The cartoon begins with a newspaper showing Porky traveling to Africa to hunt the rare dodo bird. Porky flies his airplane to go to Dark Africa, then Darker Africa, and finally lands in Darkest Africa. When Porky lands, a sign tells him that he's in Wackyland ("Population: 100 nuts and a squirrel"), while a scary voice booms out "It '''can''' happen here!" Porky enters into a surreal Dali-esque landscape and encounters many strange, weird, and oafish creatures.

Suddenly, the last dodo of the dodo species appears. Porky tries to catch the dodo, but the dodo plays tricks on him. At one time, the dodo appears on the Warner Bros. shield and sling shots Porky into the ground. Finally, Porky dresses as another dodo and announces that he is the last dodo, worth six trillion dollars. The dodo handcuffs himself to Porky, claiming "I've got the last Dodo!" and runs with Porky to claim the reward. Porky reveals himself, and still handcuffed to the dodo, runs off with him, now proclaiming: "Oh, no, you haven't! ''I-I'm'' rich! I-I've got the last D-D-Dodo!" Once they disappear over the horizon, several more dodos appear and say that Porky does indeed have the last dodo.

Daffy, introduced as a "Western-Type Hero" and Porky, introduced as the "Comedy Relief", ride along the desert until they come across the small "Lawless Western Town" of Snake-Bite Center, which is so full of violence that the population sign immediately goes down a number when someone is shot and killed (while the town cemetery's population sign immediately goes up a number); the most recent casualty is the last sheriff. In a recorded commentary on the ''Looney Tunes Golden Collection'', the commentator warns the viewer that "this film is literally stuffed with every western cliché ever done." This is illustrated in such spoof scenes as follows: a man is firing guns while chasing another man; both stop at a traffic light so a second pair can cross, then their chase resumes. Two riders on horseback casually approach one another; when they are in close proximity, the horses recoil and whinny in anger, then begin shooting at each other. Other scenes include: a holdup at "Custard's Last Stand"; a masked horse stealing horseshoes from a smithy at gunpoint; a gunman shot off someone's balcony is caught by waiting stretcher-bearers, who trot him off to "Rigor O'Mortis / The Smiling Undertaker"...whose funeral parlor towers several stories above the neighboring buildings.

Seeing the "Sheriff Wanted" sign, Daffy picks a sheriff badge out of his collection of badges and rides into town on his horse, Tinfoil, with Porky following behind on his donkey (accompanied, of course, by "The William Tell Overture," which gained even greater fame as the theme song of "The Lone Ranger"). At the saloon, Daffy is about to enjoy a pasteurized milkshake and swami yogurt-chaser...when Nasty Canasta walks in past his 'Wanted' poster (which states "$5,000,000 REWARD (DEAD)" and "RUSTLER, BANDIT, SQUARE DANCE CALLER"). Daffy tries to intimidate Canasta with his gun ("Stick 'em up, homber! You're under arrest"), but Canasta just bites off most of the gun and eats it ("Probably didn't have his i-ron today!"). Canasta then threateningly orders himself and Daffy "two of the usual", a drink made of various poisons and toxic materials like cobra fang juice, hydrogen bitters and old panther (so hot that when two ice cubes are put in it, they jump out, yelping and bouncing into a fire bucket to cool off). Canasta downs the drink with no side effects (other than his hat flipping); Daffy gets Porky to drink the other one, and Porky comes through seemingly with no side effects either. So, Daffy demands one for himself and pours it down his throat. A few seconds later, Daffy and Porky exhibit wild side effects, including reciting "Mary had a Little Lamb" in Elmer Fudd-ese, turning green, and acting like they are motorized; Daffy's bullets shoot by themselves and create a hole in the floor, which he falls into, then rockets out of before coming back to Earth. As he floats down, Daffy sternly says to Canasta "I hate you." Eventually, Daffy challenges Canasta to a showdown in the street.

Daffy and Canasta start walking towards each other, the street deserted (with camera angles designed to parody the showdown camera angles common in Western films of that era), when Porky takes matters into his hands by winding up a small British toy soldier and letting it go towards Canasta, accompanied by Raymond Scott's "The Toy Trumpet". Canasta picks up the toy, chuckling, until it points its gun at Canasta and fires, sending Canasta to the ground. With Canasta defeated, the rest of the people in town rush over to Porky, while Daffy is still pacing his way to the middle of the street. Daffy finally notices the adoration given to Porky, and in vain tries to get their attention ("Gimme the cheers! Give me … Give me - Give - Give me one dozen roses."). Porky is now the town sheriff, and Daffy reiterates his claim that he would "clean up this one-horse town" to the camera — except now he is a sanitation worker. Porky remarks: "L-l-l-lucky for him [Daffy] it ''is'' a one-horse town."

In a story within a story, Daffy Duck despairs to Warner Bros.' chief Jack L. Warner – whom he addresses, as most did, as "J.L." – being typecast in comedic roles is "killing me", that he is "dying" to do a dramatic part. He then pitches a script called ''The Scarlet Pumpernickel'', which he wrote under the name "Daffy Dumas Duck". The cartoon then intercuts between scenes in the story and Daffy's pitch, with him announcing the number of the page he is reading from; his script exceeds 1,666 pages.

"Once upon a time in Merry Old England", a young highwayman named the Scarlet Pumpernickel (Daffy) constantly outsmarts the Lord High Chamberlain's (Porky Pig) men, to the Chamberlain's fury and to the delight of the Fair Lady Melissa; he orders her to "Keep away from that masked band-d-d-d-d-desperad-d-d-d-d, that masked stinker!". He then hits upon a scheme to lure Scarlet into town and kill him by marrying Melissa to the Grand Duke (Sylvester), and imprisons her in a tower.

As planned, Scarlet is drawn into town. Disguised as a noble, he visits the Chamberlain, who tells him that Melissa "wishes to see no one until after the wedding". The Grand Duke interrupts, informing the Chamberlain of the rumors Scarlet is in town, and demands the wedding take place that night; the Chamberlain agrees. The Grand Duke then asks Scarlet who he is. When he replies that he might be the Scarlet Pumpernickel, the Chamberlin and the Grand Duke dissolve into fits of laughter.

Crashing the ceremony with the use of "Ye Little Olympic High Jumper" (a pin and a jab in the posterior), Scarlet "rescues" Melissa—who tears herself from the Chamberlain, and runs down the aisle, dragging Scarlet with her while begging him to save her. He takes her to the inn where he is staying, assuring her that she will be safe, then leaves. The Grand Duke, in pursuit of Scarlet, stops for respite at the inn, and spots Melissa. As the Grand Duke corners her in her room, Scarlet enters by inadvertently crashing through a wall, missing the window he intended to swing in through. Throughout is a running gag of Scarlet comparing his "feats" of derring-do to Errol Flynn.

The Grand Duke and Scarlet then engage in an intense swordfight, but Daffy, not having written the ending, ad-libs an unlikely series of random natural disasters (a thunderstorm breaking a dam, a cavalry charge through the flood, an erupting volcano, and skyrocketing food prices, notably kreplach), to which J.L. asks, "Is that all?" Daffy exclaims in defeat, "There was nothing for the Scarlet Pumpernickel to do, but blow his brains out, which he did." Daffy then pantomimes Scarlet committing suicide with a gun, commenting, "It's getting so you have to kill yourself to sell a story around here".

At Smeller's Productions, Porky Pig, a producer, loaded down with luggage and a golf bag, hangs a sign on his office door reading "No casting today" and leaves his office in a hurry to board an airplane. However, Daffy Duck, a talent agent, stops Porky from leaving, wanting to secure an audition for his client, droopy-eyed child performer Sleepy Lagoon. The pitch, intended to demonstrate Sleepy's allegedly wide and varied repertoire, consists of Daffy himself performing an array of musical and stage acts in his usual, absurd and unoriginal fashion. Sleepy meanwhile stays seated, nonchalantly licking an enormous lollipop and silently commenting on Daffy's ludicrous behavior using signs bearing rebuses, such as "ham" ("excessively theatrical"), "screwball" ("crazy and absurd"), and "corn" ("corny").

The songs Daffy performs include "I'm Just Wild About Harry", ''William Tell Overture'', "Chica Chica Boom Chic" (as Carmen Miranda), "Laugh, Clown, Laugh" (as Enrico Caruso as Canio in ''Pagliacci''), and "Angel in Disguise" (same song Bugs Bunny and Sylvester perform in ''The Wabbit Who Came to Supper'' and ''Back Alley Oproar'', respectively).

