In 1939, a new radio network based at station WBN in Chicago, Illinois, begins its inaugural night. The station's owner, General Walt Whalen, depends on his employees to impress main sponsor Bernie King. This includes writer Roger Henderson, assistant director Penny Henderson (Roger's wife, seeking divorce), page boy Billy Budget, engineer Max Applewhite, conductor Rick Rochester, announcer Dexter Morris, director Walt Whalen, Jr. and stage manager Herman Katzenback. After King commissions rewrites on the radio scripts, the WBN writers get angry, complaining that they have not been paid in weeks.

When trumpet player Ruffles Reedy falls dead from rat poisoning, a series of events ensue. Director Walt Jr. is hanged (the mysterious killer makes it look like a suicide), and his father, the General, has the Chicago Police Department (CPD) get involved to solve the murder mysteries as the nightly radio performance continues. Katzenback is then killed after attempting to fix the main stage when the machinery malfunctions. Penny is appointed both stage manager and director due to Walt Jr. and Katzenback's deaths. Roger tries to solve the killings, greatly annoying the police, led by Lieutenant Cross.

Because Roger unfortunately appears at every crime scene just as the murders take place, he is ruled as the prime suspect. Roger and Billy Budget then theorize that announcer Dexter Morris is the next to die. Dexter ignores their warning and is fatally electrocuted. By going through private documents in WBN's file room, Roger finds that the victims all previously worked together at a radio station in Peoria, Illinois, which he then correlates into a secretive FCC scandal. King (laughing gas) and General Whalen (falls down an elevator shaft) are the next to die after Roger's warning, making the police even more suspicious.

After escaping from custody, Roger uses Billy to communicate and send scripts to Penny. When rewriting one of the programs, ''Gork: Son of Fire'', Roger attempts to write the script with self-referential events, proving to everyone that the mysterious killer is actually sound engineer Max Applewhite. Max explains that his killings were a revenge scheme that dealt with stock holders and patents, specifically detailing his invention of television, which other scientists have copied. Max takes Roger and Penny atop the radio tower at gunpoint, but is eventually killed when a biplane shows up and guns him down. Impressed by the nightly performance, the sponsors decide to fund WBN. Roger and Penny reconcile their complex relationship and decide not to divorce.

In 1956 Schenectady, New York, waitress Shirley Roque marries auto mechanic Jack Muldowney over the mild objections of her singer father Tex, who wants her to be self-sufficient rather than having to rely on a husband. Jack buys a gas station, Shirley becomes a housewife, and they have a son.

For fun, Jack races his hot rod against others on deserted stretches of road late at night. One time, Shirley talks him into letting her drive. She wins and continues winning. A chance encounter with professional driver "Big Daddy" Don Garlits inspires her to look for sponsorship from one of the major car manufacturers, despite her husband's skepticism. As this is the 1950s, a pretty housewife is not taken seriously, especially since there are no women professional drivers, but when she returns home, Jack tells her that he can build her a dragster.

In 1966, she is ready. She still needs to get three signatures before she can get her National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) license, nearly impossible in the macho racing world. Finally, Garlits (seeing an opportunity to broaden the sport's popularity) signs, followed by funny car driver Connie Kalitta, who has his own reasons; Connie talks a reluctant third driver into going along. In her first attempt to qualify for a race, she sets a track record. Later, during a dinner with their respective spouses, Connie gets her alone, makes a pass at her, and she slaps him in the face.

Shirley becomes successful, racing on weekends, but when Connie decides to move up to Top Fuel dragsters, she wants to buy his funny car and compete year round. This exhausts Jack's tolerance for Shirley's racing activity, as he feels neglected, and they separate.

Connie and Shirley become involved romantically, despite his continual philandering. In a 1973 race, Shirley's funny car is destroyed and she is seriously burned. When Connie is suspended indefinitely by the NHRA for fighting on her behalf, she tells him that she is going to Top Fuel. He becomes her crew chief. She wins her first NHRA national event in 1976, then the World Championship in 1977. Finally, tired of Connie's womanizing, she drops him from her team. Angry, he successfully pursues reinstatement by the NHRA.

Shirley, with little sponsorship and an inexperienced crew, has two lean years, but she rebounds in 1980. She races against Connie in that year's NHRA championship final. She is victorious, and they reconcile. Jack, her ex-husband (who had watched the victory on TV), gives her a private cheer.

A documentary film directed by Ashley Greyson which looks at Platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated artists Hanson and their three-year struggle with their record label, Island/Def Jam. With the music industry in the aftermath of corporate mergers, deregulated radio, and an uncertain future, the band is faced with the challenge of making a new album while dealing with an endless array of obstacles. Throughout their trial and tribulations, they must learn to cope with an insatiable record label executive, incompatible producers and ultimately with each other.

Flagg and Quirt are veteran United States Marines whose rivalry dates back a number of years. Flagg is commissioned a captain, he is in command of a company on the front lines of France during World War I. Sergeant Quirt is assigned to Flagg's unit as the senior non-commissioned officer. Flagg and Quirt quickly resume their rivalry, which this time takes its form over the affections of Charmaine, the daughter of the local innkeeper. However, Charmaine's desire for a husband and the reality of war give the two men a common cause.

Mewtwo, his heart having been softened by the selfless example of the human named Ash Ketchum back in his birthland in the eastern Kanto region, has now traveled to the western region of Johto in search of a location that is unreachable by the prying eyes and harsh judgments of humans for the sake of his band of cloned Pokémon, with whose welfare Mewtwo is solely concerned. He eventually finds the perfect hideaway: a huge mountain named Mt. Quena, surrounded by steep cliffs that are practically impossible to scale, but in its top is a forest and a freshwater lake that makes for a near-utopia for all the Bug Pokémon living there. This is a perfect fit for Mewtwo's band, so thus they settle in the top of Mt. Quena and begin a new, safe life with Mewtwo watching over as their guardian as he feels they cannot belong in the world as they were not born in it (he seems particularly close to the Pikachu and Meowth clones, possibly reflecting how important their templates were in his change of heart).

At the end of the first movie, Mewtwo erased all memory of the events from all those involved. However, due to his not being on New Island at the time, Giovanni has not forgotten about Mewtwo and has been concocting a military plan of assault upon wherever Mewtwo has settled to take the Pokémon back for himself. He at last locates Mewtwo in his new mountain retreat and begins his operation to assault and capture Mewtwo and bend his will to Giovanni's. The Team Rocket combat unit heads towards Mt. Quena.

Ash and his friends and Pikachu, on their Pokémon journey as always, are now passing through the area around Mt. Quena, but complications with the weather and the bus service force them to stay at a cabin at the foot of the mountain, where they would meet the Pokémon naturalists Luna Carson and Cullen Calix and the spunky young girl Domino who works for a Pokémon institute. But then a break-in and attempted thievery of Pikachu by the classic antics of the Team Rocket trio Jessie, James, and Meowth, and soon a series of turbulent events involving a scuffle on a hot air balloon, leads everyone into the airspace of Mt. Quena.

There everyone sees the approaching Combat Unit, and Domino, climbing up into the balloon to confront the trio, revealed herself of being in league with Team Rocket Organization as elite Agent 009 (or, as she calls herself, The Black Tulip). Despite being in the same organisation as Jessie, James and Meowth, she commented to the lower-in-ranks trio of being a bunch of losers before popping their balloon and sending everyone else plummeting onto the mountain while she returns to Giovanni to report on Mewtwo's status. Giovanni's operation to capture Mewtwo begins in earnest, with Ash and his friends and enemies caught up in the core of it.

Giovanni eventually succeeds in capturing Mewtwo with the threat that the other Pokémon clones would be his to capture and experiment if Mewtwo didn't comply. With Ash and the Pokémon Clones in custody, Giovanni's operation is successful, and he immediately capitalizes by ordering the construction of a new Team Rocket base on the mountain.

The characters and all other cloned Pokémon that attempted to protect Mewtwo are then locked away in a prison cell, along with two mother Pokémon attempting to protect their offspring. While in the cell Meowth translates what the other Pokémon are saying: "They're coming... and they're very angry. They're mad at whoever is polluting the lake and they've come to stop them." Domino eventually releases Jessie and James and demotes them to janitorial work for the new base.

Giovanni's greed for new Team Rocket bases becomes his worst mistake; without warning, a swarm of furious Bug Pokémon (that Meowth was referring to) from the mountain sabotages the Team Rocket base that is polluting the freshwater lake, and the ensuing chaos allows Ash and everyone with him to escape and scatter. Ash rushes over to Mewtwo, believing that this is the first time he's seen Mewtwo, and he and Brock try to free Mewtwo from the machines that are suppressing his mind and body, partly as thanks for Mewtwo protecting Pikachu earlier. However, Mewtwo is weak from using what was left of his power and strength to destroy the machines that held him, putting his life force in jeopardy, but Ash carries Mewtwo away from Giovanni's battle while Brock, Misty and the other clones along with the bug Pokémon keep Team Rocket occupied.

Mewtwo asks Ash why he's helping him, to which Ash replies that you don't need a reason to help someone in trouble. Mewtwo reflects that Ash may be one-of-a-kind, but Ash says that everyone is. As they reach the heart of the mountain, Ash throws Mewtwo into a healing spring that restores his power, prompting Mewtwo to finally accept that he is a real Pokémon, as the water affects him just as it affected others. The Pokémon clone rises and uses all his psychic powers to move the lake and the spring underground, and then uses his mind-erasing powers to clear Giovanni's mind of Mewtwo, the clones, and Mt. Quena. Team Rocket are transported away from the mountain, with the exception of Jessie, James and Meowth, who had hidden in a cave during the battle.

Ash, Meowth and various Pokémon convince Mewtwo not to erase their minds as well, because though Mewtwo would mean well to do so to keep knowledge of this natural sanctuary hidden from the destructive tendencies of humanity, Ash assures that he would permanently keep the mountain's secret unrevealed at any rate. Mewtwo agrees and personally thanks Ash for all his help and understanding, and he departs on his own as all the Clone Pokémon leave to lead life as natural Pokémon in the wild, sending Ash and co. in a Pikachu balloon and Jessie, James and Meowth in their Meowth balloon.

As Ash, Misty and Brock were walking through a city, Ash hears Mewtwo's voice say "I will remember you always" (In the Japanese version, he says "I am here", a reference to the title). The narrator concludes the movie with the rumors of a Pokémon who traversed the city at night.

SpongeBob and Patrick board a bus to go home from Glove World, a glove-themed amusement park. They accidentally board the wrong bus, which then takes them to a 90-degree cliff. The cliff leads to an abyssopelagic zone called Rock Bottom, which is inhabited by many strange deep-sea animals. SpongeBob and Patrick get kicked off the bus and SpongeBob tried to tell the driver that they need to return to Bikini Bottom but the driver refuses to let them back on and takes off. Patrick soon becomes frightened of the environment, the residents, and the signs on the bathroom doors. He really wants to go home so SpongeBob leaves him at the bus stop while he went to get a bus schedule. But as soon SpongeBob leaves, the next bus to Bikini Bottom has arrived and Patrick has gotten on it but forgets to hold it for SpongeBob and leaves him behind. SpongeBob tries to climb the 90-degree angle cliff (which is the only way out of the city) but the cliff is too sideways flat for him to climb, and after two attempts to climb it, he gives up and remembers the advice of his grandpa, he decides to wait for the next bus back home.

SpongeBob waits at the bus stop for a long time but the bus has not arrived. Suddenly, he stops to tie his shoe but as he was doing it, he didn't see the bus pull up and before he can react, the bus takes off in an instant. As he waits again, he stops to fix his hat but forgets to tie his balloon to a post and it blows away. As he chases it, the next bus comes to the stop and takes off again. As he waits once again, he gets hungry and pulls out his candy dispenser but immediately spits it out because the candy was the same as a normal glove. He spots a vending machine across the street and decides to get a treat from it. As he desposit some money and presses the buttons for his treat, the machine's springs take a long time and by the time it drops the candy bar, the bus arrives and when SpongeBob tries to grab the candy bar, it revs it's engine and by the time, SpongeBob returns to the bus stop, it takes off and a citizen steals his candy bar as he shouts angrily to the thief: "HEY! That's Mine!". SpongeBob tries to put a cardboard cutout at the vending machine but it tips over and the bus takes off again. SpongeBob tries to disguise himself as a bench but when he reveals himself, it takes off once again.

Frustrated that the bus keeps taking off without him, SpongeBob heads to a bus station and waits in a very long line because he didn't see the other people in line and ends up 331st in line. By the time he reaches the front and get the attendant to understand what he is saying through the town's language which is blowing a raspberry in between words in sentences, he finds out that the next bus leaves in 5 seconds; he misses it, then learns that it was the last one and he is stuck there until morning. SpongeBob tries to get the attendant to come back and get him a bus home. But right away, the lights go out for the night, so he pulls out his flashlight. But it too burns out as he points out: "This isn't your average everyday darkness, this is ADVANCED Darkness." He runs out of the station and soon becomes frightened by a raspberry sound coming from off in the distance, and he dashes back to the cliff in terror. Finally, the raspberry sound's maker is revealed to be a friendly-looking anglerfish creature, who has retrieved SpongeBob's balloon when he asked him to help him get home and he chased after the balloon. The creature blows up the balloon and ties it to SpongeBob's wrist, which allows him to rise up the cliff. He thanks the anglerfish with the raspberry language but was pretty surprised that he said "You're welcome" without a raspberry.

The episode ends with SpongeBob floating out of Rock Bottom and all the way back home to his pineapple in Bikini Bottom which the balloon pops after landing. He spots Patrick on his way back to Rock Bottom, thinking he is still there. SpongeBob decides to leave Patrick on his own to not get stuck there again. ''SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete 1st Season''. DVD. Paramount Home Entertainment, 2003.

Some children playing on Hampstead Heath in London come across the body of a young light-skinned woman who has been stabbed to death. Police Superintendent Robert Hazard (Nigel Patrick) and his assistant, Inspector Phil Learoyd (Michael Craig), follow the lead of the woman's handkerchief, monogrammed with an "S," and eventually discover that her name was Sapphire Robbins (Yvonne Buckingham), a music student. Her brother (Earl Cameron), a doctor working in Birmingham, is notified. Her fiance, an architecture student named David Harris (Paul Massie), claims to have been in Cambridge at the time of the murder.

An autopsy reveals that Sapphire had been three months pregnant. The police are surprised when Dr. Robbins arrives, and they learn that he is black. He and his sister were biracial, but Sapphire was able to "pass" as white. Robbins is professional in his bearing and proud, sceptical that the police will actually try to solve his sister's murder.

Investigating Sapphire's life and acquaintances, the officers find that Sapphire frequented nightclubs with black clienteles, leading them to look for another possible boyfriend. Learoyd is quick to jump to racist assumptions about the victim's behaviour, but Hazard is nonjudgemental and sometimes counters his assistant's biased views. Interviews with other possible witnesses or connections to the case reveal a range of racist attitudes in the white population.

When the officers question members of David's family they learn that Sapphire had revealed her family background to David, and had informed his parents and adult sister Mildred (Yvonne Mitchell) about the pregnancy. David's father (Bernard Miles) had reluctantly agreed to David and Sapphire marrying despite his own racist views and the family's concern about their social standing, as well as the knowledge that David would probably have to forfeit a scholarship to study in Rome.

Visiting the Tulip Club, a nightclub favoured by affluent young blacks, Hazard and Learoyd learn that Sapphire was resented by some of her contemporaries, but that she often went there with a young man named Johnnie Fiddle (Harry Baird). After a chase Johnnie is caught and brought in by the police. A knife and a bloody shirt are discovered in his room, but Johnnie claims that these were from a fight he had with another man at the Tulip Club, Horace Big Cigar (Robert Adams). In the meantime, however, David is seen acting suspiciously near the murder scene on Hampstead Heath and it is discovered that he had returned from Cambridge earlier than he claimed on the day of the murder.

Hoping to prod further revelations from those closest to the murder, Hazard brings Dr Robbins to the Harrises' home, prompting angry reactions from the family. The most violent reaction comes from David's sister Mildred, who responds with disgust when Robbins picks up one of her daughter's toys. Mildred finally confesses to her hatred of Sapphire and to the murder. With the case wrapped up Hazard acknowledges the larger social evils underlying the case, telling Learoyd that they "didn't solve anything ... We just picked up the pieces."

In 1883, in the Sudan, a force of 10,000 poorly trained Egyptian troops is lured into the Sudanese desert. Commanding the force is former Bombay Army soldier Colonel William "Billy" Hicks (Edward Underdown) now a private individual, in the pay of the Egyptian government. There he is defeated by native tribesmen led by Muhammad Ahmed (Laurence Olivier), a Nubian religious leader of the Samaniyya order in Sudan who had declared himself Mahdi. British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (Ralph Richardson), does not wish to send any military forces to Khartoum but is under great pressure, mostly from the British press, to "avenge" the death of Hicks, a hero of previous colonial conflicts. He could send colonial military hero Major General Charles George Gordon (Charlton Heston) who has strong ties to Sudan, having tried to break the slave trade there, but Gladstone distrusts him. Gordon has a reputation for strong and eccentric religious beliefs, and following his own judgement regardless of his orders. Lord Granville (Michael Hordern), the British Foreign Secretary, knowing this, tells Gladstone that by sending Gordon to Khartoum, the British government can ignore all public pressure to send an army there, and, should Gordon ignore his orders, absolve themselves of any responsibility over the area. Gladstone is mildly shocked at the suggestion, but as it is popular with the public and Queen Victoria, he adopts it for the sake of expediency.

Gordon is told that his mission, to evacuate troops and civilians, is unsanctioned by the British government, which will disavow all responsibility if he fails. He is given few resources and only a single aide, Colonel J. D. H. Stewart (Richard Johnson). After an attempt to recruit former slaver Zobeir Pasha (Zia Mohyeddin) fails, Gordon and Stewart travel to Khartoum, where Gordon is hailed as the city's savior upon his arrival in February 1884. He begins organising the defences and rallying the people, despite Stewart's protests that this is not what he was sent to do.

Gordon's first act is to visit the Mahdi in his insurgent camp, accompanied by only a single servant. He gains the Mahdi's respect and, in the verbal fencing at the parley, discovers that the Sudanese leader intends to make an example of Khartoum by taking the city and killing all its inhabitants. The River Nile city of Khartoum lies at the confluence of the White Nile and the Blue Nile. A qualified military engineer, Gordon wastes no time upon his return in digging a ditch between the two to provide a protective moat.

In Britain, Gladstone, apprised of how desperate the situation has become, orders Gordon to leave, but, as he had feared, his command is ignored. Colonel Stewart is sent by Gordon to London to explain the situation in Khartoum. Over the next several months, a public outcry forces Gladstone to send a relief force, but he sees to it that there is no urgency, hoping to the last that Gordon will come to his senses and save himself.

Gordon, however, has other ideas. News arrives in Khartoum about a relief force led by General Wolseley being sent from Britain. When the waters recede in winter, drying up his moat, the small Egyptian army is finally overwhelmed by 100,000 native Mahdist tribesmen. On 26 January 1885, the city falls under a massive frontal assault. Gordon himself is slaughtered along with the entire foreign garrison and populace of some 30,000, although the Mahdi had forbidden killing Gordon. In the end, Gordon's head is cut off, stuck on top of a long pole, and paraded about the city in triumph, contrary to the Mahdi's injunctions.

The British relief column arrives two days too late. The British withdraw from the Sudan shortly thereafter, and the Mahdi himself dies six months later. In the United Kingdom, public pressure, and anger at the fate of Gordon, eventually forces the British and their Egyptian allies to re-invade the Sudan ten years later, and they recaptured and colonised Khartoum in 1898.

The story begins with a Special Forces unit being briefed on a terrorist takeover of a chemical plant, led by a man known as Derbec. The Special Forces unit, consisting of veteran Kyle Rivers, rookie Jack Hooper, bomb expert Ed Reagan, and two others, soon prepares to infiltrate the plant. Elsewhere, news cameraman Ben Harrison begins to head to the chemical plant as well, via helicopter. Inside the plant, secretary Tanya Shaw and security guard Dave Wilson quickly comprehend the situation, both managing to evade the terrorists before they can kill them or take them as hostages. Upon reaching the chemical plant, the two minor Special Forces members are killed in a terrorist ambush, and the remaining three are separated from each other. They quickly continue forward through the plant.

Meanwhile, Dave soon finds a colleague and friend of his shot dead within the plant. Vowing revenge, he decides to eliminate the terrorists throughout the facility. Elsewhere, Tanya tries to sneak out of the chemical plant, successfully managing to reach a large courtyard. She signals to the helicopter carrying Ben, in hope of being rescued, but as it approaches her, it is shot down by a terrorist. It is, however, revealed that Ben has managed to survive the crash. More concerned about winning the Pulitzer prize as opposed to his own safety, Ben's obsession pushes him throughout the chemical plant, filming the activities of the terrorists with his camera, rather than trying to escape.

With the Special Forces unit soon discovering that numerous sections of the chemical plant are rigged to blow, Ed begins to defuse them, while Jack starts rewiring electrical boxes throughout the plant to allow the team access to all areas. Meanwhile, Kyle continues to try and regain control of the plant. Eventually, Ed succumbs to a bomb as he fails to defuse it in time. With the bomb expert dead, the task of defusing the bombs is given to Jack. Tanya eventually manages to escape the plant without harm, while elsewhere, as Dave continues to repel the terrorists, he is injured by a grenade. Unable to move, the terrorists are about to finish him off when Kyle reaches him and fends them off. Still wounded, Dave has no choice but to stay where he is as Kyle leaves him to continue through the plant.

Eventually, it is revealed that Derbec's reason for taking over the plant are simply about revenge, and that he had intended to blow up the plant from the beginning. With this new insight, Jack races against time to defuse the bombs before the terrorists finish planting them and detonate them, while Kyle continues to hunt down Derbec. With Ben satisfied with the footage he has collected, including footage showing Derbec's current whereabouts, he progresses to a computer in order to upload them to the Internet and show them to the world. Just as he is about confirm his upload, he is discovered by a terrorist, who subsequently holds him at gunpoint. Briefly considering his options, Ben soon opts to confirm his upload as opposed to surrendering, resulting in his death.

With Ben's footage now showing all over the world, Kyle heads over to where Derbec was reported to have been last seen, but is eventually injured in ambush. Unable to fight, he is approached by Derbec, who has come out of hiding now that the threat of Kyle is over. Kyle remains strong-willed against the terrorist leader, but Derbec soon shoots him in the head. Having disarmed the bomb threat, Jack decides to go after Derbec. Despite heavy resistance from what's left of Derbec's terrorists, he manages to eliminate them all and confront Derbec. Jack wins the ensuing gunfight, and with the terrorist threat finally over, Jack extracts himself and Dave out of the chemical plant, where aid is waiting for them outside.

''Pure Trance'' takes place in the future, after World War III, which left the surface of the earth inhospitable to life. The humans able to escape underground now live underneath a dome in Tokyo, Japan, while those unable to become creatures resembling brains with eyes and a spine. The people living underground survive on Pure Trance, nutritional capsules which have caused overeating in females to become a serious issue.

The plot of ''Pure Trance'' follows Kaori Suzuki, a kind and good-natured nurse at Overeaters Treatment Center 102, run by the drug-addicted and violently abusive director Keiko Yamazaki. Though normally docile in spite of the director's terrible treatment, Kaori lashes out after three expectant mothers die due to a lethal combination of medicines administered by the director. The director subsequently imprisons Kaori and subjects her to constant torture, and creates artificial nurses Umeko and Takeko to replace the human nurses working at the center. Meanwhile, the deceased women's fetuses are raised in an artificial womb and grow into healthy children— Yuriko, who is very strong and intelligent; shy and dainty Rika; and twins Miki and Yuki, who possess magical powers. The children are raised by robot nurse Kiyomi and Aiko, head of the children's ward, but are constantly tormented by the two artificial nurses. When Aiko stands up to them one day, the director brutally chokes her to death and decides to take the children for herself to use as experiments. With the help of Kiyomi, Kaori escapes to the surface with the children via a ventilation shaft, but not before Kiyomi sacrifices herself, leaving only her robotic head at the entrance. The head is later found by Professor Kajiwara, who restores an amnesiac Kiyomi into a new robotic body, naming her B-ko.

On the surface, the group encounters Seiko, a popular idol singer who went missing years ago and who has adapted to the wilderness of the surface. Seiko leads the group to an abandoned park and educates them on the flora and fauna. Underground, the director is furious at Kaori and the children's escape, and has her security guard Kimiko and the two artificial nurses pursue them on the surface, much to their chagrin. After several years of living on the surface, Kaori's health deteriorates as she cannot stomach real food, only Pure Trance, whereas the children thrive and grow into adults. While the children are out tripping on hallucinogenic mushrooms one day, Kimiko and the nurses encounter Seiko, who unwittingly leads them to Kaori, whom they capture and take back to the director. When the children return home, the twins use their powers to locate Kaori, but unfortunately witness the director poisoning her to death. The incident leaves them very weak and their hair turns white.

Meanwhile, a hole develops in the dilapidated dome covering Tokyo, and plants and animals from the surface begin creeping into the underground. A research team is formed by Professor Kajiwara to explore and determine the habitability of the surface. The children, saddened by Kaori's death and frightened by the explorers, hide in the ruins of a love motel. The director however has a nightmare about the children and a mysterious dark haired woman, and upon waking forces Kimiko and the artificial nurses to venture once more to the surface, this time to kill the children. Rika, who is popular among the brain creatures of the surface, gets pregnant from one of her boyfriends, while the twins have a vision that they will die soon and Rika will die in childbirth. They suggest combining their powers with Yuriko, and perform a ritual that transfers their souls into her body.

Rika gives birth to a daughter, Yuka, but dies in the process and becomes one of the brain creatures. At Center 102, a patient spots a bird that flies in through the window and eats it, causing her to recover from her overeating illness quickly. The few remaining human nurses utilize this information to create a cheap and effective cure for overeating, causing the center to be shut down and the director to be arrested. They then open a successful pachinko parlor in the building. With the director gone, Kimiko becomes a female wrestling star while the artificial nurses are taken in at a nurse themed hostess bar. Deconstruction of the dome over Tokyo begins and real food as well as the integration of the brain creatures and the various plants and animals become mainstream.

Yuriko raises Yuka and teaches her to hunt on the surface. She grows up suddenly by shedding her skin and emerging as a mature woman. The pair are found by the dome deconstruction team, and come under the care of Professor Kajiwara and B-ko. The artificial nurses become spontaneously pregnant and are rushed to a hospital. While walking around the city, Yuriko and Yuka spot the prison where the director is held, and Yuka—the dark haired woman from the directors nightmare—promptly kills her, right as the artificial nurses give birth to baby girls that resemble the director.

Romulus Gaita fled his hometown of Markovac in 1935 at the age of 13. He worked as a farmer apprentice until he was 17, after which he moved to Austria and eventually migrated to Australia on an assisted passage in 1950 at the age of 28, with his young wife Christine and their four-year-old son Raimond soon after the end of the Second World War. Romulus and his family were transferred to Bonegilla Migrant Reception and Training Centre, a camp near Wodonga. Romulus was then sent to Baringhup on the Loddon River, where he met two Romanian brothers Pantelimon (known as Hora) and Mitru.

The Gaițăs then moved to a farmhouse called Frogmore, where they lived for the next ten years, and where Raimond spent most of his childhood.

Christine did not stay at Frogmore to take on the responsibility as a wife and mother. She had an affair with Mitru and moved to Melbourne to be with him. As a result of the affair, they had two daughters. Mitru committed suicide before the birth of the second child. Christine later also committed suicide. Both the daughters of Christine and Mitru were adopted. Raimond is reminiscent that indeed, Christine may have had a mental illness.

After some attempts at farming, Romulus established a business supplying wrought iron furniture, popular at the time, by the way of using the skills he brought from his native country.

Romulus had also suffered from a mental illness, requiring admission to a psychiatric hospital. While Romulus was unable to provide care for Raimond, Hora came to live with Raimond and cared for him.

To an immense degree, Romulus had recovered from his mental illness and saw Raimond live to adulthood. Romulus later suffered heart problems and eventually died of a heart attack.

In the 1920s, the Monte Carlo Rally attracts competitors from all over the world. Rivals from Britain, Italy, France and Germany find that their greatest competition comes from the United States in the form of Chester Schofield (Tony Curtis), who had won half of an automobile factory in a poker game with the late father of baronet Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage (Terry-Thomas). Ware-Armitage has entered the race in a winner-take-all to exact revenge and win back the lost half of the company.

The international cast of characters appear to mirror their national foibles. British Army officers Maj. Digby Dawlish (Peter Cook) and Lieut. Kit Barrington (Dudley Moore), who have entered to preserve the honour of the British Empire, drive an outlandish vehicle festooned with odd inventions. Italian policemen Angelo Pincelli (Walter Chiari) and Marcello Agosti (Lando Buzzanca) seem to be more interested in chasing three French women, led by Doctor Marie-Claude (Mireille Darc). The German entry from overbearing Willi Schickel (Gert Fröbe) and Otto Schwartz (Peer Schmidt) turn out to be convicts, driving with stolen gems on board.

As the race begins, the contestants find that not only are they in a 1,500-mile battle with each other, but dangerous roads and the elements including a massive avalanche, are just as formidable. Chester and his new co-driver, Betty (Susan Hampshire) end up duelling with Cuthbert. Various misfortunes plague each of the contestants, with Cuthbert, poised to win, being disqualified for cheating, the British Army team blowing up, the Germans being arrested and Chester falling asleep at the wheel. In the end, the Italians are declared the winners and share their winnings with the French women's team to help people injured in the snowslide. Chester does eventually cross the finish line, albeit because Betty and some others have pushed his car.

In Moc Hoa, Vietnam, a group of prisoners are executed under the watchful eye of General Ty (Hwang Jang-lee). Meanwhile, Scott Wylde (Loren Avedon), an American college student, visits the country to visit his former teacher and best friend Mac Jarvis (Max Thayer), meeting Terry (Cynthia Rothrock), Mac's former lover, in the process. Terry tells Scott that Mac may be in Patpong, a seedy area of Bangkok. Scott leaves the gym and heads for his hotel, where he has dinner with his girlfriend Sulin Nguyen (Patra Wanthivanond). During their date, Sulin's father (Perm Hongsakul) receives a disturbing phone call and leaves his house. In the meantime, a group of thugs crash into Scott's room and kidnap Sulin. Scott fights and kills the two thugs left behind to murder him. At Sulin's house, he finds that her entire family except for her father has been killed. Scott is framed for the murders and drug possession. Despite Mr. Nguyen's pleas, the American consulate suggests sending Scott to Singapore and keeping him detained for three months. He escapes, heading to Patpong.

At Patpong, Scott finds Mac at the Super Star bar, arm wrestling with a local man. When Mac wins, his opponent attacks him with a broken bottle, but Scott intervenes. He tells a concerned Mac of his recent problems. When the duo go to dinner at a local marketside area, they are threatened by the kidnappers. They force one of the thugs to tell them where Sulin is located, learning she has been taken to Cambodia. Returning to Mac's private warehouse, an artillery factory, Scott learns that Sulin's father's was a Vietnamese general who, for the sake of his family, stopped a deal with a Soviet militia. Mac is convinced that the Soviets have joined forces with the Vietnamese army and have set up base in Cambodia. Scott decides he must rescue Sulin. The next morning, as they wait for a helicopter, they are ambushed by Thai police. However, Terry comes to aid and they narrowly escape by helicopter.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Soviet Army, Yuri (Matthias Hues), has arrived. He challenges a Chinese refugee held with the recent prisoners of war to fight for his freedom. Using his brute strength, he defeats the refugee, yet tells him he is free to leave. As the refugee starts walking away, Yuri shoots and throws him into an alligator pit. He threatens to throw Sulin in the pit as well if her father does not arrive soon.

Arriving in Cambodia, Scott, Terry, and Mac contact Colonel Tol Nol (Nirut Sirijunya), an old customer of Mac's. Mac offers artillery in exchange for assistance, but Tol Nol refuses. However, Scott makes a deal on a new tank and Tol Nol accepts under the condition that Terry stays behind. Tol Nol's camp is then bombed, and Scott injures his arm in the process. The trio leave by foot the following day, along the way fending off a Buddhist temple used as a spy base. They skirmish with the Vietnamese army, which kidnaps Terry, and leave believing to have killed Scott and Mac with a rocket launcher. However, Scott and Mac escape the blast. Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen is murdered by an assassin hiding in a manhole in Bangkok.

Later that night, Scott and Mac secretly plant explosives and other weaponry in the Soviet camp. The next morning, as Sulin and Terry are slated to be executed in the alligator pit, Scott and Mac attack the Soviets. They successfully kill all the soldiers except Yuri, who arrives with a machine gun as Scott is heading towards his friends; Terry sacrifices herself to save Scott from being gunned down. Mac attempts to save her and professes his love for her, but she dies from her wounds. Scott distracts Yuri with an arrow to his arm and begins a long one-on-one fight, which ends as Yuri ends up in the alligator pit, where Scott shoots him with a machine gun. He is reunited with Sulin but saddened when he learns Terry has died. Together, Scott, Sulin, and Mac, holding Terry, walk away to the camp.

With nuclear apocalypse looming over the world, several vaults were constructed to contain the best and brightest of humanity. By being shielded from the imminent death, the offspring of these people could reclaim and repopulate the Earth. However, before the entire network could be completed, nuclear war broke out. One of the military vaults located in California emerged from the war determined to restore civilization. Using their superior weapons, they were able to reclaim the surrounding wasteland. The members of this vault formed the Brotherhood of Steel, an organization dedicated to restoring civilization and reclaiming or developing new and better technologies.

A split soon formed in the Brotherhood, however. One faction supported allowing tribals (human outsiders) to join the organization to prevent a lack of troops. The other faction wanted to keep the Brotherhood pure and not accept outsiders. The faction against expansion won out, and the other faction was sent across the mountains on great airships to destroy the remnants of the mutant army defeated in the first ''Fallout'' game. A lightning storm struck down the ships, however, and they were dispersed and forced to crash-land. One of the surviving airships crashed near the ruins of post-war Chicago. After regrouping, and free from the Brotherhood members in California who wanted nothing to do with the tribals, the crash survivors established a first base near Chicago and founded a new Brotherhood that would grow and expand by recruiting outsiders and expanding across the land.

When the game starts, the Brotherhood is trying to claim territory surrounding Chicago. By offering protection to villages of tribals, the Brotherhood is able to draft recruits from among the tribals. At the beginning of the game, the player character is an Initiate, a new recruit to the Brotherhood, tasked to lead a squad of soldiers made up of available initiates. Raiders in the area are the first challenge to the Brotherhood's authority, so the player's squad of initiates is dispatched to kill the bandit leaders and mop up the bandit threat. As the campaign against the raiders succeeds in dispersing them into the wasteland, the player character is accepted fully into the Brotherhood, and learns the eventual goal of the Brotherhood — a campaign west across the Great Plains towards the Rocky Mountains in search of Vault Zero, the one-time nucleus and command center of the pre-war Vault network, where the most senior government, scientific, and military leaders were housed, and the highest technology available was maintained.

The next challenge in the Brotherhood's campaign are the Beastlords, humans who are able to control the animals of the wastes, and who have come to use Deathclaws as their servants. Once again, the Brotherhood fights the menace, and once again the Brotherhood emerges victorious. Before the Brotherhood can rest, however, they encounter a new foe as they push into post-war Missouri, an area known as "the Belt": the remnants of the mutant army they were sent to destroy. The initial battles are costly to the Brotherhood. Outgunned and outmanned, the Brotherhood is overwhelmed outside of St. Louis. There General Barnaky, head of the Brotherhood, is captured by the Toccomata, leader of the mutant army. Although the Brotherhood is able to withdraw, they remain under constant attack. A squad dispatched to destroy a munitions manufacturing plant instead finds a laboratory dedicated to curing mutant sterility. The Brotherhood claims the lab in order to use it as a future bargaining chip. A few days later, at the ghoul town of Gravestone, in the ruins of Kansas City, Brotherhood scouts find an intact nuclear bomb. The Brotherhood defends the town from several mutant encroachments, and they are soon able to remove the weapon to a safe bunker.

Brotherhood scouting reveals the base of the mutants to be at Osceolla, near the ruins of one of the wrecked Brotherhood zeppelins. A squad fights its way into the base. Inside, they find Toccomata, who is dying. He reveals that General Barnaky had been lost to an unknown menace from the west that was too powerful for even the mutant army. As the squad enters the room where the mutant leader was hiding, they find Paladin Latham, one of the leaders of the Brotherhood air convoy. He tells the squad that after crashing, he fought Gammorin in hand-to-hand combat for leadership of the mutants. Latham won, but a head injury from the battle became infected, and he soon became delusional. Latham assumed the identity of Gamorin, and led his new army against his old allies. The squad kills Latham before he can endanger the Brotherhood even more.

Soon, the menace from the west reveals itself: a robot army is sweeping across the American Midwest. The reavers, a cult dedicated to technology worship, is caught between the Brotherhood and the robots as the two armies clash in Kansas. Although the Reavers try to wage a two-fronted war, they are soon beaten, and seek sanctuary among the Brotherhood in exchange for an electromagnetic pulse weapon. The Brotherhood agrees, and a squad armed with the new technology destroys a robot repair plant as they push into Colorado, towards Vault Zero. It is revealed that the robots are originating from Vault Zero, and are being directed by an enigmatic enemy known as the Calculator. Evidence uncovered by the Brotherhood points to a catastrophic experiment in the Vault that created the Calculator from a fusion of computers and human brains. The robots regroup, but the Brotherhood is able to use the momentum to destroy a robot manufacturing plant. The robots disrupt this plan when they capture Bartholemew Kerr, a merchant who had roamed among the Brotherhood bunkers. If the robots could gain this information from him, they would be able to destroy the Brotherhood. The squad arrives in time, however, and they put an end to the merchant's life. While there, they also discover the body of General Barnaky-with his brain missing.

As the robots press hard, the Brotherhood creates a plan to destroy the robots at their base, Vault Zero, located in the underground Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Using the captured nuclear warhead, the Brotherhood hopes to blast an entrance into the vault. After a tough fight up the slopes of Cheyenne Mountain, a Brotherhood squad places the warhead. The explosion does its job, and two squads enter into the bunker. The power was disabled by the blast, however, one of the squads must find the auxiliary power so the elevators can be used. Meanwhile, the robots are attacking the Brotherhood's bunker. At the vault, the power is soon back on, and the squad proceeds to the bottom level. There they encounter the last of the robot army, led by a cyborg General Barnaky. The General does not attack, however, when he is reminded of his promise to make the world safe for his wife, Maria (the player must have Maria's photo in their inventory for this to occur, or Barnaky will attack). The squad then makes it to the Calculator. After defeating the last robots that guard the bunker and destroying the brains that kept the Calculator alive, the squad is asked by the Calculator to join minds with it in order to end the war and bring peace to the world. The squad is given the choice to either allow the Calculator to self-destruct, sacrifice a member of the squad as a brain donor to repair it, or allow General Barnaky (if he has been kept alive) to become the donor.

Allowing the Calculator to self-destruct allows the Brotherhood to capture Vault Zero and use it as its primary base of operations. However, the Calculator was in fact the most valuable asset the Vault housed-without its databanks, the vault is just another cache of old technology, not a new industrial resource. Repairing the Calculator with a character's brain means the Vault's resources are fully available to the Brotherhood, increasing its power exponentially. The Midwest will be restored to its former glory in decades, if not centuries. However, that character's ethics now guide the Calculator's actions. If the character in question had committed unethical acts throughout the game, the new Calculator outlaws discrimination against mutated species (mutants, ghouls, deathclaws and humans) in the name of expediency. For the same reason, it has the Brotherhood's elders quietly assassinated and takes control, planning a similar fate for the Brotherhood in California. If Barnaky becomes the donor, the new Calculator will start a campaign of genocide against all "unpure" humans, eventually driving them into extinction. *However, if the person in question acted with distinction, discrimination is still outlawed, but no harmful acts are committed. This is a difficult feat, as the Calculator's former brains are considered innocent (so "killing" them causes a karma loss), but they can still be "killed" indirectly, for example through explosion splash damage, as long as they are not directly attacked.

While driving through Mississippi, Caroline and Eli MacCleary get stuck on a deserted road. Eli walks to a service station for help. A creature chained in a cellar breaks free and escapes into the forest. It finds the MacClearys' car and rapes Caroline. Eli and the service station attendant find her lying in the forest. As they drive off, two gunshots are heard.

Seventeen years later, their son Michael, conceived as a result of Caroline's rape, has become ill. The family returns to Mississippi looking for information about the man who assaulted Caroline, in case Michael's illness is genetic.

They learn about the unsolved murder of a mortician named Lionel Curwin, seventeen years prior. The townspeople, including Judge Curwin and newspaper editor Edwin Curwin, refuse to tell them anything. Eli and Caroline ask Sheriff Bill Poole about Lionel's death. Poole tells them Lionel's corpse was found partially eaten.

Seemingly possessed, Michael murders and cannibalizes Edwin Curwin. He stumbles to the home of Amanda Platt and collapses. Amanda calls the police, and Michael is taken to the hospital. Doc Schoonmaker tells Michael's parents that he needs rest.

Michael goes to Amanda's house to thank her. They go for a walk in the forest. Amanda tells Michael she is the daughter of Horace Platt, an abusive alcoholic who is Lionel Curwin's cousin. As the teens kiss, Amanda's dog arrives with Edwin's severed arm. They alert the sheriff. Horace arrives and commands Michael to stay away from Amanda.

Caroline and Michael return to the hospital, while Eli, Poole, and Schoonmaker search for clues. They uncover a swamp full of human bones with human tooth marks. Schoonmaker thinks one bone belonged to a patient of his who died years ago. The men go to the mortuary and question Dexter Ward, who was Lionel Curwin's apprentice when the woman died. Ward denies that anyone else was buried in her place. After the men leave, Ward calls the judge and demands money in return for silence. He is soon killed by a possessed Michael.

At the graveyard, the men discover the woman's coffin is filled with rocks. They return to the mortuary to question Ward but find him dead. Michael, still possessed, finds a man named Tom Laws. Laws converses with the spirit possessing Michael, whom he calls Billy Connors. Assuming direct control of Michael, Connors describes using magic to return as a spirit to punish the Curwin family after his death seventeen years earlier.

The next day, the judge tells Poole to investigate the murders. Laws tries to tell Poole that Connors has possessed Michael and is killing people, but Poole dismisses him. Connors kills Laws for talking to Poole. Afraid of his behavior, Michael goes to Amanda and warns her to leave town. While she packs, Connors and Michael struggle to control Michael's body. Michael throws himself from Amanda's window to prevent Connors from killing her. He returns to the hospital and begs to be killed, fearing that Connors will take over and Michael will be unable to stop him. He tells Poole and Eli to go to Lionel Curwin's house and look in the basement. They find a skeleton with a chain wrapped around its leg, which they assume is Connors's remains.

At the hospital, Poole, Eli, Caroline, and Schoonmaker witness Michael metamorphoses into a monster as Connors takes control and kills Horace. Everyone flees to the police station. Judge Curwin confesses that Lionel was responsible for Connors's death. After discovering Connors was having an affair with his wife, Lionel killed her and imprisoned Connors in his cellar. He fed Connors corpses stolen from the mortuary until one night, Connors metamorphosed into a monster, broke free, and killed Lionel. He raped Caroline in the woods before being shot by Lionel's relatives, apparently returning to the cellar to die.

Connors attacks the police station, kills the judge, and is pursued into the forest. He finds Amanda in a broken-down car and rapes her. When Caroline and Eli find him, he attacks Eli, forcing Caroline to shoot him in the head. It is implied that Connors may have impregnated Amanda, continuing the cycle of his resurrection.

Frankie (Frankie Avalon) goes to Tahiti on Naval Reserve duty. While cavorting with local girls, Frankie realizes that Dee Dee (Annette Funicello) might be unfaithful to him. When Frankie seeks help from a witch doctor (Buster Keaton), the witch doctor sends a sea beauty, Cassandra (Beverly Adams), to lure Ricky (Dwayne Hickman), an advertising exec, away from Dee Dee.

Upon Cassandra's arrival, the beach turns upside down, as all the surfers fall for her, an executive wants to make her a model, and Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) and his motorcycle gang add to the trouble.

Con man Eli Kotch (James Coburn) charms his way into a parole by playing on the emotions of a pretty psychologist (Marian McCargo), but drops her at the first opportunity to move around the country, romancing women and then stealing their possessions, or those of their employers. He's made a down payment on the blueprints to a bank at Los Angeles International Airport, but needs to raise $85,000 to complete the purchase.

In Boston, he seduces and marries Inger Knudsen (Camilla Sparv), the secretary of a wealthy elderly woman. Eli sends her to L.A. to set up housekeeping, on the pretext that a songwriter there is interested in his poetry. Meanwhile, he burgles another woman (Rose Marie) to get the final amount of money he needs. Eli heads to L.A., where he begins to assemble his gang (Severn Darden, Aldo Ray and Michael Strong) for the bank robbery, which is timed to take place while the airport is distracted by the arrival of the Premier of the Soviet Union.

To keep her occupied, Eli sends Inger to take Polaroid snapshots around L.A., supposedly for a magazine article he is writing. Using costumes stolen from a movie studio, he and one of the gang masquerade as an Australian policeman escorting an extradited prisoner in order to get through airport security, while the other two dress as LAPD policemen to get into the bank, bypass the alarm, and get a bank employee to open the safe.

The gang pulls off the heist and makes a successful getaway to Mexico on a plane. Eli has no idea that Inger has been frantically trying to get in touch with him, because she has inherited $7 million from her former employer.

Irish-American Kerry O'Shea (Don Murray) is studying at the College of Surgeons in 1921 Dublin, Ireland, during a guerrilla war – the Irish War of Independence. Apolitical and sick of killing after fighting in World War I, he is drawn into the struggle between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the British Black and Tans.

He and his friend and fellow medical student, Paddy Nolan (Ray McAnally), are caught in the middle of an IRA ambush, and Nolan is shot by the British. Nolan tells O'Shea to fetch Sean Lenihan (James Cagney), one of their professors. Lenihan, it turns out, is also a high-ranking IRA leader known as "the Commandant". Lenihan removes the bullet, but Nolan dies anyway.

Since O'Shea left his textbook (with his name inscribed) at the scene of the ambush, he is now a wanted man. Lenihan takes him to meet his superior, "the General" (Michael Redgrave), an old comrade-in-arms of O'Shea's father. When O'Shea refuses his invitation to join the IRA, the General arranges for a boat passage out of Ireland. Lenihan takes him to a hideout by the sea, the base of an IRA unit commanded by Chris Noonan (Cyril Cusack). Lenihan is furious to find local barmaid Kitty Brady (Glynis Johns) consorting with the men there.

When Liam O'Sullivan (Noel Purcell), a top IRA leader, is wounded escaping from prison, O'Shea agrees to accompany the unit to the rendezvous point to treat him. O'Sullivan is discovered in the boot of the car of aged Lady Fitzhugh (Sybil Thorndike) and killed in a shootout by the British. When the soldiers check the people in the nearby pub (where the IRA men are waiting), Terence O'Brien (Richard Harris) tries to hide a pistol he brought (against Noonan's explicit orders). When it is found, it is O'Shea who is taken away. He is brutally beaten by Colonel Smithson of the Black and Tans (Christopher Rhodes), but refuses to talk. Lenihan leads a raid to rescue him. At that point, O'Shea decides to join the IRA.

Lady Fitzhugh is sentenced to prison and goes on a hunger strike. Lenihan kidnaps Jennifer Curtis (Dana Wynter), the widowed daughter of a top British adviser, to try to force a prisoner exchange. Complications ensue when Kerry falls for her. When Kitty gets into trouble, both with Lenihan and the British, she decides to leave Ireland.

Lenihan prepares to assassinate Colonel Smithson at the dock. However, he suspects he has been betrayed when Kitty, purely by coincidence, tries to board a ship there. During the ensuing shootout, Lenihan shoots Kitty dead in cold blood.

When the men reassemble at a lighthouse, they hear two bits of news. First, Lady Fitzhugh has died. Second, the British have offered a peace treaty. The General is satisfied to have peace, but not Lenihan. When he decides to execute Mrs. Curtis, O'Shea has to stop him. They exchange shots, and Lenihan is killed.

The plot focuses on a young man who dies suddenly after purchasing an antique mirror. The man's widow visits Sorrell but starts to be plagued with strange, eerie dreams in which her husband's image visits her in the mirror. The psychologist investigates and learns that a sinister cult and ancient magic are involved.

The women of Brewster Place are "hard-edged, soft-centered, brutally demanding, and easily pleased". Their names are Mattie Michael, Etta Mae Johnson, Lucielia "Ciel" Turner, Melanie "Kiswana" Browne, Cora Lee, Lorraine, and Theresa. Each of their lives are explored in several short stories. These short stories also chronicle the ups and downs many Black women face.

The story begins with Mattie Michael (Oprah Winfrey) moving into Brewster Place, a run-down urban tenement. She then reflects upon her life, told in flashback. As a young girl, Mattie resides on a farm with her parents. She is later seduced by a local womanizer named Butch Fuller and becomes pregnant. When Mattie refuses to tell her father the name of the man responsible, a violent confrontation ensues. Afterwards, Mattie leaves home and stays with her friend Etta Mae Johnson (Jackée) until her son Basil is born.

When Etta Mae decides to move to New York City, Mattie struggles to find another place to live. By chance, she meets an old woman, Miss Eva Turner (Barbara Montgomery), who allows Mattie and Basil to live with her, refusing to charge them any rent. Miss Eva is also raising her baby granddaughter Ciel; abandoned by her parents shortly after her birth. Ciel and Basil grow up together, with Miss Eva providing child care while Mattie continues to work. When Miss Eva dies unexpectedly, Ciel's parents reappear, and take her with them. Mattie buys the house, using the money she secretly set aside for the rent that Miss Eva (purposely) never charged.

Basil grows into a spoiled, irresponsible young man due to Mattie's overbearing parenting, and her hesitation to develop a social life or pursue romance. One night Basil is arrested and thrown in jail for killing a man during a bar fight. He complains to Mattie about the horrid conditions of the jail, but refuses to take responsibility for his actions. Mattie then puts up her house as bail for Basil, but when he flees town, Mattie is forced to leave her home.

With nowhere else to go, she moves to Brewster Place where she is welcomed by the now-adult Ciel (Lynn Whitfield). Other residents of Brewster Place include Ben, the elderly handyman (Moses Gunn); Cora Lee, a welfare mother with six unruly children by different fathers (Phyllis Yvonne Stickney); Miss Sophie, an elderly self-righteous gossip (Olivia Cole); and a young educated couple, Melanie "Kiswana" Browne (Robin Givens) and her boyfriend Abshu (Leon). Mattie's old friend Etta Mae, who has grown weary of living life in the fast lane, soon returns to live with Mattie. She hopes to meet a nice man to settle down within her old age, but her efforts come to naught.

Ciel has a loving adoration for her infant daughter Serena, but has an equally troubled relationship with her husband Gene (William Allen Young), a dock worker who periodically drifts in and out of their lives. Ciel still loves Gene, and welcomes him back upon his sudden return, but she finds herself pregnant again. Frustrated about his current unemployment, he cruelly rejects the prospect of another child. Ciel then aborts the child, but learns that Gene is planning to leave again and confronts him. As they argue, in the next room, Serena is electrocuted as she sticks a pair of scissors into a nearby outlet. Traumatized and deeply grieved by her daughter's loss, Ciel falls into a deep depression, willing herself to die. Mattie boldly declares that she will allow Ciel to leave this world "over her dead body." After nursing her back to health, Mattie discovers that Ciel has disappeared, taking her belongings with her.

