Bobby to fall into depression and falling out with Naughton, despite the latter still calling Bobby his best friend and frequently calling to do social activities.

Bobby moves in with his mom Lucy, and brings his two disrespectful sons Walker and Texas Ranger with him while taking a job as a pizza delivery man. His luck worsens when he loses his driver's license after colliding with a woman pushing a shopping cart and hitting a police officer, reducing Bobby to riding the bus or a bicycle to deliver pizzas. Meanwhile, Lucy is determined to reform her grandsons.

With his life hit rock bottom, Bobby's estranged father Reese returns to remind him how to drive, using unorthodox methods such as putting a live cougar in his car, and forcing him to escape the police. When his father leaves him again after causing trouble at an Applebees restaurant, Bobby's former assistant Susan persuades him to return to NASCAR, since it is in his nature to drive fast. They quickly develop a romantic relationship when Bobby takes Susan's advice and races at Talladega Superspeedway. Bobby makes amends with Carley, Girard, and Naughton, while uniting with his pit crew chief and close friend Lucius Washington. With limited sponsors, Bobby's car is painted with a cougar to remind him of his passion. At the start of the race, Bobby flies from last place to pass all of the drivers except Girard. In the closing laps, Naughton uses a slingshot technique for Bobby to pass Girard.

In the closing laps of the race, the replacement driver of Bobby's former Wonder Bread car causes a massive wreck that takes out the field, except Bobby and Girard. On the final lap, Bobby and Girard collide, wrecking their cars. Bobby and Girard exit their cars and begin running towards the finish line. Bobby reaches the line first, however both are disqualified for getting out of their cars. As Naughton takes the checkered flag, Girard offers Bobby a handshake, but Bobby responds by kissing him on the lips. Carley asks Bobby to move back in with her and start over, but he chooses to stay with Susan instead. At the end of the event, Bobby is congratulated in the parking lot by Reese; Bobby declares that it was no longer about winning, knowing that he has a family who loves him no matter where he finishes. He, his family and Susan leave to go back to Applebees.

In a post credits scene, Grandma Lucy is shown reading a story to Walker and Texas Ranger, both having fully been disciplined by her and are now presented as polite, respectful children.

During one particular Hate Week, Oceania switched allies while a public speaker is in the middle of a sentence, although the disruption was minimal: the posters against the previous enemy were deemed to be "sabotage" of Hate Week conducted by Emmanuel Goldstein and his supporters, summarily torn down by the crowd, and quickly replaced with propaganda against the new enemy, thus demonstrating the ease with which the Party directs the hatred of its members. This ease of direction could also be partially attributed to the similarity in the terms "Eastasia" and "Eurasia" because they are more easily confused. All citizens of Oceania are expected to show appropriate enthusiasm during Hate Week, as well as the daily Two Minutes Hate. While participation in this event is not legally required, avoiding or refusing to do so is said to make one appear suspicious to the Thought Police, generally resulting in the vaporisation (execution) of the perpetrator. This ensures that they are against the opposing party and still allied with Big Brother.

Hate Week is celebrated in late summer. The events during that time include waxwork displays, military parades, speeches and lectures. New slogans are also coined and new songs are written. The theme of the Hate Week is called the Hate Song. It is mentioned that a unit from the Fiction Department was assigned to make atrocity pamphlets (falsified reports of atrocities committed by Oceania's enemies against her) designed to stimulate Oceania's populace further into enraged frenzy against all enemies. The aggregate effect of Hate Week thus is to excite the populace to such a point that they "would unquestionably have torn [captured enemy soldiers] to pieces" if given the opportunity.

Hate Week is introduced to the reader for the first time in the second paragraph of the first page of ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''; however, at this point in time, readers have no idea what Hate Week is. "It was part of the economy drive in preparation for Hate Week."

As with every morning since he moved into Savile Row, Willy Fog awakens at 8:00 am and rings for his servant, only to remember that he fired him the previous day for his inability to follow Fog's precise schedule. He has already arranged an interview for a replacement – former circus performer Rigodon, who is even now rushing towards Fog's house to make his 11:00 am appointment. Rigodon is accompanied by his old circus colleague Tico, who hides within his travelling bag, and prompts him through the interview, which gets off to a bad start when Rigodon arrives four minutes late. Nonetheless, Rigodon is hired by Fog as his butler and soon departs for the Reform Club.

At the club, the main topic of conversation is the recent theft of £55,000 from the Bank of England which was discussed until the bank's governor Mr. Sullivan arrives and requests a change of topic. Sullivan's off-hand remark that the thief is still in London causes the elderly Lord Guinness to bring up an article in the ''Morning Chronicle'', detailing how it is now possible to travel around the world in eighty days. The article states that one departs London by train for Dover, where one crosses to Calais, and on to Paris. From there, it is a train journey to Brindisi, and the Suez Canal, all within a week. Having rounded the Arabian peninsula, one would arrive in Bombay on day 20 and then a three-day railway journey to Calcutta. Hong Kong is reached on day 33, Yokohama on day 39, and then a mammoth three-week crossing of the Pacific to arrive in San Francisco on day 61, a week-long train crossing to New York City and then finally a nine-day crossing of the Atlantic back to London making it possible to circumnavigate the globe in eighty days. The other members of the club laugh at Lord Guinness's suggestion that he would take on the challenge if he were younger, prompting Fog to defend his honor by taking up the task himself. Sullivan bets Fog £5,000 that it is impossible, and additional wagers by three other club members increase this amount to £20,000. He then stuns the club by announcing that he will leave that very evening and promises to return to the club by 8:45 pm on 21 December 1872.

Rigodon is less than thrilled to hear the news of their impending trip, having spent his life travelling with the circus. However, he dutifully accompanies his master as they set out, with Tico still in hiding. Little do they know, however, that they are pursued by three individuals determined to halt their progress. Inspector Dix and Constable Bully of Scotland Yard are convinced that Fog is the thief who robbed the Bank of England, and the wicked and conniving Transfer, a saboteur, was hired by Mr. Sullivan to impede Fog's journey in any way.

Carolina Mirabeau was raised 'free-spirited' with two sisters by eccentric, domineering grandma Millicent in the country. Carolina's city neighbor, talented and witty Jewish author Albert Morris, is her best friend, confidant and the wacky family's favorite guest. Yet she begins dating Heath Pierson, an 'all too perfect' upper class brilliant Britton, whom she met in the TV studio where she's fired as a dating show candidates-screener. But the past and some truths catch up with all of them.

The novel is set about 200 years before the birth of Miles Vorkosigan, the protagonist of much of the Vorkosigan series. It deals with the creation of the "Quaddies", genetically modified people who have four arms, the second pair appearing where unmodified humans would have legs. They were intended to be used as a space labor force, superbly adapted to zero-gravity but more or less helpless "downside" in any but the lightest gravitational field. From the point of view of the commercial interests responsible for their creation, they would be highly profitable laborers, requiring none of the special facilities or mandatory time off needed by other humans, whose bodies tend to deteriorate over the long term in weightlessness. They would also be completely beholden to the company for life support and would have no rights as human beings.

Legally, the Quaddies are not classed as human but as "post-fetal experimental tissue cultures". The company treats them as chattel slaves. Their access to information is tightly controlled; even their children's stories are about working in space. They can be ordered to reproduce or to have a pregnancy terminated. They are the subject of breeding programs, the company compelling them to mate only with one of the company's choosing, regardless of existing partners. When a new artificial gravity technology renders them both obsolete and a potential political embarrassment to the executives, there are discussions about killing or sterilizing them. Bipedal engineer Leo Graf, who had been assigned to help train them, instead helps them break free. They eventually settle in an initially remote system that gradually becomes a major part of the Nexus.

Bujold has stated in the notes of her reprints that ''Falling Free'' was the first half of the intended story. The unwritten, second story was to tell how the Quaddies settled into what would be known as "Quaddiespace". ''Diplomatic Immunity'', published in 2002, revisits the subject of the Quaddies, showing the state of their society some 240 years after its foundation. It takes place on Graf Station, named for Leo Graf, who is hero and patriarch to the Quaddies.

Kurt Sloane is the younger brother and cornerman of Eric Sloane, the United States kickboxing world champion. After another successful title defense, Eric is enticed by the media to compete in Thailand, where kickboxing was started, to further establish his legacy. As a result, Eric and Kurt travel to Bangkok to fight Tong "The Tiger" Po, Thailand's undefeated top fighter. Eric is supremely confident, but Kurt becomes apprehensive after witnessing Tong Po kicking a concrete pillar in preparation for the fight. He begs Eric not to fight, but Eric dismisses any concerns.

Tong Po dominates Eric in the first round with his superior strength and knowledge of Thailand's unorthodox kickboxing rules. In between rounds, Kurt once again begs Eric to stop, but Eric refuses to give up, and gets beaten badly in the second round. Kurt throws in the towel, but Tong Po kicks the towel out of the ring, and continues his assault. He viciously strikes Eric in the back with his elbow, immobilizing him, and then rips apart Eric's world championship belt. Kurt retrieves the belt, and leaves with his brother on a stretcher, but the fight officials leave them on the street. Winston Taylor, a retired United States Army Special Forces member, agrees to help the pair by driving them to the hospital. As a result of Tong Po's brutal attack, Eric is paralyzed from the waist down and will never be able to walk again.

An enraged Kurt vows to avenge his brother. He searches for a trainer to teach him Muay Thai, but is laughed out of the gym by the local fighters. Eventually, Taylor tells him about Xian Chow, a famous Muay Thai Kru living in a remote area of Thailand. Before introducing him to Xian, Taylor insists that Kurt goes drinking with him. During their time at a go-go bar, Taylor confides in Kurt by implying that he left a friend to die during the Vietnam War, so he feels that he owes it to his memory to help Kurt.

Although reluctant at first, Xian agrees to train Kurt after having him retrieve groceries from his niece, Mylee. While at her store, Kurt prevents goons sent by Freddy Li - a higher up in a racketeering organization and Tong Po's manager - from stealing money from Mylee. While training, Kurt drunkenly beats up some of Freddy Li's thugs in a bar fight that was orchestrated by Xian, who convinces Freddy Li to arrange a match between Kurt and Tong Po. It is determined that they will fight in the "ancient way": both fighters wrap their hands in hemp rope, which is then coated in resin, and dipped in broken glass to make them deadly weapons.

Freddy Li arranges to have the fight fixed, and borrows $1 million from the Thai crime syndicate's boss Tao Liu in order to bet on Tong Po. Several days prior to the match, Mylee is beaten and raped by Tong Po, while Eric is kidnapped so that Freddy Li can blackmail Kurt into losing the fight. Xian's dog Kiki is also stabbed while trying to protect Eric. As Taylor prepares to take Kiki to town for treatment, Mylee confesses to him about her rape and reveals she has not told Kurt, insisting that his mind must be clear for the fight with Tong Po. To that end, she begs Taylor to help find Eric, but he is reluctant to cross Freddy Li.

To save his brother's life, Kurt is instructed by Freddy Li to go the distance with Tong Po before losing the match. He endures a torturous beating, but Xian and Taylor manage to locate Eric and rescue him. Before the final round, Eric arrives with Xian and Taylor. He whistles from the crowd and gives Kurt a thumbs-up before starting a chant of "Nack Suk Cao" (white warrior). With Eric now out of danger, Kurt has Mylee cut the hemp rope from his hands before pummeling Tong Po viciously, finally defeating him. After kicking Freddy Li in the face for good measure, Kurt celebrates his victory with his brother and friends.

High-school student Sora Hashiba was hospitalized after falling from the fourth floor of his school building. On his first night back in the dormitory, he wakes to find a strange boy addressing him by the name of "Yoru". The stranger identifies himself as "Ran" and says he's Sora's new roommate. The next day, Sora's childhood friend and dorm manager, Matsuri Honjou, informs Sora that the other boy, whom Matsuri identifies as Sunao Fujimori or "Nao-kun", is actually another childhood friend of Sora. Sora doesn't remember meeting Sunao before. In fact, Sora can't remember much of anything regarding his past, and the series follows his quest to regain his memory.

Sora soon learns why Sunao identified himself as "Ran" that first night: he and Sora have alternate personalities. Sora's is Yoru, a powerful protector and the lover of the more dependent, feminized Ran. The existence of these alternate personalities, and the relationship between them, has some mysterious connection with Sora's fall from the window and his forgotten past. The alternate personalities' passionate relationship is a far cry from the hostility and distrust between Sora and Sunao. Because Yoru and Ran possess them arbitrarily, Sora and Sunao frequently find themselves in embarrassing situations when they regain control of their minds.

Other comical situations arise from Matsuri's efforts to draw Sora and Sunao into his moneymaking schemes, known as the group "The School Do-It-Alls" and from such minor characters as a bishōnen ghost and three younger boys who resemble the trio. No parents are ever mentioned, and the only authority figures are school nurse Kai Nanami and math teacher Shin'ichirou Minato, but it is known that Sora and Sunao are both orphans. Both have some connection with Sora and Sunao's dark past, which also involves one of the older students at the school, Kai Nagase, and a mysterious doctor named Aizawa.

The film is set in the small, fictional American town of Dancer (Brewster County, Texas). Only 81 people live in this town. Following their high school graduation, four young men wrestle with their decisions to leave for Los Angeles.

The film opens in mockumentary style with a woman, Sarah, talking about her boyfriend Mark in the past tense.

Mark skips Sarah's event for his research field trip, and she is very displeased with his decision. Mark travels out to the woods to collect moss samples when he stumbles across a rusty decaying station wagon. Intrigued, he continues down the path and eventually finds an abandoned farmhouse. He enters the house, explores the rooms, and stumbles across an injured man propped up against a wall. When he hears a woman scream, he rushes to her aid and finds her having a seizure on a dirty mattress. He brushes her hair out of her face to comfort her and sees that she has the same sort of scars and deformities that the man had. He picks her up and carries her outside, and she bites his neck. He promptly drops her and runs away, eventually collapsing in a nearby field.

Back at home, Sarah calls an investigator to report Mark missing for three weeks. Mark wakes up, thinks to himself about how he doesn't know how long he's been unconscious, and admits to killing his first victim, a camper in the woods. He recalls how he had no control of the situation. He decides he has to hide and rents a new apartment. He looks at his bite wound in a mirror and notices it is beginning to look worse. He collapses, suffers a minor seizure, and reports it in his digital log, along with how he has not eaten in six days and has to find another victim.

As his condition worsens, he begins to accept and study it, keeping everything recorded in logbooks or his digital recorder. He still appears normal and continues to live and function in society, although his bite wound will not heal and the surrounding tissue is starting to decay. He picks up a hitchhiker, knocks him out with chloroform, and eats most of the man's chest. He then burns the man's body and possessions.

Meanwhile, Sarah begins seeing another man named David. Late one night after a date, someone rings her doorbell, but she sees no one. Mark attacks her with chloroform and brings her back inside her apartment to look at her one last time. Mark continues on his hunting spree as his appearance slowly becomes more ghastly and his behavior more erratic. He begins losing a lot of weight and becomes weaker. His leg breaks during the disposal of a victim's body, and he is forced to attach a metal rod to support his ankle. Mark also begins to lose his grip on reality and suffers from hallucinations. His decomposition becomes so severe that he can no longer bear to look at himself, so he overdoses with a bottle of chloroform.

Background

''Desperate Housewives'' focuses on the lives of several residents of Wisteria Lane and primarily on the friends of Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong), whose suicide in the first episode serves as the subject of the season's mystery. In previous episodes, Paul (Mark Moses) avenges his wife's suicide by killing their neighbor and her blackmailer, Martha Huber (Christine Estabrook); As a result, Martha's sister, Felicia Tilman (Harriet Sansom Harris) asks Mike Delfino (James Denton) to kill Paul."Goodbye for Now". David Grossman (director), Josh Senter (writer). ''Desperate Housewives''. ABC. May 15, 2005. Season 1, no. 22. Additionally, Mike investigates the years-long disappearance of his girlfriend, Deirdre Taylor (Jolie Jenkins), whom he suspects Paul murdered.

Elsewhere, Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) discovers she is pregnant, but is unsure if the father of her child is her husband, Carlos Solis (Ricardo Antonio Chavira), or her lover and former gardener, John Rowland (Jesse Metcalfe). Carlos is charged with a hate crime for attacking two gay men whom he suspected are sleeping with his wife. Bree and Rex's (Steven Culp) marriage continues to deteriorate and Rex suffers a second heart attack. Tom Scavo (Doug Savant) quits his job after learning that his wife, Lynette (Felicity Huffman), sabotaged his promotion for the sake of their family and Susan Mayer (Teri Hatcher) and Mike decide to move in together.

Episode

Felicia takes in Paul's son, Zach (Cody Kasch), informing him that Paul will not be returning. Zach violently attacks Felicia, forcing her to reveal that Mike has taken Paul away to kill him. Later that day, Susan goes to Mike's house to feed his dog and discovers Zach waiting with a gun. He holds Susan hostage and explains his plan to kill Mike when he returns home. Meanwhile, Mike takes Paul to a desert and coerces him into explaining the truth behind Dierdre's death. Paul explains that twelve years earlier, Dierdre, a drug addict, sold Mary Alice and Paul her baby. The couple relocate to Wisteria Lane to avoid the discovery of their crime. Sometime later, a sober Dierdre finally tracked down the Young family and attempted to take her son back. Mary Alice stabbed and killed Dierdre to prevent her from taking Zach. Together, Mary Alice and Paul buried Dierdre's body beneath their pool.

Rex learns that he will have to undergo surgery following his heart attack. Before the operation, Rex's doctor suggests that Bree may have been poisoning him, citing their marital issues as a possible motive. Rex writes a note informing Bree that he understands and forgives her and dies soon after. During Carlos's trial, John informs Carlos that he had been having an affair with Gabrielle, sending Carlos into a violent outburst in the courthouse. Elsewhere, Lynette learns that Tom has quit his job as a result of Lynette's betrayal. He then decides that she will go back to work and he will be a stay-at-home father.

The Duke of Chartres is in love with Princess Henriette, but she seemingly wants nothing to do with him. Eventually he grows tired of her insults and flees to England when Louis XV insists that the two marry. He goes undercover as Monsieur Beaucaire, the barber of the French Ambassador, and finds that he enjoys the freedom of a commoner’s life. After catching the Duke of Winterset cheating at cards, he forces him to introduce him as a nobleman to Lady Mary, with whom he has become infatuated. When Lady Mary is led to believe that the Duke of Chartres is merely a barber she loses interest in him. She eventually learns that he is a nobleman after all and tries to win him back, but the Duke of Chartres opts to return to France and Princess Henriette who now returns his affection.

A French edition of ''Amis et Amiles''. Illustration by František Bílek. Amis has married Lubias and become count of Blaives (Blaye), while Amiles has become seneschal at the court of Charlemagne, and is seduced by the emperor's daughter, Bellisant. The lovers are betrayed, and Amiles is unable to find the necessary supporters to enable him to clear himself by the ordeal of single combat, and fears, moreover, to fight in a false cause. He is granted a reprieve, and goes in search of Amis, who engages to personate him in the combat. He thus saves his friend, but in so doing perjures himself. Then follows the leprosy of Amis, and, after a lapse of years, his discovery of Amiles and cure.

There are obvious reminiscences in this story of Damon and Pythias, and of the classical instances of sacrifice at the divine command. The legend of Amis and Amiles occurs in many forms with slight variations, the names and positions of the friends being sometimes reversed. The crown of martyrdom was not lacking, for Amis and Amiles were slain by Ogier the Dane at Novara on their way home from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

''Jourdain de Blaives'', a chanson de geste which partly reproduces the story of Apollonius of Tyre, was attached to the geste of Amis by making Jourdain his grandson.

In a small New England town during the frigid winter season of 1979, four elderly friends—businessman Ricky Hawthorne, lawyer Sears James, Dr. John Jaffrey, and Mayor Edward Charles Wanderley—form the Chowder Society, an informal men's club who get together each week to share tales of horror. Edward's son David, living in New York City, falls from his apartment window after seeing a girl he's been sleeping with suddenly turn into a living corpse. His other son, Don, comes home at Edward's request. Some time after David's funeral, Edward sees him walking through town during a snowstorm and follows him to a bridge, where he disappears. Calling out to his dead son, Edward suddenly sees a female apparition and he falls to his death from the bridge. Meanwhile, two escaped patients from a mental asylum, Gregory and Fenny Bate, have taken up residence in the old Eva Galli house, now in ruins.

Doubting his father committed suicide, Don approaches the remaining three friends and tells them a "ghost" story to gain membership into the Chowder Society. In a flashback, Don tells the story of how he, a college professor in Florida, began a torrid affair with a mysterious secretary named Alma, soon becoming engaged. Alma insisted she wanted to marry Don in his home town of Milburn, but he was reluctant, as he considered the town boring. Don soon began to suspect that something was wrong with Alma, a gut feeling that was vindicated one night when he touched her and realized she was as cold as a corpse. Don eventually broke things off with a furious Alma, who disappeared from his life. He fell into a depression, costing him both his reputation and his job. A month later, Don called David in New York and learned to his horror that he had become engaged to Alma. Don desperately tried to warn David about her, but his brother scoffed at the warning. The elderly friends react to Don's story; Sears remains very skeptical. Don then shows the three elders an old photograph he's found among his father's possessions. In it there is a striking young woman who is a dead ringer for Alma. Jaffrey, realizing what has happened, pleads with his friends to tell the truth, but is rebuffed.

The next day, Jaffrey has a nightmare about Alma and dies of a heart attack. Sears and Ricky finally explain to Don that, in the spring of 1929, the four friends became smitten with a young flirtatious girl named Eva Galli. Edward first took her to bed, but he was impotent with her. Outside her house, the other three friends serenaded Eva in hopes of catching a glimpse of her when a shirtless Edward came to the window instead, giving the impression that he'd slept with her. Edward left with his friends. The four became very drunk, discussing Eva's prowess in the bedroom. They return to the house, where all but Sears danced with her. When it was proposed that they leave, Sears suggestively insisted on getting his dance, to which Eva pointedly responded that she intended to dance with all of them. Eva confronted Edward about what he had told his friends, then began to tell them the truth when young Edward leapt to silence her, knocking her down and accidentally smashing her head into the stone fireplace. Horrified, the young men believed the unresponsive Eva to be dead. They considered calling the police, but realized it would only mean ruining their lives. Instead, they load Eva's body into her car and pushed it into a nearby pond. As the car descended, Eva stirred inside, looking out at them from the back window, screaming and hammering at the glass as the car sank.

Back in the present, Ricky and Sears reveal that the Chowder Society never talked about it again, not even with each other. Due to Eva's reputation, the townsfolk were relieved when she'd gone missing and assumed that she'd simply skipped town. However, they admit that her death has haunted them all these years. Whereas Sears is dubious, both Ricky and Don believe that Alma and Eva are the same woman and that her ghost has returned to seek revenge. Don suggests they go to Eva's old house to confront the past and her ghost once and for all. They go there, but Don falls on the rotting stairs and breaks his leg. Sears leaves in his car to seek help, leaving Don and Ricky behind. While driving through the snowstorm, Sears comes upon Eva's apparition. He slams on the brakes and swerves to the side of the road. He survives, but is attacked and killed by Fenny Bate, one of Eva's accomplices. Ricky realizes something's happened to Sears and leaves to get help. He's picked up by Gregory Bate, who tells him of Eva's plans for them both, but Ricky stabs him and escapes, telling the authorities to pull Eva's car up from the lake to reveal her body inside. This is intercut with Don, who confronts the rotting specter of Alma/Eva. Ricky and the authorities drag out the ancient car and wrench open the rusted, corroded door. The rotting corpse of Eva lunges into view and falls harmlessly to the ground. Now that the truth about Eva is known, Don is spared from her vengeance, and the town is restored to peace.

In 2006, Rocky Balboa, now in his 60s and retired from boxing, lives a quiet life as a widower, his wife Adrian having died from cancer four years prior. He now runs a small but successful Italian restaurant named after her, where he regales patrons with tales from his past. He also battles personal demons involving his grief over Adrian's death and his eroding relationship with his son Robert, now a struggling corporate employee. Paulie, Rocky's best friend and brother-in-law, continues to support him whenever he can, but is guilt-ridden over his past poor treatment toward his late sister and accuses Rocky of living in the past.

Late one night, Rocky meets a woman named Marie, who was once a troublesome young girl Rocky had escorted home 30 years ago. Marie now is a single parent of a teenage son named Stephenson and nicknamed "Steps", born out of wedlock. Rocky's friendship with Marie quickly blossoms over the following weeks and he meets and bonds with Steps, providing him with a much-needed buffer for his anguish.

Meanwhile, on the professional boxing circuit, Mason "The Line" Dixon reigns as the undefeated yet unpopular heavyweight world champion, often ridiculed for having never fought a true contender. This leads to tension with the public and his promoters, and encourages him to return to his roots: the small gym he first trained in and his old trainer who sagely tells him that, inevitably, he will earn back his respect through a true opponent that will test him. ESPN later broadcasts a computer simulation of a fight between Rocky (in his prime) and Mason—likened to a modern-day version of The Super Fight—that ends in a disputed KO victory for Balboa, further riling the champ. In contrast, the simulation inspires Rocky to take up boxing again, an intention that goes public when he successfully renews his boxing license. Dixon's promoters pitch the idea of holding a charity exhibition bout at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas to bolster Dixon's floundering popularity.

With some hesitation, both men agree to the match, creating a media buzz that stabs at Rocky's age and Dixon's credibility. Robert later makes an effort to discourage Rocky from fighting, blaming his own personal failings on his father's celebrity shadow, but Rocky rebukes him with some profound advice: that to succeed in life "it ain't about how hard you hit – it's about how hard you can ''get'' hit and keep moving forward," and that blaming others will not help him. The next day, father and son meet over Adrian's grave and reconcile; Robert has quit his job to be at Rocky's side.

Rocky sets straight to training with Apollo Creed's (and later his) old trainer, Duke, who quickly surmises that Rocky can only compete by building his strength and punching power as much as possible:

You know all there is to know about fighting, so there's no sense us going down that same old road again. To beat this guy, you need speed - you don't have it. And your knees can't take the pounding, so hard running is out. And you got arthritis in your neck, and you've got calcium deposits on most of your joints, so sparring is out ... So, what we'll be calling on is good ol' fashion blunt force trauma. Horsepower. Heavy-duty, cast-iron, piledriving punches that will have to hurt so much they'll rattle his ancestors. Every time you hit him with a shot, it's gotta feel like he tried kissing the express train! Let's build some hurt bombs!

Dixon easily dominates the first round, only to injure his left hand on Rocky's hip in the second. Rocky then makes a dramatic comeback, knocking Mason down, and surprising the audience with his prowess and chin despite his age. The two combatants beat each other severely throughout the full 10 rounds, ending with both men still standing, although Rocky gets the last punch. Rocky thanks an appreciative Dixon for the match and tells him that he is a great champion, while the audience applauds the two fighters. The result is announced as Rocky exits the ring with his family and friends: a win for Dixon by a close split decision, but Rocky clearly doesn't mind the outcome and the crowd gives him a final standing ovation.

In the closing shot, Rocky returns home and visits Adrian's grave again, thanking her for helping him; "Yo Adrian, we did it. We did it."

As the credits roll, an inset features people running up the Rocky Steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in response to a call from the director to do so for the film.

Part 1 starts with roses being dropped on the track to commemorate those lost then shifts to the aftermath of the wreck where first responders are arriving at the scene. Five months later, the coroner, Tom Weir, brings in Boris Osman, an engineer to help him investigate the crash and Weir begins to be pressured by the state-owned rail company to conclude his report quickly. After failing to access the damaged train, Osman thinks it’s because the investigation will have to disclose why the tracks that caused the wreck, and the train itself, were in such bad shape. Osman thinks it was caused by the politicians in office allowing the rail system to deteriorate, and his investigations reveal that the overweight bridge was recently hit twice before. Osman also learns this is the third time this locomotive went off the rails. Pressure begins to be brought on the coroner from Chief Stipendiary Magistrate Murray Farquhar to stop asking to look at the train, but he decides to use his authority to force the rail company to let Osman examine the locomotive.

The inquest begins, with Osman recounting how the tragedy happened early on 18 January, alternating with flashbacks of the stories of some passengers who traveled on the ill-fated train, leading up to the depiction of the accident. The train was 3 minutes late at Parramatta and was riding faster than normal to make up time. Due to worn out track and worn out wheels on the locomotive, it jumps the rails and hits the struts of a bridge, causing it to subsequently collapse on the train. The community springs into action to aid the survivors, although the worst is also shown as looters steal from rescue vehicles too. Several of the rescuers testify at the inquest and recount their actions on the day of the accident.

In Part 2, the inquest, flashbacks, and use of archive news coverage continue. Many rescuers risk their own lives to save the injured. Even when ordered to leave due to the danger of further collapse, many refuse to abandon survivors, and many are traumatized by what they saw. In all, they find 83 dead. Soon Ormond comes under attack for saying that it was the condition of the locomotive’s wheels that contributed to the accident, since while $200 million has been allocated to repair the network's tracks, there is no money to also repair the locomotives. The families of the dead try to cope, while Gerry Buchtmann, who went to Granville while on sick leave from his emergency responder job has to fight to keep his job, since the powers that be want to fire him for doing just that. In spite of pressure, the coroner finds that the locomotive’s condition contributed to the accident. Osman later learns that even though the rail company knew this type of locomotive was dangerous due to a derailment 11 months before Granville, they took no steps to lower the speed on this line because it came from an electoral district that often decided national elections and the government did not want to anger the voters by making their train late. We return to the memorial service, while on screen captions tell us what happened to some of the people involved in the crash and the investigation.

Due to what they call a "racial mental block" a quasi-immortal race called the Isi are unable to prevent a galactic catastrophe. The Isi think humanity (specifically Peter) will help them overcome this hurdle, hence the book's opening line "Peter, we are losing Armageddon..." Unless he joins forces with them "... the galaxy is doomed...!"

While Peter is understandably skeptical, the talking cat, as well as a crash course in telepathy, rapidly convince him of Meg's sincerity. Soon he is using his uniquely human perspective to unveil new applications of ancient Isi mental powers, and develops some startling new abilities. Armed with complete control of his cellular structure (which allows for slow but complete cellular metamorphosis), and a "''gnNäáq''" (knack) which allows the mental manipulation of electrical energy, Peter and Meg travel to Meg's home planet of Isis where he will be taught the "''mMj'q''" (Magic) necessary to help save the galaxy from its impending destruction.

Jack (Carbonell) is a former womanizer and fashion photographer who is put in charge of his sister's 17-year-old-son when she leaves to find herself. During her leave, he attempts to revive his career while re-establishing a relationship with his nephew and son. In the midst of all this, Eli (Ritter), his sister's ex-husband moves in after he loses his job.

The series opens with the introduction of a group of white-haired children, known as the "Befort Children", named after "Befort", a fictional village in Belgium where their existence was first recorded in 1489. This group of enigmatic children has been spotted at different times and places in Europe for over 500 years. Always with the appearance of 11-year-olds, they behave far more mature than they should be, never grow old, and seem to have supernatural power.

Then the story starts to unfold in 2012 by introducing Helga, an introverted 11-year-old orphan who drew pictures of a land with a crescent moon that she believed was her home. Her playmate and only friend in the orphanage, Chitto, wants to help Helga find it. So together they escape from the orphanage and set out on a journey in which they meet Tohma, an energetic boy in his home, Papin Island. There Tohma tries to befriend them but misunderstands Helga and becomes hostile to her. Later he is mesmerized by Helga's bravery in rescuing Chitto from a group of poisonous insects. Tohma, through his desire to help the two runaway orphans, ventures out on a quest that will eventually cross paths with the mission of the Befort Children, who have spent centuries wandering Europe in search of a person named Tina. As they go further they come to realize a truth far more great and entwined with many other mysterious characters.

Lanie Kerrigan (Angelina Jolie), a successful reporter for a Seattle television station, interviews a self-proclaimed prophet, Jack (Tony Shalhoub), to find out if he really can predict football scores. Instead, Prophet Jack not only predicts the football score, and that it will hail the next day, but also that Lanie will die in seven days, on the following Thursday. When his first two prophecies come true, Lanie panics and again meets with Jack to ask for another prophecy to test him again. Jack tells her that there will be a relatively significant earthquake in San Francisco at 9:06 am, which also happens. Now Lanie is convinced that she is going to die and is forced to reevaluate her life.

Lanie tries to find consolation in her famous baseball player boyfriend Cal Cooper (Christian Kane) and in her family, but there is little there. Her lifelong ambition of appearing on network television begins to look like a distant dream. In her desperation, she commits professional blunders but ends up finding support in an unlikely source: her archenemy, the cameraman Pete Scanlon (Edward Burns), with whom she once had casual sex. He introduces her to a new approach to life: to live every moment of her life to the fullest and to do whatever she had always wanted to do. Lanie moves in with Pete for a day, and he introduces her to his son Tommy (Jesse James Rutherford), who lives with his mother. They spend a whole day together with Tommy. That night Lanie and Pete sleep together for the second time. The next day Lanie receives an opportunity for a job she always dreamed of in New York. She asks Pete to come with her, but he declines, telling her that her appetite for success and fame will never end. Sadly, Lanie leaves for New York.

Pete meets Jack and tells him how wrong he is, as Lanie got the job which Jack foretold she would not get. However, Jack explains that he was right, as Lanie will never be able to get the job because she'll die before it begins. He also gives a prophecy of the death of a famous former baseball player in a plane crash. When Pete receives the news of the death of the baseball player, as foretold by Jack, he tries to call Lanie to warn her. He can't reach her, so he flies to New York.

Lanie - unconcerned with Jack's prophecy - interviews her idol, famous media personality Deborah Connors (Stockard Channing). Lanie realizes how petty the opening questions are and shares a heartfelt moment with Deborah live on air. The interview receives huge ratings. The network immediately offers her a position, but Lanie declines, realizing that she wants a life with Pete in Seattle.

As she leaves the studio, a police officer gets into a conflict with a man, who shoots a bullet into the air. Pete tries to warn Lanie from across the street, but she is shot in the crossfire. Lanie dies in the operating theatre but is revived. When she wakes up, Pete tells her that he has loved her since the first time he saw her, and Lanie tells him that she loves him too. Later, Pete, Lanie, and Tommy watch Cal's baseball game, while Lanie (in a voiceover) says that one part of her has died — the part that didn't know how to live a life.

Harry Barber is serving time in prison after being framed in a corruption scandal.

Before his arrest, he was a reporter for a Florida newspaper that uncovered widespread corruption in the local government. After rejecting a bribe that would have ensured his silence, Harry finds the funds deposited into his bank account and he is promptly arrested. Now, two years later, he is released when an ex-cop's testimony vindicates him.

Though he is bitter against the town officials, Harry wanders back to Palmetto with his girlfriend Nina, who has been patiently waiting for him. Unable to find a job, he spends his days lounging in a local bar. In walks Rhea Malroux, the very attractive femme, wife of the richest man in town, who offers him a job: help her and her daughter Odette scam the old man out of $500,000 with a bogus kidnapping scheme, in which Harry would receive a ten percent cut.

Tempted by both Rhea's seductive charms and the prospect of some quick cash, Harry goes along with the plan. First, he goes over to the Malroux mansion to check that his facts are in order, about who Rhea actually is. Then he agrees to meet with Rhea in private to iron out the details. And lastly, he asks to take a meeting with Odette, to make sure she is actually in on the plan. After all of these things seem to check out, Harry agrees.

When Odette goes missing, (the plan is that she will stay out of town for a few days, until her father pays the money,) the story gets leaked to the police. The police then come to Harry, looking to offer him a job. His brother in law is a top detective, and knowing that Harry used to write for the paper, he believes Harry would be good at keeping the press informed, but also keeping them off the backs of the detectives who are working the case. So now Harry is part of the kidnapping, but he's also part of the police investigative team.

When Harry shows up to his bungalow to find Odette dead one day, he realizes he's in a lot of trouble. He uses a tape recording he made, when ironing out the terms of the deal with Rhea Malroux to blackmail her. And so she sends her boyfriend to dispose of Odette's body. But then the real Odette turns up in Harry's bungalow, also dead, and things get even worse. This time, the police find out about it.

That leads to Harry working with the police to catch Rhea Malroux and her boyfriend. Harry goes to see Rhea's husband and tell him everything. He learns that the woman pretending to be Rhea is not this man's actual wife. Instead, she is the gardener. She and her boyfriend, Donnelley take Harry from the Malroux home to a garage, where they are also holding Nina. They plan to kill both of them by dipping them in a barrel of acid, but Harry is wearing a wire and the police arrive. Donnelley falls into the barrel of acid and the woman pretending to be Rhea Malroux is arrested.

Moshe and Mali Bellanga are an impoverished, childless, Hasidic ''baalei teshuva'' ("returnees to Judaism") couple in the Breslov community in Jerusalem. After Moshe is passed over for a stipend he expected, they cannot pay their bills, much less prepare for the upcoming Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

Moshe admires a particularly beautiful ''etrog'', or citron, one of the four species required for the holiday observance. They console themselves by recalling a saying of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov that difficult times are a test of faith. After some anguished prayer, they receive an unexpected monetary gift on the eve of the holiday and Moshe buys the etrog for 1000 shekels (approx. $300), a large sum of money that is much more than he can afford.

The couple is visited by a pair of escaped convicts, one of whom knew Moshe in his earlier, non-religious life. The convicts become their guests (''ushpizin'') in the sukkah, creating many conflicts and straining Moshe and Mali's relationship.

Ned Marriner is in France with his father, Edward, a celebrated photographer who is working on a book about Provence. While his father shoots outside the deserted Saint-Sauveur Cathedral, Ned wanders in to look around. There he meets Kate Wenger, an American exchange student with a passion for ancient history and an extensive knowledge of the cathedral's past. The pair is startled by the appearance of a then-nameless man, who warns them to leave immediately, stating that they "have blundered into the corner of a very old story." Ned finds that he is able to sense the man's presence, a power of which he was previously unaware. Ned and Kate also notice an ancient carving of a woman on one of the church pillars, which the nameless man claims he created.

Frightened by the incident, Ned and Kate make plans to meet a few days later. Ned goes on a photo-scouting mission with his father's assistants, Greg, Steve, and Melanie, a young woman who is hyper-organized, witty, and well liked by everyone, including Ned. They head towards Mont Sainte-Victoire, a much-photographed location made famous by Paul Cézanne. But along the way, Ned falls suddenly and inexplicably ill. Arriving at the mountain, he is overcome by images of the slaughter that took place there centuries prior, when a Roman general killed thousands of Celts. He is rushed back to the team's villa, but once he has travelled only a short distance from the mountain, he recovers completely. Ned and Kate meet later that day in a coffee shop to discuss their situation. Ned is unnerved by the discovery of his strange abilities, while both are curious to find out more about the nameless man and his "story." Unaware that they are being watched by the nameless man, they make plans to meet again in Entremont, an ancient Celtic site, on the Eve of Beltaine. Kate leaves, but Ned becomes aware of the nameless man's presence and confronts him. The man tells him little, and soon leaves the cafe. Outside, however, he is attacked by unnaturally vicious dogs, and Ned steps in to defend him, saving his life.

Ned meets his Aunt Kim, a woman with mysterious powers. She tells him that she sensed he was in trouble, and came at once to offer her help. He discovers that she has the same ability to "sense" the presence of those with power, which she claims "runs in the family." They are confronted by a second nameless man, a large Celt with antlers, and are again warned to stay out of the "story." The Celt plans to kill the nameless man from the cathedral (who he calls a "Roman"), and threatens Ned for having helped him, but Aunt Kim manages to bluff their way out of the situation. Despite Ned's misgivings, Kate, who is acting strangely, convinces him to follow their original plan of visiting Entremont on Beltaine. They plan to be away from the place before dark, but not long after they enter the site, darkness falls several hours early. They hide from a ghostly procession of druids that arrives soon after and becomes more solid as the light continues to fade. The nameless Roman from the cathedral confronts them, ordering them to flee as soon as they can. Kate begins to struggle, possessed with a strange desire to join the druidic ceremony below. Just before she escapes, however, Melanie arrives, looking for Ned. As she approaches the waiting Celts, she is transformed into Ysabel, possessed by the spirit of an ancient woman who the two nameless men have been fighting over for centuries. Ysabel names the Roman Phelan and the Celt Cadell, and orders them to spend three days searching for her. Whoever finds her first will win her. Ned and Kate discover that this is the "story": a battle between two men for one woman's love, which has been repeated in various incarnations throughout the millennia.