Porky, with mounting frustration (as it is his day off), repeatedly tries to escape from the pitch. Daffy handily foils each attempt in increasingly improbable ways, including by turning out to be the pilot of Porky's plane and then turning out to be the parachute Porky uses to escape said plane. After Daffy finally takes it upon himself to harass Porky with an outrageous finale, Porky decides to just get it over with by allowing Sleepy to audition.

Sleepy calmly leaves his seat and begins to sing the song, "In the Garden of My Heart" (a WB-owned song by Roma and Ball), in a strong, operatic baritone that is not only surprising given his small stature but also substantially more dramatic than any of the acts Daffy used in the pitch. However, during a high note near the end, he erupts into a long coughing fit before weakly croaking the rest of the line.

Athanael (Jack Benny), the third trumpet player in the orchestra of a late night radio show sponsored by Paradise Coffee (motto: "It's Heavenly"), falls asleep listening to the announcer, who is doing his best to prove it is "the coffee that makes you sleep". Athanael dreams he is an angel (junior grade) and a trumpeter in the orchestra of Heaven. Due to the praise of his girlfriend Elizabeth (Alexis Smith), the assistant of the deputy chief of the department of small planet management (Guy Kibbee), he is given the mission of destroying planet 339001 (Earth) and its troublesome inhabitants by blowing the "Last Trumpet" at exactly midnight, signaling the end of the world.

When he is deposited at the Hotel Universe via the building's elevator, he accidentally foils a robbery attempt by suave guest Archie Dexter (Reginald Gardiner) and his girlfriend accomplice, Fran Blackstone (Dolores Moran). Dexter blames Fran and breaks off their relationship. When Athanael prevents her attempt at suicide from the hotel's roof, he misses the deadline. Elizabeth persuades her boss to give him a second chance, and travels to Earth to inform him.

Complications arise when two fallen angels named Osidro (Allyn Joslyn) and Doremus (John Alexander), also guests at the hotel, recognize Athanael and learn of his assignment. They want to continue their pleasantly hedonistic life. While Athanael encounters trouble holding onto his trumpet by his inexperience with Earthly life, Osidro and Doremus hire Dexter to steal the instrument. Learning that Fran was rescued by Athanael, Dexter reconciles with her. Then, while she distracts the angel, Dexter's henchman Humphrey (Mike Mazurki), steals the trumpet.

Athanael, Elizabeth and her boss track the thieves to the roof. During a struggle, Athanael falls off the building, only to wake up from his dream.

The story is set in Dearborn, Michigan during the 1950s, and revolves around 14-year-old Arthur Bartley (Brandon deWilde) and his schoolmates, 15-year-old Janet Willard (Carol Lynley) and Ernie (Warren Berlinger). While widower's-daughter Janet laughs at Arthur and Ernie's forays into smoking, drinking, and playing cards, she has always been interested in Arthur. As Arthur's parents try to shelter him from negative things in life (like the euthanasia of the family dog, done while he is at school), he turns to Janet for comfort.

The relationship between Janet and Arthur results in her becoming pregnant. Unable to ask their parents (who misinterpret their pleas as "ordinary" teenage curiosity about sex and adulthood) for help, they turn to Ernie, who had boasted earlier about "helping a sailor who got his girl in trouble" by directing him to an abortionist – only to discover Ernie made it all up, based on secondhand stories. The three seek together to arrange an abortion and raise the funds, only to be discovered by their parents at the last moment. In the meantime, Arthur and Janet find out how much they do not yet know about life – and how much they truly care about each other.

Jane Falbury (Judy Garland) is a farm owner whose actress sister, Abigail (Gloria DeHaven), arrives at the family farm with her theater troupe. They need a place to rehearse, and Jane and her housekeeper, Esme (Marjorie Main), reluctantly agree to let them use their barn. The actors and actresses, including the director, Joe Ross (Gene Kelly), repay her hospitality by doing chores around the farm. Although Joe is engaged to Abigail, he begins to fall in love with Jane after Abigail leaves him in an angry fit. Similarly, although Jane is engaged to Orville (Eddie Bracken), she falls in love with Joe.

The enchanted castle of the title is a country estate in the West Country seen through the eyes of three children, Jerry, Jimmy, and Kathy, who discover it while exploring during the school holidays. The lake, groves and marble statues, with white towers and turrets in the distance, make a fairy-tale setting, and then in the middle of the maze in the rose garden, they find a sleeping fairy-tale princess.

The "princess" tells them that the castle is full of magic, and they almost believe her. She shows them the treasures of the castle, including a magic ring she says is a ring of invisibility, but when it actually turns her invisible she panics and admits that she is the housekeeper's niece, Mabel, and was just play-acting.

The children soon find that the ring has other magical powers such as making the "Ugly-Wugglies" (Guy Fawkes style dummies they had made to swell the audience at one of their play-performances) come to life. They eventually discover that the ring is actually granting their own wishes, and that the disturbing results stem from their failure to specify those wishes precisely.

''The Enchanted Castle'' was written for both children and adults. It combines descriptions of the imaginative play of children, reminiscent of ''The Story of the Treasure Seekers'', with a magic more muted than in her major fantasies such as ''The Story of the Amulet''.

The Three Bears are hungry and want something to eat, so they settle on a plan to lure Goldilocks to them with porridge. They find, however, that all they have is carrots, so they make carrot soup instead. The family then pretends to go on a walk through the woods, but quickly comes back to hide in the house and wait for Goldilocks to arrive. The delicious aroma of the carrot soup causes Bugs Bunny to literally float out of his rabbit hole and into the Bears' home. A plot derived from that of the traditional ''Goldilocks and the Three Bears'' story unfolds, with Bugs Bunny as the unwitting guest in the home of the three bears.

Bugs Bunny eats the Bears' soup; they prepare to attack him as he does, but fall to the floor pretending to be rugs when Bugs nearly sees them. After eating and then stretching out on the 'rugs' for a bit, Bugs goes for some 'shuteye' in Junior's bed. The Bears recite the Goldilocks story lines and then attack Bugs, but he manages to escape and is seen standing next to Papa Bear's bed, watching the Bears essentially beat up an empty bed. When Mama Bear realizes the situation, she approaches Bugs with her fists raised. He flatters her and tells her that she's beautiful ("Your eyes. Your lips."), and gives her a kiss before he flees. Mama Bear stops Papa Bear and Junior from chasing Bugs, becomes amorous towards the rabbit ("Tell me more about my eyes!"), and attempts to embrace him.

Bugs tries to ward off Mama Bear and get out of the house, opening three doors that reveal Mama Bear in three different seductive poses (in a see-through nightgown, talking on the phone, then in a dress and blonde wig, smoking a cigarette, finally in a bathtub). Bugs crashes through a wall and runs back into his hole. But Mama Bear (unseen) has somehow gotten there first. With Bugs cornered, she starts giggling like a schoolgirl, wanting to hear him tell her more about her eyes. She then has her way with Bugs, kissing repeatedly off-screen. Bugs then emerges from the hole, his face now covered in red lipstick before running off into the horizon screaming. Mama Bear, who is now shown wearing a thick layer of red lipstick, emerges from the hole, sighing with contentment over her time with Bugs.

The story centers around Isaac Hendrix (portrayed by Turman), a young college student studying law and a taxi-cab driver in New Orleans. While out on a night of fun with his friends and wife Christella, during a hypnosis act, he becomes an unwilling host for the restless spirit of J.D Walker, a hustler killed during the 1940s. Over the course of the film, "Ike" finds himself gradually being taken over by the sociopathic Walker, even eventually going so far as to adopt his hair and fashion style, mannerisms, and psychotic tendencies (including an attempted rape on his wife after she mocked his J.D. haircut). With the spirit of J.D. in complete control, he turns his attention toward wreaking vengeance against the man responsible for killing his sister, Theotis Bliss. Ike commits havoc all over town before making his way to the church where Theotis' brother works as a preacher, where he finally reveals himself and instructs Elijah to tell Theotis to meet him "on the killin' floor". Ike's wife has, meanwhile, gone to her ex-husband, a cop who is out for Ike's blood, believing him to be a simple psycho hiding behind a false persona—until he mentions to the Chief that Ike claimed his name was J.D. Walker, a man who was not only real, but also had died over 30 years ago. J.D. was a hustler who ran numbers during World War II, as well as a black-market meat plant where he was murdered by Theotis Bliss after witnessing the murder of his own sister, Betty Jo, at his hands because of her derisive chiding of him and threatening to expose the secret she held about her baby daughter. After being discovered over Betty Jo's lifeless body with her blood on his hand, Elijah Bliss (Gossett Jr.), Betty Jo's husband and the believed father of her child (and younger, submissive brother of Theotis), accused J.D of being the killer and J.D was gunned down on the spot by Theotis to cover up the event. Following Theotis to the old factory, Elijah finally learns the truth before getting into a struggle with Theotis for his gun, during which the weapon discharges and kills Theotis while Ike watches, and laughs maniacally as the event plays out. His business complete, J.D. appears to leave Ike's body and due to Elijah's testimony, he is allowed to go free to rejoin his wife and friends waiting for him outside.