Unlike the other residents, Melanie's family is affluent, and her parents are horrified at her living conditions. Melanie, who wants to be called "Kiswana", resides in Brewster Place for financial independence from her parents. She hopes to connect to the surrounding black community, and her African roots as well. Melanie's mother, Mrs. Browne (Cicely Tyson), visits her apartment and the two quickly butt heads. Melanie accuses her mother of being disconnected from her African roots and harboring shame over her blackness. Mrs. Browne passionately addresses Melanie's lack of understanding regarding the depth of her own family's history and legacy. Melanie and Abshu try to improve the lives of the other residents by starting a tenants' association; the goal being to rally together and take action against the landlord for lack of building maintenance.

Melanie even paints colorful murals on the brick wall that the other tenants despise, and the local gang of thugs led by drug dealer C.C. (Glenn Plummer) gather near and paint graffiti on. She eventually connects with Cora Lee, inviting her and her children to Abshu's modern production of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream.'' The fun-filled experience reestablishes Cora Lee's faith in her children and her role as a parent.

A lesbian couple, Lorraine (Lonette McKee) and Theresa "Tee" (Paula Kelly) move into Brewster Place. This is much to the dismay of Miss Sophie, who spies on them through her window and spreads malicious gossip about them. She later humiliates Lorraine at a tenants' meeting held by Melanie, only to be embarrassed by Ben, who comes to Lorraine's defense. Lorraine is consoled by Ben and the two become friends. A furious Melanie excoriates Miss Sophie for her treatment of Lorraine and orders her out of her apartment.

Lorraine wants to fit in with the neighbors, while fearing the consequences if her sexuality is discovered. Tee, on the other hand, doesn't care much if the neighbors accept her, and prefers isolation. She is content socializing with other gay people, and wants to Lorraine to embrace her "different" identity as a lesbian. Lorraine, however, refuses to accept that.

Melanie and Abshu organize a block party to raise money for a lawyer to fight the landlord, and all the residents except Lorraine and Tee attend. Ciel makes a surprise appearance at the party and is happily reunited with her friends Mattie and Etta Mae. Lorraine and Tee are due to attend another party at a gay club, but get into an argument, and Lorraine leaves the house alone. She knocks on Ben's door, unaware that he's at the block party. She is then accosted by C.C. who violently rapes her and leaves her, bleeding and battered, behind the trash cans near the brick wall.

Ben later discovers Lorraine and attempts to help her. But Lorraine, traumatized for the attack, mistakes him for C.C. and attacks him with a board. She then holds off all the other residents until the ambulance arrives. Both she and an unconscious Ben are driven away with Tee, who is alerted by a neighbor. Mattie, whose anger has finally overcome her apathy towards life, grabs a crowbar and starts to chip away at the much-despised brick wall. All the other residents grab tools and, finally coming together as a community, join together in knocking down the wall.

Former student radical Moses Wine now works as a private investigator. He is contacted by Lila, an ex-girlfriend from his college days, who is working in the election campaign for Miles Hawthorne, a politician who is running to be Governor of California. Lila takes Moses to meet Hawthorne's campaign coordinator Sam Sebastian, who is concerned about a fake campaign flyer supposedly showing former Berkeley radical Howard Eppis together with Hawthorne and endorsing him. Knowing that Moses was a former contemporary of Eppis, Sam hires him to find out if Eppis is behind it.

Eppis was one of a notorious group of radicals known as the California Four and has been in hiding for years. Moses sets about trying to track him down by contacting some of his old associates. He is given the name of Oscar Procari, the son of a businessman and a supporter of Eppis, who proves elusive. Meanwhile, Moses and Lila visit the printing company and trace the order for the flyers to an electronics store owned by a Korean man, Harold Pak Chung, who disappears after Moses tracks him to a casino. Moses then finds Lila murdered in her apartment. Later he meets with Sam, who seems more concerned about the publicity and the effect it will have on Hawthorne's campaign. Rather than be fired, Moses quits.

Moses encounters a woman named Alora and discovers she is the niece of another of the California Four, Luis Vasquez, who says that her uncle met Lila on the night she died and has now disappeared. Procari's father contacts Moses and they meet. Procari says that he hasn't seen his son in years and blames Eppis for turning his son away from him. Procari offers to pay Moses to find his son, but Moses declines. Meanwhile Sam re-hires Moses as Eppis has contacted him threatening a series of bombings but that the police think it is a hoax.

Sam gives him a typewritten note with an address, which Moses visits and discovers Eppis now living a comfortable suburban lifestyle and no longer a radical. Moses is followed to the address by two hitmen, who burst in and try to kill them, but leave when Moses triggers an alarm. The hitmen try to kill Moses again at his office, but Alora and her associates ambush them. They interrogate the hitmen and find they were hired by Pak Chung and that they killed Lila when they kidnapped Vasquez, but don't know where he is being held.

Moses calls the police to warn them about the bombings. Pak Chung has rigged a van with explosives and drives it by remote control while Luis Vasquez is unconscious at the wheel. Moses finds Pak Chung near one of the target sites and kills him before he can carry out the bombing. A tape recording is found nearby supposedly by Eppis claiming responsibility for the bombing. Later Sam reveals himself as Oscar Procari and that his father was behind Pak Chung and the attempt to fix the election by implicating Hawthorne with Eppis.

Race car driver Tom Kovack (played by Leonard Nimoy) suddenly begins to experience psychic visions. He meets Michelle Brent (played by Susan Hampshire), an expert on the paranormal, and the two form an unlikely partnership. Kovack's visions draw them into an occult-themed mystery at a remote inn on the English coast.

Shortly after the American Civil War, southern belle Elizabeth Lloyd (Evelyn Venable) marries a northerner, Jack Sherman (John Lodge). Her father Colonel Lloyd (Lionel Barrymore) disowns her in anger and retaliation. Elizabeth and Jack move west where they become parents of a girl they name Lloyd Sherman (Shirley Temple).

Six years later, Lloyd Sherman is made an honorary colonel in the Army. Elizabeth returns to the south with little Lloyd and settles in a cottage near Colonel Lloyd’s mansion while her husband Jack remains in the west prospecting for gold. When Colonel Lloyd discovers his daughter living in the neighborhood, he treats her with disdain. Little Lloyd learns of her parents’ past from housekeeper Mom Beck (Hattie McDaniel), and, when she meets her grandfather for the first time, throws mud at him. The two eventually become contentious friends.

Elizabeth’s husband returns from the west with a fever. He has lost everything in his prospecting venture, but the family is saved from complete ruin when the Union Pacific Railroad requests right of way across Jack’s western property. Jack's former prospecting partners have heard of the Railroad’s offer and try to swindle Jack. They resort to holding the Sherman couple hostage until the deed to their valuable property is located.

Little Lloyd runs through the dark woods for her grandfather, but he refuses to help. He changes his mind when little Lloyd says she never wants to see him again. They arrive at the cottage just in time to save Elizabeth and Jack. The film ends with a brief Technicolor sequence featuring a 'pink party' for little Lloyd, her friends, and her reconciled family.

The plot revolves around a young livestock piglet, won at a fair by a local sheep farmer named Farmer Hogget. He has no use for pigs, so his wife intends to fatten up the "little porker" for Christmas dinner.

In unfamiliar surroundings the little piglet is scared. However he meets Fly the sheepdog, who takes pity on him and comforts him. She asks what his name is, and he replies that his mother called all her children Babe. Fly and her puppies teach Babe the rules of the farm. Babe starts to learn how to herd sheep, first practising and failing with the ducks. However, he has the idea of herding the sheep by asking them politely rather than ordering them about like sheep-dogs do. Fly's puppies are soon sold and Fly is heartbroken, so Babe asks her if he could be her son.

One day Farmer Hogget and Fly bring a sickly ewe named Maa back to the farm. When Babe meets Maa in the farm stable Maa helps Babe to realise that sheep are not as stupid as Fly has told him. Babe promises to visit Maa again when she is well. Some time later, when Babe visits Maa in the fields, he sees sheep rustlers stealing the sheep. Babe saves the sheep and herds them away from the rustlers' lorry. He also bites one of the rustlers in the leg and squeals so loudly that Mrs. Hogget telephones the police. When the patrol car comes up the lane, the rustlers drive away, with no sheep. Babe has saved the flock and Mrs. Hogget decides to reward him by sparing his life.

Later on Farmer Hogget takes Babe with him up to the fields and, on a whim, asks the pig to round up the sheep. Just as Babe is asking the sheep politely Maa appears in the centre of the herd to tell the sheep about Babe. Hogget is astonished that the sheep are walking in perfect straight lines around their pen. From then on, Babe accompanies Farmer Hogget up to the fields every day.

Hogget starts to think that since Babe is a worthy animal he could enter him into the sheepdog trials. He begins to train the pig in what he needs to do. One morning, when Babe heads up to the fields alone, he finds the sheep panicking because a pack of feral dogs are terrorising them. Babe runs back to the farm and alerts Fly. However, Babe discovers that Maa is critically injured and she dies before she can be helped. Hogget arrives on the scene, sees Babe with a dead sheep and believes that the pig may have killed her. He prepares to put Babe down by shooting him with his gun, in case he is a danger to the other animals. However Mrs. Hogget tells Farmer Hogget about the dogs who have attacked the sheep. Fly, unable to believe that Babe could do such a thing, goes to ask the sheep what really happened. She even forces herself to be polite to them, and so the sheep willingly tell her that Babe saved their lives. Babe is proven innocent and Farmer Hogget resumes his training, entering him into the county sheepdog trials.

Before Babe goes for the trials, Fly manages to obtain a password from the sheep, so that Babe can speak to the sheep he'll be herding. On the day of the trials Babe and Fly go with Farmer Hogget to the grounds. Farmer Hogget appears with Fly but swaps her for Babe. He performs perfectly, without any commands from Farmer Hogget, and says the password to the sheep. At the end of his trial Babe and Farmer Hogget score full marks, and Farmer Hogget looks down at his sheep-pig and tells him, "That'll do, Pig."

The Sheep-Pig contains twelve short chapters, each one written in speech marks (" "): :1. "Guess my weight" :2. "There. Is that nice?" :3. "Why can't I learn?" :4. "You'm a polite young chap" :5. "Keep yelling, young un" :6. "Good Pig" :7. "What's trials?" :8. "Oh, Maa!" :9. "Was it Babe?" :10. "Memorize it" :11. "Today is the day" :12. "That'll do"

The serial opens with Prime Minister Francis Urquhart shooting his gun dog, now too old to perform her duties – a scene which establishes the theme of the ending of a career. Shortly afterwards, Urquhart attends the fictional state funeral of Margaret Thatcher.Margaret Thatcher's death, in the real world, did not happen until 2013, about 18 years after the series aired. He publicly praises Thatcher as his mentor, but privately begrudges her record as the longest-serving prime minister in recent history,The serial refers to Thatcher as Britain's longest-serving Prime Minister, when she was actually the seventh-longest serving. The novel does not contain this mistake, as it accurately refers to Thatcher as the longest-serving post-war Prime Minister. a record that Urquhart himself is soon to surpass.

To "leave my mark on the world", Urquhart champions a treaty resolving the Cyprus dispute while secretly working to bring offshore oil deposits under the control of the Turkish authorities on the island so that a Turkish-British consortium will have the drilling rights; an executive of the consortium has promised to provide for Urquhart's retirement fund in return. Urquhart also has a personal connection to Cyprus: as a nineteen-year-old British Army lieutenant serving there in 1956, he killed two young EOKA guerrillas while trying to get information from them. Urquhart has frequent nightmares and flashbacks of this event, and also of the murders of Mattie Storin and others, shown in the previous series.

On a motorway near London, Urquhart's car is rammed by another car containing three drunken louts. The attackers are unlawfully killed by his security staff. Urquhart sustains minor head injuries in the collision, but his life is not endangered. When Elizabeth arrives at hospital, he is delirious and confuses the incident on the motorway with the incident in Cyprus. Tom Makepeace, Urquhart's Foreign Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, chairs a cabinet meeting while Urquhart is in hospital; Urquhart considers Makepeace – the actual negotiator of the Cyprus treaty – as a potential challenger, although he does not take the threat very seriously, considering him "not a fighter" but "a sentimental dreamer".

The brother of the murdered Greek Cypriot guerrillas, who witnessed their deaths, lives in London and recognises Urquhart as the soldier who killed them. He asks his daughter Maria to investigate while secretly considering taking vengeance on Urquhart. Maria's search of government records finds a report on the incident written by Urquhart, but his name is redacted. Upon being approached by Maria, Urquhart arranges for documents revealing his involvement to be excluded from a coincidental declassification of British records relating to Cyprus. But he also confides the truth to Elizabeth. Meanwhile, Urquhart appoints ambitious backbencher Claire Carlsen as his Parliamentary Private Secretary. Claire also happens to be Makepeace's lover. She subsequently plays the two men against each other.

Encouraged by Claire, Urquhart enrages Makepeace by making a speech in the House of Commons suggesting that Britain should not adopt the European currency, but that Europe should instead adopt English as its official language. When Urquhart seeks to appoint Makepeace to the Department of Education in a cabinet reshuffle, Makepeace resigns from the government, crosses the floor, and emerges as the prime minister's main adversary in Parliament. He also challenges Urquhart for the leadership of the Conservative Party and forces him into a second ballot. Meanwhile, Claire advises Maria to take her case to Makepeace, who repeatedly raises the cover-up in parliament. At Makepeace's suggestion, Claire purloins the unedited report on the Cyprus killings from the secret government archive where it is stored. However, Urquhart's bodyguard, Corder – informed by the archive clerk – seizes the document from her.

Makepeace's leadership challenge has attracted enough support to convince Urquhart that his position is in jeopardy. He decides to leak information regarding the oil deposits in order to stir up a conflict in Cyprus as "our Falklands" to unite Britain under his leadership. When Greek nationalists kidnap a British diplomat and the Greek Cypriot President, Urquhart deploys British troops to retrieve them. Though the troops successfully rescue the hostages, the intervention later results in the death of civilians, including young schoolgirls, largely because of the prime minister's drastic orders. Urquhart's support plummets, and when he proves unwilling to accept responsibility for the deaths or express sympathy for the victims, many MPs openly call on him to resign. While Urquhart appears defiant, his wife is worried, and she consults Corder for advice on how to save him. Corder advises "drastic measures", and informs her that he has sent a copy of Mattie Storin's tape, revealing Urquhart's role in her death, to Makepeace.

Makepeace confronts the prime minister and announces that he will publish the tape, but not before Urquhart has achieved his aim of surpassing Margaret Thatcher's record. After this, Urquhart again meets Maria. The incriminating Cyprus report has been sent to Maria's father anonymously – presumably by Corder – and Maria vows to publish it. After this, Urquhart despairs, but Elizabeth consoles him: "We can be safe still!" and hints at a ploy by Corder. At the unveiling of the Margaret Thatcher memorial, on the day when Urquhart surpasses her record, a sniper in Corder's services appears on a rooftop and shoots the prime minister (and Maria's father, who had approached Urquhart with a pistol). Elizabeth had arranged for his assassination as the only way to preserve his reputation (and the retirement fund). Urquhart dies in her arms, while Corder offers his services to Makepeace, the apparent successor.

The newly crowned King (Michael Kitchen) is displeased with the Conservative government led by Prime Minister Francis Urquhart (Ian Richardson) and becomes involved in politics in a way that Urquhart finds unacceptable for a constitutional monarch. At their first meeting, the King expresses concern about Urquhart's social policies, which he argues have led to greater problems for urban areas. Tensions escalate when Urquhart moves his moderate Environment Secretary to a job in Strasbourg after rejecting his proposals to regenerate inner cities. The King's Assistant Press Secretary, Chloe Carmichael, leaks the outcome of the meeting to the press, which rankles Urquhart.

Fearing the King will weaken his position, Urquhart obtains "regal insurance" from Princess Charlotte, the former wife of a royal family member. Urquhart's underling, party chairman Tim Stamper, persuades her to divulge lurid details about the Monarchy to Sir Bruce Bullerby, the editor of the ''Daily Clarion'' tabloid, on condition the information is published after her death. Urquhart also begins regularly meeting with the King's ex-wife, repeatedly assuring her that he has no intention of disturbing the Monarchy, implying he would support the early accession of her teenaged son as King.

The King and his staff produce a public service announcement implicitly denouncing how Urquhart's policies have affected Britain and covertly rally Opposition leaders to join forces against the Prime Minister. Irked by this intransigence, Urquhart calls an early election. His wife, Elizabeth, introduces him to a pollster named Sarah Harding and persuades him to choose her as a political advisor. Urquhart is impressed with Harding's intelligence and starts to favour her over Stamper, who becomes increasingly bitter over his reluctance to promote him to a senior position. Urquhart eventually begins an affair with Harding, which puts a strain on her marriage. Through all this, he continues to be haunted by his murder of Mattie Storin; unbeknownst to him, someone possesses Mattie's tape recording of her own death. Corder, Urquhart's bodyguard and security advisor, puts the King and other enemies under surveillance.

After a brief abduction by some homeless thugs, Harding is told to "ask 'im about Mattie Storin". Despite her feelings for Urquhart, Harding begins to question his version of events about the tragedy. She meets John Krajewski, a former colleague of Mattie's who is now a paranoid freelance journalist. Corder and his staff execute Krajewski and blame it on Irish republican terrorists. Meanwhile, Urquhart threatens the King with Charlotte's memoirs, saying that he will be forced to publish them if the King continues publicly to oppose him. The King, however, refuses to be blackmailed. Urquhart engages in secret meetings with the King's ex-wife, who urges him not to back down. He also blackmails Bullerby into publishing Charlotte's memoirs in the ''Daily Clarion'', threatening to release images of his sexual relationship with the princess.

While the royal scandal succeeds in hurting the King's popularity, the polls reverse when Conservative MP John Staines is arrested for sex with a minor. A furious Urquhart blames Stamper for the fallout, having put Staines in the public arena moments before his arrest. Mycroft, the King's closeted advisor, begins fearing his sexual orientation may damage the King's standing, having seen Staines in a gay bar with an underage boy before the arrest. Mycroft eventually decides to come out to the King's press corps, at the same time announcing his resignation.

The deadly explosion of a tower block, as a result of a tenant's tapping into the gas main, puts the King's arguments about social problems back into the public domain. Urquhart announces his intention of having unemployed youth from the estates conscripted into the Armed Forces, re-enacting a form of peacetime national service. The King organises a bus tour visiting disadvantaged council estates to show his concern, refusing to include a security detail. Urquhart arranges for Corder to have the King abducted by thugs during his tour of an estate in Manchester. The Parachute Regiment, secretly shadowing the King's tour on Urquhart's orders, rescues him from possible harm. The King is seen as foolish for his negligence in the matter of security, and Urquhart seems like a hero for having protected him.

Meanwhile, Corder discovers that Stamper has passed information on Mattie's murder to Harding as insurance. With urging from Elizabeth, Urquhart orders Corder to assassinate them. The Conservatives subsequently win the general election with a 22-seat overall majority. With his policies vindicated by the electorate, despite the King's public opposition, Urquhart demands his abdication. Harding's car explodes when she is en route to meet Chloe, while Stamper's car explodes outside New Scotland Yard. The media interpret the car bombings as Provisional IRA attacks.

The end credits of the final episode roll with images of the crowning of the new teenaged king, showing that Urquhart had succeeded in obtaining the abdication of the previous king. At the end of the credits, Urquhart smirks at the camera and triumphantly says, "God Save the King", ending the series.

The novel takes place between April and October in a single year in the 1930s. The Mortmain family is genteel, poor, and eccentric. Cassandra's father is a writer suffering from writer's block who has not published anything since his first book, ''Jacob Wrestling'' (a reference to Jacob wrestling with the angel), an innovative and "difficult" modernist novel that sold well and made his name, including in the United States. Ten years before the novel begins he took out a forty-year lease on a dilapidated but beautiful castle, hoping to find either inspiration or isolation there. Now his family is selling off the furniture to buy food.

The widowed Mortmain's second wife, Topaz, is a beautiful artist's model who enjoys communing with nature, sometimes wearing nothing but hip boots. Rose, Mortmain's elder daughter, is a classic English beauty pining away in the lonely castle, longing for a chance to meet eligible and preferably rich young men. She tells her sister Cassandra that she wants to live in a Jane Austen novel. Cassandra, the younger daughter and the first-person narrator of the novel, has literary ambitions and spends a lot of time developing her writing talent by "capturing" everything around her in her journal. Stephen, the handsome, loyal, live-in son of the Mortmain late maid, and Thomas, the youngest Mortmain child, round out the cast of household characters. Stephen, a "noble soul," is in love with Cassandra, which she finds touching but a bit awkward. Thomas, a schoolboy, is, like Cassandra, considered "tolerably bright".

Things begin to happen when the Cottons, a wealthy American family, inherit nearby Scoatney Hall and become the Mortmains' new landlords. Cassandra and Rose soon become intrigued by the unmarried brothers Simon and Neil Cotton. Neil, who was raised in California by their English father, is a carefree young man who wants to become a rancher in the United States. Simon, who grew up in New England with his mother, is scholarly and serious, and loves the English countryside. Simon is the elder brother and therefore the heir, and is already much wealthier than Neil, so, although Rose is not attracted to him, she decides to marry him if she can, declaring that she would marry the Devil himself to escape poverty.

At their first meeting the Cottons are amused and interested by the Mortmains. When they pay a call the very next day, however, the inexperienced Rose flirts openly with Simon and makes herself look ridiculous. Both brothers are repelled by this display and, as they walk away, Cassandra overhears them resolving to drop all acquaintance with the Mortmains. After an amusing episode involving a fur coat, however, all is forgiven and the two families become good friends. Rose decides that she really is taken with Simon, and Cassandra and Topaz scheme to get Simon to propose to her. Simon falls in love with Rose and proposes to her.

Rose and Topaz go to London with Mrs Cotton to purchase Rose's wedding trousseau. While everyone else is away Cassandra and Simon spend the evening together, which leads to their kissing. Cassandra becomes obsessed with Simon, but suffers feelings of guilt since he is Rose's fiancé. Cassandra concludes that she must tactfully deflect Stephen's offer of love, and encourage him in his emerging career as a model and a film actor. She joins forces with Thomas to help their father overcome his writer's block by the drastic expedient of imprisoning him in a medieval tower; copes with her own increasing attraction to Simon; and records everything in her journal.

Meanwhile, unnoticed by everyone but Stephen, Rose and Neil have been falling in love. To conceal their budding romance they pretend to hate each other. When they eventually elope Simon is left heartbroken, but Cassandra becomes hopeful. Before Simon leaves to go back to the United States, he comes to see Cassandra. In spite of her feelings for him, Cassandra deflects the conversation at a moment when she thinks he might be about to propose to her, in the belief that he is still in love with Rose. The book closes on an ambiguous note, with Cassandra reminding herself that Simon has promised to return and closing her journal for good by reasserting her love for him.

The book opens with a fictional historical overview/flashback to events of Homer's ''Odyssey'', but alters the original plot. In the present day, Dirk Pitt, his son Dirk Pitt, Jr., his daughter Summer Pitt, and friend Al Giordino are involved in the search for the source of a brownish contamination in the ocean's waters, which leads to a diabolical plot that they must unravel and ultimately topple. As this is occurring, discoveries relating to the "true" tale of the Odyssey are made.

The villain is the mysterious billionaire businessman Specter, a huge man who disguises his identity by wearing sunglasses, a hat, and a scarf over his face.

The book also features a significant event between Dirk Pitt and Congresswoman Loren Smith. He and Al retire from their life of daredevilry and settle down. Pitt asks for the hand of Loren who also steps down.

Pitt assumes the responsibility of head of NUMA as Admiral Sandecker accepts the Vice Presidency. This marks a change in Dirk Pitt Sr. series, as confirmed by his next novel, which features Dirk Pitt Jr. as the primary protagonist.

As with every Dirk Pitt novel, this one features a classic car, in this case a Marmon V-16 Town Car. A custom-built 1952 Meteor DeSoto hot rod modified with a engine is briefly mentioned.

Often compared to ''Sex and the City'' and the CBS situation comedy ''Designing Women'', this show features four single women professionals, each with distinct personalities that contribute in their failure to secure dates. The comparison to these shows led many critics to describe the show as unoriginal. The women share a passion for Oprah.

The book begins with Momoko talking about her life as a lolita living in a small town in the Japanese countryside. She is the only lolita in her town and has no friends, but she doesn't care and believes that her lolita clothes are all she needs to make her happy. She is obsessed with getting clothes from ''Baby, The Stars Shine Bright'', her favorite clothing boutique. When she runs out of money, she decides to sell some of her father's old bootleg clothes. When Ichigo, a member of an all-girl biker gang finds out about the bootleg apparel, she decides to take a look and is easily impressed with them. She soon shows up at Momoko's house almost daily to buy things for the members of her gang. They become closer friends and embark on a journey to ''Baby, The Stars Shine Bright'', where Momoko meets the brand's designer. Because of her skill with embroidery, Momoko is recruited to embroider a dress. At a pachinko parlour, Ichigo meets a gangster with a pompadour and falls in love. However, she soon discovers that he is the fiancée of her gang leader.

Heartbroken by the loss of her first love and inspired by Momoko's independence, Ichigo plans to leave her gang. In order to do this, she accepts their "challenge," which involves a ritualistic beating. Momoko finds out about the challenge and goes to Ichigo's aid. After scaring the gang by pretending to be the daughter of a famous gangster, Momoko is considered the winner, and the two girls ride off laughing.

When it comes time for Momoko to show the designer her embroidery, she arrives on time and everyone loves her work. Ultimately, she decides she is happier wearing the clothing than making it. As for Ichigo, she is offered to work as a model for ''Baby, The Stars Shine Bright'' after she impresses a cameraman. On her first day of work, she leaves bruises on five of the crew members but nonetheless becomes sought after by other brands. The movie ends with an image of Momoko and Ichigo riding along the road and laughing.

After playing a video game titled ''Stay Alive'', Loomis Crowley, his roommate Rex, and Rex's girlfriend Sarah are killed the same way as their characters were killed in the game.

At Loomis' funeral, his friend Hutch meets Abigail – a friend of Sarah – and receives some of Loomis' possessions, including ''Stay Alive''. Hutch, his girlfriend October, and her brother Phineus decide to play the game as a group. They are joined by Abigail and another friend, Swink, while Hutch's boss Miller plays online from his office.

The game is set in a derelict mansion on Gerouge Plantation, but it only starts when the six players recite "The Prayer of Elizabeth," a request for "all who resist" to perish so that their blood can keep the Countess Elizabeth Bathory young. The players fight through a cemetery of evil ghost children, heading toward a mausoleum and tower. Miller is directed by the game to pick up a rose. October, a reader of occult literature, explains that undead spirits cannot move across wild roses. Separated from the others, Miller throws the rose to dispel the spirits of undead girls. Since he is now out of roses, a woman in a red dress, the Countess, kills Miller's character. Minutes later, the Countess appears in Miller's office and kills him by stabbing him with conjoined scissor blades like the ones in the game.

Two detectives, Thibodeaux and King, question Hutch about the homicides. Hutch realizes that Loomis and Miller played ''Stay Alive'' right before they died, and that they died the same way as their game characters did. October researches Bathory and learns she would drain young women of blood, bathing in it to maintain her youth. Her weakness was mirrors because she could not stand to see herself growing old. Phineus decides to play alone, and despite quitting the game before his character can die, he is killed in real life when he is run over by a horse-drawn carriage. The survivors agree to stop playing ''Stay Alive''. However, Detective King ignores Swink's warning and plays until his character dies. King is then killed in his car.

Hutch and Abigail search Loomis' house and learn of the game developer's location: the real Gerouge Plantation. October has discovered that the real Countess Bathory was locked in the tower of her estate as punishment for her gruesome acts and vowed to return one day for revenge, which she is now able to do, as The Prayer of Elizabeth has resurrected her. The Countess can only be killed by driving three nails into her body to trap her soul. October sees the Countess in real life and tries to kill her but realizes that she is a ghost. She has her throat slit by the Countess. The three survivors realize that once the game has begun, it can play by itself. Swink stays in a van and plays the game on his laptop to distract Bathory, while Hutch and Abigail search Gerouge Plantation.

The Countess begins cheating, arriving in her carriage to kill Swink in real life, even though his character is alive. Swink decides to run for it until he falls over into a bush of roses. Hutch and Abigail return to the van to find Swink's character dead. They take the laptop and some wild roses, which they drop to deter undead children as they move toward the tower. They become separated and Hutch performs the ritual on Bathory's body alone. Bathory's phantom attacks Abigail. At the top of the tower, Hutch finds the preserved body of Elizabeth Bathory and hammers three nails into it, after which the spirit disappears. Bathory's body reanimates; recalling that the Countess hates mirrors, Hutch uses the reflective laptop to repel her before setting the room ablaze. Swink, still alive due to the rose bush, bursts in with Abigail and rescues Hutch. As Bathory's body burns, the three leave the tower.

Meanwhile, the gaming store is now selling copies of ''Stay Alive.'' Intrigued, a worker puts a copy in a PlayStation 2. As the intro to the game begins, the group reciting Elizabeth Bathory's prayer is heard as the game zooms to Bathory, staring out her window.

Leading a bohemian existence In Paris is the artist Modigliani, known as Modi. Spending much of his time drinking and sleeping with the attractive writer Beatrice, he does some drawing and painting but sells virtually nothing. He meets a beautiful young art student called Jeanne, who is locked up by her family to keep her away from him. His friends the Zborowskis do their best to keep him afloat, but his fragile health, weakened by constant alcohol and tobacco, gives out and he is sent to Nice to recuperate. Jeanne escapes and joins him there, after which the two are inseparable.

Returning to Paris, the Zborowskis arrange a one-man show in the prestigious gallery of Madame Weill, where everybody turns up for free drinks at the opening but nobody buys. After complaints, the police order the removal of a nude from the window. A cynical dealer called Morel explains that Modi is sure to die soon and that is when people will pay for his works. The Zborowskis find an American millionnaire who is genuinely interested in some of Modi's canvasses (which would later become world-famous) but when he says he would then use the blue eyes of Jeanne to advertise his products, Modi walks out in disgust.

Despondent at his inability to combine the quest for beauty in his paintings of Beatrice and Jeanne with any commercial reality, and with his health increasingly feeble, he goes round cafés trying without success to sell his drawings. Collapsing in the street, he is taken to hospital where he dies alone. Without telling her what has happened, Morel rushes round to a delighted Jeanne to buy up all unsold works for immediate cash.

Port Henry, Alaska, is a town undergoing stress as the local economy switches from an industrial one based on the canning and paper industries towards a tourism-based model. Joe Gastineau is a former high school basketball star and fisherman who quit fishing after some undisclosed tragedy. He now works as a handyman, particularly for Frannie and Lou, a lesbian couple who own the local resort hotel. Joe is friends with teenager Noelle De Angelo who also works for Frankie and Lou. At an event which they are working, Noelle's mother Donna, a lounge singer, breaks up with her live in boyfriend and asks Joe for help in moving. The two become close and eventually begin a romantic relationship. Meanwhile, Joe gets the chance to return to fishing when Frankie and Lou ask him to work a fishing boat which they have acquired as collateral from local fisherman Harmon. Donna has a strained relationship with her daughter Noelle, due mainly to Noelle's disapproval of her mother's lifestyle. This is exacerbated when Donna begins dating Joe, who Noelle had a crush on. Donna overhears the story of why Joe quit fishing: he had been involved in a deadly sinking which claimed the lives of all of his boatmates, including the brother of local bush pilot and small-time criminal "Smilin Jack" Johannson.

When Joe's dissolute half-brother Bobby shows up, he asks Joe to help crew his boat to pick up a client. Joe brings along Donna and Noelle. They dock for the night in an isolated bay and Bobby reveals the truth: he is involved in marijuana smuggling and had dumped a load overboard when he was spooked by the police. Now they are going to meet Bobby's partners to settle his debt. That night, men sneak onto the boat and kill Bobby. Joe, Donna, and Noelle flee to a nearby island where the men begin to hunt them. They take shelter in an abandoned cabin and try to survive. As they do they grow closer and Noelle finds a diary written by a teenage girl who had lived in the cabin with her family. She spends the nights reading segments of the diary to Joe and Donna. Eventually Donna looks at the diary and discovers that it is blank after the portion her daughter Noelle had read during the first two evenings. Noelle had made up most of its contents, expressing her own feelings. They maintain a signal fire and scrape some food from the seashore.

After a week and a half a seaplane piloted by Smilin' Jack Johannson lands. He says that he is looking for supplies, his radio is busted, and that he doesn't have enough fuel to fly them out. He tells Joe that he was hired by a couple of men to look for three people roughing it. When told of Bobby's murder, he expresses sympathy and promises to return the next day and rescue them. Joe, who does not trust Jack, sees the radio was removed, and remains unsure of whether the seaplane return will bring rescue or the men who killed his brother. A stressful few days of rain prevent any flights' return. One morning Joe, Donna, and Noelle gather on the beach as a seaplane flies towards them, larger than the one belonging to Jack.

The film tells the story of six white American women, impatiently waiting out their lengthy residency requirements in an unidentified South American country before picking up their adoptive babies.

There is heavy fighting taking place in Dublin, Ireland. A Republican sniper is sitting on a rooftop, eating a sandwich and drinking a bottle of whiskey. Despite knowing that it is dangerous, he decides to smoke a cigarette; he is immediately shot at. An armored car of the Irish Free State forces arrives, and an old woman steps out of the darkness and points out the sniper's position to the soldier in the car. The sniper shoots both the woman and the man in the car. He is then shot in the right arm by an enemy Free State sniper.

The sniper applies a dressing though he is in great pain, and stays in the same position for some time. He decides to escape from the roof before morning. He is no longer able to hold his rifle and slyly tricks the enemy sniper into shooting his cap, which he places over the rifle. He lets the cap fall into the street, drops his rifle and lets his left hand hang over the edge of the roof, which gives the impression that he has been shot dead.

The enemy sniper then stands up clearly, only to be shot instantly by the Republican sniper with a revolver. The dying man falls over the roof and hits the ground. Weakened and disgusted, the protagonist moves down to the street since he is curious to find out whom he had killed.

The sniper darts across the street under machine-gun fire. He turns over the dead body, only to realize that the dead man was his brother.

The hero Dynasty gathers her colleagues in the superhero group Freedom Machine to inform them of a new threat. Their former colleague, the massively powerful telekinetic Daedelus, has decided to take over the world. Worried about Daedelus' unparalleled power, the Freedom Machine decides to gather all the heroes they can to fight him. Meanwhile, Daedelus kills one of his former colleagues and destroys an advanced underwater civilization to keep them from interfering in his plans.

The darkness powered superhero Shadowpax recounts to a group of young superheroes the story of the Freedom Machine's most challenging threat to date. Years ago, they had to do battle with Deathboy, a psychotic teenager protected by an impenetrable force field and with the ability to disintegrate anything he sees. The Freedom Machine battled Deathboy in a desert where he killed several superheroes before Shadowpax was able to trap him in a block of solid darkness, where he remains imprisoned in the Freedom Machine's headquarters.

In his first strike Daedalus releases several prominent supervillains in order to keep his former colleagues occupied. These include Kid Babylon a young man who has an Elder God trapped in a box, Chaos Nation a composite being who absorbs others, the gigantic canine Thunderdog, and the supernatural Doctor Meggido. As the Freedom Machine confronts these villains, the superbeing Outrider returns to Earth, seeking revenge on Dynasty. He is killed by Ivanhoe, but not before severely mutilating Dynasty.

The non-powered adventurer Johnny Venture and his group the Darkside Rangers, take possession of the Freedom Machine's headquarters under authority of the US government. They are looking for a solution to the superhuman problem. They free Deathboy from his prison of darkness and while he is unconscious they implant a bomb inside him. They use this to force Deathboy to agree to their demands. The Freedom Machine begin their assault on Daedelus' island headquarters, but he brings the fighting to an end when he threatens to destroy the Earth, a threat they believe he has the power to carry out. The Darkside Rangers send Deathboy parachuting towards the island, which he destroys. Venture then reneges on his deal and uses the bomb to kill Deathboy. It is revealed that Deathboy had not actually destroyed anyone. Instead all the people and objects he had "disintegrated" were actually transported to an alternate dimension. The Freedom Machine joyously greet their long lost colleagues. Daedelus then announces his intention to take over this new world, but he soon dies from a biological poison which he was exposed to during the fight.

The movie begins as the class of 1992 graduates, and everyone begins to make plans for the summer and their future. Joey Jeremiah (Pat Mastroianni), who was held back a year in ''Degrassi Junior High'', prepares for another year of high school; conversely, his longtime girlfriend Caitlin Ryan (Stacie Mistysyn) graduates with Joey's former peers after having taken extra classes and completing high school in three years instead of four. She, Lucy Fernandez (Anais Granofsky), and Joey's friend Snake (Stefan Brogren), who works as a lifeguard over the summer and seems to be unable to attract women, make plans for university. Wheels (Neil Hope), Joey and Snake's friend, gets into cars and begins drinking, buying a used car in need of repairs.

Eager to hold on to her before she leaves for university to study journalism, Joey proposes to Caitlin at a graduation party hosted by Lucy. Caitlin demurs, explaining that she is not ready for that kind of commitment. Joey storms out, only to run into classmate Tessa Campanelli (Kirsten Bourne) fresh from an argument with her boyfriend Todd (Christian Campbell), and agrees to give her a ride home. Arriving at the Campanelli house, Tessa pulls Joey toward her for a kiss. The next day, on a break from the photo shop where she works with Spike (Amanda Stepto), Tessa visits Joey next door at the drug store where he works and asks him on a date. Joey, though initially hesitant, accepts Tessa's offer, and later tells Wheels he went to "third base". Tessa confides in Spike the details of the relationship. Spike reminds her that Joey and Caitlin have a pattern of breaking up and reuniting, but Tessa notes that Caitlin will be leaving for university in a matter of weeks. With Caitlin working most evenings and weekends as a waitress and Joey working days, they spend little time together, and Joey starts seeing Tessa more frequently, culminating in them having sex. He continues to date Tessa while he dates Caitlin, with neither realizing he is dating both.

By the middle of August, Tessa discovers she is pregnant. When she realizes that Joey is still with Caitlin with no intention of breaking up with her, she dumps him on his nineteenth birthday. She is last seen entering a women's health clinic. That night, Joey and Caitlin have sex, with it being Caitlin's first time. The next day, at an end of the summer lake house party, hosted by Lucy's boyfriend Bronco (L. Dean Ifill), Caitlin accepts Joey's earlier marriage proposal. Snake lashes out at both Joey and Wheels for their constant teasing about his apparent inability to get a girlfriend, with Snake physically fighting Wheels, and announcing Joey's infidelity. Caitlin overhears this and confronts Joey about it, telling him that she was going to study locally in order to be with him. She breaks off the engagement and locks herself in a room, with Joey repeatedly banging the door pleading that he could explain. Immediately after unintentionally breaking up Joey and Caitlin, Snake realises that former classmate Allison Hunter (Sara Holmes) is drowning and rushes into the lake to rescue her. Everyone congratulates him for saving her life, but he breaks down in a flood of emotion and anxiety.

Wheels, who had been drinking heavily, is taken out by Lucy so they can get more chips, but ends up crashing into another car. The crash kills a two-year-old boy in the other car, and seriously injures Lucy and the driver of the other car. The next day, Joey visits Wheels in jail, where Wheels tells him he has been charged with one count of criminal negligence causing death, two counts of criminal negligence causing injury, and drunk driving. He asserts that it was not his fault that the child was not wearing a seatbelt or that Lucy wanted to get more chips. Caitlin visits Lucy at the hospital where she is immobilized and unsure if she will ever see or walk again. Later, Joey stops to see Snake as he prepares to leave for university and asks why he will not accept Wheels' phone calls. Snake is disgusted by Wheels, particularly in light of Wheels having lost his own parents to a drunk driver. He apologizes to Joey for saying what he said at Bronco's place. Joey accepts his apology, saying that Caitlin would have found out sooner or later.

Two months later, most of the gang get together for the wedding of Alexa Pappadopoulos (Irene Courakos) and Simon Dexter (Michael Carry). Absent are Wheels, Erica (Angela Deiseach), and Lucy. Wheels, still incarcerated, is planning to plead guilty for his crimes. Erica is teaching abroad in the Dominican Republic and has met a new boyfriend in the process. Spike is going to university while Emma is in junior kindergarten. Meanwhile, Lucy has since regained vision in one of her eyes, but is still not well enough to attend the wedding. Snake is accompanied by his girlfriend Pam (Tara Burt) whom he met at university and is implied to have finally lost his virginity to her, and he appears considerably more self-assured; he still has yet to get into contact with Wheels. Joey and Snake have an awkward reunion, but make plans to hang out before he goes back to university. Joey also apologizes for hurting Caitlin, who forgives him, and as Simon and Alexa have their first dance as husband and wife, former fiancés Joey and Caitlin share a dance as friends.

Following the death of his wife Audrey, John Munn (Dermot Mulroney) moves with his two sons, mid-teen Chris Munn (Jamie Bell) and adolescent Tim Munn (Devon Alan), to a pig farm in rural Drees County, Georgia, where they lead a reclusive life. Chris is a rebellious, troubled teen, resulting in frequent contact with police.

John's brother Deel (Josh Lucas) visits the family. The two boys are surprised; they did not even know of his existence. Deel wants a hoard of gold coins from John that their father left them. Deel eventually finds them. John refuses to give them to Deel. In the ensuing struggle, Deel murders him. He tries to kill Chris and Tim as well, but they escape and run away from home with the coins.

On the run, the boys meet an assortment of fairytale-like characters. Deel pursues them, eventually succeeding. Wading into a river, Chris throws away the gold coins into the water. Enraged by the loss, Deel struggles with Chris, attempting to drown him. However, Deel is fatally stabbed in the chest.

Chris appears to wake up in hospital. There, he is reunited with Tim and their grandparents.

The story takes place in Bentley's, a restaurant in London (perhaps the same as the current Bentley's, 11–15 Swallow Street). The narrator is sitting at a table, alone, and observes a group of eight Japanese gentlemen having dinner together, and beyond them a young British couple. The Japanese speak quietly and politely to each other, always smiling and bowing, toasting each other and making speeches in Japanese which the narrator doesn't understand and describes in patronizing, derogatory terms. Seven of the Japanese gentlemen wear glasses. They eat fish and later a fruit salad for dessert. They provide a mildly farcical and carnivalesque background to the main focus of the narrator's attention, the couple.

Although they sit farthest away, the narrator catches their conversation. The pretty young woman is a writer, about to be published for the first time. She's describing her plans to her fiancé, how Mr. Dwight, her publisher, lauds her talent, and how she wants to travel the world, especially to France, so as to feed her inspiration. She also wants to marry her young fiancé the following week, being convinced that their financial future is settled thanks to the inevitable success of her first book, ''The Chelsea Set''.

Her fiancé is much more cautious and doubts that they should rely exclusively on the young woman's professional prospects and talent. His uncle could help him get into the wine trading business, a duller, but also safer life choice than to be the husband of a traveling author. The young woman, aggressively self-assertive and bossy, is angry at her fiancé for being lukewarm about her projects. She, on the other hand, has no doubts about her powers of observation and her future success.

Throughout the story, the narrator, who, the reader gathers, is himself a writer, makes sarcastic or cynical comments about the young woman's ambition and youthful enthusiasm. He sounds embittered, being probably in his forties or fifties, and certainly past his days of glory. He knows about the publishing business and is aware of the gap between a young author's expectations and the harsher, down-to-earth realities of a literary career. He is both jealous of the girl, because she is at the beginning of something and still has the ability to dream her future, and sympathetic, because she's young enough to be his daughter and he would like to communicate his experience to her so as to preserve her from disappointments. She is, after all, only a superficial, self-deluded ''arriviste''. Lastly, the Japanese gentlemen's presence, and the elaborate formality with which they communicate with one another and celebrate, contrasts sharply with the ferocious discursive dispute that opposes the young woman and her fiancé, and which she wins, at least rhetorically but fails to fulfill her supposed "powers of observation" by failing to notice the presence of the Japanese gentlemen as her fiancé does.

Jamal and Enayatullah are Afghan refugees in a camp in Peshawar, Pakistan. They travel to Quetta, and thence to Taftan on the Iranian border. They pay people smugglers to assist them over the border; on their first attempt they are stopped by Iranian police and returned to Pakistan, but their second attempt is successful. They travel to Tehran and then to Maku, in the Kurdish part of Iran, from where they cross a mountain range on foot to Turkey. In Istanbul they meet a group of other migrants, and they are taken to Italy inside a shipping container. The container is not ventilated, and most of the refugees, including Enayatullah, are suffocated to death. Jamal survives and lives in Italy for a time. He then steals a woman's purse and buys a rail ticket to Paris. From there, he goes to the Sangatte asylum seekers camp and with a new friend, Yusef, he crosses the English Channel by stowing away on a lorry. Finally, he arrives in London, where he calls his uncle to say he has arrived but that Enyatullah is "not in this world". The film ends with images of the Peshawar refugees.

The novel focuses on Hilary Wainwright, an English man, on the search for his lost son in the ruins of post-war France.

Irish Republican Army fighter Ryan Gaerity escapes from his cell in a castle prison in Northern Ireland after turning a toilet into a bomb, killing a guard and his cellmate in the process.

In Boston, Lieutenant James "Jimmy" Dove is a veteran member of the police force's bomb squad, on the verge of retirement and helping to train newer recruits. Dove hides that he is really Liam McGivney, a former member of a Northern Ireland terrorist cell. He had been friends with Gaerity, but when Gaerity tried to set off a bomb that would have killed numerous civilians, he interceded, ending in the death of his girlfriend (Gaerity's sister), and leading to Gaerity's imprisonment. Devastated, McGivney moved to Boston and took on a new identity, hoping to find atonement in saving others by defusing bombs. Only Dove's uncle, retired Boston police officer Max O'Bannon, is aware of his past and encourages Dove to retire early, feeling he has done his penance.

Gaerity sees Dove on TV and makes his way to Boston, taking residence in an abandoned casino boat. He takes a job as a janitor at the police station to learn more about Dove's present life and his co-workers. Gaerity sets up bombs specifically designed to kill the rest of the bomb squad: the first victim, Blanket, is killed by a bomb placed under a bridge on the night of Dove's wedding to his fiancee Kate. Later, at the site of a fake bomb threat, technicians Rita and Cortez are killed by an explosive hidden in their bomb disposal robot. Dove receives a call from Gaerity and realizes that Kate and his stepdaughter Elizabeth are in danger. He rushes home and finds no bomb, but his dog, "Boomer," has been killed. He explains his true past to Kate, and convinces her and Elizabeth to go into hiding at Max's seaside cottage. Gaerity's third bomb almost kills rookie technician Anthony Franklin, who has linked Dove's former life to Gaerity, but Dove rescues him and Franklin promises Dove any assistance he can offer.

Max decides to try to stop Gaerity himself, trying to get close to him at an Irish bar, but instead ends up captured by him, and latched into a makeshift bomb. Dove tracks down Max, and goes to retrieve his tools, but Max, realizing that Gaerity had created the bomb to kill both of them, intentionally triggers the bomb while Dove is away, sacrificing himself. In analyzing the bomb's debris, Dove finds a roulette ball that points to the abandoned ship, where he finds Gaerity. Gaerity reveals that he has set up another bomb in Kate's car and arms it via radio signal, then activates a Rube Goldberg-esque mechanism to trigger an even larger set of explosives that will destroy the ship. Dove engages with Gaerity in a large mêlée fight throughout the ship. Dove gains the upper hand, and handcuffs himself to Gaerity, preventing him from leaving, preparing to die to keep his secret and prevent any more deaths. Dove is saved by Franklin at the last second, having followed Dove to the ship, and the two escape in time before the ship explodes, killing Gaerity in the process.

The two race back to the city, hoping to stop Kate before she starts the car. They arrive too late but are able to catch up to Kate, and Dove jumps into her car. He finds the complex bomb and manages to defuse it in time. As they recover, Franklin tells Dove he knows his past identity but will keep it a secret if he can take credit for taking down Gaerity; Dove agrees and gives Franklin his beeper before leaving with Kate and Lizzie.

The film opens with a foreword:

''There are important fragments of life that have been avoided by the motion picture because Thought is concerned and not the Body. A thought can create and destroy nations—and it is all the more powerful because it is born of suffering, lives in silence, and dies when it has done its work. Our aim has been to photograph a thought—A thought that guides humans who crawl close to the earth—whose lives are simple—who begin nowhere and end nowhere''.

The story begins along a bleak waterfront in an unidentified harbor. Industrial refuse litters the shore. A giant Sisyphean dredge scoops mud from a channel and into a massive barge. Four characters, “humans who crawl close to the earth” occupy the brooding landscape:

''The Boy'', a fainthearted and feckless youth, wanders aimlessly amid the wreckage. He fancies The Girl.
''The Girl'', older and hardened by her impoverishment, has “sunk as low as her socks.” Maintaining a sullen dignity in her solitude, she spurns The Boys diffident advances.
''The Child'' is an orphaned youngster. He silently haunts the mud barge where his parents lost their lives.
''The Brute'' is a man of indeterminate age and short-tempered. He acts as watchman aboard the barge.

The Brute makes a pass at The Girl. She cuts him cold with a glare and he retreats. Frustrated, The Brute assaults The Child who has trespassed on the barge. The Boy witnesses the assault, but is frozen by his cowardice. The Girl, with a single word, shames him into action. He gingerly collects The Child, and they flee together with The Brute in pursuit. The Girl, with a look, signals the dredge operator, who unleashes a torrent of mud on the head of The Brute.

The Boy, The Girl and The Child escape from the desolate docks to the slums of an unnamed metropolis.

As the threesome trudge through the back alleys of the city, they are spotted by ''The Man'' and his client, ''The Gentl''eman. The Man accosts The Boy and confirms what he suspects: they are homeless and penniless. He assures The Boy that jobs are plentiful, and offers to provide a room for the trio while The Boy seeks employment. Unbeknownst to them, the “room” is located in a brothel. The Man's aim is to enlist The Girl as a prostitute. When they are ushered into the seedy flat, ''The Woman'', a sex worker, attempts to provide them with some refreshment. The Man stops her: “Hunger will whisper things in their ears that I might find troublesome to say.”

As the hours pass, The Girl becomes increasingly anxious due to The Child's pleas for food. The Boy returns from his futile search for work demoralized. They are on the verge of despair. The Boy indulges in a vivid fantasy, in which he, The Girl and The Child are transformed into wealthy aristocrats, who arrive at their estate escorted by servants dressed in faux-military livery.

The Gentlemen, with the encouragement of the Man, enters the room expecting to negotiate sex with a prostitute. The Girl coldly considers the proposition. The Boy becomes distraught when he discerns The Girl's ambivalence. The Gentleman, grasping her dilemma, bestows a gift of money on the Girl without comment and quietly takes his leave. The Child snatches the largesse and bolts to the door, returning shortly with provisions for a meal – the crisis past.

The Man, thwarted in his endeavor, devises another plan in collusion with The Woman. They invite the young trio to an outing in the countryside. There, he intends to seduce The Girl and coerce her into the sex trade: “…let romance do a little work.”. The Woman is tasked with distracting The Boy during the seduction.

The party of five arrives in the country in a touring car. They park next to a real estate sign that reads “Here Your Dreams Come True.” Despite The Man's best efforts, The Girl remains unresponsive to his blandishments. Exasperated, he lashes out at The Child. The Boy, shedding his fear, leaps to the defense of the little boy and beats The Man into submission with his fists. The Girl rejoices that The Boy has claimed his manhood.