Ned and Kate leave unnoticed, stricken by the loss of Melanie. He tells his father, Aunt Kim, Greg, and Steve everything that has happened, and also asks his mother, Meghan, to leave Sudan, where she is working with Doctors Without Borders, to be with them as they attempt to get Melanie back. Meghan and Kim, her sister, had a falling out when they were younger, and there are some strained moments once Meghan arrives and they attempt to work together and reconcile their differences. They are aided by Uncle Dave, Kim's husband, who also possesses special abilities and knowledge of the supernatural. Ned and his fellow searchers visit various historical sites in Provence over the following two days, trying to track down Ysabel's hiding place before Phelan or Cadell in the hopes that they will be able to rescue Melanie. Following a hint from one of the wild boars that are common throughout the South of France, Ned realizes that Ysabel is hiding on Mont Sainte-Victoire, the site where he experienced his mysterious illness. He decides to go there alone, as he is a marathon runner and will be able to reach the summit fastest. Despite feeling sick the entire way, Ned makes it to the summit before Phelan or Cadell, discovering Ysabel in a cavern that looks out over Provence. Cadell and Phelan arrive shortly thereafter, both claiming the victory. Ysabel points out that it was Ned who arrived first, and reveals that Ned is distantly descended from the original Ysabel (who would have gone by a different name). Both Phelan and Cadell follow Ysabel's orders to jump into the chasm, ending their story once and for all. When Ned looks at Ysabel again, he finds that she too has departed, leaving Melanie safe and unharmed in her place.

Having just been discharged from the military, Mak-dong is on the train home. As he leans out the train platform, Mi-ae, a beautiful woman in the car ahead of him, is also leaning out. Her pink scarf escapes from her and poignantly lands on Mak-dong's face, blinding him. As he goes back into the train car to return the scarf, he becomes embroiled in a fight with a group of thugs who are harassing Mi-ae. From the beginning, Mak-dong is entangled in a relationship that becomes his undoing.

Home, Ilsan, is not the same for Mak-dong anymore. The fields, acacias and rice paddies have gone, replaced by high rise apartments. He discovers his mother is working as a house maid, and all of his siblings except his mentally disabled brother—who is literally the eldest brother and called "big brother," have left home, struggling to make a living. His sister is working as a hostess, his younger brother is working as an egg delivery man, and his older brother is a detective who is also a violent drunk. Mak-dong's dream, which he expresses to his brother, is for the whole family to live together again, running a family business, and living in harmony. His brother replies then how would any of them make a living?

While looking for work in an alienated neighborhood of Seoul, Youngdeungpo, Mak-dong again sees Mi-ae, the owner of the pink scarf, and follows her into a nightclub where she is a singer. She is also the girlfriend of a gang boss Bae Tae-gon, and when Mak-dong tries to defend her from his thugs when they force her into a car, he ends up getting beat up again. Later, at Mi-ae's urging, the boss gives him a reference for a job at a parking lot.

Mak-dong is given the opportunity to make a lot of money by inciting a fight with a council man who is obstructing Bae Tae-gon's building permit. In order to do this convincingly, Mak-dong breaks his fingers by slamming a door on them. Seeing him complete his task with such dedication, Bae Tae-gon elevates him by allowing him to call him "hyung," or "Big Brother," and admitting him as a full-fledged member of the gang. This causes some of the underlings to become disgruntled, as it would normally take at least a year to reach this status.

Now a member of 'the family', Mak-dong and Mi-ae find in each other a kindred spirit, the feeling between them not clearly defined, yet finding themselves drawn to each other through their common feeling of hopelessness. In an important scene on the train, Mi-ae and Mak-dong talk and he gives her a photo of the large, green tree in front of his home in Ilsan. Mi-ae is struck by Mak-dong's naivete and purity. It is revealed Mak-dong is a virgin. Her beeper goes off, and it is Bae Tae-gun telling her to return home immediately. She tells Mak-dong she will do whatever he says, and with a traditional Korean loyalty, he responds that if big brother has asked them to return they should. Mi-ae laughs bitterly at his old fashioned simplicity. After a night when Bae Tae-gon sends her up to the hotel room of a prosecutor as a sexual "favor", she insults the gang boss. Mak-dong witnesses Bae Tae-gon slapping her, then drives her home. She offers herself to Mak-ong even though she is "dirty."

Suddenly, Bae Tae-gon's own former gang boss Kim Yang-kil arrives from years behind bars to take for himself the little empire Bae Tae-gon has spent his life building. In several encounters with Kim Yang-kil, Bae Tae-gon is humiliated in front of his own gang. Bae Tae-gon takes Mak-dong up to the deserted building where he wants to build his future empire, and asks him what his dream is. Bae replies he also got as far as he did because of one of those dreams. Mak-dong makes a final expression of his loyalty by stabbing Kim Yang-kil to death in a men's bathroom. As blood flows everywhere, Mak-dong becomes hysterical.

Immediately after, Mak-dong calls home in the famous "phone booth" scene. He asks his mentally challenged "big brother" if he remembers how they used to fish in the river, and how one day he lost a whole day of fishing because he tried to catch one of the green fish and lost his slipper in the river. Immediately after, Bae Tae-gon takes Mak-dong to the deserted building, and being consistent with the ruthless nature that has got him so far in life, fatally shoots him, leaving him for dead. Mak-dong staggers out and sprawls across the windshield of Bae's car, staring straight into the camera and dying as Mi-ae screams in horror.

Some time later, Bae Tae-gon and Mi-ae have moved to the Ilsan New Town that typifies the new middle class suburbs that have sprung up around Seoul's satellite cities. One day they come upon an old-style restaurant in an old-style house run by a family. Mi-ae appears to be pregnant. The couple order chicken soup, and a chicken is slaughtered in front of them, recalling the sacrifice Mak-dong made for his dream to come true. Outside, Mi-ae recognizes with tears the tree in the photo she has kept all this time and realizes it is Mak-dong's family home.

Taking place in Quebec City, the film tells the story of a lawyer and a patron of the arts, Albert Frédéric, who, earlier in life, caused a murder and made it look like an accident for financial gain.

Later in life, a dying woman tells a reporter the tale of how she thinks the accident was actually murder. The young American reporter, Mary Roberts, begins investigating the case, unaware that the charming lawyer may be behind it all. Meanwhile, Michel Lacoste, a classical composer, who is supported by Frédéric, is having marriage troubles. Finally his wife kills herself and leaves the husband a note. Frédéric sneaks into the apartment, takes the note and convinces the man that he killed her in a drunken rage.

Michel, whose night was indeed blacked out by drink, can't remember anything. The lawyer then offers the composer a deal: kill reporter Mary Roberts in exchange for legal representation that will guarantee to get the younger man off the hook. The man, seeing no other choice, agrees reluctantly. The man and woman meet but he does not have the heart to kill her. The two begin to fall in love, gradually figure out that the lawyer is the real killer and set about a scheme to drive the lawyer into confessing to the crime.

Wetworks is a covert operations team in the Wildstorm Universe, designated Team 7, led by Colonel Jackson Dane, who was a member of the original Team 7. In issue #1 of the series, Team 7 was sent on a (suicide) mission by International Operations' (I/O) Director Miles Craven. The mission was to enter a terrorist enclave on the Raanes Peninsula (Eastern Europe) and extract a biological agent the terrorists had in their possession. Once the team reached the target, they found out that someone had raided the enclave before them. While investigating, the team found several big transparent tubes containing some kind of golden fluid. At that moment, the explosives they were carrying were activated by remote control, displaying a ten-minute countdown. That was when the team knew they were double crossed.

A hidden sniper shot at one of the tubes when team member Clayton "Claymore" Maure was examining it. The tube broke and the golden fluid jumped on Claymore as if it were alive, covering his whole body. If that was not enough, they were attacked by some terrorists. The terrorists started shooting, but the bullets bounced off Claymore's gold-covered body. Time was ticking and Col. Dane decided the team should open the remaining tubes to use the golden symbiotes as protection against the detonation of the explosives

After the detonation, the enclave was destroyed, but Team 7 emerged from the fire unharmed. That was when I/O's cleaners (three aircraft) were ordered to enter the site to kill the surviving team members. The field leader of the cleaners, Mother One, double crossed I/O and shot down two aircraft before destroying her own. Mother One also had a golden symbiote, although it was not shown how she acquired it.

Mother One explained to Team 7 they were double crossed by Craven and I/O and asked them to accompany her to her boss, industrialist Armand Waering.

Col. Dane reluctantly accepted and they started to work for Armand Waering. Waering told them that he wanted to kill the Vampire Nation because they wanted to take over the world from the humans. What he did not tell the team was that he was actually the Jaquar, leader of the Werenation.

Two members of Wetworks died early in their battles with the undead – Flattop and Crossbones. Later Pilgrim's brother, Nathaniel Blackbird joined the squad, and they learned that both he and Pilgrim (unknown to her) were both werewolves. Several members of the squad died during a major mission some time later, including Dozer and Claymore, and Wetworks broke up. Recently Dane has reactivated the team to deal with breaks in reality caused by another superteam, which have been turned into portals for forces from another dimension.

World's End

After the massive destruction dealt to Earth in the ''Number of the Beast'' miniseries, Lynch, head of the former Team 7, tries to convince Dane and the Wetworks into rejoining the Team, in an attempt to reverse the devastation and restore Earth to its former state.

Dane refuses his proposal since he no longer believes in a simple solution, and prefers tasking the Wetworks of defending humanity from the vampires. This is further detailed in Stormwatch - PHD as that team is targeted by Eastern European vampires.

A year has passed, and Meggie now lives with Elinor, Darius and her parents, Mo and Resa. Life is peaceful, but not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of ''Inkheart'' and the characters that came to life. For the fire-eater Dustfinger, the need to return to his home world has become urgent. When he finds a crooked storyteller named Orpheus who has the ability to read and write stories to life like Mo, he asks to be read back. Orpheus obliges but doesn't send Dustfinger's apprentice, Farid, back into the book as they arranged. Instead, Orpheus steals the book from the boy and hands it over to Basta, who wants revenge for the death of his master Capricorn. Distraught, Farid goes in search of Meggie, and before long, both are caught inside the book, too.

Soon after Meggie and Farid are in the book, Mortola, Basta, Orpheus, and a "man built like a wardrobe" barge into Elinor's house, taking Mo, Resa, Elinor, and Darius prisoner. As per Mortola's orders, Orpheus reads Basta, Mortola, and Mo into ''Inkheart'', bringing Resa along by accident. Upon entry, Mortola shoots Mo with a shotgun that he brought from our world. Resa discovers that her voice has come back to her as she prays for Mo to survive the wound. As he recovers, Resa and Mo hide in a secret cave with the strolling players, or the Motley Folk. Soon the Motley Folk assume that the injured Mo is the mysterious gentleman-robber, the "Bluejay", a fictitious hero from a song created by Fenoglio's words. Fenoglio has been living within his own story since the events of ''Inkheart'', working as a court scribe in Lombrica's capital city of Ombra. Once reunited with Meggie, Fenoglio asks her to read Cosimo the Fair back into the story, since he died a death the author never planned for him. Meggie doesn't feel comfortable interfering with the story but is soon convinced by Fenoglio that it will be 'a double' of Cosimo - not Cosimo himself. Reluctantly, Meggie reads Cosmio in and quickly regrets it when the Adderhead's soldiers barge into the fair, injuring and killing many people. Cosimo has none of his doubles memories and doesn't seem to love his wife and child anymore. Cosimo's return upsets the Adderhead, ruler of the neighboring region of Argenta, who planned to take over Lombrica once the Laughing Prince died. With the rightful heir to the throne of Ombra mysteriously brought back to life, but with no memories of 'his own' life, war is imminent.

Mo and Resa are captured by the Adderhead's men along with many other strolling players in the cave, sold out by one of their own. Meggie joins Dustfinger and Farid in searching for her parents and the strolling players. Along with the Black Prince, the leader of the Motley Folk, they launch a successful rescue mission, but Mo is unable to escape because of his wound and Resa stays behind with him. In the meantime, Cosimo's double is ruthlessly killed in a battle along with most of Ombra's men. Meggie goes willingly into the Adderhead's Castle of Night and, fulfilling a prophecy she and Fenoglio dreamed up and "read" into reality, offers him a bargain: Mo, a great bookbinder, rather than the robber they believe him to be, will bind the Adderhead a book of immortality if he lets Meggie, Resa, Mo, and the rest go free. What they neglect to tell the Prince of Argenta is that if three words are written in the book ("Heart", "Spell", and "Death", referencing the titles of the books), the person who signed his name in the book to gain immortality will die instantly. In disbelief, his lieutenant Firefox, is chosen to test it. Firefox is made immortal, surviving a fatal stabbing without suffering any consequences but Taddeo, the Adderhead's librarian, kills him by writing the three words in the book. Satisfied that the book works, the words are erased and replaced by the Adderhead's name, consequently making the Adderhead invincible. Mo picks up Firefox's sword as they leave and claims it as his own, feeling a strange coldness within him; he believes his anger and sadness at the events thus far are changing him into a different person.

The Adderhead decided, as celebration for his wife giving birth to a healthy son to release all of the prisoners from his cells, but the Black Prince suspects that he instead plans to sell the prisoners into slavery. Together the robbers plan to free the prisoners. Mo learns to fight during the raid lead by Basta. Unfortunately Basta kills Farid with a knife thrown at his back (The death Fenoglio had originally planned for Dustfinger). Basta is then killed by Mo.

Later while mourning Farid's death, Dustfinger asks Meggie if she too would like to have Farid back. When Meggie agrees, he sends her to Roxanne to tell her "he will always find his way back to her". Roxanne realizes what Dustfinger plans to do and runs to him but is too late and watches as the White Women, (the Inkworld's Angels of Death) take Dustfinger. Farid is brought back to life in Dustfinger's place and the story ends with Meggie reading Orpheus to the Inkworld so as to resurrect Dustfinger. Orpheus convinces Farid to become his servant in saying that it will help him bring Dustfinger back to life.

The story opens in Lapland at the funeral pyre of Jerry Cornelius's father, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who has developed the "Final Programme"—a design for a perfect, self-replicating human being. Jerry Cornelius, playboy physicist and dashing secret agent, is in attendance. Afterwards he is questioned by Dr. Smiles, who wants to retrieve a microfilm which he knows is in the Cornelius family home in England. Cornelius, a conspicuous counter-culture dandy with addictions to chocolate biscuits and alcohol, threatens to blow up the family house. Flashbacks to Jerry's conversations with Professor Hira about the Kali Yuga inform the narrative, providing a philosophical background of the world in its final days. In various scenes we learn that the Vatican no longer exists and that Amsterdam has been razed to ash, and we see Trafalgar Square in a post-apocalyptic scenario of wrecked cars piled atop one another.

Back in the UK, a group of scientists led by Dr. Smiles and the formidable Miss Brunner (who consumes her lovers) try to persuade Cornelius to locate the microfilm containing his father's Final Programme. Jerry learns from his family servant that his sister Catherine has been imprisoned by his evil, drug-addicted brother, Frank; Frank has Catherine held captive in their family home, and has addicted her to drugs for unspecified reasons. Jerry, whose relationship with Catherine is implied to be incestuous, instructs his servant John to smuggle Catherine to the lodge on the property's grounds; he will "take care of Frank". He consults Major Wrongway Lindbergh, who supplies him with a high-powered jet aircraft, and his old friend "Shades" who can supply him with napalm.

The attack on the old house commences. The house is protected by a sound system that induces pseudo-epilepsy, but Jerry and the others get inside unharmed. They fight their way past many traps, including poison gas and a lethal chessboard. Jerry finds John fatally wounded by Frank. John confesses before dying that Catherine has not been freed and that Frank has returned her to the bedroom. Jerry finds and confronts Frank, and a needlegun fight ensues. In the confusion, Catherine is accidentally killed by Jerry. Jerry is wounded, and Frank falls into the hands of Miss Brunner. She forces him to open the vaults, but he outsmarts her and escapes with the microfilm.

After Jerry recuperates from the poison of Frank's needles, he meets with Miss Brunner. She introduces him to her new lover, Jenny. They plot to recapture Frank. Jenny is induced to play piano naked in Jerry's flat, where she is consumed by Miss Brunner. Frank has set up a meeting to sell the microfilm to Dr. Baxter (Patrick Magee); Jerry and Miss Brunner track them down. Miss Brunner consumes Baxter. Another fight with Frank ensues, and Frank is killed. Miss Brunner and Jerry return to Lapland by hot-air balloon with the recovered microfilm.

The scientists put the Final Programme into operation: the process requires that Miss Brunner be combined with another person to form a hermaphroditic being. Brunner chooses Jerry over the scientists' intended subject, Dmitri, and she traps Dmitri in a lethal steambath. Dmitri escapes Brunner's trap and fights Jerry, who is severely wounded. Brunner intervenes at the last moment, shooting Dmitri but not killing him. The scientists, working against time, scramble to re-calibrate their experiment for Jerry, who is placed inside a large chamber with Brunner. As the process reaches its climax, the two subjects are bathed by solar radiation and blur into each other. The barely controlled process heats the scientists and equipment outside to destruction. A single being emerges from the chamber. Dmitri confronts the creature. Unseen at first, the being speaks with Jerry's voice. The creature does not know if it is a Messiah, but is sure that its creation means the end of an age. When seen from the onlookers' perspective, the being is Jerry Cornelius, his body now altered to appear as a hunched, pre-modern hominid. The creature leaves Brunner's hidden base, and observes that it is "a very tasty world".

The game starts with a deal taking place between the game's villains. A drug lord known as Tulio Mendoza is infuriated after being ripped off by a Russian businessman named Akimov. The two settle their problems and join forces. Meanwhile, two TNT agents, Ray Jackson and his partner, Lee-Ann Reid, are going to a diner. Jackson sits in the car, while Reid walks inside. While sitting at the counter, the car explodes with Jackson inside and Reid is captured by a gang known as the Baby Demons.

Act 1

Burnett and Lowrey are sent by Captain Howard to rescue the surviving agent and take out the Baby Demons gang. They succeed in rescuing Reid, though not much to Burnett's surprise, who happens to have history with her. Later, the duo are sent to an abandoned house being used as the Baby Demons' hideout, and they soon find the leader: Bossu Williams. Burnett engages the gang leader in a shootout, who later escapes.

Act 2

Tatiyana Savin, Akimov's assistant, attempts to get Bossu involved with Mendoza in exchange for Baby Demon territory. Bossu declines, and begins ranting, until he is killed by Tatiyana after calling her a "commie". Then, the Baby Demons rob a bank, and Lowrey and Burnett are sent to suppress them. Afterwards, Tatiyana takes advantage of the bank robbery and attempts to escape, but crashes her car. She then attempts to escape on foot through the Miami alleyways as Lowrey and Burnett give chase, fighting their way through the remaining Baby Demons gangsters, and eventually find themselves up against the Russian Mafia, who have arrived to cover Tatiyana's escape. The two split up; Burnett going through the Little M's restaurant, and Lowrey going up to the roof. While Burnett is cut off, Lowrey pursues Tatiyana across the Miami rooftops, fighting his way through the Russian Mafia. Tatiyana boards her gunship and uses it against Lowrey. Initially, the helicopter has the upper hand, but Lowrey prevails and manages to destroy the helicopter, killing Tatiyana. The TNT duo regroups and plans their next mission at an art gallery.

Act 3

Mike and Marcus are sent to the Ellipse Modern where they attempt to find out about its connection with the Russians, and it is revealed that it is owned by Kirill Akimov, the guy whose money was torched by Marcus. Burnett goes on alone and manages to take control of the art gallery's security room, spying on Akimov and Jabuti Siro, Mendoza's bodyguard, discussing a deal taking place at the docks. Lowrey uses a silenced weapon to go through another part of the art gallery and find out what the Russians are doing. Eventually, the two become suspicious and think the Russians are guarding something else, which is later revealed to be a drug laboratory. Lowrey destroys the laboratory, and makes an explosive escape, ending up being outgunned by heavily-armed Russians. Burnett comes to his partner's aid, as the duo fights their way out of the art gallery.

Act 4

Mike, Marcus, and Lee-Ann set to the docks to eliminate Akimov. Burnett goes in alone, while Lowrey provides sniper support, with Reid spotting. Burnett makes it inside, and overlooks the deal between Mendoza and Akimov. While doing so, he soon finds out that Jackson, the agent who was presumably killed in the car explosion early in the game, is still alive, and is working with Mendoza. Burnett fights his way out of the warehouse, battling not only the remaining Russian Mafia, but the newly arriving Colombian Cartel. Lowrey hands Burnett his sniper rifle, while he goes onto Akimov's boat. On it, Akimov appears, holding Lee-Ann hostage. Running out of options, Marcus, with correct timing and patience, manages to snipe Akimov. Lee-Ann reveals that she put a tracker on Mendoza's boat, and the three give chase.

Act 5

Mike, Marcus, and Lee-Ann assault Mendoza's mansion, fighting their way through his private army of Colombian Cartel thugs. While Marcus and Mike clear the mansion, Lee-Ann confronts Ray Jackson. After a conversation, Jackson is shot and killed by Mendoza, who later escapes. Marcus arrives, and eventually confronts Mendoza's bodyguard, Siro. Marcus defeats Siro, and he and Mike regroup to finish off the Colombian Cartel. The duo fights their way to Mendoza, who awaits them on a large cannon. With Marcus drawing Mendoza's fire, and Mike shooting him, the two manage to defeat the drug lord. Mendoza pleads desperately, and takes their attention away to pull a hidden weapon, disarming Mike. Marcus kicks him Mendoza's Gold Enforcer, and he finishes off the drug lord, who lands right next to Ciro. The TNT agents, including Lee-Ann, regroup. Mike and Marcus exchange bickering, much to Lee-Ann's annoyance, who scolds them both. Despite being stuck on the island, the three walk away victorious.

Eccentric 70-year-old widow Mrs Laura Henderson purchases a redundant cinema and remodels it to create the Windmill Theatre in London, as a post-widowhood hobby and appoints autocratic manager Vivian Van Damm. In 1937, they start a continuous variety revue called "Revudeville", but after other theatres copy this innovation, they begin losing money. Mrs Henderson suggests they add female nudity, similar to the Moulin Rouge in Paris, something unprecedented in the United Kingdom. The Lord Chamberlain (Rowland Baring, 2nd Earl of Cromer) reluctantly allows this under the condition that the nude female performers remain immobile, so the performances can be considered art, the equivalent of nude statues in museums.

Because the theatre's auditorium is below street level, it is relatively safe during the bombing of London, and performances continue. The performers bravely go on with the show even during frightening bombing raids, and the posed nude girls resume their poses, after ducking, as the whole theatre is shaken and the scene flats all round them sways when a bomb lands close by.

Maureen, one of the cast, becomes involved at Mrs Henderson's instigation with a young soldier, Paul, one of the audience regulars. Maureen becomes pregnant and receives word that after Paul is demobilised, he intends to return to his girlfriend. She becomes very upset, and hands in her notice. Before further developments, she is killed by a bomb while leaving the theatre.

Other scenes depict life in the theatre during the period. Mrs Henderson and Mr Van Damm frequently clash, but also show great appreciation for each other.

Eventually, the authorities want the theatre to close because of the danger from bombs to crowds gathering outside the theatre. Mrs Henderson successfully argues that for soldiers going to die in the war, this is their last chance, and for many of the young soldiers their only chance, to see naked women. She reflects on the death of her son in the First World War, and how he may never have even seen a naked woman except on a French postcard he had left at home, before going off to war and dying in a gas attack.

The film's closing credits explain that, on her death in 1944, Mrs Henderson bequeathed the theatre to Mr Van Damm.

The movie tells of a womanizing performing magician Woo Ji-hoon who one day discovers a hidden camera film on the Internet that shows him having sex with one of his former girlfriends, Koo Hee-won in a motel. Ji-hoon first tracks down Hee-won, who is working as a teacher at a local school. They decide that instead of going to the police, they'd be better off trying to track the film's makers themselves and get the film taken offline without making a fuss, since both of their careers could suffer. Ji-hoon and Hee-won start spending their evenings going through all the motels they visited while going out, and slowly rediscover their feelings for each other.

Kim Levitt is an aspiring journalist working for the ''Los Angeles Eye'' newspaper as a classified ads editor. Her boss, Eli, seems to give all of the men in her office the breaks, including her boyfriend Hank. When a woman is discovered dead on the sidewalk, half-burned into ashes in an apparent case of the spontaneous human combustion, Kim decides to pursue the story on her own without Eli's approval. While investigating, she crosses paths with Fima, a used bookstore proprietor whose shop is in the building the woman jumped from. As a gift, Fima offers Kim a book on feminism and the occult.

On Christmas Eve, Kim spends the evening with Hank's family, who recurrently make snide remarks about Kim being Jewish. Later at her apartment, Kim begins reading the book Fima gave to her, and finds a chapter on "The Fire of Lilith" depicting a woman engulfed in flames. The next day, Kim arrives at a picnic Fima invited her to, where she meets Katherine Harrison, a self-described old crone, and the young Jane Yanana. They tell her about Lilith, Adam's first wife and the "spirit of all that crawls."

At the office, Eli, instead of being angry about Kim missing work, lets her officially have the spontaneous combustion story. That afternoon, Kim decides to visit Fima's apartment to ask her more questions. Fima serves her a cup of tea, which makes Kim nauseated. Fima tells Kim of her daughter Lilith. Fima offers her a date and demands that Kim eat it. She does, even though it looks like a roach in her hand. Soon after, Kim passes out.

She wakes up surrounded by Jane, Fima, Katherine, and Li. They perform a ritual on Kim: Ricky and Fima slice open a live rat over her, and insert a giant larva into Kim's vagina. It emerges from her mouth as a full-grown, giant, multi-segmented roach; she vomits the creature out. Ricky slices the creature in half and drips its innards onto Kim's face. Kim wakes up later fully dressed, still in Fima's apartment. She rushes home, terrified, and finds Hank, who is able to calm her. Ricky then enters the apartment and stabs Hank to death. Kim manages to answer her ringing phone during the fight and screams for her co-worker Janice to help her. Ricky captures Kim and binds her. Janice arrives, but doesn't help Kim. Instead, she admonishes Ricky for the mess and tells him to take Kim straight to Fima.

Ricky locks Kim in the meat locker at a meat shop next-door to Fima's bookstore where she passes out again. When she awakens, she is surrounded by the entire cult. Ricky, wearing a phallic mask, rapes Kim. Kim reawakens alone in the meat locker; her fingers bind themselves together in a knot. Then she experiences incredible pain as her legs bind together into an insect-like tail. Kim passes out again. She awakens in the meat locker as Jo opens the door. He frees her legs from a brittle cocoon-like substance and covers her as best as he can. Jo tells her that she has been initiated and that she should go.

Kim brings a policeman, Detective Burt, to her apartment. There, everything is spotless and there's no trace of Hank's body. At her office's Christmas party, Eli claims that Hank is away on an assignment. Janice is there, and welcomes her to the family. Furious and confused, Kim storms out of the office and walks down onto the sidewalk. She notices Ricky following her and ducks into a motel room. Her feet begin to get painfully hot. She jumps into the shower, but they still burst into tiny flames. Ricky enters the room and, in pain, Kim agrees to kidnap Hank's teenaged brother Lonnie to complete the initiation. Kim lures Lonnie out of his house, and Ricky murders Hank's parents by strangling them with Christmas lights, then setting the house on fire.

On the building roof, Kim is asked to stab Lonnie; instead, she stabs Fima. In anger, Fima pulls the knife from her stomach and stabs Ricky. A giant larva feeds on Ricky, as Kim's legs begin to get hot. Kim's hands knot themselves together once again, then they start to burst into flame. Kim then stabs her fused hands into Fima's wound. This transfers the curse of Lilith to Fima, and Fima dives off the roof just as her daughter had.

The game begins at Montsaye High, an abandoned school in Detroit, where Detective Lazarus Jones (voiced by Rob Paulsen) of the Detroit Police Department is on his first day on the job. He is on a routine call with his partner, Anna Steele (Nan McNamara), to investigate reports of unusual sounds in the building. Steele explains that several years previously, a professor murdered ten students, and then disappeared. He was never found, nor was any murder weapon, and the coroner was unable to determine the cause of death of any of the victims. After the two split up to investigate the building, Jones discovers a laboratory in the basement. He presses a switch on a machine, which seems to release a gas of some kind. He is knocked out and when he regains consciousness, he goes to meet Steele in the sewers. However, before he can prevent it, Steele is dragged into a pipe by a transparent man.

Jones returns to the lab, where a sentient computer (Joe Morton) explains that when he pressed the button, he shut down an array containing imprisoned ghosts, and he must now set about recapturing them. The program also tells him that he has "supernormal sight"; he can see ghosts with the naked eye. He has acquired this ability because he has fused with Astral; a spirit who wishes to aid him in his quest. The program also explains that his only hope of getting Steele back is to find Professor Richmond, who created the lab. His location, however, is unknown, so Jones must use the "Spectral Gateway" to jump to ghost realms, fighting ghosts until he finds Richmond.

After heading to a ghost town, where he saves a young girl from the clutches of the spirit of Lady DeMontford (Jane Hamilton), Jones returns to the lab and learns that Astral's real name is Kate Heller, and she was Richmond's assistant. She is still alive, but her physical location is unknown. Jones then encounters the spirit of the Montsaye librarian (Jane Hamilton) who tells him the legend of the thirteenth century English knight, Sir William Hawksmoor (Michael Gambon); the man Jones saw abduct Steele. A trusted servant of the king, he eventually became too powerful, and a group of aristocrats killed him. Jones also learns that Richmond did not commit the murders in the school. He returned from a journey through the Gateway to find the bodies of the students. Pursuing the murderer, he eventually caught up with Hawksmoor, who explained that he murdered the students to make Richmond follow him. However, Richmond was able to capture Hawksmoor and place him in the array, until he was inadvertently released by Jones.

Jones next encounters a ghost ship, where he aids a group of English World War II soldiers, led by Colonel Freddie Fortesque (Michael Cochrane), defeat a monster whom they have been fighting since the War. He then heads to a prison island, Devil's Scar Penitentiary, where he encounters Frank Agglin (André Sogliuzzo), a former police officer who killed several people, including his wife, before being executed by electric chair. Jones, however, discovers that Agglin was possessed by Hawksmoor. He eventually finds Richmond (Joe Morton), but they are attacked by Agglin. Jones defeats him, and Richmond explains that when he captured Agglin's spirit and placed it into the array, Hawksmoor was able to trace Richmond back to Montsaye, resulting in the murders. Richmond reveals that Hawksmoor has Kate's physical body, but he needs Astral, although Richmond is unsure why. He and Jones then head to a secret military base, where Richmond worked during the 1970s, undertaking paranormal research for the government. He explains Kate became trapped in the Astral form due to an experiment that went wrong. She then fused with Richmond as she has now fused with Jones, and they began hunting ghosts. However, Hawksmoor proposed a deal to the military executives of the base - if they granted him Kate's body, as well the right to exploit Richmond, he would destroy their enemies. Learning of this, Richmond fled the base with Kate, going to work in Montsaye High, before Hawksmoor tracked him down.

Richmond then betrays Jones, handing him over to Hawksmoor in return for being allowed to leave. As Richmond departs, Hawksmoor uses a machine to extract Astral from Jones. Steele, who is possessed by Hawksmoor, then shoots and kills Jones. However, Richmond's computer program takes control of a heavily armed robotic unit. It encounters Jones' ghost, which it leads to the "Resurrection Machine" – a machine which can reunite a spirit with its physical form. Richmond had discovered that every person who dies before their "allotted time" becomes a ghost, but over a long period of time, each ghost fades away, eventually ceasing to exist. Hawksmoor is attempting to prevent this happening by using the machine, which needs Astral's ghost energy to work. Lazarus is resurrected as Hawksmoor arrives and flings the robot from the balcony. Hawksmoor then enters the machine, but before he can activate it, Richmond returns, giving weapons to Lazarus and Steele, who is now free of Hawksmoor's possession. They destroy the machine and Lazarus battles Hawksmoor, as Richmond finds the robot damaged beyond repair. However, it is in possession of a zero bomb, a device capable of utterly destroying a ghost. Lazarus and Steele flee and Richmond sets off the bomb, killing himself, Hawksmoor and, presumably, Astral. Steele and Jones make it back to the school and joke about how hard it is going to be to write their report.

16 September 1897. Churchill is a junior officer in India determined to make a name for himself and to become a member of Parliament. As Sir Winston Churchill (voiced by Simon Ward) narrates, events shift back to his childhood. As a boy, Churchill is sent to a boarding school but is unhappy there. After a particularly vicious caning, Churchill is removed by his parents to Harrow School. At the entrance examination Churchill submits a blank paper; however the headmaster, James Welldon, sees the potential in Churchill and accepts him. One evening he recites a long poem of 1000 lines at a Harrow presentation. His nanny comes to listen but his parents do not, despite Churchill's express invitation. Churchill would later describe her as the only person who never let him down.

Meanwhile, Churchill's father Randolph is suffering terminal symptoms of syphilis. Doctors Roose and Buzzard visit Lady Churchill, informing her that her husband has an incurable disease and that he could die in five or six years, and they must never again have "physical relations".

One morning, Churchill comes down to breakfast but his behaviour infuriates his father. Randolph angrily sends his son away to his room. After a conversation with his wife, Randolph goes up to make up with his son. They play with his collection of tin soldiers and it is then that Churchill decides what it is he wants to do in the future: to go into the army. After three attempts, Churchill is finally accepted by Sandhurst but his father is not pleased because he finished seventh from the bottom of the class and is only eligible to enter the cavalry which costs an extra £200 a year for a horse. Randolph scolds Churchill and warns him to face up to his responsibilities at Sandhurst and that if he does not make something of himself by 21 he will no longer support him. Whilst scolding his son Randolph's illness is apparent as he makes a number of factual errors about him.

Towards the end of his life, with failing health, Randolph makes a faltering speech in Parliament, witnessed by both his wife and Winston. His death spells the end of Churchill's dream of entering Parliament at his side. Churchill graduates from Sandhurst finishing near the top of the cohort, he becomes a second lieutenant and eventually goes to India and the Sudan. He takes part in the cavalry charge at the Battle of Omdurman. Later, he goes to South Africa to work as a war correspondent during the Anglo-Boer War. While travelling by armoured train, Churchill and soldiers are ambushed by Boers. They try to retreat but crash into a barricade of rocks on the railway track. Churchill courageously organises the soldiers to push the derailed carriage off the track so the train can proceed with the wounded, but the others are captured by the Boers. Churchill escapes, getting help from mine manager Howard, hiding three nights in the mine then riding a goods train into British controlled territory. He returns to England a hero, stands for the parliamentary seat of Oldham and wins, becoming an MP in a Conservative majority Parliament. With the encouragement of opposition Liberal MP Lloyd George, to the dismay of his mother and annoyance of senior Conservatives, he takes up the campaign of his father to limit spending on the military.

The film ends with Sir Winston Churchill narrating events that follow including his marriage to Clementine Hozier seven years later. Newsreel footage shows Churchill appearing on the balcony with the Royal family on VE Day, May 1945.

Jonathon Tibbs (Kenneth More), son of a family of English gunsmiths, has no interest in the business and prefers inventing gadgets, in particular a steam-powered horseless carriage. Threatened with disinheritance if he does not report for work, he discovers that the company is not doing very well, and concludes that someone must expand their sales.

He reads in his newspaper about the wide use of guns in the American West of the 1880s, and decides to go there himself to sell firearms to the locals.

He ends up at the small lawless town of Fractured Jaw and inadvertently acquires a reputation for quickness on the draw, due to his wrist-mounted Derringer style weapon. He is innocently drawn into a range war between the "Box T" and "Lazy S" cattle outfits, both of whom claim sole water rights and, when he proves able to stand up to their hired gunmen, is appointed sheriff.

He endeavours to clean up the town using what skills he has, and by multilateral diplomacy. He attracts the support of Miss Kate (Jayne Mansfield), a blonde bombshell hotel owner, who helps him to fight off the hired guns of both cattle ranches, who all want him dead.

Earning the respect of the local Indian tribe, he becomes a blood brother of theirs, under the name of 'Fleet Iron Hat'. When he and Kate are besieged by the gunmen of both outfits, they come to his rescue and help to arrest the men. The two ranch owners eventually offer a deal to maintain the peace and share the water rights.

With relative peace restored, Jonathon decides to remain in Fractured Jaw, becomes an American citizen and marries Kate.

The book starts with Nancy Drew witnessing a couple named Kitty and Johnny Blair who adopt two baby twins, Jay and Janet, from the Selkirk Foundling’s Home. The babies were mysteriously found in a boat along the river by a nurse at the Home. The Blairs, who are famous actors, decide to adopt the babies as a publicity stunt, as they hope to raise the children as actors, which will help their own careers. The Blairs are cruel to the children, and Nancy sets off to find their real mother and take them away from the Blairs, although the adoption papers have already been signed.

Nancy and Bess are invited to a party at Blair’s estate, Jolly Folly, where Mrs. Blair decides to burn a package of clothes and an old broken locket that came with the children. Nancy, with the help of Hannah Gruen, substitutes the original clothing and locket with some of her old doll clothes and an old locket. She takes Janet and Jay’s original clothing and locket with her for investigation.

Nancy is suspicious of Blair’s maid, Colleen, and their chauffeur, Rodney. Colleen, who was put in charge of the twins, is unfit to care for them. She spends most of her time with her boyfriend, Francis Clancy, and trying on Mrs. Blair’s fancy gowns. Nancy, Bess, and George are disgusted at the girl's actions, although they help her out of many problems. Meanwhile, Edwin McNeely, a theatre producer, tries to get the Blairs to sign a contract requiring them to give up the babies and attend more rehearsals in exchange for parts in his upcoming play. He tells Nancy about his wife, who left him because he wanted her to keep acting when she wanted to start a family.

While Nancy and Bess are taking the twins for a stroll on the Blair estate, they see a mysterious woman come up to the twin’s carriage and kiss them. Nancy and Bess try to chase her but do not succeed. Nancy later tracks down the woman, Ruth Brown, and identifies her as Rodney’s sister and the nurse who found the twins on the river and took care of them while they were at the Selkirk Home. Nancy happily reunites Ruth and Rodney Brown, and Ruth moves in with the Blairs to take care of Janet and Jay when Colleen is discharged.

Nancy, meanwhile, tracks down a man named Enos Crinkle, who shows her the boat the twins were found in. She, Bess, and George find the other half of the broken locket, which bears the initials S. M. N. This scene is portrayed on the cover.

This angers Colleen, and the maid plants Mrs. Blair’s valuable locket in Nancy’s car, in an attempt to get her arrested. Nancy, however, outsmarts her and goes with Bess and George to a cabin along the river. There, Nancy finds the twin’s real mother, who turns out to be Sylvia McNeely, Edwin McNeery’s wife, and Jay and Janet’s mother. The twins are restored to the McNeerys and choose to employ Ruth and Rodney Brown as their nurse and chauffeur. The Blairs sign away their adoption of the twins, fleeing the country to escape creditors.

After Bart sabotages Principal Skinner's weather balloon, Skinner punishes him by making him arrive in the schoolyard at 4:30 a.m. to be his amateur astronomy assistant. Bart accidentally locates a comet, which scientists soon discover is headed straight for Springfield. Professor Frink plans to launch a missile at the comet, exploding it before it touches ground. Instead the missile undershoots the comet and destroys the only bridge out of town.

Homer decides his family should stay in Ned Flanders' bomb shelter; anticipating this scenario, Ned has constructed a shelter large enough for several people. Other townspeople soon arrive, crowding the shelter until Homer is unable to close the door. Because everyone else thinks they deserve to live, Ned is expelled from his own shelter.

Eventually, Homer feels guilty and leaves the shelter, followed by the other townspeople. Everyone converges on a hill to await a likely death from the comet. As it enters the Earth's atmosphere, the comet burns up in the thick layer of pollution over Springfield. When it touches down, all that remains is a meteorite the size of a Chihuahua's head. Only the shelter and the weather balloon are destroyed, leaving the rest of the town untouched.

Cadet Staff Sergeant Jocko De Paris is a senior at the fictional Southern Military College. Using the authority of his own rank, his father's connections with the school, and the college's tradition of allowing upperclassmen to bully new cadets, De Paris effectively does what he pleases. Everyone at the school is either afraid of him or believes he is a normal or even exemplary cadet.

One night, he frames George Avery, the son of a staff member, making it appear that he got drunk and fell unconscious on the quadrangle all by himself. Cadet Avery is expelled, and De Paris sees to it that every cadet who took part in the incident lies during the investigation to conceal his own involvement. Two freshmen, along with the roommates of De Paris and the regimental commander, eventually decide to end De Paris' manipulation of them and the school. By the time De Paris is cornered in a restaurant in the nearby town, a great many cadets have banded together against him.

Laurie Corger, the regimental commander, orders him to sign a statement confessing to engineering Avery's expulsion and going to great lengths to conceal the truth from investigators. Initially reacting with smug confidence and indignant anger at being accused, De Paris finally folds and signs the statement, asking that he be allowed to leave quietly. The cadets then take him away from the restaurant and start dragging an increasingly frantic and blindfolded De Paris towards a railroad track. Instead of throwing him in front of the approaching train as he expects, they put him on board once it stops. As the train begins to move again, De Paris, having removed his blindfold, runs to the last car and rails at the watching cadets, shouting furiously, "I'll be back! I'll get you guys! You can't do this to Jocko De Paris!"

William is the leader of a group of Confederate deserters during the American Civil War which includes his younger brother Sam, Clyde, and Joseph. With the help of Todd, an escaped slave, and Annabelle, an army nurse, they stage a robbery at a bank holding a cache of rebel gold.