For the past year, a dog named Spot has been dressing as a boy named Scott Leadready II and going to school with his master Leonard Helperman. Leonard is looking forward to spending the summer with his dog, but Spot wants to become a real human boy ("I Wanna Be a Boy"). Mary Lou Helperman, the fourth-grade teacher and Leonard's mother, is nominated for a "Teacher of the Year" award, and given use of Principal Strickler's Wentawaygo to travel to the finals in Sunny Southern Florida, under the condition that no dogs are allowed in the RV. Leonard sadly bids farewell to Spot ("A Boy Needs a Dog") as he and his mother depart.

Spot, along with the Helpermans' other pets, Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly, are left with a pet-sitter where ''The Barry Anger Show'''s special guest is a "wacko" named Dr. Ivan Krank, who claims he can turn animals into human beings, who happens to be located in Sunny Southern Florida. Spot chases down the RV and meets up with Leonard at a gas station. Spot, as Scott, fools Mrs. Helperman into believing that his family has allowed him to travel with the Helpermans. Spot, Leonard, and Mrs. Helperman continue on their way to Florida, singing through all fifty states ("A Whole Bunch of World").

Meanwhile, back at home, Pretty Boy and Mr. Jolly learn that Krank can't actually turn animals into people, but rather into terrifying hybrid creatures. They decide that they must track down Spot and stop him from being turned into a monster, but Mr. Jolly is afraid to leave the house. Pretty Boy assures him that they can be tough despite their size ("Small But Mighty")

Upon arriving in Florida, Mrs. Helperman goes directly to the Teacher of the Year finals, and Spot reveals to Leonard the real reason he came to Florida. Leonard is skeptical, but accompanies Spot to Krank's lab, where Krank agrees to turn Spot human, and gives him a nickel as payment for being his test subject. Krank anticipates finally being respected in the scientific community ("I, Ivan Krank") and turns the machine on Spot.

Spot wakes up to find that he is indeed human, but due to dog time, he is a fully-grown man rather than a boy. Krank locks Leonard and "Scott" up, planning to exhibit the "dog-man" around the world, proving wrong those who said it could not be done. Ian, Krank's nephew and Leonard and Spot's classmate, is tricked into setting them free. Krank grounds Ian and sends his two previous creations, Dennis, a human-alligator hybrid, and Adele, a fly hybrid, off to find them. Leonard and Scott are hungry and Scott's clothes no longer fit him. Scott uses the Twilight Bark to locate a lost dog with a $100 reward, along with four puppies she had birthed. This prompts the dog's owner to give them $500. Now rolling in money, Leonard and Scott enjoy a day on the town. ("Take the Money and Run")

The two lose track of time, but manage to make it back to the Wentawaygo just in time for dinner, forgetting that Mrs. Helperman will not recognize Scott in his new body. Scott and Leonard quickly make up a story that Scott Leadready II had to go home, and the nearest adult, Scott Manly-Manning, helped him out. Mrs. Helperman invites Scott in for coffee and soon begins to fall for him. Scott considers marrying Leonard's mother so they can all stay together, but Leonard refuses to allow it. Scott tells Leonard he's not his dog anymore, and Leonard tells him to leave, taking back his collar. ("I'm Moving On").

Pretty Boy and Jolly finally make it to Florida, and help Leonard realize that he should support Scott's dream. He comes to the conclusion that the only way they can be together is for him to be turned into Scott's dog. ("A Boy Needs a Dog (Reprise)"). Scott arrives moments after Leonard leaves, and after getting over the shock of seeing Spot as a human, Pretty Boy and Jolly tell him that Leonard has gone to Krank's lab.

Krank plans to turn Leonard into a dog and use him as bait to get Scott back, and then he will have both the boy-dog and the dog-man. Scott arrives at the lab and destroys Krank's machine by inserting the nickel that Krank had given him earlier into a slot on the machine marked "Quarters Only". The machine starts firing at random, turning Krank into a mouse and seemingly killing Scott, turning him into a pile of blue dust. Leonard angrily beats the machine and it fires at the blue dust and turns Scott back into his original dog form. Leonard and Spot reunite, and Spot decides that he is "Proud to Be a Dog".

Arizona deputy sheriff Walt Coogan (Eastwood) is sent to New York City to extradite escaped killer James Ringerman. Detective Lieutenant McElroy informs him that Ringerman is recovering from an overdose of LSD, cannot be moved until the doctors release him, and that Coogan needs to get extradition papers from the New York State Supreme Court.

Coogan flirts with probation officer Julie Roth and takes her out for supper. He goes to the prison hospital and bluffs his way to Ringerman, tricks the attendants into turning him over, and sets out to catch a plane for Arizona. Before he can get to the airport, Ringerman's girlfriend Linny and a tavern owner named Pushie ambush Coogan and enable Ringerman to escape. Detective McElroy is furious with Coogan and warns him against playing policeman in New York.

Coogan learns Linny's name from a visit to Ringerman's mother. While he is at Roth's apartment for a home cooked supper Coogan learns that Roth is Linny's probation officer and he finds Linny's address in Roth's home files while Roth is in the kitchen cooking them supper. He tracks Linny to a nightclub, where she offers to lead him to Ringerman. Instead she takes Coogan to a pool hall where he is attacked by Pushie and a dozen men in a bloody battle. Coogan holds his own for a while but is eventually overpowered. After hearing sirens the men take off, but not before the beaten Coogan kills Pushie and two others. Detective McElroy finds the bar in pieces and a cowboy hat on the floor.

Coogan finds Linny and threatens to kill her if she does not lead him to Ringerman. She takes him to Ringerman who is hiding out at the Cloisters. He is armed with a gun stolen from Coogan. Ringerman gets away on his motorcycle and Coogan commandeers a motorcycle of his own. Coogan gives chase through Fort Tryon Park and eventually captures Ringerman.

He hands the fugitive over to McElroy, who once again tells him to go to the DA's office and to let "the system handle this." Some time later Coogan, with Ringerman in cuffs, prepares to leave for the airport via helicopter from the helipad atop the Pan Am building. At the last minute Julie Roth runs up to the helicopter to give Coogan a long good-bye kiss. Coogan's last view is Julie Roth waving goodbye from the helipad as the helicopter lifts off.

The first half of ''Futility'' introduces hero John Rowland, a disgraced former US Navy officer. Now an alcoholic denigrated to the lowest ranks of society, he has been dismissed from the Navy and works as a deckhand on the ''Titan''. One April night, the ship hits an iceberg and sinks, somewhat before the mid-point of the novel.

The second half of the story follows Rowland as he saves the young daughter of a former lover by jumping onto the iceberg with her. The pair find a lifeboat washed up on the iceberg and are eventually rescued by a passing ship. But the girl is recovered by her mother and Rowland is arrested for her kidnapping. A sympathetic magistrate discharges him and rebukes the mother for being unsympathetic to her daughter's savior. Rowland disappears from the world.

In a brief final chapter covering several years, Rowland works his way up from homeless and anonymous fisherman to a desk job and finally, two years after passing his civil service exam, to "a lucrative position under the Government".

A later edition includes a followup: Rowland receives a letter from the mother (who congratulates him and pleads for him to visit her) and from the girl.

The Hero (nameable by the player, though known as "Tir" in official material) is the son of a Great General of the Scarlet Moon Empire, Teo McDohl. Teo is called away to fight a battle in the northlands, leaving his son alone under the guardianship of several family friends: long-time friend Ted and servants Cleo, Pahn and Gremio. Together, they accompany the hero to begin his career in the Imperial Army. He soon comes to realise through his missions and association with his leaders that the corruption within the Empire's top tier has led to a country whose populace is enslaved and unhappy.

Through Ted, who is left hurt by a top servant of the king's, he comes into possession of the Rune of Life and Death (also known as the Soul Eater), one of 27 True Runes that govern various aspects of the world. Because the Rune is ruthlessly hunted for by corrupt officials within the Empire and their manipulators, the Hero and his companions are forced to flee the capital city of Gregminster with the help of Viktor, a suspicious character with unknown intentions. Unable to move properly, Ted stays behind to delay the enemy. Pahn, unsure of where his loyalty lies, decided to side with the Empire.