Triumphantly, the trio – now a family –strides into the sunset, “children of the sun.”

Four groomsmen are preparing for a wedding, donning tuxedos. Buzz (Dean Cain), a former soldier, has a few handguns in his tuxedo, Teddy (Andy Dick), a browbeaten house husband, is meticulously getting ready, Sol (Mitchell Whitfield), a former criminal lawyer now specializing in divorce, dresses neatly while Billy (Sean Patrick Flannery), a failing actor, is shown watching a newscast. The reporter describes a recent bank robbery where the robber recited Shakespearean before escaping.

All four meet up, walking towards the prison where Jesse (Luke Wilson) is being released after three years for an unspecified crime. Sol and Jesse have a heated argument as Sol's error as his attorney led to Jesse's incarceration.

Jesse is marrying Hope (Drew Barrymore), surrounded by his best friends. En route to the ceremony, Billy asks them to pull over near a bank. He commences to rob it (he is the Shakespeare robber from the earlier newscast). As he finishes, reciting Shakespeare, Buzz comes in to hurry him up, stopping the robbery, unveiling Billy in the process. The others then walk in, inadvertently creating a hostage situation. When the police arrive, they realise their predicament: they are all accomplices, facing serious prison time.

However, the bank customers bond with the five unlikely robbers. Outside the bank Billy's dad, Sheriff Philips (Fred Ward), demands he surrender, mocking him for being a failure. Billy confronts him, refusing. Inside the bank it's suggested that Billy release some of the hostages. One of them, Gonzo (Brad Dourif) suggests they request a chopper land on the roof so he can fly them to safety. Buzz bonds with Gonzo, a Vietnam veteran, he tells him his life dream was to serve in the military but, being gay, he was not allowed to. Seeing his pain, he gifts Buzz his military jacket. Outside the FBI arrive to take over the hostage negotiation.

Lead agent Hoover (Raymond J. Barry) shows little regard for the hostages, planning to execute the five robbers as they exit the bank. Sheriff Philips approaches the bank and Billy finally confronts his father for being a lousy parent. He realises he was never there for his son. Billy agrees to allow some of the hostages to go, Gonzo amongst them. All of the freed hostages refuse to identify Billy or his friends.

The gang negotiates for Jesse and Hope to be married in the bank; Hoover agrees for a priest to go in and perform the ceremony. During the wedding, the priest turns out to be a federal agent and Teddy and Buzz are shot during a struggle. Teddy, feeling like the bank robbery has woken him up, refuses to be sent to hospital for urgent care but eventually acquiesces. Buzz patches his wound and the guys plot their exit from the bank.

Sol goes outside, negotiating a deal with Hoover to get everyone out. As he re-enters the bank, Hoover orders his men to gun them down. Sol and the guys, with the remaining hostages, leave the bank draped in a giant American flag. The snipers, unable to pick out the guys, refuse to shoot indiscriminately (or shoot at the flag). As everyone enters the bus, Sol tells Jesse he's sorry and Hope forgives him. He then steps off the bus as he announces the deal he brokered involved him surrendering to save Jesse and the guys. Hoover, however, reneges on the deal; Sol holds him at gunpoint so the police cars let the bus go. As the bus leaves, he is shot and killed by the snipers. Sheriff Philips then blocks the feds with his police cruiser, giving Billy time to get away.

As the bus heads to the local airport the feds start to catch up, and Buzz drives it off the main road. Gonzo then appears in a military helicopter and Jesse and Hope escape onto the chopper. However, Billy and Buzz are unable to, remaining behind. Surrounded by the feds, in a final bloody shoot out, the two best friends die but not before Buzz gets off a shot killing Hoover.

The film ends with Jesse and Hope playing with a son some years later on a beach in Mexico.

In Encino, California, SpongeBob fan Patchy the Pirate has presumably lost the "Lost Episode" of ''SpongeBob'' prior to the episode. After a segment of previous ''SpongeBob'' clips called "Remembering SpongeBob", and Patchy lamenting that he lost the episode, he sets off to find it using a treasure map. Throughout several difficulties, he eventually finds a VHS tape which holds the episode. He then returns home in glee, and watches the episode. However, the tape only shows a clip of SpongeBob doing a series of cheap walk cycles to techno music before abruptly showing SMPTE color bars. Patchy gets angry, and gets rid of his ''SpongeBob'' merchandise, including his SpongeBob underwear, which results in him running away. The real episode then begins to start playing, and Patchy returns, fixes all of his stuff in reverse, then enjoys the episode.

In the episode, SpongeBob wishes he could fly with the jellyfish. He makes several attempts to do so, including a biplane, bat wings, a lawn chair with balloons, and a giant kite pulled by a bicycle. All of these attempts fail, and SpongeBob faces ridicule from others. He tells those mocking him that "it is a sad day in Bikini Bottom, when a guy is ridiculed for having dreams!" They respond that they all have had unfulfilled dreams, and become an angry mob to chase him. SpongeBob runs off a cliff and falls into a truck of mud, then into a truck of feathers.

Back home, having given up on his dream, SpongeBob dries himself out when he receives an insulting phone call and puts the hair dryer in his pants. While he talks, the dryer inflates his pants, giving him the ability to fly. He goes around helping people, earning their admiration and becoming a superhero of sorts. However, the other characters continue to ask increasingly unnecessary favors of him, leaving him no time to fly with the jellyfish. When he tries to escape to Jellyfish Fields, a mob forms and chases him, but is unable to catch him. Cannonball Jenkins, formerly a farmer and later on, a sailor, launches himself at SpongeBob, popping the pants as punishment for refusing to do more favors, and sending him plummeting to the ground. Everyone then holds a funeral for his now-deflated pants. Upset, SpongeBob goes home, but the jellyfish help him fly and take him back there. Patrick arrives and asks if they could "fly over" to the pizzeria, but SpongeBob decides to leave the flying to the jellyfish, only for Patrick to literally fly off himself.

We then shift back to Patchy, who wants to replay the episode, but his difficulty with the TV remote causes him to accidentally destroy the tape by wearing it out and making the filmstrip come pouring out of his VCR. As a result, Patchy ends up getting tangled in the filmstrip and cries that he ruined the episode and now it is lost forever. As the scene changes to an exterior shot of Patchy's house, but now at nighttime, the narrator assures the audience that whether or not the lost episode will remain lost, as long as there are stars in the sky, SpongeBob will live on in fans' hearts and minds. As the story ends with the stars forming a picture of SpongeBob, the narrator tells the viewers to get lost, thus ending the episode.

Little Red Riding Hood arrives at her grandmother's house, where the Big Bad Wolf has disguised himself as Red's Granny. The Wolf attacks Red. Granny, who has been tied up, suddenly jumps out of a nearby closet to help Red, just as an ax-wielding woodsman bursts through the window. The police arrive on the scene. Detective Nicky Flippers questions everyone involved about the events leading up to the incident.

Little Red, actually named Red Puckett, explains that she was delivering goodies for her grandmother when she discovered a threat from the mysterious Goody Bandit, who has been stealing recipes. To save her Granny's business, Red embarked upon a journey to take the Puckett family recipes to Granny's home on top of a nearby mountain. En route, she fell out of a cable car operated by the bunny Boingo and encountered the Wolf, who sprung a series of suspicious questions on her. Evading the Wolf, Red then met an old singing goat named Japeth, who accompanied her through the remaining journey to Granny's house. Upon arriving at her destination, Red found the Wolf already waiting in ambush.

What at first seems to be an open-and-shut case becomes confused once the Wolf shares his side of the story. The Wolf, to the surprise of many at the crime scene, is an investigative reporter. He reveals that he was searching for a lead on the identity of the Goody Bandit and had reason to believe that Red and Granny were the culprits. Along with his hyperactive squirrel assistant Twitchy, the Wolf confronted Red in the hopes of solving the Goody Bandit mystery. When they failed to detain Red for long, the Wolf and Twitchy made haste for Granny's house. They managed to arrive ahead of Red (by using a shortcut known by Boingo). At the house, they found Granny already tied up in the closet. The Wolf then went undercover, planning to trick Red into sharing the truth about the Goody Bandit.

When the Woodsman, named Kirk, is questioned, he explains that his appearance at Granny's house was pure happenstance. Kirk is in fact an aspiring actor who was only trying out for the part of a woodsman in a commercial. After his schnitzel truck was robbed by the Goody Bandit, he was consoled by Boingo and then received a callback for the commercial. He spent the rest of the day chopping trees, getting into character for his upcoming role. At sunset, a large tree collapsed and pushed him through the window of Granny's home.

The investigation then turns to Granny, who, unbeknownst to her granddaughter, is an extreme sports enthusiast. Earlier that day, she competed in a ski race, where Boingo was in attendance, supposedly as a fan of Granny's. Once the race started, Granny was attacked by the opposing team. Able to withstand the attack and win the race, she learned that the team had been hired by the Goody Bandit to eliminate her. Granny explains to the investigators and her fellow suspects that while parachuting back home, she got tangled up in the parachute strings, which snagged on her ceiling fan and threw her into the closet.

Feeling betrayed by Granny's secrecy, Red wanders off alone. Reviewing the evidence, Flippers deduces that Boingo, who had been present in all four stories, must be the Goody Bandit. After Boingo sneaks into Granny's home and steals the Puckett family recipes, Red notices Boingo and follows him to his hideout at a cable car station; there, she confronts and fights Boingo with the intent to take back the stolen recipes, but she is overpowered and captured by him. Meanwhile, the police pursue Boingo in the wrong direction. Granny, the Wolf, and Kirk manage to locate Boingo as he is explaining his evil scheme to Red: Boingo plans to add an addictive substance called "Boingonium" to the stolen recipes and then bulldoze the forest, so as to clear the way for a new Boingo-themed corporate empire.

The Wolf and Kirk go undercover to distract Boingo, as Granny sneaks into Boingo's lair, but they are all soon found out and open conflict ensues. Boingo sends a bound and gagged Red down the mountain in a cable car loaded with explosives. Granny goes after Red, with Boingo and his henchmen in pursuit. Red manages to free herself, and escapes with Granny, while the police, who have been redirected by Twitchy, are waiting at the bottom of the mountain to arrest Boingo and his henchmen.

Sometime later, Kirk finds success in a yodeling troupe, while Red, Granny, the Wolf, and Twitchy are enlisted by Flippers to join a crime-solving organization called the Happily Ever After Agency.

Duke is called into action via the Government, aliens have once again landed and are wreaking havoc. Duke pummels the alien menace through the streets of New York with the help of some Marines, and eventually gains access to the Statue of Liberty. Here, Duke discovers the aliens' true plan, to go back in time and mess with historic events so Earth now wouldn't be what it is and make it so they could easily take over. However, Duke in his fight is teleported to the future, where the aliens have won and the humans are near extinction. In this time zone, Duke battles through horrors of new alien breeds in the future, and the zombified corpses of those who didn't survive the fallout. Duke eventually meets up with the small band of resistance fighters in the old headquarters of the U.S. army in New York. There, they tell him that the aliens are indeed screwing with history, so much that this future is just one; if Duke wants the old one back he'll have to fight for it. The humans have developed their own time machine in order to send a soldier back to re-write history, and destroy the aliens. Duke is sent back to the Old West, where aliens have taken over parts of the American West in an effort to detonate a bomb in Earth's core to destroy the planet.

In the Old West, due to technical difficulties, Duke must make do with period weaponry with the exception of a few of his weapons which his allies can send back. The aliens have begun creating super-soldiers in order to combat Nukem and the humans of the future. After blowing up a ship containing the super-soldiers, Duke makes his way to the town of Roswell. There, he stops the bomb before the aliens can succeed. Duke then is informed, that it's not just America's past that is being altered, the aliens have also been sent to the Victorian Era of London.

In the Victorian Era, Duke is set upon by the biological weaponry the aliens have been manufacturing. Zombies litter the streets, and Brains float in the air. Duke fights toward the castle, which the aliens have taken over (not before blowing up a Zeppelin). In the castle, Duke faces the worst of the horrors the aliens have created, and finally confronts the alien general in charge of it all, a giant brain. After demolishing the castle, and eliminating the alien threat in time, Duke is ready for some R'n'R, unfortunately, the aliens aren't. All of the meddling with time has caused a rift in the space-time continuum, and now more aliens from all of history are pouring into New York in a desperate attempt to destroy humanity.

Once again fighting through the city streets, Duke enters the alien mothership. He fights through wave after wave of aliens in order to confront the monster behind all this madness, Zero. Duke uses the alien technology from the mother ship and battles Zero on the rooftops of the city. After felling the beast, Duke finally sets things right. Duke cleans up Manhattan from the alien menace, and gets ready to relax with his "reward".

Go Gan is baking a surprise cake for his son, Ban in his work kitchen. It is late in the night and Ban and his mother, Ni wait longingly for father and husband to return. However, they have been living a life of waiting and longing for many years and they are sick of it. They decide to leave for USA. Go Gan then rushes to the airport with his cake to stop them. However, on the way his car crashes into a taxi carrying an old lady. He is spotted by the traffic police who then stop him. Being in a rush, he holds out the cake box and shouts that it is a bomb. However, his plan flops and he is charged with false threat and sentenced to 2 years in jail.

Tong Seung sets up a cake shop to spite her ex-boyfriend, who has always despised her. However, she does not know anything about baking cakes and only has the passion for it. Her brother Jimmy, cousin Keke and colleague Mu Si are trying to coax her out of it but to no avail. They do not say anything about the bad taste of Tong Seung's cakes so as not to hurt her feelings.

Gateau puts up a notice to hire trainees. Yu Le, Tang Shuang and Bu Lang joins the trial and are selected. Training starts and only Bu Lang does well. Uncle Fa, Gateau's cake kitchen supervisor has a fear of ovens because of an accident a few years ago. He needs the other chefs to help him to put the cake into the oven. Gao Gen gets him to overcome his fear.

Tang Shuang and Gao Gen: Tang Shuang eventually recovers and she and Gao Gen bakes cakes under the name of Mr and Mrs Cake Robin Hood.

Sarah and Yu Jiao: They joined Gateau as trainees. (In another version of the story, she falls for Yu Jiao but as she has no confidence in him she does not accept him and instead wants to marry Yu Le and causes a breakup between Keke ad Yu Le)

Goldmine: It was eventually found by one of the chefs of Gateau. Yu Le and Yu Jiao stole the money from the chef. While Yu Le was on the way to the police to surrender the money, he receives the call from Bu Lang and the money is burned in the fire.

Tang Sen and Qu Qi: They reunited and Tang Sen forgives her for abandoning them 22 years ago for her contests.

In 1981, teenager Tina Gray awakens from a terrifying nightmare wherein a disfigured man wearing a blade-fixed glove attacks her in a boiler room. Her mother points out four mysterious slashes on her nightgown. The following morning, Tina's best friend Nancy Thompson and Nancy's boyfriend, Glen Lantz, console her, revealing they each also had a nightmare the previous night. The two stay at Tina's house when Tina's mother goes out of town, where she discovers that Nancy also had a nightmare about the disfigured man. Tina's boyfriend, Rod Lane, interrupts their sleepover. When Tina falls asleep, she dreams of the disfigured man chasing her. Rod is awakened by Tina's thrashing and sees her dragged and fatally slashed by an unseen force, forcing him to flee as Nancy and Glen awaken to find Tina bloodied and dead.

The next day, Nancy's policeman father, Don Thompson, arrests Rod despite his pleas of innocence. At school, Nancy falls asleep in class and dreams that the man chases her to the boiler room where she is cornered. She then deliberately burns her arm on a pipe. The burn startles her awake in class and she notices a burn mark on her arm. Nancy visits Rod at the police station, who describes Tina's death along with his own recent nightmares about the same man stalking her in her dreams, making Nancy believe that the man killed Tina.

At home, Nancy falls asleep in the bathtub and is nearly drowned by the man. Nancy then depends on caffeine to stay awake and invites Glen to watch over her as she sleeps. In her dream, Nancy sees the man prepare to kill Rod in his cell but then he turns his attention towards her. Nancy runs away and wakes up when her alarm clock goes off. The man kills Rod by wrapping bed sheets around his neck, staging it as a suicide via hanging. At Rod's funeral, Nancy's parents become worried when she describes her dreams. Her mother, Marge, takes her to a sleep disorders clinic where, in a dream, Nancy grabs the man's fedora, with the name "Fred Krueger" written in it, and pulls it into the real world.

After barricading the house, Marge explains that Krueger was an insane child murderer who killed twenty children but was released on a technicality, and then burned alive by the victims' parents living on their street seeking vigilante justice. Nancy realizes that Krueger, now a vengeful ghost, is killing her and her friends out of revenge and to satiate his psychopathic needs.

Nancy tries to call Glen to warn him, but his father prevents her from speaking to him. Glen falls asleep and is killed by Krueger. Now alone, Nancy puts Marge to sleep and asks Don, who is across the street investigating Glen's death, to break into the house in 20 minutes. Nancy rigs booby traps around the house and grabs Krueger out of the dream and into the real world. The booby traps affect Krueger enough that Nancy can light him on fire and lock him in the basement. Nancy rushes to the door for help.

The police arrive to find that Krueger has escaped from the basement. Nancy and Don go upstairs to find a burning Krueger smothering Marge in her bedroom. After Don extinguishes the fire, Krueger and Marge vanish into the bed. When Don leaves the room, Krueger rises from the bed behind Nancy. Realizing that Krueger is powered by his victim's fear, she calmly turns her back to him. Krueger evaporates when he attempts to lunge at her.

Nancy steps outside into a bright and foggy morning where all her friends and her mother are still alive. Nancy gets into Glen's convertible to go to school when the top suddenly comes down and locks them in as the car drives uncontrollably down the street. Three girls in white dresses playing jump rope are heard chanting Krueger's nursery rhyme as Marge is grabbed by Krueger through the front door window.

Louie Jeffries, a young district attorney, is hit by a car and dies in 1964, but manages to slip by the pearly gates and is instantly reborn. In 1987, 23 years later, his widow Corinne still misses him, ignoring the frustrated devotion of his best friend Phillip Train, who has pretty much raised Louie's only daughter Miranda as his own. Miranda, while a student at Yale University, meets Alex Finch, who works in the library but is about to graduate.

After graduation, Alex heads to Washington, D.C., where he makes his way to the offices of ''The Washington Post''. His first attempts to meet with Ben Bradlee thwarted, he schemes his way into Bradlee's office by pretending to be a delivery man. Alex walks into Bradlee's office, with Phillip behind him. Confounded by the young man, Bradlee asks who he is. When Alex attempts to remind him of their meeting at Yale, Phillip vouches for him, which changes his mind about giving him a meeting. Unfortunately, Bradlee feels Alex needs more time working on smaller papers before he can offer him a job. Feeling defeated, Alex leaves his office.

Phillip finds Alex downstairs in the lobby, who offers Phillip a ride, during which Phillip invites Alex to meet the Jeffries family over dinner. While at the Jeffries' home, which he'd never previously been to, Alex begins to have flashbacks of a previous life. Anguished, he begins to act crazed and confused. Putting the pieces together, Alex realizes he is Louie Jeffries, Corinne's dead husband, reincarnated.

Miranda, wanting to continue the flirtation that started when they met, is confused when Alex rebuffs her and orders her to go to her room when she kisses him. Alex then goes to Corrine and tries to convince Corrine that he's Louie. At first she doesn't believe him, but he tells her details about their earlier life together that only Louie would know. She finally gives in and they kiss. They take a trip together away from town, but Corrine is a little disturbed when people think Alex is her son. Louie/Alex wants to make love, but Corrine reveals she hasn't had sex since Louie died.

One night when Alex and Corrine are together, they're caught by Phillip, who accuses Alex of being a gold digger. Louie/Alex then reminds Phillip he declared his love for Corinne to Louie on their wedding day. Phillip is confused and tries to punch Alex but he gets punched instead, knocking him out. Corinne rushes to Phillip's side, and yells at Alex to get out of the room. Louie/Alex realizes then that she loves Phillip too, and Louie must let go.

Corrine slips a note under Alex's door, saying she's sorry, and she'll visit him later. Alex puts the still-unconscious Phillip in his bed, so that when Corinne arrives, thinking he's Louie, she accidentally kisses Phillip. He's ecstatic, and Corinne realizes she loves him too. They make love.

Alex spends the night in his car. The next day, he bursts into a courtroom and accuses the judge of accepting a bribe (Alex remembers himself as Louie taking the incriminating photographs of the then younger judge back in 1964). Phillip, who's also in the courtroom, realizes only Louie would know that fact, and now believes Alex is Louie. Alex tells Phillip the location of his camera with the photographs of the judge accepting the bribe. Attempting to escape from the commotion in the courtroom, Alex falls down the stairs, hits his head, and ends up in the hospital. While unconscious, Omar the angel visits Alex, and gives him the special "shot" he should have gotten 23 years previous, to forget his past life.

When Alex wakes, he's completely forgotten about being Louie, and he tells Miranda that the last thing he remembers is their kissing in the kitchen of her house. Miranda is relieved and delighted. Newspaper headlines show the judge charged with accepting the bribe. Impressed by Alex's journalistic prowess in exposing the corrupt judge, Bradlee offers him a job as a reporter at the ''Post''. Corinne and Phillip get married, and at their wedding, Alex tells Phillip he's in love with Miranda, just as Phillip told Louie he was in love with Corinne on their wedding day all those years earlier.

Stanley is a troll with a magical green thumb, able to bring flowers and plants to life at a touch, which is forbidden in his home, the Kingdom of Trolls. When he is discovered doing so, the other trolls arrest him and take him to Gnorga, the queen of the trolls, who concludes that Stanley "gives a bad name to trolls everywhere" and demands that he be transformed to stone with her dark thumb (which is also purple when it glows). At the behest of her consort King Llort, Queen Gnorga instead banishes Stanley to Central Park in New York City where, after a series of mishaps, he ends up in a cave under the bridge.

The next day, in a Manhattan apartment, two young siblings named Gus and Rosie learn that they cannot be taken to Central Park, because their father Alan has to go to court for an important case, and their mother Hillary has to attend the open house on Park Avenue. While left alone with their nanny, Maria, Gus takes Rosie to the park himself. While playing with Gus' toy boat by the river, Rosie chases a butterfly to the bridge where she mistakes Stanley for her own troll doll. Realizing Stanley is a real troll, she follows Stanley into the cave and befriends him.

Gus goes after Rosie, only for his toy boat to be accidentally smashed in the process. After becoming surprised to meet Stanley and his crew of talking flowers, Gus tries to force Rosie to come home with him. Stanley then gets into an argument and struggle with Gus over Rosie which causes her to cry. At the Kingdom of Trolls, Gnorga enjoys her amusement of Rosie's sadness on her crystal, but when she discovers Stanley, she becomes furious. Having also witnessed Gus' frustration towards Rosie and Stanley, she decides to have an advantage and casts an evil spell on him, making Gus cry a gigantic flood of tears to drown Stanley along with his flowers and Rosie. Using his green thumb, Stanley enlarges Gus' toy boat which he repaired, transforming it into a "dream boat" to save the kids, and they escape together.

Determined to suppress Stanley herself, Gnorga sends a tornado to transport her and Llort to Central Park while it destroys the park and everything green on it. Meanwhile, Gus and Rosie wake from their nap and decide to get back home. Gnorga and Llort then pursue the pair, intending to use them to bait Stanley. Gnorga succeeds to kidnap Rosie, but Gus manages to elude her, thanks to Llort's incompetence. He returns to the cave in the bridge and tries to persuade Stanley to help him to save his sister, but Stanley, frightened of the reign of Gnorga, refuses and claims that his magic is no match for Gnorga's. Gus angrily accuses Stanley of cowardice and tells him that his dreams will never come true if he's too scared to fight for what he believes in.

Gus leaves to face Gnorga himself, with the flowers and animals as his back-up. Arriving at the abandoned building where Gnorga and Llort are waiting for Stanley, Gus finds Rosie in a kennel and frees her, while the flowers tie up Gnorga's dog. Seeing the children escape, Gnorga and Llort chase them out the building, leading to a battle. During the fight, Gnorga transforms Gus into a troll with her dark magic, and Rosie falls into a chasm. Stanley appears on Gus' toy boat; now transformed into a flying boat with leaf wings, having saved the uninjured Rosie. Then he steps forward and challenges Gnorga to a thumb-wrestling match. Stanley manages to win, planting roses all around Gnorga's body. As Stanley, Gus, and Rosie escape and celebrate their victory, Gnorga uses Gus' thumb to transform Stanley to stone. Gus' toy boat transforms back to normal, sending the two kids falling through the open window and into their apartment room, while Stanley (in his statue form) lands on top of the nearby trash can. As Gnorga declares her job done, the last of Stanley's power changes her into a rose bush. Then the tornado reappeared and sucked Gnorga, Llort, and their dog back to the Kingdom of Trolls in defeat, while Gus returns to his human form.

The next morning, Gus, Rosie, and their parents visit Central Park, where Gus and Rosie place the petrified Stanley on a makeshift pedestal. Gus attempts to revive him with his temporarily green thumb and appears to fail. As they prepare to leave, he and Rosie look back to find Stanley gone. Then hearing Stanley's whistle, they see Stanley standing on the tree with his flowers; restored to life. Stanley revives Central Park and covers the whole city in vegetation and flowers.

Back in the Kingdom of Trolls, the powerless Gnorga is dethroned and planted, and Llort is welcomed as a much kinder ruler. He is reading the newspapers describing his wife as the "queen of posies", and laughing about her humiliation, right before he gets constantly attacked by Gnorga's dog just as the screen blacks out and the credits roll.

''The King's Stilts'' tells the story of King Birtram of Binn, who dedicates himself to safeguarding his kingdom, a low-lying land surrounded by high water that is held back by a ring of dike trees. Unfortunately, the dike trees are the favorite food of a species of pest-birds called ''nizzards''; the kingdom always faces the risk that the nizzards might compromise the dike-tree barrier and cause catastrophic flooding. The King's administration maintains a legion of Patrol Cats to keep the nizzards at bay; King Birtram sees to their care personally. When not attending to his royal duties, the King enjoys himself by frolicking in the streets on his red stilts, which most of his subjects note with amused acceptance.

One day, his minister Lord Droon, secretly a gloomy scoundrel who despises his King cavorting with such undignified happiness, plots to capture the stilts, persuading the King's page boy Eric to steal and hide the stilts. Deprived of his amusement, the King grows depressed and begins to neglect his duties. As a result, the Patrol Cats become less vigilant, and soon the nizzards make headway in eating away the dike trees. Seeing the results of his actions, Eric resolves to return the stilts to the King and succeeds in doing so despite Lord Droon's efforts to stop him. King Birtram, his personal morale restored, finds the energy to mobilize the Patrol Cats to fight off the nizzards and save the kingdom. Lord Droon is arrested and punished with a restricted diet consisting entirely of nizzard cooked in various ways. Eric is rewarded with his own pair of red stilts, and joins the King on his outings.

The book recounts in prose the tale of seven Godiva sisters, none of whom ever wear clothing. The explanation for their nakedness, even when walking in snow, is that "they were simply themselves and chose not to disguise it."

The story opens with the sisters' father, Lord Godiva, deciding to leave for the Battle of Hastings (1066) on horseback. This upsets the sisters, as horses are wild and untamed animals. Sure enough, before Lord Godiva even manages to leave the castle walls, he is flung from his horse and killed. As a tribute to their father's fate, the Godiva sisters agree to never marry—despite the fact that each is courting one of seven brothers named Peeping—until they can warn their countrymen of the dangers of horses. The book then follows the sisters as they set out on individual quests for "horse truths", which turn out to be well-known sayings involving horses.

The story begins with a boy named Marco fishing in a small, trash-filled pond known as McElligot's Pool. A local farmer laughs at the boy and tells him that he will never be able to catch anything. Nevertheless, Marco holds out hope and begins to imagine a scenario in which he might be able to catch a fish.

First, he suggests that the pool might be fed by an underground brook that travels under a highway and a hotel to reach the sea. Marco then imagines a succession of fish and other creatures that he might catch in the sea and therefore the pool. He imagines, among others, a fish with a checkerboard stomach, a seahorse with the head of an actual horse, and an eel with two heads. When Marco is done imagining, he tells the farmer, "Oh, the sea is so full of a number of fish, if a fellow is patient, he ''might'' get his wish!"

The book opens with an explanation of how people in the Kingdom of Didd still talk about "the year the King got angry with the sky," and how Bartholomew Cubbins, King Derwin's page boy, saved the kingdom. Throughout the year, Bartholomew sees the king getting angry at rain in spring, sun in summer, fog in autumn, and snow in winter because he wants something new to come down from the sky. The king gets the idea that he can rule the sky, being the king, and he orders Bartholomew to summon the Royal Magicians, who announce that they can make a substance called oobleck, which will not look anything at all like the regular weather. That evening, the magicians make the substance at their mystic mountain Neeka-tave, and release it into the air.

The next morning, the oobleck starts falling from the sky. When the King sees it, he is overjoyed. He declares the day a holiday and orders Bartholomew to tell the Royal Bell Ringer to announce the occasion but the bell will not ring; the oobleck turns out to be both gelatinous and adhesive, and it has gummed up the bell. When Bartholomew sees a robin trapped in her nest by the oobleck, he decides to warn the kingdom.

The Royal Trumpeter tries to sound the alarm, but oobleck gets into the trumpet and the trumpeter gets his hand stuck trying to remove it. Bartholomew tells the Captain of the Guard to warn the kingdom, but the captain, determined to prove that he's not afraid of the oobleck, scoops some up with his sword and eats it, only to get his mouth stuck and breathe out sticky green bubbles.

In the meantime, the oobleck is falling in larger quantities than before, and is now threatening to flood the kingdom. Soon, it starts spilling into the palace as well, and pretty soon, no matter how Bartholomew tries to warn them, everybody is stuck to it and flopping about in the goo.

In the throne room, the king, now swathed in oobleck, orders Bartholomew to summon the magicians to stop the storm, but Bartholomew delivers the bad news that "their cave on Mountain Neeka-tave is buried deep in oobleck." The king gets the idea to use the magicians' magic words ("Shuffle Duffle Muzzle Muff...") to stop the oobleck, but he cannot remember the whole incantation, and, in any case, he is not a magician.

Bartholomew reprimands the king for making such a foolish wish, and he tells him to apologize for the mess his wish has caused. The king is reluctant at first, but belts out a tearful apology after Bartholomew tells him he's "no sort of king at all" if he and his subjects are drowning in oobleck and he won't own up to his mistakes. Immediately after the king says those simple words the oobleck storm abates and the sun melts away all the green slime. The king rings the bell proclaiming the day a holiday, dedicated not to oobleck, but to rain, sun, fog, and snow—the four things that have always come down from the sky.

A version recorded by the actor Marvin Miller for RCA Records in 1959 and dramatized by Seuss himself varies slightly from the book: the king first encounters the oobleck in his royal bathtub when it comes out of the water faucet, which causes him to become stuck. Also, Bartholomew encounters Gussie, the royal cook, who is in panic with what he sees. The album from which the recording is part was nominated for the 1961 Grammy Award for Best Children's Album.

At the beginning of the story, Peter T. Hooper brags to his sister, Liz, in his mother's kitchen about what a good cook he is. He tells the story of how, when he became fed up with the taste of regular scrambled eggs using hen's eggs, he decided to scramble eggs from other birds. He tells of how he travelled great distances and discovered a variety of exotic birds and their eggs.

He explains his criteria for choosing some eggs, because of their sweetness, and avoiding others. He takes the eggs home but decides that he still needs more, and he calls on the help of some of his friends from around the world, including a "fellow named Ali". After each bird Peter finds he states the phrase..."Scrambled Eggs Super Dee Dooper Dee Booper Special Deluxe a la Peter T. Hooper".

Behind Mr. Sneelock's ramshackle store, there's an empty lot. Little Morris McGurk is convinced that if he could just clear out the rusty cans, the dead tree, and the old cars, nothing would prevent him from using the lot for the amazing, world-beating, Circus McGurkus. The more elaborate Morris' dreams about the circus become, the more they depend on the sleepy-looking and innocent Sneelock, who stands outside his ramshackle store sucking on a pipe, oblivious to the fate that awaits him in the depths of Morris's imagination.

Sneelock does not yet know that he will have to dispense 500 gallons of lemonade, be lassoed by a Wily Walloo, wrestle a Grizzly-Ghastly, and ski down a slope dotted with giant cacti. But if his performance is up to McGurkian expectations, then "Why, ladies and gentlemen, youngsters and oldsters, your heads will quite likely spin right off your shouldsters!" And Sneelock won't mind it one bit because he likes to help out. But by the end of Morris's fantasy, Sneelock is casting a disapproving eye at him.

It deals with a fantastic land called Katroo, where the Birthday Bird throws the reader an amazing party on their special day. It consists of a running description of a fantastical celebration, narrated in the second person, of the reader's birthday, from dawn to late night.

The celebration includes fantastical and colorful gifts, foods and a whirl of activities all arranged by the Birthday Bird for the reader's birthday. It focuses on the reader's self-actualization and concludes with the happy and exhausted reader falling blissfully asleep.

A popular Seuss paragraph in this book reads: "Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you."

As the story opens, the protagonist lives a happy and carefree life before tripping over a rock one day and being bitten by animals. A passing traveler says that he is bound for the trouble-free city of Solla Sollew, so the protagonist joins him. The journey itself is beset by many more troubles, including a draft animal that falls sick, a bus that breaks down, and a general who conscripts the protagonist into his army. The army retreats during battle, leaving the protagonist alone against a pack of wild Poozers. Escaping into a dark tunnel, the protagonist suffers numerous further mishaps before finally reaching an exit door that opens near Solla Sollew.

The protagonist discovers that Solla Sollew is surrounded by a wall with only one door. The doorman apologizes that he cannot open it, because a Key-Slapping Slippard recently nested in the key hole. Since the city no longer needs a doorman, he has decided to set off for yet another untroubled city that he has heard about. The protagonist declines to go with him and instead returns home, determined to face troubles rather than run away from them.

The text consists of a series of descriptive poems, fictively told to an unnamed listener by a wise old man. The man describes a variety of whimsically wretched characters and unfortunate situations, in comparison with which the listener might be considered exceptionally fortunate.

This book is done entirely in silhouette, exploring the different shapes of objects.

The characters of two children, a boy and a girl are in dialogue about shapes. The two exchange their thoughts on how different shapes and objects are from each other. They exchange ideas of how big and small some objects are. In the end, they reach a realisation that no shape is exactly the same as the other. They even try to imagine themselves in different shapes (bodies).

They also conclude by being content with the way they are shaped. This suggests that they would not be happier in any other shape.

The book begins with a reader thinking about colors or animals that she knows, like birds, or horses, but as quickly as page three he asks the reader to think of something completely made up; a GUFF! A Guff is a sort of puffy fluff. Next he thinks up a dessert! Of all the made up things in this image the focus is on the dessert. Other than that it is beautiful and has a cherry on top! After thinking of colors and known animals, then made up animals and made up dessert he moves on to made up activities, like Kitty O’Sullivan Krauss’s balloon swimming pool! After Seuss presents the reader with various things to think up, he then moves on to questions the reader should ask herself. Such as, how much water can fifty elephants drink or what would you do if you met a JIBBOO? There is no explanation for what a JIBBOO is, we just get a sketchy image leaving us to wonder and think up a story for the JIBBOO.

In typical Seuss fashion things get busier and more colorful at the end. He fills the page with many crazy creatures and much activity when he asks the reader why so many things go to the right. This causes the reader’s eyes to scan the page taking in every detail until she is finally willing to turn the page. The final page is a busier and more colorful version of the first page, with bird-like creatures walking along a curved path, breaking the laws of gravity just as the text breaks the rules of reading left to right.

In the beginning of the book, the Cat in the Hat introduces the reader to Ziggy and Zizzy Zozzfozzel, saying that they both got 100%, but got every answer ''wrong'', and then asks the reader the recurring question "are you smarter than a Zozzfozzel"? The questions in the book range from simple queries to questions difficult enough to wear the Cat out.

The Cat in the Hat shows his protégé, Young Cat, that while reading with one's eyes closed can be amazing, it can be a strain. When one reads with their eyes open, they will be able to learn a large amount of wonderful things, some of which are shown through illustrations.

Introduction

In the introduction, Hooey the parrot reads from a copy of "Oh Say Can You Say" and states that the words in it are all phooey, and when one says them, one's lips will make slips and backflips, and one's tongues may end up in St. Looey.

Fresh, Fresher, Freshest

In the first one, a diner owner Finney sells 3 platters of fish which are fresh, fresher, and freshest to which he considers French-fried.

Dinn's Shin

In the second one, a skeletal Apatosaurus Dinn at a museum loses his left front shinbones, but with his handy shinbone pin bin, Pinner Blinn appears and fixes Dinn up by pinning his shinbones right back in.

Bed Spreader, Bread Spreader

In the third one, while a bed spreader spreads his bedspread on his bed, a bread spreader spreads butter on slices of bread. However, if the bed spreader doesn't pay attention to how he's doing so, the bread spreader ends up buttering his entire bedding when he's covered by his bedspread.

Ape Cakes, Grape Cakes

In the fourth one, a hungry monkey sits on a palm tree wolfing down a plate of green grape cakes and states that the keener keen apes are to gobble the cakes which are great. This is followed by a short poem in which a dog-like creature, resembling Marvin K. Mooney, looks in his hand-held mirror and sees what he says and then just says what he sees.

Money

In the fifth one, a man should leave his pet called a Grox home when he travels by air. However, if he takes him with him, they doubly charge costs, and he must pack up and lock up the Grox in a Grox box which costs much, much more than any fox boxes. So, to fly with his foxes, it's a lot cheaper than spend a lot of money on boxes for Groxes.

Thimble or Shingle

In the sixth one, the dog-like creature asks one which will cost more and to choose between a thimble and a shingle.

Eat at Skipper Zipp's

In the seventh one, Skipper Zipp invites his customers to lunch at his ship called "Skipper Zipp's Clipper Ship Chip Chop Shop" where he serves delicious pork chops and crispy potato chips.

Fuddnuddlers

In the eighth one, the Fuddnuddler Brothers (consisting of Bipper, Bud, Skipper, Jipper, Jeffery, Jud, Horatio, Horace, Hendrix, Hud, Dinwoodie, Dinty, Dud, Fitzsimmon, Fredrick, Fud, Slinky, Stinky, Stuart, and Stud), piling up on each other's head, stand on top of their brother Lud. However, a dog watches as Lud sneezes, and his name will be mud when he apparently falls down.

Quack Quack

In the ninth one, a couple of colorful ducks (blue and black) quack at each other.

Schnack

In the tenth one, the dog-like creature, carrying a creature called a Schnack in his backpack, lives in a shack that's got cracks and a smokestack.

West Beast, East Beast

In the eleventh one, a boy on an uncharted island chooses between a couple of giant beasts sitting, pouting, on each side of the beach which will be the best one ever yet. Then, he picked the East which seems to be the best, much to the East's extreme shyness.

Pete Pats Pigs

In the twelfth one, Pete Briggs the pig keeper pats every single pig until after he gets done with them, he puts them away in their pigpen.

Fritz Food, Fred Food

In the thirteenth one, Fritz, resembling Mr. Brown from ''Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?'', feeds some green morsels to his dog Fred, and Fred feeds some orange ones to Fritz.

How to Tell a Klotz From a Glotz

In the fourteenth one, a boy, peering through a spyglass, looks up at a couple of deer-like creatures known as a Glotz (with spots) and a Klotz (with dots). The dots on a Klotz are said to be exactly the same size as the spots on a Glotz.

What Would You Rather Be When You Grow Up?

In the fifteenth one, there are a trio of dog-like creatures (a police officer, a cupcake baker, and a pancake maker) as one's asked what occupation will become and to choose between the police officer in a cap, the cupcake baker in a baker hat, and the pancake maker in a pancake-like cap which is a shape of a beret. Otherwise, if not as another one shows up which is a captain soldier in a weird-looking cap, then one will probably like that of his.

More About Blinn

In the sixteenth one, as a sequel to "Dinn's Shin", Pinner Blinn goes home exhausted from work, and when he gets plenty of rest, his twin sons play violins to play their father a lullaby thereby putting him to sleep.

Gretchen von Schwinn

In the seventeenth one, a young blonde Gretchen von Schwinn of Berlin walks down the street with her 6-stringed tin mandolin with mechanical legs.

Rope Soap, Hoop Soap

In the eighteenth one, with "Skrope" rope detergent, a lady creature scrubs a stain off a rope that the dog-like creature is holding. As for "Skrope", its slogan says, "Skrope is so strong that no rope is too long." On the next one, he holds a giant red hoop with stains just before she pours "Soapy Cooper's Super Soup-Off Hoop Soak Suds" hoop detergent into a giant vat to dissolve the stubborn stains off of it which will be squeaky clean.

Merry Christmas Mush

In the nineteenth one, at Christmas brunch, Santa Claus serves a boy and his dog a bowl full of sickening green mush, much to their disgust.

And Speaking of Christmas....

In the twentieth one, the boy sees his father Jim floating in the water, wearing a pair of swim fins which is his perfect Christmas gift. Then, a man (and one's father) named Dwight, outside at night, looks at some birds with a Bright Dwight Bird Flight Night Sight Light on his head which is his Christmas gift, also.

But Never Give Your Daddy a Walrus

In the twenty-first one, a blonde girl brings her father a walrus which is a bad and worse pet even yet. The walrus with his tough, rough, wet whiskers whispers something to his ear which really burns red hot, with blispers and bliskers.

Storm Starts (Final Tongue Twister from Hooey)

In the twenty-second and final one, Hooey, walking tired and depressed and losing a few feathers, declares that's almost enough of those silly tongue twisters for one simple day. And he also says that there's one more left to go just before one's done: There he is, holding beneath his umbrella, in a thunderstorm when the raindrops start pouring, and when it stops, so does the storm.

The book follows an elderly man on a visit to the Golden Years Clinic, where he endures long waits and bizarre medical tests.

11-year-old Johnny is part of the Test family, consisting of his 13-year-old genius twin sisters, Susan and Mary, and his over-the-top parents. His mother "Lila," is a businesswoman, and his father, "Hugh" is an obsessive-compulsive househusband. Hugh's two biggest obsessions are cleaning and cooking meatloaf. The Test Twins frequently use Johnny as a guinea pig for their various experiments and inventions in their laboratory filled with highly advanced technology built over the Tests' household attic. Most of them involve trying to impress their pretty boy-next-door neighbor, Gil, for whom both harbor a deep love and obsession, although their attempts to come up with some way to attract his attention usually fail.

Johnny is a mischievous and unpredictable boy who causes many problems (often reaching within the city). His best friend is his anthropomorphic talking pet dog, Dukey, who Susan and Mary gave human-level intelligence and the ability to speak in an experiment. Because Johnny has Susan, Mary, and Dukey by his side, he can live any kid's dream, only to find that most dreams never turn out as hoped. Johnny is very hyperactive and often messes with his sisters' inventions, causing trouble and mayhem, but just as often proves himself to be clever such as frequently tricking his sisters or saving the day from whatever danger happens to show up. He is also stubborn, and like many kids, he doesn't like school; if anything, he will often go to great lengths to avoid any work, often using his sisters' inventions to do so, resulting in himself and others in trouble.

One of Johnny's main nemeses is Eugene "Bling-Bling Boy" Hamilton, a fellow arch-rival of the Test sisters and frienemy of Johnny and Dukey, yet also has an unrequited crush on Susan. Another is Sissy Cutler, a tomboy who often serves as Johnny's rival/friend; the two may have crushes on each other, but both frequently deny and compete against each other. Missy, Sissy's pink labradoodle, is Dukey's rival/crush. A third is Bumper Randalls, the school bully who constantly picks on Johnny. Meanwhile, the General from the army base Area 51.1 and Mr. Black and Mr. White, two federal agents from the Super Secret Government Agency (SSGA), are shown to be close friends with the kids and often get them out of trouble or recruit them for an assignment, help them, distract, or annoy the Tests on various occasions.

The book is about a 12-year-old warmhearted schoolgirl named Mayzie McGrew who one day suddenly sprouts a bright white daisy from her head. It causes alarm in her classroom, family, and town, until an agent makes her a celebrity. Mayzie becomes overwhelmed and distraught over the situation and runs away. The Cat in the Hat, who serves as the narrator to this story, helps Mayzie to understand her problem. He persuades her to go back home, and the daisy eventually goes away, popping up back again on occasion. The book has a mini-song titled "Daisy-Head Mayzie" which her classmates chant.

In 1970, robber Ronnie Purnell is arrested after a robbery and jailed for more than 30 years. Since Purnell's wife was killed during the chase with the police, California Highway Patrol Officer Darryl Kurtz took care of their son Aaron. When Ronnie is released from jail, he decides to take vengeance on Darryl. Aaron has also become a cop and doesn't want to hear about his father anymore, but Aaron's son Matthew is fascinated by his grandfather's past and decides to help him to find his old car, a 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge, in which he stashed a key for a safe containing evidence against Darryl.

When King Kong fell to his death from the Empire State Building upon being shot down by biplanes in 1933, a scientist named Dr. Lorna Jenkins took DNA samples from him which she used to recreate a clone counterpart of the original Kong with the help of the DNA of her grandson, Jason. Many years later, Dr. Lorna Jenkins sends an e-mail to her grandson where he and his friend, Eric "Tan" Tannenbaum IV are invited to Kong's home on Kong Island. What they didn't know is that their university professor Ramone De La Porta had tampered with the e-mail so that he got invited as well. Upon meeting the native girl Lua, the group is taken to Dr. Lorna Jenkin's lab where Ramone's true colors are shown. Upon getting access to the Cyber-Link technology, Ramone uses it to steal some of the Primal Stones in a plot to take over the world. The Primal Stones were used to keep the fire demon named Chiros in his prison. With the help of his Cyber-Link that can merge him with Kong, Jason and his friends must work to reclaim the Primal Stones from De La Porta and his followers while fighting off the forces of Chiros.

Karin Maaka is the middle child in a family of vampires who immigrated to Japan two centuries earlier. Unlike the rest of her family, Karin does not feed on blood, she produces it. As a result, she is forced to bite others to expel the extra blood, lest she suffer exaggerated nose-bleeds. She also exhibits no normal vampire traits, and instead lives her life just as an ordinary teenage girl would. She can go outside during the day, attends high school, and follows the sleep pattern of normal humans. However, the general peacefulness of her life is disrupted with the arrival of a new transfer student, Kenta Usui.

Any time she goes near him her blood increases. At first she tries to avoid him but they are in the same class and work in the same restaurant. Kenta begins to think that there is something fishy about Karin and eventually he learns her secret. Karin's elder brother Ren tries to erase his memory but Anju, Karin's younger sister, stops him from doing so. She convinces their parents Henry and Calera to make Kenta their ally, because he can help Karin during the daylight. Karin and Kenta become friends, and as they spend more time with one another, fall in love, though they are slow to admit their feelings to one another.

Yuriya Tachibana, a human-vampire hybrid, moves to the area at the request of her vampire uncle, Glark. By chance, Yuriya gets a job at the same restaurant where Karin and Kenta work. As hybrids are sterile, Tachibana disapproves of Karin and Kenta's relationship, feeling any children they had would be unhappy like her. Despite this, Karin likes Tachibana and considers her a friend. On the other hand, Karin's grandmother Elda hates hybrids, as a betrayal danger to vampires. Karin rescues Yuriya from her grandmother. Karin is unaware that Tachibana is actually there to help her uncle and the Brownlick clan spy on her. After another nose bleed leaves Karin comatose for several days, Karin's family ask Kenta to stay away from her, but the two lovers are unable to stand being apart and eventually reunite and become a couple. Shortly after they share their first kiss, Tachibana helps Glark and Bridget Brownlick kidnap Karin and take her the Brownlick estate. It is revealed that Karin is a "psyche", a blood-giving vampire that can give life to other vampires and heals the sterility currently plaguing all vampires. In doing so, however, vampires have historically been greedy and drain the psyche dry, killing her as a sacrifice. The first psyche, Sophia, reveals herself to Kenta but cannot be seen by anyone else while helping Kenta find Karin.

Karin's father Henry, her brother Ren, and Kenta go to rescue Karin. Meanwhile, Tachibana is horrified to learn that not only will Karin be killed, but also raped until she has a child to produce a new psyche to replace her. She apologizes to Karin for disapproving of Kenta's relationship and for hurting Karin, and helps her escape just as Kenta comes in with Ren. While Ren takes care of the vampire, Bridget, holding Karin captive, Henry battles Glark and the Brownlicks, joined belatedly by his mother Elda. Kenta, Karin, and Tachibana escape, but Tachibana leaves them to go ensure her uncle won't be caught in the sun.

It is later revealed that Karin shared consciousness with Sophia, who gave Karin her condition and helped Kenta rescue Karin. Karin stopped producing excess blood (and being a vampire altogether) after Sophia moved from Karin to Kenta during her last bite. Karin's family sorrowfully erases all of her memories of them, so that she can live as a normal human with Kenta, while they quietly watch over her. They had prepared to do so for over four years, and the process is successful; they cannot erase Kenta's memories however without him reverting to a 4-year old such that he is left having to keep the secret from Karin, who he marries shortly after. At the end of the series, Karin and Kenta have a daughter named Kanon, who is the reborn Sophia; Karin's sister Anju continues to watch over her sister's happiness.

When a Senator is killed in an explosion, the FBI investigates. The agent in charge is bomb expert Danny O'Neill, who is separated from his wife Terry (due to the accidental drowning of their only child in their pool) and behaving very erratically. Initially the investigation does not reveal the kind of explosive used or even what was used to detonate it. Eventually it is learned that terrorists led by Mikhail Rashid have developed an "invisible" liquid explosive which is activated within the human body (by stomach acid). It also does not help that they have to report to Senator Traveres, the man whom Terry is having an affair with and whom Danny also assaulted.

Later, another senator is killed while riding in a limousine; the limo being driven by one of Rashid's henchmen. The henchman is subsequently struck by a moving car, taken into custody and brought into court, and since he is now considered a risk by Rashid, the judge in the case is slipped the liquid and she spontaneously explodes; the witness is subsequently killed, though O'Neill discovers the cause of the explosions - the chemically enhanced water in the judge's pitcher.

It becomes obvious that the next target is Senator Traveres, so O'Neill, concerned that Terry may become collateral damage, trails his every move. At a fundraiser, Traveres is targeted by Rashid's main henchman, Al-red, who is disguised as a clown. Al-red tries to detonate a fountain filled with the explosive liquid, but O'Neill tackles him, leading to Al-red accidentally swallowing some of the liquid himself. O'Neill subdues Al-red and gets him away from party in a wheelchair just before he explodes. In the aftermath, O'Neill and Terry finally reconcile.

Aware that Traveres is still not safe, O'Neill infiltrates the senator's heavily guarded mansion, at a very convenient time as it is being overrun by the terrorists. O'Neill concocts a cornucopia of home-made weapons, even building bombs using fertilizer found in the kitchen cabinet. All the terrorists are killed except for Rashid, who holds Terry hostage in front of him and Traveres.

Rashid swallows some of the liquid, sealing his fate but intending to bring them all down with him. O'Neill manages to free Terry and send her to safe ground. He and Traveres however are cornered and are thus subsequently forced to jump from the third floor due to Rashid's explosion. Traveres lands on a wrought-iron fence which impales and kills him, though O'Neill survives. A year later, he has a second child with Terry.

The story takes place in the early 1970s in Chicago. A white U.S. Senator facing re-election is told that his speech on law and order has led to a decline in his popularity among his African-American constituents. To regain their support, his wife suggests that as a publicity stunt, he point out the lack of African-American agents in the CIA. The CIA responds to this political pressure by recruiting African Americans for their training program however, secretly they take several measures to ensure that no one would be able to complete the process.