Needing a place to rest for the night, the criminals set up camp in a mansion overlooking an abandoned plantation. En route through the fields, they find a strange scarecrow, which they believe is actually a crucified man, and shoot a strange deformed creature. It soon becomes obvious that the old house is not as empty as they thought. The former owner was a gentleman farmer named Hollister with a wife and two children. When his wife died, he attempted to bring her back by sacrificing his children, slaves, and any other living creature, hoping that black magic acquired from his slaves' native rites would return her to life. However, this simply allowed evil spirits to take over his victims, and these remain in the house, attacking all who dare enter. When the locals found out about his demonic practice, the locals crucified the farmer in his fields so he would suffer by the very curse he unleashed (he is the scarecrow the group found when they first arrived).

A storm is coming so Joseph leads the horse into the barn. When he goes to the well to get some water, he gets pulled in by one of the spirits. The others try to find him but fail to do so.

The others also experience strange occurrences. While resting in the bedroom, Sam is haunted by the ghost of the farmer, who shows him what happened, while Todd witnesses the ghost of a slave being sacrificed in the basement. Clyde witnesses what appears to be Joseph stumbling about outside and goes to investigate. William and Annabelle, who are guarding the gold, wake up to find it gone and think Clyde took off with it. While William tries to track down Clyde, Sam is possessed by the farmer and shows Annabelle what happened. The ritual turned the farmer's family into demonic creatures similar to the one they killed when they first arrived. Sam dies soon afterwards and Annabelle tries to convince William to leave. Todd also reunites with the pair and is also determined to leave.

When they reach the barn, they find the horses torn to pieces. Todd begins to hear and see things the other two cannot and he tries to leave. William refuses to leave without the gold and is accompanied by Annabelle back into the house to find Sam's body missing. In the field, a possessed Sam attacks Todd, throwing him into the air and he vanishes in mid-air. When William and Annabelle go into the fields as well, they find Clyde, now dead and possessed by one of the spirits, crucified like a scarecrow with his eyes and mouth sewn shut. As they try to flee, William accidentally shoots Annabelle, killing her instantly.

The next morning, William finally leaves Annabelle's corpse behind. He is attacked by their dog and tries to run away. When William clears the fields, he is shot by a group of Confederate soldiers. It is then revealed that William has also transformed into a demonic creature and the soldiers mistook him for some deformed animal. Two of the soldiers discover gold coins which William dropped and go to investigate the house. As they walk through the fields, they discover the corpse of another demonic creature dead body, presumably that of Annabelle.

Henry Creedlow who works as a creative director for a successful magazine firm lives an unhappy life; his high-strung, contemptuous wife Janine is indifferent to him which leads to him having fantasies about suicide. Henry meets with his best friend, Jimmy Larson to go to work downtown. While trying to board a train, an unsettled Henry fantasies about killing a woman who pushes him.

Henry works at a local magazine company called ''Bruiser''. While at the office, everyone is at a conference meeting deciding on which model should be on the magazine's latest issue. The sleazy and reprehensible boss, Milo Styles, mocks Henry's choice in front of him and his co-workers.

That Saturday, there is a party for the workers at Milo and his wife Rosie's house. Henry has a plaster mold of his face made by Rosie, who designs masks in her spare time. Rosie finishes the mask and adds it to her "garden of lost souls" in the backyard. She asks Henry to paint a design on the featureless mask, but Henry cannot think of anything to draw. Henry sees Milo and Janine across the pool in a very intimate moment.

While driving home later that evening, Henry confronts Janine about what he saw. Janine hardly seems to care and she tells the distraught Henry that he is so weak-willed and a pushover. When they arrive home, Henry has another fantasy about killing Janine.

Henry wakes up the next morning, and is shocked when he sees that his entire face has transformed into a white, featureless mask. When Henry tries removing it he cuts himself. Henry hides when Katie, his once-a-week maid, arrives to clean the house. Henry watches the maid as she fills her bag with silver and other items from his house. Henry reveals himself and confronts her about stealing from him. Henry attacks and beats her to death with the bag filled with stolen silver items.

Henry follows his wife to the office and spots her and Milo having sex. Rosie bursts into the conference room and photographers them. When Milo chases his wife out of the building where Rosie tells Milo that she intends to leave him, Henry sneaks into the conference room where he reveals his new blank face to his wife. He wraps an extension cord around her neck and pushes her out a window where she hangs to death.

Milo gives a statement to Detective McCleary, Henry eludes the police and goes home. He hides from the cops again when they come to his front door to look for him to deliver the news of his wife's murder. After making it appear that he possibly killed himself.

That afternoon, Henry visits Jimmy where he points a gun at Jimmy and reveals the business account papers which show that Jimmy has been pilfering money out of Henry's bank accounts and mutual funds for two years now. Jimmy tells Henry that it was Janine's idea to steal Henry's money so she could squander it for herself. Jimmy reveals that Janine has been cheating on Henry with him too. Jimmy suddenly pulls out a gun from his briefcase and tries to kill Henry. Henry fires back, fatally wounding Jimmy in the chest.

Henry calls 'The Larry Case Show', a popular radio program, and tells the host that he is 'Faceless' and has murdered three people. After listening to some advice by Larry Case, Henry decides that he needs to eradicate all the people from his life who wronged and betrayed him if he is to get his face back.

Henry goes attends Milo's Halloween costume party, dressed as Zorro wearing a black cape along with his white mask. Rosie is also there who is being tailed by Detective McCleary, who thinks that she either killed Janine or had it done. Henry assembles a group of men from the office where they lure Milo to a second floor balcony where Henry tells his mean and ungrateful boss that he has set him up for a "grand finale". Milo is raised overhead on wires, Henry aims a strong laser at Milo (intended for exploding the heads of confetti-filled dummies), and kills him. As Henry walks away, he removes his black cape costume and hat, and his face returns to normal. He is also spotted by Detective McCleary who moves in to apprehend him. However, Rosie shows up in a Zorro costume with a white mask on and yells at McCleary that she is the killer. Henry bids Rosie farewell and escapes into the crowd.

Some years later, a long-haired Henry is now working as an office messenger in another city. Henry passes by an office where an angry and loathsome executive is yelling at several people. After the man screams at Henry who walks by, he turns around... and his blank, anonymous, faceless white mask has returned.

In 2061, agent Jon Hawking of the United System States is sent to the research ship ''Prometheus,'' in orbit around Titan. Hawking's mission is to make contact with the members of Project Firestart, an initiative of the System Science Foundation, who have recently dropped out of communication with their superiors on Earth. Hawking is further instructed to retrieve all of the scientific data on board the ''Prometheus'' and then to destroy the ship, based on the USS' belief that Project Firestart has been compromised and could potentially pose a threat to Earth. Should Hawking fail in his mission, the USS will remotely activate the ''Prometheus''' self destruct sequence on the assumption that Hawking himself has been killed.

On board the ''Prometheus'', Hawking discovers the entire crew brutally murdered and the ship infested with large, hostile creatures. Retrieving the ship's science logs, Hawking discovers that Project Firestart was a genetic engineering program that sought to create a mining species resistant to extreme cold and low oxygen levels by combining the DNA of oxen with a new species of fungi discovered in asteroids around Titan. Hawking further learns that one of the scientists on the project, Dr. Arno, secretly altered the DNA of the mining creatures in an attempt to create a race of super soldiers. The plan backfired, as Arno's creations proved to be mindlessly hostile and capable of asexual reproduction. Unable to contain the monsters, the crew of the ''Prometheus'' was slaughtered. SIA Agent Annar Kensan, who was working in secret with Dr. Arno, survived by placing himself in cryosleep; upon Hawking's arrival on the ''Prometheus'', he awakens. Also in cryosleep is Mary, another Firestart scientist who survived the massacre because she was placed in suspended animation after suffering a minor injury.

The creatures spawn a giant, white version of themselves, which begins attacking them. The supercreature then seeks out Hawking, who discovers that it is completely invulnerable to all of his weaponry. Using the Firestart scientists' notes on the genetic flaws in their original organisms, he must improvise a way to kill the creature using the resources available to him on board the ship.

Endings

The ending of the game varies depending on different actions taken by the player:

If the player rescues Mary and escapes the ship with the science logs, Hawking is attacked on board the escape shuttle by Annar, who does not want knowledge of the experiments to leak out. By firing their weapon at the right time, the player can shoot and kill Annar; on board the rescue craft, Hawking is reunited with Mary.

If the player does not rescue Mary but escapes with the science logs, Hawking is still attacked by Annar. The player can still kill him, and be brought on board the rescue craft.

Failing to fire at the right time will result in Annar overpowering Hawking and killing him. The ''Prometheus'' is destroyed, but Annar escapes with Dr. Arno's research notes to continue the project.

Leaving without the science logs results in Hawking's superiors chastising him as a coward and a failure.

Escaping on the shuttle without sending an SOS distress call or informing HQ of the Exis's destruction results in the craft drifting through space. The shuttle is never picked up and the player dies when the oxygen runs out.

Dying on board the ''Prometheus'' results in the creatures overrunning the ship, multiplying uncontrollably. The USS remote detonates the station, destroying it and the creatures.

''Raiden Fighters 2'' takes place four years after the events of the first game. A few surviving guerrilla groups gather under a dictator. They form a new nation and begin attacks on the protagonists. In response, retooled fighters were deployed in a new mission called Operation Hell Dive.

Ti Hau is a pupil of Master Ti, a high-ranking member of a boxer clan during the time of the Boxer Rebellion (1899 - 1901). Ti Tan, is a Member of a competing boxer clan who has successfully trained his students to resist penetration from swords (Golden Bell), but sacrifices them by experimenting with techniques to resist bullets. This appalls his niece, Fang Shao Ching. Lei Ying can control subjects with a voodoo doll and ventriloquism. The Yi Ho Society Chief, Li, explains that Lei Kung, an old pugilist master who left to form another branch in Yunan, has dissolved that branch and gone into hiding. Lei Kung no longer believes that their martial arts skills can defeat the modern weapons used by the western colonialists. Chief Yi proclaims Lei Kung a traitor to their movement. The chief orders his execution, and claims he can be identified because he enjoys showing off his kung-fu skills.

In Guangdong/Yunan, Ti Hau makes inquiries into the whereabouts of Lei Kung at a popular inn. Also searching is Fang Shao Ching, disguised as a man, and Lei Ying. They are unaware of each other's identities, but observe each other suspiciously. A flamboyant man also shows up and arouses suspicion. Ti Hau and Fang Shao Ching both suspect Lei Ying of being Lei Kung, and sneak into the attic above his room at the inn. They fight in the cramped space as Ti Tan walks into the room below, but he does not see them before they escape.

An old woodcutter, Yu, also arouses Ti Hau's suspicion because of his great strength. Fang Shao Ching distracts Ti Hau and lures him away, and they fight again but must stop to hide from Ti Tan. Fang explains to Ti Hau that her and Ti Tan are also Yi Ho members sent to kill Lei Kung, but she maintains her male disguise.

Under Fang's guidance, Lei Kung practices with his weapons. Ti Hau, who has been bedridden, sees him, but Lei Kung maintains his identity as the woodcutter Yu by saying that he only looks like Lei Kung, and must defend himself. They both discover that Fang is a woman. When Ti Hau regains his strength, he is grateful to Yu for taking care of him and is about to leave, but Ti Tan arrives. Fang and Ti Hau fight him before Yu, now at full power, engages him. He finally admits to everyone that he is Lei Kung, and declares that he has betrayed the Yi Ho society because he does not want to see all his young students die in a futile attempt to fight foreign modern guns and cannon. He disables Ti Tan, who admits defeat and leaves. Ti Hau feels betrayed and also leaves.

Soon after, a Magic Fighter turns up. Fang, believing it to be Ti Hau, berates him as he sits down and prepares, but is then shocked when it's revealed to be Master Tieh. Master Tieh being Ti Hau's sifu (master), and head of the Magic Clan. Master Tieh and Lei Kung engage in a duel, but Ti Hau arrives and interrupts. Master Tieh attempts to uses his mind control techniques on Ti Hau, in order to have him effectively commit suicide, announcing that both he and Lei Kung must die. However Lei Kung intervenes using a Snake Halberd against Master Tieh's 'Double Axe', saving Ti Hau and then disarming Master Tieh. Defeated, Master Tieh chooses to commit suicide using the same eye gouging technique on himself that he (using his mind control) tried to get Ti Hau to do. But, Ti Hai stops him, shaking his head, understanding that there's no point in such meaningless sacrifice. Master Tieh looks at Lei Kung, with a sadness in his eyes that convinces Lei Kung to lay down his weapon, the inference being that he sees how the deaths of so many innocent, young students to further a dead cause serves no real purpose. Ti Hau steps forward and is willing to follow his master, but Master Tieh suggests he remain with Lei Kung, so he can develop both his kung fu and his sense of self-awareness and understanding.

Lei Kung dresses in ceremonial garb and arrives at a temple with Ti Hau, Fang Shao Ching, and a full set of weapons. Lei Ying is waiting, and reveals his plan. He wanted Lei Kung to regain his expertise and kill the other assassins. Then Lei Ying could avoid fighting others and concentrate on Lei Kung, killing him and elevating his position in their clan and Yi Ho Society. After an 8-minute duel showcasing most of the 18 weapons and hand-to-hand combat, Lei Kung demonstrates that he could win if he wanted to. But instead, he leaves Lei Ying to his disgrace.

It's New York City, a few years after World War II. Herman Broder, a Jewish man who has lost his faith but still enjoys Talmudic scholarship, is married to a Polish woman named Yadwiga Pracz, not of Jewish origin, who had worked as a servant in his father's family in Poland and had kept Herman alive, during the Holocaust, by hiding him in a hayloft in her native village. Almost all Herman's family perished in the Holocaust, including, he believes, his first wife, Tamara, whom an eyewitness told him was shot, along with the couple's two children. Broder married Yadwiga after he received a visa for America, perhaps partly out of a sense of obligation. He brought her to Brooklyn, and in their apartment in Coney Island, she works diligently as a homemaker, learning how to cook such Jewish foods as matzo balls with borscht, carp's head, and challah, but although there are moments of tenderness between them, it isn't a happy union. He calls her a "peasant" to her face and mocks her wish to convert to Judaism. He has told her that he works as a book salesman and that he has to travel for his job up and down the Eastern seaboard, but in fact he works as a ghost-writer for a rabbi in Manhattan named Milton Lampert, who's a showboat and a schemer, and the nights that Yadwiga thinks he's on the road, he is in fact spending in the Bronx, where he pays rent on a second apartment for his mistress, Masha, who is a concentration camp survivor, and her mother, a pious woman named Shifrah Puah. Herman isolates himself from the larger Jewish community, in part because he is haunted by the Holocaust—he often daydreams about what it would be like to have to live for years in whatever room he happens to be in—in part because he is ashamed of his somewhat disreputable line of work, and in part because he wants to hide his double life with Yadwiga and Masha. That romantic arrangement becomes even more complicated when Herman reads his name in a classified ad in a Yiddish newspaper, answers it, and learns that Tamara is alive and in New York City. The comedy of the novel consists in Herman's doomed attempts to keep his three wives from knowing about one another; the tragedy is in the inability of Herman and other characters to make the accommodations and compromises that would reconcile them to their survival.

A long time ago, there was a forest full of trees inhabited by insects and fairies. A fairy named Popo was a friend of the insects of the forest. He refers to the Japanese beetle as "Mushiking". One day, giant beetles from parts unknown arrived in the forest to wreak havoc, under the control of Adder, a wizard exiled from the forest who wishes to conquer it. Popo enlists the player's help to fight against Adder.

A new fad by the name of "Air Treks" (a futuristic evolution of aggressive skating) has swept the nation's youth and all over gangs are being formed that compete in various events using their A-Ts. Ikki is a middle-school boy who is the toughest street-fighting punk on the east side of town and part of the gang "The East-Side Gunz". He lives with four adopted gorgeous sisters who took him in when he was a kid. But what Ikki doesn't know is that the girls are part of one of the most infamous A-T gangs, "Sleeping Forest". It does not take long before Ikki finds out about the world of Air Treks and is propelled into a fate he had not foreseen, learning about his past and making a number of storm riding allies on the way.

Principal Skinner and Edna Krabappel oversee a school field trip to Fort Springfield. Upon arriving, Skinner learns admission is no longer free due to new management. Unable to afford tickets, he has the students watch a Civil War reenactment by peering over the fort's fence. Outraged by the students' attempt to "learn for free", the actors charge at the teachers and students, most of whom barely manage to escape in Otto's dilapidated bus (although Üter is left behind and assaulted). Later, Bart manipulates Krabappel into calling a teachers union strike to protest Skinner's miserly spending.

While school is closed, students cope in their own ways: Lisa grows increasingly obsessive in her desire to be graded, Milhouse's work ethic improves after his parents hire a private tutor, and Jimbo finds himself immersed in the intricate plots of his mother's soap operas. Bart revels in his newfound freedom to Marge's annoyance, and continues to manipulate the conflict between Skinner and the teachers' union. When the two sides reach an impasse, Marge demands that the PTA meet to devise a compromise. Skinner insists that even with his penny-pinching, government budget cuts have squeezed the school dry and the only way to increase spending on staff salaries and school supplies is to raise taxes.

Ned Flanders suggests that the townspeople act as substitute teachers. While this ploy gets the children back to school, it has its own disadvantages: Professor Frink is ill-equipped to teach preschoolers, Jasper is forced to send Lisa's class home early when his beard gets stuck in a pencil sharpener, and Marge becomes Bart's teacher after he scares Moe and other substitutes with his pranks, making him a laughingstock among his peers due to her mothering. Frustrated, Bart locks Krabappel and Skinner in the principal's office for several hours to negotiate. They devise a plan to use the school's cloakrooms to house convicts from the overcrowded Springfield Penitentiary. This generates enough money to persuade teachers to return to work and keep troublesome students in line, although Bart intends to free Snake Jailbird.

Crewmembers Seven of Nine and Ensign Tom Paris return to ''Voyager'' from an away mission with young Naomi Wildman. They soon learn that the crew believes they have found a wormhole leading directly back to Earth. Seven is immediately suspicious, and secretly reviews Captain Kathryn Janeway's logs. Janeway's earlier logs indicate finding a wormhole that was giving off deceptive readings; the later logs appear to dismiss those concerns, with Janeway directing the ship towards it without concern, believing to have obtained communications from Starfleet directing them through it.

Seven continues investigating the wormhole, but finds the crew blocking her efforts: the astrometrics lab is taken offline, supposedly to conserve power, and her communications with an alien named Qatai, warning them away from the anomaly, are cut short. Seven realizes she and Naomi are the only ones unenthusiastic about returning to Earth—Seven has no memory of Earth and Naomi has never seen it. The crew report continually receiving unbelievably upbeat and happy messages from Earth; Janeway's former fiancée has ended his engagement to another woman; Neelix is being made an ambassador, and Paris is offered a dream job. The Doctor agrees with Seven's assessment that the crew is being manipulated. The crew take The Doctor offline and attempt to place Seven into stasis, telling her it will prevent attracting the Borg with their passage. Seven evades them and erects a force field in engineering while attempting to halt the ship, but the crew knock Seven out.

Seven wakes to find that ''Voyager'' has entered the anomaly that appears to be a massive bio-organism digesting the ship's hull. The remaining crew have been knocked unconscious. Seven makes contact with Qatai, whose ship is also trapped inside the anomaly. Qatai reveals that they are inside a creature that telepathically tricks crews to enter it in order to consume their starships. He has been trying to destroy the creature for years since it killed his wife and family. After reactivating The Doctor, Seven, and Qatai are able to force the creature to eject both ships by igniting some of ''Voyager'' s antimatter with Qatai's weapons. The plan appears to be effective, both ships free of the creature, but Qatai asserts they are still inside the creature, and that their escape is what Seven desired and the creature is influencing her mind. They repeat the procedure, and are successfully ejected.

As ''Voyager'''s crew returns to consciousness and sets course to the Alpha Quadrant, first releasing a line of beacons to warn other vessels away from the creature. Qatai is seen sighing and returning to the creature, presumably having chosen to return to a life of delusional captivity or to continue fighting it.

The series focuses on the life of junior high school teacher Miss Carrie Bliss (Hayley Mills) at John F. Kennedy Junior High in Indianapolis. She is often put into morally difficult situations by her work and often serves as the only person her students could turn to. Her eighth grade students include:

Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), a charming, manipulative scamp. He is lazy, a bad student and always looking for the easy way out. Nonetheless, in the episode "Parents and Teachers", Miss Bliss says that Zack has the most potential of all her students.

Lisa Turtle (Lark Voorhies), a rich shopaholic; and best friend of Nikki. Lisa is the crush of many guys in the school and in Miss Bliss's class, especially Screech.

Samuel "Screech" Powers (Dustin Diamond), an awkward nerd with a crush on Lisa, but an excellent student and very honest.

Mikey Gonzalez (Max Battimo), Zack's best friend, who, although not generally as awkward as Screech, becomes quite shy around girls; a good student, especially in math and history but sometimes gets into conflict with Zack.

Nikki Coleman (Heather Hopper), who is outspoken and often advocates for the moral course of action when the others decide to misbehave.

The show also features Mylo Williams (T.K. Carter), a maintenance supervisor, and Miss Tina Paladrino (Joan Ryan), a quirky teacher and friend of Miss Bliss, with whom she often discusses her personal life, with Miss Paladrino acting as sounding board. Dennis Haskins plays the school principal, Mr. Richard Belding.

The show was cancelled after 13 episodes, and NBC reclaimed the rights to it, reformatting ''Good Morning, Miss Bliss'' into ''Saved by the Bell''; the characters of Zack, Lisa, Screech and Mr. Belding made the transition to ''Saved by the Bell'', which instead saw the four located in the fictional California suburb of Bayside.

The series was then integrated into the ''Saved by the Bell'' syndicated rerun package, with ''Miss Bliss'' episodes being introduced with a cold open by Mark-Paul Gosselaar (in character as Zack Morris) explaining that they were from an earlier time frame than the rest of the series, followed by a retrofitted version of the regular ''Saved by the Bell'' opening sequence.

The novel takes place on the planet of Worlorn, a world which is dying. It is a rogue planet whose erratic course is taking it irreversibly away from its neighboring stars into a region of cold and dark space where no life will survive. Worlorn's 14 cities, built during a brief window when the world passed close enough to a red giant star to permit life to thrive, are dying, too. Constructed to celebrate the diverse cultures of 14 planetary systems, they have largely been abandoned, allowing their systems and maintenance to fail.

The cast is a group of characters who are also flirting with death. Dirk t'Larien, the protagonist, finds life empty and of little attraction after his girlfriend Gwen Delvano leaves him. Most poignant of all, the Kavalar race, into which she has "married", is dying culturally. Their home planet has survived numerous attacks in a planetary war, and in response they have evolved social institutions and human relationship patterns to cope with the depredation of the war. Yet now that the war is long past, they find themselves trapped between those who would recognize that the old ways need to be reviewed for the current day and those who believe that any dilution of the old ways spells the end of Kavalar culture.

The battles, then, of all these varying actors are played out beneath the dying light falling on Worlorn. By the novel's end, many of the characters have died, though some endings are deliberately left ambiguous. Nonetheless, they have all faced their fears of death and of life.

The Dimension Transmitter is still in the experimentation stage. However, there is already contact with the eighth planet of the Vega system. With cameras and probes, data were collected from that planet. On the moon base, Ralph Common is lured into the Dimension Transmitter by a ''telepathic voice''. He overrides all safety locks and is transported to the Vega planet, where he is detained by the locals. Professor Common asks Commander Perkins and Major Hoffmann to bring back his son to the moon. They succeed; however, Ralph Common tells them that there must be a connection between Earth and Vega, since there are maps showing the area of the Mediterranean Sea. Communication with the Vegans is not yet possible, with the exception of the "Telepathic Voice", which only Ralph can hear.

The Vegans realize that there is a dimension portal set up between the worlds. By waiting at its warp point, they send an emissary to the moon who, however, is killed by accident. In an attempt to mediate, Perkins, Hoffmann and Ralph take another trip to the Vega. They fail, and Perkins is captured. A release attempt succeeds, but apparently the commander was brainwashed and remains in a kind of awake coma. Perkins awakes after half a year - at the same time a Vegan spaceship appears on Earth, which is later accidentally shot down (the ship creates an energy field which scrambles electronic processes in both machines and the human body). Vegan survivors try to reach the Dimension Transmitter in order to return to their home world. Professor Common wants to release the Vegans, but the military wants to cross-examine the extraterrestrials. But while transporting them back to the Vega an error occurs, Perkins, Hoffman and the Vegans are hurled not just through space and to the Vega planet, but also into the past, where the two humans witness the accidental death of a nobleman and are blamed for murder. At the last second, Professor Common finds the two men and can bring them back.

Meanwhile, clues were found that the Vegans had something to do with the Biblical disaster of Sodom and Gomorrah. All the Vegan men of the shot spaceship are declared dead, and in retaliation the Vegans send a space fleet to Earth in order to take revenge. The destruction of mankind seems inevitable. Perkins, Hoffman and Ralph travel to Vega to settle the conflict; there they meet Bordon the Immortal, whose aging process had been stopped by a curse (which is linked to the death of the nobleman Perkins and Hoffman had witnessed). Together they manage to halt the attack on earth, but it proves to be only a temporary solution.

As the Vegans poise to strike against Earth, Perkins takes a desperate gamble; against the strict orders of Colonel Jason, he hides Professor Common on a deserted moon station and merely disables the Dimension Transmitter, since he knows that the device is mankind's only hope to end this conflict. The Vegans invade Delta-4, but come up empty-handed and - as Perkins has hoped - are now willing to negotiate. To his surprise, the Vegan high commander turns out to be Bordon himself, who is also revealed as the telepathic voice which had lured Ralph into the Dimensional Transmitter. Bordon is participating in the war to prove that the humans are the ones to blame and the Vegans therefore have the right to retaliate. After much arguing, Perkins manages to persuade the Immortal to find the roots for the Vegan antipathy against the humans - by means of controlled time travel back to the last days of Sodom and Gomorrha.

Along with Ralph, Perkins, Hoffman and Bordon arrive near the two cities just in time to see a Vegan spaceship land. As it turns out, Sodom and Gomorrah had been the landing site of an ancient Vegan expedition. One of its members, Drapondor (an Immortal like Bordon himself) had disappeared, and that caused a conflict between the two people. As Perkins' group enters the city, they attract unwelcome attention and seek refuge in the house of Lot, where they find Drapondor - infected with leprosy, which is also the cause of his detachment from the expedition force. As the events transpire as recorded in the Bible, Perkins and his group, taking Lot and his family along, manage to escape just before the Vegans drop an atomic bomb, eradicating the two cities. The time travelers are whisked back into their own time at the last second; in Delta-4 Drapondor is cured of the disease, and the series ends with Bordon making a public apology to the people of the Earth.

Professor Common discovers a planet that is littered with spaceship wrecks across the planet's surface. The military (including Colonel Jason) have a primary interest in retrieving the weapons from the destroyed spaceships. During the exploration, the Humans are frightened by a highly sophisticated people. One of their scientists, Coleman, even ealerts the aliens to the humans' presence by activating some of the wrecks' equipment.

An evacuation of the planet takes place immediately, but documents determining the galactic position of the Earth brought along by Coleman remain on Arrow. Perkins and Hoffman, with the scientist in their company, are sent back to the ship graveyard to retrieve or destroy them, but the aliens (which resemble humanoid panthers) are alerted and Coleman begins to act increasingly irrational. As it turns out, he has come under the mental control of a metal-devouring creature the aliens use to dispose of the wrecks, which later kills the scientist. Perkins and Hoffman are taken prisoner.

In the meantime, Professor Common, Cindy and Colonel Jason try their best to retrieve Perkins' group, but they do not succeed. Instead, however, a strange device appears in the Dimension Transmitter which emanates strange impulses which grow stronger and stronger. The professor, assuming that the device is either a weapon or a homing beacon, immediately sends it to another solar system.

In their holding cell on Arrow, Perkins and Hoffman encounter a fellow prisoner: one of the aliens, who introduces himself as Polcor, a Galactic Weapon Master. In addition, the cell is telepathically empowered and begins to pull the information about Earth from their minds when Professor Common rescues them. After the two have reported, Colonel Jason realizes the value of Polcor as a source of information and sends them back - along with Ralph - to retrieve him from the cell and question him on an uninhabited planet. But Polcor's identity turns out to be a ruse: He is in fact the ruler of the Galactic Weapon Masters on Arrow, and he had developed a horrible weapon - a Sun Annihilator - for a greater cosmic power, the Middle Eye, which had, of course, been refused. In order to make up for the disgrace, Polcor tries to blame mankind for the existence of the weapon. What is worse is that the Sun Annihilator is actually the device Professor Common had accidentally snatched with the Dimension Transmitter.

Retrieving the Annihilator, Perkins, Hoffman, Ralph and Polcor return to Arrow, to be captured by the Middle Eye, an alien race appearing as sentient, eye-like beings. Polcor's accusations against the humans are easily countered by Perkins; still, the Middle Eye decides to keep the humans as prisoners to learn the location of Earth from them. Polcor, on the other hand, is punished for his deceit by being forced to watch his home planet getting destroyed by the Middle Eye. In revenge, Polcor frees the humans and enables their escape from the Eye's ship before they can be interrogated, and with the help of Professor Common they return safely to Earth.

Dr. John Lightfire has discovered a planet which exhibits best living conditions. After an examination too swift Humans begin to colonize "Lightfire." On a tour with Ralph Common and his friend George Croden Commander Perkins discover an ancient robot. The machine attempts to attack them, but collapses from weakness brought on by age. Ralph and George start to age rapidly. Humans determine Lightfire is a sacred planet which must not be set foot on by threat of annihilation of the whole race of the trespasser. In the hasty evacuation, the Copanian high priest Arentes manages to smuggle himself to Earth. He finds Humans interesting and wants to study them to find out, whether they might be worth to be spared. Meanwhile, the Humans have successfully deceived the Copanians into attacking a different uninhabited planet instead of Earth. Closer investigations determine the bait planet to be consumed by a Copanian controlled black hole is inhabited after all. Feverishliy, the Humans try to save the doomed planet and its inhabitants.

On planet Phart, Perkins, Hoffmann, Camiel, and Cindy Common discover a buried sleeper ship. On board is a martial people for whom the planet is meant to be a prison. Humans wake these warriors not knowing what grave danger for other planets they evoke. The ship takes course on the planet Canyoura around it to attack. Perkins and the others go to Canyoura to warn the population. The people of the planet to not believe them, citing that no one would dare attack the planet as it has one of the Seven Columns. When humans research the meaning of these columns, they are taken prisoner and trained to become gladiators for Canyouran entertainment. On the run Perkins and Hoffmann discover the secret of the First Column, immortality.

The film revolves around making films at Keystone Studios. Charlie plays an actor who bungles several scenes and is kicked off the studio. The next day a strange, beautiful woman appears to audition for the film - it’s Charlie in disguise. After doing a perfect impersonation of a female, Charlie has drawn the attention of the director who hires the new "actress" for his films. The director gives the beautiful woman the men's dressing room to change in. While there, Charlie returns to his tramp costume. When the director returns looking for the woman, he finds Charlie and realizes he has been tricked. Angry, the director chases Charlie through the studio until Charlie decides to jump into what he thinks is a prop well. The film ends with the director and other actors laughing at Charlie as he is trapped in the bottom of a real well. The plot involving a man dressing up as a woman was quite popular in silent movies.

Boyd Pritchett is a genial, easy-going twenty-something from Virginia who delivers his sister Wyleen to college in Boston. Then Boyd falls in love with Joy and decides to stay, much to Wyleen's dismay. Boyd eventually gets a job at the college to help pay his sister's tuition and shares an apartment with Wyleen whose inclination is to be sexually active, but Boyd tries to inspire her with his chaste pursuit of Joy.

Investment banker Laurel Ayres is a smart and single woman trying to make it up the Wall Street corporate ladder, until one day she finds out that she is passed over for a promotion because she is a woman. Unable to face the fact that her less intelligent male protege, Frank Peterson has now become her boss, she quits and tries to start up her own company only to find out that the male dominated world of Wall Street is not interested in taking an African American woman seriously, and thus is forced to create a fictional white man, Robert S. Cutty (inspired by a bottle of Cutty Sark) to legitimate her talents and make her professionally relevant in said world. Ayres does extensive research into the cultural and performative codes of the culture she seeks to impersonate. Ayres' financial wisdom is joined by the intelligent and computer-savvy secretary Sally Dugan, who also was not properly recognized for her talents. Together they are able to become the most successful independent stockbrokers in the world while helping a struggling high-tech computer company stay afloat.

However, the ruse eventually runs into problems because Cutty is still getting credit for Ayres' great ideas, while competing firms and tabloid journalists are willing to do anything in order to bring the wealthy and elusive Cutty into the public and on their side. Thus Ayres is forced to get her best friend (who works at a nightclub as a female impersonator) to create an effective disguise in the mould of Marlon Brando to try to fool the naysayers; when that fails, she and Dugan decide to kill Cutty only to be charged with his murder. Frank uncovers the ruse and pretends that he is now the front man to world-famous Cutty.

The film ends with Ayres donning the Cutty disguise one last time to attend a meeting of the exclusive gentlemen's club to accept Cutty's awards and unmasking herself in order to teach the male-dominated industry the evils of racial and sexual discrimination. Ayres is finally given credit for her work and creates a huge business empire with her friends at the helm. Frank attempts to land a job with the business, only to be laughed off.

The action takes place in a fictional Central European country, Karistan, where the beautiful Alta lives with her young blind daughter Jewel. Jewel has a friend in the form of an enigmatic white horse. Soon they meet an American visitor named Jim Martin, who has been sent to Karistan to prove that a new investment is not going to harm the environment in Karistan.

David Ramsay, a watchmaker, lives with his daughter Margaret on Fleet Street. He has two apprentices, Mr Vincent and Mr Tunstall. The two apprentices had run off to join in a street fray, and the goldsmith George Heriot was gossiping with Ramsay, when they brought in a fellow named Richie Moniplies with a broken head and very tattered garments. His wound having been dressed, he explained that he had come to London with his master Nigel Olifaunt to obtain payment of a debt owing to him by the king, and had been set upon as a stranger. Next morning Nigel received a visit, at his lodging with the chandler and his wife, from the goldsmith, who had known his father, and, having warned him that his estate was in danger, lent him money to appear in proper attire in Court. Heriot proceeded to Whitehall, and, having presented the young lord's petition, King James authorised him to advance part of the sum due, and promised to interest himself in his affairs.

St. James's Park todayDining with him the same day at the goldsmith's, in company with her father and Sir Mungo, Margaret lost her heart to Nigel, and employed Dame Ursula, the barber's wife, to ascertain all particulars respecting him. On being presented at Court by Lord Huntinglen he obtained an order for payment of his claim, and was introduced to the Duke of Buckingham, who announced himself as his enemy, and to the Duke's son, Lord Dalgarno, by whom he was initiated in all the vices of the aristocracy of that period, although warned by Richie, and by an anonymous letter. Meeting the Prince of Wales, later Charles I, in St. James's Park, attended by several courtiers, Nigel learnt from their manner, as well as from Sir Mungo, that he had been ill spoken of to Charles, upon which he challenged Dalgarno in the precincts of the Court, and was compelled to take refuge in Whitefriars to avoid arrest.

Here he renewed his acquaintance with the barrister Lowestoffe, whom he had met at Beaujeu's tavern, and was assigned to the care of old Trapbois the lodging-house keeper and his daughter. On hearing of Nigel's trouble Margaret sought an interview with Lady Hermione, who occupied a suite of apartments in Heriot's mansion, and, having revealed her secret, was supplied with money to help him, being told at the same time by her confidant of the ill usage she had suffered from Lord Dalgarno. Vincent, who was in love with his master's daughter, and had been encouraged by Dame Ursula in extravagant habits, was now engaged by her to act as his rival's guide in effecting his escape from London. The same night old Trapbois was murdered by two ruffians who came to rob him; and, just as he had rescued the daughter, whom the bailiff Hildebrod had advised him to marry, Nigel was accosted by the apprentice, dressed as a waterman, from whom he learnt that a warrant had been issued for his apprehension, and that a boat was in readiness for him to give the king's officers the slip. Martha begged that she might accompany him, and, having secured her father's treasure, they were conducted by Vincent to the Temple Stairs. Having landed his companion at Paul's Wharf, where she was taken charge of by Moniplies, Nigel insisted on disembarking at Greenwich, instead of joining a Scotch vessel which was waiting for him at Gravesend; and having made his way to the park, he attended the king while he killed a deer, when he was recognised and consigned to the Tower.

Presently Margaret, dressed as a boy, was shown into the same room; then the chandler came to claim his wife, whom he accused Nigel of having carried off; and, after he had dined, his friend Heriot arrived to reproach him with the position in which he had placed himself. He had also lost the king's warrant for his debt, and when his companion's disguise was detected, she saved him from further embarrassment by a full confession. One of her acts had been to present a petition to the king from Lady Hermione, on reading which he had commanded that Lord Dalgarno should instantly marry her; and another to offer such explanations respecting Nigel as induced his Majesty to pardon him. One hour only, however, remained within which to redeem his estates, when Moniplies appeared with the money, and Lord Dalgarno, who hoped to have secured them, was deprived of his revenge. The next day he was shot in Enfield Chase, where Captain Colepepper had planned to waylay him, as he was waiting, in company with Dame Nelly, and a page in charge of the treasure, to fight a duel with Nigel. Vincent and Lowestoffe, however, arrived in time to put two of the robbers to flight, while Moniplies killed the captain, who was suspected of having murdered Trapbois, and Christie recovered his wife. Nigel and Margaret were soon afterwards married; and as King James was honouring the feast with his presence, Richie presented Martha as his bride, who, at the same time, handed to the preserver of her life the deeds of the Glenvarloch estates, which she had freed from all liabilities, and the royal sign-manual which had been found among her father's papers.

Eduardo puts out a call to all of Mexico's youth to find members for his new musical group, Muñecos de papel ("Paper Dolls"), but at last minute he cancels everything to go on tour with his beloved Lorena. The group decides to forge ahead without Eduardo, and thus six young people get to live their dreams of achieving fame and fortune. The series addresses many problems facing today's youth in the anecdotes about the lives of the members of the band.

The legend of "Claire of New Orleans" is born after two fishermen find a wedding dress floating around on the Mississippi River one day. The legend tells that the Countess Claire Ledux disappeared on her wedding day in the year of 1840, and when the dress was found, the people of New Orleans assumed that the bride had committed suicide by throwing herself into the river. This is how the story begins, and then we find out what really happened, as the story of Claire Ledux is revealed.

When Claire arrives in New Orleans for the first time in her life she has a strong ambition to become Mrs Charles Giraud - a very rich and renowned banker. She gets her opening one night at the opera, when she manages to get the seat next to the banker. Trying to catch the unsuspecting banker's attention she fakes fainting in her seat. The banker immediately rushes to her rescue and Claire's mission is accomplished. Desperate to see the beautiful Claire again, Charles sends his valet over to Claire's maid Clementine after the opera. The maid forwards the message, asking Claire to meet with Charles in the park. Claire and the maid make a plan to let a man harass Claire in the park, so that Charles can come to her "rescue". But even the simplest plans go wrong, and on the way to the park Claire's carriage runs over a monkey by accident. The monkey belongs to river boat captain Robert Latour. He stops the carriage, but since Clementine believes this is the man they hired to make a fuzz with them, she tells the driver to go on and ignore the man. Robert Latour is aggravated by this behaviour and tips the carriage over.

After this incident, where Charles was not only stood up by Claire since the carriage never arrived, but also deprived of a chance to come to her aid, he swears to avenge Robert Latour's insolent behaviour. He also vows to properly take care of and guard Claire every night from now on.

Attending a Mardi Gras festivity, Claire recognizes Robert Latour in the crowd, and points him out to Charles, who is quick to challenge Robert to a duel. Robert gets to choose weapons, and he chooses knives, something Charles isn't quite prepared for. Robert gets a distinct advantage over Charles in the duel, and Claire steps in to interrupt what she fears will be the end of the banker's life. She tells Charles that she mistook Robert for someone else, thus ending the battle.

To settle the matter once and for all, Robert invites Claire to dinner on his rover boat the following night. He borrows 150 dollars to pay for the feast. But while Claire is getting ready for her meeting with Robert, Charles arrives and throws her a proposal of marriage there on the spot. Claire accepts his proposal, and sends a message via her maid to Robert, cancelling the dinner without telling him the real reason. Robert fears that Claire is taken ill and in need of a doctor. He rushes over to her house to offer his assistance, but sees Charles through the window, and realizes the real reason for her rejection.

Only two days before their wedding Charles throws a party in Claire's honor. To the party comes many distinguished guests, and among them are the newly arrived Russian gentleman Zolotov. This man sees Claire and recognizes her from St. Petersburg. During the evening Zolotov tells stories of Claire to a friend of his, Bellows, and Charles' brother-in-law hears them talk. Charles hears of the stories and is upset, challenging Zolotov to a duel. Zolotov has no wish to enter a duel with the banker, and swears he must have been mistaken, since the girl he knew was known to fake fainting to get a man's attention. At this point Claire faints and is carried out of the room.