After escaping, Viktor reveals he is part of the ongoing rebellion determined to face the corrupt Empire. Taking a liking to The Hero, he enlists him into the organization with the approval of their leader, Odessa Silverberg and reluctance of other members, particularly warrior Flik. In his short time there, the hero is only convinced of the need to struggle against the Empire when the hideout is attacked and sacked by Imperial forces, who kill Odessa after she tries to protect an innocent child. Recruiting the help of Odessa's brother, former imperial strategist Mathiu Silverberg, the Hero becomes the new Liberation Army leader. After securing an abandoned castle as its headquarters (nameable by the player), the army starts off as a small force working to unite rebel factions throughout Scarlet Moon, and eventually becomes a force large and powerful enough to bring down the Empire itself and evil lurking from inside it.

Overworked air traffic controller Jack Chester is given five weeks' paid leave as an alternative to being fired after nearly causing a mid-air collision on the job and having an outburst over what turned out to be a fly covering a radar blip. He uses this time off to take his wife Sandy and children Jennifer, Bobby, and Laurie on a summer vacation from the Atlanta area to the Gulf Coast resort town of Citrus Cove, Florida, where they are beset by a barrage of problems. First they are bumped out of the front of the line of an upscale seafood restaurant in favor of arrogant local sailing champion Al Pellet, who becomes Jack's main nemesis through the film. The family then misreads the address, moves into the wrong house, and are forced to leave in the middle of the night, ending up in a decrepit shack on a public beach with a constant stream of beach-goers tromping through the property. Jack then suffers a leg injury that prevents him from spending time with his family.

Later, Jack again locks horns with Al, the new owner of the dubious piece of real estate where the Chesters are staying after the previous owner died. Jack gives Al the check for $1,000 to cover the rent for the next two weeks, but Al tears up the check and orders the Chesters to leave the house when their first two weeks expire or he'll throw them out personally.

To avoid an early eviction, Jack challenges Al to a race at the upcoming Citrus Cove Regatta: If Al wins, Jack will pay him the $1,000 rent and take his family home; if Jack wins, he keeps the money and earns the right to stay in the house for two more weeks rent-free. Al scoffs at the notion that Jack could defeat him in a race, but accepts the challenge. However, Jack hasn't sailed for many years and doesn't even have a boat. Richard Scully, a local saloon keeper with a pirate's mentality whom the Chesters met earlier, befriends Jack and volunteers to help him on both counts.

The bored Chesters come to life by helping Jack make his new vessel seaworthy. This motley crew is at first no match for Al or anybody else in the race, but tossing useless garbage overboard, a strong breeze, and a large pair of pants enable Jack to achieve a victory at sea.

Jack Gable is the lead writer and producer of the soap opera ''Beyond Our Dreams''. Consumed by work, he harbors an unspoken attraction to Laura Claybourne, the selfish actress playing the lead character, Rachel Hedison.

Jack crosses paths with Louise, who is there to audition for the part of Janet DuBois, a character Jack did not want introduced. Jack then has a contentious meeting with his co-producers, the Sherwoods. The Sherwoods reveal that they are displeased with several elements of Jack's outline for the upcoming season and wish to kill off Rachel, due to Laura's outrageous contract demands. Feigning compromise, the Sherwoods immediately hire Arnie Federman, a rival of Jack's, to make the changes they desire. At the same time, Jack has suggested a new character, Jack Gates, a ruthless tycoon. The Sherwoods make no promise of writing Gates into the show, despite Jack's interest.

Planning a trip to Vermont for the weekend, Jack is contacted by Laura. She has just broken up with her boyfriend Dennis, the actor who plays Dr. Paul Kirkwood on the show, and wishes to accompany Jack. As Jack loads their luggage into the trunk, Dennis suddenly calls out to Laura. Jack looks up to see them kissing just as the trunk lid hits him in the head. Upon awakening, he leaves for Vermont alone. Not far out of New York, he crashes his car.

Upon waking, Jack finds himself in Ashford Falls Community Hospital, one of the settings of his show. Thinking himself the victim of a prank by the actors, he goes to the window to confirm his suspicions, only to see a real town. Incredulous, he manages to convince Dr. Kirkwood of his good health and checks out of the hospital. He is immediately intercepted by Janet DuBois. She believes him to be Jack Gates, who is seeking to buy a miracle weight-loss formula developed by her late father. Jack rebuffs her, denies he is Gates and says that he is only a writer. As she leaves in frustration, she angrily tells him to "write his way out". On a whim, Jack gets out his typewriter and writes a scene of the local mechanic calling to say that his damaged car is fixed. Immediately after, the mechanic calls and confirms the repairs are finished. Jack realizes that he can control events by writing them.

Jack seizes his newfound power to pursue Rachel in the guise of Jack Gates, saving her from the death arranged for her by Federman. Despite his writing skills, she ignores him. His efforts are redeemed by the attentions of Janet. He assists her in her efforts to avoid the machinations of the Hedisons, including patriarch Carter and his sons, Blake and Ty. The Hedisons own a large pharmaceutical company, and wish to acquire her formula at any cost. The Federman version of Jack Gates appears, but Jack sends him on a business trip to Cleveland.

As Jack works to ingratiate himself to Rachel, he continues to run into Janet. The episodes culminate in a party at the Hedison mansion, where Jack accidentally breaks his typewriter. Helen Caldwell, a nurse at the hospital reveals that Rachel and Janet were switched at birth, with Janet being Carter's actual daughter. Rachel is confronted by a gun-wielding Blake, who has been experiencing side effects of an overdose of medication prescribed by Kirkwood, a scheme orchestrated by Rachel. Blake shoots Janet and she is rushed to the hospital, where Rachel convinces Kirkwood to kill her in surgery. Jack must race against time to repair his typewriter and write Janet back to health. As Jack begins to write, he is confronted by Gates, who is furious at having been sent to Cleveland and shoots Jack with a shotgun, hitting the typewriter.

Jack wakes up back in New York, on the set of his own show, tended to by Laura and Dennis. He immediately confronts Laura about her behavior, revealing to her that she will be fired from the show. He confronts the Sherwoods about their plans for the show, and ensures that they will do things his way. He finds Louise in a delicatessen, gets her the part of Janet, and begins a relationship with her.

A clan of ninjas in Japan finds an abandoned chest that has been washed onto shore with a white baby boy inside. One of their ancient legends spoke of a foreign white male who would come among them and become a master like no other would. Haru is raised amongst the ninja, with the expectation that he may become the legendary master. As Haru grows into adulthood, doubts are quickly cast over this, as he is clumsy and lacking his ninja skills, and so he fails to graduate as a ninja with the rest of his class. Left alone to protect the temple while the clan are on a mission, Haru disguises himself as a ninja when an American woman, Sally Jones, comes to the temple seeking assistance. She tells Haru that she is suspicious of her boyfriend, Martin Tanley, and asks him to investigate. Haru discovers that Tanley and his bodyguard, Nobu, are involved in a money counterfeiting business, but is unable to inform Sally before she leaves. Haru leaves Japan and later flies to Beverly Hills in search of Sally. Haru's adoptive brother, Gobei, is sent by the clan's sensei to secretly watch over and protect him during his mission.

Haru checks in at a Beverly Hills hotel, where he befriends its bellboy, Joey Washington, and teaches him some ninja lessons. Unaware that Gobei is helping him, Haru manages to find Sally. Haru tracks Tanley and Nobu to a night club in Little Tokyo, where they are attempting to retrieve a set of counterfeiting plates from their rival gang. The gangs fight, resulting in the deaths of two of the rival gang members, for which Haru finds himself as being the prime suspect. Haru returns to the hotel room the next day, where he receives his guidance from his sensei. Haru resumes his search for Sally, and locates Tanley's mansion. Haru finds Sally and discovers that her real name is actually Alison Page. Alison informs him that Tanley murdered her sister, and that she is dating Tanley while using a fake name in order to get evidence. Haru discovers that Tanley will be hiring an ink specialist, Chet Walters, to help counterfeit money. Haru disguises himself as Walters and later infiltrates Tanley's warehouse. Haru's identity is exposed after failing to properly counterfeit the money and Tanley captures him. While Tanley succeeds in obtaining the other half of the plates from the rival gang, Alison rescues Haru, only to be kidnapped by Tanley herself. Haru enlists Joey's help in finding Tanley's warehouse to rescue Alison. Gobei intervenes without Haru's knowledge and leads them back to the warehouse.