Only one candidate, Dan Freeman (Lawrence Cook), secretly a Black nationalist, successfully completes the training process. Freeman becomes the first Black man in the agency and is given a desk job as Top Secret Reproduction Center Sections Chief (which means he is in charge of the copy machine). Freeman is called out of the basement copy center to give tours to visiting Senators so the CIA can appear diverse. Freeman understands that he is the token Black person in the CIA, and that the CIA defines his function as providing proof of the agency's supposed commitment to integration and progress. After completing his training in the CIA's guerrilla warfare techniques, weaponry, communications and subversion, Freeman puts in just enough time to avoid raising any suspicions about his motives before he resigns from the CIA and returns to work in the social services in Chicago.

Upon his return, Freeman immediately begins recruiting young African Americans living in inner-city Chicago to become "Freedom Fighters", teaching them all the tactics that he had learned from the CIA. They become a guerrilla group, with Freeman as the secret leader. The "Freedom Fighters" set out to ensure that Black people truly live freely within the United States by partaking in both violent and non-violent actions throughout Chicago. The Freedom Fighters of Chicago begin spreading the word about their guerrilla warfare tactics across the United States; as Freeman says, "What we got now is a colony, what we want is a new nation." As revolt and a war of liberation continues in inner-city Chicago, the National Guard and the police desperately try to stop the "freedom fighters".

The film provides discussions about black militancy and the violent reactions that took place by White Americans in response to the progress of the Civil Rights Movement.

The film starts with a young woman (Franklin) on an airplane and a stewardess, Vi (Moreno) bending over her. As she leaves, we see a chauffeur, Bud (Brando), saying something to her which we do not hear. He puts her in the back of a Rolls-Royce and drives off. They stop at a junction and Leer (Boone) gets in. The girl realises she has been kidnapped.

Bud starts to have second thoughts. He tries to protect the girl when Leer gets out of control. Bud also has to deal with a lack of courage in himself, with the head of the operation and Vi, who uses drugs and cannot be trusted.

Then things start to unravel. Leer kills all his partners in crime on their return with the ransom, the car catching fire. Bud, perhaps anticipating this betrayal, gets out early. Hiding on the beach, he is able to exact revenge and shoots Leer as he signals to a ship waiting to take him from the country.

All is revealed to be a dream during the girl's flight, sparked by Vi, the air hostess. But then the girl meets Bud in the airport just as in the dream...

It is 1667 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and an uneasy truce exists between local Puritans and their neighbors, the Algonquian. Chief Metacomet succeeds his father Massasoit as head of the latter just as a new colonist, Hester Prynne arrives overseas from England. As Hester waits for her husband—who is due to follow shortly after—she falls for a young minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. When it emerges that Roger Prynne has likely been killed by Native Americans, they become inseparable lovers.

Finding herself pregnant with Dimmesdale's child, Hester is imprisoned for her indiscretion. The minister intends to declare his sin and face execution, but Hester convinces him otherwise. Sentenced to wear a scarlet "A" for adultery, Prynne is ostracized by the public, and a drummer boy is charged to follow her whenever she comes to town. Meanwhile, Hester's husband resurfaces, having spent his absence in captivity as a prisoner of war. Learning of the scandal, he adopts the fictitious guise of "Dr. Roger Chillingworth" and begins seeking out her paramour.

The physician eventually murders a male settler leaving Hester's home and scalps him in an effort to implicate Algonquian warriors. Infuriated by this atrocity, the colonists declare war on the Indians and Roger, distraught by the severe consequences of his action, promptly commits suicide. Hester is nearly hanged with other undesirables in the ensuing outrage, but Dimmesdale saves her neck by confessing that he is the father of her child. As he takes her place on the gallows, the Algonquian attack Massachusetts Bay; both sides sustain heavy casualties. The Puritans are more concerned with concealing the conflict from England than harassing Hester any further; she finally abandons her scarlet letter and departs with Dimmesdale for Carolina.

The story is entitled ''The Wandering Jew'', but the figure of the Wandering Jew himself plays a minimal role. The prologue of the text describes two figures who cry out to each other across the Bering Straits. One is the Wandering Jew, the other his sister, Hérodiade. The Wandering Jew also represents the cholera epidemic— wherever he goes, cholera follows in his wake.

The Wandering Jew and Hérodiade are condemned to wander the earth until the entire Rennepont family has disappeared from the earth. The connection is that the descendants of the sister are also the descendants of Marius de Rennepont, Huguenots persecuted under Louis XIV by the Jesuits. The brother and sister are compelled to protect this very family from all harm. After this first introduction, the two appear only very rarely.

The Rennepont family is unaware that these protective ''éminences grises'' exist, but they benefit from their protection in various ways, be it by being saved from scalping by the Native Americans, or from languishing in prison.

The Rennepont family lost its position and most of its wealth during the French persecution of the Protestants (after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685). A small fortune was given to a Jewish banker immediately before the Renneponts dispersed all over Europe and Asia, and this fortune has grown into a huge sum, through the miracle of compound interest. In 1682, the Rennepont family members each got a bronze medal telling them to meet back in Paris 150 years later, at which time the fortune will be divided among the surviving members. So much time has passed, however, that almost none of the still-living Renneponts have any idea why they need to come to Paris. They nevertheless set out from India, Siberia, America, France, and elsewhere to make their way to rue Saint-François No. 3 in Paris by 13 February 1832.

The members of the family are not only dispersed all over the world, but also all over the social ladder, as laborers, factory owners, princes (in India!) and the independently wealthy.

The Jesuits have heard of this huge fortune and want to get it for themselves. Two Jesuits (Rodin and Père d'Aigrigny) and their many recruited accomplices are in charge of obtaining the money for the Society of Jesus and dispossessing the Rennepont family. Their plan is to have only the unwitting Gabriel, the Jesuit missionary, show up to claim the fortune. Since he is a monk and can have no possessions of his own, the fortune will go to the wily Jesuits. Gabriel's entry into the order is not accidental – it is his pious mother, manipulated by the Jesuits, who persuaded him to become a Jesuit.

The Jesuits have spies and henchmen all over the world, from the remote Americas to Siberia, and they use them to put obstacles in the paths of the Renneponts as they make their way back to Paris. Moreover, they also spy on each other, demonstrating that they don't even trust each other.

The principal obstacles are as follows: Gabriel Rennepont, a Jesuit missionary in America, encounters no obstacles because he is supposed to collect the fortune. Dagobert, friend of the Rennepont family and guardian of the orphans Rose and Blanche (see below). Has his papers and the medal stolen by Morok, an animal tamer and accomplice of the Jesuits. Also has his horse, Jovial, killed by Morok's panther. Forced to travel on foot without papers and arrested for vagrancy. Freed by Hérodiade. Lured to a false meeting with a notary pretending to have messages from Général Simon (see below). Rose and Blanche, twin Rennepont orphans coming from Siberia. Since they are under Dagobert's protection, they are also arrested and put in jail for vagrancy. Also, they are put in a convent by Dagobert's wife while Dagobert is at the notary meeting. She is made to swear by the Jesuits that she will not tell Dagobert where they are. Général Simon, father of Rose and Blanche, is a Rennepont, unknown to his daughters. Général Simon has been so long exiled from France and his family that he doesn't even know he has daughters. He thinks he has one son. He does not arrive for the meeting, either, although his situation is less clear than that of the others.
Djalma, Indian prince Rennepont, coming from the Far East. In Java, Djalma is accused of belonging to a murderous sect called the “Etrangleurs,” who closely resemble the Thuggee. One of the Jesuit henchmen tattoos Djalma with the Etrangleur tattoo on the inside of his arm while he is asleep. Djalma tries to prove that he is not an Etrangleur, but because of the tattoo is thrown in jail. This causes him to miss the boat to Paris. After finally arriving in Paris, he is poisoned by Farighea (whom he had thought was his friend), so that he goes into a prolonged sleep. The Jesuits then kidnap him. Jacques Rennepont, Parisian workman. He was given papers by his father that explain his fortune, but since he doesn't know how to read or write, he is unable to use them. The Jesuits send a money lender to him; when he cannot repay the loan, he is thrown into debtors' prison. François Hardy, progressive factory owner, Paris. He is betrayed by his best friend who, under the influence of Père d'Aigrigny, lures Hardy to central France, ensuring that he will not arrive on 13 February. *Adrienne de Cardoville, independently wealthy, Paris. Lives with her aunt, who is a former mistress of father d'Aigrigny. The aunt, the abbot Aigrigny, and a Jesuit doctor Baleinier connive to put Adrienne in an insane asylum that happens to be next to the convent where Rose and Blanche are trapped.

Only Gabriel shows up to the meeting, but at the last minute Hérodiade makes an appearance. Gabriel recognizes her from when she rescued him in the Americas. Hérodiade goes to a drawer and pulls out a codicil that explains that the parties have three and a half months from 13 February to present themselves. Upon this unexpected turn of events the Père d'Aigrigny is fired, and Rodin replaces him. He decides to take more drastic action by using cholera to annihilate some of the Rennepont family. He maneuvers Rose, Blanche, and Jacques in front of the cholera epidemic and thereby rids himself of them.

With François Hardy, Rodin shows him how Hardy's best friend had betrayed him. He also arranges for Hardy's mistress to leave for the Americas, and has Hardy's treasured factory burn to the ground (all this on the same day). Hardy takes refuge among the Jesuits, who persuade him to enter their order.

Djalma falls in love with Adrienne, so the Jesuits use his passion to destroy him: they make Djalma think that Adrienne has been unfaithful, and he poisons himself. But he dies slowly and drinks only half the bottle, so there's plenty of time for Adrienne to find out what he's done and poison herself, too. ( c.f. Romeo and Juliet).

On the day of the second meeting, none of the Renneponts show up (Gabriel having quit the Jesuits), and Rodin alone presents himself. But Samuel, the guardian of the house, has realized the injustices that have taken place. He brings the coffins of all the Renneponts back to show Rodin his wickedness, and he burns the testament that would have given Rodin access to the money.

Gabriel and Hardy die as a matter of course, which means that the Wandering Jew and Hérodiade can finally rest in peace. The last pages of the novel recount their final "death," which they joyfully encounter. It is not clear what finally happens to the vast fortune that was never claimed.

The story begins on a small island off the coast of Washington called Clam Island. The central character, Ethan Feld, is on one of the island's baseball teams despite being terrible at the game. He encounters a gracious werefox, Cutbelly, who explains the Lodgepole, a giant tree connecting all worlds, to the ignorant Ethan. Cutbelly explains that Coyote is planning to destroy the Lodgepole, an event called "Ragged Rock", by destroying Murmury Well. He takes Ethan to the Summerlands where they meet small Indian-looking people called ferishers. Coyote captures Ethan's father and forces him to create another batch of 'picofiber' to form the hose with which he is going to poison Murmury Well. Ethan enters the Summerlands with fellow baseball team members Thor and Jennifer T. Rideout, in pursuit of his father and to prevent Ragged Rock. On their travels through the Summerlands, the three assemble a baseball team and play their way across the land, meeting players from legend and literature, and a couple from their own world.

''The Shadow Out of Time'' indirectly tells of the Great Race of Yith, an extraterrestrial species with the ability to travel through space and time. The Yithians accomplish this by switching bodies with hosts from the intended time and place. The story implies that the effect, when seen from the outside, is similar to spiritual possession. The Yithians' original purpose was to study the history of various times and places, and they have amassed a "library city" that is filled with the past and future history of multiple races, including humans. Ultimately the Yithians use their ability to escape the destruction of their planet in another galaxy by switching bodies with a race of cone-shaped plant beings who lived 150 million years ago on Earth. The cone-shaped entities (subsequently also known as the Great Race of Yith) lived in their vast library city in what would later become Australia's Great Sandy Desert ( ).

The story is told through the eyes of Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee, an American living in the first decade of the 20th century, who is "possessed" by a Yithian. He fears he is losing his mind when he unaccountably sees strange vistas of other worlds and of the Yithian library city. He also feels himself being led about by these creatures and experiences how they live. When he is returned to his own body, he finds that those around him have judged him insane due to the actions of the Yithian that possessed his body. While he was experiencing a Yithian existence in Earth's ancient past, the Yithian occupying his body was experiencing a human one in the present day.

The narrator at first believes his episode and subsequent dreams to be the product of some kind of mental illness. His initial relief at discovering other cases like his throughout history is withered when he discovers that the other cases are too similar to his own to be without a connection. The narrator's dreams become more vivid, and he becomes obsessed with archaeology and ancient manuscripts (as was the Yithian) – but lacks any sort of proof that would demonstrate whether he was (or is) simply mad.

He discovers that the Yithians on Earth died out eons ago (their civilization destroyed by a rival, utterly alien pre-human race described as "half-polypous" creatures) but the Yithian minds will inhabit new bodies on Earth after humanity is long gone. His tenuously held sanity is challenged when he discovers the proof he seeks—and that not only do remains of the Yithians' past civilization still exist on Earth; but also still remaining are those who destroyed them. It is also mentioned that the current appearance of the Yithians is not the original; but one acquired during a previous mass-projection of the minds of their race when disaster beckoned, leaving the original inhabitants to die in the bodies of the Yithians.

In June 2000, Henry Hart, a gay man, successful artist living in New York, receives a call from his old friend Grace Cornwell, a kindergarten teacher in his hometown, who tells him that his grandfather Sam had a stroke. Although his assistant, Mary Bishop, wants him to stay, Henry feels himself bound to visit and help his ailing grandfather. He jumps on the next plane to his hometown, Big Eden, Montana, giving up his new home and career. Stranded in his place of birth Henry is confronted by the changes of time. Though Sam is becoming better, Henry has the feeling that he should stay with his helpless grandfather because he himself fears becoming an orphan. While accompanying Sam to church every Sunday he involuntarily becomes part of the town life and gossip again. The town-folks somehow always knew about his sexuality, but never mentioned it publicly. Further complicating the situation is the presence of his former high-school crush Dean Stewart, who moved back in town a week earlier. Dean has just split up from his wife and has returned to Big Eden with his kids Ben and Andrew. This leaves Henry trying to work out his unresolved feelings for Dean.

Grace set up a support system for both Henry and Sam. Included is widow Thayer and Pike Dexter, a very shy Native American. Pike is the town's general-store owner, and the Widow Thayer is center of gossip and society in Big Eden. She attempts several times to hook up Henry with different people, first women, but after a few "social gatherings" she realizes her error, and invites men instead. While all this is going on the Widow Thayer cooks for grandfather and grandson daily, and Pike takes it over to their house and helps by setting the table. After a few weeks Pike realizes that the food is inappropriate, and learns how to cook healthy dishes. He keeps this secret, telling neither the Harts nor Thayer, exchanging Thayer's dinner with his own delicious meals. He also orders the special supplies Henry needs so he can continue painting up in Big Eden. Pike, who wants "things to be nice for Henry", has obviously fallen in love with him too.

Meanwhile, Dean is around Henry a lot, helping him build a ramp for Sam's wheelchair, and taking Henry dancing and to the mountains. With all of his efforts, he tries to show Henry his affection and feelings, but Dean eventually tells Henry that he couldn't live together with him.

Time passes and Sam becomes worse. One night, Henry arrives at home and finds Pike there, looking forlorn. Pike lets Henry know that Sam has died. The town falls into mourning at Sam's death. He built every house in town, and was closely connected to each and every one. Though Dean comforts Henry, Pike does the opposite by secluding himself. A funeral is held for Sam, where everyone shows up except for Pike.

Henry, now completely alone, realizes that Pike meant something to him. Pike had shared a "promised dinner together" with him one night where he fascinated Henry by his knowledge of stars and mystical stories. That upsets Henry even more because he thought Sam meant something to Pike too. They both don't talk to each other until the day Henry is leaving for New York. In the very last minute Pike accepts his love for Henry and tries to catch him at the airport, but he is too late. On his way home, Pike sees Sam's truck in front of his store, not expecting Henry to be waiting for him. The two men become a happy couple.

A southern man, Jesse Banks Rhodes (Harry Connick, Jr.), is released from a prison work camp in Louisiana, 1936, after being wrongly imprisoned for eleven years. He heads back to Georgia, only to find that most people are keen to keep him down. He begins working for a plantation owner (Walton Goggins) and rents a shed from a farmer (Pete Postlethwaite) with two daughters (Patricia Clarkson and Vinessa Shaw). After witnessing the murder of a black worker at the hands of a drunken white racist boss, Jesse is forced to prove his innocence, so injustice will not happen again.

Billy Heywood, the 12-year-old son of widowed Jenny, is a Little League Baseball player. Billy's paternal grandfather, Thomas Heywood, owns the Minnesota Twins.

When Thomas dies, Billy learns that he is now the owner of the Twins. Thomas' will specifies that the team executives are to help Billy until he is old enough to run the team by himself.

Billy quickly runs afoul of the team manager, George O'Farrell. Billy believes O'Farrell is too hard on the players, while O'Farrell despises the idea of working for a kid. After O'Farrell repeatedly insults Billy, Billy fires him.

With no other managers willing to work for a kid, and with his grade-school summer break starting in two days, the baseball-savvy Billy decides to name himself the new manager. He reaches out to the Commissioner of Baseball, who approves after consulting with Jenny.

The players are very skeptical, but Billy promises that if he does not improve the team's last-place position in the standings within a few weeks, he will resign. The team quickly moves up to division race contention. Unfortunately, not all is going smoothly for Billy, as his friend and star first baseman Lou Collins takes a romantic interest in Jenny.

Billy picks up bad habits on the road, and is even ejected from a game and given a one-game "suspension" by his mother for swearing at an umpire because of a call he didn't like. He is troubled when he must release his personal favorite Twins player, Jerry Johnson, who is in the twilight of his career; Billy's awkward handling of the situation ends up making Jerry feel even worse.

The pressures of managing the team wear Billy down and consume his free time. Billy's friends do not like how his managerial responsibilities are keeping him away from being with them. Even when he's physically present (as opposed to on the road with the team), he is typically distracted by team business.

After Jenny spends her birthday with Lou rather than Billy, Billy uses Lou's minor batting-slump as an excuse to bench him, sending the Twins into a losing skid. Billy later tells his mom that he's tired of being a "grown-up" and decides to quit as manager after the end of the season, even reinstating Lou to starter on first base.

With four games left in the season, the Twins trail the Seattle Mariners by four games in the wild card race. The Twins win their last four while the Mariners lose four straight, forcing a One-game playoff at the Twins' Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome to determine who advances to the postseason.

The two teams trade three-run home runs during the course of the game, and extra innings are required. The Mariners eventually take the lead. Down to their final out, and Lou about to go up to bat, he tells Billy that he has asked Jenny to marry him, and that her reply was "Ask Billy". With a runner on base, Billy says if Lou hits the game-winning homer he will give his blessing, but quickly relents and gives Lou his consent whether or not he hits a homer. Facing Randy Johnson, Lou hits a long fly ball to center field, but Ken Griffey Jr. makes a leaping catch at the wall to rob Lou of a homer and end the game.

With their season over, Billy tells the players he is officially stepping down as manager, with pitching coach Mac MacNally taking his place, as well as bringing back Jerry Johnson to be the third base coach and new hitting instructor. The players object to losing Billy, but he reminds the team that he will still be present as the owner, and says that he might come back as manager if junior high doesn't work out. When being informed that none of the fans have left, Billy, along with the rest of the team, returns to the field to receive a standing ovation.

A homeless man, Nate Bledsoe, snatches a pair of shoes from Dane, the target of a mob hit dumped in an alley. Two of his homeless associates try to con him out of the plainly expensive shoes, to no avail. Wearing the shoes infuses him with the personality and memories of the victim; and he continues his life as Dane. Nate stops by the home of the victim’s girlfriend, who recognizes his manner but remains confused by his appearance. Nate then goes to a bar to confront Dagget, the boss who had him killed. Dagget is at first unsettled, but then realizes who Nate is and has him gunned down. Before he dies, he promises, "I'll be back, Bernie, and I'll keep coming back… again, and again." The body (with shoes) is dumped in the same place as the original victim. A homeless man finds the corpse, takes the shoes, and puts them on and the cycle begins anew.

Molly Thompson and Carl Peterson are preparing for their wedding day in Hawaii, until Carl's friend Neil interrupts to say that Randolph Dupree got lost. They drive off together to pick up Dupree, who appeared to have hitched a ride with a light plane after landing on the wrong island. A day before the wedding, Molly's father, Bob Thompson, who is also CEO of the company that Carl works for, makes a toast with rude jokes about Carl, foreshadowing a conflict between the two. Later at a pre-celebration at a bar, Carl neglects Dupree to be with Molly. Carl and Dupree later make up on the beach, as Dupree apologizes for laughing at Bob's jokes. Carl and Molly get married. When Carl returns to work, he is surprised to find that Bob has promoted him to be in charge of a design he proposed, though it had been altered somewhat.

Bob makes absurd requests which proceed to get worse, starting with his drastic reimagining of Carl's new architecture project and that Carl get a vasectomy to prevent any future children with Molly. Before returning home to celebrate his promotion with Molly, Carl stops by the bar, where he finds Neil and Dupree. After Neil leaves, Dupree reveals that he has financial problems, such as being evicted from his home and losing his job and car. Carl and Molly take Dupree into their home, though clearly they are frustrated as he is disruptive and messy. Molly sets up Dupree with a woman at her work, a primary school, who is a Mormon librarian. Dupree agrees, though Molly is shocked to find them having sex when she comes home from dinner. Romantic candles burn down the front of the living room, and Dupree is kicked out.

Meanwhile, Carl is being continually stressed out from work, though he and Molly find time to go out for dinner. On the way back they find Dupree sitting on a bench in heavy rain with his belongings. Dupree reveals that the librarian had just dumped him. Feeling pity, Molly insists they take him back in. Dupree apologizes for being disruptive and agrees to mend his ways. The next day, Dupree makes amends, refurbishing the living room, and doing Carl's thank-you letters, as well as making friends with kids from the block. Dupree cooks a large dinner for Molly and Carl, though Carl is late again, so Molly and Dupree start without him. When Carl finally shows up, he is a little jealous that they were having dinner together, and have a fight. Carl kicks Dupree out, suspecting an affair, which shocks Dupree. The following night, Bob comes over for dinner. Dupree attempts to sneak back in to their home to get some of his belongings, but fails and falls off the roof. He is found outside and is invited in for dinner.

After Bob takes a liking to Dupree and asks him to go fishing with him, it enrages Carl because - even though he doesn't like fishing - it's Bob's way of approving someone. Carl's fury boils over as he then imagines Dupree hanging out with Bob and engaging in sex with Molly, causing Carl to jump across the table and attempting to strangle Dupree; Bob hits Carl over the head with a candlestick shortly after. After returning from the hospital with a neck brace, Dupree and Molly confront Bob about what he really thinks of Carl. The next morning, Dupree gets all the local kids to search for Carl. Dupree eventually finds Carl in the bar, and convinces him to chase after Molly. Dupree helps Carl break into Bob's office and confront him while Dupree himself distracts and evades a Samoan guard. Carl and Bob finally reach an understanding and Bob admits to his agenda of mistreatment. Dupree and Carl return to the house, where Carl and Molly reunite, Carl apologizing, and agree to work it all out. Glad that he did his job, Dupree celebrates by leaping into the air with joy, until he falls to ground.

All turns out well, with Dupree becoming a motivational speaker, Carl and Molly spending more time with each other, and Bob accepting Carl as family. In a post-credits scene, famed cyclist Lance Armstrong is seen reading Dupree's motivation book, ''7 Different Kinds of Smoke: Living, Loving, and Finding your Inner "-ness"''.

On a remote island, the beautiful vampire Countess Nadine Carody (Soledad Miranda) lures unwary victims with her seductive nightclub act and sets her sights on Linda (Ewa Strömberg). Linda begins dreaming about Nadine and seeks her home on an island. She is interrupted by Memmet (Jesús Franco), who warns her not to go to the island. Linda follows Memmet to his chamber, where she walks in on him torturing a young woman. She escapes this encounter and proceeds to the island where Linda meets Nadine. The two go swimming, and Nadine notes that the home they are staying at used to belong to Count Dracula. After Linda begins to feel dizzy from drinking wine, Nadine takes her to a room where the two have sex, and Nadine draws blood from Linda's neck. Linda later finds Nadine motionless in a swimming pool and faints.

The next day, Agra (Heidrun Kussin) appears in mental distress at a hospital, where she claims to have visions of Nadine. She is under Dr. Seward's (Dennis Price) care, who then treats his new patient, Linda, who does not have any memory of what she encountered with Nadine. At Nadine's home, she appears alive and recounts to her servant Morpho (José Martínez Blanco) how she became a vampire and her obsession with Linda, who she wishes to become a vampire. Nadine uses her powers to contact Linda to return to her island, where the two drink blood and have sex. On her return to the hospital, Dr. Seward informs Linda that to remove herself from the vampire's curse she must split the vampire's head with an axe or pierce it with a pole.

Memmet then kidnaps Linda, and her boyfriend Omar (Andrés Monales) begins to search for her. Nadine later arrives at the asylum to have Linda return with her, where she meets Dr. Seward. Dr. Seward admits that he only attempted to help Linda to draw Nadine to him so he could become a vampire. Nadine refuses and has Morpho kill him. As Omar searches for Linda, she is told by Memmet that all women, including his wife Arga, who return from the island become insane, which has driven him to kill various women around the island. Linda manages to kill Memmet with a saw and escapes to find Nadine. She finds Nadine at her home near death, desperate for blood to survive. Linda ignores Nadine's plea, bites her neck, and stabs her with a pole through her left eye. Morpho commits suicide, and Linda is found by Omar, who tries to convince her that the whole experience was a dream.

After the collapse of his massive Qintex business empire, Christopher Skase flees to the Spanish Island of Majorca, leaving angry creditors high and dry. Enter Peter Dellasandro, a fast-talking con man and failed entrepreneur who sees the "Chase For Skase" as a potential gold mine. Dellasandro convinces the Creditors Board that he's the only man with the ability and recklessness to undertake the task demanded by his country: the kidnapping of Christopher Skase. But not everyone is convinced, especially Danny D'Amato, the fiery son of the Creditors Chairman. Suspicious of Dellasandro, the two form an uneasy alliance as Dellasandro sets out to recruit the ego-centric TV host Eric Carney into his scheme, until seasoned mercenary Mitch Vendieks warns Dellasandro that Carney is planning a kidnap plot of his own. Determined to beat Carney to the punch, Dellasandro and Danny join forces with Mitch to form their own team, recruiting the inept Sean Knight, mendacious getaway driver Dave Phibbs and cynical intelligence ace Rupert Wingate, who soon discovers that Skase is devising a deadly scheme to resurrect his business empire across Europe. With time running out, Dellasandro and the boys head for Majorca and track Skase to his sprawling mansion, confronting the devious businessman. The team is outnumbered by Skase's Security Guards and thus cannot manage to kidnap him. However, they make out with several computer discs which contain sensitive documents revealing Skase's plan to "bust out" Qintex. The information at hand is enough evidence for the Australian Government to make compensation payments to the Qintex Creditors Boardmembers.

In 1958, on the verge of the Merlin Law that makes brothels illegal, Mimma (Debora Caprioglio), a young country girl, comes to town and decides to work as a prostitute in order to help her fiancé get the money to start their own business, and is given the name Paprika at Madame Collette's (Martine Brochard) house. Once her fiancé betrays her, Mimma gives up her original ambitions and decides to pursue a career as a prostitute. In the process, she loses any sense of self-confidence and self-respect, but eventually she finds redemption, wealth, and her one true love.

The book begins in the 1920s on the farm of Henry and Sarah Scruggs. Henry is a fanatically religious man who believes that people are vile and base, and that sex—even marital sex—is repulsive and sinful. Sarah, who is much younger than Henry, disagrees. One day a traveling salesman by the name of Jimmy Connors shows up at the farm, telling them that his car broke down. Feeling unusually hospitable, Henry gives the man some dinner and lets him sleep in the barn for the night. After she thinks that her husband has fallen asleep, Sarah sneaks out to the barn and is seduced by Connors. Unfortunately for the both of them, Henry catches them in the act and knocks Connors unconscious. When he awakens he finds himself chained in Henry's basement. Henry tells him that he has murdered Sarah and that he plans on keeping him prisoner for "a long time". Connors is held captive for over twenty years, and eventually the constant abuse, the grotesque food, and the horror of his situation drive him to become more beast than man. He loses all memory of who he once was and is simply an animal content to live its life in bondage. But Henry dies and the creature escapes from its prison into the surrounding forest in order to avoid starvation.

It finds its way close to the home of Eli and Carolyn MacCleary, a young married couple. One night when Eli is at work Carolyn ventures outside and is knocked unconscious by the creature, which was hunting for food and became frightened at her approach. Some long-forgotten instinct awakens in the beast and it rapes her. After it has finished it leaves her alone in the forest to resume its search for food. It tries to catch a snake but is bitten and dies from the serpent's venom.

Carolyn becomes pregnant from the attack, but is unaware of her rape and so assumes that the child is her husband's. The baby is born and they name him Michael. Michael is an affectionate child, but they notice strange things about him. Animals have a bizarre reaction to him, and he is intensely claustrophobic. As he begins to grow, his parents discover that when night falls a strange transformation overcomes him, as if his entire personality has changed. He slips into trances and prowls the forest, killing the animals that he comes across. Eli boards up his windows to prevent him from escaping at night, and soon thereafter Michael's "spells" seem to relent...until he hits puberty, at least.

As a teenager Michael falls in love with a girl he knows from school, but he is also afraid of hurting her because of his transformations. However, he lets his guard down and even decides that he wants to marry her. Before they can leave together, though, he kills a bully at school who tried to attack him. Wanting to get out of town as soon as possible, he and his girlfriend drive to her house to pick up some of her things. As it turns out, her house used to be the home of Henry Scruggs, and from the moment he steps in the door the beast within him (which consists of the emotions, senses, and savage hungers of the creature that was his biological father) springs to the surface and he is left violently insane. Instead of confining him in a mental institution, his parents decide to keep him in the house's cellar, hoping for the day that he might recover.

After being shot down from the World Trade Center, Kong is revealed to be still alive and is kept in a coma for about 10 years at the Atlantic Institute, under the care of surgeon Dr. Amy Franklin. In order to save Kong's life, Dr. Franklin must perform a heart transplant and give Kong a computer-monitored artificial heart. However, he has lost so much blood that a transfusion is badly needed, and to complicate matters, Franklin says there is no species of ape or other animal whose blood type matches Kong's.

Enter Hank "Mitch" Mitchell, adventurer and Franklin's eventual love interest, who travels to Borneo (as he theorizes that Borneo and the island from the first film were once part of the same landmass) and captures a giant female ape who is dubbed "Lady Kong". Mitchell brings her to the institute to use her blood for King Kong's operation. The transfusion and the heart transplant are a success, but Kong escapes along with Lady Kong.

Archie Nevitt, an insane army lieutenant colonel, is called in with his men to hunt down and kill the two apes. Lady Kong is captured alive by Nevitt's troops and imprisoned; Kong falls from a cliff and is presumed dead. However, as Franklin and Mitchell soon discover, Kong's artificial heart is beginning to give out, forcing them to attempt a jailbreak. They discover that Lady Kong is pregnant with Kong's offspring. The jailbreak is successful thanks to Kong, who has survived the fall and breaks his mate out. After being followed, attacked, and shot by the military, Kong kills Lt. Col Nevitt and dies slowly near a military base on a farm where Lady Kong gives birth to an infant son. Kong reaches out to touch his son just before dying. Having returned to Borneo, Lady Kong lives peacefully with her son in the jungle.

Nancy, Bess, and George encounter a troublesome stray terrier on their way to the opening festivities of a new park and recreation complex in River Heights. The terrier grabs the handbag of one of the guest speakers and loses it in a nearby pond. Nancy helps groundskeepers retrieve the handbag and uses the notes found inside to prompt the nervous speaker during her address. She also finds a mysterious personal ad in the handbag. In a casual observation, the "clubwoman," a Mrs. Owen, tells Nancy about a statue on a deserted seaside estate. The statue, known as "The Whispering Girl," bears an uncanny resemblance to Nancy. As it turns out, Nancy is bound for that very area with her father and her friends Bess and George.

Reluctantly, Nancy decides to keep the terrier for a little while, dubbing him Togo (after a famous Alaskan husky, who in turn was named after a Japanese admiral). Togo follows her to the train station, and she has no choice but to bring him to Sea Cliff with her. On the train, the girls observe a strange elderly woman identified as a Miss Morse, and they suspect a man who has just approached the woman is trying to swindle her.

Once in Sea Cliff, the girls hunt for the statue that resembles Nancy – and for Miss Morse, who has excited Nancy's curiosity and protectiveness. Further mysterious complications occur when Miss Morse acknowledges that she is being swindled but dismisses Nancy and when Nancy happens to overhear the crook from the train boasting about his conquest. There are several encounters with quirky but ultimately helpful older men. A seaplane accident leads Nancy to rescue a client of her father who is then linked both to Mrs. Owen and to the mysterious Miss Morse. In the long climactic sequence of the story, Nancy hides behind the statue and uses her voice to make the statue appear to speak to the con man from the train. She is also captured and tied up, and as she confronts one of the novel's many miscreants, the cliffside mansion falls into the ocean, necessitating another dramatic rescue.

This edition of the novel is considered one of the most ragged, overpopulated, and coincidence-heavy of the series. It does, however, introduce the enduringly popular Togo, who becomes a mainstay in the series thereafter. The book is full of atypically harsh episodes, including a man who beats Togo cruelly, apparent elder and child abuse, and some saucy behavior by Nancy herself. It is perhaps the book most extensively overhauled for the reissue.

Lucien de Rubempré and the self-proclaimed abbey Carlos Herrera (Vautrin) have made a pact, in which Lucien will arrive at success in Paris if he agrees to follow Vautrin's instructions blindly. Esther van Gobseck throws a wrench into Vautrin's best-laid plans, however, because Lucien falls in love with her and she with him. Instead of forcing Lucien to abandon her, he allows Lucien this secret affair, but also makes good use of it. For four years, Esther remains locked away in a house in Paris, taking walks only at night. One night, however, the incredibly rich banker Baron de Nucingen spots her and falls deeply in love with her. When Vautrin realizes that Nucingen's obsession is with Esther, he decides to use her power as a tool to help advance Lucien by extrapolating the maximum amount of money from the Baron as possible.

The plan is the following: Vautrin and Lucien are 60,000 francs in debt because of the lifestyle that Lucien has had to maintain. They also need one million francs to buy the old Rubempré land back, so that Lucien can marry Clotilde, the rich but ugly daughter of the Grandlieus.

Things don't work out as smoothly as Vautrin would have liked, however, because Esther commits suicide after giving herself to Nucingen for the first and only time (after making him wait for months). Since the police have already been suspicious of Vautrin and Lucien, they arrest the two on suspicion of murder over the suicide. This turn of events is particularly tragic because it turns out that only hours before, Esther had actually inherited a huge amount of money from an estranged family member. If only she had held on, she could have married Lucien herself.

Lucien, ever the poet, doesn't do well in prison. Although Vautrin actually manages to fool his interrogators into believing that he might be Carlos Herrera, a priest on a secret mission for the Spanish king, Lucien succumbs easily to the wiles of his interviewer. He tells his interrogator, the judge Camusot, everything, including Vautrin's true identity. Afterwards, he regrets what he has done and hangs himself in his cell.

His suicide, like Esther's, is badly timed. In an effort not to compromise the high society ladies who were involved with him, the justices had arranged to let Lucien go. But when he kills himself, things get more sticky and the maneuverings more desperate. It turns out that Vautrin possesses the very compromising letters sent by these women to Lucien, and he uses them to negotiate his release. He also manages to save and help several of his accomplices along the way, helping them to avoid a death sentence or abject poverty.

At the end of the novel, Vautrin actually becomes a member of the police force before retiring in 1845. The nobility that was so fearful for its reputation moves on to other affairs.

In 1996, Annie is on the train to London to spend the weekend with Hannah, her flatmate when at polytechnic (the Polytechnic of North London) six years earlier. Hannah laments about her alcoholic mother, and Annie talks about her mother's search for a new boyfriend. Annie, who still lives with her mother, admires Hannah's independence. In contrast, Hannah laments being forced to be independent since she was a child.

Back in 1986, Hannah and Claire interview and accept Annie into their flat. Annie and Hannah discuss getting rid of Claire the next year. Hannah and Annie discuss how Hannah hasn't cried since she was eight, when her parents split up. Annie, whose parents also divorced when she was eight, says she cries all the time. The following year, Ricky Burton, a socially awkward stutterer, has temporarily moved in with Hannah and Annie after being kicked out by his landlord. While discussing psychological traits with them in a pub, Ricky's untactful probing angers Hannah. While Ricky visits the Chinese takeaway beneath the flat, Annie and Hannah discuss the argument and how Ricky fancies Annie. In another memory, Ricky drunkenly confesses his love for Annie, but Annie says she's in love with someone else. Ricky leaves and doesn't reappear, so Hannah and Annie travel to his grandmother's home in Hartlepool. She tells them that Ricky has gone out, possibly along the seafront, so they go to look for him there.

In the present, Annie accompanies Hannah as she looks for a flat to buy. One flat is owned by a Mr Evans, whose flat contains a painting of his naked ex-girlfriend and pornographic magazines. Evans hits on Hannah and offers both women alcoholic drinks. They run out of the flat making excuses, and are still laughing as they drive off. At the next flat, Adrian Spinks, an estate agent, meets them. Annie realises he is an old college boyfriend, but Adrian says he doesn't recognise them. In between their conversations, flashbacks show Hannah and Annie's history with Adrian. After meeting him at a club, Hannah takes Adrian home and sleeps with him. The following morning, he walks into Annie's room and tries to chat her up. In other flashbacks, Annie tells Adrian about a recurring sexual fantasy. Later, they kiss and discuss why he split up with his ex-girlfriend: Adrian says he didn't want the commitment, and leaves when Annie asks why.

In the present, Hannah and Annie learn that Adrian is married with a child. At a Chinese restaurant, Annie and Hannah discuss how they have changed since university and wonder what happened to Ricky. Annie says she hadn't stopped thinking about Adrian for ten years. Hannah says she was hurt by the situation back then but said she didn't say anything because she knew that Annie was in love with him. In a flashback, Annie and Hannah cry and hug as they pack, preparing to leave their flat at the end of their four years at university.

At the present-day dinner, Hannah recalls being overwhelmed upon meeting Annie's kind family, as opposed to her own dysfunctional family. They see their old flatmate Claire jogging on Primrose Hill, and discuss the coincidence of seeing two old acquaintances in one afternoon. They decide to visit their old flat, and there spot Ricky sitting on the steps outside the Chinese takeaway, holding a toy elephant. He seems angry and delirious, and tells them he arrived from Hartlepool the previous day. He says the toy is for his son, but the mother won't admit that the child is his. He tells them that his grandmother died, and, when Annie asks where he lives, responds that they don't care. They leave.

In a flashback to their visit to Hartlepool, they find Ricky by the sea. They ask how he is and he shouts and swears at them that he doesn't care. They chase after him and he screams at them to leave him alone.

In the present, they return to the railway station, where they say goodbye to one another.

Meeting Mervyn

Arthur Mervyn is discovered by Dr. Stevens sitting on a bench. Mervyn has yellow fever, and since Dr. Stevens feels pity for him, Mervyn is invited into the Stevens household. After Mervyn gets better, Mr. Wortley comes over to pay Dr. Stevens a visit. He recognizes Mervyn and reacts with extreme displeasure. At first, Dr. Stevens is suspicious of Mervyn behaviour. He demands an explanation for Wortley's reaction. Mervyn begins to tell his story in an effort to clear his name in the eyes of Dr. Stevens. This effort by Mervyn provides the frame and structure for the novel. Nearly three quarters of the book involve recounting Mervyn's adventures up to this moment in time. The rest of the book continues after the storytelling with Mervyn, keeping Dr. Stevens informed either in person or via letters of his continuing adventures, all of which revolve around a tightly knit network of people.

Mervyn's youth

Arthur Mervyn lived with his father and their servant, Betty, on a farm near Philadelphia. Betty, however, married the father and Mervyn could no longer remain in the house without conflict. Arthur leaves and heads toward the city, where he ends up without any money left, as he has lost it all on the way there.

Arrival in the city

Upon arriving in the city he seeks out a friend of his father's, but he never ends up meeting him. Instead he meets a man named Wallace who invites him to stay at his home for the night. Arthur follows Wallace home as Wallace suddenly locks him into a pitch-black room. Realizing that he has been tricked, Arthur tries to escape without being noticed. Before he is able to get out, he overhears a private conversation between the true occupants of his quarters. While Arthur does manage to escape, he leaves behind only his shoes and some open doors and windows. Without any shoes or money left he decides to head home but he is not able to do so because he can't pay the bridge toll. He begins begging for money from a man he meets on the street and is promptly hired by this man.

Welbeck introduced

The man in question is Welbeck, who is a thief and a forger. The encounter will cost Mervyn more than he stood to gain from begging. Welbeck dresses Mervyn in city clothes, introduces him to Clemenza Lodi, a woman he claims is his daughter and tells him that he will start his new work the following week. Mervyn soon discovers that Welbeck is a thief and a seducer (Clemenza is pregnant), putting Mervyn in even more trouble before he escapes and seeks refugee from Susan Hadwin. Mervyn decides to do a favour for Hadwin, by trying to carry Wallace, Hadwin's fiancé, who has been sick with yellow fever, back to town.

Yellow fever epidemic

Mervyn begins to get sick, and fearing a forced trip to the hospital (a death trap), he decides to hide in the old Welbeck mansion. There he discovers none other than Welbeck, who has sneaked back to get the money he left in Father Lodi's book. He is outraged when he finds out that Mervyn has already found it and intends to give it back to Clemenza. Welbeck tells him the money is forged, and Mervyn promptly burns it. Welbeck has a conniption because he lied about the forgery and Mervyn has just destroyed 20,000 pounds. Welbeck leaves Mervyn to die, and Mervyn eventually wanders out into the street to see if he can make it back to the farm. He collapses on the way and is rescued by Dr. Stevens.

Thus ends the narrative up to the encounter with Dr. Stevens. After he gets better, Mervyn insists on returning to the Hadwin farm to make sure everyone is safe. After he leaves, though, he doesn't return for weeks and Dr. Stevens becomes very suspicious that Mervyn might have escaped. One day, though, he is called to the debtors' prison and discovers upon his arrival none other than Mervyn, who has summoned him there to tend to Welbeck, who lies languishing in the prison (he ultimately dies there). Before he dies, he gives Mervyn a scroll that holds 40,000 pounds or so that belong to Mrs. Maurice but were recovered from Watson's dead body.

Helping Eliza Hadwin

Mervyn continues his narrative, recounting what happened after he left Dr. Stevens. Upon his arrival at Malverton (the Hadwin farm), he discovers that all except for Eliza and Susan have died of yellow fever. An old man watches over them, but he is of little use. Susan dies the same day, unable to recover from the stress of waiting for her fiancé and the disappointment of finding out that Mervyn is not the Wallace she had been waiting for. Mervyn, finding no alternative, buries Susan in the orchard. He then tries to house Eliza at her neighbor's farm, but the neighbor refuses her. They set out in the freezing weather and almost die, only to be saved by Mr. Curling.

Mr. Curling agrees to take Eliza in until a better situation can be found for her (and her inheritance gets taken care of). Philip Hadwin, Eliza's uncle, turns out to be an awful man who refuses Eliza the inheritance she could have from the farm because Eliza's father took out a mortgage on the farm that belongs to Philip Hadwin. Mervyn returns to the city to help Clemenza Lodi, now living in the house of Mrs. Villars, a known prostitute. When he forces his way into the Villars country home, he discovers Clemenza on the third floor of the house, mourning her dying baby. He also encounters Mrs. Fielding, a young widow who had no idea her friends were prostitutes. Mervyn goes to Philadelphia to ask Mrs. Wentworth to house Clemenza Lodi and rescue her from her current situation. Mrs. Wentworth refuses, but ultimately agrees to house her if Mrs. Fielding will bear part of the cost.

Conclusion

Mervyn "rescues" Eliza from boredom by placing her with Mrs. Fielding. He quickly realizes that he is in love with Mrs. Fielding. This realization is a shock to him that he actually goes out to the house in the country where Mrs. Fielding is staying and stares up at her window at night. She is frightened, recognizes him, and tells him to see her in the city. The next day they finally admit their feelings to each other and agree to marry.

Jane Austen is a younger daughter of the Reverend George Austen and his wife, who have yet to find a suitable husband for Jane. She aspires to be a writer, to the dismay of her mother and proud delight of her father.

Thomas Lefroy is a promising lawyer with a bad reputation, which he describes as "typical" for people in the profession, and is sent to live in the country by his uncle to calm him down. There he makes a terrible first impression upon meeting Jane, when he nearly falls asleep while she gives a reading of her work. Overhearing his subsequent criticism, Jane cannot stand the arrogant Irishman. Meanwhile, she turns down the affections of other men, including Mr. Wisley, the nephew and heir of the wealthy Lady Gresham. Wisley proposes but Jane ultimately rejects him due to her lack of affection for him. The mischievous Tom encounters Jane again; they argue but increasingly take interest in each other and Tom demonstrates that he takes Jane's literary aspirations seriously. In time they fall in love.

Tom, Jane, her brother Henry and Jane's rich widowed cousin, Eliza, Comtesse de Feullide, conspire to receive an invitation from Tom's uncle and benefactor, the Lord Chief Judge Langlois, for the rich "Madame La Comtesse" and her friends. This visit to London is meant to be a short break in their journey to see Jane's brother, Edward, and would allow Judge Langlois to get to know Jane and give a blessing for their marriage.

Full of hope, Jane cannot sleep during the night at the Judge's place. In a flow of inspiration, she then begins the writing of ''First Impressions'', the manuscript that will become ''Pride and Prejudice''. However, Judge Langlois receives a letter informing him of the genteel poverty of Jane's family and he refuses to give Tom his blessing, declaring that he would wish Tom to be the whoremonger he had been rather than allow him to live in poverty because of a bad marriage. Tom tells Jane that he cannot marry her and she is crushed, not knowing that Tom has a legitimate reason; his family depends on him financially.

Jane returns home and soon learns that Tom has become engaged to someone else at the arrangement of his family. Cassandra learns that her fiancé, Robert Fowle, has died of Yellow Fever while stationed abroad. Then Jane accepts the marriage proposal of Mr. Wisley, who had not lost hope that she would change her mind. Later, Tom realises he cannot live without Jane and returns, asking Jane to run away with him, for "what value will there be in life, if we are not together?" Jane agrees, and they leave, with only Jane's sister Cassandra knowing they plan to marry in secret.

On the way, Jane stumbles upon a letter from Tom's mother, and realises his situation: he sends money he receives from his uncle back to his parents and siblings, and his family cannot survive without it. She tells Tom that they cannot elope, not with so many people depending upon him. He insists that he and Jane must marry and tells her he will earn money, but Jane tells him that it will not be enough; he will never be able to make enough money to support his dependants with a High Court judge (his uncle) as an enemy and with a penniless wife. Distraught, Tom asks her if she loves him, and she replies, "Yes, but if our love destroys your family, then it will destroy itself, in a long, slow degradation of guilt and regret and blame."

Jane returns home and receives a proposal from John Warren. She declines, and suddenly accuses him of being the one who wrote to the Judge and denied her chances of happiness. Lady Gresham informs Jane that Mr. Wisley is withdrawing his proposal, but Wisley and Jane talk afterwards and part as friends.

Twenty years later, Jane, now a successful author and by choice unmarried, sees Tom during a gathering. Henry, now married to Eliza, brings Tom to her. Tom introduces his eldest daughter, who admires Jane's novels. Tom's daughter asks Jane to read aloud, but as Jane rarely does so Tom remonstrates with his daughter calling her by name - which is also Jane. Astonished that he named his eldest after her, Jane agrees to her request. The last scene shows Tom's daughter sitting by Jane as she reads aloud from ''Pride and Prejudice'', while Tom watches Jane affectionately. As she concludes, their eyes meet and Tom joins the rest of the company in honouring Jane and her work with applause.

One year ago, King Leo had made and held the Battle of the Beast God tournament in order to see who was worthy enough to challenge and fight against him from within their own given time and opportunity. Nine fighters had entered the tournament upon sight and that each of them had battled against one another from within a strong and relentless manner, but in the end, Sho Hayate had proven to be the strongest warrior and that he had won the tournament while defeating both King Leo and his fake impersonator King Lion from within the finals of the competition. To seek revenge against Hayate and those who caused his humiliating downfall, King Leo has organized a second version of the Battle of the Beast God tournament, but this time, there's a new rule: teams of two people must work together from within this new tournament so that they can either ensure victory or face defeat. The competitors from last year's tournament have learned of King Leo's new tournament and that each of them have decided to join forces with each other on either friendly or temporary terms. With the exception of Carol Stanzack (who decides to skip the tournament in order to continue her gymnastics training) and Nicola Zaza (who's too busy in having to work on his latest scientific project), Hayate and the fighters from the previous tournament have returned for combat and that they're ready to face the latest challenge that's presented to them by King Leo. However, the previous fighters aren't the only ones from within this tournament, as two new challengers have entered into the fray as well and that they have their own reasons in participating from within King Leo's new competition. The gathered fighters must be ready and prepared to not only fight against each other and King Leo from within this tournament, but also, they must deal with an unknown threat that lies directly from within the shadows of this competition as well.

In a distant star system, the Twelve Colonies of Mankind were reaching the end of a thousand-year war with the Cylons, warrior robots created by a reptilian race which expired long ago, presumably destroyed by their own creations. Humanity was ultimately defeated in a sneak attack on their homeworlds by the Cylons, carried out with the help of a human traitor, Baltar (John Colicos). Protected by the last surviving capital warship, a "battlestar" (from "''battle'' ''star''ship"), named ''Galactica'', the survivors fled in available ships. The Commander of the ''Galactica'', Adama (Lorne Greene), led this "rag-tag fugitive fleet" of 220 ships in search of a new home. They began a quest to find the long lost thirteenth tribe of humanity that had settled on a legendary planet called Earth. However, the Cylons continued to pursue them relentlessly across the galaxy.

The main characters include Captain Apollo, a serious Viper spacefighter pilot and the son of commander Adama, and his best friend, Lieutenant Starbuck, a gambler and womanizer.

The era in which this exodus took place is never clearly stated in the series itself. At the start of the series, it is mentioned as being "the seventh millennium of time", although it is unknown when this is in relation to Earth's history. The final aired episode, "The Hand of God", indicates that the original series took place after the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969 as the ''Galactica'' receives a television transmission from Earth showing the landing. The later ''Galactica 1980'' series is expressly set in the year 1980 after a 30-year voyage to Earth.

Larson, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, incorporated many themes from Mormon theology into the shows.

Nick Fox is an undercover reporter who works for nationally syndicated Newspoint. Only Mackey, a hustler, ex-con and Nick's main contact on the street, and Alice West, the paper's editor, know his true identity.

''Clock Tower II'' moves away from the story and setting in the two previous ''Clock Tower'' titles, and therefore was not a numbered title in Japan and is considered a spin-off. In the Japanese release, the game is set in Osaka. This was changed to California for the North American release.