The next day Charles comes to visit Claire in her home in order to break off their engagement. He doesn't get to meet Claire, but is instead confronted by a woman named Lili - in reality Claire, playing her illegitimate cousin from St. Petersburg. A woman of highly questionable reputation, seen from Charles' point of view. Charles agrees to meet with Lili that same night at the Oyster Bed Café, located down by the docks. Charles brings Zolotov and Bellows to the restaurant, and demands that Lili leave town never to return - he doesn't wish to be associated with the kind of woman she is. Feeling threatened, Lili decides to leave, but before she does she bumps into Robert Latour. Robert opens his heart to Lili and tells her he is in love with Claire, and has been since he first met with her. Charles finds Lili and Robert talking, and promises to settle Robert's loan debt if he takes Lili out of New Orleans. Robert agrees to this.

Robert passes by Claire's house and peers through the window, seeing Lili inside. He puts two and two together and realizes that Lili and Claire are the same person. He doesn't confront her, but tells what he has found out to Charles. They conspire to abduct Claire and hide her away on Robert's boat until the wedding. Once Robert arrives back to his boat with Claire, he sets her free and she decides to stay the night. The morning after Claire tells Robert that they will never see each other again.

The wedding is held as planned a day later, but when Claire sees Robert as one of the guests, she realizes that he is the one she loves and fakes fainting again. In the turmoil that follows, Claire disappears and is nowhere to be found. She sails away with Robert on his boat, and throws her wedding dress into the Mississippi river.

In the beginning of the game Kirt finds out that he is not in fact human, but comes from a parallel world where there was a war raging between shapeshifters for centuries. Kirt, and his grandfather, are the last of their kind, and now the evil ones have found them. Kirt's grandfather opens a portal back to the homeworld, and that is where the story begins. Kirt's mission is to stop the demons once and for all, but first he will need to awaken his innate shapeshifting powers, which is where the obelisks come into play. Going up to one of these and touching it will unlock a new form, and the first is the cat form. The main character of Kirt was based on the name of the game's software developer, Kurt Schallitz, and included his brown leather jacket. The face of Kirt is actually that of Raven Software's owner, Brian Raffel.

The novel takes Jacques Cormery from birth to his years in the lycée, or secondary school, in Algiers. In a departure from the intellectual and philosophical weight of his earlier works, Camus wanted this novel to be "heavy with things and flesh." It is a novel of basic and essential things: childhood, schooldays, the life of the body, the power of the sun and the sea, the painful love of a son for his mother, the search for a lost father. But it is also about the history of a colonial people in a vast and not always hospitable African landscape, about the complex relationship of a "mother" country to its colonists, and about the intimate effects of war as well as political revolution.

The film picks up directly after the events of the previous film. The capsized luxury liner S.S. ''Poseidon'' is still afloat after six survivors have been rescued by the French Coast Guard.

Tugboat captain Mike Turner (Michael Caine) spots the rescue helicopter and subsequently finds the shipwreck. Accompanied by second mate Wilbur (Karl Malden) and passenger Celeste Whitman (Sally Field), he heads out to claim salvage rights, as the tugboat ''Jenny'' lost her cargo in the same tsunami that capsized the ''Poseidon''.

They are soon followed by Dr. Stefan Svevo (Telly Savalas) and his crew, who claim to be Greek Orthodox medics who received the ship's SOS. They board the doomed vessel through the bottom hull opening left by the French rescue team, then become trapped after the entrance collapses. The group with Turner encounters the ship's nurse, Gina Rowe (Shirley Jones) and two passengers, elegantly dressed Suzanne Constantine (Veronica Hamel) and war veteran Frank Mazzetti (Peter Boyle), who is searching for his missing daughter Theresa (Angela Cartwright). Theresa is found, as are elevator operator Larry Simpson (Mark Harmon) and a "billionaire" called "Tex" (Slim Pickens) who clings to a valuable bottle of wine. Later they also find the blind Harold Meredith (Jack Warden) and his wife Hannah (Shirley Knight), who were waiting to be rescued.

Water continues to submerge decks and more explosions occur. Turner and his group find the purser's office, where Svevo decides he and his men will search for other survivors, parting ways with Turner's group. Another explosion causes the safe in the purser's office to fall through the bulkhead and open, revealing gold coins, diamonds and cash. Turner and Wilbur excitedly gather the coins.

Unknown to Turner and the survivors, Suzanne is actually working with Svevo. She takes a list containing information about a cargo of crates from the purser's office. Going off on her own, she gives Svevo the document but decides to rejoin Turner's group. Svevo orders Doyle, one of his men, to kill Suzanne. He shoots her, but before she dies she strikes Doyle with an axe, killing him. While making their way up through the decks, Turner and the others find Suzanne's corpse and reach the unpleasant conclusion that a murderer is on board.

Hannah dislocates her shoulder while helping her husband. Svevo and his men are found gathering a cargo of plutonium. Svevo reveals that his real intention for boarding the ''Poseidon'' was to retrieve his lost shipment of plutonium, adding that he can't let Turner and his group go now. However, before anyone is killed, another explosion occurs, allowing Turner's group to escape through another cargo room.

Turner, Mazzetti and Simpson find guns and attempt to make a fight of it. In the ensuing shoot-out, Mazzetti and Castrop, another of Svevo's men, are killed. Water floods the deck as Turner's group proceeds up to the next deck, where an injured Hannah is unable to climb a ladder: she falls into the rising water and drowns. While trying to rescue her, Turner loses all of his salvaged gold. Svevo and his one remaining gunman head back up to the ship's stern, where the rest of Svevo's team attempt to use a crane to raise the plutonium up to the hull, which is still above water but is slowly sinking.

In another section of the ship, Turner and the survivors exit the ship through an underwater side door, but due to shortage of scuba tanks, Wilbur (unknown to Turner and his group) sacrifices himself by swimming underwater and disappearing. Turner and Celeste swim to the tugboat ''Jenny'' and move it closer to the ''Poseidon'' as the remaining survivors swim towards it. Svevo's men see them and open fire. Tex, who in reality was not a wealthy passenger but a sommelier (part of the ''Poseidon'' s crew), holds onto his wine bottle as he is gunned down and perishes. The rest of Turner's group makes it to his tugboat and they sail away. Water continues to flood the ''Poseidon'', causing the boilers and then the plutonium cargo to erupt, exploding the ship's hull and sinking it stern first. As it sinks Svevo and his men are killed.

On board Turner's boat, Turner accepts that his tugboat ''Jenny'' will be taken from him when they get to port, but Celeste reveals a diamond she salvaged from the ''Poseidon''. Celeste asks Turner, "Are you going to kiss me now?" and Turner replies, "I was going to kiss you anyway." They do so and the tugboat ''Jenny'' sails away into the sunset with the survivors.

After the events of ''Capcom vs. SNK 2'' in a post-apocalyptic future where civilization is scarce and desolate, the famous tournament teams such as the ''Garcia Financial Clique'' (SNK) and the ''Masters Foundation'' (Capcom) are under an end-times crisis; a majority of them have all died, a minority of them went missing, and 36 of the small total have survived and are now locked in a war between Order and Chaos to decide the fate of the universe, whoever wins will return back to their centuries peacefully.

Ben White (Reb Brown) attends the funeral of his sister, journalist Karen White, the heroine of the previous film. Following her interment in a mausoleum, Ben meets both Jenny Templeton (Annie McEnroe), one of Karen's colleagues, and Stefan Crosscoe (Christopher Lee), a mysterious interloper who tells him Karen was a werewolf. Providing videotaped evidence of the transformation – and turning up to destroy Karen as her undead body rises from the grave – Crosscoe convinces Ben and Jenny to accompany him to Transylvania to battle Stirba (Sybil Danning), an immortal werewolf queen. Along the way, the trio encounter Mariana (Marsha Hunt), another lusty werewolf siren, and her minion, Erle (Ferdy Mayne).

Arriving in the Balkans, Ben and company wander through an ethnic folk festival, unaware that Stirba is off in her nearby castle already plotting their downfall. Stirba seems to have powers of witchcraft, as well as being a werewolf, for she intones the Wiccan chant ''Eko Eko Azarak''. Eventually, the adventurers battle with Stirba in an assault that involves disguised dwarfs, mutilated priests, and supernatural parasites, before Stirba is destroyed by Stefan at the cost of his own life. Ben and Jenny return home, where they become a couple and are greeted by a werewolf disguised as their neighbor's child. They go to the neighbor's house and ask about the child, to which the neighbor replies that he has no child, confirming their suspicions that the child was, in fact, a werewolf.

Kei Enjouji falls in love with kendo prodigy Ranmaru Samejima when they meet in their first year of middle school. From that moment on, Enjouji becomes determined to romantically pursue Ranmaru, regardless of the coldness and annoyance the other shows him. Throughout their remaining years in school, their relationship grows from awkward friendship to a strong love.

When Enjouji's mother dies during his third year of high school, she leaves him a letter revealing that he is the eldest, albeit illegitimate, son of yakuza boss Takeshi Sagano. Seeing Enjouji's distress over his mother's death, Ranmaru vows to protect him. Ranmaru makes good on his promise that very afternoon, saving Enjouji's life by shoving him out of the way of a yakuza hit man's car. Ranmaru survives the hit-and-run, but he is gravely injured and it looks like he will have to give up kendo. Enjouji supports Ranmaru throughout his extensive physical therapy. With their love for each other strengthened by adversity, the two start living together.

Neither of them want to have dealings with the yakuza, but get drawn into it when Enjouji's younger half-brother, Kai Sagano, Takeshi's legitimate son, comes looking for trouble. Kai says that he loves Ranmaru too and blames Enjouji for everything that has gone wrong with his life. Despite the rocky start, Enjouji and Ranmaru soon befriend Kai. At one point, Kai saves a drugged-up Ranmaru from a lecherous professor. He ends up taking advantage of Ranmaru's vulnerable state and rapes him, but neither Enjouji nor Ranmaru hold a grudge against Kai. While Kai claims to love Ranmaru, he has more than platonic feelings for his bodyguard, Masanori Araki. Masanori has been Kai's caretaker since he was little and has a brother-like relationship with the boy. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Kai is the son of a yakuza boss.

Enjouji and Ranmaru are a mostly-happy couple, but when Ranmaru finds lipstick on Enjouji's chest, he becomes suspicious and leaves in a huff. Enjouji follows Ranmaru throughout the day. As they do so, the two men think about their past and their uncertain future.

The Kazama syndicate had been one of the most powerful and respected yakuza syndicates in Japan. But one day, the leader of the syndicate is brutally murdered and the syndicate is brought down as members of the organization are forced to scatter. Among these are Kazama's young children, including his oldest son Ryūji. They take refuge with their aunt and in time forget the tragedy that befell their family.

Years later, when Ryūji has grown into a teenager, he comes home to find his aunt being gang-raped by apparently random thugs. The violence then escalates out of control and leaves everyone in the room dead, except for Ryūji who is covered in blood. Though it's unclear what exactly transpired in the room, Ryūji's arrested for all the murders, tried, and sentenced to life in prison.

Ryūji spends only four years in prison, but it's not an easy time for him. Brutally beaten and gang-raped constantly, he becomes bitter at the world and wishes for death. But it's in prison that he meets former allies of his father's organization and he truly learns what he is. He even gains the strength to stand up to his tormentors, although his actions will later come back to haunt him.

Upon his release Ryūji meets up with an older man named Hitoshi Araki, who comes to his aid when a thug tries to mug him. But Hitoshi isn't some stranger; he too was part of the Kazama syndicate—more so, one of Ryūji's father's most trusted allies and Ryūji's protector when Ryūji was younger. It's through Hitoshi that Ryūji begins to get a sense of his humility and innocence back and the two men form a deep, unbreakable bond that gradually grows into love.

Unfortunately for these two, being in with the yakuza won't give them an easy life of peace. And though Ryūji had already suffered so much in his young life, it's only inevitable that it gets worse for him.

An aging director (named "Bergman") conjures in his imagination the central character, Marianne. He interviews her to compose the story of her life-changing affair. Marianne had been happily married to Markus, an orchestra conductor, with a young daughter Isabelle. Her best friend is David, who is seeking funding for a film project. When Markus is away, David approaches Marianne and they go to Marianne's home. There, David surprises her by asking her if they can sleep together. Marianne asserts she sees David more as a brother; she eventually agrees they can sleep in the same bed in nightwear and without sexual relations. However, the two note they are both planning to be in Paris, France, for separate projects. Markus is aware of their travel plans, and Marianne speculates she and David can meet in Paris, and they would not have to deceive Markus about seeing each other there. In Paris, Marianne and David begin their affair. David also asks Marianne about her sexual history, and Marianne shares her "modest" list of experiences; but this mostly consists of her relations with Markus, who she said had satisfied her in ways no one else had. This triggers a violent jealous reaction in David.

David and Marianne continue their affair after returning from Paris. Following heard rumors, Markus eventually discovers the two together. Markus begins to seek a divorce, and seeks full custody of Isabelle. Marianne gets a lawyer, who tells her Markus has the upper hand, given her desertion of the home. Marianne moves in with David and the two plan to get married; Marianne becomes pregnant with his child. Her lawyer advises that these improved conditions could help her custody case. Markus eventually reaches out to Marianne to meet him alone to settle the custody case, ostensibly for Isabelle's sake. Despite David's angry objections, she agrees to go. At the meeting, Markus blackmails her for sex in exchange for custody.

Marianne confesses to the affair to David. The two separate and Marianne has an abortion. After hearing Markus has committed suicide, Marianne learns he had also been unfaithful with his page-turner. Bergman bids farewell to Marianne, but she says she suspects they will meet again.

John Ashbery summarizes ''Locus Solus'' thus in his introduction to Michel Foucault's ''Death and the Labyrinth'':

"A prominent scientist and inventor, Martial Canterel, has invited a group of colleagues to visit the park of his country estate, Locus Solus. As the group tours the estate, Canterel shows them inventions of ever-increasing complexity and strangeness. Again, exposition is invariably followed by explanation, the cold hysteria of the former giving way to the innumerable ramifications of the latter. After an aerial pile driver which is constructing a mosaic of teeth and a huge glass diamond filled with water in which float a dancing girl, a hairless cat named Khóng-dek-lèn, and the preserved head of Danton, we come to the central and longest passage: a description of eight curious tableaux vivants taking place inside an enormous glass cage. We learn that the actors are actually dead people whom Canterel has revived with 'resurrectine', a fluid of his invention which if injected into a fresh corpse causes it continually to act out the most important incident of its life."

As well as Czech, Dutch, Italian, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Spanish, and other translations, there have been three English translations of the work in question, all based on Rupert Copeland Cunningham's scholarship and transcription.

The author presents a centralized Earth society of the sixty-sixth century, in which children are educated by almost instantaneous direct computer/brain interface, a process known as ''taping''. This system is similar to the BrainCap, a concept later explored by Arthur C. Clarke. Besides educating its own people this way, Earth also supplies educated professionals to other planets, the Outworlds.

People in this future society are taught to read at the age of eight and then Educated at the age of eighteen. Each person's professional speciality is dictated by an analysis of his or her brain, with no choices allowed to the subject. The best of the Educated people compete in professional "Olympics" in the hope of being "bought" by an advanced Outworld. To stay on Earth is almost an admission of failure.

George Platen is determined to be a Computer Programmer, a profession in demand, and he hopes to qualify for "export" to a top-flight Outworld. On Reading Day, however, concerns are raised about George's ability to be Educated. On George's Education Day, he is told that his brain is unfit for any form of Education. He is drugged and sent to a House for the Feeble Minded.

Although not under physical guard, George stays in the House for a year, where the staff tolerates and even encourages his philosophical and intellectual ruminations as a way to pass the time. He is befriended by Omani, who seems to take a personal interest in George's plight. George then determines to escape, to leave and seek out Dr. Antonelli who told him he was feeble-minded, and confront him.

George visits the Olympics, which are happening in San Francisco at that time. He meets his friend Armand Trevelyan, who has been Taped as a 'Metallurgist, Nonferrous'. Trev is excited about his opportunities but performs poorly on the Beeman spectrograph — his Taping was inadequate regarding the new device—and he is forced to take employment on a fourth-rate Outworld. George, watching Trev bitterly depart, wishes him well. Trev turns and sarcastically asks, "Well, what have you done?" He then shakes George. A passing policeman breaks up the scuffle and asks George for his identity card. His ruse is up, he will be exposed as an Uneducated escapee.

Suddenly a stranger appears. He gives the policeman his business card and takes possession of George. The stranger introduces himself as Ladislas Ingenescu, Registered Historian. George and Ingenescu enter into a long conversation about history, society, and progress. George impatiently demands, and Ingenescu obtains for him, an interview with a Novian, an Outworlder on Earth to purchase talent. The Outworlder knows Ingenescu personally. He expresses anger at the Registered Historian (why to a Registered Historian, George wonders?) over Earth continually introducing very minor changes to the Tapes — such as the recent addition of the Beeman spectrograph for Metallurgists — necessitating the Outworlds to keep spending money to stay up to date. The Registered Historian introduces George as someone who thinks he may have a better solution. George contends that people can learn in ways other than being Taped, such as by reading books and in discussion with those who already hold the desired knowledge. This baffles the Outworlder, who sees it only as a source of additional expense. He breaks off their conversation. George is dismayed; the Registered Historian offers condolences.

George is returned to the House and discovers the reality: the House is an Institute of Higher Studies. Those people who have the urge and persistence to create, even though they have been told otherwise about their abilities, are sent there to support the advancement of science and civilization. George has always been under constant observation, and it was subtly but deliberately suggested that he escape and seek out the doctor who sent him there. Reflecting on his experiences "outside," George realizes that a man named Beeman would have to have been the inventor of the Beeman spectrograph. Beeman could not have been Tape-educated and still have created the new device. Someone has to program the Tapes that program the Educated, "men and women with capacity for original thought." George's "keepers" in the Institute are revealed as sociologists, psychologists, historians, scientists, and other professionals who also demonstrated an innate capacity for original thought but not the stamina to keep fighting to express it. Their job is to help other determined, innovators like George a small fraction to avoid the same fate. The future of society is at stake.

George himself has one final question. He asks, "Why do they call them Olympics?".

''Washington Post'' columnist John Klein and his wife Mary are involved in a car accident when Mary swerves to avoid a huge, flying, black figure. John survives the crash unscathed, but Mary is hospitalized. There she is diagnosed with an unrelated brain tumor and shortly thereafter passes away. John discovers her sketchbook of terrifying drawings of a "mothlike" creature with red eyes she drew over and over while hospitalized.

Two years later, John becomes lost in West Virginia and inexplicably finds himself in Point Pleasant, hundreds of miles off his route. Driving in the middle of the night, his car breaks down, and he walks to a nearby house to get help. The owner, Gordon Smallwood, reacts violently to John's appearance and holds him at gunpoint. Local police officer Connie Mills defuses the situation while Gordon explains that this is the third consecutive night John has knocked on his door at 2:30 AM asking to use the phone. Connie and John try to make sense of these events. John stays at a local motel and ponders how he ended up so far from his original destination.

Officer Mills discloses to John that many strange things have been occurring in the past few weeks and that people have reported seeing a large winged creature like a giant moth with red eyes. She also tells him about a strange dream she had, in which the words "Wake up, Number 37" were spoken to her. During a conversation with Gordon, he reveals to John that he has heard voices coming from his sink telling him that, in Denver, "99 will die." While discussing the day's events at a local diner, John notices that the news is showing the story of an airplane crash in Denver that killed all 99 passengers aboard.

The next night Gordon frantically explains that the voices in his head emanate from a being named Indrid Cold. Later on, Gordon calls John and says that he is standing next to Indrid Cold. While John keeps Cold on the line, officer Mills checks on Gordon. Cold gives John details about his life that only he knows and John tests Cold with questions that only he could know if he were in the same room with him. John is convinced that Cold is a supernatural being.

This particular event escalates a string of supernatural calls to John's motel room from Cold. One tells him that there will be a great tragedy on the Ohio River. Later, John receives a cryptic call from Gordon and rushes to his home to check on him. He finds Gordon outside, dead from exposure.

John becomes obsessed with the local "Mothman" legend and arranges to meet an expert on the subject, Alexander Leek. He explains its nature and discourages John from becoming further involved. However, when John learns the governor plans to tour a chemical plant located on the Ohio River the following day, he becomes convinced the tragedy will occur there. Officer Mills and the governor ignore his warnings, and nothing happens during the tour. Soon after, John receives a mysterious letter that instructs him to await a call from his deceased wife Mary back in Georgetown on Christmas Eve at noon. He returns home to wait for her call.

On Christmas Eve, Officer Mills calls John to convince him to ignore the phone call from "Mary," return to Point Pleasant, and join her and her family for Christmas Eve dinner. She says he shouldn't be alone on that night as it is "no way to be." Though anguished, John agrees. As John reaches the Silver Bridge, malfunctioning traffic lights cause traffic congestion on the entire bridge. As John walks onto the bridge to investigate, the bolts and supports of the bridge strain. The bridge comes apart, and John realizes that the prophesied tragedy on the Ohio River was about the bridge, not the power plant. As the bridge collapses, Officer Mills' car falls into the water. John jumps in after her and pulls her from the river to safety. As the two sit in the back of an ambulance they are informed that 36 people have been killed. That makes Connie the "number 37" from her dream.

The cause of the bridge collapse was never fully determined. Although Mothman has been sighted in other parts of the world, it was never seen again in Point Pleasant.

The main narrative tells the story of Powers' return to his ''alma mater'' – referred to in the novel as simply "U.", but clearly based on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the school Powers attended and teaches at as a professor – after he has ended a long and torrid relationship with a loving but volatile woman, referred to as "C." Powers is an in-house author for the university, and lives for free for one year. He finds himself unable to write any more books, and spends the first portion of the novel attempting to write, but never getting past the first line.

Powers then meets a computer scientist named Philip Lentz. Intrigued by Lentz's overbearing personality and unorthodox theories, Powers eventually agrees to participate in an experiment involving artificial intelligence. Lentz bets his fellow scientists that he can build a computer that can produce an analysis of a literary text that is indistinguishable from one produced by a human. It is Powers' task to "teach" the machine. After going through several unsuccessful versions, Powers and Lentz produce a computer model (dubbed "Helen") that is able to communicate like a human. It is not clear to the reader or to Powers whether she is simulating human thought, or whether she is actually experiencing it. Powers tutors the computer, first by reading it canonical works of literature, then current events, and eventually telling it the story of his own life, in the process developing a complicated relationship with the machine.

The novel also consists of extensive flashbacks to Powers' relationship with C., from their first meeting at U., to their bohemian life in Boston, to their move to C.'s family's town in the Netherlands.

The novel culminates with Helen being unable to bear the realities of the world, and "leaving" Powers. She asks Powers to "see everything" for her, and subsequently shuts herself down. Her exit from the world forces Powers to experience a rebirth. In addition, Powers realizes that ''he'' was Lentz's experiment: would he or wouldn't he be able to teach a computer? Through the transformation he experiences, he is suddenly able to interact with the world, and he can write again.

When Josh Ockmann (Jonathan Tucker) enters a dark university library intending to meet his friend Douglas Ziegler (Kel O'Neill), he is attacked by a humanoid spirit that sucks the life force out of him. Some days later, Josh's girlfriend, Mattie Webber (Kristen Bell), visits his apartment, seeing evidence that it has not been well kept. Josh tells Mattie to wait in the kitchen while he walks off. While waiting she finds Josh's pet cat, locked in a closet and dying from severe malnutrition. But when she rushes to tell him, she finds that he has committed suicide by hanging himself with an Internet cable.

Mattie and her friends begin to receive online messages from Josh asking for help, but assume that Josh's computer is still on and that a virus is creating the messages. Mattie learns that Josh's computer has been sold to Dex McCarthy (Ian Somerhalder), who finds a number of strange videos on the computer. Mattie receives a package that Josh mailed two days prior to his death. Inside are rolls of red tape and a message telling her that the tape keeps "them" out, although he does not know why. Later, Dex visits Mattie and shows her video messages that Josh was sending to Ziegler. Josh had hacked Ziegler's computer system and then distributed a virus. This virus had unlocked a portal that connected the realm of the living to the realm of the dead. Josh believed that he had coded a counter to the virus and wanted to meet Ziegler at the library. Josh's counter-program is found on a memory stick taped inside the PC case with red tape.

Dex and Mattie visit Ziegler and find his room entirely plastered in red tape. They believe that the red tape keeps the spirits out. Ziegler tells them of a project he worked on where he found "frequencies no one knew existed." Opening these frequencies somehow allowed the spirits to travel to the world of the living. Ziegler also tells them that these spirits "take away your will to live" and where to find the main server infected with the virus.

Dex and Mattie find the server and upload Josh's fix, causing the system to crash and the spirits to vanish. Moments later, however, the system reboots and the spirits return, leaving Mattie and Dex with no option but to flee the city by car. Over the car radio, Mattie and Dex hear a report from the Army announcing the location of several "safe zones" where there are no Internet connections, cell phones, or televisions. As Dex and Mattie are driving to a safe zone, a voice-over from Mattie is heard saying "We can never go back. The cities are theirs. Our lives are different now. What was meant to connect us to one another instead connected us to forces that we could have never imagined. The world we knew is gone, but the will to live never dies. Not for us, and not for them." The film closes by showing various clips of abandoned cities, which includes a window of an apartment with Josh looking through it.

Taylor Rusk is a star college quarterback and a can't-miss prospect in The League. Through various illegal means, North Texas is awarded an expansion franchise. As expected, the expansion Texas Pistols draft Rusk number one. The Pistols have a five-year plan to turn the team into champions, and getting Taylor Rusk ready is the key. But Rusk is on to the corruption and refuses to be a victim. With his college coach at the helm and "old league" legends mentoring him, Taylor Rusk plays The League's game until it's time for him to make his most daring move to bring it down.

But along the way, Rusk is betrayed. One teammate, a chronic con man, becomes the Pistols' general manager and ultimately betrays him. Another teammate suffers a devastating knee injury and the subsequent surgery is botched. Rusk sees him get tossed aside and, due largely to steroid abuse, he murders his family and commits suicide.

Five years later, the Texas Pistols are world champions, but Taylor Rusk has little time to celebrate. He's got to save the life of another victim: the woman he's fallen in love with — who's also the mother of his son. They ultimately take control of the Texas Pistols for him.

After a shootout with dozens of assassins, Wong Kom, bodyguard to Chot Petchpantakarn, the wealthiest man in Asia, finds his client killed.

Chaichol, the son and heir to the family fortune, fires the bodyguard and takes it upon himself to find the killers. He's then ambushed, and the rest of the bodyguard team is wiped out. Chaichol, however, comes out of it alive, and finds himself in a Bangkok slum, living with a volunteer car-accident rescue squad and falling in love with tomboyish Pok.

Meanwhile, Wong Kom is working to clear his name, and stay ahead of the chief villain and his bumbling gang of henchmen.

After her parents are killed in a drive-by shooting, a young woman named Oui has no place else to go. She shows up at a printing house run by her Aunt Bua and is given the task of caring for her aunt's grandson, a young boy named Arm, a kid who sees ghosts.

Oui suffers from hallucinations, brought on by the trauma of seeing her parents killed, and is taking medications. And Aunt Bua is involved in some sort of mysticism, and keeps a strange shrine in the house.

With the drug war by prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as a subtext, many threads in this strange ghost story are somehow tied together.

From the official website:

''"Banished deep into the evil Banewoods for daring to practice her own unique brand of Molotov Magick, outcast Dogwitch Violet Grimm continues to stretch the boundaries of accepted 21st Century witchcraft. As tales of bad sex and dangerous voodoo spread her infamy through the Banewoods, Violet captures the attention of a multitude of weirdos and resigns herself to what she believes is her predestined B-movie lifestyle. Churning out provocative home videos for a berserk and hungry fan base in her pursuit of arcane knowledge, she feeds her diary with the dating rituals of the sick and heinous. Violet is the Garbo of witches, a reclusive legend in a depraved, gory, funny and fiendishly sexy world."''

''Suzuka'' is a sports-themed romance comedy that intertwines the pursuit of love and athletics. The story is based around Yamato Akitsuki, a young man from rural Hiroshima Prefecture moving to the big city of Tokyo, and his new next-door neighbor, Suzuka Asahina, a skilled high jumper. Yamato falls in love with Suzuka and pursuing a relationship with her he joins the track and field team hoping to impress her. After joining, Yamato discovers that he has the potential to become a top hundred-meter sprinter.

Suzuka's character-driven plot predominantly makes use of dramatic structure to facilitate character development. Characterization is further achieved through the use of character back-story. The story in general employs a realistic tone, but occasionally uses surreal humour. Some events covered in the story are: track competitions, vacations, culture festivals, and outings to a Karaoke Box and a theme park. The manga and anime follow the same storyline, though there are minor differences. One of these changes is that the nude scenes are less graphic in the anime than the manga. Another disparity is the hair color of some of the characters such as the character Miki, who is depicted as having bright red hair on the covers of the manga, but is portrayed with red-brown hair in the anime.

The Swallows and Amazons are in Lowestoft, preparing for a cruise aboard a schooner, the ''Wild Cat'', with Captain Flint, the Blacketts' uncle Jim Turner. Unfortunately the other adult (Sam Bideford) cannot come and so the cruise is threatened until Peter Duck, an elderly seaman, offers to come along to help. In the harbour a larger black schooner, the ''Viper'', is fitting out for a voyage and Peter Duck's presence aboard the ''Wild Cat'' interests Black Jake, the ''Viper''’s captain. Peter Duck spins a yarn about a treasure that he saw being buried long ago, when marooned on a desert island in the Caribbean Sea, and which Black Jake wants to find. When the ''Wild Cat'' sails, the ''Viper'' is quick to follow and trails her down the English Channel, at one point threatening to board her in the night.

In a fog off Land's End, the crew of the ''Wild Cat'' give the ''Viper'' the slip but pick up the ''Viper''’s cabin boy, Bill, who has been set adrift to try and fool the ''Wild Cat''’s crew with false signals. They continue across the Atlantic Ocean to Crab Island where they spend several days searching in vain for Peter Duck's treasure.

When a hurricane blows up, Peter Duck and Captain Flint take the ''Wild Cat'' out to sea to ride out the storm, leaving the Swallows and Amazons ashore. There is an earthquake during the storm, and when the schooner returns all the paths to the treasure-hunters' camp are blocked by landslides and fallen trees. However, a fallen palm tree exposes a small box, Peter Duck's treasure, which the children recover. They decide to sail round to the anchorage as the land route is blocked.

While Captain Flint attempts to cross the island to rescue the Swallows and Amazons, the ''Viper'' arrives and Peter Duck and Bill are captured. The crew of the ''Viper'' also go ashore to look for the treasure. The children rescue Peter Duck and Bill, and then the ''Wild Cat'' sails back to the other side and they pick up Captain Flint just before Black Jake arrives. They attempt to sail away from the island but the wind dies and the ''Viper'' looks like catching them, but they are saved by a waterspout which destroys the ''Viper''. They return home safely without further incident. The contents of the treasure chest proves to be a collection of nautical literature and a sizeable number of pearls, which --- though indeed of considerable value --- turn out to not really be worth the vast fortune that one might have expected in a buccaneer's buried chest. The story's main characters divide up the assets appropriately, with funds going to sensible and practical ventures such as purchasing a better seagoing vessel for Peter, setting up college funds for the children, and so on.

Five thousand years ago, in Sumer, the fallen angels had intercourse with human females and their offspring were a race of giants called Nephilim, destroyed by the great flood. The evil angel Ammon (Navid Negahban) mummifies his son Aramis to save him and hides in hell. In the present day, the archaeologist Matt Fletcher (Casper Van Dien) finds Aramis tomb while excavating for building a resort for the entrepreneur Morton (Robert Wagner). The engineer Angela (Kristen Miller) joins the team, giving support in the diggings. When some workers mysteriously vanish, Morton hires the security force of Ammon to find the missing men. However, his real intention is to resurrect Aramis in the eclipse of the moon and dominate the human race with a new breed of giants. In the end, by creating a flood, they are able to drown both Aramis and Ammon, but not before Ammon reveals he has other children scattered at the four corners of the globe.

The film starts out with FBI and ATF agents on a pursuit to stop a truck carrying illegal guns as part of an illegal arms operation. The result is the death of the driver, which leads to a disagreement with FBI and ATF agents on involvement with the case.

Truck driver Jack Crews (Patrick Swayze) has just been released from jail for vehicular manslaughter, for accidentally hitting and killing a motorist and his passenger on the side of the road during a trip in which he experienced a Black Dog hallucination brought on by exhaustion. Along with his imprisonment, he also lost his Commercial driver's license. Following his release, he attempts to get back to a normal life, but this time works as a truck mechanic for a local repair shop in New Jersey, unable to drive himself. His manager, Frank Cutler (Graham Beckel), offers him a job driving a load of toilets from Atlanta to New Jersey for $10,000. Jack initially declines the offer, but when he discovers that his house will be repossessed unless he pays off his debt, he then changes his mind and takes the job.

He flies down to Atlanta to meet up with Red (Meat Loaf), who runs the trucking yard. Red initially gives Jack a brand-new truck to haul the load, but Jack chooses an older Peterbilt 379 so as not to draw too much attention. He is accompanied on the trip by Earl (Randy Travis) riding shotgun, and Sonny (Gabriel Casseus) and Wes (Brian Vincent) following in Sonny's Chevrolet Camaro for policy protection. As they make their way to New Jersey, the quartet experience several run-ins with Red and his crew as they attempt to hijack the load, in retaliation for the failed negotiations with Cutler about money. During the trip, Jack finds out that his load also contains illegal guns (over $3,000,000 worth, according to ATF), and that Wes has been informing Red of their whereabouts throughout the trip. Jack also discovers that Sonny is an FBI agent when he is shot and killed by Red during another hijack attempt, and that the FBI has been tracking their whereabouts as well. Jack then reveals to Earl and Wes that he lost his license due to seeing the Black Dog, a herald of destruction for truckers, and how he didn't see the motorist until it was too late.

Things worsen when Cutler takes Jack's wife Melanie and daughter Tracy hostage to ensure that Crews will complete the job and finish the entire trip. Despite the numerous attempts from Red to hijack the load, as well as Sonny's death, Jack manages to survive each attempt. When they make it to Maryland, Jack, aware of the entire plot, formulates a plan to turn over the guns to the FBI and to get his family back. Wes, at this point, has gone his separate way, while Earl decides to stay on until the end. Jack puts the FBI tracking device on the truck that Wes is leaving on and eventually the FBI pulls over the truck to realize it is the wrong one. However, Jack calls Agent Allen Ford (Charles Dutton), who is leading the case, on Wes' cell phone, telling him his plan to meet him at a loading dock in Jersey, where he will be meeting with Cutler to exchange the guns for his family.

When the meeting occurs, the FBI arrives and a shootout occurs with Cutler's men. Jack is able to catch Cutler before he can escape and then turns him over to the FBI. As a token of gratitude, the FBI gives Jack his commercial driver's license back, and also tells the Crewses that their house won't be foreclosed, in return for his assistance during the operation and they thank him for bringing Sonny's body back. He is also given the key to drive the truck one last time to the impound lot. Also, Jack thanks Earl, who was wounded in the shootout between the FBI and Cutler's men, for staying, and in return Earl tells Jack to take care of his dog, Tiny (a pit bull riding in the trailer as a guard), until he heals and everything is sorted out.

As the Crews’ leave the docks for the impound lot, they are intercepted by Red, who makes one last attempt at Jack's life, but ultimately their slamming into each other causes Red to lose control of his truck, which then flips over numerous times before getting hit by a train and exploding.

Prior to the beginning of the story, humanity has been expelled from Earth by powerful aliens known as "the Invaders", and scattered across eight planets and satellites of the Solar System, the so-called Eight Worlds. The Invaders originate from a gas giant planet, and have occupied Jupiter, forbidding human access to it. Human expansion to the Eight Worlds has been aided by a broadcast of information from outside the Solar System, named "The Ophiuchi hotline" after the constellation from which it appears to originate. The information received from this includes extensive material on biological modification, and while sex changes and other modifications have become routine surgeries, experimentation with human DNA remains taboo and forbidden on penalty of death. Related to this, while technology has been developed to allow people to back-up their memories, this is only permitted for implantation within a cloned body in case of death. Due to resource scarcity, only one clone of a person is allowed to exist at any one time, and, similarly, reproduction is restricted to one child per person. An exception exists for those people who join the artificially-created symbionts that can live openly in the vacuum of space.

The protagonist, Lilo, has experimented with human DNA and, when discovered, is sentenced to death. However, the night before her execution, a powerful lunar politician named Tweed offers her the chance to escape her sentence by replacing her with a clone killed in her place. Lilo accepts and Tweed takes her into hiding.

Tweed is the leader of a movement that intends to expel the Invaders and recover Earth, and makes Lilo join this movement under the watch of Vaffa, a guard that has multiple illegal clones, both male and female. Lilo attempts to escape twice, but each time she is killed by Vaffa, and a clone is revived with her original memories.

The third clone of Lilo is sent to an outlying moon of Jupiter, Poseidon, within which Tweed pursues clandestine research performed by illegal clones. Lilo bonds with Cathay, the teacher of the colony's children, and they become lovers. She is given a null-field suit — a conforming forcefield with an air generator that protects her from the vacuum — and is tasked with researching how to kill creatures that live in Jupiter's atmosphere. She reveals to Cathay that, when she began her original experiments, she put a clone of herself and a backup of her memories in a secret base in Saturn's rings, to ensure her survival in the event that she was executed.

Tweed then acquires a micro black hole with the intention of passing it through Jupiter in an attack on the Invaders. Lilo and Cathay board the ship transporting the black hole and seize it. After a struggle, Lilo and a Vaffa clone fall towards Jupiter. Vaffa dies, but Lilo encounters an Invader and is taken to a future version of Earth almost devoid of humanity.

Tweed then awakens another version of Lilo and sends her with a clone of Vaffa to Pluto to research a new message coming from the Ophiuchi Hotline. This one has been translated as a payment demand for the information that humanity has received, but does not specify what form the payment is to take. Lilo and Vaffa find a second clone of Cathay, and the three of them are tasked to lease a ship from navigators dedicated to hunt for black holes, and go beyond the orbit of Pluto to analyze the message. They eventually hire Javelin, one of the most successful black hole hunters.

Once in space, Javelin reveals that the black hole hunters have discovered that the beam of the Hotline originates from a point only half a light-year away from the solar system, scrambled to seem to come from much farther, and she will take them to the source of the beam. However, since the trip will take 20 years Lilo, Vaffa and Cathay go in hibernation.

In the meantime, the first clone of Cathay uses the stolen ship to reach Lilo's base. There he meets Parameter/Solstice, a human-symbiont pair who also know the location of the base. They revive the clone and use the ship to attack Poseidon, taking it out of orbit and destroying its security systems. To do this they crash Lilo's base into a black hole held in a force field on the moon's surface. They carry out a plan to transform the asteroid into a ship to travel to Alpha Centauri, but reveal Tweed's dangerous activities to the Eight Worlds, forcing Tweed to go into hiding.

When Javelin's ship and its passengers reaches the source of the Hotline, they are greeted by seemingly-human extraterrestrials who have been expecting them. They explain that most races in the universe have experienced a similar history with the Invaders: they are expelled from their home planets by the Invaders; they attempt to recover their planets by force, much as Tweed has been doing; and in the ensuing conflict they are driven out of their solar systems entirely. The extraterrestrials have been broadcasting information via the Ophiuchi Hotline to give humanity the tools they need for survival, and the price they ask in exchange is to be allowed to live alongside and within the minds of humans, so that they can add humanity's experience and thoughts to their own pool of knowledge. They suggest that, if humanity does not comply, they will turn the symbionts into an army that will attack humanity on the Eight Worlds.

The clone of Lilo previously transported to Earth spends 25 years there. Because of her null-field suit which she can turn on at will, she is worshipped as a god by the surviving humans scratching a living at a pre-industrial technological level. During a dive to hunt a whale, she encounters an Invader, somehow steals a silver cube from it and is instantaneously transported to the source of the Hotline. There she meets her clone, and they find that the memories and knowledge of all of their clones, including those killed by Tweed, are somehow mixed and shared between them.

Somewhat surprised by this turn of events, the extraterrestrials explain that the silver cube is a singularity that can be used for space propulsion by canceling inertia. They add that the Invaders only give such a "gift" to races when they're preparing to expel them entirely from their home planetary system. Confronted with this news, Javelin, Cathay, Vaffa and both clones of Lilo return to the solar systems to alert humanity.

As the novel concludes, the clone of Lilo traveling in the asteroid towards Alpha Centauri meditates on her shared memories, and realizes that when she arrives there her fellow clones, and most of humanity, will be already be there waiting for her, having used the singularity for faster travel.