Haru tries to intervene, but is overwhelmed by guards. Gobei reveals himself to Haru, and manages to distract the guards, allowing Haru to rescue Alison. Haru uses a forklift to smash two holes of the room where Tanley locked up Alison with a bomb. Haru tries to defuse the bomb, but he accidentally resets it for five minutes. On hearing Gobei become overwhelmed by the guards, Haru goes to help him. Haru snaps and suddenly demonstrates amazing martial arts moves, stunning Gobei. Haru saves Gobei's life and successfully defeats several guards himself. Haru and Gobei are left facing off Nobu and two guards. Trying to enter the building, Joey crashes through a window and knocks himself and one of the guards unconscious. Haru and Gobei defeat Nobu and the remaining guard and later fights Tanley. In the fight that follows, Haru accidentally knocks Gobei unconscious by hitting him in the head with a sheave, but he manages to force Tanley to flee afterwards. Haru continues to rescue Alison, where he uses a large harpoon gun mounted on a cart and shoots it through the room and inadvertently lands in the back of a truck in which Tanley is trying to escape. The harpoon drags the bomb into Tanley's truck and explodes into flames. Haru successfully rescues Alison, while Tanley and his surviving hitmen are arrested by Los Angeles police.

Haru tells his sensei that he will be living in Beverly Hills with Alison. As Haru and Alison leave together for Beverly Hills, a grappling hook tied to a rope has fallen from the bus and accidentally hooks into Gobei's wheelchair, causing him to be thrown into the Pacific Ocean. Haru shouts an apology to Gobei at the end of the film.

Two teenagers find an abandoned military compound and skinny dip in a holding pool, but are attacked by an unseen force.

Sometime later, determined yet absent-minded skiptracer Maggie McKeown is dispatched to find the missing teenagers near Lost River Lake and hires surly backwoods drunkard, Paul Grogan, to guide her. They discover the compound and find bizarre jarred specimens and evidence of an occupant inside. Locating a drainage switch for the nearby pool, McKeown empties it to search the bottom, but a haggard man enters and tries to stop her until Grogan subdues him. The pair find a skeleton in the pool's filtration trap and learn it was filled with saltwater. The man awakens and steals their jeep, but crashes due to being disoriented and is taken to Grogan's home. The next day, as the three travel downriver, the stranger tells the pair the pool was filled with a school of piranha and McKeown released them into the river. She and Grogan are skeptical until they come across the corpse of Grogan's friend Jack.

The stranger reveals himself as Dr. Robert Hoak, lead scientist of a defunct Vietnam War project called Operation: Razorteeth, which involved genetically-engineering a ravenous and prodigious strain of piranha that could endure the North Vietnamese rivers' cold waters and inhibit Viet Cong movement. The project was canceled after the war ended, but the mutant specimens survived and Hoak tended to them to salvage his work. Grogan realizes that if the local dam is opened, the piranha will gain access to the Lost River resort and the nearby summer camp. On their way, the trio rescue a boy whose father was attacked by the piranha, but Hoak is killed by the mutants before he can reveal how to kill them and the survivors narrowly make it to shore. Grogan successfully stops the dam attendant from opening the spillway before calling the military.

A military team led by Colonel Waxman and former Razorteeth scientist Dr. Mengers spread poison upstream, ignoring protests that the piranha survived the first attempt. When Grogan discovers a tributary that bypasses the dam, Waxman and Mengers quarantine him and McKeown to prevent them from alerting the media. The pair escape, but Waxman alerts law enforcement to capture them while the piranha attack the summer camp, injuring and killing many children and a camp counselor.

Waxman and Mengers arrive at the water park to intercept Grogan and McKeown, but the piranha attack and kill several vacationers and Waxman. Intending to prevent the piranha from reaching the ocean and spreading around the world, Grogan and Maggie commandeer a speedboat and rush to a shuttered smelting plant in the hopes that they can use its industrial waste to kill the mutants. They arrive at the plant before the piranha, but the control office is submerged, forcing Grogan to go underwater with a safety line. Despite being attacked by the piranha, he opens the valves and McKeown pulls him to safety. The pair return to the water park, where Grogan enters a catatonic state. During a televised interview, Mengers spins an altered version of events and downplays the piranha's existence.

The novel starts in the summer of 1870, when after serious diplomatic tensions, France has declared war on Prussia (the nucleus of Germany which was then emerging as one nation out of a number of disparate cities, regions and principalities). The French hoped to achieve a quick victory by marching their armies east, straight to Berlin. Instead, the Prussian armies crossed the Rhine before the French, beat the French Rhine army into retreat and invaded France.

The novel is by far the longest of the Rougon-Macquart series. Its main character is Jean Macquart, a farmer who after having lost his wife and land (in the novel ''La Terre''), has joined the army for the campaign of 1870. The main theme is the brutality of war for the common soldier and for the civilian population, hit by the death of family and friends and by economic hardship. It is written in three parts.

In the first part, the French army corps in which Jean Macquart is a corporal moves to the southern part of the Rhine valley, only to retreat to Belfort. Reacting to the crushing defeat of another corps in Alsace and the Prussian advance through the Vosges, Macquart's corps is moved by train back to Paris and then to Reims without having seen battle. The growing demoralisation and fatigue of the French soldiers as they are ordered back and forth in pointless manoeuvres is poignantly described. A growing disorganisation of the army becomes apparent as it is unable to move food and equipment to where it is needed. The army corps of Jean is then moved to Reims from which it is supposed to march to the eastern French city of Metz, where another French army is besieged by the Prussians. In a reaction to pressure and movements by the Prussians, the march deviates from its original objective to the north and the French army ends up in the neighbourhood of the city of Sedan, in the Meuse river valley near the Belgian border. In the meantime, Jean has befriended Maurice, a soldier whose sister Henriette lives in Sedan.

The second part describes the battle of Sedan. During this battle, the Prussian army succeeds in encircling Sedan and moving its artillery to the hills surrounding the city, trapping the French in the valley in a desperate position. The French army fails to break the encirclement. The part describes the battle as seen by the protagonists, Jean, Maurice, Henriette and Weiss, her husband, a civilian, who dies defending his house against the Prussians as they invade his village. The battle ends with the French army being beaten back to Sedan and capitulating to the threat of the Prussian artillery to destroy Sedan and everyone in it. The Emperor and the French army at Sedan become prisoners of war.

In the third part, the French army is held prisoner for a week, after which it is marched to Germany. Jean and Maurice manage to escape. Jean is wounded during the escape and ends up in the neighbourhood of Sedan where he is hidden and nursed by Henriette, the healing taking till winter. After a while, Maurice moves on to Paris, encircled by the Prussians during the winter and early spring of 1871. In the spring of 1871, Jean has rejoined the French army at the service of a new government, which has negotiated an armistice with the Prussians. A popular uprising takes place in Paris, fuelled by the humiliation of the armistice. The French government succeeds in breaking the uprising, during which Jean mortally wounds Maurice, who fights on the side of the insurgents. The novel ends by bringing three of its main characters together: Jean, the dying Maurice and his sister Henriette who has travelled to Paris after having lost contact with her brother for more than two months.

The player controls Luke Skywalker throughout the entire original trilogy of the Star Wars saga, beginning from his time on Tatooine in A New Hope, all the way to his eventual destiny as a Jedi Master in Return of the Jedi.

In 1995, Chris Brander, an obese high school senior, is secretly in love with his classmate and best friend Jamie Palamino. Confessing his feelings by writing in her yearbook, he attends their graduation party. As he returns Jamie's yearbook, it is swapped by her ex-boyfriend, Tim, who reads the declaration aloud to everyone, humiliating Chris. After kissing him on the cheek, Jamie admits she does not reciprocate his affections. He leaves the party in tears, announcing he will never return and vowing to be more successful than everyone else.

Ten years later, a womanizing Chris has lost weight and lives in Los Angeles as a highly successful record producer and vice president of the company. Before Christmas, company CEO KC, asks him to accompany emerging, self-obsessed pop singer Samantha James to Paris so she signs with their label, and Chris reluctantly complies. She wants a relationship with him but he has no interest after their only date previously led to his hospitalization. On the way to Paris, Samantha accidentally sets her private jet on fire, causing an emergency landing in New Jersey, near Chris's hometown.

Chris takes Samantha to his mother's for the night and re-engages with his teenage past, including his unresolved feelings for Jamie. She meets his mother and 18-year-old brother Mike, a huge fan of Samantha who is infatuated with her. At the local bar, Chris encounters some old classmates, including his other best friend Clark and his wife Darla.

He also sees Jamie, working as a bartender to pay for graduate school for teaching. Chris asks Mike to keep Samantha busy during his date with Jamie, but realizing their platonic friendship is important to him hampers his plan for them to have sex. During a friendly ice skating "day date", Chris is taken away in an ambulance after injuring himself during a hockey game with Jamie and a trio of kids (who dislike him). At the scene, Jamie is reunited with Dusty Dinkleman, a paramedic and former high school classmate also in love with her.