Alyssa Hale is a 17-year-old high school girl who, during the spring of 1999, is on her way to a distant town to visit her father's friend Phillip Tate. Previously, it was discovered that another person resides in Alyssa's soul named Bates. Alyssa underwent intense therapy because she lost control of him. Along the way to Phillip's home, Alyssa looks at her amulet, which she believes has some sort of power over her. As she stares at it, she realizes that it must somehow be related to Bates, as she remembers not having it when she awoke from Bates' invasion of her psyche. Meanwhile, at the house, Philip and his wife Kathryn hear a noise at the door, Kathryn goes to see if it is Ashley. Philip says something about the "Maxwell Curse", before Kathryn screams and he rushes over to see what is happening. When Alyssa arrives at the Tate's residence that night, no one appears to be home. She comes across her cousin's bedroom to find her cousin Ashley decapitated. Her other cousin Stephanie attacks her with a knife and stalks her around the house. She hears a series of odd noises through the home and eventually finds Philip, who requests that she burn a statue related to the Maxwell Curse. Stephanie tries to stop her but Alyssa turns into Bates and stabs her. Alyssa manages to throw the statue into a fireplace but loses consciousness.

She wakes up in a zombie-infested hospital and meets a detective named Alex Corey, who saved Alyssa from the house. She is later overrun by zombies as she tries to escape and faints. When she awakens again, she finds that Alex took her to a pharmaceutical lab. She soon finds a man armed with a hatchet and wearing an oni mask named George Maxwell, who begins to stalk her. She also finds her adoptive father, Allen. He explains that Alyssa is not his daughter, but rather, the daughter of George. The Maxwell Curse states that every few generations, "Cursed Twins" are born into the Maxwell line. To protect their family, they must be buried beneath the Maxwell tree as soon as they are born and left to die. Allen, jealous of George's wealth, dug up the children with Philip to spite him. However, Alyssa's twin had suffocated to death; Alyssa realizes that her twin was Bates, who transplanted his soul into her body. George tries to attack Alyssa, but Allen shoots him. He then requests Alyssa to go, explaining that the building is about to explode. Alyssa escapes and watches the building burn from the hillside. Alyssa mourns her father's death, claiming that she should have died instead.

The series is set in the fictional town of Bradfield, which is assumed to lie within West Yorkshire. It follows the Major Incident Team (MIT) of Bradfield Metropolitan Police's CID and the assistance provided to the detectives by clinical psychologist and serial offender profiler Dr. Tony Hill. All of the main episodes revolve around a serial killer whom Hill helps to track down by means of a profile, based on the killer's actions.

From Series 1 to 3, the MIT is headed by Detective Inspector (Chief Inspector from Series 2) Carol Jordan. The two develop a close relationship, which is further explored in McDermid's novels, in which Jordan is always head of the MIT. In the first episode of Series 4, Jordan is replaced—without real explanation—by Detective Inspector Alex Fielding, who (despite being initially hesitant to accept Tony's support) eventually develops an equally close relationship.

A constant theme is Carol's, and later Alex's, struggle with their senior officers, who are often less trusting of Tony's eccentric methods and far-fetched theories than Carol and Alex. There is also a romantic storyline showing a growing development in Tony's relationships with both Carol and later Alex. Whilst starting as friendships, both detectives begin to develop romantic feelings for Tony, although these feelings never develop into a relationship.

A fishery is seeking court action against a local chemical factory for polluting the water. The mysterious chemical company hires lawyer Jackie Lung to find information that will discredit the fishery. He employs his arms dealer friend, Wong to woo the fishery owner, Miss Yip, to try to convince her to settle out of court.

Lung also brings in goofy inventor and professional criminal, Tung, to bug her apartment. Unfortunately, Wong and Tung are unaware of each other's roles and soon come into confrontation, while Lung tries to maintain the peace.

Wong falls for Miss Yip, whilst Lung woos her cousin, Miss Wen, an environmental scientist who is going to testify on Miss Yip's behalf. The three men inadvertently discover that the chemical company is just a facade for a narcotics empire, ran by Hua Hsien-Wu (Yuen Wah). They soon come up against Hua's thugs, and ultimately infiltrate the factory for a showdown with Hua himself and his henchman - martial arts master.

The story is told by the narrator, Toby Halpert, through a series of expositions detailing the history of the space station in which he lives, nicknamed Heaven.

The history begins with Soviet cosmonaut Olga Tovyevsky, who disappears from radar while en route to Mars shortly after a routine scientific experiment. She returns into space-time two years later, and after being discovered her spacecraft is towed back to Earth orbit to be examined. Tovyevsky is in a catatonic state, and the spacecraft has been sabotaged in an attempt to make it impossible to find and to hide any details of the missing two years. In her hands Tovyevsky has a seashell, the likes of which is unknown in Earth's biosphere. Tovyevsky never regains her sanity.

The Russians send another probe to the same space coordinates Tovyevsky had travelled to. The solo cosmonaut also disappears, at precisely the same point, after performing the same experiment, and returns dead 234 days later. He has committed suicide before anyone can reach him. Further attempts always end the same way; most of the cosmonauts have killed themselves before they can be found, while a very few have attempted to and failed, and are now insane. Attempts to send through unmanned spacecraft all fail, as well, and some manned spacecraft are simply never picked up for reasons unknown.

Presently, the Russians enlist other countries in their search for answers. The process continues and interest wanes as the smartest minds humanity has to offer are destroyed.

Everything changes when a Frenchman returns dead, carrying an iron ring encoded with information that proves to be the "Rosetta Stone for cancer". From that point on the astonishing frequency of the events creates a cargo cult mentality, with line-ups of prospective astronauts ready to take the trip regardless of its inescapable fatal end. The coordinates are the same each time, and referred to as the Highway, Metro, or River by various cultures.

In an effort to learn more, a space station is established near the Highway, designed to be paradise. When capsules arrive with live astronauts they are sent to Heaven in an effort to keep the astronauts alive longer and tease out any additional information available before they eventually kill themselves. Halpert is one of the astronauts who had volunteered to go to the Highway, but he was rejected by whatever is out there. The same fate befell his girlfriend Charmian, who holds the record for keeping one survivor alive for two weeks. Halpert and Charmian's role is to meet returning astronauts, soothe their transition to the station, and allow scientists to analyze their findings.

What information is returned shows that the technologies on the other side of the Highway are ''different'', but not necessarily more advanced. None of what comes back could possibly explain how the Highway works, and it is assumed the same is true for the other races the astronauts apparently meet on the "other side". Halpert likens it to houseflies meeting in an international airport, happy to converse but utterly unaware of where they are or how they got there.

The story is being told as Halpert is being readied to meet a returning female astronaut who is still alive – a "meat shot". While racing to meet the spacecraft, Halpert suffers a massive bout of agoraphobia, called "The Fear", a Lovecraftian sensation of being overwhelmed by the Highway's significance. Forced by electric shocks to enter the capsule, he finds the astronaut recently dead and discovers that she has reprogrammed her robotic surgeon suite to assist her suicide. Diagrams for incredibly powerful molecular switches are scrawled on the walls.

An affluent Parisian couple, Anne and Georges Laurent, discover a videotape left on their property without explanation that shows hours of footage of their residence, implying they are under surveillance. Puzzled about its origin, they debate its purpose, considering whether it might be a practical joke played by friends of their 12-year-old son, Pierrot, or the work of fans of Georges, who hosts a literary television show. A second tape arrives, accompanied by a childlike drawing of a person with blood streaming out of his mouth. Similar drawings are mailed to Georges's workplace and Pierrot's school. Disturbed, the Laurents turn to the French police, who determine the tapes are too harmless to be considered criminal activity. The Laurents host a dinner party that is interrupted by the delivery of another videotape, with a crude drawing of a chicken bleeding at its neck. When Anne discloses the stalking to their friends, Georges puts the tape in the VCR, and finds it shows the estate where he grew up.

Georges begins to have vivid dreams about Majid, a boy he knew in childhood. Majid's Algerian parents worked as farmhands on Georges's family estate but disappeared in the Paris massacre of 1961. Feeling responsible for Majid, Georges's parents intended to adopt him, but the process was never finalised. Suspecting Majid might be responsible for the tapes, Georges visits his ailing mother, who surprisingly professes not to remember Majid well. When the Laurents receive another tape, revealing a low-income housing (HLM) apartment, Georges tells Anne he has a suspect in mind, but will not say who until he can confirm his suspicion. Anne responds with shock at what she sees as his lack of trust.

Following the last tape's clues, Georges locates the apartment off Avenue Lénine in Romainville and finds Majid there. Majid denies knowledge of the tapes or drawing, but Georges does not believe him and threatens him. A hidden camera recorded the conversation with Majid, who breaks down crying after Georges leaves, and tapes of the encounter are sent to Anne and Georges's employer. Georges explains to Anne that he was six when his parents were planning to adopt Majid and that he did not want it to happen; he told lies about Majid, who was sent away. When Pierrot disappears, the Laurents frantically contact the police, who check Majid's apartment and arrest Majid and Majid's son, though they deny involvement in kidnapping. Pierrot returns to his family, having spent time with friends, and hints to Anne that he thinks she is too close to Pierre, a family friend.

Majid calls Georges and asks him to come back to the apartment. When Georges arrives, Majid denies having sent the tapes, says he wanted Georges present, and kills himself by slashing his throat. Georges confesses to Anne that as a boy, he had claimed Majid was coughing up blood and convinced Majid to kill the family's rooster, falsely claiming his father wanted him to. The police confirm the cause of death as suicide, but Majid's son appears at Georges's workplace to confront him. Believing the son is responsible for the tapes, Georges threatens him to cease surveillance, but the son replies he was not involved with the tapes and wanted to know how Georges felt about being responsible for a death. Later, Majid's son converses with Pierrot after school.

Widowed former CIA agent Jack Foster (The Shadow Man) is an enigmatic Fortune 500 business owner, and is the father of an 8-year-old daughter named Amanda. It's the anniversary of the death of Jack's wife, and Jack is taking Amanda to Romania, which is the birthplace of Amanda's mother, who died 5 years ago. But upon arrival at the airport in Bucharest, Romania, a car bomb blows up his CIA agent father-in-law George's limo, and Amanda is kidnapped. In the chaos, Jack reunites with Harry, a former CIA buddy who has mysteriously reappeared after not seeing Jack for about 7 or 8 years. They take off to track Amanda down, but they lose her—and Jack is suspicious of Harry.

At a safe house, Harry leaves Jack locked in a secured room, and sends four men after Jack. Jack kills them, and then he escapes. Outside, Jack forces Harry to get inside of an SUV. Harry explains that it has to do with a biological weapon called MK Ultra. It's a virus that causes the infected person to come down with things like influenza, various forms of cancer, etc. The infected died in 6 months to a year, and the virus is untraceable. George had the formula—he lifted it from the Black Ops section. He was planning on selling it to the highest bidder—the FSB, a new branch of the KGB. And now the FSB thinks George slipped the formula to Jack. Harry tells Jack that the FSB doesn't intend to let Amanda go until they get the formula.

Jack puts a gun to Harry's head, and gives Harry two hours to find Amanda. They go to the U.S. Embassy, where he talks to Ambassador Cochran, who wants him to find Amanda. Outside, two Romanian cops named Seaka and Urich put Jack in a car, and take him to the station. They introduce Jack to a woman named Anya, and Jack recognizes Anya as the woman who kidnapped Amanda. Jack is forced to beat up Seaka and Urich while Anya escapes. Later, Jack goes to a building where he is to meet with Harry, who has two men named Schmitt and Chambers with him. Chambers kills Harry, and Jack kills Chambers and exchanges gunfire with Schmitt, who escapes. At the place where Amanda is being held, Anya and Amanda talk, with Anya explaining that she took Amanda in order to protect her. Anya explains that her husband and daughter died three years ago while she was an intelligence agent in England. Her husband and her daughter were killed by people from her own agency.

Since Anya is a cab driver, Jack has a cab driver take him to Club Lido. Seaka and Urich get wind of it, and decide to send a couple of patrol cars to Club Lido. At the club, Jack sees Anya, and he confronts her in the women's restroom as Seaka, Urich, and the patrol cars arrive. Anya pulls a gun and demands a passport and passage to America in exchange for Amanda. Jack takes Anya to a different room, ties her to a chair, and demands answers. Schmitt arrives at the club and runs the cops off. A man named Jensen enters the room just as Jack hides, and demands to know where Amanda is, and then he wants to know where Jack is. Jensen and one of his men start looking for Jack, while Jensen's other two men stay with Anya. Jack and Anya beat up the two men, and head to Anya's car.

Seaka and Urich go to Anya's apartment, and tear the place apart, finding no one there. After Seaka and Urich leave, Jack and Anya arrive, and see a patrol car outside the building. They go around back. Once inside, Anya grabs some documents, and they ditch the two cops. What Jack and Anya don't know is that Schmitt is working for a corrupt CIA agent named Waters, who wants to sell the MK Ultra to the highest bidder. Seaka and Urich want to get their hands on the MK Ultra for the same reason. And it was Schmitt who oversaw the bombing of George's limo. Jack and Anya lie low for a night at a large house. On the next day, Schmitt and one of his men track down Cyrell, a wheelchair-using man who is watching over Amanda for Anya. Not long after, Seaka and Urich get there, and a few minutes later, Jack and Anya get there.

Jack and Anya go inside and find Cyrell dead. Amanda is not there. But Jack does find Amanda's backpack. Seaka and Urich come in, and Seaka grabs Anya and puts a gun to her head. Seaka tells Jack to give him the MK Ultra, or Anya dies. Jack shoots Seaka and Urich, and Jack and Anya escape. Seaka dies, and Urich calls Jensen and asks for a meeting on the roof of a parking garage. Back at the large house, Jack calls his CIA friend Rogers, who is a hacker. Jack asks Rogers to hack into the MK Ultra project and stop it for good. On the roof of the parking garage, Urich meets with Jensen, the man that Urich and Waters each want to sell the MK Ultra to. Jensen and his man start beating Urich up.

Anya calls Jensen's cell phone number. As part of a plan to set Jensen up, she tells him that Jack is meeting with Waters and Schmitt in the central library. After they hang up, Jensen's man kills Urich. Just as Jack and Anya are leaving the large house, a man in a helicopter opens fire on them. The man is working for Waters. Jack and Anya run back inside and exit out the side door to Anya's cab. As they leave, the helicopter gives chase, and Jack and Anya hide the car in some woods. Jack gets out and fires several shots, causing the helicopter to explode. At the embassy, Jack waits for Ambassador Cochran in her office. Jack tells her to tell Waters to meet with him at the Central Library. At the library, Jack sees Schmitt and Waters.

Jack sits down and tells Waters that Waters won't get the MK Ultra formula until he (Jack) sees Amanda. Waters has one of his men show her to him on a balcony above. Water tells Jack that he has 60 seconds to give up the formula, or Amanda will be thrown off the balcony. All of a sudden, Jack fatally shoots the man who is holding Amanda. Schmitt tries to shoot Anya. Jack grabs Waters' hand, and forces Waters to fatally shoot Schmitt. Jack then fires five shots, killing Waters. As Anya tries to get Amanda to safety, Jensen's two henchmen open fire on Jack. Jack kills one of them, and then confronts Jensen and his other henchman. Jack grabs Jensen's gun hand and causes Jensen to fire two shots, killing the henchman. Then Jack puts Jensen's eyes out, leaving him to die. As Jack leaves, George steps in front of him with a gun.

George, who is the man behind everything, wasn't in the limo when it exploded. Jack kills George by using a martial arts move, a special hit to the chest, that sends George backwards into a wall, and there is blood on the wall as George slumps down. Rogers hacks into the MK Ultra program and puts an end to the project, and Jack is reunited with Amanda. Later, Ambassador Cochran gives Jack a passport to give to Anya so she can go to America. After Jack and Amanda get back to the US, Jack gets Amanda a horse for being so brave in Romania.

Set sometime during the 21st century, the player controls the grandson of the ninja master Joe Musashi, also named Joe, who is on a mission to defeat the minions of Cyber-Zeed, a terrorist organization founded by the remnants of the Zeed organization that the original Joe Musashi destroyed. Joe must fight his way through a series of six stages in order to prevent Cyber-Zeed from launching its stolen stockpiles of plutonium around the world. The stages consist of a construction site, a harbor, a heliport, a jungle, a waterfall, and the enemy's hideout.

Restaurant owner Dylan Ramsey (David Spade) is head-over-heels in love with his new neighbor, a French cellist named Lila (Sophie Marceau). In a desperate attempt to garner her affections, he kidnaps her beloved pet dog and offers to help her find him on a phantom dog hunt. A wrench is thrown in his plans, however, when the dog swallows his best friend's diamond ring, and things get worse for Dylan as Lila's ex-fiancée, Rene (Patrick Bruel), arrives to win her back.

The film begins in an ancient location where a man is cornered by a sorcerer after a knife-throwing accident. The sorcerer transforms the man into a genie and traps him in a lamp as punishment, with the intention that it will be forever.

Two thousand years later, Bernard Bottle, an art dealer for a prestigious firm in London, scores a huge sale and earns his company fifty million pounds. His boss, Charles Pinkworth, congratulates him on the sale, but when Bernard reveals that he promised half of the money to the original owners of the paintings, as was fair, Pinkworth fires him. Bernard returns dejectedly to his flat and seeks comfort, but discovers that his girlfriend has been sleeping with his best friend. She then clears Bernard's flat of nearly everything, leaving behind only a small amount of furniture and an ornate antique lamp. He attempts to clean the lamp, causing an explosion that sends him to the hospital.

When Bernard returns to his flat, he encounters a man who tries to kill him. During the fight, Bernard wishes that the man could speak English, at which point he does. When the man states "Your wish is my command", Bernard wishes for the fight to stop, which it does. Bernard learns that the man, named Josephus, is a genie who had been trapped inside the lamp for two thousand years, and that he can grant almost any wish. The two forge a friendship in which Bernard introduces Josephus to modern food, music and entertainment, as well as using wishes to furnish his flat with expensive furniture and even the authentic ''Mona Lisa'', which is subsequently reported missing from the Louvre.

After a night on the town, Bernard returns to his flat without Josephus (who is watching movies at a theater) to find someone inside. He picks up a sword and attacks the person around the corner, inadvertently killing a police officer. A detective in the flat then reveals Pinkworth, who accuses him of grand theft, pointing to the Mona Lisa. Bernard finds himself unable to wish the painting away and is arrested for grand theft and murder. At the station, Bernard tries multiple times to call Josephus at his flat, but at first Josephus does not hear the telephone ringing, then fails to understand how the device works. He starts hanging up the phone each time it rings, which the police interpret as a form of coded communication. Bernard is put in jail, and Josephus eventually joins him in the cell. Bernard then wishes he could go back and do things differently, which suddenly causes time to rewind back to when Bernard was about to enter his flat.

Bernard then enters his flat with confidence (and with Josephus by his side), where his boss again accuses him of grand theft. However, this time, a poster of Kylie Minogue is on the wall, and the detective learns the Mona Lisa has been returned to the Louvre. The police apologize for the intrusion and leave.

Bernard and Josephus discuss the origins and meaning of Christmas and how the holiday has become commercialized over time, then they set out to grant wishes for children at a local mall. They also cause Bernard's elevator operator to win the football pools (which he claims to have won twice before), get Bernard's former girlfriend and best mate arrested on drug charges, and bring about a rare snow to London. Finally, they cause Pinkworth's entire fortune to be donated to a charity organization which, in a televised news event, gathers at Pinkworth's house to express their gratitude, to his great dismay.

Josephus expresses a desire to return to his own time, and after an emotional conversation, Bernard absentmindedly says he wishes Josephus would go, causing the genie to disappear. Bernard is left with a ticket to the shopping mall where he and Josephus had granted wishes earlier. He hands the ticket to the woman at the entrance to see Santa Claus, and she asks him what he would like for Christmas. A moment later, Bernard is outside and waves to the woman through the window, who blows him a kiss in return. He cheers and heads home.

The opening scene of the film is repeated, where Josephus is cornered by the sorcerer again. However, this time Josephus bargains with the man, revealing a thick-slice toaster that piques the man's interest.

Wealthy American Jervis Pendleton III has a chance encounter at a French orphanage with cheerful 18-year-old resident Julie André. He anonymously pays for her education at a New England college. She writes letters to her mysterious benefactor, whom she calls Daddy Long Legs (based on her fellow orphans' description of his shadow), but he never writes back. Several years later, he visits her at school, still concealing his identity. Despite their wide age difference, they fall in love.

In the first scene, the audience is introduced to the Simons, an immigrant family, in their parlor, anxiously awaiting the return of their son from university. The Simons were once successful, but appear to have fallen upon rough times.

The film opens with a description of a legend told by people who have survived being lost at sea: a presence, referred to as the Guardian, which pushed them to the surface, enabling them to survive until help arrived.

Ben Randall (Kevin Costner) is the top rescue swimmer at the United States Coast Guard's Aviation Survival Technician (AST) program, but the long hours have destroyed his marriage. When on a rescue, Ben loses his team in a HH-60J Jayhawk helicopter crash at sea. While waiting in a survival raft, his best friend, Chief Petty Officer Carl Billings (Omari Hardwick), dies. Shaken by survivor guilt, Ben is transferred to become an instructor at the Coast Guard AST training school. He develops a legendary reputation among the students for his high number of rescues.

Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher) is a hot-shot candidate for AST. Ranked as a top high school competitive swimmer with scholarships to every Ivy League college, Jake instead opts to enlist in the Coast Guard. During training, Jake meets local schoolteacher, Emily Thomas (Melissa Sagemiller), and they begin a casual relationship.

The initial weeks of training end with most of the students dropping out and advanced instruction begins. Jake is late for class and Ben punishes his entire class for his tardiness. Believing Jake to be lazy and unmotivated, Ben tries to force him to quit. He gradually begins to see Jake's persistence and dedication.

Jake meets Emily in a bar and tells her about beating Ben's old records. The bartender, a friend of Ben's, tells Jake about a time when Ben injured himself saving every victim from a burning hospital ship full of invalid patients.

Later, a friend of Jake's is afraid of failing school because he is unable to cope with panicked victims in the water. Jake takes him out for a drink at a Navy bar to cheer him up. They get in a fight and land in jail after being badly beaten by the Navy sailors, causing Jake to miss a date with Emily. Jake returns to base and takes the blame for the fight.

Chief Aviation Survival Technician Jack Skinner (Neal McDonough) bails Jake out. Back on base, Ben and Jake get into a confrontation about their pasts. It is revealed that during high school, Jake was involved in a car crash while on the way home with his teammates. It is revealed Jake lost the flip to be the designated driver and, although completely sober, blames himself for the accident. The two bond over the common experience of being the only survivor of fatal accidents. They return to the bar and fight the sailors again, this time winning.

At graduation, only a handful of candidates remain. Jake has emerged as a leader during training. Emily attends his graduation, but they end their relationship because Jake is leaving for an assignment at CG Air Station Kodiak, Alaska, Ben's previous post.

Ben and Jake are sent to rescue two kayakers trapped in a cave. Ben experiences flashbacks and Jake must guide him, but the rescue is eventually successful. Ben decides to retire after this. He tells Jake that the only record he kept track of was the 22 people he lost during his career. Ben apologizes to his wife and indicates he will not contest the divorce.

Jake is sent to rescue the crew of a sinking fishing trawler. During the rescue, he becomes trapped in the ship. His helicopter is forced to return to base, where Ben hears of the situation and decides to suit up and go out to rescue Jake personally. He frees Jake from the hull. As they are winched upwards towards the helicopter, their combined weight causes the winch cable to begin separating. Knowing that the cable will break, Ben unclips himself so that Jake can survive. Jake catches him, but Ben removes his glove and slips free, plummeting into the ocean. His body is never found.

Much later, Jake is on a rescue mission, when one of the survivors repeats the legend of the Guardian to him. Jake connects the legend to Ben. He then surprises Emily when she is teaching her class at school, telling her that he lied to her. "I can't do just 'casual,'" he says, referencing their commitment earlier to keep things uncommitted. She smiles as they embrace and kiss.

In 1987, a year after the events of the previous film, teenager Kristen Parker dreams Freddy Krueger is chasing her. He attacks her in her bathroom after she thinks she already awoke, making it look like she slit her wrist in the real world.

Believing Kristen to be suicidal, her mother admits her to Westin Hills Psychiatric Hospital, where she is placed under the care of Dr. Neil Gordon. At the hospital, Kristen fights the orderlies who try to sedate her because she fears falling asleep. The new intern therapist, Nancy Thompson, calms her down and befriends her by reciting part of Freddy's nursery rhyme. Nancy is introduced to the rest of Dr. Gordon's patients: Phillip, a habitual sleepwalker; Kincaid, a tough kid from the streets who is prone to violence; Jennifer, a hopeful television actress prone to cigarette burns; Will, who uses a wheelchair due to a prior suicide attempt; Taryn, a recovering drug addict; and Joey, the youngest, who is too traumatized to speak. One night, Freddy attacks Kristen in her dreams, but she unwittingly pulls Nancy into her dream, allowing them to escape.

Kristen reveals that she has been able to pull people into her dreams since she was young. Over the next two nights, Freddy throws Phillip off a roof and kills Jennifer by smashing her head into a television. In their next group session, Nancy reveals to the remaining patients that they are 'the last of the Elm Street kids,' the surviving children of those who banded together and burned Krueger to death many years ago. Both Nancy and Neil encourage them to try group hypnosis so that they can experience a shared dream and discover their dream powers. In the dream, Joey wanders off and is captured by Freddy, leaving him comatose in the real world; Nancy and Neil are relieved of duty. A nun, Sister Mary Helena, tells Neil that Freddy is the son of a young woman on the hospital staff who was accidentally locked in a room with hundreds of mental patients who raped her continually, and that the only way to stop him is to lay his bones to rest.

He and Nancy ask her father, officer Donald Thompson, where the bones are hidden, but he is uncooperative. Nancy rushes back to the hospital when she learns that Kristen has been sedated. Neil stays behind to convince Donald to help them. Nancy and the others again engage in group hypnosis to reunite with Kristen but are all separated by Freddy. Taryn and Will are killed by Freddy while Kristen, Nancy, and Kincaid find one another. The trio rescue Joey but are unable to defeat Freddy because he has become too powerful due to the souls he's absorbed. Sensing that his remains have been found, Freddy appropriates his own skeleton and kills Donald before incapacitating Neil. Freddy returns to attack the others but Joey uses his dream power voice to repel him. Donald tells Nancy that he is crossing over but he is revealed to be Freddy and stabs Nancy in the stomach, and tosses her aside. Freddy, believing that Nancy is dead, comes upon Kristen in order to kill her but a still-alive Nancy stabs him with his own glove. Neil manages to recover and purifies Freddy's bones, killing him. After Nancy dies, Kristen manages to awaken everyone and return them to the real world. During the patients' funeral, Neil finds Amanda Krueger's tombstone and discovers that she is Sister Mary Helena. That evening, he goes to sleep with the Malaysian doll Nancy gave him and Kristen's papier-mâché house nearby, and suddenly Kristen's house lights up from the inside, suggesting that Freddy is not completely defeated.

In 1988, a year after the events of the previous film, Kristen, Kincaid, and Joey have been released from Westin Hills and are back to their lives as normal teenagers with their families. However, Kristen believes Freddy Krueger will come back and when she dreams that she is in Freddy's old boiler room, she summons Joey and Kincaid into the dream. Kincaid and Joey are upset that she has reverted to her old ways back when they were at Westin Hills. To keep her calm, they take her to the boiler and show her that it is ice cold. Kristen had also summoned Kincaid's dog Jason into the dream. The dog jumps out of the boiler, bites Kristen, and they all awaken in their rooms. The next day, Kristen meets up with her boyfriend, martial arts enthusiast Rick Johnson (Andras Jones), and their friends—Rick's shy and quiet sister Alice (Lisa Wilcox), Sheila (Toy Newkirk), an asthmatic genius, and Debbie (Brooke Theiss), a tough girl who does not like bugs. Kincaid and Joey confront Kristen at school about the dream. They tell her to let it go, that their days of fighting in dreams are over, and if she keeps going at it she might accidentally bring Krueger back.

That night, Kristen stays awake to keep herself from dreaming, but Kincaid falls asleep. He awakens in a junkyard, where Freddy has been accidentally resurrected. Kincaid puts up a good fight against Freddy, but Freddy overpowers him. Kincaid screams for Kristen but Freddy reaches him and kills him. Joey watches MTV and listens to music in his room. He begins to fall asleep and discovers a model from one of his posters swimming in his waterbed. Freddy jumps out of the waterbed and attempts to drown Joey. Joey screams for Kristen to help him but Freddy stabs and kills him. At school the next day, Kristen panics when she notices that Joey and Kincaid are missing and accidentally knocks herself out as Rick attempts to calm her. Freddy tries to attack Kristen as the school nurse wakes her up. Kristen feels guilty about staying awake when she learns that Kincaid and Joey were found dead. She later tells Rick, Alice, and Alice's crush Dan Jordan (Danny Hassel) about Freddy. She vows to avenge Kincaid and Joey.

Kristen realizes that her mother has put sleeping pills in her dinner but falls asleep as she tries to run out of the dining room. Kristen starts to dream; Freddy overcomes her attempts to repel him and forces her back to his home. Since Kristen is the last of the Elm Street children still alive, Freddy goads Kristen into summoning one of her friends into the dream, so that his fun can begin anew. She calls Alice into her dream, and Freddy throws Kristen into his boiler but before she dies, Kristen gives Alice her dream power. Alice wakes up with the sense that something is wrong and takes Rick to Kristen's house. When they get there, they see that Kristen's bedroom is on fire with her in it.

Later, Alice falls asleep during class and inadvertently brings Sheila into her dream. Freddy kills Sheila and makes it look like an asthma attack. Rick starts to believe Alice, but the following day, he has a dream where an invisible Freddy attacks him in a martial arts dojo. Rick fights him, and manages to knock his knife glove off. However, the glove levitates and stabs him, killing him. With each death, Alice changes—she gains the abilities and personalities of her dead friends. She makes plans with Debbie and Dan to fight and kill Freddy together, but when her father keeps her in, Alice falls asleep. Through Alice, Freddy stalks Debbie, transforms her into a cockroach, and crushes her in a roach motel. Using Debbie's temper, Alice tries to ram Freddy but collides with a tree in reality, injuring Dan. As Dan is rushed into surgery, Alice returns home and readies herself to join him and face Freddy.

In a dream, Alice rescues Dan, and the two find themselves in an old church. Dan gets injured in the dream which prompts his surgeons to wake him up. Alice now has to face Freddy alone. Freddy has the upper hand due to his experience, but she uses her friends' dream powers against him. When he is about to win, Alice remembers a nursery rhyme called "The Dream Master". She recites it and forces Freddy to face his own reflection which causes the souls within him to revolt. The strain tears Freddy apart. Alice's friends' souls are released and leave Freddy as a hollow husk. Months later, Dan and Alice are on a date when Dan tosses a coin into a fountain. For a moment, Alice sees Freddy's reflection in the water (implying that Freddy is still alive), but she ignores it. Dan asks her what she wished for, but Alice does not tell him as they walk away from the fountain.

In June 1989, a year after the previous film, Alice and Dan have started dating and there is no sign of Freddy Krueger. One day, while taking a shower after having sex with Dan, she has a vision of herself dressed in a nun's habit with a name-tag saying Amanda Krueger at a strange asylum. She is attacked by patients at the hospital but wakes up. The next day, Alice is graduating from high school alongside her new friends Greta, an aspiring but reluctant supermodel, Mark, a comic book fan, and Yvonne, a hospital volunteer and swimmer. Alice confides her nightmare to Dan, who tells her she is in control of her dreams.

On her way to work, Alice finds herself back at the asylum, where she sees Amanda giving birth to a gruesomely deformed baby. Amanda tries to collect the baby before it escapes but it sneaks out of the operating room. Alice follows the baby into the church where she defeated Freddy in the previous film. The baby finds Freddy's remains and quickly grows into an adult, hinting to Alice that he has found the key to coming back. Alarmed, she contacts Dan, who falls asleep en route to see her. Freddy attacks and electrocutes Dan, turning him into a frightful creature before veering him into oncoming traffic. Alice sees Dan's body come to life and taunt her before she faints. Waking in a hospital, she hears the news of Dan's death and that she is pregnant with his child. In the night, she is visited by a young boy named Jacob but the next day, Yvonne tells her there are no children on her floor, nor is there a children's ward.

Alice tells her friends about Freddy and his lineage; Yvonne refuses to listen but Mark and Greta are more supportive. That afternoon at a dinner party at her home, Greta falls asleep at the table. She dreams of herself snapping at her mother and ranting over her controlling nature before Freddy arrives and forces Greta to eat her own organs before choking her in front of a laughing audience. In the real world, Greta falls down dead in front of her mother and their guests. Yvonne and Alice visit Mark, who is grieving Greta's death, and a rift forms between them. Mark falls asleep and is nearly killed by Freddy but Alice saves him before seeing Jacob again. Jacob hints that Alice is his mother. Alice requests that Yvonne gets her an early ultrasound and discovers Freddy is using Jacob as a conduit to attack her friends even when she's awake and has been feeding him his victims to make him like himself.

Yvonne and Dan's parents still believe Alice is crazy. Dan's parents insist that she give them the baby when it is born, which Alice refuses. Alice and Mark research Krueger and the Nun Amanda. Realizing Amanda was trying to stop Freddy, they investigate her whereabouts and Alice goes to sleep, hoping to find Amanda at the asylum. While there, Freddy lures her away by threatening Yvonne, who has fallen asleep in a Jacuzzi. Alice rescues Yvonne who finally believes her. Mark falls asleep and is pulled into a comic book world, where Freddy turns him into a paper cutout and slashes him to pieces.

Alice goes to bed to find Freddy and saves her son. Realizing Freddy has been hiding in her every time she fell asleep she draws Freddy out from within herself. Yvonne finds Amanda's remains at the asylum and joins the fight in the dream world, encouraging Jacob to use the power Freddy had been giving him. Jacob destroys Freddy and his infant form is absorbed by his mother while Alice picks up a baby Jacob. Warning Alice away, Amanda seals Freddy away in time.

Several months later, Jacob Daniel Johnson is enjoying a picnic with his mother, grandfather, and Yvonne. Some children jumping rope nearby are humming Freddy's rhyme, hinting Freddy's return.

As the story starts, the reader is introduced to the fictitious community of Treby in the English Midlands in 1832, around the time of the First Reform Act. Harold Transome, a local landowner, has returned home after a fifteen-year trading career in the Middle East. Wealthy from trade, he stands for election to Parliament from the county seat of North Loamshire. But contrary to his family's Tory traditions, he intends to stand as a Radical. This alienates him from his traditional allies and causes despair for his mother, Mrs. Transome. Harold Transome gains the support of his Tory uncle, the Rector of Little Treby, and enlists the help of his family lawyer, Matthew Jermyn, as an electioneering agent.

Much of his electioneering is focused in Treby Magna. In this village resides Felix Holt, who has recently returned from extensive travels in Glasgow to live with his mother. He meets with Rev. Rufus Lyon, a Dissenting minister in Treby Magna, and his stepdaughter, Esther. Felix and Mr. Lyon become ready friends, but he appears to treat Esther with condescension. Felix and Rev. Lyon both appear aligned to the Radical cause.

Harold Transome learns that Jermyn has been mismanaging the Transome estate and embezzling money for himself. Transome remains silent during the election, yet Jermyn tries to devise a plan to save himself from future prosecution. Meanwhile, Felix witnesses some electioneering for the Radical cause in the nearby mining town of Sproxton. He is upset with the 'treating' of workers with beer in exchange for their vocal support. Felix relays his concerns to Harold Transome, who chastises John Johnson for his electioneering methods. However, Jermyn convinces Transome not to interfere.

Rev. Lyon learns from Maurice Christian, servant of Philip Debarry, about the possible identity of Esther's biological father. Rev. Lyon decides to tell Esther the truth about her father. Esther's outlook on life changes upon finding that she is in fact Rev. Lyon's stepdaughter. Her relationship with her stepfather deepens, while she also desires to emulate the high moral standards impressed upon her by Felix Holt. Seeing the change in Esther's character, Felix Holt begins to fall in love with her. However, both share the feeling that they are destined never to marry each other. Meanwhile, Rev. Lyon challenges Rev. Augustus Debarry to a theological debate. The debate is initially agreed to, but is cancelled at the last minute.

Riots erupt on election day in Treby Magna. Drunken mine workers from Sproxton assault townspeople and wantonly destroy property. Felix Holt is caught up in the riots, and tries foolhardily to direct its hostility away from the town. But in the end, Felix Holt is charged with the manslaughter of a constable who tried to break up the riot. Harold Transome also loses the election to Debarry.

Harold Transome begins legal proceedings against Jermyn for the latter's mismanagement of the Transome estate. Jermyn counters by threatening to publicise the true owner of the Transome estate. However, Maurice Christian informs the Transomes that the true owner of the estate is in fact Esther Lyon. Harold Transome invites her to the Transome estate, hoping to persuade her to marry him. Harold and Esther establish a good rapport, and Esther also becomes more sympathetic with Mrs. Transome, whose despair has continued to deepen. Esther feels torn between Harold Transome and Felix Holt. She compares a life of comfortable wealth with Harold Transome and motherly affection with Mrs. Transome, to a life of personal growth in poverty with Felix Holt. Meanwhile, at Felix Holt's trial, Rev. Lyon, Harold Transome and Esther Lyon all vouch for his character, but he is nevertheless found guilty of manslaughter. However, Harold Transome and the Debarrys manage to have Felix Holt pardoned.

Harold Transome proposes to Esther Lyon, with the eager support of Mrs. Transome. But despite Esther's feelings towards both Harold and Mrs. Transome, she declines the proposal. In an altercation between Jermyn and Harold Transome, it is revealed that Jermyn is Harold Transome's father. Harold considers he will no longer be suitable for marriage to Esther. Esther also surrenders her claim to the Transome estate. The story ends with Felix Holt and Esther Lyon marrying and moving away from Treby, along with Rev. Lyon. Matthew Jermyn is eventually ruined and moves abroad, while John Johnson remains and prospers as a lawyer. The Debarrys remain friends with the Transomes, and the contest to the Transome estate, while widely known, is never discussed.

As the Federation and their allies prepare to embark on a final offensive in the Dominion War, Captain Sisko's mother Sarah, one of the Prophets, appears to him in a vision, telling him his journey's end "lies not before you, but behind you". Soon the battle between the Dominion–Breen–Cardassian and Federation–Klingon–Romulan fleets begins.

Kira, Garak, and Damar, hiding on Cardassia Prime, sabotage Cardassia's power grid, cutting off communication between the Dominion fleet and the command center. In retaliation, the Founder in command orders the Jem'Hadar to wipe out a Cardassian city. Kira, Garak, and Damar are captured, but as the Jem'Hadar prepare to kill them, Cardassian soldiers turn on the Jem'Hadar.

As Starfleet and their allies are suffering many losses, the Cardassian ships switch sides, turning the tide of the battle. When the Founder discovers this, she orders the eradication of the Cardassian race, and the Jem'Hadar begin leveling cities. The alliance fleet prepares to mount a final offensive. Kira and her team storm the command center, capturing the Founder; Damar is killed in the process. The Founder initially refuses to surrender, choosing instead to make the battle as costly as possible for the alliance.

Odo beams to the command center and persuades the Founder to link with him, joining their liquid bodies. He cures her of the Changeling disease, and she orders the Dominion forces to surrender. Odo tells Kira that he has agreed to cure the other Founders but needs to join them permanently. The Founder agrees to stand trial for war crimes and signs an armistice to end the war. Back on DS9, the crew celebrates at Vic Fontaine's simulated 1960s lounge.

Meanwhile on Bajor, Dukat and Winn travel to the Fire Caves with an ancient book to release the Pah-wraiths. Winn poisons Dukat as a sacrifice, expecting to become the wraiths' emissary; they possess Dukat instead, resurrecting him. On DS9, Sisko suddenly becomes aware that he must go to the Fire Caves. Once there, he attacks Dukat, who easily subdues him with the Pah-wraiths' powers. Winn tries to destroy the book, but Dukat kills her. While Dukat is distracted, Sisko attacks Dukat, falling with him and the book into the fiery chasm.

Sisko finds himself in the wormhole, where Sarah tells him that the Pah-wraiths will never emerge again. The DS9 crew is puzzled by Sisko's disappearance until he comes to his wife Kasidy Yates in a vision; he assures her he will return, though he doesn't know when.

Many of the crew go their separate ways: O'Brien will teach at Starfleet Academy, and Worf is appointed the Federation ambassador to the Klingon Empire. Kira takes Odo to the Founders' planet, where he joins the Great Link and cures their disease. Kira returns to DS9, now the station commander, and she and Sisko's son Jake gaze out a window at the wormhole.

During the American Civil War, teenaged Wyatt Earp lives on his family farm in Pella, Iowa, while his older brothers Virgil and James serve with the Union Army. Wyatt attempts to run away, intending to lie about his age and join the war, but his father catches him. His brothers return home at the war's end, with James gravely wounded, and the family moves west. Wyatt sees a man killed during a gunfight, and vomits at the sight.

Years later, Wyatt works out west as a wagon driver, also serving as a referee for fights, and finds himself at odds with a bully. Wyatt and the bully come to the point of fighting, with the bully intending to shoot him, but Wyatt disarms and defeats him, taking his gun.

Returning home to Missouri, Wyatt marries his childhood sweetheart, Urilla Sutherland. They move into their own house, and he begins working as a policeman. Months later, his pregnant wife dies from typhoid fever. After staying by her side through the illness, Wyatt becomes deeply depressed. Burning their home and possessions, he begins drinking and drifts from town to town, landing in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He robs a man and steals his horse, but is captured. With Wyatt facing certain hanging, his father bails him out of jail, telling him to never return to Arkansas.

Working as a buffalo hunter, Wyatt befriends Bat Masterson and his brother Ed Masterson. Years pass, and Wyatt becomes a deputy marshal in Wichita, Kansas, building a reputation as a good lawman. He is recruited to work as a deputy in Dodge City, with a lower salary but earning extra money for every arrest. Wyatt becomes romantically involved with a prostitute, Mattie Blaylock, and the Mastersons join him as deputies. Wyatt believes Ed is too passive, but the Dodge City council fires Wyatt for his excessive force, appointing Ed to take his place. Wyatt begins working for the railroad, capturing outlaws.

Pursuing outlaw Dave Rudabaugh, Wyatt is introduced to gunman and gambler Doc Holliday in Fort Griffin, Texas, and the two become friends. Holliday assists Earp in locating Rudabaugh, whom he dislikes tremendously. Wyatt receives word that Ed has been killed, having shot and killed both his assailants before dying in the street. Wyatt returns to Dodge City to help bring law and order, during which time Wyatt kills his first man, witnessed by actress Josie Marcus. Despite his brothers' wives’ and Mattie's protests, Wyatt moves the family to Tombstone, Arizona and immediately finds himself at odds with the outlaw Cowboy gang. He becomes romantically involved with Josie Marcus, angering her boyfriend Sheriff Behan and stressing his relationship with Mattie, and becomes the subject of rumor about town.

Wyatt and his brothers Morgan and Virgil arrest several Cowboys, and Virgil takes over as marshal following the murder of Fred White. Tension builds between the brothers and the gang as Wyatt breaks up several altercations involving the Cowboys, particularly Ike Clanton, and Holliday swears his loyalty to Wyatt, whom he considers his only real friend. The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral makes the brothers very unpopular in town. Virgil is ambushed and wounded, and Morgan is killed. In the Vendetta Ride, Wyatt and his friends take revenge against the remaining Cowboys.

Many years later, Wyatt and Josie mine for gold in Alaska. A young man on the same boat recognizes Wyatt, and recounts a story in which Wyatt had saved the boy's uncle, "Tommy Behind-The-Deuce". Wyatt says to Josie, "Some people say it didn't happen that way", to which she responds, "Never mind them, Wyatt. It happened that way."

An epilogue states that Holliday died six years later in a hospital in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Members of the Clanton gang continued to die mysteriously for years after Morgan's murder. Josie and Wyatt's marriage lasted 47 years until Wyatt died at age 80 in Los Angeles.

Frank Flynn is summonsed from New York City to Vanuatu by his brother Charlie. He arrives only to find Charlie dead, and becomes involved with his late brother's partner, Viv, and Viv's unhappy wife, Anna.

After the death of her husband, Mrs. Hammond realizes that she is deeply in debt. She is used to living richly, however, and therefore focuses on her two beautiful daughters as her best hope of financial security. If she can marry them to rich husbands, both she and her daughters will escape poverty.

To accomplish this plan, she pays off all her debts and all the property she can under the guise of grief, and moves to the country to save her money. No one must know the extent of her poverty, or the girls will never find a good match. There she waits until her children are old enough to marry, and spends the time making them into cultured young ladies: Lucy and Emily Hammond. The girls are not far apart in years, but there are differences between them. While Lucy absorbs the ideas about marriage that her mother imparts (all economically minded), Emily has a romantic personality that resists such materials concerns.

When the two girls return to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at 17 (Emily) and 18 (Lucy), their beauty is a huge success, and they have many admirers. A wealthy and noble Englishman, Mr. Walsingham, finally “bites” and marries Lucy. Emily is not as easily married off, especially after she sees the very moody poet Kelroy.

Kelroy comes from a good family, but like the Hammonds has lost his fortune because of his father's love of gambling. He is currently penniless, but plans a voyage to India, where he hopes to make his fortune. Emily and Kelroy are a perfect match for each other and quickly fall in love, despite all the attempts Mrs. Hammond makes to separate them. Other suitors, notably Mr. Marney, are very jealous of this obvious attachment. Kelroy has one advantage, however: he is a good friend of Mr. Walsingham, who endeavors to help Kelroy in respect to Mrs. Hammond.

Mr. Walsingham, who had been made to believe that Lucy has a fortune, now knows better and tells Mrs. Hammond that he will ask back for the money Mrs. Hammond has borrowed from him over the last months ($900) if she does not agree to let Kelroy see Emily. Mrs. Hammond is in no position to return the money and reluctantly agrees. The two are engaged, but not married before Kelroy leaves for India.

After Lucy and Mr. Walsingham leave for England, Mrs. Hammond's house burns down, and she wins the lottery, which allows the pretext and the means to move to the country (to preserve the money she has left). Emily there meets a rich suitor, Dunlevy. This man is perfectly nice, but Emily still loves Kelroy most and resists Dunlevy's advances.

Only after she receives a letter from Kelroy in which he releases her from the engagement does Emily (deeply grieving) agree to marry Dunlevy. The marriage goes well for six months despite the death of Mrs. Hammond. Then Emily finds some letters her mother had hidden in a writing desk: One of the letters is an exact copy of the one she received from “Kelroy,” and seeing another written to Kelroy in her name, she realizes what her mother (in collusion with Marney) did. Unable to recover from this shock, she dies soon.

Kelroy of course received a similar letter and has tried to forget about Emily. After hearing that both Emily and Mrs. Hammond have died, he returns to the United States. There, Helen (Emily's best friend) sends Kelroy the packet of letters to prove to him that Emily never quit loving him. The shock of this discovery so affects Kelroy that he borders on the edge of insanity. He decides to begin traveling again, and the ship he sails on sinks into the ocean three weeks after his departure.

''Magic Journeys'' looked at the world through the eyes of a child. The film started with children running through a meadow and looking at clouds. Someone blew on a dandelion and the seeds then flew away, turning into stars and then turned into the sun. Next the kids were seen flying a kite at the beach. The kite then turned into a bird, a fish, a school of fish, a flock of birds, bird wings, a Pegasus, a horse and then finally into a merry-go-round. While the children rode the carousel, they began reaching for a brass ring spinning next to the carousel; the carousel spins around the moon and bats fly out past the riders. The moon becomes a witch, a mask, an Olmec head, and more until turning into a cat. A boy reaches out to the cat and it turns into the Sphinx, which turns into a lion jumping through a hoop in the circus. Trapeze artists and acrobats fly through the air and several clowns amuse the children. The circus then gives way to reveal it as only a miniature with small flying machines coming up through the roof of the room into the stars. The kids move through a room of balloons and encounter a magician. At the end of this act, the room gives way as the kids descend through a starscape and return to the meadow with the dandelion unblowing itself.

Arriving to a crime scene, officer Dan Margolies (Jeffrey Combs) investigates a brutal scene of several mutilated bodies. He is attacked by an assailant wearing metal gauntlets with long, claw-like blades. The assassin almost kills Margolies but stops after seeing a man in the shadows. After taking him to a psychiatric hospital, Margolies meets Doctor Jade De Camp, who believes she can help the patient. De Camp observes the patient staring at a death metal CD after attempting to use musical therapy on him. She plays the CD, driving the patient into a rage but recovering his memory.

The assailant reveals his name to be John Jaspers (Mark Frost). John sold his soul to the mysterious M (as for Mephistopheles) (Andrew Divoff) in order to avenge the death of his girlfriend, Blue (Jennifer Rope), who was murdered by a gangster. M gives John the clawed gauntlets and warns him that he will regret their deal in the future. John, using his new weapons, kills the gangster and his men. However, John learns he now has become M's slave and cannot break the contract he signed in exchange for the gauntlets and power.

De Camp does not believe John's story and continues trying to treat him. Later, De Camp presents her findings to Margolies, who researches M and the secret society that he belongs to called The Hand. Back at the hospital, John is taken by M's henchmen who drug him and throw him in a empty grave. John is buried alive and De Camp is taken by M. John finds himself in Hell where he is attacked by a skeleton. After decapitating the skeleton and retrieving his gauntlets, John escapes the grave. A shadow of his body changing is seen on the overhead tombstone which has the inscribed name 'Faust'.

Before De Camp is taken away, John – now transformed into the devil Faust – arrives, killing the men and saving De Camp. A survivor from the attack returns to M's mansion to inform him of what happened, but is seduced and killed by M's wife Claire. De Camp returns home after talking with Margolies, who has gotten closer to finding out M's true motives and work with various people over the years. While home, De Camp finds out John is there and seeking her help to stop the bloodlust he feels. However, when she mentions police outside, John becomes angered and transforms into Faust upon realizing that the police are working for M.

Faust kills the police and chases after the fleeing De Camp. He corners her on a subway and begs her to come with him. The police chief, working for M, also arrives to take De Camp. Faust cuts the subway train in half and rescues De Camp from the police. Faust takes her to his old apartment where the two start to have sex, but stop when De Camp begins screaming. She tells John that she was raped as a child but cannot remember the man's face, instead only being able to remember smooth, amorphous features. The two embrace and rest. Back at M's mansion, the police chief interrupts M's meeting to reprimand him for not telling about John's power. Margolies, hiding in the house, witnesses M kill the chief. M discovers Margolies shortly after.

Margolies calls De Camp to meet at M's home. However, it is revealed that he has betrayed her and allied with M. M plans to use De Camp to lure John for a demonic ritual he intends to conduct. M is betrayed, however, when Claire has his doctor give him a poisoned syringe of medicine. M kills the doctor for his disloyalty before collapsing. Claire shoots M in the head with a shotgun and tortures De Camp in extreme sadomasochistic fashion. De Camp becomes corrupted, while M is revealed to still be alive and begins preparing for the ritual.

John returns to the bridge where he first met M and sees a vision of De Camp in danger. He rushes to her aid and crashes The Hand's ritual as Faust, but cannot hurt M because of their contract. Defeated, he turns back into John when the traumatized De Camp rejects him for M. M proceeds with the ritual, killing Claire by removing a snake from her stomach and letting it slither into Margolies' mouth. Margolies dies and a gate to Hell is opened. M rapes De Camp in order to humiliate John, but her childhood trauma snaps her back to full awareness and she is able to remember that it was her father who had assaulted her. M summons a demon from the gate to Hell which proceeds to burn all of his followers to death. De Camp knocks M unconscious and frees John, who kills the demon as Faust.