Setting

The first game's story involved the Peregrine Falcon (PF) Squad, a small but skilled team of soldiers serving under the Regular Army's special operations division, who fight against the army of General Donald Morden in order to prevent a massive coup d'état and the creation of a New World Order. Later games featured characters from the Sparrows Unit, which is under the control of the Regular Army's intelligence division. Beginning with ''Metal Slug 2'', the PF Squad also battles an alien threat to Earth (the Mars People), as well as several other supernatural threats including yetis, zombies, ambulatory Venus flytraps, giant crabs, and mummies. These outlandish elements were removed from the fifth game to return to the feel of the original title. The fifth moved to the motif of modern guerrilla warfare, leaving only traces of the series' signature quirky humor and paranormal enemies, with the exception of the final boss. ''Metal Slug 6'' returned to the plot of the first three installments, bringing back Morden's Rebel Army and the Mars People. ''Metal Slug 7'' has less outlandish elements with the Mars People replaced by an alternative universe of Morden's Army with futuristic equipment and weapons.

Characters

;Heroes

Major Marco Rossi (voiced by Takenosuke Nishikawa in ''NeoGeo Battle Coliseum'' and by Kenta Miyake in ''Neo Geo Heroes: Ultimate Shooting'') and Captain Tarma Roving were the only playable characters in the first game, and each was reserved solely to the first and second player, respectively. From the second installment, characters can be chosen independently, and Sergeant Second Class Eri Kasamoto and Master Sergeant Fiolina "Fio" Germi were added to the cast. These four are typically considered to be the quintessential ''Metal Slug'' team. In the fourth game, Nadia Cassel and Trevor Spacey made their debut, replacing Eri and Tarma. They have not returned in later games, as they were created by the Korean-based Mega Enterprise and due to Playmore retaining intellectual rights to all SNK titles. Eri and Tarma returned in the fifth game. The Game Boy Advance edition of the game features two new characters specific to that title: PF squad trainees Cadets Walter Ryan and Tyra Elson. ''The King of Fighters''/''Ikari Warriors'' characters Colonel Ralf Jones and Second Lieutenant Clark Still have appeared since ''Metal Slug 6'', and their ''King of Fighters'' teammate Leona Heidern is available as an extra downloadable character for ''Metal Slug XX'', a revised edition of ''Metal Slug 7''.

;Enemies

General Donald Morden is the main antagonist of the ''Metal Slug'' franchise. He is depicted as a rambling madman wearing a beret, eyepatch, and wearing his army's uniform. In some games, he bears a passing resemblance to Saddam Hussein. He appears in every game except ''Metal Slug 5.'' He apparently mends his ways by the end of ''Metal Slug 6'', as he (or Rootmars depending on the player(s)' chosen route) rescues the player(s) after they are knocked off a wall by an explosion caused by the alien end boss. His army is the main force of opposition in the Metal Slug games, with the exception of ''Metal Slug'' 5 and 6. He commands the Rebel Army, and in ''Metal Slug 4'' he was thought to be behind the Amadeus Terror Syndicate. He once again returns to his roots of attempted world domination in ''Metal Slug 7'', this time with the help of the Rebel Army from the future, also being the final boss for the first time since the original ''Metal Slug''. Like the main characters, General Morden appears in various SNK games as a cameo, especially in the ''SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash'' series.

Allen O'Neil, a sub-boss, appears in all of the games except ''Metal Slug 5'' and ''6''. He returns in ''Metal Slug 7''. He uses an M60 machine gun, a knife, and grenades. Despite the fact that Allen is clearly killed at the conclusion of every encounter, the game makers have humorously brought him back in each new iteration of the series. Allen's son, Allen Jr., appears in ''Metal Slug Advance'' as the recruits' drill sergeant but later reveals himself as a double-agent for the Rebel Army. He can be fought in the final mission as an optional boss.

The Mars People are aliens that are in a plot to take over Earth in the ''Metal Slug'' universe. They resemble squids, using their tentacles as a form of movement, and a strange fighting style which involves gas and a laser pistol. In ''Metal Slug 2'', they appeared as enemies near the climax of the game, with their mothership appearing as the final boss. They appear again in ''Metal Slug 3'', abducting Morden and one of the members of the Regular Army in the final level (which ever one the player uses will be abducted), only for the Regular Army and Morden's army to take the fight to their mothership and defeat them, and their leader Rootmars. In ''Metal Slug 6'', the Mars People, Morden, as well as his rebel army, and the Ikari Warriors, join forces with the Regular Army to fight a new alien invader who feeds on the Mars People. In ''Metal Slug X'' they appear as enemies early in the game. Mars People also are the first characters from the ''Metal Slug'' series who appear in a fighting game: first in ''SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos'' as a hidden (but playable) character, and later in ''Neo Geo Battle Coliseum'' as an unlockable playable character.

In Turkey, several prisoners are granted furlough. One, Seyit Ali (Tarık Akan), travels to his house and finds that his wife Zine (Şerif Sezer), to survive, has had to turn to prostitution. She was caught by her family and held captive for eight months in order for Seyit Ali to end her life in an honour killing. Though apparently determined at first, he changes his mind when his wife starts to freeze while travelling in the snow. Despite his efforts to keep her alive, he eventually fails. His wife's death relieves Seyit Ali from family pressure.

Another prisoner, Mehmet Salih (Halil Ergün) has been arrested for his role in a heist with his brother-in-law, whom he abandoned as he was being shot by police. His in-laws have disowned him, and he is finally forced to tell his wife Emine (Meral Orhonsay) the truth. Emine and Mehmet Salih decide to run away on a train. On the train, they are caught in the washroom about to have sex. They are saved from an angry mob by the train's officers and held in a cabin. A young boy from Emine's family who has boarded the train shoots both Mehmet Salih and Emine.

Ömer (Necmettin Çobanoğlu) returns to his village sitting near the border between Turkey and Syria, and arranges to cross the border to escape prison. Ömer finds his village in a battle between Kurdish smugglers and Turkish soldiers. Though Ömer is clearly determined, he gives up after his brother, who took part in the battle, is shot dead. Through his brother's death, Ömer has inherited the responsibility for his late brother's family and become husband to his late brother's wife, as dictated by tradition, despite his attraction to a young woman of the village.

Taken from the introduction in the manual of the game:''Alien vs Predator'' game manual (Atari Jaguar, US)

''Alien vs Predator'' is a tactical simulator depicting the events following the fall of the Camp Golgotha Colonial Marine Training Base to a group of xenomorphs [aliens] not yet fully classified. Limited data from the incident allow for reasonably extrapolated simulations from the viewpoint of the two alien groups believed to have participated in the incident. The data contained herein is considered top secret as of this release, and any duplication, distribution or display is punishable by court-martial with a maximum penalty not to exceed seven years imprisonment in the Yuggoth penal colony, SYS Aldeberan IV. [USCMC, 53622a]

The game takes place in the Golgotha Training Base of the United States Colonial Marines Corps built by Weyland-Yutani on the Vortigern Sector Perimeter. When an unknown Space Jockey Boneship vessel approaches the base, a Chatterjee Class tug is sent to retrieve it for further examination. As soon as the vessel is aboard on the base, it is quickly overrun by the Aliens, leading to the evacuation of civilians, recruits and personnel of the base from the area via escape pods, while the remaining Colonial Marines go into defensive positions in an attempt to protect the base from the xenomorphs and sending an emergency distress signal requesting for backup. After the occupation of the training base by the Aliens, a Predator ship looms over the horizon from their home planet preparing itself for boarding the station after receiving the signal and seeing this as an opportunity to hunt down the xenomorphs.

Reeves portrays cowboy Mike Sturges, who, along with his younger brother, Roy, is sentenced to Yuma Territorial Prison on a trumped-up train robbery charge. Both endure cruel treatment before Mike escapes to exact revenge on their enemies.

While travelling, Hercules is asked to intervene in a quarrel between two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, over who should rule Thebes. Before he can complete this task, Hercules drinks from a magic spring and is hypnotized by a harem girl who dances the "Dance of Shiva", loses his memory and becomes the captive of Queen Omphale of Lydia. The Queen keeps men until she tires of them, then has them made into statues. While young Ulysses tries to help him regain his memory, Hercules' wife, Iole, finds herself in danger from Eteocles, current ruler of Thebes, who plans on throwing her to the wild beasts in his entertainment arena. Hercules slays three tigers in succession and rescues his wife, then assists the Theban army in repelling mercenary attackers hired by Polynices. The two brothers ultimately fight one another for the throne and end up killing each other; the good high priest Creon is elected by acclaim.

Under the pen name David Shane, reporter Rowena Price investigates a sex scandal involving a senator alongside her researcher Miles Haley. However, the story is shut down when their source becomes silent and Rowena's editor, a supporter of the senator, puts a stop to the story.

While walking home, Rowena meets her childhood friend, Grace Clayton who seeks her help in taking down Harrison Hill a wealthy advertising executive. Grace gives Rowena her e-mails as proof of their extramarital affair, which Hill recently ended.

A few days later, Grace is found dead, drowned and poisoned with belladonna, leading Rowena to suspect Hill. With Miles' help, Rowena goes undercover, as a temporary worker at Harrison's advertising company, H2A. While setting up gift bags for a Victoria's Secret collection launch, she meets fellow advertiser Gina, who reveals that Hill is rich because of his wife, Mia, and if she left him, he would be penniless, causing him to be more secretive with his affairs. Rowena flirts with Hill both online and in real life, but she does not realize that the online Hill is actually Miles, who is secretly in love with her. One evening, Hill catches Rowena snooping, thinks she is a corporate spy, and fires her.

At Miles's apartment, Rowena discovers a shrine to her and explicit pictures of Miles and Grace, before she confronts him. Miles defends himself by providing evidence that Hill had access to belladonna for poisoning. Rowena goes to the police, and Hill is arrested for the murder of Grace.

After Hill's conviction, Miles visits Rowena and reveals that he knows she is the real killer and used the investigation to frame Hill. Rowena then flashes back to a memory of her father attempting to molest her, and her mother subsequently bludgeoning him to death with a fireplace poker. A younger Grace watches from her window as they bury the body; Grace has been blackmailing Rowena with this information ever since. Miles goes on to describe how Rowena had plotted the murder to end Grace's blackmail and pinned the crime on Hill. Miles asks how she intends to keep him quiet, but Rowena stabs him to death and ransacks the kitchen. She then calls the police, claiming to have been attacked by Miles and that he might have been the real murderer. As Rowena waits for the police, a man looks out of a neighboring window, having witnessed the events.

The film consists of two stories that are unrelated and have different actors, titled "Fiction" and "Non-Fiction". College and high school serve as the backdrop for these two stories about dysfunction and personal turmoil.

;Fiction Vi (Selma Blair) is a graduate student dating an undergrad, Marcus, who has cerebral palsy, though he observes that she no longer seems passionate about their relationship. They are in a creative writing class taught by a famed African-American author, Mr. Scott (Robert Wisdom). Marcus has written an amateurish story about the effect of Vi's love on his medical condition, and she encourages him to share it in the class's workshop. While other students give it tepid praise, Mr. Scott and his favorite student, Catherine, harshly dismiss it as mediocre trash. Upset, Marcus angrily blames Vi for not warning him against sharing the story, and breaks up with her, accusing her of being secretly attracted to Mr. Scott. A hurt and heartbroken Vi goes out to a bar and encounters Mr. Scott. She thanks him for being honest about Marcus's story, praises his writing, and asks if he thinks she will make a great writer; he tells her that he does not. After she flirts with him clumsily, they return to his residence, where she discovers photos of Catherine, naked and in various poses, which triggers an unwanted racist reaction in Vi. Though she becomes uncomfortable, she reluctantly has anal sex with Mr. Scott, an act which is censored by a large red square. During the act, he makes her call him an ethnic slur. Afterwards, Vi returns to Marcus in tears and reconciles with him. Later, back in the class workshop, Vi shares a fictionalized version of her encounter with Mr. Scott. The other students are appalled by the story's content, and Catherine calmly eviscerates the piece, claiming that "Vi" is an arrogant, narcissistic fetishist and racist. When Marcus and Vi defend the piece as being a real experience, an unimpressed Mr. Scott informs them that when she starts writing about an experience, it becomes fiction, and that the story is nevertheless an improvement over her other works because there "is now at least a beginning, a middle, and an end."

;Non-Fiction Toby Oxman (Paul Giamatti) is a struggling would-be filmmaker attempting to make his first documentary. Though he originally intends to make a film about the experiences of teenagers post-Columbine on a wide scale, he is eventually forced to limit his scope to one dysfunctional, upper-middle-class suburban New Jersey family and their teenage son Scooby (Mark Webber). His father, the strict and unsympathetic Marty (John Goodman), is frustrated with Scooby's lazy attitude and unwillingness to attend college, while his football player brother Brady worries that Scooby is secretly gay and his obnoxious youngest brother Mikey is obliviously self-obsessed. Scooby's only vague ambition is to be famous, and have a talk show on television like his idol Conan O'Brien, who appears to him in a dream sequence as Scooby allows a lovestruck friend to perform oral sex on him. Scooby intentionally flunks his exams, but to his surprise, he finds that he has been accepted to Princeton University, which Marty privately reveals was because of a large donation from a family member.

Meanwhile, Mikey torments the family's overworked, underpaid, and exhausted housekeeper, Consuelo, exercising his privileged and sheltered upbringing to badger her with questions that emphasize the discrepancy between their lifestyles. She reveals that she is still poor, has no time for any personal activities due to the constant demands from the family, and that her beloved grandson has been executed after being arrested for rape and murder. The self-centered Mikey only continues ordering her around. Later, Brady suffers a serious accident during football practice and falls into a deep coma. Mikey takes advantage of Marty's vulnerability over Brady's condition to perform hypnotism on him, during which he commands himself to be Marty's new favorite son and orders Marty fire Consuelo for petty reasons. Miraculously, the hypnosis works perfectly. Marty fires Consuelo despite her tearful pleading, much to Mikey's smug enjoyment.

After the documentary is finished and Toby refuses to let him see the completed footage, Scooby secretly attends a late-night screening, where he witnesses the audience laughing uproariously at his dim-witted portrayal. Realizing that he will never be famous, Scooby is left devastated. While he is away, a vengeful Consuelo sneaks back into the house and murders the rest of the Livingstons by poisoning the house with carbon monoxide. Scooby returns home the next morning to find emergency services wheeling his deceased family into an ambulance. Toby, back with a camera crew, runs up to Scooby to tearfully apologize for what's transpired, but an emotionless and jaded Scooby coldly tells him to not be sorry, because "the movie's a hit."

;Autobiography The original version of the film featured a third story entitled "Autobiography", concerning, among other things, a closeted football player (James Van Der Beek). The main character has an explicit sex scene with a male partner (Steven Rosen); the entire story was cut from the final version.

The movie takes place in and around an unfinished city skyscraper, the "Algonquin", where a sniper/spotter team (Waxman and Clegg) set up a firing platform on a top floor. The two arrive independently of each other, two of the Agency's assassins. As they meet, they recognize each other, as they have been on a mission together before.

This mission is portrayed in a series of flashbacks. In the first flashback, Waxman and Clegg were supposed to assassinate a female politician. Waxman hesitates when the politician lifts a child and, while hesitating, a helicopter appears, air assaulting soldiers in the courtyard behind the team's firing position. The two defeat the attacking force, including the machine gun-equipped helicopter, whose pilot and copilot are shot through the canopy.

Returning to the primary scene, one of the construction site security personnel is new on the job. The drug-addicted regular, O'Hara (Christopher Heyerdahl) attempts to win a statutory position over him by scaring him. As Waxman opens a roof door, a light by the security personnel turns on, and the newcomer, Klein (Conrad Dunn) leaves in search of it.

The internal lift of the building is clearly audible, and Clegg surveys Klein's movements, when he arrives. She interrupts his inspections when he is about to open the roof door. She takes him to the lift, sending him downwards. However, just as she is talking him off, she sees Waxman sitting on top of the lift car. He mounts a bomb on the lift car and, when the car begins moving, nearly falls down the shaft. He is saved by Clegg, and they both attempt keeping up the "just business"-facade, although some romantic appreciation is apparent.

While the two on the rooftop readjust their gear, O'Hara, presumably, decides to rape Clegg. However, Clegg pulls her small-caliber sidearm, and threatens O'Hara into the lift. When O'Hara returns downstairs, he picks up his gun and puts on body armor. He then surprises Clegg, while she is standing over the sink of the top-floor bathrooms. Clegg points her gun at him, and shoots a well-aimed bullet into his chest. Unsurprised by this, O'Hara attacks Clegg, but is encountered by Waxman, and a violent fight takes place in an unfinished hall between various building materials. The fight is won by Waxman, and he ties the now bloody O'Hara to a toilet.

Clegg and Waxman consummate their feelings for each other. Afterwards, as duty continues, Waxman heads for the bathrooms, but sees water running out under the door to the bathroom. He pulls his gun, and discovers that O'Hara has disappeared.

O'Hara bears the toilet with him down the stairs. A vengeful O'Hara grabs his shotgun and is about to go upstairs to finish off Waxman. Klein, the new security guard, shoots O'Hara with his shotgun, walks to the spot where the dying O'Hara lies and, in cold blood, puts a final shot into him.

Upstairs, the two are engaging the target. As before, Waxman hesitates and doesn't take the shot. As history repeats itself for the two, Clegg pulls her sidearm and implores Waxman to do his duty. Before the situation escalates, another shooter shoots the target four times and, when finished, takes aim for Clegg and Waxman. Waxman quickly throws himself and Clegg away from the shot, grabs his rifle and shoots the adversary. Waxman and Clegg defend themselves from Special Forces personnel raiding the skyscraper. Waxman and Clegg are surprised by Klein, who has stealthily entered the room. He shoots Waxman in the chest with his shotgun, but is threatened by Clegg who has picked up an MP5 submachine gun. He takes the lift car and leaves when the planted bomb explodes.

Believing Waxman to be dead, Clegg flees the skyscraper. As she walks away from the building, the top of a nearby fire hydrant is shot off. She looks up, and sees Waxman throwing his sniper rifle from the building. Clegg walks away, smiling.

The vast majority of Earth's population is wiped out by a cataclysmic war known as the "Great Destruction". The harsh conditions that result force the few remaining survivors to live underground for fifty years, during which time corporations come to power. The two largest corporations, Chrome and Murakumo Millennium, constantly battle each other for supremacy, causing significant strife among the populace. However, the competition provides endless opportunities for mercenaries called Ravens, who exist independently of the corporations. The player is a Raven and pilots an Armored Core, powerful mecha robots that fight for the highest bidder.

The Raven (protagonist) receives an unusual request. The cryptic message tells the player to infiltrate a mysterious underground complex called Amber Crown with a promise of an extremely lucrative monetary reward. Once in Amber Crown, the player encounters Sumika Juutilainen, an escapee from the enigmatic Doomsday Organization (Wednesday Organization in Japan), the shadow group that has been operating in the complex. Sumika becomes the player's primary client and partner during the mission in Amber Crown.

As the player completes more missions, he develops a rivalry with an Armored Core pilot named Stinger, who is in the employ of the Doomsday Organization. Stinger becomes a more dangerous presence as the mystery in Amber Crown is uncovered, culminating in the revelation of Project Phantasma. A top-secret development project by the Doomsday Organization, Project Phantasma is a weapon system that would tip the balance of power. Sumika and Stinger were test subjects for the project. Stinger, desiring the strength of the Phantasma weapon, attempts to use it against the player.

The player's continued success drives Stinger to merge with Phantasma and challenge the player to a final fight. The player defeats Stinger and destroys the Phantasma project, leading to the dissolution of the Doomsday Organization.

The story of Master of Arena is concurrent between the original Armored Core, a massive battle occurs in Isaac City between two corporations and causes numerous civilian casualties. The Raven from this game is a survivor of this battle, having lost their entire family to the chaos. Swearing revenge, the player enters the Raven's Nest, the central organization of Armored Core pilots, to fight their way to the top and kill Hustler One, the pilot of the famed Nine-Ball mech that was at the center of the battle.

The player encounters Lana Nielsen, an operator who becomes the player's manager. Elan Cubis, an influential figure in a company called Progtech, becomes the player's sponsor in an attempt to investigate the Raven's Nest. With these allies, the player rises through the ranks of Raven's Nest. After the player has completed several missions, Progtech facilities begin to come under attack, and later some high-ranking pilots are found to be involved in stealing secret materials from the company. A major attack on the Progtech corporate headquarters reveals that Elan is being targeted, and the attackers follow him to a laboratory deep in Isaac City.

The attackers are shown to be led by Hustler One, who confronts the player. After his Nine-Ball mech is damaged, Hustler One retreats. The player takes the fight to the Arena, seemingly defeating Hustler One. A mysterious message from Lana brings the player to an abandoned factory where it is revealed that she, like Hustler One, are actually components of a master AI that is controlling numerous Nine-Ball mechs and created both the corporations and the Raven's Nest to rebuild humanity. The player narrowly defeats the powerful Nine-Ball mech and seemingly puts an end to the AI.

67 years after ''Master of Arena'', Earth's second largest corporation, Zio Matrix, acquires plans for a research project on Mars, dating back before the Great Destruction. Using these plans, Zio Matrix sends a research team to Mars to begin the Terraforming Project, which causes the Martian surface and atmosphere to approximate that of Earth. Other corporations learn of the project and quickly follow Zio Matrix, bringing with them the competitive environment that existed on Earth, and the employ of the mercenaries of Nerves Concord.

As the three companies' war comes to a close, Zio Matrix attempts a coup against the government, which has regained control through its elite mercenary team, The Frighteners, led by Leos Klein. But in the chaos that ensues, the Frighteners turn on the government, assassinate its leader, and take control of powerful technology. The player character is tasked with confronting them and saving the human populace of Mars.

It follows the main character Steve York, the son of an astronaut. Steve is a high school student who has had issues with marijuana and has found himself in the counselor's office. The counselor tells him that he is flunking and if he wants to graduate he must write a 100-page paper about anything. Steve is reluctant to do so, at first, but eventually relents and begins the tale about the divorce of his parents, his prickly relationship with his father, and his first real relationship with a girl nicknamed Dub. Told in parallel timelines and bouncing back and forth from his senior year to his sophomore year, through writing the book Steve eventually comes to see his father as he'd never seen him before and understands that many of the things that he thought were true were completely wrong.

Five years after the coup attempt led by Leos Klein the Earth government struggles to realize one of its original objectives, relocating people from the underground cities to the Earth's surface. The three largest corporations, Zio Matrix, Emeraude, and Balena, fight for dominance following a massive loss of influence. The government attempts to keep the corporations in check, but the situation is made more complex by the involvement of a rebel group, the Indies, who engage both sides in an attempt to establish a new government.

''Armored Core 3'' serves as a reboot for the ''Armored Core'' franchise but retains many similar elements to the original ''Armored Core''. Set in a post-apocalyptic future, ''Armored Core 3'' depicts a world where humanity has begun to live underneath the Earth's surface after a catastrophic global nuclear war broke out on the surface. The human beings who survived formed a subterranean society called "Layered". Layered is ruled by an artificial intelligence known as "The Controller", which dictates almost everything that happens in the world. The two major corporations, Mirage and Crest Industries, and a relatively more minor one, Kisaragi, all vie for dominance and control over the land and assets in Layered. At the game's outset, The Controller seems to be experiencing frequent errors, which has led to a growth of support for a rebel group, known as Union, that wishes to overthrow The Controller.

The player takes the role of a Raven, mercenaries that are registered with the neutral Global Cortex organization. Over the course of the game, the player is provided with missions for the various factions by Laine Meyers, the player's manager, and the player can choose who to support. In later missions, it is revealed that The Controller is manipulating the various factions in order to destroy infrastructure and support systems for Layered, leading to a direct confrontation with The Controller. After the player destroys it, an emergency program opens Layered's blast doors and allows for surface access for the first time in centuries.

Mary Gibson, a young woman at Highcliffe Academy, an expensive boarding school, learns that her older sister and only relative, Jacqueline, has gone missing and has not paid Mary's tuition in months. Therefore, the school principal tells Mary that she'll have to leave the school, but could remain if she works as a teacher's aide. She decides to leave to find her sister, who owns La Sagesse, a cosmetics company in New York City.

Upon arriving in New York, Mary finds that Jacqueline sold her cosmetics business eight months earlier to her assistant, Esther Redi. Jacqueline's close friend and La Sagesse employee, Frances Fallon, claims to have seen Jacqueline the week before, at Dante, an Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village. Mary locates the restaurant, and discovers that Jacqueline has rented a room above the store, without having moved in. Mary convinces the owners to let her see the room, which she finds empty aside from a wooden chair and above it a noose hanging from the ceiling. This makes Mary more anxious and determined to find her sister. While at Dante, Mary meets Jason Hoag, a poet, who offers to help find her sister.

Mary's investigation leads her to several individuals who knew Jacqueline, including her secret husband, attorney Gregory Ward, and a psychiatrist, Dr. Louis Judd. Mary learns Jacqueline had been a patient of Judd's, seeking treatment for depression stemming from her membership in a Satanic cult called the Palladists, and her subsequent efforts to leave the group. Jacqueline was lured into joining the cult by her former co-workers at La Sagesse, particularly Esther Redi.

Mary enlists a private detective, Irving August, to help locate Jacqueline. When Mary accompanies him to La Sagesse after hours, Irving is stabbed to death by an unseen assailant. Mary flees into the subway, where she witnesses two formally-dressed men enter her car, carrying Irving's corpse between them. She attempts to alert police, but the men vanish with Irving's body before they arrive.

Judd approaches Mary and offers to bring her to visit Jacqueline at his residence where she's been in hiding. There, Mary is briefly met by Jacqueline, who gestures her to be quiet before again vanishing. Determined to remain in New York, Mary takes a job at a kindergarten. Some time later, Esther breaks into Mary's apartment and confronts her in the shower, claiming that Jacqueline murdered Irving and urges Mary to return to Highcliffe. Mary tells Gregory and Jason what Esther told her and they resolve to locate Jacqueline and have her surrender herself to police for Irving's murder. They unite with Judd, who takes them to meet Jacqueline.

Jacqueline recounts how she came to join the Palladists, as well as how she inadvertently killed Irving, believing him to be an assassin sent by the cult to kill her. (The Palladists have a rule that any member who betrays the cult must die, and they believe Jacqueline betrayed them by talking about the cult to Judd, an outsider.)

The cult members congregate to decide Jacqueline's fate. She would be the seventh person condemned for betrayal since the founding of the cult. However, the cult doesn't believe in directly committing acts of violence, feeling it's only permissible as a last resort. Instead, they goad perceived offenders into committing suicide. Frances, because of her profound attachment to Jacqueline, begs the cult members to spare her but to no avail.

The cultists kidnap Jacqueline and, over several hours, try to browbeat her into killing herself as she has long been suicidal anyway. They offer her a cup of poison. When she refuses to drink it, they let her leave, but send an assassin to follow her. The assassin chases her through the streets with a switchblade, but she eludes him and returns to her rented room above Dante's. Simultaneously, Jason and Judd confront the Palladists, condemning them for their dedication to evil, and recite lines from the Lord's Prayer in response to Mr. Brun's (a high-ranking member of the cult) nihilistic philosophical explanation for their doctrine.

In the rooming house hallway, Jacqueline briefly encounters her neighbor, Mimi, a young woman who is terminally ill. Mimi confesses to Jacqueline that she is afraid to die, and plans to have one last night out on the town. Jacqueline enters her own apartment and apparently hangs herself—the thud of the chair falling over is heard, but Mimi does not realize the significance of the sound as she leaves for the evening.

55 years after the incident at the Silent Line, corporate warfare is on the verge of breaking out once more between the four largest corporations: Mirage, Crest, Kisaragi, and the newly founded Navis. An ill-equipped bureaucracy called the Organization for Administrating Enterprise claims to police the corporations, but does little in practice to stop the escalation of conflict between them. Global Cortex, the organization that employed Armored Core pilots called Ravens, has been replaced with a successor organization called Raven's Ark.

As the corporations expand across the planet, Navis begins to hoard ancient technology and gains the attention of Mirage, which leads to an attempt by Mirage to use the OAE to force Navis into sharing the technology. Navis instead withdraws from the OAE and severs its partnership with Kisaragi to develop a secret alliance with Crest. Tensions from these events lead to all-out war between the corporations, which comes to a climax as Crest betrays their smaller ally and destroys the city that Navis is based in. Despite Crest withdrawing from the war, Mirage begins to attack Navis, leading the desperate company to activate an ancient weapon that proves to be uncontrollable. Despite the player's defeat of the weapon, the Kisaragi corporation accidentally activated a separate weapons system that begins to destroy everything it can.

As the player fights their way into the Regular League, they are confronted by a new team, BT Wyvern, and its architect, Linus. After two matches against BT Wyvern, Linus sends a message that he meet the player again. Rank after rank, the player again confronts a formidable opponent, Team Ogre, and its architect, Diablo. Though Ogre usually wins through harsh tactics, their battle against BT Wyvern was horrible. Fortunately, the player defeated Diablo. As the player gets nearer through the top ranks, they are again confronted by BT Wyvern with a new AC model, Force Wing X. Afterwards, Diablo confronts the player again with an AC similar to Linus' AC and has installed with a mysterious data in Diablo's AC. The player manages to defeat Diablo and Team Ogre was temporarily banned due to being accused of stealing the 'Master Data'.

After defeating the second rank Team ''Neonia'' and its architect, Raving, the player has the right to challenge Team Testarossa Artigiana ('Arti' for short) and FFA's top architect, Bren. After the player defeats Bren, they become the new top architect.

The game is set on a dystopian Earth, where corporations have conquered the world's governing bodies amidst increasing civil unrest and dwindling resources, and established a new world order named the Pax Economica, forcing citizens to live in oppressively-ruled colonies. Eventually, the member corporations of the Pax Economica begin warring with one another. They begin hiring pilots, known as Lynxes, to fight on their behalf.

The player character is a freelancer from the civilian colony of Anatolia who is chosen to pilot a NEXT, a highly advanced Armored Core unit, and is assigned Fiona Jarnefeldt as his operator. Initially, the player is hired to counter rebel attacks, culminating in an attack on an anti-establishment group. Amazigh, the group's Lynx, is killed in the battle, garnering significant fame for the player. With this new fame, the player is hired to fight in minor skirmishes between corporations, which escalates until they are hired by Global Armaments to destroy a series of prototypes developed at a seceding company. The mission is successful, but another corporation, Akva Vit, declares war on Global Armaments due to their ties with the seceding company.

During the war, the player makes contact with a friend of Fiona, Joshua O'Brian, who is also a Lynx pilot. The player successfully destroys one of the biggest corporations by assassinating the company's leadership, but an unknown corporation sends a weapon to destroy Anatolia in retaliation. After defeating the weapon, Fiona questions who sent it. As the war continues, the player and Joshua independently destroy two other major corporations, including Akva Vit, which ends the war.

After the war, Joshua is blackmailed into piloting a prototype NEXT and is sent to destroy Anatolia. The player is forced to kill him, leading the player and Fiona to leave Anatolia.

Akira lives in Digital City, a town located in fictional "Directory Continent", a land where digimon used to live peacefully. However, wild Digimon began attacking Akira's hometown, and Akira joins a guard team that is charged with protecting the peace and security of the region.

At the start of the game, Akira finishes his last Training Mission and joins one of the Guard Teams (the player has the option of choosing between the Black Sword Team, the Gold Hawks team, or the Blue Falcon team). He receives missions from the Team Leader, which involve entering Domains and hunting down evil Digimon.

Stanton Frelaine is the co-owner of a Cleveland company that sells bulletproof vests to players in The Big Hunt, a government-run legalized murder game in which participants alternate between being a "hunter" and a "victim". A hunter attempts to track down and kill an assigned target, their victim. Frelaine is an experienced player, having already played through six rounds of the game. His older partner at the company, E.J. Morger, is a member of the rarefied "Tens Club," a status earned by winning ten rounds of the Hunt.

Frelaine receives his seventh assignment as hunter, with his victim being Janet-Marie Patzig of New York. He is somewhat surprised, having never heard of a woman playing the Hunt before. He calls the Emotional Catharsis Bureau to make sure. The Bureau was set up after the Fourth World War to run the Hunt to provide an outlet for aggression and prevent future wars. They confirm he has the right information.

Frelaine arrives in New York and goes for a walk to scout the victim's neighborhood. He is surprised when he quickly spots her sitting in the open at an outdoor cafe, smoking a cigarette. He once again contacts the Bureau to make sure she is aware she is playing victim. They assure him that everything is in order.

Frelaine feels cheated because he will not receive a full catharsis if the victim does not try to fight back. Seeking a thrill, he places himself in danger by approaching her. He pretends to be in town on business and looking for a date, but expects she will see through the deception and shoot him at any moment.

Patzig initially brushes off Frelaine's advances, saying she will probably be dead soon. She explains that she is in New York trying to become an actress, without much success. Looking for some excitement she signed up for the Hunt, but on her first mission she could not find the courage to kill her assigned victim. Now, taking her turn as victim, she is unable to contemplate shooting her hunter. So she is simply waiting to be killed.

Happy for his company, she and Frelaine spend the afternoon together. But Patzig cannot stop thinking about her impending murder and laments that she will soon be dead. Frelaine realizes he has fallen for her and admits to being her hunter, but says he would rather marry her than kill her. Greatly relieved, she kisses him and then lights a celebratory cigarette. She then shoots him with a gun concealed in her cigarette lighter.

As she aims for a killing shot, he hears her joyfully state that she can finally join the Tens Club.

On their way home from an orchestra performance, Homer and Marge pass through a seedy part of town. Snake entices Homer to play his Three-card Monte game and cheats him of $20. When Marge exposes the con, Snake flees. Marge chases after him and knocks him unconscious with a garbage can lid, giving her a sense of exhilaration. Finding her everyday routine dull and boring, she joins the Springfield police force.

At first, Marge enjoys being a police officer, but is soon discouraged by the laziness of her fellow officers and rampant law-breaking behavior of Springfield's citizens, including Homer, who illegally parks across three handicapped spaces. Marge tries to ticket him, then arrests him after he takes her police hat and taunts her.

Upon his release from jail, Homer hosts an illegal poker game and stumbles across Herman running a jean-counterfeiting operation in the Simpsons' garage. Marge arrives and arrests Herman and his henchmen as they are about to assault Homer. While Marge is handcuffing his minions, Herman takes Homer hostage and flees to Bart's tree house. Herman tries to escape using a pair of counterfeit jeans as a rope, but he falls to the ground when they rip. Marge knows Herman's attempted escape is doomed because of the jeans' shoddy stitching, which she recognizes from years of buying jeans for her husband and children.

After Wiggum and the other officers confiscate the counterfeit jeans for their personal use, the chief informs Marge that they cannot detain Herman because the evidence has mysteriously disappeared. Upset at the corruption on the force, Marge resigns.

The plot revolved around the notion that the Professor had accidentally enlarged three sea monkeys to human size, and plotlines followed their ensuing comical ineptness in the world. Each Sea Monkey displayed a certain odd character trait: Aquarius could not keep a secret, Bill was afraid of Imperial style beards, and Dave would grow excited at the sound of polka music.

They occasionally come into contact with their next door neighbours, the Brentwoods, whose daughter Sheila (Eliza Schneider) becomes the Sea-Monkeys' best friend. After the show's cancellation, it was replaced by ''Beakman's World'', with Schneider playing the lead female role in that series as well.

A journalist challenges the authenticity of Edgar Allan Poe's stories (which are presented in the context of the film as Poe's eyewitness accounts of the supernatural, not as literary fiction). To prove himself, the journalist accepts a bet from Lord Blackwood to spend the night in a haunted castle on All Soul's Eve. Ghosts of the murdered inhabitants appear to him throughout the night, re-enacting the events that led to their deaths. One of the ghosts reveals that they all need his blood in order to maintain their existence. Barbara Steele plays a ghost who attempts to help the journalist escape.

The film is narrated by a troubled Edgar Allan Poe (Klaus Kinski). It begins with Poe's attempts to confirm a ghost story by examining the ghosts' tombs. However, he doesn't go too far to avoid being haunted and killed. Later, a journalist named Alan Foster (Anthony Franciosa) visits Poe to drive him out of madness, but he is forced to challenge the horror writer on the authenticity of his stories.

This leads to Foster's accepting a bet from Lord Blackwood to spend the night in a haunted castle on All Soul's Eve. Foster is surprised by ghosts who appear to be half-humans, in very effective and horrifying special effects. Ghosts of the murdered inhabitants appear to him throughout the night, re-enacting the events that led to their respective deaths and driving Foster to madness. He meets the following ghosts: Elisabeth Blackwood (Michèle Mercier), who falls in love with Foster; the annoying and easy-to-hate Julia (Karin Field); the rough criminal William Perkins (Silvano Tranquilli); and the most despicable one of all, Dr. Carmus (Peter Carsten). Near the end of the film, the ghosts reveal their true nature: they aren't actually ghosts, but vampires with ghostly powers, and they need Foster's blood to maintain their existence. Because she loves him, Elisabeth tries to save Foster by aiding his escape. He succeeds in escaping the castle, but not the garden. Distracted and careless, he pushes the door so hard that the metal spikes impale him on the main gate.

Bobby begins on the territory of Veelox, with Gunny, where they land in the dark room outside the Veelox flume. Bobby and Gunny encounter Saint Dane and believe they have him cornered, however, twenty realistic holograms of the villain suddenly appear around him, but Bobby found the right one and fought him, but Saint Dane called out Eelong and Bobby was scared that he was going with Saint Dane so he let go, allowing Saint Dane to escape. Bobby and Gunny decide to split. Gunny will immediately go to Eelong and report back later with news while Bobby stays on Veelox because Saint Dane had mentioned that it is on the verge of destruction.

Bobby hates the darkness and is worried if the inhabitants of Veelox are floating giants after meeting Aja Killian, the local Traveler, in the form of a massive holographic face. Bobby doesn't know if the huge hologram is life-sized. He meets up with a very ordinary, humanoid Aja in a city much like those on Second Earth, called Rubic City. The only differences are that it is deserted, and there is a huge structure called the Lifelight pyramid looming over the town.

Aja explains that Lifelight is a virtual reality world—a computer that gives people's desires the appearance of being real. Almost everyone on Veelox is in it, living out their own perfect virtual lives.

She takes Bobby through it, and he is amazed at the vedders, who are the "physical" caretakers of the bodies, and the phaders, computer geniuses running the place. She is one of the latter.

Bobby experiences his own fantasy "jump"; he meets his family, plays with his dog, Marley, and plays a basketball game where he and his team simply cannot lose. It's a tight game, though. He has to be dragged out by Aja after going into OT.

Aja then explains that, because Lifelight is so perfect, hardly anyone leaves. No food is being made. The territory is dying. However, she has a way to stop Lifelight....a Reality Bug that preys on fears to make it all less-than-perfect. She then takes Bobby to where he left off in his fantasy, but uses her virus to make it different. His opponents are taller, his coach has a heart attack, and he is injured.

While in the locker room Aja tells him is this is how to save the territory. However, a Saint Dane hologram appears and tells them that the bug is working "far better than you could imagine".

Saint Dane is right. The Reality Bug has become far too realistic; its use of fears to dilute the jumps has a placebo effect on people, in that if they die in their fantasy, the death is real. Aja put Lifelight into suspense to keep the jumpers safe and to try to find a solution. Only one man can stop the rapidly evolving virus; Dr. Zetlin, who invented Lifelight and the only one to know of the origin code, the key to purging the bug from the processing code.

Zetlin is in Lifelight. He is in the alpha grid, which can be brought online independently of the rest of Lifelight. However, he can't simply be pulled out. Bobby would need help in the danger to come.

Bobby goes to Zadaa and convinces its Traveler, Loor, to come along to help him defeat the nightmares. She agrees, and they start the alpha grid up again, with Aja acting as phader-vedder. They plan to get the origin code from Dr. Zetlin and purge Lifelight of the Reality Bug.

However, the software is malfunctioning. Rather than send them into Zetlin's fantasy, it sends them into the "Wild West" and thence into Aja's own residence. They meet Saint Dane twice therein before they are pulled out.

Aja takes them to Zetlin's fantasy, where Zetlin resides in a massive building called the 'Barbican', which can either stand upright or on its side. The first level of its structure is a tropical jungle filled with plant-animal life forms. The second level is a sort of large pool, with racing motorboats following lights. The level after that is a snow-covered landscape, where Bobby has to finish a race called slickshot in which six skaters need to pick up red balls and put them into buckets. Unfortunately, only four people can finish the race. Bobby finishes the race (with a bit of intervention from Loor) and sees that Zetlin is actually one of the racers, a popular sixteen-year-old called the "Z" in his fantasy. Bobby, Loor and Aja convince him to spill the code, which turns out to be "zero." When Aja enters the code, it turns out that Saint Dane sabotaged it. The Reality Bug takes physical form (a black ameoba-like shapeshifter), and chases Bobby, Zetlin, and Loor around Zetlin's fantasy home, and even into the real world when it grows too powerful to be contained by Lifelight. They leave Zetlin's jump and shut down all of Lifelight, and the Reality Bug is destroyed. The Travelers feel they have beaten Saint Dane—again.

But at a ceremony congratulating Aja and explaining the loss of Lifelight, Dr. Sever, prime director of the program, steps up. She turns out to be Saint Dane in disguise, and she stirs up the crowd, promising to bring Lifelight back online. He/She succeeds, everyone reenters Lifelight, and Saint Dane receives his first victory.

Private eye Lew Archer finds himself the confidant of a wealthy, violent family with a load of trouble on their hands - including an oil spill, a missing girl, a lethal dose of nembutal, a six figure ransom and a stranger afloat, face down, off a private beach.

''Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix'' begins in Hong Kong in the year 2048. The player delves into the colorful histories of the original cast of three mercenaries - and newcomer Rain Qin - as well as the extraordinary circumstances that brought them together. In the wake of a degenerative global pandemic called EINDS (Environmentally Induced Nucleotides Degeneration Syndrome – pronounced "ends"), theft, murder, and terrorism have become big business.

Hana Tsu-Vachel and Rain Qin are freelance operatives, Royce Glas is a washed-up former soldier, and Jacob "Deke" Decourt is a cutthroat assassin. Much of the game's intrigue lies in how these unlikely allies even manage to come together for one cause. From the start, each of them have their own motives, but they soon all become entangled in a sinister plot extending far beyond politics, espionage, or personal survival. The adventure takes players through a futuristic Hong Kong, the formidable walled city of Xi'an, the lost tomb of the first emperor of China, and, finally, into the mountain island of the immortals, Penglai Shan.

Jeeves is trying to persuade Bertie to go on a world cruise. Instead Bertie's Aunt Dahlia sends him to visit a particular antique shop and sneer at a silver eighteenth-century cow creamer, so as to drive down its price for his aunt's collector husband, Tom. In the shop, Bertie encounters the magistrate Sir Watkyn Bassett, who is also a collector. Sir Watkyn is accompanied by his future nephew-in-law Roderick Spode, the leader of a Fascist organization.

Later, Bertie learns that, by playing an underhanded trick on Tom, Sir Watkyn has obtained the creamer. Aunt Dahlia sends Bertie to Totleigh Towers to steal it back, but there he comes under suspicion as someone Sir Watkyn had once sentenced for a drunken offence. Bertie's other reason for visiting is to heal a rift between Gussie Fink-Nottle and Madeline, Sir Watkyn's daughter. Madeline incorrectly believes Bertie is in love with her, and she has promised to marry him if her engagement should ever fail. In order to avoid this at all costs, Bertie persuades Madeline to invite him down, but he learns upon arriving that Gussie and Madeline have reconciled.

To give himself confidence for an upcoming speaking engagement, Gussie has been keeping a notebook in which he writes insults about Sir Watkyn and Spode. When the notebook is lost, Bertie fears that if it should fall into Sir Watkyn's hands, Madeline would be forbidden to marry Gussie. The notebook is found instead by 'Stiffy' Byng, Sir Watkyn's niece, who wants approval from her uncle to marry the local curate, Harold Pinker. Sir Watkyn considers Harold unsuitable, however, so Stiffy uses the notebook to blackmail Bertie into going along with her plan. Bertie must pretend to steal the cow-creamer but allow Harold to catch him in the act. She hopes this will motivate Sir Watkyn to approve Harold's marriage to her.

When Gussie tries to search Stiffy for the missing notebook, Madeline misinterprets his actions and breaks off their engagement. Spode, who has strong protective feelings for Madeline, then threatens Gussie with violence. But Jeeves now learns from his London club that Spode has a shameful secret. Though the club's rules forbid Jeeves revealing it, he informs Bertie that mentioning the name "Eulalie" can control Spode. Bertie now rebukes Spode with sarcastic insults and orders him to leave Gussie alone, with the result that Spode backs down and apologises for his behaviour.

Harold is persuaded to steal the helmet of the local policeman, Constable Oates, to impress Stiffy. Jeeves suggests a new plan: Bertie will tell Sir Watkyn he is engaged to Stiffy. Sir Watkyn will then be so relieved to learn she wants to marry the curate instead that he will allow it. The plan works and Stiffy gratefully tells Bertie that she hid the notebook inside the cow-creamer.

Disgusted by Gussie's apparent infidelity, Madeline tells Bertie that she will marry him. Bertie retrieves the notebook and gives it to Gussie to show Madeline as the explanation of his conduct with Stiffy. But having got into an argument with Sir Watkyn, Gussie gives Sir Watkyn the notebook of insults to supplement his own. Bertie now realises that Sir Watkyn will never relent and the only way to compel him seems to be to steal the cow-creamer and hold it as ransom for Sir Watkyn's approval of Gussie as a husband for Madeline.

Instead Aunt Dahlia steals the cow-creamer and brings it to Bertie for safe keeping. Jeeves suggests that Gussie drives with it to London to escape the angered Sir Watkyn. But Bertie next discovers Oates's helmet, which Stiffy has hidden in his room. He agrees to take the blame, however, after Stiffy appeals to his personal Code of the Woosters, "Never let a pal down".

Unable to prove that Bertie stole the cow-creamer, Sir Watkyn vows to have him imprisoned for the theft of the helmet. Instead Jeeves blackmails Spode with the name Eulalie to announce to Sir Watkyn that he had stolen the helmet himself. Jeeves then points out that Bertie can sue Sir Watkyn for defamation. Trapped, Sir Watkyn concedes approval for Madeline's and Stiffy's marriages.

In gratitude, Bertie agrees to go on the world cruise after Jeeves reveals that Spode is a designer of ladies' underclothing and runs a shop called Eulalie Soeurs, knowledge of which would destroy Spode's authority with his Fascist followers.

''Born'' documents Frank Castle's time serving as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps during his final tour in Vietnam in 1971. The story is told primarily through the eyes of Stevie Goodwin, a young Marine counting down the days of his service and Frank Castle, a tough Captain with a finely honed killer instinct and survival skills who is described as being "in love with war". The story chronicles a crucial 4-day period of the platoon stationed at Firebase Valley Forge, a remote strategic outpost on the South Vietnamese-Cambodian border.

Valley Forge is an outpost on its last legs; half of its Marines are addicted to heroin and its commanding officer is an apathetic alcoholic who pretends to have malaria whenever someone comes to inspect the base. Goodwin simply wishes to return home safely, and realizes that sticking close to Castle is his best option. Castle, despite being at home in the jungle, maintains an internal dialogue with a voice that continually goads Castle into justifying his endless thirst for combat. Castle receives news that Valley Forge will be abandoned, amidst increasing opposition to the war on the home front. Castle is displayed as exceptionally ruthless; first he tricks a visiting general into wandering into sniper fire for threatening to close down the base, then he drowns a member of his platoon who raped a female Vietcong sniper. Castle himself killed the sniper while she was being assaulted. Another character grimly reflects that his action was the only way she could have been "helped", as she would have never survived captivity.

Despite the news that the Firebase will soon be closed, Castle continues leading a squad on routine patrols, though his men are thinned by sporadic ambushes by the Vietcong. By the fourth day, the attrition has left the outpost severely undermanned and outgunned. When night falls, bringing a hellish downpour, the Viet Cong and elements of the North Vietnamese Army attack the fortification, using the rain to shield themselves from air cover.

One by one, Castle's unit drops, and he finds himself surrounded and running out of ammunition for a gun about to burn out from overuse. The voice in his head becomes louder and louder until it can be heard over the scream of the storm and roar of the gunshots. It offers Castle the strength and stamina needed to survive, to maintain an eternal state of vigilance, and to wage a permanent war - at a price. Castle finally gives in.

By the next morning, the air support has returned with an EVAC helicopter to the destroyed encampment, but are horrified to find Castle standing alone in a field of mutilated and broken VC bodies. He has suffered severe physical trauma and is bleeding from several gunshot wounds, but remains unaffected.

In the next scene, Frank Castle returns home, a decorated officer on a crutch, to his waiting wife, Maria and children. In the midst of the smiling return, the internal voice speaks again of the price of Castle's choice. It is exactly what Castle's eternal war will cost him, as a picture details Castle's family in a sighting reticle reminiscent of the Punisher's skull icon. The voice goes on to say that it and Castle are in the same business though it has been at it for much longer and that Castle will keep it busy which implies that the voice could be the Devil or Death itself. Horrified, Castle embraces his smiling wife and eager children.

Regarding the ambiguous conclusion to the story, writer Garth Ennis noted:

To me, that whole sequence was about – it's written in that classic way where maybe it's there, maybe it's all in his head. It's more a man coming to terms with his own fate, his own destiny, and the path he'll walk through the world. A man being honest with himself about who he is. At home he has the wife, the kid, the other kid on the way, meanwhile he's up to his neck in horror. He likes it, and he's coming to terms with that and admitting it. Ultimately, it's his ability to embrace this that allows him to survive and come home to his wife and kids. He's made a kind of deal with the attraction to the violence in himself that will, in a way, draw his family into that world too. Again, you can read it anyway you want, but that's my own personal take!

The members of the Tribulation Force have discovered that their pastor, Bruce Barnes, has been killed during the bombing of a hospital in World War III. Rayford Steele is quickly called to meet Global Community Supreme Potentate and Antichrist Nicolae Carpathia in Dallas, Texas to fly him to New Babylon, Iraq. Meanwhile, Cameron "Buck" Williams and Chloe Steele go to New Hope Village Church to inform Loretta about Bruce. Chloe is in downtown Chicago, Illinois when it is bombed by the Global Community. Buck is eventually able to rescue her after she crashed her Range Rover into a tree. Rayford hears about this and sends Amanda White back to Chicago to help them and to keep her safe because Nicolae was dropping bombs on major cities and he says to her, "If your flight doesn't leave before mine, board my flight", because Ray is piloting the flight that Nicolae is on. On the flight back to New Babylon, Rayford learns much about Nicolae's secret plans through a secret intercom device installed by his former boss at Pan-Continental Airlines, Earl Halliday. Rayford eventually arrives back in New Babylon.

Having heard from his friend Chaim Rosenzweig about Tsion Ben-Judah's loss of his wife and children to murder, Buck goes to Israel with charter pilot Ken Ritz. He is led by the two witnesses, Eli and Moishe in Jerusalem, to a boat near the Sea of Galilee. After proving that he is who he says he is, Buck is taken to the shelter where Tsion is hiding for his protection. Tsion has been accused of murdering his family, although he did not do so. Buck and Tsion are given a worn-out bus to drive to Egypt to meet Ritz for the escape to the United States. They meet many obstacles along the way, but are supernaturally protected and arrive in Chicago safely. During this time, Rayford meets with his friend Hattie Durham, and tries to discourage her from having an abortion of her baby that she conceived with Carpathia.

Because both Buck and Tsion are international fugitives, Rayford flies back to Chicago for the funeral service for Bruce. The service mainly consists of an evangelical message and predictions of what is to come, all outlined by Rayford himself. Rayford then returns to New Babylon to be joined by his wife later.

The stateside Tribulation Force meets Hattie Durham on her journey to see her relatives. After this, Amanda flies to New Babylon to join Rayford. Buck is driving to see Tsion at the hideout where he is when the worldwide earthquake predicted at the funeral begins. The sun goes dark, the moon turns blood-red, and meteors fall from the sky. A quarter of the world's population dies. Buck finds Tsion alive but trapped in the shelter. Condor 216 first officer Mac McCullum flies Carpathia and Rayford to Baghdad International Airport just as Global Community headquarters collapses. As the book ends, only Buck, Tsion, and Rayford are accounted for and safe among the Trib Force. Loretta is confirmed dead. Chloe and Amanda are missing.

The film tells the story of Binh, a Vietnamese Amerasian boy who is often referred to as a "bui doi" (a derogatory term which has come to refer to a Vietnamese-born child fathered by an American soldier during the Vietnam War). After a life of prejudice and servitude, Binh decides to leave his tiny Vietnamese village and search for his mother in Saigon. Binh finds his mother, Mai, and discovers he has a younger brother, energetic and precocious Tam. Mai is employed by Mrs. Hoa, the cruel mistress of a great house. After getting a job at the house with his mother, Binh discovers that she is sexually harassed constantly by Mrs. Hoa's son.

While dusting with his mother, Binh lifts a red glass statue of Buddha, a precious family heirloom, to allow his mother to dust. As Binh lifts the statue to see it glow in the sun, the mistress walks in and charges Binh, calling him a thief. As Binh tries to keep the Buddha safe in his arms, the mistress slips on a wet patch of the floor, falling to her death. Binh and his mother quickly escape the house back to their apartment. They frantically pack the belongings of Binh and Tam. His mother gives them American money, the address of Binh's American father, and passage on a boat.

Binh and Tam both make it onto a boat bound for the United States, but a storm knocks them off course and instead takes them to Malaysia. Stuck in a refugee camp, Binh and Tam adapt to their new circumstances and meet Ling, a Chinese prostitute whose passage to America was also detoured to Malaysia. Binh and Ling seem to develop feelings for each other, kissing after Ling sings a ballad in Mandarin and dances for him.

Ling had been selling sexual favors for some time (though she dreams of a life as a singer) and had managed to buy herself, Binh, and Tam's way out of the refugee complex and onto a barge captained by the British Captain Oh. During the voyage Binh, Ling, and Tam suffer shortages of food and fresh water. A gambling game (two contenders shout off American brand names in succession) threatens the other passengers by unfairly winning their food, water, and money. Several people succumb to the conditions, as does little Tam. A heartbroken Binh and Ling give him a funeral at sea.

The immigrants finally reach the United States, but are quickly rushed into transport trucks, bound for Chinatown in New York City. Binh works at a Chinese restaurant as a delivery boy and Ling works in a Chinatown cabaret, though she still keeps prostitution as her main source of income. Ling eventually meets a wealthy businessman to support her. Binh's feelings for Ling go unanswered. Binh sends a letter explaining Tam's death to his mother, along with all the money he had saved thus far.

Binh finds out (over a poker game with his friends) that Vietnamese children born to American fathers are allowed free airplane passage to the United States and granted citizenship. Angry because he didn't have to lose his brother, he promptly leaves his job and hitch hikes toward Houston, Texas, meeting amputee Vietnam War veterans and a Hispanic family along the way. Upon reaching the address Binh finds a woman, his father's ex-wife. His father had relocated after their divorce, working as a handyman at a ranch in Sweetwater, Texas. Binh is finally confronted with his father, blinded after opening a crate filled with explosives he thought was beer during the war. While Binh doesn't confess that he's his son, his father realizes it and the film ends with Binh and his father joking and laughing as he cuts his father's hair.

The Rosso family has ten children, who were named using their incredibly organized mother's naming system, where the first child's name would be the first name of the A section of a book of baby names (the girls' section or the boys' section, depending on the gender), the second child by the second name of the B section of the book, and so on. As such, the ten children have been named Abigail (Abbie), Bainbridge, Calandra (Candy), Dagwood (Woody), Eberhard (Hardy), Faustine and Gardenia (Dinnie) (the twins), Hannah, Ira, and Janthina (Jan).

The story begins with their move from a New York City apartment to a New Jersey farmhouse. Each chapter deals with one child's views on how to adjust to their new home (like Woody's attempts to be a comedian like Woody Allen, Hardy wanting to be a detective like the Hardy boys, Hannah feeling left out of the family, Bainbridge struggling in vain to pull together a local kids' football team) and the collective attempts of the children to obtain a pet, despite how their parents argue that with ten children, they should not have a pet.

The children finally win their battle to obtain a pet when their parents announce that they are breaking the rules and having an eleventh child (ruining their mother's image of a perfect staircase of children), which will be named Kelly or Keegan, depending on the gender (which ends up being a boy according to ''Eleven Kids, One Summer''). Since their parents have broken the rules, their mother relents and allows them to get a dog. However, they change their minds when they find a stray kitten. Taking after their mother, they decide the cat "Zsa Zsa" or "Zuriel", the last names of the baby book, thus reversing their mother's system. The kids are thrilled about this.

In 1880s Australia, Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) and his gang engage in a gunfight with the police. All of the gang members except for Charlie and his younger brother Mikey are killed. Captain Morris Stanley (Ray Winstone) tells Charlie that he will have Mikey executed by Christmas, which is in 9 days. Stanley offers to free both Mikey and Charlie if Charlie agrees to kill his older brother Arthur Burns (Danny Huston), who is wanted for rape and murder. Mikey remains in custody while Charlie sets out to kill their brother. During a raid, the police capture some Aboriginal people who, when questioned, claim that Arthur is actually a "dog man" and no one goes near his cave.

Riding in search of Arthur, Charlie comes to the charred remains of the Hopkins home, a family that was murdered and the wife raped by the Burns gang. Along the way, he encounters an inebriated old man named Jellon Lamb (John Hurt) in a cantina where the owner has been speared to death. Charlie realizes that Lamb is a bounty hunter in pursuit of the Burns brothers and knocks him out. Later on, Charlie awakes and is speared in the chest by a group of Aboriginal men standing over him. Just before passing out, he sees the man who speared him get shot in the head.

In town, Eden Fletcher (David Wenham), who hired Stanley to "clean up" the area, orders that Mikey be given one hundred lashes as punishment for the rape and murder of the Hopkins family. Stanley is aghast at this, not only because he believes Mikey is not responsible for his actions and the flogging will kill him, but also because it will break his deal with Charlie and bring the Burns gang's revenge upon him and his wife. Stanley sends Sergeant Lawrence away with tracker Jacko (David Gulpilil) and other men to "investigate" the reported slaying of Dan O'Riley (the dead man in the cantina) by a group of Aboriginal people.

Charlie wakes up in his brother Arthur's camp, located in caves among desolate mountains. Arthur's gang consists of Samuel Stoat (Tom Budge), a woman named Queenie (Leah Purcell) who tends to Charlie's wound, and an Aboriginal man called Two-Bob (Tom E. Lewis). As he recovers from his wounds, Charlie has several opportunities to kill his brother, but does not. He lies and tells Arthur that Mikey is not with him because he has met a woman.

Captain Stanley attempts to defend Mikey at gunpoint from the bloodthirsty townspeople, but is overruled once Martha arrives, insisting on revenge for her dead friends. Mikey is flogged and fatally wounded. The townspeople grow tired and eventually disturbed at the excessive display, Martha faints, and Stanley flings the bloody whip at Fletcher, who fires him. Back at the abandoned cantina, Sergeant Lawrence and his men have found and massacred a group of Aboriginal people. Arthur and Two-Bob find Lawrence's group while they sleep and kill Jacko and Sergeant Lawrence. Before Arthur stomps Lawrence to death, Lawrence tells Arthur that Charlie has been sent to kill him.

Jellon Lamb enters Arthur's camp and ties up Samuel and Charlie, both of whom are sleeping. Lamb is shot in the stomach by the returning Two-Bob. Arthur stabs Lamb in the heart; Charlie points his revolver at Arthur, but instead shoots Lamb in the head, putting him out of his misery. He finally informs Arthur that Mikey is in custody and is set to hang. Charlie decides to break out Mikey; Arthur, Samuel and Charlie ride into town dressed in the clothes taken from the officers Arthur and Two-Bob had killed, while Two-Bob poses as an Aboriginal man they have captured. Once at the jail, the men free Mikey, and Charlie and Two-Bob ride off with him, but the badly injured Mikey dies in Charlie's arms. Arthur and Samuel remain to behead the two officers in the jail.

Stanley fears retribution and makes preparations, but he and Martha let their guard down to have a peaceful Christmas dinner. Once they begin, Arthur and Samuel shoot open the door and invade their home. Arthur pulls Stanley into another room and brutally beats him. Samuel drags Martha inside, and Arthur has Stanley watch as Samuel begins to rape Martha. Charlie walks in and informs Arthur of Mikey's death; Arthur ignores him and encourages Charlie to listen to Samuel's beautiful singing. Charlie shoots Samuel in the head, then shoots Arthur twice, disgusted by his conduct. Arthur staggers out of the house and Charlie follows to find him seated on the ground. Arthur asks Charlie what he will do next, and dies with Charlie sitting silently by his side.

The story concerns the theft of an examination paper by the cadet Cava carried out under orders from Jaguar, the brutal leader of a group of cadets called The Circle. The theft is reported by a lowly cadet called The Slave whom Jaguar consequently murders during military maneuvers. Concerned for the school’s reputation, the administrators choose to ignore further evidence of Jaguar’s guilt.

The four-issue series revolves around the Punisher hunting down a former 1960s radical who was released from prison only to be horribly disfigured when a bomb he and his friend were working on exploded. After exposure to toxic waste, the disfigured radical becomes almost unkillable due to the chemicals mutating him, giving him an accelerated healing factor.

Troubled high school student Sean Boswell and athlete Clay race their cars, a 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and a 2003 Dodge Viper. Sean cuts through a structure and catches up to Clay. Desperate to win, Clay hits Sean's car repeatedly until they reach a high-speed turn, which causes both cars to crash; Clay's Viper hits a cement pipe, and Sean's Monte Carlo rolls. Clay and his wealthy family help him escape punishment, but because Sean is a repeat offender and in order to avoid jail, he is sent to live in Japan with his father, a U.S. Navy officer stationed in Tokyo.

In Tokyo, Sean befriends Twinkie, a military brat who introduces him to the world of drift racing. After driving to an underground car show in Twinkie's 2005 Hulk-themed Volkswagen Touran, Sean has a confrontation with Takashi—the Drift King (DK) who drives a 2003 Nissan 350Z—over Sean talking to Takashi's girlfriend, Neela. Though barred from driving, Sean decides to race against Takashi, who has ties to the Yakuza, in a 2001 Nissan Silvia S15 Spec-S loaned by a racer named Han, but loses his first race with Takashi due to his unfamiliarity with drifting.

To repay his debt for the car he destroyed, Sean agrees to work for Han, who drives a 1997 Veilside Fortune Mazda RX-7. They become friends, and Han offers to teach Sean how to drift, explaining that he is helping Sean as he is the only person willing to stand up to Takashi. Sean soon masters drifting by practicing in a 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, gaining respect after defeating DK's right-hand man, Morimoto. Sean soon asks Neela out on a date, and learns that after her mother died, she moved in with Takashi's grandmother, which resulted in their relationship. An enraged Takashi beats Sean up the next day, telling him to stay away from Neela; Neela subsequently leaves Takashi and moves in with Sean and Han.

Takashi's uncle Kamata, the head of the Yakuza, reprimands Takashi for allowing Han to steal from him. Takashi and Morimoto confront Han, Sean, and Neela about the thefts. Twinkie causes a distraction, allowing Han, Sean, and Neela to flee, who are then pursued by Takashi and Morimoto. During the chase, Morimoto crashes, leaving Takashi to pursue the trio on his own. Han allows Sean to overtake him in order to hold Takashi off, but the chase ends when Sean and Neela crash. Meanwhile, moments after escaping from Takashi, Han's car is broadsided and the car explodes before Sean has a chance to save Han.

Takashi, Sean, and his father become involved in an armed standoff which is resolved by Neela agreeing to leave with Takashi. Sean's father prepares to send him back but Sean pleads him to let him fix his own mess. His father agrees and they make amends. Twinkie gives his money to Sean to replace the money Han stole from Takashi, which Sean then returns to Kamata. Sean proposes a race against Takashi, with the loser having to leave Tokyo. Kamata agrees to the challenge, but on the condition that the race take place on a mountain, revealed to be the mountain where Takashi himself is the only person to make it down successfully. Sean and Han's crew restore a 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback that Sean's father was working on to drift specification, using several components of the previously wrecked Silvia, including the engine.

That night, on the mountain, crowds gather to see the race; Takashi takes the lead initially, but Sean's training allows him to catch up. Determined to win, Takashi resorts to ramming Sean's car, eventually missing and driving off the mountain while Sean crosses the finish line, with Takashi's car almost falling on him in the process. Kamata keeps his word, and lets Sean remain in Tokyo and is now dubbed the new Drift King. Some time later, Neela, Twinkie, and Sean, now driving another Nissan Silvia S15 Spec R, are enjoying themselves in their newfound homeplace and freedom. Dominic Toretto shows up to challenge Sean in a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner, and he accepts after the American proclaims himself as Han's family.

Fifteen-year-old Matt Cruse is a cabin boy for the ''Aurora'', an airship that stays afloat using a gas called "hydrium". While on lookout duty, he spots a damaged balloon carrying an unconscious old man. Matt saves the man, whose name is Benjamin Molloy, only to have him die shortly after being taken aboard. His last words ramble about "beautiful creatures" that he supposedly saw on his ill-fated voyage.

One year later, Matt leaves his home in Lionsgate City to accompany the ''Aurora'' on its voyage to Sydney, Australia. Despite loving his mother and sisters dearly, Matt is relieved to be in the air where he feels closest to his father — a former sailmaker who died in an accident aboard the ''Aurora''. Matt is disappointed to learn that the Junior Sailmaker position he was promised has been given to the airship fleet's heir, Bruce Lunardi. One day into the voyage, an ornithopter delivers two passengers to the ship: Kate de Vries and her chaperone Marjorie Simpkins. Kate tells Matt that she is Benjamin Malloy's granddaughter and shows him detailed drawings of flying panther-like creatures from Malloy's journal. Intrigued by the possibility that they live their whole lives in the air, Kate reveals that she is on a mission to prove that such creatures are real.

A few nights later, the ship is raided by a notorious criminal named Vikram Szpirglas. His gang of pirates plunder the ship of all valuables and kill the chief wireless officer. The pirates proceed to leave, but both ships are caught in a storm. The pirate vessel crashes with the ''Aurora'' and tears the ''Aurora's'' hull, seriously depleting its supply of hydrium. As the sailmakers scramble to repair the falling ''Aurora'', Matt spots an island and the crew steers toward it. The ship crash lands on the island, which Kate realizes is the island from her grandfather's journal. Kate convinces Matt to help her explore the island, where they discover the skeleton of a large winged creature. A few minutes later, they find an injured member of the same species which they decide to call a "cloud cat".

Miss Simpkins tries to lock Kate in her room for associating with Matt. As the repairs near completion, Kate drugs her and takes one last chance to photograph the island's wildlife. Matt and Bruce begin looking for her until they find Kate hidden in a tree saying she found the cloud cat's nest. After luring the cloud cat into a clearing with a fish, the shutter of Kate's camera provokes it into attacking. Bruce suffers severe wounds on his leg from the cloud cat, but Matt and Kate escape into the forest. The two of them stumble upon the pirates, who had set up a secret base on the secluded island. Unrecognized, they ask for shelter in the pirate camp and make a plan to sneak away during the night. During their escape, Kate and Matt are apprehended and thrown into a hydrium pit where there is no oxygen. They use Kate's harem pants as a balloon to lift themselves to ground level as Szpirglas' crew sets out to silence the passengers of the ''Aurora''. Kate begins crying in the forest, blaming herself for putting everyone else in danger. Acting on the feelings he has developed for her, Matt kisses her. She asks him to kiss her again and stops crying.

Once Kate and Matt find Bruce, the three make their way to the ''Aurora'', which is being held hostage by eight pirates. They are able to undo the landing lines and cause the ship to take off. Matt's innate knowledge of the flight system allows them to temporarily take control and steer the ship away from the island. After tending to Bruce's wounds in the infirmary, Matt brings a sleeping elixir to the cook so that it can be added to the pirates' soup. Szpirglas' crew murders Bruce in the engine room and chases Matt onto the hull of the ''Aurora'' in the open air. Szpirglas pushes Matt off the edge but Matt is able to grab hold of the ship's tail fin. Before attempting to dislodge Matt again, Szpirglas is attacked by a group of cloud cats and is thrown into the sea. The passengers are saved when Matt steers the ''Aurora'' back on course.

Six months later, Matt meets Kate in Paris, where she is exhibiting her cloud cat skeleton and photographs. Matt reveals that he will attend the Airship Academy, with the help of the reward money for finding Szpirglas' base of operations. Kate plans to begin her zoology studies at a university.

Katya Morgan is a rich, pampered heiress who spends her days shopping, partying, and chasing guys until she is disinherited from the family fortune by her father. With no money to her name, and no job skills, Katya takes a job as a maid at the plush Royal Palmetto hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona. But when she falls for Alex Sheridan, the general manager of the hotel, Katya learns that getting what you don't want can sometimes be the best reward of all.

In 1947, a United States congressional committee which includes prim Phoebe Frost of Iowa arrives in post-World War II Berlin to visit the American troops stationed there. Phoebe hears rumors that cabaret torch singer Erika von Schlütow, suspected of being the former mistress of either Hermann Göring or Joseph Goebbels, is being protected by an unidentified American officer. She enlists Captain John Pringle, another Iowan, to assist in her investigation, unaware that he is Erika's current lover.

After seeing Erika with Adolf Hitler in a newsreel filmed during the war, Phoebe asks John to take her to army headquarters after hours to retrieve the singer's official file. In order to distract her, John woos Phoebe, who initially resists his romantic advances but eventually succumbs to his charms.

Colonel Rufus J. Plummer advises John he is aware of his relationship with Erika and orders him to continue seeing her in the hope she will lead them to another of her ex-lovers, ex-Gestapo agent Hans Otto Birgel, believed to be hiding in the American occupation zone. Meanwhile, Erika and Phoebe are arrested during a raid designed to catch Germans without proper identification papers at the Lorelei, the nightclub where Erika performs. At the police station, Erika claims Phoebe as her cousin in order to secure her release without revealing her identity.

Phoebe, grateful for Erika's intercession on her behalf, goes with her to her apartment, where Erika confesses that John is her lover just before he arrives. Humiliated, Phoebe leaves. Later, at the military airport waiting for the fog to clear, Colonel Plummer attempts to reconcile Phoebe and John. John is targeted by a jealous and armed Birgel at the Lorelei, but Birgel is killed by American soldiers who shoot him first. Erika is arrested for her complicity with Birgel, and Phoebe and John are reunited.

"This film is set in 1970s Hollywood, California. This film follows two primary characters, Elijah Starr and Blaze Jones, played by Shaw and Thompson. These two characters are Hollywood Private investigators who attempt to help a newly arrived actress from Hong Kong who is being tracked down by a cult of Vampires."

"Vampire Blvd. is like pore without sex scenes, skit without comedy, action-horror with neither." "A mad scientist has created bondage-clad vampires, an Asian babe thinks she being stalked by vampires, a black and white face painted ninja gal writhes in a fast food restaurant, wiggled skate freaks zoom through a canal, Joe Estevez sings and lights a candle, a robot Robert Z'Dar beats his female robot equivalent, Shaw fights invisible bat things in an effect sequence that might have been created with a dot matrix printer, and porn star Jilly Kelly wriggles on a toilet."

In 1968, an infected Soviet man, Rubinsky, is being operated on at a military hospital when soldiers arrive and begin to shoot all of those who are in the building. One of the hospital students steals a strange vial, enclosing it in his thermos. He is later shot by the soldiers as he attempts to escape through the woods and the thermos is dropped. The soldiers in the hospital continue to kill any one that has been in contact with the infected man. The zombies are killed when C4 is detonated by sharpshooters outside the hospital.

Thirty-seven years later, a group of patients at the same hospital, consisting of Boris, Jackie, Isaac, Sam, and their doctor, Donwynn, uncover a strange thermos buried in the soil in the yard of a hospital. Sam attempts to open it, but they are unable due to it being rusted shut. Donwynn entrusts Sam with keeping it safe, but Isaac feels that something bad will happen if the thermos is opened. While Sam and Boris are distracted with watching a movie, Jackie sneaks away with the thermos and runs to the bathroom to open it. Sam discovers that Jackie stole the thermos, and with Boris, Isaac, and Emma, they go to the bathroom to talk him out of opening it. Jackie opens the thermos, and a strange object falls from it, unknowingly releasing a virus, infecting the entire group. Doctor Heller talks to Donwynn about his patients’ behavior and claims that Jackie and the other patients are breaking the rules of the hospital. That night, those who were in the bathroom begin to show signs of sickness. Donwynn contacts a friend about the item that was in the thermos.

The next day, Donwynn awakes to discover Sam having a seizure and the rest discover that they all have skin on their bodies that is dead and peeling. Emma has tests ran on her, and she is told that she is pregnant. Emma attacks Marshall when he keeps bothering her about the results of her test, and she bites him on the arm, infecting him. Sam, Jackie and Boris begin to show advanced signs of infection, including rotting flesh, varicose veins, and coughing up blood. Marshall is quarantined because of the infection from the bite. Dr. Heller puts the hospital under a full quarantine and gives the doctors the right to bear arms, along with orders to shoot anyone from Dorm 1 in the head that attacks them. Donwynn receives a video from his friend who says not to open the thermos because it contains a deadly virus that mutates human DNA. Donwynn informs Sam that he plans to visit the hospital the next day. Marshall dies of his infection that night.

The next morning, everyone is called to the front desk of the hospital to receive a vial of medicine. Ava informs Donwynn that the virus is flesh-eating and kills its host. Patty and Vicky get into a fight, which is broken up by Derber. Pete senses that Donwynn smells dead, and goes crazy. This gives Patty a chance to steal one of Derber's handguns, and escape to see Emma. Patty shoots and kills one of the security guards in order to open Emma's room. Marshall reanimates as a zombie and kills Dr. Heller, who has stopped in to study the advancement of the infection. Donwynn has jumped out of a window to try to find out why the hospital is quarantined, and observes the killing of Heller. While trying to find Emma, Patty shoots Isaac, but he revives and is unharmed. Marshall breaks free from his cell and kills a security guard.

Donwynn's friend arrives at the hospital just as Donwynn returns to the hospital, and informs the patients of what the virus truly is, and how it works. He also reveals that each of them are dead “by human standards.” He also reveals that those infected with the virus are highly contagious, and informs the patients of how the virus was first released. The zombified Marshall is shot to death by the hospital's police force. Jackie attacks Donwynn's friend and slams his head into the door, opening a wound. Boris, no longer able to contain his blood lust, mutates into a zombie, and bites him, causing Jackie and Sam to attack him as well. The three devour him while Isaac, Donwynn and Emma run to the doctor's office, outside of the dorm. Jackie, Sam and Boris have completely turned to zombies and they taunt the surviving patients from inside the dorm.

Early the next morning, Dr. Heller has reanimated as a zombie. He enters the room where Vicky is hiding, but he is distracted by the infected Charlie who he chases away. The patients in the dining room all reanimate as zombies and begin to devour the police officers. The survivors escape into the kitchen of the hospital, but are forced to retreat into the back hallway. Patty finds Vicky in the medical room, and kills her while searching for Emma. The majority of the zombies escape from the hospital and head out into the city. The survivors manage to reach the medical room, where Emma goes into labor and the last police officer is killed. The zombies begin to kill people in the city, Charlie among the victims. Boris, Jackie and Sam break into the room, attacking Isaac, Emma and Donwynn, trying to convince them that they do not want to hurt any of them, they just want them to turn and be a family. Boris kills Ava, and Isaac commits suicide with the last round of a pistol. The movie ends with the zombies attacking a camera crew recording the carnage.

''Scarface: The World Is Yours'' begins during the final scene of the film, in which drug kingpin Tony Montana (voiced by André Sogliuzzo) makes an apparent last stand as his mansion comes under attack from assassins sent by his former business partner-turned-enemy Alejandro Sosa (Paul Shenar). Unlike in the film, however, Tony is able to overpower Sosa's men and escape the grounds, just as the DEA and Miami-Dade police arrive. One of Sosa's men calls him after the attack, saying that Tony's mansion is being seized by law enforcement, his drug empire is reduced to nothing, and Tony himself is most likely dead. Meanwhile, hiding in a safehouse in the Miami glades, Tony laments the deaths of his friend Manny and sister Gina, curses himself for not listening to the advice of others due to his stubbornness, decides to quit cocaine, and vows retribution on Sosa.

Three months later, in March 1984, Tony returns to Miami. All of his assets have been frozen, and the districts of Miami he used to dominate have been divided among other drug cartels. His first act is to ask criminal attorney George Sheffield (James Woods) to become his lawyer again. Sheffield reluctantly agrees, but at a higher wage than before. He next travels to see his old friend and contact Felix (Carlos Ferro), who tells him Sosa is working with fellow crime boss Gaspar Gomez (Cheech Marin) in an effort to take over all of Tony's old turf. To rebuild his empire, Tony must first make enough money to buy his mansion from the Vice Squad, but he doesn't known any trustworthy drug dealers, as most report back to Sosa now. Felix tells him to speak to a waitress named Coco (Nika Futterman), who puts Tony in touch with some dealers with no ties to Sosa. Within a day, Tony earns enough cash to re-purchase his mansion, and begins to slowly re-establish his name.

Felix later tells Tony that Gomez is smuggling cash, and gives him a tip about one of his trucks, which is carrying $50,000. Tony intercepts the truck and uses the money to open a bank account. Reconnecting with his old banker, Jerry (Michael York), he uses the bank to launder his money as he sets out to reclaim control of Little Havana from the Diaz Brothers. As Tony's reputation increases, the brothers plan to have him murdered. After surviving one of their assassination attempts, he interrogates the hitmen and learns the Diazes had his mother killed. Furious, Tony kills them both, and regains control of Little Havana.

Tony is later called by Pablo (Wilmer Valderrama), an associate of Sheffield's, who claims to known the whereabouts of Tony's estranged wife, Elvira, and arranges a meeting. The meet turns out to be a trap, but Tony survives and kills Pablo. Realzing Sheffield turned on him, Tony cuts his ties with him. During this time, Tony sets about taking control of Downtown from the Contreras cartel. Upon doing so, he is contacted by "The Sandman" (Steven Bauer), a cocaine producer from the Caribbean islands south of Miami. Sandman also wants Sosa out of the picture, and invites Tony to come to see him. They agree that with Tony in Miami selling Sandman's product from the islands, they can run Sosa out of business. Tony then meets Venus (Cree Summer), Sandman's ex-girlfriend and a powerful influence on the islands herself. She tells him of the owner of a nearby casino, being run on a disused oil tanker, who is killing women and dumping their bodies overboard, and asks Tony to take care of it. Tony goes to the casino and murders the owner, revealed to be Nacho Contreras, formerly in control of Downtown's drug trade.

After taking control of the South Beach and North Beach districts from Gomez, Tony is again contacted by Sandman, who tells him he has gone to war with the Colombian drug cartels and asks for his assistance. Tony helps Sandman defend his plantation, before heading to his processing lab on the island of Tranquilandia, which has been taken over by the Colombians. After Tony kills them and rescues the workers, who were taken hostage, Sandman gives him ownership of his plantation. Now in charge of both production and distribution, Tony has become the most powerful drug lord in the area; henceforth he can finally go after Sosa, who is in Bolivia.

At his mansion, Sosa is hosting a meeting with Sheffield and Gomez in which they are discussing how best to get rid of Tony. From outside, they hear an explosion, as Tony attacks the house. Fighting his way through the grounds, he kills both Sheffield and Gomez before confronting Sosa himself. An argument ensues when Sosa tells Tony that he warned him not to betray him, and that Tony did since he refused to assassinate a journalist for Sosa because there were children in the journalist's car. Tony grows appalled when Sosa claims that in their business, sometimes children have to die, to which the former angrily dismisses; Sosa then attempts to kill Tony, but ultimately Tony emerges victorious as he shoots Sosa multiple times, killing him and finally exacting his revenge on Sosa.

As he leaves the mansion, Tony finds one of Sosa's henchmen who is still alive. The survivor begs for his life, and Tony offers him a job. The game ends with the henchman working as Tony's butler, as he and Venus watch television in a Jacuzzi. Feeling good about his life, Tony declares he finally has what he always felt was coming to him: "the world".

''A Redwall Winter's Tale'' opens up on the last day of autumn. At Redwall Abbey, the two Dibbuns (toddlers) Bungo and Tubspike are playing outside, waiting for a group of travelling performers that are expected at the Abbey. The Abbot had given them permission to welcome them.

The performers arrive, enter the abbey, and put on a show. Finally, when it is time for bed, the Dibbuns are told the story of the Snow Badger, a mythical creature who makes the snow fall.

Just before dawn the next morning, the Dibbun mole Bungo sees the Snow Badger and is able to talk to him! When the little mole wakes up, he finds a pouch around his neck. It contains a small crystal drop, and a note is written on the inside of the pouch on a scrap of parchment. It is in the form of a riddle, but what does it mean? The Redwallers must try to figure it out...

In Ilium, New York, the middle-aged Billy Pilgrim writes a letter to the editor claiming to have become "unstuck in time"; he finds himself as a young man behind enemy lines in Belgium during World War II, where he and a number of other American troops are captured by the Germans. A fellow prisoner of war, Paul Lazzaro, develops a grudge against Billy and vows to kill him; at a camp, Lazzaro attacks Billy but is intercepted by an older POW, Edgar Derby. Billy and Edgar develop a friendship. The Americans are set to be transferred to Dresden for the duration of the war and are asked to elect a leader. When Lazzaro nominates himself, Billy nominates Edgar for the role, and Edgar is acclaimed after Lazzaro steps down. In Dresden, the POWs are placed in a slaughterhouse, Slaughterhouse-Five. During dinner, sirens sound off and the POWs head to shelter; the firebombing of Dresden commences, during which Billy believes 100,000 perish. The POWs emerge and the Germans have them sort through the ruins for survivors, warning looting will be punished. When Edgar discovers a dancing figurine, he pockets it, and is executed by a Nazi firing squad.