The next night, Chris goes to Jamie's Christmas party to express his feelings for her, but Dusty is already there, charming everyone on guitar. Back at Chris's, Samantha ambushes Mike, demanding he reveal Chris's location. He refuses until she gives him a kiss. In a rage, she drives to Jamie's, crashing through her fence and destroying the Christmas decorations. Chris returns home in embarrassment, and Jamie follows. She tells him she is not mad and they end up spending the night catching up and reminiscing. However, due to Chris's continuing lack of assertion, they end up just sleeping and nothing happens.

The next day, Jamie speaks with Darla about the night before, while Chris goes to Clark for advice. Jamie admits that while they are "just friends", she tried to show Chris she is interested in more. Clark tells Chris that "the timing wasn't right" and their history hinders him. Outside the office, Chris and Clark catch Dusty singing to a nurse and then kissing her. Dusty reveals his plans to have sex with Jamie and humiliate her in a way he felt she humiliated him in high school when he was attracted to her.

Chris tries to warn Jamie, but instead attacks Dusty in front of her. She refuses to listen when he tries to explain. Consequently, he gets drunk and goes to Jamie's bar, finding her there with Dusty. When she gently declines Dusty's sexual advances, he storms out. Chris and Jamie get into another fight, where he blames her for keeping him in the "friend zone" and says she will never amount to anything. Jamie punches Chris and he is tossed out.

Upon returning to Los Angeles and rejecting Samantha's continued advances when she sees him again, Chris realizes that Jamie is his one and only true love. He returns to New Jersey, declares his love to her and they kiss, while the three kids (from the hockey game earlier) watch in disgust. One of the boys hands the girl a cookie, which she gives to the other. She calls the boy who gave her a cookie her friend, which he replies with "the bestest" before realizing he has been put in the friend zone.

After giving a guest lecture on criminal psychology at a local university, Dr. Helen Hudson, a respected field expert on serial killers, is cornered in the lecture hall's restroom by one of her previous subjects, Daryll Lee Cullum, who has escaped from prison. He kills a police officer and brutally attacks Helen. Another cop subdues Cullum and he is returned to prison. After the attack, Helen becomes severely agoraphobic, sealing herself inside an expensive hi-tech apartment, conducting her entire life from behind a computer screen, and assisted by her friend, Andy.

When a wave of murders spreads fear and panic across San Francisco, homicide detective M.J. Monahan and her partner, Reuben Goetz, solicit Helen's expertise. Initially reluctant, Helen soon finds herself drawn into the warped perpetrator's game of wits. As the murders continue, Helen realizes that the elusive assailant draws inspiration from notorious serial killers, including Albert DeSalvo, The Hillside Strangler, David Berkowitz, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, and Ted Bundy. When the murderer begins contacting and even stalking Helen, she and M.J. realize that he is after them; they then enlist aid from Cullum, who says he knows about the killer.

Helen soon realizes that the copycat killer has been following the list of serial killers in the same order that she presented them in her university lecture the night she was attacked. The two work to figure out where and when he will strike next. Reuben is held hostage and killed in an unrelated shooting incident at the police station, leaving M.J. – now questioning herself after her targeting the shooter’s brachial nerve area failed and he was still able to stand up and fatally shoot Reuben– to continue searching for the serial killer alone.

After Andy is killed in a manner reminiscent of Jeffrey Dahmer, M.J. deduces that the killer is a man named Peter Foley, who has been corresponding with Cullum. After a failed attempt to capture him at his house, M.J. reaches Helen's residence. M.J. discovers Peter has kidnapped Helen and left a video asking M.J. to guess where he has taken Helen. M.J. returns to where Cullum previously attempted to kill her – the lecture hall restroom. Upon arriving, M.J. finds Helen bound, hanged, and gagged in the same manner Cullum previously did. Foley ambushes M.J., rendering her unconscious. As Foley prepares to kill M.J., Helen desperately attempts to save her by sabotaging Foley's carefully replicated crime scene the only way she can: by attempting to hang herself. Foley panics and cuts Helen down, which allows her to escape to the building's roof. Her agoraphobia overtakes her, and Helen finds herself cornered. Accepting her fate, she turns to face Foley. However, just as he is about to kill her, M.J. shoots him in the Brachial nerve, giving him one last chance to surrender. When he pulls his gun back on her, however, she shoots until killing him with a headshot.

Some time later, Cullum writes to another serial killer, instructing him on how to kill Helen, and revealing that he had been aiding Foley all along. Cullum wishes, "happy huntin', partner" to his new proxy in the mission to kill Helen.

From the icy vastness of outer space, an alien virus arrives on earth contained in a tiny black disk. Those who pick up the disk are infected by the virus which spreads rapidly with flu like symptoms. The first human to pick up the disk and be infected is Beau Stark, an ambitious 21-year-old young man. The virus starts by giving him flu like symptoms but within a few hours he is not only free of the symptoms but also infused with new energy and power. His girlfriend Cassy notices major personality changes and an obsession with environment. The man who was all for banning big dogs in the city suddenly acquires one and proceeds to infest it. The virus apparently infects all life forms on earth. Meanwhile, the first invasion & infestation having succeeded the disk sends a signal, inviting millions more disks to come. Those who handle the disks receive a sting, soon followed by flu-like symptoms and ending in what could be called "zombie assimilation" into an alien collective consciousness with Beau being the leader.

Cassy however shares her fears of Beau's changing personality with their mutual friend and her ex-boyfriend Pitt, who is a medical student and concerned after witnessing a sudden upsurge in deaths of people, suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes. He takes Cassy to meet his senior Dr. Shiela who is also concerned about the preventable and unexplained deaths and surging number of flu cases. Cassy also tells them about personality changes reported in some people by one of her students, Jonathan. Jonathan introduces the group to his parents Nancy & Eugene, a virologist and a physicist. Jesse, a cop, also comes in contact with the group when he accompanies a colleague suffering sudden seizures to the hospital.

The group finally zeros on the disks as being the carriers of the infection and deduces that this may be alien virus and decides to take the matter to the CDC. Nancy, Eugene & Shiela travel to the CDC headquarters, but discover to their horror that the entire board is already infected. While attempting to escape, Eugene is engulfed by one of the disks that is also a powerful weapon which emits radiation and can create a black hole. The two women make it back to the others and the group flees to a remote cabin owned by Jesse. Meanwhile, The final wave of disks infest the entire earth slowly infecting people all over the world and killing those with any genetic disease.

The group contacts other hidden groups who are working on means to combat the virus. However, they soon have to make forays to the town for research supplies and food. On one such foray, Jesse is consumed by the disk just like Eugene, Nancy is infected and Cassy is carried off by the infected to Beau, who is unable to cope with the human emotions and is pining for her. Jonathan, Pitt, and Shiela abandon their hideout and go looking for a Dr. M who has made advances in isolating the virus.

Cassy is taken to Beau who informs her that this invasion had been planned for a very long time as the disks only activate the virus which was planted in human DNA 3 billion years ago when life was just evolving on earth. Every million years, the virus activator protein is sent to earth to judge the suitability of its inhabitants as hosts to the virus. This time the hosts have been most suitable and are in the process of building a transporter, which would link Earth to the other planets infested by the virus and allow travel between all those planets. He shows Cassy the transporter under construction and then proceeds to infect her, telling her that he loves her and wants her to be a part of the alien consciousness. The strain makes Cassy faint and when she wakes up, she is horrified by what she would become once the virus takes control. She flees from the place with hopes of contacting her friends and informing them what they are up against. Cassy contacts the group, who has hooked up with Doctor Harlan McCay, who has a Biological Warfare Research Lab at his disposal. When the invasion started, Dr. McCay headed to the lab, which was left over from the Cold War. The lab is stocked and was at least somewhat staffed (the staff apparently left when they got infected) and although it was a secret, the local Native Americans knew about it and had at some point in time informed him of it. The lab had everything they needed to work on a cure for the virus. Dr. McCay discloses that he also was stung by the disk, but has prevented an infection by injecting himself with a monoclonal antibody that at least temporarily prevents the virus from taking hold of the host. Cassy is brought to the facility and given an infusion of the monoclonal antibody. While experimenting they discover that infecting themselves with another virus will cause the virus to expose itself and oxygen will destroy it, since it came to Earth 3 billion years ago when there was little to no oxygen so its vulnerable to it in a viral state. After testing this with infected mice (it cures all except the one infected the longest, who dies; apparently if it's in the system too long, the cure kills), they take a cold virus that has never been encountered before (it was artificially engineered, and, thus, no one will have immunity) as it is mild enough to not kill the person infected but will do the job. Dr. McCay acts as the guinea pig and exposes himself to the virus in a containment unit. Beau, in the meanwhile, has discovered that Cassy has escaped and unable to overcome his human emotions, follows and discovers the facility but has to leave before he can find Cassy as the gateway is encountering problems. He leaves a few of his associates behind to deal with the humans.