M tortures John, but De Camp offers herself to him in exchange for John's freedom from their contract and his soul returned. M agrees and burns the contract, but in doing so John loses his powers and his earlier injuries begin to take effect. Now free, John stands up and fatally stabs M, but succumbs to his wounds while De Camp mourns over his body.

The story is told from the perspective of Vandyck "Van" Jennings, a sociology student who, along with two friends, Terry O. Nicholson and Jeff Margrave, forms an expedition party to explore an area of uncharted land rumored to be home to a society consisting entirely of women. The three friends do not entirely believe the rumors because they are unable to think of a way how human reproduction could occur without males. The men speculate about what a society of women would be like, each guessing differently based on the stereotype of women which he holds most dear: Jeff regarding women as things to be served and protected; Terry viewing them as things to be conquered and won.

When the explorers reach their destination, they proceed with caution, hiding the biplane they arrive in, and trying to keep themselves hidden in the forests that border the land. They are quickly found by three young women who they realize are observing them from the treetops. After attempting to catch the girls with trickery, the men end up chasing the young women towards a town or village. The women outrun them easily and disappear among the houses, which, Van notes are exceptionally well made and attractive. After meeting the first inhabitants of this new land (which Van names "Herland") the men proceed more cautiously, noting that the girls they met were strong, agile, and completely unafraid. Their caution is warranted, because as the men enter the town where the girls disappeared, they become surrounded by a large group of women, who march them towards an official-looking building. The three men attempt an escape, but are swiftly and easily overpowered by the large group of women and eventually anesthetized.

The men awake to find themselves held captive in a fortress-like building. They are given comfortable living accommodations, clean clothes, and food. The women assign each man a tutor who teaches the men their language. Van makes many notes about the new country and people, commenting that everything from their clothing to their furniture seems to be made with the twin ideals of pragmatism and aesthetics given equal consideration. The women themselves appear intelligent and astute, unafraid and patient, with a notable lack of temper and seemingly limitless understanding for their captives. The women are keen to learn about the world outside and question the men eagerly about all manner of things. Often Van finds himself having difficulty justifying the practices of his own society such as the milking of cows, and the keeping of property, when faced with the apparent utopia the women have managed to build.

After being held captive for a number of months, the men break out of the fortress and escape cross-country to where they left their biplane. Finding the biplane sewn inside a large fabric covering, the men are unable to get away and are resignedly recaptured by the women. They are treated well nonetheless and soon learn that they will be given a freer rein when they have mastered the women's language and proved they can be trusted. Van remarks upon Terry's personal difficulty in dealing with the women, who steadfastly refuse to conform to his expectations of how women should act, though Jeff seems perfectly enamored of the women and their kindness.

Van gradually finds out more information about the women's society, discovering that most of the men were killed 2,000 years ago when a volcanic eruption sealed off the only pass out of Herland. The remaining men were mostly slaves who killed the sons of their dead masters and the old women, intending to take over the land and the young women with it. The women fought back, however, killing the slaves. After a period of hopelessness at the impending end of their race, cut off from the rest of the world and without any men, one woman among the survivors became pregnant and bore a female child, and four more female children after. The five daughters of this woman also grew up to bear five daughters each. This process rapidly expanded their population and led to the exaltation of motherhood. Ever since that time the women had devoted themselves to improving their minds, working together and raising their children; the position of teacher being one of the most revered and respected positions in the land.

As the men are allowed more freedom, each strikes up a relationship with one of the women they had first seen upon their arrival: Van with Ellador, Jeff with Celis, and Terry with Alima. Having had no men for 2,000 years, the women apparently have no experience or cultural memory of romantic love or sexual intercourse. Accordingly, the couples' budding relationships progress with some difficulty and much explanation. Terry in particular finds it hard to adjust to being in a relationship with a woman who is not a 'woman' in his terms. Eventually all three couples get 'married', although the women largely fail to see the point of such a thing, and as they have no particular religion the ceremony is more pagan than Christian.

Their marriages cause the men much reflection; the women they married have no conception of what being a wife or being feminine entails. Van finds it frustrating sometimes, though in the end he is grateful for his wonderful friendship with Ellador and the intense love he feels for her. Terry is not so wise, and out of frustration attempts to rape Alima. After being forcefully restrained and once again anesthetized, Terry stands trial before the women and is ordered to return to his homeland. The other men, while disapproving of Terry's actions, see them as merely impolite rather than criminal. Van explains to Ellador, "[Crime]'s a pretty hard word for it. After all, Alima was his wife, you know."

Van realizes that he must accompany Terry home in the biplane and Ellador will not let him leave without her. In the end, both Terry and Van leave Herland with promises not to reveal the utopia until Ellador has returned and such a plan has been fully discussed. Jeff chooses to stay behind and live in Herland with his now pregnant wife, Celis. Van tries to prepare Ellador for returning to his world but feels much trepidation about what she will find there.

At a Christmas lecture, a nun named Sister Mary Ignatius explains to the audience the basic tenets of Catholicism. She is assisted by her favorite student, seven-year-old Thomas. From time to time, she asks him catechism questions and gives him a cookie for every right answer. Half-way into her speech, four of her former students, Gary Sullivan, Diane Symonds, Philomena Rostovich, and Aloysius Benheim, enter dressed as St. Joseph, The Virgin Mary, and two halves of a camel. The four remind Sister that she had asked them to come in and perform the pageant they once performed in her class. After the pageant, it becomes apparent that the four have strayed from her teaching; Diane has had two abortions (the first one from a rape at age 18), Philomena is an unwed mother, Aloysisus is an alcoholic who beats his wife and is thinking about suicide, and Gary is gay. They reveal that they were never asked to come in and merely wanted to embarrass Sister. They each have their own reason for hating her; Aloysius was refused bathroom privileges frequently and now has bladder problems, Philomena recalls being hit by Sister for being a poor student, Gary is there on behalf of his boyfriend Jeff, and Diane had believed Sister until her world came crashing down when her mother died of breast cancer and she was raped the same day. Diane reveals that she has brought a gun to kill Sister, something the other three were not aware of. Sister grabs a gun from behind her lectern and shoots Diane in self-defense. She also shoots Gary, proclaiming that she has sent him to heaven, as he went to confession earlier that day. She then points the gun at Aloysius, who needs to go to the bathroom, before handing it to Thomas to take a nap. The play ends with Thomas pointing the gun at Aloysius while explaining the perfections of God, Diane and Gary's dead bodies on the floor, and Sister asleep.

''Call It Sleep'' is the story of a Galician Jewish immigrant family in New York in the early part of the 20th century. Six-year-old David Schearl has a close and loving relationship with his mother Genya but his father Albert is aloof, resentful and angry toward his wife and son. David's development takes place between fear of his father's potential violence and the degradation of life in the streets of the tenement slums. After the family has begun settling into their life in New York, Genya's sister Bertha arrives from Austrian Galicia (today Western Ukraine) to stay with them. Bertha's coarse and uninhibited nature offends Albert and her presence in the home renews and exacerbates the tension in the family.

Listening to conversations between Genya and Bertha, David begins to pick up hints that his mother may have had an affair with a non-Jewish man in Galicia before marrying Albert. David imagines the romantic setting "in the corn fields" where the pair would secretly meet. Bertha leaves the Schearl household when she marries Nathan, a man she met at the dentist's office. She and Nathan open a candy store where they live with Nathan's two daughters, Polly and Esther.

David begins his religious education and is quickly identified by his rabbi teacher, Reb Yidel, as an exceptional student of Hebrew. David becomes fascinated with the story of Isaiah 6 after he hears the rabbi translate the passage for an older student; specifically, the image of an angel holding a hot coal to Isaiah's lips and cleansing his sin.

During the Passover holiday, David encounters some older truant children who force him to accompany them and drop a piece of zinc onto a live trolley-car rail. The electrical power released from this becomes associated in David's mind with the power of God and Isaiah's coal. Albert has taken a job as a milk delivery man. David, accompanying his father one day, sees Albert brutally whip a man who attempts to steal some of the milk bottles, possibly killing him.

David meets and becomes infatuated with an older Catholic boy named Leo. Leo takes advantage of David's friendship and offers him a rosary—which David believes to have special powers of protection—in exchange for the chance to meet David's step-cousins, Polly and Esther. Leo takes Esther into the basement of the candy store and rapes her.

David is thrown into an agitated state. He goes to Reb Yidel and fabricates a story, telling him that Genya is actually his aunt, his true mother is dead and that he is the son of her affair with the non-Jewish man. Polly tells Bertha and Nathan about what Leo did with Esther. As the rabbi goes to the Schearl household to inform Genya and Albert of what David told him, Bertha begs Nathan not to confront Albert about David's role in Leo's actions. Nathan goes anyway, but he fears Albert's wrath as well.

After Reb Yidel relates David's story to Genya and Albert, David arrives at the apartment. Albert begins to reveal what he has suspected about David's birth. He tells Genya that their marriage is a sham, arranged to make one sin cover up the other—her affair, which was kept secret—against his sin, allowing his abusive father to be gored by a bull, widely known in the Galician village they left. Despite Genya's denials, Albert reaffirms his belief in his version of the story. He declares that David is not his son but the product of Genya's affair.

At that moment, Nathan and Bertha arrive. Nathan hesitates at the moment of speaking his mind under Albert's cold fury. but David steps forward to confess to his parents his part in what took place. He gives his father the whip that was used on the would-be milk thief. As Albert reaches the height of his enraged frenzy, he discovers the rosary that David possesses, believing it to be a sign that proves his suspicions. Albert makes as if to kill his son with the whip.

As the others restrain Albert, David flees the apartment and returns to the electrified rail. This time, he touches the third rail with a long milk dipper in an attempt to create light and receives an enormous electric shock. Incapacitated, he is discovered by nearby tavern patrons, revived by an ambulance doctor and returned home by a policeman. When his parents are informed what happened, Albert appears remorseful and compassionate toward his son for the first time. As his mother takes him into her arms, David experiences a feeling such that "he might as well call it sleep".

Inspired by the Eskimo shaman Oogruk, Russel Susskit takes a dog team and sled to escape the modern ways of his village and to find his own "song" of himself, hating the sound of snowmobiles and his father's coughing in the morning. He travels across ice floes, tundra, and mountains, haunted along the way by a dream of a long-ago self whose adventures parallel his own. Reality melds with the dream when he finds an Eskimo girl named Nancy, who has run away from her village after becoming pregnant. Circumstances require him to provide for himself and the girl in a harsh and unforgiving land. Russel sets out looking for food, for Nancy and himself, after Nancy gives birth to a still-born baby.

For an initiation stunt, five college women are locked in an abandoned Kentucky hospital.

Dr. Henry Jekyll has succeeded in curing a higher primate of his serious heart condition. He tests the serum on himself, resulting in dire consequences; he is transformed into the evil Edward Hyde. Dr. Jekyll does not realize that Hyde is a manifestation of himself, and develops a kind of multiple personality disorder. Hyde murders female college students and frames Jekyll. Jekyll feels guilty about the murders, and gives the victims' families $30,000 in damages. Hyde rapes and murders Jekyll's boss, Donna Carew.

During a dinner party, Jekyll's friend Dennis Lanyon sees his colleague transform into Hyde before his eyes. Detective Karen Utterson and Lanyon race to find Jekyll before it's too late, as the serum gives Hyde immortality. Jekyll tries giving himself up to the police, but Hyde won't allow him to go to prison, knowing he will be executed: If Jekyll dies, so does Hyde.

Jekyll commits suicide by jumping off the roof of the hospital, in order to make sure that Hyde will never hurt anyone ever again. As Jekyll dies, he says "It was for my soul."

The film centers on a group of young people who killed an innocent person and videotaped the act for their own amusement. Comeuppance is provided by a mysterious man who seeks out each of the murderers and kills them for his personal pleasure.

President Fenton and the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives are killed at a summit in Frankfurt, West Germany when the palace hosting the legation collapses. By law the serving President upon the death of the elected one, Vice President Noah Calvin is suffering from a terminal condition and refuses to assume the office.

Arthur Eaton, the Secretary of State, corrects the popular assumption that he is the next in the line of succession, explaining that it had been amended by the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, and that the next successor is the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, who is Douglass Dilman. Dilman, a black man, is sworn in and arrives at the White House to assume office. Eaton's outspoken wife, Kay, berates her husband for not pushing to become President, even though it would violate the succession order. Eaton assures her that he will become President once Dilman proves unable to handle the job.

In the morning, Eaton and his advisers arrive at the Oval Office and Eaton begins maneuvering himself into a position as the "power behind the throne". Eaton gives Dilman a binder of briefing notes, including responses to news media questions that support the positions of the Fenton administration.

Dilman meets the press for the first time as President. He initially follows Eaton's instructions. When Dilman stops to consult notes after each question, an aggressive reporter accuses Dilman of being a puppet. Eaton scribbles a note and has it taken forward to the president. Dilman realizes that he's being manipulated, crumples Eaton's note, and shoves the briefing binder aside. He proceeds under his own initiative, deciding that as President he will have to make his own decisions.

Dilman, a political moderate, is confronted by both activists and extremists about his skin color. Robert Wheeler (Georg Stanford Brown), a young black man, is sought for extradition by South Africa for an attempt to assassinate the defence minister of that country; Dilman offers his help when the young man claims he was in Burundi at the time of the assassination attempt.

Senator Watson introduces a bill that would require Congressional approval of any dismissal of a cabinet member by the president. Eaton doesn't tell Dilman about it, but several black congressmen have a meeting with Dilman to discuss their concerns. Dilman believes they are talking about a minority rights bill and pledges his support, until one of the congressmen corrects him. Dilman subsequently reprimands Eaton and a group of senior leaders, questioning why such an important bill is not being brought to his attention. Eaton subsequently resigns as Secretary of State, and announces his candidacy for President.

Senator Watson visits the South African embassy. The ambassador comments that his own country would never have a black man as president. He shows a news film to Watson that proves Wheeler was in South Africa during the assassination attempt. The scandal threatens Dilman's presidency. Dilman obtains Wheeler's confession and hands him over for extradition. The act alienates his activist adult daughter, Wanda. Wheeler calls the president a "house nigger"; the president responds that: "black men don't burn churches and kill four children; they don't hunt down a Martin Luther King with a telescopic sight. Passion may drive you to the streets to throw a brick, but to buy a gun, plant an alibi and travel 5000 miles and kill a human being is bloodless, worthy of the selective morality of Adolf Eichmann." The president addresses reporters, explaining that some people think violence is the only answer, but he will rely on diplomacy and peaceful means. He washes his hands of the Wheeler issue.

A reporter asks if he's going to run for the presidential nomination in the next election. Dilman replies that he is going to "fight like hell" to win the nomination over Eaton. To the tune of "Hail to the Chief," he is introduced to the party's National Convention.

Jack Severino (Dominique Vandenberg) is a quiet yet intense man who has no recollection of his past. He spends his time in violent Vale Tudo fights in a small South American village. The only friend he has is his manager Manolo (Steven Bauer), an Indian trying to escape poverty. Jack's violent past catches up with him when he sees a woman (Stana Katic) he has not seen in years bring back his memories.

The SG-1 team gets leave time as Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks) had his appendix removed. Just after Major Carter (Amanda Tapping) declines Colonel O'Neill's (Richard Dean Anderson) invitation to go fishing, O'Neill is beamed aboard the cloaked Asgard ship ''Beliskner'' orbiting Earth. Encountering bug-like robots, O'Neill learns from the dying Asgard, Thor, that the creatures are called Replicators. They ingest the ship's alloys in order to self-replicate and will eventually land on Earth in the search of more raw material. O'Neill contacts Stargate Command with a request to beam up explosives, however, General Hammond (Don S. Davis) also sends along Carter and Teal'c (Christopher Judge) against O'Neill's wishes. An Earth shuttle may be sent to pick them up later.

SG-1 plan to steer the vessel towards Earth to vaporize it during atmospheric reentry. Because the Replicators prevent SG-1 from retaking the bridge, Carter and Thor suggest placing an elementary naqahdah-enhanced bomb on the deceleration drive. When Teal'c leaves the spaceship to place the bomb on the outside of the hull, his airtank blows, however, Carter manages to beam him back on board. Thor, whose vitals crash at this moment, is put into a stasis pod to preserve his life.

While SG-1 waits for the right time to detonate the bomb, they must devise a plan to get off the ship. They eventually beam Stargate Command's Stargate on-board and intend to travel to the planet P3X-234 before returning home using Earth's secondary gate ("Touchstone"). After Teal'c has dialed the gate manually, O'Neill detonates the bomb, crashing the ship in the Pacific Ocean. The last shot of the episode shows a Replicator crawling on remains of the sinking spaceship.

On the planet Eternia, Skeletor's army seizes Castle Grayskull, scatters the remaining Eternian defenders, and captures the Sorceress of Grayskull, planning to seize power over the entire universe by the next moonrise. Skeletor's archenemy, the warrior He-Man, veteran soldier Man-At-Arms and his daughter Teela rescue Gwildor from Skeletor's forces. Gwildor, a Thenorian locksmith, reveals that Skeletor has acquired his invention: a "Cosmic Key" that can open a portal to anywhere by utilizing musical notes. The device was stolen by Skeletor's second-in-command, Evil-Lyn, allowing Skeletor to breach Castle Grayskull.

With Gwildor's remaining prototype of the Key in hand, He-Man and his friends travel to the Castle. They attempt to free the Sorceress but are overwhelmed by Skeletor's army and forced to flee through Gwildor's hastily opened portal, transporting them to Earth. The Key is misplaced on their arrival and discovered by two California teenagers, orphaned high school girl Julie Winston and her boyfriend Kevin Corrigan. While experimenting with the device, they accidentally send a signal that allows Evil-Lyn to track it. She then sends her henchmen Saurod, Blade, Beast Man and Karg to recover it.

Kevin, an aspiring musician, mistakes the Key for a synthesizer and takes it to a music store run by his friend Charlie. Karg's team arrives and chases Julie until He-Man rescues her. Karg's team returns to Grayskull where, incensed by their failure, Skeletor kills Saurod and sends the others back to Earth, with a larger force under Evil-Lyn's command. Unable to find Julie, Kevin is taken to Julie's house by Lubic, a detective investigating the disturbance created by Karg's team. Suspecting the Key is stolen, Lubic confiscates it from Kevin and leaves. Immediately afterward, Evil-Lyn captures and interrogates Kevin for the Key's location with a mind-control collar, before pursuing Lubic.

Julie and the Eternians release Kevin from the collar before they go after Lubic and the Key. They arrive at Charlie's store, but Skeletor's forces catch up with them and a pitched battle ensues. Evil-Lyn recovers the Key and summons Skeletor to Earth. Skeletor's forces capture the Eternians, and Julie is mortally wounded by Skeletor's lightning blast, which simultaneously erases the memory storage of Gwildor's Key. He-Man surrenders to save his comrades and is returned to Eternia as Skeletor's slave. Skeletor attempts to torture He-Man into submission, to make his victory complete, but He-Man refuses to yield. The moment arrives for Skeletor to receive the power of the cosmos, and declaring himself the Master of the Universe, Skeletor uses his new powers to attempt to force He-Man to kneel.

Back on Earth, Gwildor repairs the Cosmic Key and Kevin re-creates the tones necessary to create a gateway to Eternia. The group, including Lubic who attempts to arrest them, are transported to Castle Grayskull, where they begin battling Skeletor's forces. Resenting that Skeletor absorbed the power of the Universe without sharing it with her, Evil-Lyn deserts him along with the other henchmen. Skeletor accidentally frees He-Man, who reclaims the Sword of Grayskull, and they battle until He-Man shatters Skeletor's staff, removing his new powers and restoring him to his normal state. He-Man offers mercy, but Skeletor draws a concealed sword and attempts to kill He-Man; He-Man knocks Skeletor into a vast pit below. The freed Sorceress heals Julie and a portal is opened to send the Earthlings home. Hailed as a hero for his bravery, Lubic decides to remain on Eternia.

Julie awakens on the morning of her parents' deaths by plane crash. She prevents them from taking the ill-fated flight by taking their keys, and runs outside to find Kevin. Kevin confirms that their experiences were real, producing a souvenir from Eternia: a small blue sphere containing a scene of He-Man in front of Castle Grayskull with his sword raised above his head.

In a post-credits scene, Skeletor's head emerges from the water at the bottom of the pit, saying "I'll be back!"

A man closes up a lecture hall; he spits into a box and snips the string holding a gaunt puppet. Released, the puppet warily explores the darkened rooms about him. The desolate ambience and haunting musical score are meant to convey a sense of isolation and futility. As the short continues, the mute protagonist explores a realm of what are described by the directors as "mechanical realities and manufactured pleasures". As the protagonist chooses to join this world, the camera slowly reveals how unfulfilling the surroundings actually are.

A death row inmate has one final request before his impending hanging: he wants to spend the night with a woman. The police bring him a suicidal prostitute. After a night of lovemaking, the two are married by the prison chaplain. Just before going to the gallows, he describes a dream he had where the rope breaks during the hanging, the death bell rings, and he is freed. As he prays for his miracle the death bell tolls and the film fades to black.

In 1825, in the village of Pietranera in French-controlled Corsica, hot-blooded maiden Colomba della Rabia (Faith Domergue) wants her brother Orso (George Dolenz) to avenge the murder of their father by the powerful Barracini family. Despite being a lieutenant, Orso is a man of peace and reason who opposes the Corsican practice of ''vendetta'' and revenge; he is more interested in courting the beautiful English aristocrat, Lydia Nevil (Hillary Brooke), who is vacationing on the island with her father, Col. Sir Thomas Nevil (Nigel Bruce).

To persuade Orso to do his family duty, Colomba must have the help of a family friend, the "bandit" Padrino (Donald Buka), and his servant Brando (Hugo Haas). When Orso is finally convinced that the Barracinis are guilty, and were acquitted at trial due to perjured testimony, he challenges Vincente Barracini to a duel, which pleases Colomba but horrifies Lydia. She is now bethrothed to Orso, but threatens to leave him if he goes through with the duel.

When Orso heads to the appointed place, Colomba finds out that the Barracini brothers are going to ambush him, and rides out to give him warning. In the confrontation that comes, Colomba is shot and dies in Orso's arms, the Barracinis are killed, and Orso is wounded, but not seriously. Padrino tells the grief-stricken Orso that he must use his experience to guide the people to a better way of living, breaking the cycle of ''vendetta'' and death.Erickson, Hal [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:115468 Plot synopsis (Allmovie)]

Phillip Davidson boards a boat and embraces Fay Driver. Then he goes down below to try to convince her father, Captain Driver, not to involve Fay in his criminal activity. However, Boyd brings aboard Delaney (a man he has agreed to smuggle out of the country) and two henchmen. When Boyd demands that Delaney pay him £500, rather than £200, a fight erupts, and Boyd knocks Delaney out. A broken oil lamp starts a fire, attracting the attention of the authorities, and Philip is fished out of the water. A charred corpse is found in the sunken boat. The Drivers and Tim Pewsey perjure themselves by identifying the dead man as Boyd, rather than Delaney, and claiming there was no other man present. This leads to Philip's conviction for Boyd's murder. Granted leniency, he spends 12 years in prison.

Upon his release, he sets out to get even with the witnesses. He is kept under surveillance by the police on the orders of Superintendent Bob Lowther, who is now married to Fay. Philip finds an abandoned barge claimed by Jackson, a kindly old hermit. His plan is to live rough on the barge while he searches for the witnesses. But three people attempt – initially unsuccessfully – to befriend him. First, Jackson withdraws an initial request for rent. Then Craig, a newspaperman who suspects him to be innocent, arrives; Philip throws him out, but Craig tumbles down an open hatch and is knocked unconscious, and Philip rescues him. Finally, he happens upon a sailor attempting to rape Ilse, a traumatised wartime refugee; when he rescues her and allows her to stay on the barge, she falls in love with him.

Informed by Craig that Captain Driver had died four years earlier, Philip stalks Pewsey, with Lowther and Craig on his trail. Pewsey is frightened into confessing to Lowther that there was another man present at the murder. Now Lowther's marriage comes under increasing tension as he considers the possibility of his wife's perjury. Finally, she confesses she did lie to protect her father. Lowther tells her that she will have to turn herself in and he will have to resign. She asks for time, and goes to see "George Berry", who turns out to be Boyd. She asks him for money and they plan to leave the country together.

Ilse pleads with Philip to give up his dream of revenge and start a new life with her. He confronts Fay in her home, realizes Ilse was right, and walks away.

When Fay realises Boyd is not coming, she attempts suicide by trying to jump in front of an oncoming Waterloo & City line train, but is stopped by other people on the platform. She leaves with police sent by her husband after he read her farewell note.

However, by sheer chance, Philip is then hired to deliver an urgent letter to "Berry". Philip confronts Boyd in his office, they fight, and then Philip stops fighting and walks away again. It is time for Boyd to meet Fay at London Waterloo railway station, but he pursues Philip and shoots him in the arm.

Philip flees to the barge, but Boyd is waiting for him. After a chase, Boyd is about to kill Philip when he is shot dead by Jackson.

Ilse and Philip refuse further help from the police, leaving to deal with their pasts and futures together.

Enemy saboteurs infiltrate the industrial suburbs of London, intending to disable three power stations in London and five other stations elsewhere, all strategically located throughout the UK. Their motive is to cripple the British economy and to enable subversive forces to insinuate themselves into government. The saboteurs are thwarted, not by counterintelligence agents, but by workaday London police officers, and finally by a repentant betrayer from their own ranks.

In 1913, Fernand Maubert, the dedicated chief of police of Paris, is pursuing Philippe Lodocq, a suave bank robber suspected of a series of thefts, but the criminal always has an alibi. After the latest robbery, Maubert does capture Lodocq's accomplice, Madeleine Saincaise.

When she is released from prison, Maubert warns her to stay away from Lodocq (though he has a certain admiration for the man). Impressed by her intelligence, beauty and courage, he begins to court her himself. When Lodocq visits her, she professes her love for him, but he tells her that it is too dangerous for them to be seen together and that they would eventually tire of each other anyway. Later, however, during one of their cordial occasional meetings, Maubert tells Lodocq that he can tell that Madeleine is different from Lodocq's other women; she has gotten under his skin.

Later, the police are tipped off by an informant and arrive during an attempted theft. Lodocq gets away, but his assistant Jean Louis is killed, along with a policeman. Lodocq persuades Madeleine to provide him with an alibi. Maubert knows she is lying, but cannot prove it. However, he does stop seeing her.

Finally, Maubert gets the break he has been waiting for. Lodocq employs Jean Louis's brother Alfred for his next theft. Maubert gets Alfred to betray Lodocq, not out of revenge for his brother's death, but by telling him falsely that Lodocq did not give his mother Jean's fair share of the loot. Lodocq is imprisoned just as World War I breaks out.

During the war, Maubert becomes a major in French counterintelligence. When the Minister of War tells him that they urgently need a list of German spies in France being kept in a safe in the German embassy in neutral Bern, Switzerland, Maubert states there is only one man for the job. Maubert is authorized to offer a pardon to Lodocq in exchange for his services. The prisoner agrees after Maubert dangles the prospect of seeing Madeleine.

The theft goes off without a hitch. However, when Lodocq goes to Madeleine's flat, he finds a despondent Maubert already there. In a surprise twist, it turns out that Madeleine's name was on the list they stole. She is taken away, with the implication that she will be executed for treason. In the final scene, Maubert watches Lodocq, now an anonymous French soldier, board a train for the intense fighting at Verdun, both knowing that Lodocq stands little chance of survival.

In 1925 Damascus, the native Syrians are engaged in a guerrilla war against the French colonial rule of Syria. Harry Smith is an American black marketeer, secretly selling weapons to the guerillas. As the situation deteriorates, French General LaSalle orders that civilian sympathisers be executed each time his soldiers are killed, but his head of military intelligence, Colonel Feroud, persuades him to alter the plan, and simply detain civilians for 48 hours. Feroud calls in five of the city's profiteers (including Smith and Balukjiaan) and accuses them of selling food at excessive prices. Smith is the only one who appears to be willing to cooperate. After he leaves, they investigate Smith and find he was a war hero in the First World War.

A bomb goes off in a night club where Smith has been eying Violetta whilst drinking with his barber friend Nasir. Violetta is thrown to the floor. Feroud picks her up, but it is Smith who comforts her. Violetta leaves with Feroud and returns to his apartment: it becomes clear that they are lovers.

Feroud presses for negotiations with rebel leader Emir Hassan. LaSalle reluctantly lets him try to arrange a meeting, but refuses to let Feroud make contact directly. A young military officer sent in his place is later found murdered with his throat cut.

Feroud calls in Balukjiaan and accuses him of being a gun-runner. He protests his innocence and suggests Smith instead.

To complicate matters, Harry makes a pass at Feroud's unhappy mistress, Violetta, but she rejects him. Later, she informs Feroud she wants to leave him, but he refuses to let her go.

Harry discovers that Nasir has given his name to the authorities when pressured, and plans his escape. At the same time, Violetta shows up and begs him to take her back to Cairo. Needing to flee himself, he agrees to take her along. However, a French patrol nearly captures Harry. He barely gets away, but has to leave behind his money, and without that, he is soon betrayed to the French.

Facing execution, Harry agrees to help Feroud meet with Hassan. Hassan calls the colonel a fool and dismisses his plea for negotiations, but decides to spare his life when Harry and Feroud's aide Major Leon show up offering a £10,000 ransom. The officers are allowed to leave; Harry is not so lucky. The rebels are angered that he has revealed the location of their headquarters to the French and fear he has sold them out, so they kill him. As Feroud and Leon walk back, they notice that the incessant gunfire and explosions have stopped. Feroud wonders aloud if he has convinced Hassan to be as big a fool.

In an alternate futuristic society where humans and anthropomorphic dinosaurs co-exist, a tough police detective named Katie Coltraine (Whoopi Goldberg) is paired with an anthropomorphic Tyrannosaurus named Theodore Rex (George Newbern) to find the killer of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals leading them to a ruthless billionaire bent on killing off mankind by creating a new ice age.

The story begins as the guests assemble for dinner on the first night of a house party. Black Dudley is a remote, ancient and sprawling manor house with a long and complex history, its numerous changes of use resulting in plenty of hidden rooms and secret passages. The pile is owned by the family of Wyatt Petrie, a popular young academic, and inhabited by his uncle by marriage, Colonel Coombe, a sickly recluse who wears a mask to cover unsightly scars. The bulk of the guests are young friends of Petrie – among them our red-headed hero George Abbershaw, pathologist and occasional consultant to Scotland Yard, and similarly flame-haired Meggie, whom he shyly admires. The Colonel's medic Doctor White Whitby, and two of his associates, a shifty Englishman named Gideon and an imposing but silent foreigner going by the name of Benjamin Dawlish, are also present. So is one Albert Campion, garrulous and affable, but, George soon learns, unknown to either Petrie or the Colonel.

After dinner, the guests notice a sinister, bejewelled dagger hanging above the fireplace; Petrie tells them a story of its ancient origins in the family, and mentions a ritual involving the dagger being passed from hand to hand round the darkened house. The guests are keen to play the game, so the servants are dismissed, the lights extinguished and the ritual begins.

Abbershaw, not excited at the prospect of people waving daggers around in the dark, slips outside to check on his car; in the garage, he finds the mysterious Mr Campion loitering around. Admiring the Colonel's ancient car, they find it has been converted to contain a powerful Rolls-Royce engine. The two head back into the house to see the end of the game, and find Meggie in a state of shock. The knife was handed to her at some point, and then snatched away again, but not before she realised the blade was covered in blood.

When the lights are finally restored, they hear the Colonel has fallen ill and has been taken to bed. The party breaks up for the night, but as George prepares for bed he is visited by Prenderby, a young newly-qualified doctor, who has been shown Coombe's body and been asked by Doctor Whitby to sign forms allowing a rapid cremation, but, nervous and suspicious, has refused. Abbershaw is next to be asked, and entering the room he at once pulls the sheet from the bed. Although there are no obvious signs of foul play, Abbershaw's experience tells him the man did not die of heart failure, as Whitby claims. Also, his mask has slipped, revealing an unmarked face beneath. Abbershaw is forced to sign the forms, but plans to wire London the next day, to delay the cremation until a proper investigation can be carried out.

Later that night, the house is woken by loud noises, and they find Campion fighting wildly with one of the servants. Abbershaw finds a leather case on the ground, which he later opens, burning the document it contains and secreting the case. He talks with Meggie and her friend Anne, finding that Campion had met Anne in London, informed her he was invited to the party and got a lift down in her car.

The next day, Whitby and the chauffeur depart early with the body. At breakfast, the imposing Mr Dawlish makes a stark announcement – the cars have been drained of fuel, and no-one is to leave the house until something he has lost is returned to him. A brave young rugby-player attempts to escape in a car powered by alcohol, but is shot and wounded.

Campion, having mocked their captors, disappears, but later materialises, dusty and shaken, in Abbershaw's wardrobe. He tells them he has been roughly interrogated and locked up, but escaped through a secret passage, and also that he came to the house on a mission from an unknown, to collect an item from the Colonel and return to London with it. He retrieved the item, but was prevented from leaving by Abbershaw's presence in the garage, and then lost it in the fight with the chauffeur. He has also recognised the crooks, and names Dawlish as Eberhard von Faber, the head of a powerful criminal gang, one of the deadliest men in Europe.

Abbershaw hears that Meggie has been taken for questioning, and angered at the thought of the villains mistreating her, he uses Campion's passage to reach their lair. He too is questioned, and then locked up with Meggie. They speak to an eccentric servant locked up next door, and find that the criminals were as surprised as anyone at the Colonel's death. Campion releases them, and they form a plan to overpower the villains. After much fighting and danger, they retake the house, and are about to flee to safety when the chief villains return and recapture them.

Abbershaw reveals that he has burned their document, the plans for an audacious crime, and the party is locked upstairs, while the gang prepare to leave the house, leaving it on fire with the guests trapped inside. Just in time, the local hunt ride by, with a friend of Campion's among them. Hearing the prisoners' cries for help, the hunt rides up, are incensed by the German's behaviour, and, as he tries to flee, cause his car to crash, crushing him.

The party breaks up and all return to London, where Campion impresses Abbershaw with the name of his mother before disappearing. Abbershaw, Prenderby and another man from the party find the converted car, and follow it to find Dr Whitby and the chauffeur about to flee the country by air. He denies killing the Colonel, and departs.

Abbershaw, after some thought and research, pays a visit to the killer – Petrie himself. Having fallen in love with a young girl, he found she was the puppet of evil criminals, and enraged by their treatment of her, he resolved to track them down. When he found his own uncle was one of them, he felt he had no choice but to slay him, inventing the dagger ritual to give him the chance. Abbershaw lets him go, on condition he enters a monastery.

Gerard Revé, an alcoholic, bisexual novelist, travels from Amsterdam to Vlissingen to give a lecture to the city's Literary Society. At the train station, he unsuccessfully cruises an attractive young man for sex. During the lecture, Gerard notices the society's treasurer, a cosmetologist named Christine Halsslag, incessantly filming her with a handheld camera. She informs him after the lecture that they have booked him a room at the Hotel Bellevue in the city, if he wishes to stay; Gerard is disturbed to find it the same hotel that was subject of a bizarre nightmare he had on the train.

Christine instead asks Gerard to spend the night at her home, which is attached to a salon she owns. The two have sex, after which Gerard has a nightmare in which Christine cuts off his penis with scissors. In the morning, Christine tells Gerard she is a widow, having lost her husband Johan in an accident. Later, in Christine's salon, Gerard finds a photograph of her attractive German lover, Herman, and realizes he is the same man he encountered in the train station. Gerard swiftly becomes enamored of Herman, and agrees to have an extended vacation with Christine in hopes of encountering and ultimately bedding him.

Gerard, a Catholic, begins having a number of bizarre, interconnected visions: While praying in a cathedral, he has an erotic vision of the large crucifix of Jesus transforming into Herman, wearing only swim briefs; he also has several visions of Herman with a missing eyeball, as well as of a woman in blue, whom he believes to be The Virgin Mary. While Christine goes to visit Herman in Cologne, Gerard is left alone at her home. Instead of writing, he gets drunk and watches home movies that reveal Christine was married to two other men before she married Johan; the footage shows Christine with her three husbands on various vacations. Christine returns with Herman, and Gerard masturbates while spying on the two having sex. In the morning, Christine departs on a business trip, leaving Gerard alone with Herman. Only moments after she leaves, Gerard confesses to Herman that he encountered him before at the train station, to which Herman seems impervious, and mainly interested in Gerard's fame.

Herman takes Gerard on a tour of the city, and Gerard forces him to stop the car when he sees a woman who has appeared recurrently to him in visions. He follows her to a cemetery, but she disappears, as Herman trails behind. A sudden thunderstorm breaks out, and the men seek shelter in a tomb. Gerard attempts to initiate sex with Herman, who is initially reluctant, but agrees. The men kiss passionately, and Herman begins to perform oral sex on Gerard. While Herman fellates him, Gerard notices three urns in the tomb with the inscription "Loving Husbands of Christine Halsslag." Gerard has a number of visions in which all three of Christine's husbands are killed during the vacation activities he viewed in the home movies. Gerard halts the sexual encounter with Herman, and confesses his belief that Christine is responsible for her three husband's gruesome deaths, and that either of them could fall victim to her. An infuriated Herman dismisses Gerard's claim as a paranoid fantasy.

When the two men depart the cemetery, Herman loses control of the car near a construction site, and collides with a bundle of iron rods being lifted by a crane, which impale him through his eye socket, killing him. A traumatized Gerard is taken to a hospital for examination, where he tells the physician, Dr. de Vries—also a member of the literary society and an acquaintance of Christine's—that Christine is a witch who leads men to their deaths. De Vries dismisses Gerard as a fantastical liar, assuring him that all of Christine's husbands' deaths were unfortunate accidents. Gerard comes to the realization that, for him, the Virgin Mary's appearances in his visions were warnings of Christine's danger. As a consequence, when Christine arrives at the hospital, Gerard attacks her, and is incapacitated with a sedative by the Mary from Gerard's visions, who appears to him as a nurse. As Gerard is hospitalized, Christine meets another young, attractive man in the hospital lobby, with whom she leaves.

Lwaxana Troi returns to Deep Space Nine seeking Odo's protection. She is pregnant with a son and on the run from her Tavnian husband, Jeyal. He wants to take the baby, upon birth, away from Lwaxana to be raised in an all-male environment. Lwaxana does not want to be separated from her child.

Odo discovers that according to Tavnian law the son belongs to the mother's husband, not necessarily the actual father. He proposes that Lwaxana divorce Jeyal and marry Odo, so that Jeyal cannot claim her child. This scheme is complicated when Jeyal invites himself to the marriage ceremony. The Tavnian marriage ceremony requires that all present be convinced of the legitimacy of the feelings of the couple, meaning that Odo will have to convince Jeyal that he is truly in love with Lwaxana in order for the marriage to be legitimate. The plan works; Odo and Lwaxana are married and Jeyal leaves the station.

Meanwhile, Jake Sisko spots an alluring woman arriving on the station. She finds him and invites him to her quarters. Jake backs out of a 3-day trip with his father, Captain Benjamin Sisko, in order to stay on the station and meet with the woman, Onaya. That evening, Jake meets with her and she helps him write by stimulating certain areas of his brain. However, it appears she is also taking something away from Jake.

Jake meets with her several times working on an ambitious novel. His father returns to the station and eventually finds Jake with Onaya and prevents her from killing his son. Onaya justifies her actions by saying that she allows artists to "live forever" through brilliant work that she helps them produce, while she is nourished by the artists' brain energy.

While Jake is recovering, his father has read the pages that he wrote under the influence of Onaya, and tells Jake he has the beginnings of a good novel. Jake responds that he does not feel that the words were his own. Benjamin assures him that Onaya had only helped him draw out what was already there.

Terror and destruction have made their way to Ninja Valley. The Master of the Oboro school of shinobi sends his best students to investigate the suburban areas. They return with news of a powerful dark force that has established a base within Neo City.

The Master knows that only a warrior trained in the arts of ninjutsu can stand against this menace. One by one his greatest pupils enter Neo City to locate and destroy the source of the evil. Ninja Valley has lost contact with each of them. All are believed to be captured.

Now Joe Musashi the Red Shinobi, must carry out this dire mission. As the oldest and strongest of his ninja disciples, Musashi must use his special skills in the art of ninjutsu to free his fellow shinobi. With their combined strength, they can destroy the City of Fear.

Undergoing a messy divorce, Sarah Lawson visits her brother Robert Harmon, an alcoholic playboy and writer who is in a relationship with a professional singer. Robert is visited by his ex-wife, who forces him to take care of their eight-year-old son, whom he has never met, for 24 hours.

Robert's son is terrified by the hedonistic, decadent world of his father and begs to be taken home following an overnight trip to Las Vegas. After dropping him off, Robert is beaten up by the boy's stepfather, after which his son testifies his love for Robert.

Fleeing the scene, Robert returns home to take care of his sister, his "best friend." Sarah tries with some success to curb the nihilistic self-destruction of Robert's life and simultaneously deal with her own depression and divorce, and Robert struggles between his intense desire to protect his sister and the challenge of accepting her freedom as the necessary cost of love.

The story of ''Mahomet'' unfolds during Muhammad's post exile siege of Mecca in 629 AD, when the opposing forces are under a short term truce called to discuss the terms and course of the war.

In the first act the audience is introduced to a fictional leader of the Meccans, Zopir, an ardent and defiant advocate of free will and liberty who rejects Mahomet. Mahomet is presented through his conversations with his second in command Omar and with his opponent Zopir and with two of Zopir's long lost children (Seid and Palmira) whom, unbeknownst to Zopir, Mahomet had abducted and enslaved in their infancy, fifteen years earlier.

The now young and beautiful captive Palmira has become the object of Mahomet's desires and jealousy. Having observed a growing affection between Palmira and Seid, Mahomet devises a plan to steer Seid away from her heart by indoctrinating young Seid in religious fanaticism and sending him on a suicide attack to assassinate Zopir in Mecca, an event which he hopes will rid him of both Zopir and Seid and free Palmira's affections for his own conquest. Mahomet invokes divine authority to justify his conduct.

Seid, still respectful of Zopir's nobility of character, hesitates at first about carrying out his assignment, but eventually his fanatical loyalty to Mahomet overtakes him and he slays Zopir. Phanor arrives and reveals to Seid and Palmira to their disbelief that Zopir was their father. Omar arrives and deceptively orders Seid arrested for Zopir's murder, despite knowing that it was Mahomet who had ordered the assassination. Mahomet decides to cover up the whole event so as to not be seen as the deceitful impostor and tyrant that he is.

Having now uncovered Mahomet's vile deception, Palmira renounces Mahomet's god and commits suicide rather than fall into the clutches of Mahomet.

Twenty years ago a certain process was done over the years. Yuga would take out babies from their mother's wombs for a few days. She would put a certain spell on them and return them to the mother's womb. The baby would be born as if nothing happened. The child would show incredible talent in different fields. These children were called "Shindou" or "Kidou". Twenty years later, the children would become incredible adults who have a high status or are well known. Yuga would appear before these people and would show them a mysterious puppet show. This causes them to remember why they were born in this world and would follow orders given by Yuga.

In a forest far away, a mother fruit bat has a new baby, and names her Stellaluna. One night, an owl attacks the bats, knocking Stellaluna out of her mother's embrace, and she falls into the forest below. Soon the baby bat ends up in a sparrow's nest filled with three baby birds named Pip, Flitter and Flap. The mother bird will let Stellaluna be part of the family only if she eats bugs, does not hang by her feet and sleeps at night.

When the birds grow, they learn to fly. When Stellaluna and the birds are out playing, it gets dark and the birds go home without her because they will not be able to see in the dark. Stellaluna keeps flying, but when her wings hurt, she stops to rest. When she does, she hangs by her thumbs. Soon other bats come, and one asks Stellaluna why she is hanging by her thumbs. As she tells the other bats her story, Mother Bat reunites with her and Stellaluna finally understands why she is so different.

Excited about learning how to be a bat, Stellaluna returns to Pip, Flitter, and Flap in order to share her new experiences. They agree to join Stellaluna and the bats at night, but find they are unsuited to flying at night and nearly crash. Stellaluna rescues them and the four of them decide that while they may be very different, they are still friends and family.

Laura (Lara Wendel, age 12) and Fabrizio (Martin Loeb, age 18) have been meeting every summer in the forest by her parents' summer home. Fabrizio is a solitary boy with only his dog for company; Laura is a sweet girl, but she lacks confidence. This summer new aspects enter into their story as both are growing up. The film represents them as part child, part adult. Part naive, part knowing. Laura is falling in love with Fabrizio, while he displays a new sexual awareness of her masked by his malice.

Fabrizio becomes inexplicably cruel. He accelerates his unwarranted torment of Laura in many ways, including tying her up and putting a snake near her and killing a pet bird she is fond of. Fabrizio prides himself on being 'king of the forest' and rubbishes Laura's tender attempts to be his queen. One day they climb the "Blue Mountain", a mysterious tall mountain at the forest's edge and discover ancient building ruins. Exploring these they find a cave. Inside, Fabrizio seduces Laura.

Fabrizio's cruel streak is boosted by his new sexual confidence. At one point he virtually forces himself on Laura, much to her upset. He does relent when she makes it clear she wants Fabrizio to be gentle with her, which he ridicules.

Things develop further when they meet Sylvia (Eva Ionesco, age 12). Unlike the previously virginal Laura, Sylvia is confident and assertive. Fabrizio develops a fascination with her, eventually bribing Laura to fetch her to the forest to join them in play. Sylvia, aware of Fabrizio's interest in her, asserts herself in his affections, quickly replacing Laura and demoting her to servant and victim, which Fabrizio takes delight in. Laura, reluctant to leave her old friend and new lover, stays and becomes the target of the duo's ever progressing cruelty. At one point, they both 'hunt' Laura with bows and arrows and at another, pretend to throw her off a high ledge. They make love in front of her, insisting her punishment is that she must watch, leaving Laura confused and heartbroken.

At the end of summer, with the girls talking about returning to school, Fabrizio becomes pensive and agitated. He insists on taking Sylvia to the ruins for the first time. All three of them go into the cave to escape a thunderstorm and Fabrizio again pretends they are lost as he did with Laura. Sylvia breaks down sobbing for her mother, all traces of her confidence and maturity lost in the fear of being in the cave. Fabrizio repeatedly begs Sylvia to stay with him forever. In the morning, Sylvia is still lost in the cave and further rejects the desperate Fabrizio and his pleas to stay with him. She becomes hysterical and he kills her with a knife, feeling it is the only way he won't lose her. He stays with the dead body and gives Laura the flashlight telling her she knows the way home and Laura reluctantly leaves. The film ends with a translation of the poem "Akarsz-e játszani" ("Would You Like to Play?") by Hungarian writer Dezső Kosztolányi.

In this gentle, tragic drama, Olivier (John McEnery) is a wealthy young man. He spends his time building a boat on the lawn with his friend David (Jean-Pierre Cassel), a poor fisherman whom he grew up with. Though hardly idyllic, the relative calm provided by their friendship is disrupted by Eleonore (Claude Jade), a cute and determined young woman who sets her sights on David. She wants to wean David from his friendship with Olivier and plays on David's long-dormant jealousy of Olivier's wealth and easy life. Eleonore also plays the flipside of the jealousy issue, claiming that Olivier has made passes at her.

Vincent Canby: "Adorable Acting, especially by Claude Jade, who brings the right mixture of conventionalism and self-interest into her role."

The film was nominated for the Grand Prix and the Prix du Jury [http://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm-45346/palmares/]

In a parallel universe, Roddy (a.k.a. Arianrhod), daughter of two magicians who serve the King of Blest, has traveled with "the King's Progress" her entire life. The King's Progress is a mobile Court that continuously roams the Islands of Blest (our England) to contain and control the natural magic in the world. Roddy and her best friend, Grundo, uncover a sinister plot involving Grundo's mother and the new "Merlin" – the magical governor of Blest – to take over the throne and the magic of the universe. When Roddy and Grundo try to warn the adults around them of the plot, they are not believed, and Roddy ends up making a spell to ask help of someone from another world – unfortunately, the only person she manages to find is Nick.

Nick Mallory (a.k.a. Nichothodes Koryfoides) is a boy living in our own England who dreams about becoming a magid and travelling to other worlds. A magid is a sort of magical policeman who travels between worlds and helps people. Nick finds himself accidentally wandering the dark paths between the worlds, where he finds Roddy and then the powerful magician Romanov. Nick finally makes his way to Blest when he finds Maxwell Hyde, Roddy's grandfather, who is a magid. But Grundo's mother and the fake Merlin have been kidnapping all the most powerful witches and wizards in Blest – including Maxwell Hyde and both of Roddy's parents – and it is up to Nick, Roddy and Grundo to raise the land and stop the plot.

Martha Beck is a sullen, overweight nursing administrator living in Mobile, Alabama, with her elderly mother. Martha's friend Bunny surreptitiously submits Martha's name to a "lonely hearts" club, which results in a letter from Raymond Fernandez of New York City. Overcoming her initial reluctance, Martha corresponds with Ray and becomes attracted to him. He visits Martha in Alabama and seduces her. Thereafter, having secured a loan from her, Ray sends Martha a Dear Jane letter, and Martha enlists Bunny's aid to call him with the (false) news that she has attempted suicide.

Ray allows Martha to visit him in New York, where he reveals he is a con man who makes his living by seducing and then swindling lonely women. Martha is unswayed by this revelation. At Ray's directive, and so she can live with him, Martha puts her mother in a nursing home. Martha's embittered mother disowns her for abandoning her. Martha insists on accompanying Ray at his "work." Woman after woman accepts the attentions of this suitor who goes courting while always within sight of his "sister". Ray promises Martha he will never sleep with any of the other women but complicates his promise by marrying pregnant Myrtle Young. After Young aggressively attempts to bed the bridegroom, Martha gives her a dose of pills, and Ray puts the drugged woman on a bus. Her death thereafter escapes immediate suspicion.

The swindlers move on to their next target, and after catching Ray in a compromising position with the woman, Martha attempts to drown herself. To placate her, Ray rents a house in Valley Stream, a suburb of New York City. He becomes engaged to the elderly Janet Fay of Albany, and takes her to the house he shares with Martha. Janet gives Ray a check for $10,000 but then becomes suspicious of the two. When Janet tries to contact her family, Martha and Ray bludgeon her with a clawhammer before strangling her to death. They bury her body beneath their cellar floor in her trunk, tossing into the grave's dirt the two framed depictions of Jesus that, Martha notes sarcastically, she'd told them she took everywhere she went.

Next, they spend several weeks living in Michigan with the widowed Delphine Downing and her young daughter. Delphine, younger and prettier than most of Ray's conquests, confides in Martha, hoping that she will help her persuade Ray to marry her as soon as possible because she is pregnant with Ray's child. Martha is in the midst of drugging Delphine when the woman's daughter enters the room with Ray. He shoots Delphine in the head, and Martha drowns the daughter in the cellar. Ray tells Martha that he must proceed with his plan to move on to one more woman, this one in New Orleans, and then he will marry Martha; he reaffirms his promise never to betray her with one of his marks. Realizing that Ray will never stop lying to her, Martha calls the police and waits calmly for them to arrive.

The epilogue takes place four months later, with Martha and Ray in jail. As she leaves the cellblock for the first day of their trial, Martha receives a letter from Ray in which he tells her that, despite everything, she is the only woman he ever loved. Titles on the screen then conclude the story, saying that Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez were executed at Sing Sing on March 8, 1951.

Incorporating dark comedy, ''I Luv Halloween'' follows a group of children as they go trick-or-treating each Halloween: Finch, the leader of the bunch; Moochie, his homicidal younger sister; Devil Lad, who only appears on Halloween to join the group; Pig Pig, a simple-minded boy; the perverted Mr. Kitty; and his mostly silent younger brother Spike.