After the war, Billy marries the wealthy Valencia, whose father owns an optometry school, and Billy goes into the field. They have two children, Robert and Barbara. Robert becomes a troubled adolescent, at one point caught by the police vandalizing a Catholic cemetery. Billy bribes the police. The family also treats Valencia to a Cadillac. Billy and his father-in-law Lionel Merble board a private jet for an optometry convention. When Billy looks out the window and sees men in ski masks, he has a premonition the plane will crash en route, which it does. Lionel is killed but Billy is found alive and taken to hospital. On her way to the hospital, a distressed Valencia has multiple accidents and the Cadillac's exhaust is destroyed, causing her to die of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Billy is released from the hospital and opts to live alone, over the objections of Barbara. Robert has reformed and enlisted for the Vietnam War. While alone, Billy is abducted to the alien planet of Tralfamadore, along with film actress Montana Wildhack. The Tralfamadorians live in the "fourth dimension" and teach Billy the universe is made up of random moments strung together; when one dies, they go back to another point in their life, and it is up to them to focus on good moments and ignore the bad. The Tralfamadorians hope Billy and Montana will mate. Billy and Montana fall in love and have a child, whom Montana names Billy Jr. On Earth, Billy argues with Barbara about the existence of Tralfamadore; Billy, being able to travel into the future as well as the past, shares a vision of his death, in which he is shot by an elderly Lazzaro while giving a speech about Tralfamadore.

On a Friday morning, a caravan of trucks arrives in the French seaside town of Rochefort, on the Bay of Biscay, bringing the fair that will take place in the town square that Sunday. Étienne and Bill, two carnival workers who sell motorcycles, bicycles, and boats, help set up, while, in an apartment, Delphine teaches ballet to a group of children and her fraternal twin sister, Solange, accompanies the dancers on piano. The twins live in Rochefort, but long to find their ideal loves and move to Paris, Delphine to dance and Solange to compose.

Yvonne, the mother of the twins, has a café in the town square. Among her regular customers is Maxence, a sailor who sees himself primarily as a painter and poet searching the world for his ideal woman. A painting he did of what he imagines this woman to look like is on display at the art gallery owned by Delphine's egotistical boyfriend, Guillaume Lancien, and Delphine sees it when she goes there to break off the relationship. As it looks remarkably like her, she wants to meet the artist, but Guillaume lies and tells her the painter just left for Paris.

Delphine tells Solange about the artist and they decide to finally move to Paris. Solange goes to see Simon Dame at his music shop to ask him to arrange an introduction to his old friend, the successful American composer Andy Miller, who is currently doing a series of recitals in Paris. While she is there, Simon tells her about his romantic past with a woman who bore his child, but left him because she could not stand his last name. He says he recently came back to Rochefort to open the shop because that is where he met the woman, though, as far as he knows, she is now in Mexico. Later, Yvonne tells Maxence the story of her relationship with the father of her young son, Booboo, indicating she regrets leaving the man just because she did not want to become "Madame Dame".

When picking up Booboo from school, Solange bumps into a charming foreigner, and they are immediately smitten with each other. The man is Andy, who has come to Rochefort to visit Simon during a break in his tour, but he and Solange part without exchanging names. After she is gone, he notices she dropped the sheet music for part of a piano concerto she composed and picks it up.

Étienne and Bill's girlfriends run away with a couple of sailors, which is hurtful both personally and professionally, since the women were supposed to dance at Étienne and Bill's stand at the fair to attract customers. Having gotten to know Yvonne, they think of asking her daughters to help them out, in exchange for a free ride to Paris.

The twins perform at the fair to enthusiastic applause. Guillaume says he will make Delphine a star in Paris if she gets back together with him, but she turns him down. Simon tells Solange that Andy has agreed to meet her in Paris. Étienne and Bill say they love Delphine and Solange, but the twins rebuff them, though without losing their ride.

On Monday morning, Simon comes by the twins' apartment. He tells Solange to go to his shop to see Andy, who is unexpectedly back in town for a short time, and agrees to pick up Booboo from school so she can do so. Maxence says goodbye to Yvonne at the café and then leaves for Paris to be an artist and continue to search for his ideal woman. Delphine enters and, while bidding her mother farewell, mentions that a man named "Simon Dame" is getting Booboo. Yvonne leaves abruptly and reunites with Simon at Booboo's school.

At the music shop, Solange finds Andy playing her concerto, and the pair dance and kiss. Delphine asks Étienne and Bill to wait for Solange, but it is past time to leave, so the group departs without her. Along the way, the fair caravan passes Maxence hitchhiking, and Étienne stops to pick him up, finally bringing Delphine and Maxence together (though their meeting is not shown onscreen).

In the 1950s, Michael Jackson and a young woman (Ola Ray) run out of gas while driving in a wooded area. They walk into the forest and Michael asks her to be his girlfriend; she accepts. He warns her that he is "not like other guys", transforms into a werecat and attacks her.

In the present, Michael and his girlfriend are watching the werecat film in a theater. The girlfriend leaves, scared by the film. In the street, Michael teases her by performing the verses of "Thriller". They pass a graveyard, where zombies rise from their graves. The couple are surrounded and Michael becomes a zombie. He and the zombies dance to the song.

Michael and the zombies chase his girlfriend into an abandoned house. She screams and wakes up, realizing it was a nightmare. Michael embraces her, but turns to the camera and grins, revealing his werecat eyes.

Horror elements

The ''Thriller'' video makes many allusions to horror films.Mercer (2005), p. 85-89 The opening scene parodies 1950s B-movies, with Jackson and Ray dressed as 1950s teenagers. The metamorphosis of the polite "boy next door" into a werecat has been interpreted as a depiction of male sexuality, depicted as naturally bestial, predatory, and aggressive. The critic Kobena Mercer found similarities to the werewolf in ''The Company of Wolves'' (1984).

The zombie dance sequence corresponds the lyric about a masquerade ball of the dead.Mercer (1991), p. 316-317 Jackson's make-up casts "a ghostly pallor" over his skin and emphasizes the outline of his skull, an allusion to the mask from ''The Phantom of the Opera'' (1925). According to Peter Dendle, the zombie invasion sequence was inspired by ''Night of the Living Dead'' (1968). Dendle wrote that the video captures the feelings of claustrophobia and helplessness essential to zombie films.Dendle (2001), p. 171

An unnamed African American hunter (who is very similar in speech pattern and mannerism to Stepin Fetchit) walks over to a rabbit hole where Bugs is eating his carrots. Bugs is led to a trunk where he tricks the hunter into destroying the tree. Bugs distracts the hunter after introducing himself, and digs underground and when the hunter realizes that Bugs has his gun. Bugs has the hunter run far enough so he can go down the rabbit hole. Realizing that he has been fooled, the hunter uses a toilet plunger to catch Bugs. However, Bugs tickles the hunter and flees into another rabbit hole. The hunter grabs the plunger, only to find a skunk under him. Next, Bugs lures the hunter into a cave, where they encounter a black bear. All three of them run into the rabbit hole and when Bugs and the hunter realize the bear is in the hole, they run off in fright.

Realizing that Bugs is on the hunter while walking, the hunter fires off a swarm of anthropomorphic birdshot bullets. In a madcap chase, the bullets chase Bugs into a series of holes, including a "fake" golf hole and the cave where the skunk is at. Bugs then lures the hunter into a log sitting on the edge of a cliff, through which the hunter runs numerous times (each time running to the other side as Bugs spins the log around so that the hunter keeps running off the cliff) until he falls to the ground. Bugs is confronted by the angered hunter and, in a desperate plea for his life, baits the hunter into playing what turns out to be a "strip" dice game. Bugs wins the game and walks off mocking the hunter's speech and wearing the hunter's clothes, leaving the man with a leaf covering his crotch to quip "Well call me Adam." Adding further insult to injury, Bugs grabs the leaf during the "iris out", leaving the hunter completely naked.

Marie (Anne Parillaud) is a vampire in modern Pittsburgh, with a moral code that limits her bloodsucking to the criminal elements of society. After feasting on ''mafioso'' Tony Silva (Chazz Palminteri), she shoots him in the head with a shotgun to cover up the bite marks on his neck and to prevent him from coming back as a vampire. Undercover cop Joseph Gennaro (Anthony LaPaglia) visits the crime scene but is taken off his assignment of infiltrating the crime family of Salvatore "Sal the Shark" Macelli (Robert Loggia) and put into protective custody by District Attorney Sinclair (Angela Bassett) for being seen at the crime scene by the media.

The next night, Marie seduces Sal, who takes her back to his mansion for "dinner". She is warded off when Sal serves garlic mussels, and she tries to escape through the bathroom window but finds it barred up. Sal attempts to rape her but Marie overpowers him and drains his blood. Before she can finish him off, Sal's limousine driver, Lenny (David Proval) intervenes and she is forced to flee. Gennaro investigates the scene and follows a trail of blood to a nearby church, where he finds and chases Marie. When Gennaro gets back to his car, Marie finds him and demands that he drive her to the morgue where Sal was taken. Sal, now a vampire, awakens in the morgue and steals a car to drive to the home of his attorney, Manny Bergman (Don Rickles), being seen by police and reporters in his escape.

Outside the morgue, Gennaro leaves Marie with his colleagues Detectives Dave Finton (Leo Burmester) and Steve Morales (Luis Guzman) and goes to Bergman's house to pursue Sal. Marie escapes from custody and follows him. At Bergman's home, Sal drinks Bergman's blood and Gennaro is captured by Lenny and Jacko (Tony Sirico). The three mobsters take Gennaro to the docks and attempt to kill him using the compactor of a garbage truck. Marie arrives, saves him and kills Sal's men but Sal manages to escape. Gennaro and Marie attempt to pursue him but the sun rises and Marie has to retreat into a motel. Sal hides in a meat factory that he owns. Bergman is transferred to a hospital but after becoming a vampire, he is burned alive when a nurse opens the window and lets the sunlight in. In the motel, Gennaro and Marie confess their feelings for each other and have sex.

The next night, Sal travels to a strip club that he owns and begins turning his men into vampires like him. Gennaro and Marie begin searching Mafia hangouts for Sal. Finton and Morales track him down to the strip club but Sal's men kill Finton. Marie and Gennaro arrive in time to save Morales and kill Sal's men by shooting them in the head. They chase Sal out onto the street, where he causes a collision between a taxi and a bus. Gennaro kills him by igniting him with the leaking gas tank of the bus and then shooting him in the head. Marie can no longer handle being the monster she is, and attempts to commit suicide by the sunlight, stating that she "died a long time ago". Gennaro talks her out of it, telling her that he loves her. Gennaro books her into a nearby hotel and Marie states in a voiceover that he "made [her] feel alive" and decides to make him a vampire.

The ancient monks who preserve the wisdom of the Lost Lands have been frozen in stone by Draxos and his minions. Young Rohan must plunge into the Risky Woods to release them. Only then can wisdom triumph once again.

The plot primarily focuses on the litigation surrounding Wilde's libel suit against the Marquess of Queensberry, and the subsequent insinuation of Wilde's homosexuality.

Xiu Xiu ( ), a 15-year-old girl living in the city of Chengdu, is sent out to study horses in the countryside with a nomadic Tibetan. She is told that after six months, she will return to take charge of her all-girl cavalry unit. Her only friend is the eunuch horseman Lao Jin, who takes care of her while teaching her to herd horses. But after the six months are up, she quickly discovers that she is not allowed to return.

As Xiu Xiu loses hope, she falls for the lies of a peddler who tells her he can get her out of the place, but does not return after having sex with her. Her innocence is slowly corrupted by a stream of men who use her only for sex, barely keeping up the conceit by telling her that they are able to get her back to her hometown. She starts to believe the lies the men perfunctorily tell her, as she spitefully lectures Lao Jin that the men who come in the night and have their way with her are important men who can help her get back.

Xiu Xiu gets pregnant and goes for a traumatic abortion in the hospital. The female doctors gossip about her. After the operation, she is raped by one of the patients, a man who shot himself in the foot to get disability benefits in the state-controlled economy. Lao Jin gets angry and assaults the rapist, but is restrained by the other patients while the doctors make snide remarks about how Xiu Xiu enjoys being raped.

After Xiu recuperates, she tries to shoot herself in the foot so she can get sent back home, but cannot bring herself to pull the trigger. She asks Lao Jin to shoot her foot, then changes her mind and asks him to shoot her dead instead. He does so, then shoots himself and falls on her body.

Stan, Cartman, Kenny, and Timmy have joined Mountain Scouts troop number 69 and are on their way to their first meeting. When they arrive, they find that their scoutmaster is Big Gay Al. The boys enjoy themselves at the meeting and decide that they like Mountain Scouts, but some parents fear that Big Gay Al will be a poor influence on the boys and that he may be a pedophile.

After a lifetime of membership, Big Gay Al is thrown out of Mountain Scouts by the Head. A new, masculine, scoutmaster named Mr. Grazier is appointed and he promises the parents he will whip the boys into line and make them good scouts, but proceeds to force them to pose for naked pictures with a threat to beat them up if they let this slip.

Meanwhile, Jimmy, a new handicapped boy, comes to town and also joins Mountain Scouts. Jimmy is a stand-up comedian and immediately becomes very popular. Timmy, the other handicapped boy in town, becomes incredibly jealous of the adoration given to the new kid. Timmy tries to undermine Jimmy in any way possible, including offering him an orange parka as a gift, in order to make him resemble Kenny (playing off the running gag that Kenny dies in almost every episode in the first few seasons) and even though Jimmy is nearly killed by a falling safe, a hawk, a fire, a stampede of cows, one of the American Space Shuttles, and gunshots from Jimbo and Ned, his efforts proved futile.

In an attempt to get rid of Mr. Grazier without giving away his secret, the boys assemble their own protest march all the way to the grocery store parking lot, and use Jimmy's stand-up comedy to draw in a crowd. However, the performance goes sour when he tries to enlist Timmy's participation, and Timmy refuses. Quickly, they break out into a lengthy fistfight. A very excited Cartman calls it a "cripple fight" and quickly gathers everyone to watch. From the outside, the crowd seems to be for the boy's protest, so it is picked up by the South Park media. A national controversy erupts as the Mountain Scouts are called a hate group by the media and prominent supporters like Steven Spielberg withdraw their support.

Big Gay Al sues the Mountain Scouts, while Mr. Grazier is revealed to be a pedophile who goes by the name "Mr. Slippyfist" and is arrested. Although the Colorado State Supreme Court rules in Big Gay Al's favor and orders the Mountain Scout Elders to take him back and be put in stocks for three days so they can feel like outcasts, Al refuses, saying that while he appreciated what the boys have done for him, he feels "it isn't right to force them to think our way," and while they should be talked into changing their minds, he begs people not to cut their funding or support for the Scouts, adding that he loves the Scouts for the work they do and that they are a private organization. This causes Big Gay Al's lawyer Gloria Allred to brand him as a homophobe. At the same time, Kenny is carried off by an eagle (so it looks like, but in the end of episode, Kenny is in the Mountain Scout meeting with other kids totally alive and healthy).

At the scouts meeting at the end of the episode, with the Head now in charge, Timmy brings up a photoshopped picture of Jimmy's head on an actual, non-animated man's body, embracing another man. Due to the scouts' views on homosexuality, Jimmy is booted out of the scouts. The episode ends with Timmy declaring "Timmy!" in delight.

Sheldon Bart (Fred Ward) is a drifter, and a small-time con man. He meets his old friend, Brother Bud (Harry Dean Stanton), a big-time con man into faith healing and fencing stolen cars, at his revival tent outside a small town. Bud has developed a real ability to heal, although he has no idea how this has happened. While he's helping Brother Bud, Sheldon falls in love with Arlene (Cindy Williams), a local supermarket clerk who believes in UFOs and is deeply religious and deeply lonely. When Arlene has a vision of a coming UFO, everyone deals with it in their own way. Brother Bud begins to twist Arlene's belief and visions into a new pseudoreligious cult.

Michael Ryan is a high school student who receives an anonymous love letter. Michael is obsessed with Deborah Ann Fimple, the class beauty, and his best friend, Roger, convinces him that the letter is from her. However, he is totally oblivious that his friend Toni Williams is in love with him. Michael writes Deborah Ann an anonymous love letter in return, and asks Toni to give it to her. Toni reads the letter and, realizing it's poorly written and unromantic (since Michael had copied words from greeting cards), she rewrites it.

Elizabeth Fimple, Deborah Ann's mother, discovers the letter. Her jealous police officer husband, Lou Fimple, sees her reading it. He steals the letter, and believes that his wife is having an affair. He suspects his neighbor (and bridge partner) George Ryan. George also reads the letter (although by mistake) because Lou's wife is his night school teacher and it somehow ends up in his book. When George asks her about it, he assumes she wants to have an affair with him, despite the fact that she is friends with his wife. Meanwhile, Lou shows the letter to George's wife, Connie, and proposes that they expose the adulterers. Receiving no response from Deborah Ann, Michael writes a second letter, which Toni again rewrites.

Michael experiences a series of wacky adventures with his friends throughout the summer before his Senior year in High School. After Toni arranges a meeting between the two, he tells Deborah Ann that he wrote the love letters, and she finally agrees to a real date, during which they are almost caught by Debbie's jock college "quasi boyfriend" Steve, but Toni intervenes by pretending to seduce him and later ditches him. After a short while Michael realizes Deb is snobby and shallow — not like he expected her to be — and begins to realize his true feelings for Toni. Eventually, Michael and Deb break up at his birthday party, refusing to sleep with her when she intends for this to be his birthday present. Eventually, Lou and Connie cannot control themselves at a bridge party: Lou assaults George, and Connie has a breakdown in front of her friends.

When Michael returns home, he finds his parents arguing and his mother reading his letter; Michael angrily tells his parents the letter actually belongs to him while scolding them for invading his private mail, leaving them in a state of shock. At Deborah's house, Lou confronts Elizabeth about the letter; Deborah Ann overhears him reading the words and tearfully reprimands him, revealing the letter is hers, which leaves Lou in shock. Angered that her parents invaded her privacy, Deborah Ann heads to her room and breaks down into tears.

Later, Michael returns to Toni's house, confessing that nothing happened between him and Deborah and in the process confesses his feelings for Toni and wonders if anything can ever happen between them. However, refusing to admit her feelings after everything that happened, Toni rejects Michael.

Just as the fall semester is about to start, Deborah confronts Michael about the love letters, but upon seeing them, Michael learns they aren't the letters he wrote and realizes that Toni wrote the original love letter (by comparing Debbie's letter to Toni's handwriting). He races to her home, but is told that she left on a study abroad program aboard a ship that will keep her away for her Senior Year. Michael rushes to the dockyard after a brief scuffle with Steve, screaming his love for Toni. After shouting her love for him as the ship continues to sail away, he dives into the water, but cannot reach the ship. Toni dives into the water, too. The lovers embrace in the water and kiss.

''Brute Force'' takes place in the year 2340, when the human race has spread out across the galaxy and settled around 50 star systems, which are collectively known as the "Known Worlds". The major colonies and some alien races are governed by what is known as the Confederation of Allied worlds (usually referred to as the "Confed"). They patrol borders, protect their people, and keep watch on hostile alien races, as well as humans who wish to work for the aliens.

The game begins with a scene showing a sandstorm and the first character known as Tex fighting off an unknown force when suddenly a dropship he was about to board takes off without him. When he defends himself from what now looks like snakes, they overrun and kill him. His memory chip is re-obtained and he is cloned. He then gets his mission briefing from his commander on invading a small base on a planet named Estuary, occupied by former mercenary allies known as Red Hand. After he successfully completes his mission, he is sent on another mission on a planet called Ferix where new allies to the Confederation are located, he is told to find the second member of the Brute Force, a Feral alien named Brutus, who is trying to defend himself and his fellow colonists against uprising by exiled feral outcasts. After that situation, Brutus wants to kill his clan leader who is evidently now an Outcast. The next mission has the team recover a briefcase on another planet called Caspian, but the Colonists that control the station have been mutated by exposure to toxic chemicals into Mutants. So the team clear out the zone and find the briefcase.

They are assigned to find a third member of the team named Hawk, whom Tex is surprised to find out is female. They find her on a planet called Osiris where natives known as Seers and reach their leader known as Shadoon. They find a spy who tells them information about the Outcast operation on Ferix saying that Shadoon was behind the situation. After guiding the spy, they find out that the Seers are also being helped by the Fire Hounds. They clear out everything and then return to Estuary where there are still reports of Red Hand on the planet, they intend to find some computers and destroy them to stop the Red Hand from transferring data to an unknown location, they are however backed up by Mutants, it is however unknown how they got there (likely Estuary's colonists have the same problem as Caspian's). After clearing out the last of the Red Hand on Estuary, they return to Caspian to meet the last member of the team, Flint. They are tasked to track down someone known as Edward Kingman, who was funding the Red Hand. However, they must battle their way through Mutants who have slaughtered the Militia and are now guarding the Outline Perimeter for Kingman's zone. After taking out Kingman, they return to Ferix to locate a crashed Confederation ship which was shot down, then return to Osiris to destroy a spire in which the Seers are using for something unknown. They stop this, however, and then return to Ferix one last time to find that the Seers are on a ship to Ferix. The Confederation manage to shoot it down, but the Outcasts locate the crash site. The Seers and Outcasts team up to defend themselves against the team, meaning that Brute Force have to fight Seers as well as Outcasts.

On the next mission they are tasked to find a traitorous Confed colonel, named Gunther Ghent, who trained with Hawk's recon unit, only to find out he was selling weapons to the Red Hand. They then head back down to Caspian to take out a Super Mutant in one last encounter with the Mutants. They return to Osiris one last time to finally kill Shadoon, who is guarded by millions of Fire Hounds, Seers, and Psionic Artillery. They find out that a Commset has crashed on a planet called Singe. The Commset is being guarded by Fire Hounds, as well as Red Hand, who are working together to guard the Commset. They are then sent to Caspian to find a Synthetic traitor named Ty Mctavish, who is identical to Flint, the team has one last battle with Kingman's associates before heading out. They are sent to an asteroid named LB-429 where Mctavish was sending unknown data to an unknown contact on the planet, they investigate and find out the asteroid is infested by a race called the Shrikes. They find their leader, a Hunter Lord. The Shrikes are now invading Caspian, then later on, the team returns to Estuary one last time after so many missions not on Estuary. Now occupied by Shrikes, the team is now tasked to find some Alien Technology of unknown origin so the Confed can examine it. Then they return to LB-429 where they find the last of the Shrikes, and plan to finally destroy the Asteroid. They manage to kill the Hunter Lord and get evacuated, while several Confed jets destroy the asteroid. After the end, the team is seen walking into a dazing sunlight on an unknown planet (most likely Estuary), meaning they are finished with their jobs and are free to go.

In the early 1980s, retired Marine Colonel Jason Rhodes is obsessed with finding his son Frank, an Army Lieutenant listed as "missing in action" since 1972. After 10 years of searching Southeast Asia and turning up several leads, Rhodes believes that Frank is still alive and being kept in Laos as a prisoner of war.

After petitioning the United States government for help, but receiving none, Colonel Rhodes brings together a disparate group of Vietnam War veterans, including some who were a part of Frank's platoon: Wilkes, a "tunnel rat" who suffers from PTSD; "Blaster", a demolitions expert; and "Sailor", a crazed yet loyal machine gunner. Additionally, two helicopter pilot acquaintances of Rhodes, Distinguished Flying Cross recipient Johnson and Charts, join the group. Former Force Recon Marine Kevin Scott joins the team and later turns out to be the son of a pilot who was shot down in Vietnam and listed as MIA.

With the financial backing of good friend and rich oil businessman McGregor, whose son served in Frank's platoon and is also listed among the missing, the men train near Galveston, Texas in preparation to undertake a rescue mission at a remote POW camp in Laos. As the team arrives in Southeast Asia, the CIA, fearing an international crisis from Rhodes' actions, intercepts him in Bangkok and confiscates his weapons and equipment. Still determined to rescue their comrades, the team members put together their expense money given to them by McGregor to purchase replacement weapons and supplies. Rhodes contacts an acquaintance, deposed local drug baron Jiang, who joins the expedition with his two daughters Lai Fun and Mai Lin. Jiang manages to supply them with outdated but capable World War II-era weapons. In the course of the expedition, Charts gradually forms a relationship with Lai Fun.

Near the Laotian border, the group is attacked by a border patrol unit and Mai Lin is killed. Later, the group divides: Rhodes leads Charts, Sailor, Johnson and Lai Fun as the "air team" to a helicopter compound to secure escape transportation, while Jiang, Blaster, Scott and Wilkes scout out the prison camp as the "ground team." The ground team later discovers four Americans among the prisoners, but are unable to ascertain Frank's whereabouts.

The teams spend the night preparing before commencing the attack the next morning. Blaster sets up demolition charges, while Rhodes and his team discover that the air base is not where they expected it to be. Hiking through the jungle, they find it, get the choppers and take off, but are late in arriving at the camp. Blaster makes the decision to blow his charges to prevent the prisoners from leaving the camp, even though the choppers haven't arrived. In a heated battle, they manage to spring the prisoners, among them McGregor's son, but Frank is not among them; Blaster, Sailor and Jiang are killed in the process. From McGregor's son, Rhodes learns that Frank became ill soon after his capture and died. It is revealed that Frank was the soldier who stopped to carry a wounded McGregor during the platoon's evacuation to the helicopters in Vietnam in 1972 (as seen in the opening scene), but they were left behind as the helicopter carrying Blaster, Sailor and Wilkes departed the hot landing zone.

Stateside, the group is joyously welcomed by their families with media attention and fanfare. Rhodes finds that in learning the fate of his son, he has gained some closure for his wife and himself.

Rupert Marshetta (Keanu Reeves) has a mind of his own, he's frustrated with his parents, especially his dad (Fred Ward), and doesn't fit in with other youth. He is also in love with an older woman, Carla (Amy Madigan). One day the dad tells Rupert he sees himself as the king of Pennsylvania, his wife as the queen, and Rupert as the prince who will inherit his kingdom. He shows Rupert an old trailer and asks him if he sells the land, what he would do with the money. Increasingly frustrated with how life is going, Rupert schemes with Carla to kidnap the father to get money to enjoy a future together. He is held in the old trailer. Meanwhile, Rupert discovers the land has already been sold and the money is nowhere to be found. The dad is then taken to the mine where he works and held near a portable toilet. Rupert eventually thinks the money has been hidden in the toilet, which is chained closed. He prepares dynamite to blow open the toilet. Mine rescue workers and police arrive on scene.

In an alternate 1948 Los Angeles, mythical creatures & monsters are real, zombies are used as a labor class, and magic is just as commonplace as the latest technology, used for everything from lighting cigarettes to murder. Hardboiled private detective Harry Philip Lovecraft is unique, a person who actively chooses not to use magic because he believes it keeps his conscience clean.

A man named Mickey delivers a large grimoire to nightclub owner and mobster Harry Bordon in return for a sizeable payment. Mickey seems nervous, and after he leaves it’s revealed why: the book is blank. Bordon orders his lieutenant, Tugwell, to follow Mickey. Mickey heads for Union Station, where he intends to meet with his girlfriend, Lilly Sirwar. However, Mickey spots Tugwell and tells Lilly to flee before being cornered by Tugwell in a restroom. Tugwell animates the trimmed sheets of newspaper that Mickey believed to be cash, and murders him with thousands of papercuts while Lilly retrieves a large package from a station locker.

Meanwhile, Lovecraft is contacted by the wealthy and eccentric Amos Hackshaw to recover the actual book, the Necronomicon, which was stolen from his collection by his former chauffeur, Larry Willis. Willis was fired after Hackshaw believed he was attempting to corrupt his 16-year-old daughter, Olivia, who he has raised alone ever since he became a widower. Hackshaw asks Lovecraft to locate the book before a conference that starts at midnight two nights from then. Before departing the Hackshaw estate, Lovecraft meets Olivia, an avid hunter of unicorns and worshipper of Diana. Olivia has been sheltered and repressed all her life and as a result exhibits inappropriate behavior, including sexual aggression, which Lovecraft spurns. As Lovecraft leaves, Hackshaw sends a gargoyle familiar to observe the investigation.

While investigating the flophouse where Willis had been living, Lovecraft recovers a trio of clues: a souvenir photo of Mickey & Lilly taken at Harry Bordon’s Dunwich Club, a sample of perfume, and a note on a housing development’s stationery reading “Union Station - One Bag.” Lovecraft then heads to the Dunwich Club, where he encounters Connie Stone, an old flame who is now in a relationship with Bordon, with whom Lovecraft once had some association. Lovecraft asks around about Mickey before being summoned to speak to Bordon. Bordon tries to convince Lovecraft to join his organization, which Lovecraft rejects before questioning Bordon about the Necronomicon. When he leaves, Tugwell and his zombie henchman follow shortly after. At his office, it’s revealed that Lovecraft and Bordon were former partners on the LA County police force before Bordon became corrupt.

The next morning, Lovecraft wakes to find Olivia in his office, apologizing for her behavior the previous day. Lovecraft takes her out to breakfast, and Tugwell pays the diner manager to deliver a slip containing cursed runes to Lovecraft. Lovecraft recognizes the incantation and confronts the manager, resulting in a fight that’s interrupted when a demon emerges and kills the manager, who was holding the slip at that moment. Lovecraft and the diner’s cook trap the demon in a freezer before he and Olivia head to the police station to give statements about the incident. While there, Detective Otto Grimaldi and Olivia display an obvious attraction.

Lovecraft & Olivia are released with the help of his landlady, Hypolite Kropotkin, and her cousin, attorney Thadius Pilgrim. Lovecraft mentions the Necronomicon, and Mrs. Kropotkin shows immediate worry, declaring it to be the key to ending the world, quoting the Book of Revelation. Lovecraft returns Olivia home, where he updates Hackshaw on the status of the case. When he leaves the Hackshaw estate, he realizes he’s being followed and discovers Grimaldi had been ordered to tail him. Lovecraft, who has grown concerned for Olivia’s well-bring, asks Grimaldi to watch her instead.

That night, Lovecraft returns to his office/apartment to find Connie waiting for him. They spend the night together, and the next morning she tells Lovecraft what she knows about Mickey & Lilly and identifies the perfume sample. After Connie leaves, Lovecraft talks to Mrs. Kropotkin, who gives him a protective charm despite his protests and warns him that the rituals in the Necronomicon can backfire against the caster. Olivia discovers Grimaldi spying on her when she accidentally injures him while hunting, and takes him into the mansion so she can see to him.

Lovecraft goes to Vista Bonita, the housing development on the stationery he found in Willis’ rented room. Mickey is revealed to be Michael J. Locksteader, the president of the real estate company building the community. He learns that Lilly has been posing to others as Mickey’s sister, and is staying at the Hotel Ashcroft. Lovecraft enlists Connie’s help to lure Lilly to meet. At the hotel, Lovecraft realizes that Lilly is the drag persona of Larry Willis, who started a relationship with Mickey Locksteader after they met at a party.

After Lovecraft agrees to help Willis flee to Tijuana, Willis reveals that Bordon is the actual money behind Vista Bonita through a series of shell corporations. Mickey recruited Willis on Bordon’s behalf to infiltrate the Hackshaw home and find out why Hackshaw wanted to purchase the development at substantially above market value. Willis discovered the Necronomicon and stole it on Bordon’s orders, along with the blank fake that Bordon received, which had been commissioned for insurance purposes. Willis & Mickey intended to ransom the real book back to Hackshaw to get money to flee Los Angeles together, because Hackshaw & Bordon plan to unleash the Great Old Ones using the book, and will sacrifice Olivia as part of the ritual because she is a virgin.

Hackshaw’s gargoyle arrives, destroying the hotel room and killing Willis. Lovecraft & Connie flee to her apartment with the Necronomicon, only to discover Bordon and Tugwell waiting. Bordon reveals that Connie has doublecrossed Lovecraft, kills Tugwell for murdering Mickey before he could lead them to the book, and takes possession of the real copy. Bordon, Connie, and the zombie henchman take Lovecraft captive and go to Vista Bonita, where they meet Hackshaw, who has Olivia bound and gagged in preparation for the ritual. Bordon reveals he and Hackshaw have been in partnership, with Bordon becoming ruler of the new world while Hackshaw believes he will ascend to godhood. Connie kills Bordon, declaring she has no intention to be subservient to him, but Hackshaw takes control of the zombie henchman before Connie can shoot Lovecraft as well, who Hackshaw wants to witness the summoning. Using the book and its incantations, Hackshaw successfully summons an eldritch horror in the center of Vista Bonita. However, the creature rejects Olivia as a sacrifice and devours Hackshaw instead, despite Lovecraft’s attempt to save the villain. The ritual having failed, the monster sinks back into the earth and returns through its portal.

As a result of Hackshaw’s death, the gargoyle familiar vanishes and the zombie expires. When Olivia regains consciousness, she tells Lovecraft that Grimaldi is in Hackshaw’s car, and Lovecraft realizes & joyfully reveals what has happened: Olivia successfully seduced Grimaldi, who took her virginity, leaving her unusable as a sacrifice. The happiness is short-lived for Olivia, who discovers Grimaldi is married, and for Grimaldi, who finds out Olivia is only 16. Lovecraft tells Connie she will have to be taken into custody for killing Bordon, but they still share a kiss before she’s arrested. Lovecraft returns to his office with the book in his possession, confident his aversion to magic will override any temptation to use the book and that the world will be safe as a result.

Frederick J. Frenger Jr. (who asks to be called "Junior"), a violent sociopath recently released from a California prison, starts a new life in Miami. Before leaving the airport, he steals luggage and kills a Hare Krishna by breaking his fingers. Junior checks into a hotel and hooks up with Susie Waggoner, a naive part time prostitute who is a student at a community college. They become romantically involved and move in to a house together, with Susie blissfully unaware of Junior's criminal activities and harboring fantasies of living happily ever after.

Later, while Susie is taking a bath and writing a haiku, Junior decides to break into a nearby apartment. He steals an IMI Desert Eagle handgun, a coin collection and some pork chops. As he is doing this, he speaks aloud a haiku of his own: "Breaking entering. The dark and lonely places. Finding a big gun".

An investigation of the Hare Krishna murder leads grizzled policeman Sgt. Hoke Moseley to come knocking on their door. Moseley shares a home-cooked dinner with the couple, upon Susie's suggestion, and plays it cool while seemingly indicating to Junior that he's on to him. He overtly suspects Junior has been in prison and wants him to come to the police station for a lineup. Junior goes to Moseley's home the next day, assaults him and steals his gun, badge and dentures. Junior begins using the badge, demanding bribes as rewards after breaking up robberies, only to keep the loot for himself.

While at a convenience store, Junior witnesses an armed robbery and decides to break it up. He lectures the gunman about avoiding a life of crime, but the gunman runs a truck over him. Junior complains to Susie that the "straight life" has made him too soft. Moseley tracks down the couple through a utility account opened up in Susie's name. He pretends to run into her at the grocery store, where they swap recipes. After she lies that she has left Junior, Moseley tells her that Junior is a murderer and that he and the police are looking for him.

Back home, to test whether he will lie to her, Susie deliberately ruins a pie by putting an excessive amount of vinegar in it. To her disappointment, Junior compliments the dessert and eats it with gusto though his face gives it away somewhat. The next day, Junior asks Susie to drive him around town on errands. Their first stop is a pawn shop, which he robs. In the course of the robbery, Junior kills the pawnbroker, but not before she chops several of his fingers off.

Badly injured, he limps to the car, but Susie drives away upon realizing what he's done. Moseley pursues him to the house, where he shoots and kills Junior. Being ironic with his last words, Junior tells Moseley, "Susie's gonna get you, Sarge." Susie then arrives and Moseley asks why she stayed with him for so long. She explains that he was kind to her, ate everything she ever cooked and never hit her.

The residents of Antonio Island prepare to honor their founding fathers - unaware they were the same men who burned the ''Elizabeth Dane'' – and a statue of them is to be unveiled on the town's anniversary. During a boating trip, Nick Castle and his friend Spooner unwittingly disturb a bag containing a pocket watch and a hairbrush from the ''Elizabeth Dane'' lying on the seabed.

That night, Nick meets his former girlfriend, Elizabeth Williams, who has returned after six months. Elizabeth is shown the antique pocket watch by Machen, an old man who found it washed up on the beach. He warns her ominously "''if you touch it, things will change''". The watch begins ticking as Elizabeth holds it. She sees a hallmark on it, which includes a set of scales. Later, supernatural occurrences start to plague the town. Objects move by themselves, power outages occur, and the windows in Nick's truck inexplicably shatter. Nick and Elizabeth then encounter drunken priest Father Malone, who is ranting about murderers and retribution. Meanwhile, at the local radio station, host Stevie Wayne gets a phone call from weatherman Dan about a large fog bank off the coast. Out at sea on Nick's boat, Spooner and Nick's cousin Sean are partying with two young women, Mandi and Jennifer. As the fog reaches them, the boat's engine stops, and the instruments break. An old clipper ship appears in the fog next to them. Seemingly possessed, Jennifer draws a set of scales on a misted window inside the boat. Unseen forces then kill Mandi, Jennifer, and Sean. At Nick's beach house, Elizabeth has been dreaming about the ''Elizabeth Dane''. She searches the Internet for information about the hallmark symbol she saw earlier, but her computer malfunctions, and the word "Dane" appears on the screen. She hears a knock at the front door, goes outside but finds nothing. As she walks down to the beach, the fog begins approaching, but Nick brings her back inside.

The next day, Nick's Uncle Hank telephones him about the disappearance of his boat. Nick and Elizabeth sail out and find the vessel and the three corpses. Elizabeth goes into the hold and finds Spooner alive in a freezer. They return to the island where Mayor Tom Malone – Father Malone's father – suspects Spooner of the murders. In the morgue, Sean's corpse briefly rises up and accosts Elizabeth. At the library, Elizabeth researches the scales symbol seen on the watch's hallmark. It represented an old trading colony north of Antonio Island, which generated substantial wealth through intercontinental trade but was abandoned due to a leprosy outbreak. At the docks, Elizabeth finds the buried journal of Patrick Malone from 1871. She and Nick learn the story of the ''Elizabeth Dane'' and realize the founders built the town with the fortune they had stolen from the ship, but kept this secret from their families and the townsfolk.

The ghosts of the ''Elizabeth Dane'' seek revenge against Antonio Island's residents for the past crimes of its founding fathers. After killing Dan at the weather station, they pursue Stevie's son Andy and his Aunt Connie at home. Connie is killed, but Nick and Elizabeth rescue Andy. In her car, Stevie is also attacked, but she escapes. They travel to the Town Hall where the founders' murderous secrets are exposed: in 1871, William Blake, a wealthy man suffering from leprosy arranges to purchase half of Antonio Island, off the coast of Oregon, to establish a leper colony for his afflicted people. However, island residents Patrick Malone, Norman Castle, Richard Wayne and David Williams double cross Blake. During a foggy night, they loot his clipper ship, the ''Elizabeth Dane'', and set it on fire, killing all aboard.

The spirits attack the hall, and kill Hank Castle, Kathy Williams, and the Malones. The ghost of Blake then seeks Elizabeth. Despite being a descendant of David Williams, Elizabeth is the reincarnation of Blake's wife and was one of her ancestor's victims, hence her mysterious dreams about the ''Elizabeth Dane''. Blake kisses Elizabeth, she transforms into a spirit and disappears as Nick watches helplessly. The next day, the survivors try to cope with their traumatic experiences and the truth about their ancestors. As Stevie reflects on the night's events with her listeners, Nick throws Patrick Malone's journal into the sea.

Krasicki's novel is the tale of Nicholas Experience (''Mikołaj Doświadczyński''), a Polish nobleman. During sojourns in Warsaw, Paris, and the fictional island of Nipu (based on Japan, known to natives as ''Nippon''), the protagonist gathers numerous ''experience''s that lead him to a rationalist outlook and teach him how to become a good man, and thus a good citizen. This rationalist outlook, often emphasized in Krasicki's writings, constitutes an apologia for the Enlightenment and physiocratism.

''The Adventures of Nicholas Experience'' offers a portrayal both of the 18th-century Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and of the broader European culture of the time.

While in her house alone teenager Screw Frombehind (Aimee Graham) is attacked by "The Killer". While being chased, Screw accidentally runs into a bug zapper and is electrocuted. The killer's disappointed he was not the cause of her death, lights a cigarette, leading to melting his Jason Voorhees mask, which becomes a ''Scream'' mask. The next day new kid Dawson Deery (Harley Cross) registers at Bulimia Falls High School, meeting a new group of friends including Boner (Danny Strong), Slab (Simon Rex), Barbara (Julie Benz) and Martina (Majandra Delfino), to whom Dawson takes a liking, though he is unsure if she is a lesbian. While the group discusses the death of Screw, they remain certain they are safe at school, not noticing the chaos that surrounds them, including a nuclear bomb being built and the killer attempting to murder a student as well as making an attempt on the president's life.

The group encounters EmpTV News reporter Hagitha Utslay (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen), who is covering a series of murders, having already written a best-selling pop-up book about them, and accuses Dawson as being the killer. They then meet Barbara's brother Doughy (Tom Arnold), an inept security guard who recently lost his job patrolling a shopping mall and is working to find the killer. However, he believes Screw's death was a harmless prank. As the group talks, they do not notice Hagitha's cameraman being murdered. As the day progresses, more and more students are murdered. While in class, each of the group receives a letter from the killer, revealing he knows a secret about them. Each of the group recalls a time when they were drunk-driving and hit a deer, before dumping it in the sea. This event leads them to keep their own secrets; Martina not giving her grandmother laxatives, Boner accidentally causing his brother to be killed in prison, Slab smoking his uncle's ashes, and Barbara accidentally removing the "do not remove tag" from a mattress.