The group escapes the facility and storms the mansion, smashing the gateway with a car. Beau is too far gone to be cured and tells them to run as the destruction of the gateway would cause dispersion. He dies and the mansion is destroyed but they are able to spread the cure and the invasion is halted.

Category:1997 American novels Category:Novels by Robin Cook Category:American thriller novels Category:American novels adapted into television shows Category:1997 science fiction novels Category:American science fiction novels

Small rocks fall from the sky which, when touched, trigger a latent virus that has always existed in humans and begins mutating them into an alien species. Taking advantage of its hive mentality, the aliens are absolutely dedicated to transforming every human on Earth and do so with alarming swiftness. Only a small group of remaining humans have the medical knowledge to devise antibodies to reverse the effects of the virus.

In an alternate world, where the existence of God has been scientifically proven and magic has been harnessed for the practical needs of the adept by the degaussing of cold iron, the United States is part of an alternative Second World War in which the enemy is not Germany but a resurgent Islamic Caliphate, which has invaded the United States. Werewolf Steven Matuchek and witch Virginia Graylock meet on a military mission to stop the invading Islamic army from unleashing a secret superweapon, a genie released from a bottle in which it had been sealed by King Solomon. Together, they fight against the demon and incidentally fall in love with each other.

After the end of the war (an Allied victory as in our World War II, but US forces remain in occupation of former enemy lands for much longer) the two of them continue and deepen their liaison and have various additional adventures (which were originally published as a series of independent stories). Among other things they stop an elemental summoned as a student prank which had gone amok, confront a succubus/incubus on their honeymoon, and enter the Hell dimension to save their daughter (who has been kidnapped and taken there, with a changeling left in her crib in her place).

While in Hell the protagonists are at a loss to understand the identity of a moustached man with a strange armband who speaks with a strong Germanic accent, and why the most powerful demons tremble at the sight of him, or why he uses the "ancient and honorable symbol of the fylfot". Their alternative history never had a Nazi Germany.

Another part of the book features a magical analogue to the counterculture of the 1960s, presented rather facetiously (reflecting Anderson's attitude to the real-life original). Given the supernatural metaphysics of this world, however, it takes the form of gnosticism, within a "Johannine Church" that is based on either an esoteric reading of the Gospel of John, or an alternative gnostic gospel version of that canonical New Testament book.

In his werewolf form, Matuchek does not suffer many of the liabilities of a werewolf of folklore or, indeed, the werewolf of Anderson's ''Three Hearts and Three Lions''. He remains himself while turning into a wolf, and is able to fully use his four-leg incarnation to fight various enemies; and in this magical world (unlike, for example, in the later created Harry Potter universe), there is no social stigma attached to lycanthropy. Dependence on the moon is lightly tossed aside with a comment that the necessary components of moonlight (specific frequencies of polarized light) have been isolated, and his Polaroid "Were-flash" lets him turn into a wolf or back to his human form at any time, its controls having been designed to be operable even with paws and no opposable thumbs. However, his invulnerability to silver is limited. Conservation of mass makes him a rather large wolf, although other weres in the book, taking far more drastic forms, have more serious problems. (A 600-pound weretiger has to be a 600-pound man in human form, again in order to not violate the Law of Conservation of Mass.)

The couple's daughter, Valeria Matuchek, appears as a minor character in Anderson's ''A Midsummer Tempest'' - where she is a self-assured young woman, exploring by herself the various timelines. In a mysterious "Inn Between the Worlds" she meets with Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the main character of ''Midsummer Tempest'', as well as meeting Holger Carlsen, the protagonist of ''Three Hearts and Three Lions'' and helping him in his own quest.

The play opens with a summary of the story of Oedipus and its aftermath told by Jocasta, who in this version has not committed suicide. She explains that after her husband blinded himself upon discovering that he was her son, his sons Eteocles and Polynices locked him away in hopes that the people might forget what had happened. He curses them, proclaiming that neither would rule without killing his brother. To avert this, they have agreed to split the country – Polynices allows Eteocles to rule for one year. When the year expired, Eteocles was to abdicate, allowing his brother to rule for a year. He refused to do so, forcing his brother into exile instead. While exiled, Polynices went to Argos, where he married the daughter of Adrastus, king of the Argives. He then persuaded Adrastus to send a force to help him reclaim the city. Jocasta has arranged for a cease-fire so that she can mediate between her two sons.

She converses with Polynices about what his life in exile was like, and then listens to both of their arguments. Polynices re-explains the situation, and that he is the rightful king. Eteocles replies, saying that he desires power above all else and will not surrender it unless forced to. Jocasta reprimands them both, telling Eteocles his ambition may destroy the city and criticizing Polynices for bringing an army to sack the city he loves. They argue, but are unable to reach any agreement.

Eteocles then meets with Creon to plan for the coming battle; since the Argives are sending one company against each gate, the Thebans select one company to defend each of the seven gates. Eteocles also asks Creon to ask Teiresias for advice, and gives the order that anyone who buries Polynices in Theban soil is to be executed.

Teiresias reveals that Creon must kill his son Menoeceus. He explains that when the city was founded, it was by men who had sprung from the ground where Cadmus sowed the teeth of a serpent he had killed, but the serpent was sacred to Ares, who would punish Thebes unless a sacrifice was made. As only Creon and his son were pure-blooded descendants of the men who sprouted from the ground, Menoeceus was the only choice. Creon is told he can only save the city by sacrificing his son, and instructs Menoeceus to flee to the oracle at Dodona; Menoeceus agrees but secretly goes to the serpent's lair to sacrifice himself and appease Ares.

Jocasta then receives a messenger, who tells her about the progress of the war and that her sons are both alive, but have agreed to fight one-on-one for the throne. She and her daughter Antigone go to try to stop them. Shortly after they depart, Creon hears about how the duel has gone. Eteocles mortally wounded Polynieces, who was able to deliver a fatal blow to his brother; the two died at the same instant. Jocasta, overcome with grief, kills herself immediately.

Antigone enters, lamenting the fate of her brothers; Oedipus emerges from the palace and she tells him what has happened. After he has a little while to mourn, Creon banishes him from the country and orders Eteocles but not Polynices to be buried in the city. Antigone fights him over the order and breaks off her engagement with his son Haemon. She decides to accompany her father into exile, and the play ends with them departing for Athens.

Each episode typically follows the format of a self-contained short story where a person has been suffering torment from an acquaintance to the point that he or she accesses the Hell Correspondence website and submits a request to get rid of the person. Ai Enma, the Hell Girl, appears, and presents a doll with a red string on its neck that can send the named antagonist to Hell. When the string is pulled, Ai and her companions then torment the antagonist, offering a last chance to repent (which is usually refused), and ferries them to Hell. The price of the contract is that the person making the request will also have to go to Hell after his or her life is over.

Starting with the eighth episode, Hajime Shibata, a former journalist who has resorted to taking scandal photos to blackmail people, begins investigating the rumors surrounding the Hell Correspondence website, and discovers that people are literally being dragged to Hell. His daughter, Tsugumi, is somehow able to see Enma. As the series progresses, they become conflicted on whether they should intervene to save the people involved. In the second season, a mysterious young girl from Hell, named Kikuri, is introduced. Kikuri is able to travel freely between Earth and the Twilight realm where Enma resides. Later, the plot centers around Takuma Kurebayashi, a boy who is blamed by his townsfolk for causing disappearances around the town that are, in reality, caused by the townsfolk using the "Hell Correspondence" website. In the third season, Kikuri returns to recruit Enma's assistants along with a yōkai named Yamawaro, who accepts an old offer from Enma to become her fourth assistant. The story follows Enma's mysterious possession of a young schoolgirl, Yuzuki Mikage. In the fourth season, the story introduces a new character named Michiru, whom Ai helps realise her fate as a successor to the Hell Girl title.

Hell Correspondence

The medium through which a client contacts Ai Enma has changed over the centuries, however nowadays a website is used. Initially clients would write the names of whom they hated on an ema, which later changed to sending a letter to the address appearing in a three-column newspaper advertisement only visible to those with enough hatred. Once the internet became available, people could access the "Hell Correspondence" website, otherwise known as the "Hotline to Hell". Soon after, the site was adapted into a mobile version that could be accessed from cell phones.