''I Luv Halloween'' consists of three self-contained volumes. In the first volume, the children seek revenge after receiving apples, pennies, and candy which they dislike. Meanwhile, Moochie wanders away from Finch and kills the town bullies with a brassiere stolen from Nips, the town cheerleader. Obsessed with teeth, Moochie also extracts the molars of her victims. Finch and his group attempt to retrieve the brassiere from Moochie; however, after a series of deaths, they end up prematurely burying Nips. In the second volume, they learn that the townspeople have become zombies. Moochie embarks on a quest to drive out the "Chonkolit monkeys", and encounters a group of sisters: Vera, Vivian, and Vincent. Moochie takes Vera with her to hunt the king of the monkeys. Meanwhile, Finch and Mr. Kitty escape from a Christian couple by severely burning the wife. Her husband chases after them, only to be killed by Moochie. She then has Vera exorcise the king of the monkeys from him. In the third volume, Finch and his group discover that the town is experiencing an alien invasion. Mr. Kitty sneaks into one of the aliens' spaceships when he sees them carrying off Nips. Finch and Pig Pig follow him onto the spaceship, only to discover that the aliens have sewn his head to Nips's body. Curious about abortions, Moochie sets out to revive a fetus whom she believes is her sister. Along the way, she tortures and kills the town doctor. His son, whom Moochie also tortures, sees this as a hate crime and sets off a biochemical targeting all the people of Caucasian descent. He and Devil Lad leave the town afterward.

Characters

The character of ''Lunar; Eternal Blue'' were designed by artist and ''Lunar'' veteran Toshiyuki Kubooka. Hiro – a young man and would-be explorer who is skilled with a sword and boomerangs Ruby – a pink, winged cat-like creature with a crush on Hiro who claims to be a baby red dragon Gwyn – Hiro's adoptive grandfather, and an archaeologist Lucia – a mysterious and soft-spoken girl from the Blue Star who is skilled with magic and mostly naive of the world's customs Ronfar – a priest-turned-gambler with healing skills Lemina – money-grubbing heiress to the position of head of the world's highest magic guild Jean – a traveling dancer with a hidden past as a prisoner forced to use a deadly form of martial arts against innocent people Leo – captain of Althena's guard and servant of the goddess.

While the cast's primary personalities remained intact for the English release, some changes such as colorful language, jokes, and double entendres were added to their speech to make the game more comical.

Primary supporting characters include the servants of the Goddess Althena, the creator of Lunar thought to have vanished centuries ago who suddenly appeared in mortal form to lead her people. Borgan – an obese, self-absorbed magician with his eyes on the seat of power in the magic guild Lunn – a martial artist and Jean's former instructor Mauri – Leo's sister and Ronfar's love interest. Ghaleon (the primary villain killed in the previous game) - the current Dragonmaster, Althena's champion, and supposed protector of the world. His final end reveals that he regrets the evil he committed and does what he can to aid Hiro. *Zophar – the game's principal villain, a long-dormant evil spirit who is attempting to destroy and recreate the world to his tastes. Although his voice is heard numerous times, he remains faceless until the final battle.

Conception

The plot of ''Lunar: Eternal Blue'' was written by novelist Kei Shigema, who previously conceived the story for ''The Silver Star''. Working together with new world-designer Hajime Satou, Shigema intended to craft a story that would continue where the previous game ended, while also giving players a thoroughly new experience that would elaborate on the history and mythos of the ''Lunar'' world.

Story

On Lunar, Hiro and Ruby are exploring an ancient ruin where they collect a large gem, The Dragon's Eye. Removing it sets off a trap and they flee as the temple collapses and monsters chase them. On their way back to their home they meet the White Knight Leo, captain of Althena's guard, who warns them of a person arriving that is prophesied to destroy the world, known as the "Destroyer". Despite these rumors in the land, Hiro, Ruby and Gwyn investigate a strange light that descended upon the mysterious Blue Spire tower. They use the Dragon's Eye to unlock the tower. There they meet the beautiful Lucia, who asks to be taken to see the goddess Althena in order to avert the destruction of Lunar. Zophar, an evil disembodied spirit, appears and drains Lucia of all her magic powers. The group travels to convince the former-priest of Althena, Ronfar, to heal her. After being healed, Lucia travels alone on her quest to find Althena.

Hiro, Ronfar and Ruby grow concerned about Lucia and follow her. They witness Lucia being abducted by Leo, who believes her to be the destroyer. They rescue her from Leo's ship, The Dragonship Destiny, and escape into a forest where they meet the dancer Jean, who is traveling with a circus group. Jean helps them escape the forest. Lucia does not understand human culture and often finds human behavior strange. As they travel she starts to learn about humanity and grows fond of people. Joined along the way by Lemina, the group travel across mountains and forests to reach Pentagulia, Althena's holy city.

Lucia demands to see Althena. But when she meets the woman who claims to be Althena, Lucia determines her to be an imposter. After a brief fight, the group is separated and thrown into the palace dungeons. The party is freed and joined by Leo, whose faith in the goddess was shaken by Althena's recent actions. The group determines to thwart Ghaleon, the self-proclaimed Dragonmaster who is supporting the false Althena, by returning the power he took from the four dragons. The heroes begin a journey to visit the four dragons and free them. As they travel, Lemina, Ronfar, Jean, and Leo each confront one of Althena's strongest heroes, redeeming their past lives that they have been running away from.

The revived dragons, including Ruby, attack the false Althena's stronghold, where she is transformed into a demonic monster that the group defeat. At the pinnacle of the battle, the group learns that the true Althena gave up her godhood after falling in love with a human. Lucia absorbs Althena's power in order to destroy Zophar, but hesitates as this could destroy all magic and Lunar itself. Lucia is then captured by Zophar who drains her power. Lucia uses the last of her magic to teleport Hiro and the others to safety. The group trains to fight Zophar. Ghaleon appears and gives Hiro his sword, explaining that he had to appear to be an enemy but wishes to atone for his past actions (i.e., as the villain of the first game).

The group work together and defeat Zophar using their human strengths, thus freeing Lucia and restoring peace. Lucia returns to her home on the Blue Star, hoping that she can one day entrust the Blue Star to humans based on what she witnessed on Lunar. Having fallen in love with Lucia, Hiro is heartbroken by her departure. In the epilogue, Hiro and the group reunite to help Hiro go to the Blue Star to be reunited with Lucia. Hiro succeeds, and the two look towards a bright future for humanity.

In New York City, a gunman perched atop a water tower, opens fire with a .22 caliber rifle on the crowded streets below, randomly killing fifteen pedestrians. Peter Nicholas, a devout Catholic NYPD detective, climbs the tower to talk to the sniper. Before jumping to his death, the gunman tells Nicholas that "God told" him to commit the murders.

Although traumatized by the attack, Nicholas investigates a series of seemingly unpremeditated murders that follow: a mass stabbing at a supermarket, a mass shooting by a police officer at a St. Patrick's Day parade, and a man who murders his wife and children. They have all been committed by a variety of unconnected, seemingly normal assailants who claim that God told them to kill. Nicholas learns that one of the murderers knew a long-haired young man named Bernard Phillips. When Nicholas visits Phillips' address, Phillips' mother assaults Nicholas with a knife, but she dies during the attack by falling down a flight of stairs. She turns out to have been a virgin and to have once claimed she was abducted by aliens. Nicholas' superiors refuse to acknowledge a religious motivation for the murders and suspend him, so he leaks this story to the press, causing a panic. A corrupt high-level NYPD officer is stabbed to death by an angry dealer he betrayed, but Nicholas correctly deduces that the killer used the so-called "God killings" as a cover for a non-connected murder, noting that the previous killers all remained where they committed their crimes and accepted being arrested or shot (or committing suicide) after confessing that "God told them to" commit the atrocities.

A group of religious cultists who are all rich white males are in thrall to Bernard Phillips and are aware that Phillips is influencing the murderers as he contacts and controls them via psychic powers while informing them of each impending atrocity. Phillips has one of the members invite Nicholas to join them, but when Nicholas asks whether the follower knows about Phillips' mother, the follower suffers convulsions and drops dead. Another cult member attempts to kill Nicholas by pushing him in front of a subway train, but when he fails, Nicholas forces him to take him to Phillips, who isolates himself in a fiery furnace room deep underground. After delivering Nicholas, the follower decapitates himself using an elevator. A brief meeting convinces Nicholas that he himself is special and that Phillips does not kill him as he needs him for some purpose.

By researching his own adoption records, Nicholas finds an old woman who seems to be his birth mother. She explains that she gave up her out-of-wedlock child after she was brutally impregnated by a strange ball of light while she walked home from the New York Worlds Fair in 1941. The meeting distresses both of them, and Nicholas is wracked with doubt over who or what he is.

He confronts Phillips one last time and discovers the truth: both he and Phillips are the result of "virgin births" caused by a mysterious extraterrestrial "entity of light" with psychic/supernatural powers and advanced spacecraft technology. Nicholas' human genes are dominant, which is why he is unaware of his true nature, while Phillips is more like their unseen progenitor. Phillips reveals himself to be a hermaphrodite who wishes to spawn a new species with his "brother." Nicholas refuses and attacks Phillips, who uses his powers to destroy the building they are in and thereby commit suicide. Nicholas is arrested for the murder of Phillips. As he is led into court by police, a news reporter asks him why he committed the crime. He responds, "God told me to." Nicholas is committed to the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

Donald Duck and his nephews journey back to Plain Awful. This time, Scrooge McDuck goes with them. Scrooge plans to buy some square eggs from the natives, while Donald and the nephews plan to return the roosters they brought back from their first visit. Unfortunately, Flintheart Glomgold also wants the square eggs and again serves as Scrooge's unscrupulous rival.

In Plain Awful, the ducks discover that, since their last visit, the highly imitative residents have sculpted their entire culture around the appearance and personality of Donald Duck (just as they had previously built their entire culture around the personality of their previous visitor). One aspect of Plain Awful's culture that has remained constant, however, is the law forbidding round objects, which Scrooge inadvertently violates by showing the natives his Number One Dime. As a result, he is held prisoner in the stone quarries, finishing the square eggs deal for good. However, Plain Awful's "President" (The leader decided to imitate America's system after Donald and his nephews' first visit) offers Scrooge a full pardon and reconsideration of the square eggs deal, if they bring him a rare item called "Ice Cream Soda".

Donald and the nephews have to team up with Flintheart to deliver an Ice Cream Soda to the President of Plain Awful: Donald and his nephews need Flintheart to get the soda, while Flintheart needs guidance back to civilization since he arrived at Plain Awful just by a stroke of luck. Flintheart, of course, betrays them after getting the soda, forcing them to improvise making an ice cream soda on the spot, using dried milk, sugar, and chocolate from their ration packs, plus some snow and carbonated water from a fire extinguisher.

Scrooge and Glomgold race to the city with their sodas, but are surprised to see the natives now imitating them, instead of Donald. The President (now the "Chairman of the Board") declares he is no longer interested in ice cream sodas, but instead asks for some money to store in Plain Awful's newly made money bin. Since Flintheart spent all his cash on the helicopter that brought them to Plain Awful (except for a coin, which he wouldn't show after what happened to Scrooge), Scrooge gives one billion dollars (in bills) for his freedom. Plain Awful's "chairman" happily accepts the money, but to Scrooge and Flintheart's horror, the bills are chopped in two (leaving perfect square halves) and put on public display inside the bin.

Scrooge and Flintheart are so disgusted by this that they want nothing more to do with Plain Awful, abandoning their aspirations of gaining export rights to the square eggs. The story ends with Huey, Dewey, and Louie leaving a copy of the Junior Woodchuck's Guidebook as a farewell gift to the natives, and Donald making fun of Scrooge and his famous motto, since the natives made their first billion "by being tougher than the toughies and smarter than the smarties! And they made it SQUARE!"

Hal Ambler, a former Consular Operations agent in the Political Stabilization Unit, is kept heavily medicated and closely watched in a psychiatric facility just off the US coast. However, Ambler is unique amongst the other patients in the Parrish Island psychiatric facility, because he is perfectly sane. With the help of a sympathetic nurse, Ambler manages to clear his mind of the drug-induced haze and stage a daring escape off the island. Although he is desperate to discover who put him on Parrish Island and why, the world in which he returns appears to have conveniently forgotten him. Friends and associates no longer recognize him, no official records of his existence are to be found, and the face he sees in the mirror is not his own. After contacting several old associates who do not recognize him or even have any recollection of his existence, Ambler goes to a cabin in certain part of country which had always been his lone solace even during his days as a field agent. He arrives to find no cabin, and the landscape looked such that there hadn't been any before. A tranquillizer dart armed with carfetanyl then strikes him, but does not affect his thought processes severely . He tracks down the sniper and forces the sniper, a freelance operative, to give him authorisation codes. However, before the operative can be milked for more information, he is killed by a sniper whose single bullet also grazed Ambler's neck. He then contacts the agency that is tracking him down. Ambler comes in contact with agents from his past in the Political Stabilization Unit. Among those is Osiris, a blind operative who had an uncanny linguistic ability and has also regarded Ambler as his close friend. His friend is subsequently shot and killed by a Chinese intelligence officer independent of the organization Ambler is being hired by, who believes Ambler wants to assassinate the Chinese head of state. He uncovers a conspiracy involving a State Department official to kill the Chinese President, in order to hinder the shift in power and to restore the old world order of Pax Americana, in accordance with her university lecturer, Ashton Palmer's fanatical ideals. Ambler manages to unravel the conspiracy, while at the same time discovering that the nurse who had freed him and supposedly helped him on his endeavours to find out more about himself was in league with the "Palmerites", or so those who conform to Palmer's ideals are called. Ambler's ability to determine others' emotions and pick up even the slightest of change in facial expression is foiled, for the nurse was trained in Method acting. At the end of the book, Ambler is seen to be lounging with the desk-jockey CIA officer who had assisted him in self-discovery and the foiling of the conspiracy.

Category:2005 American novels Category:American spy novels Category:Novels by Robert Ludlum Category:Novels set in Virginia Category:Novels set on islands

Mann is a mysterious World War I veteran who is scouting out land to buy. He comes to the town of Rosewood, a small and predominantly black town in Florida. Rosewood is home to the Carriers, an upwardly mobile black family, led by a matriarch, Aunt Sarah and her proud, headstrong son, Sylvester. Mann soon meets Beulah "Scrappie" Carrier, Sylvester's young cousin and the two quickly fall in love.

Aunt Sarah works as a housekeeper for James Taylor and his wife, Fanny, a white couple who lives in the white side of Rosewood. Fanny, who has a history of cheating on her husband, has a rendezvous with her lover while her husband is at work. Fanny argues with her lover, who ends up beating her. Aunt Sarah and her granddaughter, Lee Ruth, overhear the argument and the subsequent beating but do not intervene. A distraught Fanny, despairing of explaining her injuries to her husband, leaves her house and calls for help. She then tells several townspeople that she has been beaten by a black man. The white residents readily believe Fanny's claim. Hearing of an escaped black convict named Jesse Hunter, a posse from Sumner and nearby towns goes to Rosewood to investigate. The black residents of Rosewood are quickly targeted by a white mob, including men from out of state and members of the Ku Klux Klan.

As a stranger, Mann is afraid that he will be accused of attacking Fanny and lynched. He plans to leave town over the protests of several Rosewood residents who have met in church to discuss plans to defend their community. Outside the church, Mann clashes with John Wright, a Navy Spanish American War veteran and the owner of a general store, one of the few white residents of Rosewood. Wright is also engaging in a torrid extramarital affair with Sylvester's cousin, Jewel; Mann leaves.

When the posse arrives at the Carrier home, Aunt Sarah attempts to placate the angry crowd. When she announces that Fanny Taylor's attacker had been a white man, someone in the crowd shoots her and she dies of her injuries. The posse comes and Sylvester shoots and kills two of its members. The posse falls back and a shootout erupts. After Aunt Sarah's murder, the posse attacks Rosewood. Mann is on his way out of town when he witnesses the lynching of Sam Carter, the blacksmith. Changing his mind about leaving, Mann returns to Rosewood to fight alongside the residents. Some decent white men who live in Rosewood help black Rosewood residents escape. Railroad conductors smuggle people out of town on trains. Wright asks the train conductors to pick up the women and children while his wife hides several other African-Americans in their home. Other whites attempt to stop the violence with no success.

The posse swells in number. Believing that James Carrier held information about the escaped convict, they seek him out. After making an unsuccessful attempt to intervene on James' behalf, Wright reluctantly allows Sheriff Walker to take Carrier into custody because the officer said he only wanted to question him. When Carrier says he doesn't have any information, he is immediately shot by one of the members of the mob. Wright gets upset and the mob accuses him of being soft on blacks.

The violence escalates and spills out into neighboring towns. When the posse gets to the border of Alachua County, they are met with a group of armed deputized white men and a sheriff. When the posse attempt to get them to move, the disguised and angry sheriff refuses and the deputized men turn their guns on the posse. Realizing they will be killed, the posse leaves. Surviving members of the Carrier family eventually escape on a train, which had been arranged by Wright. Scrappie and Mann finally share a kiss before Mann departs with Sylvester. The two plan to meet up later. After the violence dies down, James Taylor confronts his wife, Fanny. He realizes that Fanny has lied to him about the true cause of her injuries and had affairs with other men, after being told by the sheriff and the townspeople. Officially the final death toll was eight people, two white and six black. Other accounts by survivors and several African-American newspapers estimated a higher death toll.

In the Hausruck Hills in Austria, CIA agent Harry Latham attempts infiltrating a secret training airfield belonging to the ''Brüderschaft der Wacht'' (The Brotherhood of the Watch), a Neo-nazi movement gradually building a renaissance of the Nazi ideology across Europe. However, he's exposed and captured, and the Brotherhood's chief surgeon, Dr. Gerhardt Kroeger, performs a microchip implant experiment on Harry in an attempt to make him a controllable double-agent.

In Paris, the suicidal act of deranged World War II veteran Pierre Jodelle in a theater draws the attention of Drew Latham, Harry's younger brother and an agent for the United States Department of Consular Operations, whom believes Jodelle might have uncovered a potential Neo-nazi network in France, being his best clue to find his missing brother. After suffering an attempt on his life, Drew is put under the protection of the Deuxième Bureau under Director Claude Moreau, on a request from Drew's superior officer, Director Wesley Sorenson. As Drew continues his investigation, he's also assisted by Stanley 'Stosh' Witkowski, a Cold War veteran and Chief of Security for the US Embassy in Paris, and Karin De Vries, a linguistics expert and records specialist (and an unofficial black ops agent). Sudden and unexpectedly, Harry makes contact with the CIA weeks later, providing an explosive, suspicious incriminating list involving high-profile personnel, from politicians to celebrities, that he acquired under the alias 'Alexander Lassiter' - In fact, this is a move by the Brotherhood itself to provoke discord amongst the world's nations, removing strategic personnel to be replaced with the Brotherhood's homegrown sleeper agents, the Sonnenkinder, who'd "pave the road for the Fourth Reich". Drew and Harry meet each other at the Paris airport, but suddenly are targeted by the Brotherhood's assassins in a blitzkrieg attack. Though Drew survives, Harry is a confirmed kill.

Moved by grief, determined to avenge his brother and draw the Brotherhood's agents into the open, Drew decides to assume Harry's identity, leading to believe he survived the attack. The fact that Harry's corpse could be recovered in time and couldn't be identified by the assassins whom rashly left the scene only strengthens the scenario, drawing the concern and even desperation from Kroeger, fearing his microchip experiment (which has an expiry date that'd result in the chip's detonation) would be exposed. Kroeger dispatches a unit of elite assassins - the Blitzkrieger - to neutralize Drew, but he and Witkowski repel the attempts, to the point the Blitzkrieger, fearing execution for their repeated failures, desert the Brotherhood and go into self-imposed exile in Argentina. Kroeger is eventually captured afterwards and taken to interrogation, but becomes unable to produce much relevant information.

Drew's investigation into Kroeger's contacts, the Blitzkrieger attacks and the repeated attempts on his life reveal an informant network within the U.S. Embassy, which is eventually revealed to be headed by Janine Clunes Courtland, a Sonnenkind agent implanted years ago and wife to U.S. Ambassador Daniel Courtland. As Drew, Witkowski, De Vries and even the Deuxième attempt following her steps, to much little avail, Moreau and Sorenson perform their own investigations into both Clunes and Kroeger's connections, they come across the name of Dr. Hans Traupman, a neurosurgeon whom is a close friend of Kroeger, and has shown to have a connection with the Brotherhood. When Clunes is reunited with her husband (a devised plan to attempt reaching her), she is killed in a sudden strike by the Brotherhood's assassins whom quickly escape again. Witkowski, in an attempt to root out the Brotherhood's agents, forces Moreau to secret away her corpse and deliberately lie to the press that she survived the assault. Moreau himself, after an assassination attempt on his life, eventually confesses his involvement as a double agent for the Brotherhood, using their money payments for a secret revenge plan of his own making, which will be exposed if Moreau decides to interfere. Sorenson orders a black ops operation to kidnap Dr. Traupman and bring him to France for interrogation.

In Nuremberg, Drew, Witkowski, De Vries and two special operations specialists (Gerald Antony and Christian Dietz) succeed in capturing Traupman in a sudden boat boarding operation in the Rhine river. Deciding to follow the boat's proposed trail, they discover a meeting of potential Neo-Nazi leadership members in a shore house, and De Vries discovers to her shock that her former husband Frederik, believed to have been captured and killed by the Stasi years ago, is the elected neo-Nazi leader using the alias 'Gunter Jäger'. They also discover a plan by the Brotherhood, codenamed "Water Lightning" to provoke a mass poisoning crisis in both the United States, United Kingdom and France by contaminating each capital's water supply, forcing each political leader to resign and allowing the Brotherhood to implant more Sonnenkinder in the void ranks. De Vries attempts confronting Frederik, alone, to learn and stop the operation, but she's nearly raped before Drew's team storms Frederik's shore house. As Frederik nearly overpowers Drew, De Vries shoots and kills Frederik. The evidence recovered plus intelligence analysis and Drew's quick deduction has them discover that the Brotherhood is using glider aircraft to carry out the chemical strike, as they would not be easily spotted on radar and be untargetable by anti-air missiles. The attack is successfully countered on the nick of time, but Drew learns shortly afterwards Moreau was mysteriously assassinated.

At the Deuxiéme, Drew firstly talks and then coerces his eventual friendly chauffeur, François into revealing that Jacques Bergeron, Moreau's aide and right-hand, was the one responsible for Moreau's murder, being revealed as an implanted Sonnenkind, and François as a coerced agent under blackmail. Bergeron evades capture and goes into hiding. François, afterwards, phones Drew revealing that Bergeron, in one night, ordered François to collect old documents and deliver them to an old castle in the Loire valley, ''Le Nid de I'Aigle'' (The Eagle's Nest), the property of a former French General named André Monluc, told to have been a close friend to Charles De Gaulle, but Jodelle believed him to be a traitor.

Drew, Witkowski and De Vries organize a night raid operation to breach the castle, detain both Monluc and Bergeron and recover all and any information. With the aid of two hired prostitutes whom were spending the night at the place, Drew and his team are able to neutralize all resistance, but discover in shock when encountering Monluc, in a comatose state, seeing his facial features match exactly those of Adolf Hitler, under a very advanced age. As Bergeron is captured, De Vries and Latham discover a massive computer room with records, where they acquire over two thousand printed records with the real names of every real member in the Brotherhood across the globe. As the information is delivered to the world's intelligence agencies whom start taking action, Monluc passes away from a heart attack. In a secret laboratory in the Shenandoah Valley, DNA analysis reveals Monluc was in fact Hitler, but all evidence is destroyed to preserve established historical facts and prevent creating a legend for potential future neo-Nazis.

Drew and De Vries return to the U.S., discovering that, as Harry made some brilliant investiments in the world's stock markets when he was alive, earned a millionaire fortune that was inherited to Drew. As they check out the reach in Granby, Colorado for their future house, Witkowski arrives and tries convincing Drew to return to work. Drew immediately refuses.

Paul Janson is an ex-Navy SEAL and former member of a U.S. government covert agency called Consular Operations. He is haunted by his memories of the Vietnam War and his brilliant commander and mentor, Alan Demarest. Unfortunately, Demarest was also a sadistic psychopath who loved to toy with the lives of both friend and foe; he arranged for Janson to be captured and tortured by the Viet Cong. Janson eventually escaped and provided evidence of war crimes, which led to Demarest's execution.

Janson now makes his living as a corporate security consultant who is so much in demand that he can pick and choose which jobs he takes. After a mysterious woman makes contact with him while Janson is waiting for a plane, he finds himself taking on a job to repay a debt. She asks Janson to rescue her boss, the Nobel Peace Laureate visionary and billionaire, Peter Novak, who has been taken hostage by a militant organization which intends to kill him.

But when the rescue goes horribly wrong, Janson finds himself the target of a "beyond salvage" termination directive (the directive of the title) issued from the highest levels of the U.S. government. Meanwhile, several senior U.S. government officials are assassinated. Janson is then faced with the difficult question of finding out who wanted to frame him for Novak's death, while dodging bullets from his former comrades at Consular Operations.

Janson takes matters into his own hands as he tries to save himself and solve the mystery of a decades-old conspiracy that will rock the foundations of all countries in the world if exposed.

American graduate student Randi Wallace (Kate Hodge) travels to Britain to study mythology with Prof. Ian Matheson (Neil Dickson). She arrives expecting a stodgy old academic, but Ian is young and the two are immediately attracted to one other. Their attraction increases but a complication quickly arises when Randi spends a night on the moors and is bitten by a werewolf. She survives what the local hospital thinks was an attack by a large rabid wolf; she insists that it was not a true wolf but instead something supernatural and she seeks Ian's help. For the rest of the series, Randi and Ian investigate supernatural phenomena together while they search for a cure for her lycanthropy and he becomes her keeper during her transformations. Randi's curse draws the attention of various supernatural creatures: another werewolf, spirit possession, succubus, a possessed bookstore, a bogeyman, an evil carnival, a Guy Fawkes spirit, a killer horseman, in a small town, zombies who ultimately confront Randi in her werewolf form (Diane Youdale). Eventually, their search takes them from British academe to American TV, when they move back to Randi's native California and Ian becomes host of a trashy TV talk show focusing on psychic phenomena. The series was an old-style romantic comedy with a touch of horror. The romantic comedy comes from Randi and Ian's relationship, and their relationship to the Matheson family and the people she and Ian work for. Randi's transformations did not occur every episode but only during the full moon. This gave her and Ian a chance to investigate the supernatural without having to face possible lycanthropic transformations every week.

Brenden Abbott is on the run with fellow criminal Aaron Reynolds, having just escaped together from Fremantle Prison, Western Australia. They rob banks across Australia before Abbott decides it's time to live the high life for a while. To hinder identification, the two travel the country with a Japanese tourist and, during this trip, Abbott tells Reynolds he is giving him the flick. Reynolds tells Abbott, "You won't last a week without me," but it is Reynolds who is arrested some four weeks later.

At Gold Coast, Queensland, Brenden meets the future mother of his only son William. He soon returns to robbing banks to feed his extravagant lifestyle. Abbott's brother Glenn introduces a driver whom he uses as an accomplice to rob a Perth bank, going in through the roof and breaking his ankle in the process.

Abbott returns to Gold Coast and learns that his lover is pregnant to him. He leaves her and resumes bank robberies; she learns the true identity and character of the man she knew as "Peter". He begins seeing a prostitute, who becomes the getaway driver for his next few robberies. He teams up with his brother Glenn, who proves to be a loose cannon. He informs Glenn that he will still need his services in obtaining guns and fake ID cards, but will no longer rob banks with him. Glen replies that he is, "No good on me own," and punches Brenden before the pair go their separate ways.

Glenn is detained by police while in possession of illegal weapons, and is forced to give up information on his brother's whereabouts, resulting in Brenden's arrest at Surfers Paradise. Abbott is sent to a maximum-security prison in Brisbane, where he befriends a small-time criminal who is due for release and successfully plots an escape with four other inmates. The four are quickly recaptured, while Abbott and his new partner remain at large. The pair rob a number of banks, including his most notorious robbery, netting some $800,000 from the Commonwealth Bank at Pacific Fair, Gold Coast. Abbott's partner soon is the target of a manhunt, after killing two police officers during a failed drug deal. He goes back to Abbott distraught at his actions and the two escape to Darwin, where they remain for some time. While walking down the street one day, Abbott returns a cricket ball hit by a boy. The boy's father—a policeman—recognizes the criminal, who is recaptured and sent back to jail in Queensland.

A sequence in the film debunks the popular myth, created by police, that Abbott sent postcards to taunt them while on the run. In reality, an accomplice was caught with a roll of film which the police subsequently developed and sent prints to news media.

Medical student Grace Rhodes (Naomi Watts) returns to her hometown of Grand Island, Nebraska to take care of her agoraphobic mother June (Karen Black), who refuses to leave her yard. She is having recurring nightmares of being attacked by children. Grace must also look after her younger siblings, James and Margaret. She takes a job at Dr. Larson's local clinic, where she'd worked before. James and Margaret become ill, showing similar symptoms to those of the children in June's dreams. While working at Dr. Larson's office the next day, Grace notices that many other kids have the same symptoms. During the night all of the kids get worse as their fevers skyrocket. Suddenly it all stops and the fevers drop.

Local parents Donald (Brent Jennings) and Sandra Atkins notice that their son Marcus is acting strangely. One night, a group of children descend upon the house, led by a child preacher, and Sandra is murdered in front of Marcus. The police arrive and question Donald; Marcus flees into a field and is chased by the sheriff, whom the child preacher confronts and kills. A suspect in his wife's murder, Donald goes into hiding and is taken in by two elderly sisters, Jane and Rosa (Marietta Marich).

The children stop answering to their names and claim to be other people; longtime resident Dr. Larson recognizes the names they use as those of dead children from the town's history. One night, he is killed in his office by two children. When Grace arrives the next day, his body has vanished, and the children's blood tests reveal inexplicable signs of decay and death. June's recurring nightmares start up again—but she is not dreaming; it's all actually happening. She flees her house and drives away; spotting James entering an old barn, she follows him inside. She is captured and killed by the child preacher, after which children gather at the barn.

Grace decides to go to Dr. Larsen's house to find him. Donald hijacks her and her car and forces her to drive at gunpoint. They go to Jane and Rosa's house. Rosa reveals that the child preacher, Josiah, was the bastard son of a local woman. He was taken in by traveling preachers and became a gifted preacher. Over the years, Josiah stopped aging and never grew out of boyhood. The traveling preachers gave him over to darkness to stunt his growth, but when word got out, they abandoned him. Josiah killed the preachers, then the townspeople burned him alive and sealed his remains in a well.

Meanwhile, Mary Anne, Grace's best friend and co-worker, is attacked and killed by Josiah. Grace and Donald return to the clinic and discover that Margaret is missing, but they learn that Josiah's weakness is mercury. It is also revealed that Josiah is Rosa's son. Margaret, James, Marcus, and all the other children gather at the barn and offer blood to Josiah. Marcus is a hemophiliac, so he would bleed to death with even a small cut, but he cuts his hand and offers his blood to Josiah, and Margaret offers Josiah her soul. Marcus collapses from blood loss and Margaret is pulled into the pool of blood, from which Josiah emerges.

Donald and Grace arrive at the barn and connect its sprinkler system to their supply of mercury. Donald fills two of his bullets with mercury and gives Grace the gun. Donald stops Marcus' bleeding, but the children try to kill him. Josiah attacks Grace, but she shoots him with a mercury bullet. She then finds the bodies of June and Dr. Larson. Josiah attacks her again, but she activates the sprinklers, which shower him with mercury. Grace slashes him with his own scythe, finally killing him. The children stop trying to kill Donald and return to normal. Grace finds Margaret; she's nearly drowned, but Grace manages to revive her.

It is revealed that Margaret is actually Grace's daughter, and that she abandoned her with June as a teenager. After the victims' funerals, Grace, Margaret, James, Donald, and Marcus all move out of Nebraska.

Set before and during the Battle of Geonosis, the story features Jedi Master Adi Gallia and the hot-headed pirate from the previous game, Nym, as Gallia tests out the Republic's new weapon: the Jedi Starfighter. She meets Nym, now forcefully exiled from his base of operations on Lok by the Trade Federation in the first game. The Trade Federation is greedily seeking to create a potent weapon with which to use in the upcoming Clone Wars conflict, and expand on the growing Separatist movement that is expanding to oppose the Republic. Many old favorite characters from the original game are included in this one, including Nym's chattery Toydarian partner, Reti, and most of Nym's old crew. New characters include Jinkins, a Bith briefly mentioned in Star Wars Starfighter, Captain Orsai, a brave cruiser pilot, Kole, Nym's demolition expert, and the evil Captain Toth, the leader of the Saboath mercenary army and the mastermind who came up with the deadly Hex Missile Threat that the Trade Federation wants to use in the upcoming conflict.

The novel is about an Englishman named Christopher Banks. His early childhood was lived in the Shanghai International Settlement in China in the early 1900s, until his father, an opium businessman, and his mother disappear within a few weeks of each other when the boy is about ten years old. Christopher is sent to live with his aunt in England. He becomes a successful detective; now he will turn his skills to solve the case of his parents' disappearance. Though he knows a young woman named Sarah (also orphaned at age ten), Christopher never marries; he adopts an orphaned girl in England named Jennifer. His fame as a private investigator soon spreads, and in 1937 he returns to China to solve the most important case of his life. The impression is given that if he solves this case, a world catastrophe will be averted, but it is not apparent how. As Christopher pursues his investigation, the boundaries between life and imagination begin to evaporate.

At this time in China, Christopher is caught up in the Second Sino-Japanese War battles, which reach into the foreigners' enclave of Shanghai. Through an old detective, he locates the house at which his parents may have been held. Though the disappearances happened a quarter-century earlier, Christopher believes that his parents will be there, a notion supported by the present occupants of his old home who assume Christopher's family will be reunited in their home. On his way, he enters a war-torn police station belonging to the Chinese. After convincing them of his neutrality, he persuades the commander to direct him to the house of his kidnapped parents. After a while the commander refuses to take Christopher further, so he goes alone. Throughout all this, he appears to disregard the commander's words that what he is doing is dangerous, and even appears to be rude to him. He meets an injured Japanese soldier who he believes is his childhood friend Akira. They enter the house only to find out that his parents are not there. Japanese soldiers enter and take them away.

He learns from Philip (a former lodger at their residence in Shanghai whom Christopher called uncle as a boy) that his father ran away to Hong Kong with his new lover and that his mother a few weeks later insulted Chinese warlord Wang Ku, who then seized her to be his concubine. Philip is a Communist double agent. He was complicit in the kidnapping and made sure Christopher was not present when this kidnapping took place. He offers Christopher a gun to kill him, but Christopher refuses. He learns that his father later died of typhoid but that his mother may still be alive. Philip reveals the source of Christopher's living expenses and tuition fees during his schooling in England. His mother extracted financial support for her son when Wang Ku seized her.

In 1958 in Hong Kong, Christopher is reunited with his mother, who does not recognise him. He uses his childhood nickname, "Puffin", and his mother seems to recognise it. He asks her to forgive him, but she is confused as to what he should need forgiveness for. Christopher takes this as confirmation that she has always loved him.

Jason Chaser is an independent Hover Car racer, who along with his autistic adoptive little brother—known only as the Bug—are competing in regional races, with hopes of reaching the Pro circuits, but in reality have little chance of doing so.

During a local derby, Scott Syracuse (representing the International Race School) is impressed with Jason's skill, and despite damage to the "Argonaut" placing them last, offers him a position at the IRC for the next season. Jason accepts, and he and the Bug find themselves in Tasmania (now a privately owned training school) along with some of the best student Hover Car racers in the world. Jason is paired with independent Mech Chief Sally McDuff, who will look after their equipment and pit crew, including a robot named "Tarantula" which will perform most of the actual pit work—changing the magneto drives which enable the hover cars to function, the compressed gas for steering, and the coolant to prevent the magneto drives from melting.

During the first few races, Jason is outclassed and bullied—both on and off the track—by the other racers who all consider him inferior—the perfect Xavier Xonora, his own teammates Washington and Wong, and Barnaby Becker, who Jason already knew from earlier races. Even the equipment seems to be against them as they—and the only female racer Ariel Piper—suffer more than their fair share of faulty mag drives, substandard coolant, and failures on the part of Tarantula. Despite this, and due to their natural talent they begin to rise in the rankings, until it becomes apparent that they both have a chance of becoming two of the top four rated racers who will be invited to take part in the New York Masters.

Ariel and Jason have forged a friendly relationship which becomes soured when Jason is critical of Ariel's decision to use her body to gain advantage and keep in the good grace of Fabian, a ruthless, yet influential French Pro racer. When Fabian dismisses her after Jason beats her in a one-on-one race the two rekindle their friendship, which Jason consolidates when he later overhears LeClerq and Smythe (The Headmaster & stores chief respectively) discussing sabotaging Ariels pit robot, and at the same time admitting to having been responsible for her and Jason's earlier equipment misfortune.

Jason forewarns Ariel, and the attempt to plant a virus on her pit robot backfires, instead disrupting the entire race power grid, meaning that ''none'' of the pit robots work. All racers have to perform a manual pit stop, and due to previously practising such tactics Jason and Ariel not only win the race, but Jason also ensures his place in the New York Masters. At the same time Jason attracts the attention of two individuals—Umberto Lombardi, the billionaire owner of Team Lombardi, and Dido, a beautiful Italian girl who thanks to her rich parents is able to follow Jason around the next few races. Jason agrees to trial race with Team Lombardi, and begins a tentative relationship with Dido, stilted slightly due to his age and inexperience with the opposite sex—a factor which causes Sally to tease him relentlessly.

Prior to the New York Masters Jason is involved in a large and dangerous crash, completely destroying his Team Lombardi Hover racer, and with it much of his confidence, however with the aid of Sally & the Bug he regains his nerve, but not before several racers take advantage of his doubts and gain points that otherwise could have been his. Jason and Ariel get their revenge on Fabian when he challenges Jason to an exhibition race while in Italy—but Jason secretly swaps places and it is in fact Ariel who races—and beats—Fabian, thus ridiculing him for earlier comments when he stated that Ariel was ''"quite frankly, a non-event"'', also possibly alluding to her night with him.

After again barely winning his next race Jason realises that Dido has been feeding Xavier information, including his doubts and race strategies, and he breaks off the relationship—after which Sally discovers that Dido is in fact Xavier's cousin, and the two are seen in public together.

Jason and Xavier both race in New York, and as Xavier points out he is the far superior racer in every respect—something that Jason is forced to agree with. After reviewing all of Xavier's races Jason formulates a strategy based on not only Xaviers actual superiority, but how he perceives himself as well: Jason realises that Xavier celebrates victory before the race is won, and uses this to surprise him with a late charge and wins whilst Xavier is otherwise distracted already saluting the crowds whilst still on the home straight.

During the rest of the New York races Jason and the Bug slowly collect points, relying on luck as much as skill, and ultimately find themselves in a last race with the world champion Alessandro Romba. After pulling a slight lead the Argonaut II suffers another bout of sabotage and literally meters from the finish line the rear stabiliser wing is destroyed by a tiny explosive charge placed by a corrupt betting agent, Ravi Gupta, who wishes to stack the odds in his favour. In a last desperate manoeuver, Jason uses his car's ejector seat to fire himself—and his steering wheel containing the Argonauts transponder—across the finish line thus winning the championship.

Romba shows himself to be quite different from most of the other pro racers so far encountered, and is not only magnanimous in defeat, but genuinely pleased for Jason, and Jason himself secures a full-time racing position with Team Lombardi.

Two loving parents, Phoebe and Nate, find themselves hard pressed to emotionally deal with the fact that their kids are going off to school for the first time. However, the kids themselves, Samson and Deliah, are dealing with it in a very adult-like manner.

In 1998, Danny, Mitch, Gil and Rory, who were once a long-forgotten, early 1980s one-hit wonder band, The Suburbans, reunite to perform their only hit single at Gil's wedding. After the gig, Cate, an up-and-coming record company executive, approaches them and suggests to shoot a pay-per-view reunion show that would eventually re-establish the band's claim to fame. The four, more reluctantly than not, agree and subsequently face the ramifications on their personal lives as the show's production contrasts their former rock 'n' roll image with their now middle-class, suburban lifestyle. It soon becomes evident that Cate is probably the only remaining fan of the band, who, out of a personal interest in the matter, put her own career at stake.

The game takes place "in ages past, when the pantheon was still home to countless gods from all empires". However, it is a time when the gods have lost their purpose; Jupiter is interested only in eating and drinking; Horus thinks of nothing except his pyramids; and Ch'ih-yu simply wants to eat livestock. The story begins with HE, the "Unknown God", and creator of all gods, summoning the lesser gods to HIM, and telling them "for eons, you think only of pleasure, and now even the lowliest men say, "these drunks don't do anything for us. Let's go over their heads to the boss"". HE is afraid this will lead to monotheism, which HE wants to avoid, as HE has neither the time nor inclination to govern all of humanity himself. As a result, HE commands each of them "to pick one who is the best of your people", and have him lead a war against the other two peoples. The two gods whose people lose will be punished by repainting the universe white. Jupiter picks Septimus Marius, a sea merchant; Horus picks Ramadamses, a sculptor; and Ch'ih-yu picks Tsu-Tang, a rice farmer.

;Roman Campaign

Septimus Marius begins by putting down a rebellion amongst his own men. However, shortly thereafter, his highest ranking general, Remigius, betrays him and allies with Ramadamses. Septimus attacks Remigius, defeating him and forcing Ramadamses to retreat. A powerful group of nearby pirates, led by Flavius, then ally with Septimus, and pursue Ramadamses to a small cluster of islands, several of which are controlled by Tsu-Tang. With Flavius's fleet, Septimus is able to capture many of the islands, but shortly thereafter, a volcano erupts, decimating the newly established settlements. Ramadamses reoccupies the islands and forms an alliance with Tsu-Tang. After Septimus defeats Ramadamses, Tsu-Tang encloses him, but Septimus is able to fight his way out, defeating Tsu-Tang, and achieving victory for Jupiter.

As Jupiter celebrates, Horus and Ch'ih-yu begin the task of painting the universe white, complaining that the competition was unfair, as Jupiter cheated, and the punishment is unrealistic. However, when HE threatens to also make them clean up after Jupiter's celebration party, they reluctantly begin to paint.

;Egyptian Campaign

Ramadamses begins by defeating a tribe of his own countrymen. Thereafter, however, he is caught unprepared by Tsu-Tang, and must ally with a group of pirates. Together, they force Tsu-Tang to retreat, but he remains a threat. A thunderstorm then destroys several of Ramadamses's colonies, stalling his growth, and allowing Septimus to advance, and form an alliance with Tsu-Tang. Not yet strong enough to attack Tsu-Tang, Ramadamses instead disrupts their trade routes. Eventually, Ramadamses attacks Septimus, weakening him to the point where Tsu-Tang feels confident enough to betray their alliance. Ramadamses is then able to defeat Tsu-Tang, thus achieving victory for Horus.

As Horus celebrates, Jupiter and Ch'ih-yu begin the task of painting the universe white, complaining that the competition was unfair, as Horus cheated, and the punishment is unrealistic. However, when HE threatens to also make them clean up after Horus's celebration party, they reluctantly begin to paint.

;Asian Campaign

Tsu-Tang begins by defeating a group of pirates allied with Ramadamses, who subsequently negotiates a fragile truce. However, both intend to violate it at the earliest opportunity. Septimus then forms an alliance with Ramadamses. Tsu-Tang advances on them, but they encircle him. He rebukes their attacks, before defeating both, and achieving victory for Ch'ih-yu.

As Ch'ih-yu celebrates, Horus and Jupiter begin the task of painting the universe white, complaining that the competition was unfair, as Ch'ih-yu cheated, and the punishment is unrealistic. However, when HE threatens to also make them clean up after Ch'ih-yu's celebration party, they reluctantly begin to paint.

''Quest of the Amazons''

''Quest of the Amazons'' takes place several hundred years prior to the main game. The story begins with Helios, Jupiter, Horus and Ch'ih-yu drinking in the 3 Gorgons tavern. At the encouragement of his friends, Helios is drowning his sorrows, after his son Phaethon died whilst attempting to use the sun-chariot to impress women, but was unable to control the horses. After becoming drunk, Helios is seduced by Medusa. Several years later, she is "killed in a bar fight with Perseus", and Helios learns he had fathered a daughter, Q'nqüra. Raising her himself, Helios introduces her to HE, whom she impresses with her irreverence, and when she is of age, HE makes her goddess of the Azzi. Choosing Penthesilea as their leader, she awaits as they build up their strength, ready to strike out at the male tribes.

;Amazon Campaign

The Amazons begin their offensive by destroying a colony of Egyptians, overrunning a Roman encampment, and desecrating a sacred Asian mountain, prompting Jupiter, Horus and Ch'ih-yu to ally. After their initial attacks are repulsed, they are able to disrupt Penthesilea's iron production, hence her ability to create weaponry, forcing the Amazons to retreat to a more fortified position. In the newly renamed 2 Gorgons, Jupiter, Horus and Ch'ih-yu meet to discuss strategy, unaware that the Gorgons, Q'nqüra's aunts, are spying on them, and feeding details of their plan to Q'nqüra. Meanwhile, Penthesilea joins forces with a Roman tribe whose governor has fallen in love with her, and whose iron ore she needs. The Romans, Egyptians and Asians pool their remaining forces for one last offensive. However, Q'nqüra orders Penthesilea to surround and destroy them.

HE summons Q'nqüra to ask her what she wants from Jupiter, Horus and Ch'ih-yu. She tells HE: "Nothing. We don't want men rampaging around like naughty children just because they can't have their way. After all, it's your world they would destroy". Her plan is for the "Amazons to release the men and become their willing servants. Through servitude, we will gain complete control, and the men will be none-the-wiser". Impressed with this idea, HE decides to make Q'nqüra HIS private messenger, to which she replies, "I will be your humble servant", with Helios commenting "In that moment, Q'nqüra, too, had won".

;3 Gods Campaign

The game begins with the Romans under attack by the Amazons, and on the brink of defeat. They barely survive, and the Amazons next attack the Asians and Egyptians in turn, prompting Jupiter, Horus and Ch'ih-yu to ally. In the newly renamed 2 Gorgons, they meet to discuss strategy, fully aware that the Gorgons, Q'nqüra's aunts, are spying on them, and feeding details of their plan to Q'nqüra. Meanwhile, the men launch an all-out offensive, although Helios is worried that Q'nqüra's response is too subdued, and she must have a plan. His concerns are ignored as the others assure him that because their enemy is a woman, there is nothing to worry about. Confidant that the Amazons are nearly defeated, Jupiter leaves Horus to fight on, whilst he pillages both Egyptian and Amazonian lands. Disgusted, Horus withdraws from the fight, and Jupiter, in a temper, cuts off his own troops, leaving Ch'ih-yu to see out the conflict alone.

HE summons Q'nqüra to ask how she was defeated, and she explains that she allowed the men to win. When HE asks why, she explains "for you. These gods and their peoples are just overgrown children. When they lose, their tantrums destroy, and it's your world they destroy". When HE asks her what her future plans are, she explains: "If my Amazons are to deny themselves comparable conquests, then they will embrace the men instead. In this embrace, control will soon be ours, and the men will never know they've lost". Impressed with Q'nqüra's cunning, HE speculates "you might be just the god I've been looking for".

Two sets of identical twins are accidentally switched at birth. One pair, Phillipe and Pierre DeSisi, are aristocratic and haughty, while the other, Charles and Claude Coupé, are poor and dim-witted. On the eve of the French Revolution, both sets find themselves entangled in palace intrigue.

In the early 20th-century, financial problems force young Boston widow Margaret Carey (Dorothy McGuire) and her 3 children to move out of their home. Nancy (Hayley Mills), the dramatic and kind-hearted eldest child, remembers a large yellow house that the Careys had admired when they visited the small town of Beulah, Maine, and makes an inquiry about it. Upon the sale of the family's treasured piano ("Flitterin'"), Nancy reveals that the house is vacant and the family decides to relocate to the country ("Beautiful Beulah").

When the Careys arrive in Beulah they realize they're slightly out-of-place although the town welcomes them. Overall, the Careys find that moving to the country was the best decision for them and they're content in their new home ("Summer Magic"). But the house is in a shameful state of neglect, and caretaker Osh Popham (Burl Ives), against his wife's wishes, offers cheap labor to make the house livable, as well as offering free products from his hardware store. He also steers young Peter in the right direction, trading him a pair of overalls for his "Buster Brown suit" in which he now feels too citified, and offering him haircut money and carpentry lessons.

Just when the Careys are settled in and things are going better, they find out that orphaned Cousin Julia's adoptive parents have run into their own financial problems and want to send her to the Careys. They reluctantly agree, and while they get ready for her, Gilly (Eddie Hodges) and Nancy entertain Peter (Jimmy Mathers) with jokes about her appearance and snobby, snotty personality ("Pink of Perfection"). When Julia (Deborah Walley) arrives, she's even worse than her cousins remembered. Part of her welcome seems to include being jumped on by Peter's large dog Sam in the middle of the night. Aghast at Beulah's primitive ways, she forces Osh's daughter Lally Joy (Wendy Turner) to help her bathe in the kitchen rather than lug kettles of hot water up the stairs.

While Nancy and Lally Joy cope with Julia, Peter enjoys working on the house with Osh, who entertains him with stories of bugs the like of which Peter hadn't dealt with in the city ("Ugly Bug Ball"). When Margaret informs Osh of their still-failing finances, Osh, hoping to keep them in town, makes up a request from the house's owner, Tom Hamilton, in exchange for no rent. He pretends that Mr. Hamilton has answered in the affirmative, only requesting that on Halloween the Careys must have a ceremony for his dead mother and find a decent place for her picture. The Careys accept and Osh chooses a fake picture for the ceremony. But Osh's wife Mariah, who has been on to his lies from the beginning, visits the yellow house to tell the Careys that Mr. Hamilton has no idea that they are there. Before she can spill the news, Osh fakes a fall from the second story, claims an injured leg, and insist that his wife help him get home.

After church the next Sunday, Nancy and Julia spot a handsome man, Charles Bryant (James Stacy), who has moved to Beulah to be the new schoolteacher. They invite him to a lawn party at the yellow house, where both try to win his affections, Nancy with her smarts and Julia with her looks. Julia wins, leaving Nancy too jealous to enjoy the quiet evening after the party ("On the Front Porch"). In their bedroom, her jealousy and anger drive her to reveal that Julia's adoptive parents "dumped" her on the Careys after gambling away their money. Julia flees to Aunt Margaret for assurance that her parents truly loved her, and Margaret reveals that her parents' situation is looking good enough that they are about ready for her to come home. This makes Nancy realize that she has grown to love Julia despite her many flaws (and her having "won" Charles), and she begs her to stay. Julia accepts, and prepares to move in permanently with the Careys.

As Halloween approaches, everyone gets ready for the big party. Lally Joy, who harbors a big crush on Gilly, displays her ugly dress to Nancy and Julia, fretting embarrassment at the party. Nancy and Julia promise to redesign the dress as they give her pointers on how to act around boys ("Femininity").

On the day of the party, a handsome young man (Peter Brown) appears at the yellow house and meets Nancy. She informs him that they'd been living in the house and tells him about the party for Mr. Hamilton's mother. The stranger quickly heads for Osh's store, where it is revealed that he is Tom Hamilton. Osh comes clean about renting the house to the Careys, inspired by Nancy's good-heartedness. Indignant, Tom leaves the store.