Meanwhile, Hagitha and Doughy continuously flirt with each other. As the group meets up, Dawson gets a letter too, as he was in fact the one run over by the others while dressed up in a deer costume due to a hillbilly forcing him to wear it and do salt lick. The hillbilly died in an explosion caused by him farting in the fire place. The group decides they should spend the night in a secluded house, so they decided to go to Slab's after school. As the day progresses, each of the group members are attacked but manage to escape. The killer confronts Principal Interest (Coolio), but he electrocutes himself in a bathtub.

At night, everyone goes to Slab's party. Boner takes an unconscious girl up to a bedroom, attempting to lose his virginity. The killer attacks him, but Boner suffers a heart attack before the killer can murder him. Martina goes over the rules of a parody movie, before Barbara is chased outside by the killer. However, Barbara suffers an allergic reaction to bee stings before the killer can murder her. As the rest of the party people leave, Martina makes a move on Dawson, before they find Slab has abused steroids, which causes his head to explode. Martina and Dawson are then chased by the killer, as Hagitha and Doughy play strip poker nearby instead of investigating the murders.

Martina and Dawson defeat the killer as Hagitha and Doughy arrive. The killer is revealed as Hardy, Doughy's "evil twin cousin", whom Doughy is going to let get away with the murders, but Hagitha accidentally shoots Hardy before leaving Doughy for a pizza boy. Martina, Dawson and Doughy leave the house, where they find Boner still alive, due to him taking an entire bottle of viagra, allowing his blood to continue to pump after his heart attack. As Martina and Dawson leave, they get a call from the killer, but Dawson hangs up on him and he follows them.

After the end credits, there's a tag called "Where The Hell Are They Now?" that reveals events about Dawson and Martina, Slab, Barbara, Nurse Kevorkian, Mr. Buchanan and Resusci-Annie, Boner and his doctor (who is transgender), Mr. Hasselhof, Hagitha, Doughy, the Killer, and the movie's film crew, and that the high school has a new and improved killer.

The storyline follows Nanoha Takamachi, a nine-year-old Japanese girl attending elementary school, who lives with her parents and her older siblings. Nanoha's regular daily life ends when she rescues an injured ferret who reveals himself as a young shapeshifting mage named Yūno Scrya. An archaeologist from a parallel universe called Midchilda, Yūno came to Earth to collect a set of 21 dangerous ancient artifacts named the that he first discovered in his own world. Jewel Seeds give living beings who come into contact with them unnatural powers, often turning them into monsters. Yūno, injured while trying to collect them, must now rely on Nanoha while he convalesces in ferret form. He gives Nanoha an "intelligent device" (magical wand) called , and she unexpectedly shows strong aptitude for magic. As the two gather the Jewel Seeds, Nanoha learns magic from Yūno while continuing with her ordinary everyday life.

In retrieving her sixth Jewel Seed, Nanoha encounters another magical girl named Fate Testarossa and her familiar named Arf. More than a year before the story began, Fate's mother, Precia Testarossa, went insane when her daughter Alicia died, initiating "Project Fate", an illegal research program of cloning and resurrection, making her a fugitive from the inter-dimensional police known as Time-Space Administration Bureau (TSAB). Precia cloned Alicia to create Fate and implanted her with Alicia's memories; nevertheless, she cannot care for Fate as she did for Alicia and abuses her regularly. Despite this, Fate is extremely loyal to her due to Alicia's happy childhood memories, which she takes as her own. In the series, Precia uses Fate to collect Jewel Seeds to reach Al Hazard, a mythical world where Alicia could be truly brought back to life.

Nanoha and Fate repeatedly face off over each new Jewel Seed they find, and the TSAB soon interferes to prevent the collateral damage caused by their battles. Nanoha eventually manages to overpower Fate and brings her to the TSAB, prompting Precia to abandon her and attempt a dimensional jump to Al Hazard with the power of the few Jewel Seeds that Fate has managed to gather. Gathering her resolve, Fate decides to aid the TSAB and Nanoha in their fight to stop Precia. Although they minimize the destructive side-effects of using the Jewel Seeds, they fail to prevent Precia from finishing the spell, and her final whereabouts remains unknown. Fate and Nanoha decide to become friends, but Fate must first back to Midchilda to prove that she was an unwilling accessory in Precia's crimes.

Six months following the events of the previous series, Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Testarossa have been exchanging video mails to tell each other of their situations on Earth and in the Time-Space Administration Bureau respectively. However, on the night Fate returns, Nanoha and her friends come into conflict with the Belkan Knights, Signum, Vita, Zafira, and Shamal, who are tasked with filling the pages of the Book of Darkness to protect their master, a wheelchair bound girl named Hayate Yagami. It is up to Nanoha, Fate and the Time-Space Administration Bureau to solve the mystery of the Book of Darkness, the Belkan Knights and their master.

In the Nintendo 64 version, Ed, a purple alien working as a janitor on his mothership, finds himself cleaning a storage room. He starts hunting a bug, trying to squash it. Exhausted from the hunt, Ed proceeds to drink an unidentified liquid from a container, but as he spits it out onto the floor, screws come alive and open a trapdoor. The container falls through the door and down to Earth, polluting a river and causing the entire planet to mutate. Grögh, a drunkard sleeping nearby, swallows the liquid and gains supernatural powers that help him conquer Earth.

The initial story of the PC version differs. There, Ed contemplates on giving a gift to a girl he likes, but gets chased by her boyfriend to the storage room. When he learns of the liquid's mutagenic properties, he throws the container into a garbage chute from which it falls and lands on Earth. Before finding the container, Grögh gets kicked out of a bar for not paying his tab.

Shortly following the incident, Ed is recruited by resistance leader Agent Xyz to obtain the container so that an antidote can be created against the mutations. Ed takes a small spaceship to Earth to meet the inventor Doc and his daughter Suzy, who Xyz said would give aid in his mission. On his way there, he crashes into a snowy mountain, causing him to continue by sled. At the foot of the mountain, Ed takes the direct way to South Plain, where he encounters Suzy. She implores Ed to save her father, who was imprisoned by his own robot following the contamination.

Once liberated, the Doc informs Ed that before his capture, he was building a catapult that could get someone into Grögh's Castle and recover the container. However, Grögh's henchmen took the items required to finish the contraption, which the Doc instructs Ed to retrieve. The last item is stolen by an enemy called Magic Mushroom, but Ed defeats him. With the Doc's catapult completed, Ed is flung into Grögh's Castle, where he engages in battle against Grögh and wins. Ed reclaims the container, enabling him to finally remedy the infestation of Earth.

All of the invitations for the Fifth World Fighting Tournament have been sent. And now, the 17 best fighters in the world begin their final phases of preparation. They must learn from their prior mistakes and perfect every aspect of their mind, body, and soul - for there is no room for mistakes in this competition. Most of them are unaware that J6, the organization funding the tournament, has even more sinister ulterior motives for the contest and the syndicate's top secret Dural program is already underway. In the organization's quest for world domination, the scientists at J6 are creating the ultimate fighting machine with human features. Their first model was defeated in the Fourth World Fighting Tournament by Kage-Maru, which drove them to kidnap Vanessa. She was able to escape with the help of an insider, but not before they captured her combat data and transferred it to the new advanced Dural model named V-Dural.

J6 is determined to find out the traitor that released Vanessa and see if V-Dural is ready to defeat the world's best fighters. The Fifth World Fighting Tournament will reveal both.

The novel tells the story of Florence Waters, a free-spirited, quirky fountain designer on her quest to create a unique and beautiful fountain for the children of Dry Creek. Through a series of misunderstandings and funny situations, the kids uncover a scandal that shocks the entire town. They end up with a fantastic fountain and a new friend. But suddenly Sam N's class finds out the truth on what really happened that day when the creek dries up.

Two people named Sally Mander and Delbert "Dee" Eel capped off the pipes that lead to the spring and redirected them back to Dee's waters company and Sally's swimming pool in their scandal to make thousands of dollars until one day a few fifth-graders caught them, and threw them behind bars. The city that was once known as Spring Creek, then Dry Creek was renamed Geyser Creek.

"Ai Shite Knight" is set in Osaka and tells the story of Yaeko "Yakko" Mitamura, an 18-year-old girl working in her father's Okonomiyaki restaurant. One day Yakko meets a little boy named Hashizo and his odd cat Juliano. Hashizo had lost both parents when still a baby and has been brought up by his elder brother Go. Go Kato is the lead singer of the emerging rock band "Bee Hive." When Yakko meets Go and his friend and "Bee Hive" member Satomi Okawa, an unexpected series of events and a tangled romance unfold.

The main narrative of "Ai Shite Knight" is essentially a love story, but has interesting and innovative elements introduced to it by Kaoru Tada, most notably the portrayal of the Japanese music scene in the early '80s. In creating characters such as Go, Satomi and their band "Bee Hive", Tada was inspired by well-known bands of the time such as "The Stalin", "Novela", "Primadonna" and "44Magnum." Tada also plays with sexual provocation and sexual ambiguity, mainly embodied by the character of "Kiss Relish" vocalist Kazuma Kataoka/Sheila, although these elements were considerably toned down in the anime version of the story.

The premise of the show is narrated before every episode during the opening titles, voiced by Ernie Anderson:

''This is Jesse Mach, an ex-motorcycle cop, injured in the line of duty. Now a police troubleshooter, he's been recruited for a top secret government mission to ride Street Hawk -- an all-terrain attack motorcycle designed to fight urban crime, capable of incredible speeds up to three hundred miles an hour, and immense firepower. Only one man, federal agent Norman Tuttle, knows Jesse Mach's true identity. The man...the machine...Street Hawk.''

The pilot episode shows the backstory: Jesse Mach's (Rex Smith) earlier work as a police officer and amateur dirt-bike racer; his recruitment by Norman Tuttle for the Street Hawk project; and the capabilities of the motorcycle and its computer backend, from providing the motorcycle rider with real-time mission information, to assisting the motorcycle during its high-speed "hyperthrust" runs.

All subsequent episodes show Mach leading a double life, a police public relation officer by day, and crimefighter by night. Street Hawk is regarded as a lawless vigilante and a public relations embarrassment by the police, especially by Mach's commanding officer Captain Leo Altobelli (Richard Venture). Each episode deals with a specific crime or mission, and there are no multi-episode story arcs.

This action series focused on a group of commandos recruited from stateside prisons to use their special skills against the Germans in World War II. They had been promised a parole at the end of the war if they worked out (and if they lived). The alternative was an immediate return to prison; if they ran, they could expect execution for desertion. The four were: "Actor" (Cesare' Danova), a handsome, resonant-voiced con man; "Casino" (Rudy Solari), a tough, wiry safe-cracker and mechanic; "Goniff" (Christopher Cary), a slender, likable cat burglar; and "Chief" (Brendon Boone), a rugged, somber American Indian who handled a switchblade like he was born to it. No real names were ever used, only their "monikers" or aliases. Led by West Pointer First Lt. Craig Garrison (Ron Harper) and headquartered in a secluded mansion in London, this slippery group ranged all over Europe in exploits that often took them behind enemy lines. Other recruits were sometimes brought in where special skills were required. In the episode "Banker's Hours", Jack Klugman's character is recruited to help loot a vault. In "The Magnificent Forger", comedian Larry Storch plays a con brought in to help 'doctor' a Gestapo list of American agents. And in the two-parter "War And Crime/Plot to Kill", a con played by Richard Kiley is recruited because he is a dead ringer for a German field marshal who was part of a plot to assassinate Hitler. The episodes are set in 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1944.

Set during World War II, the film is about students in Leiden, the Netherlands: Erik Lanshof, Guus LeJeune, Jan Weinberg, and Alex. Robby Froost is Erik's friend; Esther is Robby's girlfriend. Some collaborate; others join the Dutch resistance.

It begins with a flashforward: an immediately post war newsreel of Queen Wilhelmina returning to the Netherlands. The film then moves to the late 1930s in Leiden, where freshmen undergo the initiation rites of their fraternity. Erik is picked out by Guus, the chair, who drops a bowl of soup on his head, injuring him. Guus apologises and offers a room in his student house. There, the students (Erik, Guus, Jacques, Jan, and Alex) drink to their friendship.

In September 1939, an English radio broadcast interrupts their tennis, announcing the declaration of war against Germany. Initially, they are unalarmed, believing the Netherlands will remain neutral as in World War I. Jan, a Jew, and Alex, who is half German, join the Dutch Army. In May 1940, Germany invades. Erik and Guus try to join up, but are fobbed off. Soon, the Netherlands capitulates after the Rotterdam Blitz.

Robby is in contact with the Dutch government-in-exile via a radio transmitter in his garden and offers Erik a flight to London. Jan, a boxing champion, assaults two fascists harassing a Jewish hawker, so Erik offers his seat to Jan. However, the Germans intercept the pick up: Jan is captured but Erik escapes.

Erik sees Alex marching in a departing military parade of the Waffen-SS. Later, Erik is also captured. Jan tells him, based on his interrogator's comment, that a Van der Zanden in London betrayed them. Jan, who resists interrogation, is executed on the Waalsdorpervlakte dunes. Robby's radio is discovered, and he is forced to work for the Gestapo by their threat of deporting Esther, a Jew, to a Polish labour camp.

Erik and Guus flee for London on the Swiss cargo ship ''St. Cergue''.[http://www.swiss-ships.ch/schiffe/st-cergue_005/form-history-en-st-cergue_005.htm ST. CERGUE History], swiss-ships.ch In London, Erik meets Van der Zanden (modelled after general François van 't Sant) and tries to kill him. However he is not a traitor, but head of the Dutch Central Intelligence Service and a private secretary to Queen Wilhelmina. Guus begins an affair with Susan, a secretary in British intelligence. Erik and Guus agree to rescue resistance leaders for post-war roles. Guus is taken ashore and meets the leaders. As Guus' radio has been damaged by seawater, they use Robby to contact London.

Erik then follows to arrange Guus and the resistance leaders' departure by sea. However, Robby has infiltrated the group and so the Germans have followed them. Erik sees Robby with them and tries unsuccessfully to warn them. After ducking into the beach mansion party for cover, seeing Alex and dancing ballroom tango with him, Erik meets the others on the beach. When Robby realises Erik knows about his collaboration, he fires a signal flare. Despite German warnings, the group tries to flee but the leaders are killed. Guus escapes by swimming, but only Erik reaches the ship.

Guus later shoots Robby in the street. He flees, but is caught and guillotined. On the Eastern Front, Alex is killed in a latrine by a hand grenade from a boy he had mocked when the boy begged for food. Erik becomes an RAF bomber pilot and is later appointed aide to Queen Wilhelmina, and accompanies her home. Erik finds that Dutch citizens have cut off Esther's hair as punishment for her and Robby's collaboration. She says she bears no grudge. Finally, Erik celebrates the end of the war with a fellow student, Jacques ten Brinck, who also survived.

Gerald Tilson, a finance executive, finds himself thrown out by his wife when she discovers women's underwear in their flat; in fact the clothes belong to him. He takes lodgings with Monica, who gradually discovers his alter ego, "Geraldine". A subplot deals with his boss' plan to defraud their Japanese clients, and how the couple thwart it.

Frankie and Dolores are two young lovebirds heading to the beach for what Frankie assumes is a private romantic getaway. However, dissatisfied with her relationship and unwilling to be alone with Frankie, Dolores has invited several of the couple's friends to stay at the beach house with them. Frankie is intensely upset at finding other people at the beach house and feels betrayed that Dolores misled him. Meanwhile, an anthropologist, Professor Robert Orville Sutwell, is staying at the beach house next door, secretly studying the "wild mating habits" of Southern California teenagers who hang out at the beach and speak in strange surfing jargon.

Frankie, on the advice of his friends, decides to begin flirting with Ava, a Hungarian waitress at the local restaurant. Upset by his flirting, Dolores accidentally stumbles into the lap of Eric Von Zipper, the leader of the local outlaw motorcycle club, The Rats. Eric refuses to let Dolores go, despite her repeated direct demands to release her, until professor Sutwell intervenes. Eric threatens Sutwell, but Sutwell uses a secret finger technique to paralyze him; he and Dolores escape.

Dolores develops a crush on the professor. Frankie becomes jealous and escalates the flirting with Ava. Sutwell attempts to develop a professional relationship with Dolores to help him understand the culture of the young surfers; she in turn interprets his professional interest in a sexual and romantic way. Ava develops sincere feelings for Frankie, who is merely using her to make Dolores jealous. Frankie tires of the games, and decides to confess his love to Dolores, who accepts and kisses him; however, when Ava intervenes and says that Frankie also told her that he loves her, Dolores breaks things off with him. Meanwhile, Sutwell's assistant Marianne also has romantic interest in the Professor, who is oblivious to her hints.

Dolores introduces Sutwell to her friends, who tease him and mock him but also inadvertently help him learn to surf. One evening, Frankie goes off alone with Ava, but refuses her physical advances. Meanwhile, Sutwell shaves his beard off at Dolores's request in an attempt to appear younger, and once again remains oblivious to Dolores's romantic advances, instead focusing on his research. Von Zipper and his gang plot to bring down Sutwell, but accidentally sneak into Dolores's room where she is home alone. By chance, Sutwell hears Dolores screaming and again disables Von Zipper. He hugs Dolores to console her, only to be confronted by the surfing teenagers who were also running in to check on the screaming Dolores. They, like his assistant Marianne, assume that there has been sexual contact between Sutwell and Dolores.

After returning to his office, Sutwell finally realizes the feelings that Dolores has for him and realizes both that Marianne has feelings for him and that he in turn has feelings for her. He kisses Marianne just as Dolores visits him, ending Dolores's attraction to him. After Dolores storms off, heartbroken, Frankie becomes angry, and brings his friends with him to confront Sutwell. They discover Sutwell's notes that he has been taking as he studies them, and are infuriated at being the subjects of his research. Sutwell escapes to the very restaurant where Ava works, but is discovered there by Frankie, Dolores, and all the other surfers. Frankie accuses Sutwell of playing with Dolores's heart. Sutwell then declares that Dolores was only using him in the same way that Frankie was using Ava, merely as a scheme to make the other jealous. Dolores, catching on to Sutwell's ruse, agrees.

Just as a peace is being made, Eric and his biker gang enter and attack Sutwell. The surfers protect him, and a large-scale fight breaks out. After the surfers win, Sutwell offers to take Marianne with him to study in the North Pacific, and Frankie and Dolores reaffirm their love for one another.

After seven years, lawyer Nick Arden has his wife Ellen, missing since her ship was lost, declared legally dead so he can marry Bianca. Ellen, though, was actually shipwrecked on a deserted island, and has been rescued. When she returns home, she learns that Nick has just left on his honeymoon with his second wife.

When Ellen tracks him down before his honeymoon night, he is at a loss as to how to break the news to Bianca. He keeps putting off the unpleasant business. Meanwhile, Bianca becomes frustrated by Nick's odd behavior (especially the nonconsummation of their marriage) and calls in a psychiatrist, Dr. Kohlmar. Further complications ensue when an insurance adjuster mentions to Nick a rumor that Ellen was not alone on the island, but had the company of a Stephen Burkett, and that they called each other "Adam" and "Eve". When Nick confronts Ellen, she recruits a mousy shoe salesman to pretend to be Stephen, but Nick has already tracked down the real Stephen.

Nick tries to explain the situation to Bianca and Dr. Kohlmar, but they do not believe him ... until he is arrested on a charge of bigamy. In court, Judge Bryson, the same judge who had Ellen declared legally dead and also married Nick and Bianca, annuls the second marriage. By this time, Ellen is no longer sure of Nick's feelings for her. Stephen asks her to marry him and return with him to the island, but she still loves Nick. In the end, Nick and Ellen are reconciled.

Ruthless East End gangster Vic Dakin has plans for an ambitious raid on the wages van of a plastics factory. This is a departure from Dakin's usual ''modus operandi'' and the job is further complicated by having to work with fellow gangster Frank Fletcher's firm.

The film's intricate subplots explore Dakin's sadistic nature, his relationship with small-time associate Wolfie and his irritation at having to work with Fletcher's seemingly weak brother-in-law Ed Lowis. Other parts of the story follow Wolfie's bisexual liaisons with Venetia and Dakin, the blackmailing of MP Gerald Draycott to provide an alibi for Dakin and the dogged detectives Bob Matthews and Tom Binney pursuing Dakin.

Lawyer Nick Arden is in court to get two petitions approved: he wants his wife Ellen Wagstaff Arden declared legally dead after the plane they were traveling on went down in the Pacific Ocean five years ago and she went missing during the rescue. And he wants to marry Bianca Steele. After some confusion, the judge declares Ellen legally dead and marries Nick and Bianca, who then immediately leave for Monterey for their honeymoon.

On the same day, Ellen returns to shore on a U.S. Navy submarine, which had rescued her from a deserted island where she had spent the last five years. When she returns to her and Nick's home, she encounters her young daughters, who do not remember her, but she does not have the heart to tell them the truth. Her mother-in-law Grace Arden tells her of the new marriage and puts her on a plane to Monterey so that she can prevent its consummation.

Ellen arrives at the hotel and manages to alert Nick of her presence, who is overjoyed to reunite with her and wants to stay with her. Ellen requests that he tell Bianca the truth first. When Nick returns to a confused and angry Bianca, Ellen eavesdrops on their conversation. Nick cannot bring himself to tell Bianca the truth and Ellen leaves the hotel angrily. When Nick sees Ellen leave, he fakes an injury to prevent further advances by Bianca.

The next day, when Nick comes home, he is informed that Ellen was on the deserted island with a man called Stephen Burkett for the whole five years and that both called each other "Adam" and "Eve". Nick is furious that Ellen did not tell him about Burkett and confronts her. She tells him that Burkett is a nerd and that nothing happened between them. She even convinces an awkward-looking shoe clerk to pose as Burkett. Nick, not convinced, looks for Burkett himself. When he finds him at a Hotel pool, he notices to his horror that Burkett is young, attractive, and athletic. Nick invites Ellen to the same pool bar to confront her with Burkett. But before she sees Burkett, she comes clean about him but still swears that nothing happened between the two in the five years and asks for Nick's forgiveness. But when she notices Burkett, she angrily accuses Nick of trying to embarrass her and storms off.

Nick tells Bianca the truth about Ellen but is informed that Grace has reported him for bigamy earlier to force him to make a decision regarding Ellen and Bianca. This leads to another chaotic court date, where several matters are put to the decision of the same judge, who is even more confused: Nick's charge of bigamy, Bianca's request to annul their marriage, Ellen's request to void her death certificate, and Ellen's request for a divorce from Nick. The judge dismisses the bigamy charge, annuls Nick's and Bianca's marriage, declares Ellen alive again and postpones judgement on the divorce proceedings.

When Ellen returns to her home several hours later, devastated, Nick has already told his daughters that she is their mother and all happily reunite.

The series that takes place in a fantasy Circus Town, a self-sufficient city whose cultural center is the "Big Top" tent. The story centers on JoJo Tickle, a silly 6-year-old girl clown, and Goliath, JoJo's pet lion. She and Goliath learned at the Little Big Top Circus School, where all young soon-to-be circus performers learn under their teacher Mrs. Kersplatski. Alongside her friends, JoJo discovers and learns while dealing with challenging situations.

Recurring themes

''JoJo's Circus'' depends on repetition in its structure. Each segment always begins with JoJo searching for Goliath, who is always hiding. JoJo then is introduced with the situation that will occupy the theme of the show. A song, usually about the resolution of the situation, is then performed by JoJo.

At the conclusion of each episode, a supporting character asks, "What did you learn today, JoJo?", and before she can reply, JoJo is taken away for the last segment, the "spotlight moment." JoJo is then placed on a makeshift stage with various cameramen, lighting grips, and producers running about, while the "Spotlight Moment" song plays, asking what she's learned, is sung and JoJo taps her foot along (in some episodes she also taps her hand on her leg). Subsequently, JoJo says what she has learned in the course of the episode.

The time has come for Frogger to go through his "rite of passage." He has reached an age where every frog must make the transition from boy-frog to teenage-frog.

In order to make that transition, Frogger will journey to the Chamber of the Elders on his most significant birthday and stand before the eight venerable members of the Elder Council. Upon meeting the council, Frogger will be asked to enter a magic portal that will warp him into each one of the elder's worlds. These worlds will serve as a personal test for Frogger to prove that he is a teenager.

In terms of the Frogger timeline, this title takes place right after Frogger's Adventures: Temple of the Frog.

The series revolves around Mitchell Reynolds (Davis), a fan of comedian Bill Cosby who, using one of Cosby's hairs, spends a decade crafting a cloning machine to create his dream: a "house of Cosbys". Each duplicate contains random and mild attributes, such as curiosity and dancing. He then begins cloning several more Cosbys to help him around the house, much like in the plot of the 1996 film ''Multiplicity''. However, the quality of the clones seems to deteriorate as the process is repeated, and he decides to stop using the machine; but when one of the clones subversively activates it, he discovers that every tenth Cosby he clones has super powers. At the suggestion of Data Analysis Cosby (the first super-powered Cosby) they decide to continue cloning Cosbys so that their super powers can be used to help the world.

Many participants of Channel 101 gave voices to the series, including Rob Schrab, Steve Agee, and all three members of The Lonely Island.

Mutant pop-star Lila Cheney organizes a free concert in Central Park to promote diversity in society and invites Professor Charles Xavier to speak at the concert. His speech is interrupted by Stryfe who, disguised as his doppelganger and nemesis Cable, shoots Xavier with a bullet that infects the professor with a lethal strain of the Techno-organic virus.

Meanwhile, War and Famine, the Horsemen of Apocalypse, attack Iceman and Colossus, distracting them from Caliban, who kidnaps Cyclops and Jean Grey. The Horsemen are working for Mr. Sinister, who is impersonating the Horsemen's former master Apocalypse. Mr. Sinister organized the kidnapping as part of his newly formed alliance with Stryfe. Stryfe trades Mr. Sinister a canister containing the past and future Summers family DNA history, and receives Jean Grey and Cyclops in the exchange.

While Xavier is rushed to the hospital, X-Factor and the Blue X-Men strike team go after X-Force, Cable's team of mutants. X-Force, however, is in the dark about Cable's current location (having been separated from him during a S.H.I.E.L.D.-organized raid of their headquarters). But mutual distrust causes the two groups to attack and ultimately capture X-Force. Meanwhile, Mr. Sinister doublecrosses Stryfe by revealing to the X-Men that Stryfe, under the guise of Cable, was the shooter.

While the Blue X-Men strike team, X-Factor, Boom Boom and Cannonball go after the Mutant Liberation Front, Storm's Gold X-Men strike team, along with Quicksilver, confront Apocalypse over Scott and Jean's kidnapping, hoping as well to gain a cure for the virus that is threatening Xavier's life. Apocalypse is incredibly weak, having been nearly killed by Cyclops in their previous encounter and prematurely awoken from his regeneration chamber by his minions the Dark Riders. After learning from the Dark Riders that someone had been impersonating him, and ordered his old minions to kidnap Jean and Scott, Apocalypse barely escapes with his life. Archangel finds himself becoming more and more consumed with punishing Apocalypse for his crimes, most notably Apocalypse's converting Archangel into the blue-skinned, metal winged angel of death.

The Mutant Liberation Front is defeated, though at the cost of Rogue being blinded by MLF member Strobe. Meanwhile, Bishop and Wolverine locate Cable and after a brawl, decide to give him the benefit of the doubt and work together to find Jean and Scott.

Apocalypse is ambushed by Stryfe, who declares that he is out for revenge for unknown wrongs committed against him as a child by Apocalypse. After Stryfe stabs him in the chest, Apocalypse escapes and seeks refuge amongst the X-Men, ultimately curing Xavier of the techno-organic virus as payment for sanctuary.

Cyclops and Jean are systematically tortured by Stryfe, who blames the two mutants for ruining his life, a claim that leaves the two X-Men stunned since they never encountered Stryfe before their kidnapping. Stryfe and his new minions the Dark Riders, who pledge their allegiance to Stryfe after he defeats Apocalypse, move the two to Apocalypse's former base on the Moon. Scott and Jean escape, entering the vacuum before realizing they are not on Earth. Her powers no longer blocked, Jean sends a frantic SOS to Wolverine.

The X-Men, knowing Xavier will live now that Apocalypse has purged the techno-virus from him, head into space to save their teammates. Cable, Wolverine, and Bishop head out to Stryfe's base on the Moon too and arrive there first, decimating Stryfe's defenses just as the X-Men (Storm, Psylocke, Polaris, Cannonball, Havok, Iceman and Archangel) and Apocalypse arrive. Splitting up, Apocalypse is ambushed by the Dark Riders, who beat their former master to the brink of death. Apocalypse is later confronted by Archangel who refuses Apocalypse's request for a mercy killing.

Upon catching Jean and Scott Summers outside the moonbase, Stryfe takes them to a giant time portal he had constructed on the Moon. As Cable, Cannonball, Havok and Polaris make their way to the tower, a forcefield is activated that prevents any without the Summers DNA from approaching the tower just as Stryfe activated the tower's time portal technology. Stryfe planned this so he could confront Cable alone, and though Havok has enough genetic similarity to Scott to pass through the forcefield, doing so renders him unconscious. Cable finds himself hopelessly outmatched by Stryfe, but as they battle, Jean Grey and Cyclops break free and Havok regains consciousness. Driven to despair, Stryfe tries to collapse the active tower upon the X-Men. Cable grabs Stryfe and orders Cyclops to activate the time vortex, a plan that would kill both Stryfe and Cable. Cyclops reluctantly does so; both men are sucked into a massive vortex that is created as the tower explodes. Cyclops and Jean Grey begin to suspect that either Stryfe or Cable is Cyclops' son Nathan Christopher Summers, who Cyclops was forced to abandon and send into the future after Apocalypse infected him with a techno-virus.

Mr. Sinister has a minion, Gordan, open the canister given to him by Stryfe, only to find it apparently empty. Though not revealed in ''X-Cutioner's Song'', the canister in fact contained the Legacy Virus.

Epilogue

Professor X discovers that the techno-organic virus has left him temporarily capable of walking and spends his few hours without paralysis bonding with Jubilee. Rogue and Gambit hang out together as Rogue agrees to let Gambit be her "eyes" until she regains her sight, laying the groundwork for the two finally becoming a couple. Archangel and Beast rebuild the bar that Cyclops and Jean Grey were kidnapped in and think back to their days as the original X-Men.

The X-Men are attacked by mutant-hating humans who have used the alien Warlock's techno-organic Phalanx virus to turn into techno-organic beings themselves. With these powers, the Phalanx are able to change their shape and assimilate organic matter. The Phalanx are also a hive mind and they are programmed to destroy all mutants.

The Phalanx Covenant was told in three separate storylines: ''Generation Next'': With the X-Men gone, Banshee, Emma Frost, Jubilee and Sabretooth have to save the next generation of mutants from the Phalanx agents led by Harvest. This storyline also planted the seeds for Marvel's next mutant title, Generation X. ''Life Signs'': X-Factor, Excalibur and X-Force discover that the Phalanx are losing their hive-mind programming and are becoming more and more independent and alien. The rogue Phalanx Douglock takes Forge, Wolfsbane and Cannonball on a mission to prevent the Phalanx Shinar from contacting the alien Phalanx. *''Final Sanction'': Cable, Wolverine, Cyclops, and Phoenix reunite to rescue the X-Men by infiltrating the main base of the Phalanx.

Jet (Jet Li) returns to his hometown of Qingdao after the fighting the Japanese. He and his fellow soldiers discover that much has changed since the end of the war, and American soldiers are taking all the glory for the victory achieved, and they feel unappreciated. Jet eventually meets with his old friend Zhang (Zhao Erkang), a fellow soldier who saved Jet's life in battle, but was seriously injured with shrapnel. Zhao makes a living as a rickshaw driver. Jet decides to stay at Zhao's house for a while. Jet asks Zhang about his daughter. Zhang replies that she died.

One day, an American Navy Captain named Hans (Kurt Roland Petersson) is driving recklessly through Qingdao's streets, causing a mob to become angry and surround his car. Jet and Hans fight briefly, with Hans being impressed with Jet. The angry mob proceeds to burn his car, causing a riot. Jet and his fellow band of soldiers and rickshaw-drivers retreat during the chaos to a bar, which they discover now caters primarily to foreigners with a boxing ring and is frequented by prostitutes. Jet and his friends are angry at the insults hurled at them by American Navy patrons, which leads to an American soldier named Bailey (Paulo Tocha) challenging Jet to a formal boxing match.

During the match, Jet struggles with only being allowed to use his fists, and frequently breaks the rules due to his ignorance of American boxing. Frustrated, Jet attempts to leave the ring, but Bailey kicks him to prevent him from leaving. Jet continues the fight using both kung-fu and boxing techniques, and even demonstrates that he has finally adapted to boxing and shows superiority over Bailey. Jet wins the fight, along with a lot of money, and the Chinese in the crowd are proud of him.

Later, Bailey and a Chinese prostitute (Song Jia) approach Zhang for a rickshaw ride. The woman is apprehensive around Zhang, and pleads with Bailey to go home. Bailey, furious at Zhang's slow speed and at the fact that the woman keeps staring at Zhang, repeatedly kicks Zhang to make him go faster. Furious, Zhang tips over his rickshaw and insults the woman, causing her to leave in tears. Bailey assaults Zhang, leaving him severely injured. Jet takes over for Zhang's rickshaw. After one of his rickshaw trips, the American soldiers (led by Bailey) deliberately destroy his rickshaw, forcing Jet to take a job at the bar where he fought Bailey the other day. The job requires Jet to be a "sparring partner" for Bailey, where he cannot fight back and must sustain many blows. When Jet initially refuses, the soldiers threaten to beat the bar-owner. Seeing no other way, Jet reluctantly agrees to be Bailey's sparring partner. The prostitute, named Rui (or "Na"), approaches Jet and informs him that the bar-owner was actually a part of the scheme to force Jet to be a sparring partner. Captain Hans attacks Bailey for paying the bar-owner of the scheme, putting a shame to the Navy.

Jet returns to the bar the next day with the intent of fighting back against Bailey (regardless of the consequences to the bar and the bar owner). However, Jet learns that he will be fighting Captain Hans instead. Hans goads Jet into a formal fighting match. The match goes on for a long time, which eventually leads to chaos in the bar as crowds of Chinese and American soldiers fight each other until American soldiers to come and enforce order. The match basically ends in a draw, with Jet barely able to stand. Rui takes Jet to her house, removes his wet clothes to prevent him from catching pneumonia, and helps him rest and recover.

Later, Rui approaches Zhang at the hospital to inform him of what happened to Jet. When he sees that Jet is naked in the bed, he is furious and hits Rui. He reveals to Jet that Rui is his daughter and that he is ashamed of her because she's a prostitute. Jet pleads with him to change his mind about his daughter but Zhang only gets more furious, and angrily tells Jet to find another place to stay.

Later, Jet comes back to Zhang's house, and gleefully tells him that he fell in love with a girl after Zhang kicked him out. However, he asks Zhang for advice: if his new girlfriend is a prostitute, but promises to quit, should he give her a chance? Zhang tells him that he should. Jet then offers to introduce him to his girlfriend right away. The "girlfriend", it turns out, is Rui herself. Zhang is initially angry at Jet and Rui's deception, but Jet makes them reconcile, and they do. While Rui goes out to buy some food and wine, the American soldiers kidnap Rui. Jet and Zhang are informed of this by local rickshaw drivers. While looking for Rui, Jet is confronted by Hans, who wishes to continue the fight from the other night. The Navy soldiers eventually throw both Rui and Zhang off the roof, killing them both. Captain Hans appears shocked and angry at what they've done.

While in jail, Jet is severely beaten by the local police for "causing trouble," and the American soldiers are let go. Jet is furious. Later, he escapes from jail by tying a wet shirt against two loose bars. He later finds the American soldiers (with Captain Hans and Bailey) driving by a warehouse. Jet sets a trap that forces them to stop. He lights their car on fire with a molotov cocktail and lures them into the warehouse. He severely injures one of the soldiers and ties up another one to the ceiling. Jet then finds Bailey and traps him on a conveyor belt that leads to a furnace, where he burns Bailey to death. Then, he confronts Hans. Hans and Jet fight for a long time. Hans eventually gains the upper hand, but their movements cause the mechanisms of the warehouse to eventually knock a bunch of barrels into Hans. With Hans severely beaten on the ground, Jet picks up an axe, screams, and swings it downward. He chooses to spare Hans. Hans is relieved. Jet walks out of the warehouse.

Five young warriors from an ancient civilization of are awakened during the present day after 170 million years of suspended animation when their sworn enemy, Bandora the Witch, is inadvertently released from her magical container on Planet Nemesis by two astronauts. The five warriors, the Zyurangers, must summon the power of mechanical-looking deities known as Guardian Beasts, each modeled after a different prehistoric beast, in order to protect mankind from Bandora's evil forces. A sixth warrior, Burai the Dragon Ranger, later becomes involved with the conflict between the Zyurangers and Bandora's forces.

Paul Rayment, a man of late middle-age, loses part of a leg after his bicycle is hit by a car driven by a reckless young man. He becomes reclusive and retreats to his flat where he is cared for by a succession of nurses. None suit him until Marijana, with whom he shares a European childhood (hers in Croatia, his in France), comes along. Paul's feelings for Marijana, and for her teenage son Drago, become more complex. When Paul offers to finance Drago's education, Marijana's husband becomes suspicious of Paul's relationship with Marijana, which causes trouble in their family and culminates in Drago fighting with his father and moving in with Paul.

It is not until the famed author Elizabeth Costello shows up unexpectedly and uninvited at Paul's doorstep that he confronts his feelings for Marijana and his resentment at the state of his life following his bicycle accident. Costello's sudden presence in his life confounds Paul, who believes she is merely using him as a character in her next novel.

The book can be read as a metafictional discourse on the inter-relationship between the literary author and the characters, and with reality.

Martin Loader works at the local radio station, that just hired a new scriptwriter, Pedro Carmichael. Martin's Aunt Julia, not related by blood, returns home after many years away and Martin falls for her. Once Pedro finds out about this romance, he starts incorporating details of it into the script of his daily drama series. Soon, Martin and Julia are not only hearing about their fictional selves over the radio, but they hear about what they are going to do next.

Walking School tells the tale of a young girl named Ellie and her best friend, Lena, as they leave their quiet lives as field workers in the town of Burg to enroll in a newly established magic school located on an island called Ien. There, along with several other youths, the girls find the school and the area around it completely deserted, and try to establish order by getting all the students together within the surrounding town. During their stay, they encounter several magical creatures and monsters who also call the island home, all while they continue to search for their instructors.

The game itself is divided into 12 chapters, each one presented with a curtain closing and opening.

Characters

Playable characters: Ellie: The main character of the story who grew up in a small town working on her father's farm. She is selected along with her best friend Lena to attend the floating magic school. Somewhat quiet and reserved, she is very loyal to her friends and has a naturally curious personality. Lena: Ellie's best friend since childhood. Unlike Ellie, she is very talkative and often sticks up for herself when bullied about her height. She likes to wear fancy clothing and is quite self-confident. Senia: A young Beastwoman who attends the magic school with Ellie and Lena. Though she is very strong and athletic, she can command some powerful magic as well. Almost as vocal as Lena, and the two of them became fast friends. Wing: A mysterious and quiet boy who is a later addition to the school's roster. Naturally gifted at using magic, Wing makes a name for himself early, and is actually enrolled on a scholarship.

Other characters: Ant, Kule and Rick: Three boys accepted into the magic school who make it their business to tease and otherwise make life difficult for Ellie and Lena. Eventually, they warm up to each other, but only after a lengthy exchange of insults. Barua: Second-in-command of the Vile Tribe who has an interest in Wing. Commands a wide assortment of dark magic. *Memphis: Power-hungry leader of the Vile Tribe who worships an entity known as "D".

The film starts with narration from Mother Nature, discussing an experiment with Father Time that went wrong. On the (fictional) island of Wongo she created a tribe where the men are brutish and ugly and the women are beautiful. She then creates a tribe on a nearby island called Goona where the women are repulsive and the men are strong and handsome. For years the two tribes lived unaware of each other's existence, until ape men from across the ocean attack the village of Goona.

The tribe sends their king's son to seek help against the invaders. The son finds the island of Wongo, the day before the village men pick their brides. The women, seeing the handsome prince, begin questioning their life among the brutes that dwell in the village. The men grow jealous of their visitor and plot to kill him. The women of Wongo, finding out about this, risk their lives to protect the prince, and in doing so offend the crocodile god of the Wongo people (portrayed by stock footage of a crocodilian and a rubber model). The women are rounded up by the village men and are sent out into the wilderness until the reptile god has drawn blood for the insult. The women band together, watching each other's backs until the ape men arrive at their village and, after they dispatch the invaders to the god, leave in search for the men that had abandoned the island of Wongo. In Goona, the men have just begun their rite of manhood, in which they go into the jungle, without weapons, for a month. The women of Wongo, coming upon the weaponless men, decide to take advantage of their helplessness and, one by one, claim them in marriage. The film concludes with all the beautiful men and women married, and the ugly men with the ugly women.