Reluctant to escort Lally Joy to the party, Gilly becomes more willing as she makes her appearance in her beautiful redesigned dress. Seeing them together and Charles and Julia together, Nancy realizes that she's the only one without a partner; after talking it over with her mother, she decides to attend on her own. As she descends the stairs she runs into Tom Hamilton, who accompanies her to the party. Nancy presents the picture Osh had produced: unfortunately, it is a frighteningly ugly woman and Tom feels insulted and angry at Osh. He reveals his true identity to the thoroughly-embarrassed Nancy, and as he has taken a fancy to her, he asks her to dance. As the party gets going, Osh exclaims that things always work out in the end.

US Marshall Carrie Stetko is disgraced after murdering a criminal in a blind rage. As punishment, she's sent to McMurdo Station in Antarctica where she establishes herself as someone not to be messed with.

Sometime after Stetko's arrival, a body is found on the ice surrounded by mysterious holes in the snow. Since the face is destroyed, he's identified through prints as Alex Keller, a member of a scientific expedition. Stetko investigates the other members of Keller's expedition, starting at Victoria Station. After meeting British agent Lilly Sharpe, the two find the two members stationed at the base murdered and the killer attacks, knocking out Sharpe and chasing Stetko outside. During her escape, Stetko gets frostbite from touching a door handle without a glove and nearly dies of hypothermia before Sharpe saves her.

Back at McMurdo, Stetko's hand is treated by Dr. Furry, who is forced to amputate two of her fingers. Despite the setback, Stetko, now aided by Sharpe, learns that two more members are at the South Pole station. While Sharpe finds them dead as well, Stetko finds a surprisingly alive Keller. He flees, but is found inside the plane that brought Stetko and Sharpe, along with several bars of gold.

After Sharpe stops Keller from killing Stetko, the two bring him back to McMurdo, where they realize the first victim is actually another member of the team, Weiss, and the murders were performed to keep the gold found in the snow, hence the holes. Sharpe sees Furry speaking with pilot Haden and becomes suspicious of the two, since Keller would need a pilot to help move the gold. When Furry realizes her suspicions, Haden tries to kill her, but flees when she wounds him. Afraid the incident will lead to him, Furry tries to help Haden leave. When Haden, convinced Furry is trying to cut him out, attacks him, Furry kills him.

After treating Sharpe, Stetko forces Keller to admit Furry's involvement. Having realized Furry must have falsified the first victim's prints, Stetko and Sharpe check one of the bodies and find it full of gold bars. Stetko then arrests Furry and prepares to face the cold winter months.

The four Angel sisters are singers, although all wish to pursue other careers. At a roadhouse, bandleader Happy Marshall makes a pass at Nancy Angel, but she already has a boyfriend, cab driver Oliver.

After the girls are paid just $10 for a performance, Bobby Angel gambles with her sisters' money and wins $190. But she is conned out of it by Happy, whose band needs it to make a trip to Brooklyn to perform at a club. Bobby thinks he wants to both hire and romance her, neither of which is true.

Happy ends up falling for Nancy, and the girls' act is so good, the club's owner will not hire Happy's band in the future without them. Nancy is fine with the arrangement, particularly when Bobby ends up falling for Happy's friend in the band, Fuzzy.

The series takes place shortly after the wedding of Cyclops and Jean Grey in X-Men #30, some time after the events of X-Factor #68 (approximately 3 years in real time, but perhaps only a year or less in the timeline of the comic books).

During their honeymoon, their time-lost alternate daughter, Rachel Summers who is then the Mother Askani, brought them into the future. Their physical bodies were left behind, but their minds were brought into two bodies waiting for them in the future. These bodies, very similar to the ones they had left behind, had weaker versions of their original powers. They were reunited with their son, and were given the opportunity to raise him in this bleak future that was ruled by Apocalypse.

Prior to their arrival, the Mother Askani and the Askani clan attempted to save the baby Nathan from the TO virus. They first cloned the baby, fearing that they would fail in their efforts to save the original. They succeeded, however, and were left with two babies. The healthy clone baby was kidnapped by Apocalypse's forces to be raised by the villain, and was named Stryfe. Apocalypse thought the baby was the original, and had somehow survived the TO virus. Seeing this as a sign of strength (and his own body deteriorating), Apocalypse planned to transfer his essence into the young Stryfe once he reached maturity.

The original baby was left behind, and was raised by Cyclops and Phoenix. As he began to grow, they protected him, and began to train him in the use of his vast, burgeoning telepathic powers, particularly how to use his telekenesis to keep the still present TO virus at bay. Their identity as his true parents (at least, genetically in Jean Grey's case) was kept a secret, and they instead went by the names Slym and Redd (these refer to Slim, a nickname Cyclops had picked up his younger years due to his slender frame, and Red, a common nickname for people with red hair, which Jean has sometimes been referred to over years, usually by Wolverine).

All together, they spent 12 years raising Nathan Summers, who never knew they were his true parents. When the Mother Askani eventually died, their minds were brought back to their physical bodies, just after a combined effort of Slym, Redd and Nate finally defeating Apocalypse.

Holly and Gerry are a married couple who live in Dublin. They are deeply in love, but they fight occasionally. By winter that year, Gerry suddenly dies of a brain tumor and Holly realizes how much he means to her as well as how insignificant their arguments were.

Deeply distraught, Holly withdraws from her family and friends out of grief until her mother calls her informing her of a package addressed to her. Within the package are ten envelopes, one for each month after Gerry died, containing messages from him, all ending with "P.S. I Love You". As the months pass, each new message fills her with encouragement and sends her on a new adventure. With Gerry's words as her guide, Holly slowly embarks on a journey of rediscovery.

Lawrence "Rip" Smith (James Stewart) is a former basketball player and ex-military who now runs a company that performs polls and consumer surveys. Lately he has started obsessing about being able to find a perfect mathematical "miracle formula" to perform the perfect survey, and compete for real with his rival companies. Because he lacks funds, he is far behind his number one rival, George Stringer.

One day Rip discovers that a survey made by a friend and ex-Army colleague of his, Hoopendecker (Kent Smith), in the small town of Grandview, exactly matches one that Stringer has made on a national level. Rip concludes that the small town demographic is a perfect match for the country as a whole, and believes he has finally found his miracle formula.

Eager to test his theory, Rip sells a survey on progressive education to a client, with a promise the result will stand for the whole country. Furthermore he promises to deliver the result the same day as Stringer's company, even though the rival has been working on the project for quite some time.

Rip and his team of professionals then travel to Grandview to perform the survey. They are pretending to be insurance salesmen. But trouble starts already when Rip overhears a conversation between a woman named Mary Peterman (Jane Wyman) trying to convince the mayor (Harry Holman) to expand the town and build a number of new buildings: a civic center. Rip wants this town to stay exactly as it is, so he can make his perfect surveys, mirroring the demographic of the country. Rip holds an electrifying speech to preserve the town, and the conservative members of the town council listen to him rather than Mary, whose proposition is laid to the side.

Mary writes a bold and angry editorial against Rip in the local newspaper, which is run by her family. Rip starts a charm offensive towards Mary to soften her up, but she holds her ground. The two combatants are attracted to each other though. They spend a lot of time together while Rip secretly gathers information for his survey. One of Rip's colleagues warns him that he is becoming too involved in the subject he is supposed to be studying, but Rip is blinded by his attraction to Mary. Rip starts coaching the school basketball team, and attends a school dance where he meets Mary's family. When Rip later slips away to talk to his client over the phone, Mary follows him, eavesdrops on the conversation, and finds out the truth about Rip being in town.

Angered by his deceit, she publishes the story in the newspaper the next day. A larger nationwide paper picks up the story, and soon the town is crawling with reporters. The town is called "the public opinion capital of the U.S." and its inhabitants start selling their views on consumer products on every street corner. The city council start making bold plans to expand the town, and both Rip and Mary feel ashamed of what they have done to change the town structure. Rip leaves Grandview and Mary and returns home. Soon enough a strange poll from Grandview says Americans would want a female president. The town is ridiculed in the press and the expansion plans get an abrupt ending.

But Rip cannot forget Mary, and he returns to Grandview to reveal his true feelings. Mary admits she has feelings for him too, but also tells Rip that they have to fix the mess they have caused in Grandview before they can start a relationship. Rip starts by talking to a Grandview U.S. Senator Wilton (George Irving), to get help from him raising money to save the town. They display their plan in front of the city council, but the lead council member, Richard Nickleby, is negative. Upset, Rip tells Nickleby that he is "walking out on the team".

Later, Rip learns from Nickleby's son Hank (Mickey Kuhn) that his father already has sold land where the main expansion would take place to a company. To stop this, Rip manages to publish parts of the council speech a few weeks earlier, where it said that they would expand the town "with their own hands". A lot of inhabitants who read the article start demanding that the city council build on the designated land to save the reputation of the town.

It turns out the property sale agreement was not formally correct and the land is returned to the town. The inhabitants all pitch in to build a civic center on the land, and Rip and Mary become a couple.

Set during the early years of the California Gold Rush, the film tells of the adventures of Caroline Frost, the wilful and spoilt daughter of a US Senator. He does not approve of her beau, Lt Robert Latham, of the US cavalry, and persuades President James K. Polk to post Latham to guard gold shipments from the California mines owned by Jake Carstair.

Caroline travels by train and steamboat and manages to join a wagon-train about to trek overland to the West. She shares a wagon with Johnny (Robert Paige), a debonair but ruthless gambler with whom she falls in love, and two comically inept opportunists, Prince Gregory Stroganovsky and his much put-upon servant Koppa.

At first, she tells Johnny she is engaged to Carstair. However, no unattached women are allowed to join the wagon train, so Johnny tells everyone she is married to the Prince and she is forced to go along with the ruse.

Eventually, she eventually reaches Sonora, California. Here, her problems are quickly sorted out. After some confusion between Carstair and his real wife, Caroline decides that she really loves Johnny. Her father, who has followed her, is reconciled.

One year after the defeat of Amakusa from within the first ''Samurai Shodown'', a new threat soon emerges in the form of Mizuki Rashojin: a vengeful spirit who possess a local shrine priestess named Mizuki and seeks to bring forth chaos and destruction to the world in the name of the dark god Ambrosia's will. Those who had fought before in the past during Amakusa's reign of terror now find themselves, along with a few new faces, battling against Mizuki and her loyal forces in order to determine the fate of the entire world itself.

This story introduces Gavner Purl, a full vampire and an old friend of Mr. Crepsley. Gavner Purl is a Vampire General. Gavner Purl is shocked to discover Darren a half-vampire. Mr. Crepsley wants to talk to Gavner Purl alone in secrecy. After the meeting, Gavner walks with Darren for a while, revealing to him that Mr. Crepsley was a Vampire General and was about to be invested as a Vampire Prince, who is a leader of the Vampire Clan. He also lets slip that Mr. Crepsley is going to leave the Cirque and finally binds Darren to secrecy regarding all these facts. A day or so later, Mr. Crepsley does inform Darren that he must leave and Darren has to accompany him to some place. He suggests that Evra can come with Darren as if on a "vacation" and to help him keep Darren out of mischief as Mr. Crepsley pointed out incidents regarding Madam Octa and Sam Grest.

They go to the city and get a disguise made for Evra and in the night while Mr. Crepsley goes out on mysterious excursions, in the day, Darren and Evra enjoy themselves. When looking for a Christmas gift for Evra, Darren comes across Debbie, a girl from the Square, where they were staying. The two begin dating and like each other very much.

After a date and a "kiss" with Debbie, when one night Darren reaches back to the hotel, he and Evra are disturbed by a news report saying that human bodies were found in a basement, drained of blood. Darren and Evra fear that it may be Mr. Crepsley, and decide to track him at night to see where he goes. When Darren thinks that he is about to go and kill a man, Darren attempts to face Mr. Crepsley and tries to stop him, but discovers that it was actually a work of a mad Vampaneze named Murlough. Murlough runs away, managing to kidnap Evra with him. Mr. Crepsley tells Darren about the Vampaneze and Murlough. He explains that the Vampaneze were a group of Vampires who split away from the clan centuries ago when the rule of no longer killing humans to feed was established, and declared themselves as a separate clan. Years of drinking too much blood has warped their appearance, resulting in them now having purple skin and red hair, nails and eyes. He then reveals to Darren that the reason why he was going to kill Murlough is because he has gone mad and is killing senselessly, and that this was his hometown as a child, before he became a Vampire. Mr. Crepsley then further goes one more about Murlough. He explains that Murlough has been roaming the world for several years. This is a feat that most mad Vampaneze don't usually achieve as they make silly mistakes which become the death of them, but Murlough is more cunning than most. Mr. Crepsley and Darren discover Evra to be missing when they come out of the abattoir where the man Murlough intending to kill was. Crepsley concludes that Evra was kidnapped by Murlough, and must have run into him when the latter escaped. Mr. Crepsley declares that Evra has been or would be killed by Murlough. Darren is devastated upon realising this.

Darren goes over to Debbie to seek some comfort. He gets invited over to her house for Christmas Eve. Debbie almost cries when she realizes that Darren might have to leave suddenly and gives him a hug. Murlough spots Darren with Debbie and sneers him about it. He reveals to Darren that Evra is alive and well and makes a deal with him, demanding for Mr. Crepsley and a release for Evra. Darren refuses. On returning, Darren tells Mr. Crepsley about Debbie, his talk with Murlough and his refusal to sell Mr. Crepsley for Evra. Mr. Crepsley is highly impressed and they begin making plans to save Evra before 25 December, the day when Murlough has promised to kill Evra.

The two venture down the sewers and Darren gets caught by the vampaneze. Darren gives Murlough a piece of his mind by telling him about the vampire laws. He then decides to trade Debbie's life for Evra's. They reach Debbie's home and room where Mr. Crepsley slays Murlough, who is tricked into killing a goat, according to Darren's plan. The dying vampaneze whispers a compliment to Darren, 'Cluh-cluh-clever buh-buh-buh boy, hmmm?'. Afterwards, Darren and Crepsley put Murlough's body in a large plastic bag, and throw him into the tunnels of blood (which Darren claims that he would be happy there), and rush-fully clean his blood off of the Hemlock's living room. Darren then asks what will happen if the other vampaneze learn that they killed Murlough. Mr. Crepsley reveals that if they do, they will hunt them to the ends of the Earth, and they will not stand a chance against them as they will send dozens to them, and Vampire Generals will not help them (they decide on not telling this to Evra to avoid causing him any worry). Fortunately, the chances are low since they have to find Murlough first. Darren decorates Debbie's Christmas tree and kisses Debbie on her forehead and wishes, 'Merry Christmas, Debbie'. Darren and Crepsley then head off to rescue Evra.

Ronnie Dobbs (David Cross)—a redneck petty criminal whose hijinks are caught on tape by a ''Cops''-like television show called ''Fuzz''—is noticed by failing infomercial personality/inventor Terry Twillstein (Bob Odenkirk), who notices Dobbs' popularity with lowbrow viewers. He promotes the idea for a Ronnie Dobbs show to television executives entitled "Ronnie Dobbs Gets Arrested" in which Ronnie is arrested in a different city each week. The show becomes a phenomenal success leading to a level of fame & fortune that dramatically changes Dobbs' life.

Two years have passed since the end of ''Metal Slug'', when Capt. Marco Rossi and Lt. Tarma Roving of Peregrine Falcon Strike Force defeated and killed the evil General Morden, who had staged a ''coup d'état'' against the worlds' governments. Various factions sympathetic to Morden have been in operation, but are considered insignificant. They have begun to act in unison, and army intelligence concludes that the only way this could happen is if Morden is still alive and is attempting a new ''coup''. Rossi (now a Major) and Roving (now a Captain) are sent to once again battle Morden. They are accompanied by two members of the Intelligence Agency's Special Ops Squad S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S.; Sgt. Eri Kasamoto and Sgt. 1st Class Fiolina Germi.

As the levels unfold, it is revealed that Morden has formed an alliance with aliens in an effort to facilitate his plans (the previous game ended with one of Morden's soldiers sending a paper airplane into outer space). In the final mission, however, the aliens turn on Morden, attacking his troops and taking him prisoner. An ad hoc alliance is formed between the Peregrine Falcon Strike Force and General Morden's army to combat the greater alien threat. After a long battle, they succeed in defeating the alien mother ship. As the ship explodes, Morden falls to the ground, strapped to a solid iron plate. While his soldiers celebrate his survival, the plate loses its balance and crushes him. The game ends with Rossi, Roving, Kasamoto and Germi celebrating their victory.

An abandoned ship crashes into a dockyard in Brooklyn, New York, and the ship inspector, Silas Green, finds it full of corpses. Elsewhere, Julius Jones, Silas's nephew, has a run-in with some Italian mobsters. Just as the two goons are about to kill Julius, Maximillian, a vampire who arrived on the ship, intervenes and kills them. Max infects Julius with his vampiric blood, thereby turning Julius into a decaying ghoul, and explains that he has come to Brooklyn in search of the Dhampir daughter of a vampire from his native Caribbean island in order to live beyond the night of the next full moon.

This Dhampir turns out to be NYPD Detective Rita Veder, still dealing with the death of her mentally ill mother (a paranormal researcher) some months before. As she and her partner, Detective Justice, investigate the murders on the ship, Rita begins having visions about a woman who looks like her, and starts asking questions about her mother's past. Rita is completely unaware of her vampire heritage, and believes she is losing her mind like her mother.

Max initiates a series of sinister methods to pull Rita into his thrall, including seducing and murdering her roommate Nikki, as well as disguising himself as her preacher and a lowlife crook. Max, in these disguises, misleads Rita into thinking Justice slept with Nikki, making her jealous and angry with him. After saving Rita from being run down by a taxicab, Max takes her to dinner. Rita is taken with Max's suave charm, and while dancing with her, he bites her.

The next day, Justice finds Rita in her apartment, having slept all day with it completely darkened. Justice informs Rita about Nikki's murder, and vows to help understand her visions, as one correctly foretold Nikki's fate. Rita forgives Justice, but she almost bites him in the neck during a passionate kiss before catching her disappearing reflection in a mirror, and realizes she is becoming a vampire. She confronts Max about the changes occurring in her, and deduces he is also responsible for the murders she and Justice are investigating. Rita further finds out that Max was sent to her by her father; his death at the hands of vampire hunters was what drove Rita's mother insane.

Max tries to convince Rita that she will be happier as a vampire instead of remaining in the human world, where he feels she will remain out of place and misunderstood by society. Justice plans to rescue Rita from Max, and seeks advice from Dr. Zeko, a vampire expert they visited earlier in the murder investigation. Zeko explains that he knew Rita's mother while she did her research on the vampires of the Caribbean islands, and she surrendered to evil by falling in love with Rita's father. To avoid becoming a vampire, Rita must refrain from drinking the blood of an innocent human victim and Max must die before the next full moon. Zeko gives Justice an ancient dagger with instructions to either kill Max or risk being killed by Rita.

When Justice reaches her, Rita is lying inside Max's coffin, almost completely changed into a vampire, and threatens to bite Justice. Justice and Max fight, during which Justice loses Zeko's dagger on the floor. Max encourages Rita to kill Justice and complete the transformation, but she rejects life as a vampire and drives the dagger through Max's heart, causing him to disintegrate. Rita and Justice kiss.

Meanwhile, Julius, now completely decayed, enters his master's limousine. He finds Max's ring and puts it on, instantly transforming him into a fully intact member of the undead. Overjoyed, he tells Silas, "There's a new vampire in Brooklyn, and his name is Julius Jones!", as both of them drive off into the night to parts unknown.

The stories in the series take place in 18th-century Japan, during the Sakoku or seclusion period of Japan (the first four games run across 1788 and 1789) with great artistic license so that foreign-born characters (including some from places that did not exist as such in 1788) and fictional monsters can also be part of the story. The plot of each game is quite different, but they circle a central group of characters and a region in Japan.

''Samurai Shodown'' consequently portrays snippets of the Japanese culture and language internationally with little edits. For instance, unlike most fighting games made in Japan, the characters in the series (including the announcer) generally speak only in Japanese, with dialects ranging from archaic formalities and theatricalism to modern-day slang, something that has been preserved for overseas releases. Win quotes and other cut scenes provide subtitles in several languages, including but not limited to English, Portuguese, and German. Much of the music includes traditional Japanese instruments (predominantly the shakuhachi, shamisen, koto and taiko) and later ''enka''. Several characters are loosely based on real figures from Japanese history.

The ''Enterprise-D'' is called to assist the colony on planet Beta Agni II, which has suffered contamination to its water supply. They meet with the ''Jovis'', a ship owned by the Zibalian trader Kivas Fajo (Saul Rubinek), a trader who so happens to have hytritium, the extremely rare compound needed to neutralize the contamination. The volatile substance cannot be beamed aboard, so Lieutenant Commander Data (Brent Spiner) is assigned to make several shuttle trips to collect the cargo. Just before the final trip, Data is kidnapped, and his shuttle is rigged to explode. The ''Enterprise'' crew scan the debris and finding trace elements matching Data, they believe he is dead, and are forced to leave to continue their mission.

Data is reactivated in a secured room and is met by Fajo, who explains he collects rare and valuable objects and has kidnapped Data due to his uniqueness. Fajo's assistant Varria tells Data to change out of his Enterprise uniform and to sit in his chair. Data refuses to follow orders and remarks that they are both Fajo's prisoners.

Mourning the loss of their friend, Geordi is certain that he is missing something about Data's destruction. Geordi takes his hypothesis to Picard and Riker, stating that the reason he can't find anything is there's nothing to indicate a malfunction. He explains that the only option is pilot error, but doesn't believe it as the odds are too vast to calculate. Picard gives him some words of solace and dismisses him. Picard and Riker select Worf as Data's replacement.

In an effort to make Data comply with his wishes, Fajo says that he isn't at war with anyone and is in fact Data's liberator. He prods Data about whether or not he is capable of killing anyone, and Data states that he is programmed to never kill except in defense, and thus would be incapable of murder. When Data still refuses to submit, Fajo splashes a solvent on Data's uniform that dissolves it so he will be compelled to change his clothes.

Geordi and Wesley run through Data's communications during the shuttle trips, with Geordi noting that Data follows protocol to the letter. They observe that Data didn't report the shuttle clearing the cargo bay of the Jovis on the final transmission, per protocol. Geordi and Wesley conclude that for Data to not follow standard procedures there would have to be something wrong with Data himself.

Data remains defiant against Fajo's attempts to make him an object of display, purposely remaining silent and immobile when Fajo shows off his collection to a rival trader (Nehemiah Persoff). Only when Fajo threatens to kill Varria with a very rare and illegal Varon-T disruptor does Data agree to follow Fajo's orders, and sits in the chair.

The ''Enterprise'' crew arrives at the colony and uses the hytritium to neutralize the contamination, but finds it works far more quickly than it should, and deduce that the contamination had been caused deliberately, leading them back to Fajo. They return to the last-known location of the ''Jovis'' to track Fajo down.

Varria decides to help Data to escape. During the attempt they set off alarms that alert Fajo, and when he gets there, he uses the Varon-T disruptor on Varria, killing her without remorse. Data picks up the spare Varon-T that Varria had possessed and threatens to use it on Fajo. Fajo in turn threatens to murder more of his assistants if Data doesn't comply with his demands, believing that Data's programming will prevent him from shooting Fajo and to preserve the assistants' lives by submitting. Fajo further taunts Data to shoot him, mocking him as "just an android" incapable of feeling rage at Varria's death. Data states that he cannot allow this to continue and gets ready to shoot Fajo, much to the latter's shock. The ''Enterprise'' arrives and suddenly beams Data back aboard, discovering that the disruptor was in the process of discharging. Data is met in the transporter room by Commander Riker, and requests that Fajo be taken into custody, with Riker responding that arrangements have already been made. When Riker asks why the disruptor was energized, Data only offers that something may have happened during transport.

Data visits Fajo in the brig, where Fajo laments the reversal of their situation, but says defiantly that he will again add Data to his collection one day. Data informs Fajo that his stolen collection has been confiscated, and all his possessions returned to their rightful owners. Fajo remarks, "It must give you great pleasure." Data replies, "No, sir, it does not. I do not feel pleasure. I am only an android." He then leaves a stunned Fajo alone in the brig.

Approximately a decade before ''Fury3'' begins, a large inter-planetary war threatened to destroy the once peaceful world of Terran. In order to defeat their enemy, Terran scientists genetically engineered a race of super soldiers that were to eventually become known as Bions, whose ruthless aggression and power meant that only a small number could fully take over a planet within days. The efforts of the Bions saved Terran, but their bloodlust was all-consuming, turning them on their creators. Towards the end of the war that followed, Terran created an unparalleled military force known as the Council of Peace, which steadfastly wiped out almost all remaining Bion forces. Smaller pockets of Bion troops remained, unbeknownst to the Council, and created a Headquarters on the planet Fury, from which they could rebuild and prepare to once more begin their domination of space.

By 2839, the Bion forces had spread to 7 other systems, Terran included. In a hope to quash the Bion threat for the final time, the Council of Peace send one of their pilot Councilors, controlled by the player, to Terran, where the game begins.

The game is set in a post-apocalyptic future, based on the three stages of every civilized society: ascent, heyday, and downfall. Burntime starts at the end of a flourishing civilization. The main goal of the game is to conquer the remaining habitable areas, as well as to survive.

The X-Men members Cyclops and Phoenix are brought to Victorian era England in the year 1859, where the scientist Nathaniel Essex, obsessed with Darwin's theory of evolution, encounters the centuries-old mutant Apocalypse who transforms him into Mister Sinister.

The story starts in the early summer of 1832, as thirteen-year-old Charlotte Doyle prepares to take a voyage from Liverpool, England, to her family's home in Providence, Rhode Island. Her upper-class upbringing and her education give her a very sheltered and narrow view of life. Charlotte finds herself the only passenger and the only female on the ship, the ''Seahawk''. Repeatedly, people tell her she should not be on the ship, but her escort, Mr. Grummage, insists Charlotte go.

On her first day aboard, a black sailor named Zachariah gives her a dirk for protection. He also warns Charlotte about Captain Jaggery, which Charlotte does not believe. The captain and Charlotte become very close and he says that if she ever sees anything suspicious, she must tell him.

After spotting a round-robin, a sign of mutiny, Charlotte warns Jaggery, who heads off the rebellion and kills its ringleader. Charlotte is distressed when Captain Jaggery and 1st mate Mr. Hollybrass whip Zachariah for 50 lashes. Charlotte tries to protect Zachariah by grabbing the whip, but accidentally hits the captain's face. Jaggery is enraged and whips Zachariah mercilessly, leading to his apparent death and funeral.

After the captain has withdrawn his protection of Charlotte, she feels compelled to replace Zachariah as a crew member out of guilt. The crew allows her to join them after she successfully climbs up and down the tallest mast. Upon learning of Charlotte's plans, Captain Jaggery strikes Charlotte across the face, and she vows to reveal his cruelty to the courts after they complete their voyage.

As the ''Seahawk'' enters a powerful hurricane, Charlotte falls from the ratlines and is saved by a man whom she believes is Zachariah, despite his apparent death. After the storm, the crew finds First Mate Hollybrass, stabbed in the back by the dirk Zachariah gave Charlotte. She is ordered to the brig, where she finds Zachariah, who has been hiding there since he was thrashed nearly to death. Captain Jaggery holds a trial and finds her guilty of Mr. Hollybrass's murder. As Charlotte has vowed to expose his cruelty when they land, he threatens to hang her unless she will align herself with him and become a respectable young woman again.

With Zachariah's help, Charlotte escapes the prison and plans to steal the captain's guns and usurp his title. Upon her finding Jaggery, he reveals that he killed Hollybrass. He presents her with three choices, all of which she refuses, and flees Jaggery. The Captain attempts to kill her in front of the crew, but falls off the ship to his death. Zachariah leads the crew in naming Charlotte as captain, but she serves primarily as a figurehead for Zachariah due to her lack of experience. They land in Providence, Rhode Island, 12 hours later.

When the ''Seahawk'' arrives in Rhode Island, Charlotte returns to her old "proper" behavior and dress. She intends to hide what happened from her family, but her father reads her journal of the voyage. He is appalled, burns the diary, and tells Charlotte that she will be punished and reformed. Charlotte finally decides to escape from her home one night, and returns to the ''Seahawk'' to be a sailor with Zachariah and the crew.

Victor Ward is in Europe in order to "take a whack at the whole modelling, European, figure-it-out kind of thing".

The film uses song lyrics to tell the story of how Victor Ward becomes involved with a Florence bombing and then plans a second bombing in Rome, after sightseeing the ruins of the Colosseum and the Vatican.

During the Middle Ages in Europe, a king is seeking a brave warrior to kill a giant who has been terrorizing his small kingdom. There is much discussion in the village, but no one is willing to take on the task. While this is happening, a young peasant tailor (Mickey Mouse) kills seven flies at once while at his work. He unknowingly interrupts a conversation among several other peasants about the problems with the giant to brag loudly about his accomplishment:

:Peasant (to his friends): "Say, did you ever kill a giant?" :Mickey (sticking his head out his window): "I killed ''seven'' with one blow!"

Gossip that Mickey has killed seven giants with one blow quickly spreads around the kingdom. The king summons him and asks if he really "killed seven at one blow". He goes into an elaborate retelling of how he killed the seven (flies, not giants as the king believes), which impresses the king enough to appoint him "Royal High Killer of the Giant". On discovering the misunderstanding, all of Mickey's confidence disappears, and he attempts to stammer his way out of the assignment. The king thinks he is holding out for a bigger payday and offers him increasingly vast riches and then (at her suggestion) the hand of his only daughter, Princess Minnie, in marriage if he can kill, or at least subdue, the giant. Smitten with Minnie, Mickey proclaims that he'll "cut [the giant] down to my size", and sets off for the giant's lair. When the gates of the town close behind him, however, his confidence fails him and he wants to turn back, but he sees Minnie and the townspeople screaming him on from the walls and decides to soldier on.

"Gosh," Mickey sighs to himself, wondering what to do. "I dunno how to catch a giant." Just then, the giant appears, forcing Mickey to scramble for a place to hide as the giant crushes rocks, trees, and buildings under his feet while searching the countryside for food. He sits down on a barn and eats a cart of pumpkins as if they were grapes. Mickey, who was hiding in the cart with the pumpkins, clings to the giant's uvula to keep from being swallowed, which gives the giant a case of the hiccups. To remedy this, the giant pulls a water well from the ground and drinks from it as though it were a thermos, and Mickey is saved from the giant's stomach by clinging to the well's bucket. The reprieve is short-lived, however, as the giant almost immediately grabs the haystack in which Mickey seeks refuge and rolls it into a cigarette, lighting it with the stove from a nearby house (after he lifts off the roof to get it). He then leans on a silo to relax. The smoke makes Mickey sneeze, which finally brings him to the attention of the giant.

The giant, after getting poked in the nose with a pair of scissors, attempts to squash Mickey, but misses. Mickey lures the giants into reaching under his sleeves and quickly produces a needle and thread and binds the giant's limbs. He then lassos the giant's nose and pulls it up, preventing him from opening his eyes, before swinging around him and then tripping him. The giant falls down, landing with such force that a chunk of earth flies in the air and lands on his head, knocking him out. Mickey dusts his hands triumphantly.

Following the giant's defeat, an amusement park is built on the site of the battle. The carnival rides are powered, via a series of belts and gears connected to a windmill, by wind from the snoring giant, who is chained to the ground. The film ends with the king and a newly married Mickey and Minnie enjoying a ride on the carousel.

Mickey is first seen reading ''Gulliver's Travels'', the 1726 novel by Jonathan Swift, while the mice orphan children are pretending to be sailors. He then joins in their play by hiding under the rug, pretending to be a whale. After poking Mickey with a fork, causing their “ship” to collapse, the children start to cry. Mickey manages to calm them down by retelling the Liliput sequences of ''Gulliver's Travels'', pretending it was a real event that happened to him by portraying the role of Gulliver. The story ends with Mickey saving the town from a giant spider (Pete). However, after telling the story, one of the children dangles a fake spider attached to a fishing rod, which scares Mickey out of his wits.

As soon as Mickey had managed to struggle to be free from the spider's long legs, he immediately gets the spider away. But in Mickey's story, he is battling a cushion making feathers fly everywhere!

The plot for the manga revolves around the hero Hamel who travels northbound towards the continent of demons in order to avert a great disaster. Using his magical oversized violin, he plays music that would force his enemies to repent for their sins and kill themselves – or so that was how the story should have been. The so-called Hamel is instead a selfish, cowardly, heartless, and immoral fiend that seeks to take advantage of those around him, and extort from those he saves. After saving the remote village of Staccato from nearby demons, he decides to abduct an orphaned girl named Flute as payment for his services. Hamel, Flute, and Oboe, Hamel's advisor who is a talking crow, head north on their long, arduous and ridicule filled journey. Along the way, they meet Raiel, the hero of Love who plays beautiful and powerful tunes that can summon spirits and manipulate people with his 500kg solid gold piano; he is actually Hamel's childhood friend. Their first encounter results in a not so deadly battle for revenge. Next they encounter Trombone, the young prince of Dal Segno, the warrior nation renowned for their knights and their swordsmanship. Having his country burned to the ground and his parents murdered in front of his eyes, the young prince swears revenge and joins are party northwards in their quest. Adventure, hilarity, and humiliation ensues as Hamel leads the ragtag band north while performing street performances bicker with each other. Along the way, they fight dreadful enemies and eventually meet Hell Hawk King Sizer, one of the Lords of hell, the guardians of the Demons Legions. In a mostly one sided battle, Hamel's Violin is broken. It is also revealed that Hamel is actually the son of the Demon King Chestra, and that he heads north in order to defeat his father and save his mother Pandora.

As they venture further north, they eventually reach the kingdom of Sforzando, one of the most powerful nations of their world, renowned for their magi-knight corps, their healing magic, and the strongest woman alive, Queen Horn. While at Sforzando, they meet the Head Priest of Sforzando, they greatest magic user in all of their kingdom, who immediately takes a dislike to Hamel. It is revealed that Flute, the victim of Hamel's humiliating antics was actually the only princess of Sforzando, who was unfortunately abandoned as a baby in order to increase her chance of survival when Sforzando was besieged in a dreadful war many years ago. Reunited with her estranged mother, Flute tries to deal with many pent up emotions while Hamel is sent out in order to Seek out a man capable of fixing his magical violin. Unfortunately, during Hamel and Raiel's absence, Sforzando is besieged yet again by the armies of Hell. Leading them are Dragon King Drum and King of the Beasts Guitar, both extremely strong and one of the 4 Lords of Hell. A fierce battle ensues, where both powerful forces collide and tens of thousands of both sides perish. In the end, Hamel and Raiel return after meeting Vi Olin and having the violin fixed in order to finish their foes off. In a last-ditch effort with everyone attacking at the same time, they manage to subdue the Dragon King Drum who had turned into a 48 headed hydra.

The battle ends with the victory of Sforzando, and the revelation that the Queen had only a few years left to live, as her barrier magic requires the user to pay by giving up their lifespan. Once preparations were done, Hamel, Raiel, Trombone and Oboe set off once again on their quest to the northern continent. Torn between wanting to stay with her newly reunited mother and re-joining her rather ungrateful companions on their journey, she eventually chooses to follow Hamel and slowly realizes her feelings for him. At this point, the party splits up. Raiel heads to Staccato to deliver the money given to Hamel should he choose to leave Flute behind in Sforzando; Trombone goes back to Dal Segno to pay respects to those who perished there; Flute, Hamel and Oboe head north, and are joined by Cornet, Clarinet's younger sister.

A sequel to the series called Violinist of Hameln: Shchelkunchik started serialization in January 2008. It involves the travels of a young boy named Schel who wishes to become a wizard. Along the way he meets Hamel's son Great.

In the 1960s, at Washington Square Park in Manhattan, hippies gather to perform protest songs. Fritz, a cat, and his friends show up in an attempt to meet girls. When a trio of attractive women walk by, Fritz and his friends exhaust themselves trying to get their attention with their music but are annoyed to find that the girls are more interested in the crow standing nearby. The girls attempt to flirt with the crow, making unintentionally condescending remarks about black people. After the crow snidely rebukes the girls and leaves, Fritz convinces the girls that he is a suffering soul and invites them to "seek the truth". They arrive at his friend's apartment, where a wild party is taking place. Since the other rooms are crowded, Fritz drags the girls into the bathroom and the four of them have an orgy in the bathtub. Meanwhile, two bumbling police officers (portrayed as pigs) arrive to raid the party. As they walk up the stairs, one of the partygoers finds Fritz and the girls in the bath tub. Several others jump in, pushing Fritz to the side where he takes solace in marijuana. The two officers break into the apartment, but find that it is empty because everyone has moved into the bathroom. Fritz takes refuge in the toilet when one of the pigs enters the bathroom and begins to beat up the partygoers. As the pig becomes exhausted, a stoned Fritz jumps out, grabs the pig's gun, and shoots the toilet, causing the water main to break and flooding everybody out of the apartment. The pigs chase Fritz down the street into a synagogue. Fritz manages to escape when the congregation gets up to celebrate the United States' decision to ship more weapons to Israel.

Fritz makes it back to his dormitory, where his roommates are too busy studying to pay attention to him. He decides to ditch his bore of a life and sets all of his notes and books on fire. The fire spreads throughout the dorm, finally setting the entire building ablaze. In a bar in Harlem, Fritz meets Duke the Crow at a pool table. After narrowly avoiding getting into a fight with the bartender, Duke invites Fritz to "bug out", and they steal a car, which Fritz drives off a bridge, leading Duke to save his life by grabbing onto a railing. The two arrive at the apartment of a drug dealer named Bertha, whose cannabis joints increase Fritz's libido. While fornicating with Bertha, he realizes that he "must tell the people about the revolution". He runs off into the city street and incites a riot, during which Duke is shot and killed by one of the pig officers.

Fritz hides in an alley where his older fox girlfriend, Winston Schwartz, finds him and drags him on a road trip to San Francisco. When their car runs out of gas in the middle of the desert, he decides to abandon her. He later meets up with Blue, a drug-addicted rabbit biker. Along with Blue's horse girlfriend, Harriet, they take a ride to an underground hide-out, where two other revolutionaries—the lizard leader and John, a hooded snake—tell Fritz of their plan to blow up a power station. When Harriet tries to get Blue to leave with her to go to a Chinese restaurant, he hits her several times and ties her down with a chain. When Fritz attempts to break it up, the leader throws a candle in his face. Blue, John, and the lizard leader then throw Harriet onto a bed to gang rape her. After setting the dynamite at the power plant, Fritz suddenly has a change of heart and unsuccessfully attempts to remove it before being caught in the explosion.

At a Los Angeles hospital, Harriet (disguised as a nun) and the girls from the New York park come to comfort him in what they believe to be his last moments. Fritz, after reciting the speech he used to pick up the girls from New York, suddenly becomes revitalized and has another orgy with the trio of girls while Harriet watches in astonishment.

Ventriloquist Jerry Etherson (Cliff Robertson) is performing an act with his dummy Willy in a small club in New York City. At the end of the act, Willy seems to bite Jerry's hand, and after he goes back to his dressing room he finds teeth marks on his finger. He begins to drink from a liquor bottle he had hidden in a drawer. His agent, Frank, comes in and is upset that Jerry has resumed drinking. Jerry tells Frank, as he has numerous times before, that Willy is alive. Frank does not believe Jerry and has already pushed him into getting psychiatric help. Jerry is convinced that further psychiatric sessions would be redundant and that the only solution is to get rid of Willy and perform with a different dummy, "Goofy Goggles", from now on. He quickly comes up with new material for Goofy Goggles and locks Willy in a trunk.

After the second act, Jerry refuses to comply with the owner's wish that he and his dummy mingle with the audience. His agent considers this the last straw and quits, saying that Jerry's behavior, in particular what he sees as his delusional belief that Willy is alive, are keeping him from being a star. Jerry tells Frank he is leaving for Kansas City to get away from Willy. After leaving the theater, Jerry hears Willy's voice following him wherever he goes and sees his shadow on a wall. No one else can hear Willy, apparently confirming Frank's belief that Jerry is suffering from delusional fear.

Jerry runs back into the theater. He goes into the dark dressing room, opens the trunk, throws the dummy on the floor, and smashes it. But when he turns on the light, he realizes that he destroyed the Goofy Goggles dummy instead of Willy. He cannot understand how he could have been mistaken. He then sees Willy sitting on the couch, talking to him and laughing at him. Willy tells him that it was he, Jerry, who made him alive. Realizing the truth, Jerry lowers his head as Willy cackles crazily.

The scene cuts to a man in Kansas City announcing the next act, "Jerry and Willy". The ventriloquist is actually Willy, and he is holding Jerry, who has been turned into a dummy.

A humanoid alien has just crash-landed outside a mountain village in Mexico, just across the border from Texas. He has killed a police officer and was wounded by another. When he reaches a village bar, he collapses. A sympathetic doctor operates on him, removing two bullets from his chest. The alien (who refers to himself as "Mr. Williams") becomes friends with Pedro, an orphan whose job is to clean the bar. Pedro receives a gift from Williams, who tells Pedro that he will explain it later.

Meanwhile, the bartender notifies the army about Williams' location. Williams attempts to escape back to his ship, but soldiers and villagers corner him. He tries to explain that he has come in peace and that the police officer getting shot was an accident. He tells Pedro to show the gift to the doctor, but the villagers take the gift from him and set it on fire, claiming that it must be black magic or of the devil. As the villagers watch Pedro and Williams reaching for each other, fear drives them to shoot Williams before they believe he has a chance to harm the boy. With Williams lying dead, the doctor picks up the remains of the gift from the fire. He reads the note on it aloud: "Greetings to the people of Earth: We come as friends and in peace. We bring you this gift. The following chemical formula is...a vaccine against all forms of cancer..." The rest is burned away. The doctor states, "We have not just killed a man; we have killed a dream."

Millionaire Paul Radin invites three people to the bomb shelter that he has built. He greets them politely but without genuine warmth as he holds a personal grudge against each of them. One is a high school teacher (Mrs. Langsford) who failed him when he was caught cheating on a test and attempting to frame another student to avoid the consequences; the second is Colonel Hawthorne, who had him court-martialed when Radin endangered lives by disobeying orders; and the third is Rev. Hughes, who made a public scandal out of a woman who committed suicide over him.

Radin, with the aid of sound effects and fake radio messages, convinces the trio that an apocalyptic nuclear war will occur in just moments. He offers them refuge in the shelter if they do one thing: apologize for their actions. All three refuse his offer, valuing their honor above their lives and preferring to spend a last few moments with their loved ones or alone than to live with Radin.

Radin, unable to believe that, opens the way out and pursues them to the elevator. Mrs. Langsford, still believing Radin will survive but be left alone, tells him to try to cope. She tells him that he has spent his life deluding himself about his own character and what is right and wrong. As the elevator leaves, Radin screams hysterically that this is not true.

Suddenly, the sound of a bomb detonation shakes Radin's shelter. He takes the elevator to the surface and emerges to see the world devastated and in ruin. This twist ending is given another twist, however, when we learn that Radin, devastated by his hoax's failure, has lost his mind and is only imagining the total destruction. Radin sobs helplessly at the foot of a fountain outside his intact building while a police officer tries to aid him.

Hyder Simpson is an elderly mountain man who lives with his wife Rachel and his coon dog Rip in the backwoods. Rachel does not like having the dog indoors, but Rip saved Hyder's life once and Hyder refuses to part with him. Rachel has seen some bad omens recently and warns Hyder not to go raccoon hunting that night. When Rip dives into a pond after a raccoon, Hyder jumps in after him. Only the raccoon comes up out of the water. The next morning, Hyder and Rip wake up next to the pond. When they return home, Hyder finds that Rachel, the preacher, and the neighbors cannot hear or see him, and are tending to the burial of both him and Rip.

Walking along the road, Hyder and Rip encounter an unfamiliar fence and follow it. They come to a gate tended by a man, who explains that Hyder can enter the Elysian Fields of the afterlife. Told that Rip cannot enter and will be taken to a special afterlife for dogs, Hyder angrily declines the offer of entry and decides to keep walking along the "Eternity Road," saying, "Any place that's too high-falutin' for Rip is too fancy for me."

Later, Hyder and Rip stop to rest and are met by a young man, who introduces himself as an angel dispatched to find them and take them to Heaven. When Hyder recounts his previous encounter, the angel tells him that gate is actually the entrance to Hell. The gatekeeper had stopped Rip from entering because Rip would have smelled the brimstone inside and warned Hyder that something was wrong. The angel says, "You see, Mr. Simpson, a man, well, he'll walk right into Hell with both eyes open. But even the Devil can't fool a dog!" As the angel leads Hyder along the Eternity Road toward Heaven, he tells Hyder that a square dance and raccoon hunt are scheduled for that night. He also assures Hyder that Rachel, who will soon be coming along the road, will not be misled into entering Hell.

Actor Rance McGrew, who stars in a TV series as the fictional heroic marshal of the same name, arrives late to shoot the final scenes of an episode in which his character pursues Jesse James. According to the script, Rance turns away from a seemingly-beaten Jesse, who then tries to shoot him in the back. The man playing Jesse says Jesse James fighting dishonorably is historically inaccurate, and asks permission to shout at Rance before firing, but Rance argues that shouting out a warning to a gunman who has already proven himself to be a better fighter makes no sense.

Suddenly, Rance finds himself in a real Old West saloon. The real Jesse James walks in and says that he, Billy the Kid, and other famous outlaws are not pleased with the way that they are portrayed on McGrew's show. Calling Rance nothing but a fraud who makes his living off the reputations of true gunslingers, Jesse challenges Rance to a fast draw showdown. Rance quickly realizes that he has no chance against a real gunfighter, but Jesse will not allow him to walk away. When the countdown finishes, Rance struggles for several seconds to get his gun out of its holster, then unintentionally flings it in the air in his panic. His point made, an amused Jesse contemptuously remarks, "Just like I figured. This guy couldn't outdraw a crayon." As Jesse aims his gun at Rance's forehead, Rance drops to his knees, pleading that he will do anything if Jesse spares him. Jesse accepts and disappears.

Rance finds himself back on the set, and his agent is announced. The agent turns out to be Jesse James himself, in Hollywood garb. He insists that the episode be revised so that instead of trying to shoot Rance in the back, Jesse James throws Rance McGrew out the saloon window and makes his escape. The scene is shot to Jesse's satisfaction. As Jesse drives Rance back home, he goes over revisions to future episodes in which Rance McGrew fights Jesse's afterlife buddies. From now on, Rance's TV series will show what those men could ''really'' do instead of just making Rance look good.

The storyline revolves around the concept of the "Godwave", an interstellar phenomenon created by the Source that spread across the universe, creating gods on its first pass before reaching the edge of the universe and bouncing back, creating demigods and metahumans on its second pass.

The Godwave threatens reality when it reaches back to its starting point, altering or neutralizing the abilities of various metahumans and making ordinary humans feel like something is missing. The superheroes of Earth and the New Gods of New Genesis battle Darkseid to prevent him from accomplishing his plan to seize the power of the Godwave. Darkseid and his forces stage an invasion of Earth before travelling to the Source Wall where they are confronted by the heroes.

In order to save his family and home town, contractor Norman Waters (Tony Danza) is tasked by an angel named Zach (Wallace Shawn) to rebuild Noah's Ark in 40 days to prepare for a great massive flood.

After the death of tycoon and philanthropist Oscar Winterhaven Oglethorpe, a ballet company is founded in his name by his widow, Lillian. Ambulance-chasing attorney Roland T. Flakfizer competes against Oglethorpe's former attorney, Edmund Lazlo, to be director of the company. Lazlo is chosen for the position after signing the greatest ballet dancer in the world, Roberto "The Great” Volare. Flakfizer — with assistance from his two associates Rocco and Jacques — earns a spot as co-director by wooing the wealthy widow and by signing the company's leading ballerina and her dancer boyfriend Alan Grant. The ensuing struggle between Flakfizer and Lazlo leads to comic hijinks, including a badger game involving a chorus girl and an opening-night performance ludicrously sabotaged by Flakfizer and his cohorts.

On Christmas Eve in Wichita, Kansas, mob lawyer Charlie Arglist and pornographer Vic Cavanaugh prepare to leave town after stealing $2 million from their boss, mobster Bill Guerrard. However, icy roads means their getaway is postponed. Vic holds the cash when they split up, biding their time until the roads clear.

Charlie visits Sweet Cage, a local strip-club owned by Vic and run by Renata Crest, a woman whom Charlie has long lusted after. She quickly deduces he is hiding something. Charlie hints at the money, and she suggests they run away together. Taking advantage of the perceived situation, Renata asks Charlie to steal an incriminating photo of herself and a local politician from Vic.

After talking to his friend Sidney, a bartender and bouncer at Sweet Cage, Charlie goes to another strip club owned by Vic, the Tease-O-Rama, and takes the photo from a safe. Before he can leave, Roy Gelles, one of Guerrard's enforcers, arrives looking for Charlie. Charlie hides in the men's restroom as Gelles enters. Roy reads aloud a limerick written in red sharpie on the wall above the urinal, "As Wichita falls, so falls Wichita Falls". After evading Gelles, Charlie goes to a local restaurant/bar, running into his friend Pete, who is married to Charlie's ex-wife Sarabeth. Pete is very drunk, and decides to tag along with Charlie for as long as it takes to pass out. Charlie calls Vic from a pay phone, seeing the same red Sharpie limerick above the phone. He frantically tells Vic that Gelles is in town, but Vic dismisses this, as Gelles has family in Wichita.

Charlie returns to Sweet Cage and gives Renata the photo. She tells him that Vic had called to warn Charlie that Roy Gelles was indeed tailing them. Charlie takes Pete home only for Pete to vomit in Charlie's car and then pass out on the living room floor. Charlie then "borrows" a Mercedes Benz that Pete bought for Sarabeth, and goes to Vic's home. He finds Vic's wife next to their Christmas tree shot in the head. Vic arrives and reveals that he's locked Roy in a large trunk. They take Roy and Vic's wife in the Mercedes and drive to a local lake, while Roy continues yelling at them from the trunk, claiming that it was Vic who shot his wife. Vic gets annoyed and shoots the trunk, silencing him.

As Charlie and Vic get the trunk onto the lake dock, it's shot open from the inside by Gelles, with Vic being shot in the process. After Gelles gets out of the trunk a standoff ends with Roy dead and Vic falling into the frozen lake as the dock collapses. Charlie realizes that Vic was going to kill him, so he drags Vic's wife to the collapsed dock and slides her into the lake, knocking the pleading Vic underwater. When Charlie discovers the money isn't in Vic's bag, he runs back to the dock to save Vic, but he has already gone under in the freezing water, entwined with his dead wife.

Returning to Sweet Cage, Charlie finds that Guerrard himself has come to town, and has tied up Renata. A struggle ensues, ending with Guerrard's death. Charlie and Renata go back to her place, where he finds the money hidden in her closet while Renata showers. Via flashbacks, it is revealed that Vic and Renata planned to run away together after killing Charlie. Charlie shoots her before she can cut his throat with a hidden straight razor.

As Charlie is driving out of town with the money, he sees Sidney on the side of the road with his kids in a motor home, and Charlie stops to offer assistance. Sidney says that he is out of gas, so Charlie lets him syphon some out of the "borrowed" Mercedes. As Sidney is trying to restart the RV, Charlie takes out a red Sharpie and writes "As Wichita falls, so falls Wichita Falls" on the back of the motor home, revealing it was Charlie who had been writing the limerick all over town. Sidney gets the motor home started, and after accidentally knocking Charlie down when the RV lurches backwards, he drives away.

Charlie gets up and returns to the "borrowed" Mercedes. Pete wakes up in the back seat, and the duo drive away together for warmer weather.