Each medium can only be used at midnight by one who harbors a desire for revenge against their object of hatred. Should someone submit the name of someone against whom they bear a grudge or immense hatred, and their request is accepted, Ai Enma will take them to a realm of perpetual twilight where she offers them a straw doll, which is one of her companions, with a red string wound around its neck and describe to the client the details of their contract. Should the client pull the string tied around the doll's neck, Ai Enma will ferry the target of the revenge straightaway to Hell. However, once the client's life has ended, he/she will also go to Hell, and a black crest-shaped mark appears on the client's chest to serve as a permanent reminder of their decision to send someone to Hell. However, this mark is no guarantee that the person themselves won't be sent to Hell by another client.

Portrayed differently from port to port, set in an unnamed fantasy world, a prologue tells of a grand legend related to the realm. Long ago, three fallen gods of darkness known as the Masters of Evil attempted to lay siege to the mortal plane. They were Morgal, the Lord of Beasts, commander of the feral and the most voracious of monsters and beasts; Necros, the Master of War, corruptor of men and the inciter of temptation and vice; Ulgar, the Overlord, the leader of the Masters of Evil and wielder of the most evil of magics. At the end of a great war that threatened all who lived, the Masters of Evil were sealed away in a floating tower far from the reach of anyone, with only three warriors, an elf, a human, and a dwarf, surviving to tell the tale.

In modern day, the main character and local bounty hunter Popful Mail, makes her rounds. Her day escalates to the point where she squares off with her bounty, the criminal golem maker and technomancer, Nuts Cracker, into a nearby forest. Though defeated, Nuts Cracker's body manages to escape, and Mail cannot claim any bounty. Frustrated, she indifferently takes Nuts Cracker's head and wanders back into town. At the bounty post she attempts to trade the head in for cash, but like with many who have sought to capture Nuts Cracker before her, duplicates of his head are all they could retrieve, making the attempt a failure. She becomes reinvigorated when she spots a 2,000,000 gold reward poster for the wizard turned criminal, Muttonhead, near the post. With sword in hand and hope in heart, Mail makes leads into the nearby forest for clues. Her quest to undertake the biggest catch of her career will turn out greater, more perilous, more dangerous - more rewarding - than she imagined.

In Oklahoma Territory in 1889, retired lawman Jed Cooper drives a small herd of cattle across a stream. A posse of nine men - Captain Wilson, Reno, Miller, Jenkins, Stone, Maddow, Tommy, Loomis, and Charlie Blackfoot - surround him and demand that he show them a receipt for the cattle. After learning the man from whom he bought them was a robber who had impersonated and killed the owner, Cooper explains that he knew nothing about the murder; but only Jenkins expresses doubts about his guilt. After Reno takes Cooper's horse and saddle and Miller takes his wallet, the men hang him from a tree and ride away.

Shortly afterward, Deputy U.S. Marshal Dave Bliss rescues the half-dead Cooper and takes him to Fort Grant, where the territorial judge, Adam Fenton, determines that Cooper is innocent, sets him free, and warns him not to take his own revenge. As an alternative, Fenton offers Cooper a job as a Deputy U.S. Marshal. Cooper accepts, and Fenton warns him not to kill the lynchers, but to bring them in for trial.

While picking up a prisoner, Cooper sees his own horse and saddle in front of a local saloon. He finds Reno inside and tries to arrest him, but Reno draws his gun, forcing Cooper to shoot him dead. Jenkins, learning of Reno's death at the hands of a marshal with a hanging scar, turns himself in and provides the names of the rest of the posse. Cooper finds Stone in the town of Red Creek, arrests him, and has the local sheriff, Ray Calhoun, put him in jail. (Stone is subsequently shot and killed by Calhoun while attempting to escape.) Most of the men Cooper seeks are respected citizens of Red Creek, but Calhoun honors Cooper's warrants for their arrest.

While en route to arrest the other men, Cooper and Calhoun come across the murder of two men and the rustling of their herd. Cooper forms a posse of his own to pursue the stolen herd, and discovers that the rustlers are Miller and two teenage brothers, Ben and Billy Joe. He prevents the rustlers from being lynched themselves, then takes them to Fort Grant single-handedly when the posse deserts him. He frees Ben and Billy Joe from their bonds after they insist that only Miller committed the murders. Miller attacks Cooper after slipping his own bonds, but Cooper subdues him while the brothers watch.

Fenton sentences all three rustlers to be hanged, despite Cooper's defense of the teenagers. Fenton insists that the public will resort to lynching if they see rustlers going unpunished, threatening Oklahoma's bid for statehood. Some time later, Calhoun arrives at Fort Grant and offers to pay Cooper for his lost cattle with money from Captain Wilson and the other vigilantes. Cooper makes it clear that while they are alive he still intends to arrest them. With the bribe rejected, Blackfoot and Maddow flee, while Tommy and Loomis remain loyal to Wilson and agree to help him kill Cooper.

During the public hanging of Miller, Ben, Billy Joe, and three other men, the men who lynched him ambush Cooper in a brothel, seriously wounding him. Cooper survives and is slowly nursed back to health by a widow, Rachel Warren. Rachel reveals she is hunting for the outlaws who killed her husband and raped her. She and Cooper begin an affair when he points out that she might never find her rapists. Cooper tries to resign, but Judge Fenton goads him into continuing by giving him the location of Wilson's ranch, where Wilson, Tommy, and Loomis are hiding.

Cooper survives an ambush by a guard dog, stabs Loomis to death, shoots Tommy, and nearly apprehends Wilson before Wilson, knowing Cooper is closing in, hangs himself. After returning to Fort Grant, Cooper hands in his marshal's star and demands that Fenton sign a pardon for Jenkins, who is both contrite and seriously ill. The two men debate the merits of territorial justice; Fenton insists that he is doing as well as he can, cursing the fact that his is the only court in the territory with little recourse for defendants —

Well, maybe that's inevitable when there's only one man, one court, with the power of final justice over a territory that's five times the size of most states! Mistakes? Oh, I've made 'em, Cooper. Don't you doubt about that. Don't you doubt, either, there are times sitting up there in that judgement seat I have wished, I have ''prayed'', that there was someone standing between me and God Almighty – someone with the power to say, "You're wrong, Fenton! You've made an error in law – that this man deserves another trial, this man here a reprieve, and this man is innocent!" But until this territory becomes a state, with a governor, and a state court of appeals, ''I am the law here'' – '''all''' the law. If you don't like that, you can cuss me till hell freezes over ... or you can join me, Cooper; even fight me. Help me turn this godforsaken territory into a state where no one man calls himself the law!

— and that if Cooper disagrees with him, then the best thing he can do is continue to serve as a marshal. Cooper takes back his star in exchange for Jenkins' release, which Fenton agrees to. Fenton then gives Cooper fresh warrants for Blackfoot and Maddow, telling him, "The law still wants 'em."

Set at the end of the 28th century, the human race has long since abandoned a desolate earth, colonizing Jupiter's moons, particularly Ganymede. Most of the refugees fleeing earth did so in exchange for an agreement of indentured servitude, projected to last "at most" one or two generations. However, this proved untrue, and by the 28th century a large portion of the population are in permanent debt bondage from birth. Naia (Tara Strong) is one such debt slave, genetically modified to have enhanced lung capacity in order to survive harsher work environments.

During a protest riot, Naia is freed with many other debt slaves from a holding cell on Ganymede. As she flees she encounters Parker (Claudia Black), a street saxophone performer being set upon by city police who incorrectly believe she is part of the riots. Naia saves Parker from a beating, with Parker later returning the favor. The two ultimately escape and quickly find themselves becoming attracted to each other, and soon after are in a romantic relationship and are living together.

Both musicians, Naia and Parker begin composing music together, Parker's saxophone complementing Naia's guitar and singing. The two join with friends Chat (Alan Tudyk) and Atem (Khary Payton) and form a band, quickly rising in popularity and notoriety owing to Naia's passionate, anti-debt slavery lyrics. This soon attracts the attention of Ganymede "starmaker" Dorlan Mig (Tim Curry), who invites Parker and Naia to a party at a high-class club where he can discuss signing the band to his company. At the party both Naia and Parker indulge in several exotic treats, culminating in a rare vintage alcohol which renders both of them unconscious.

Parker awakes in an alley in Ganymede's slums and soon discovers that Naia and the rest of the band have been signed without her. She tries to make contact with Naia several times, only to be dissuaded (often violently) by the rising star's bouncers, who inform her that Naia does not want to see her anymore. Heartbroken, Parker spends weeks lurking near Naia's studio. She soon finds herself needing to leave the area after district police label her a troublemaker. She finds a sympathetic ear in Captain Philo D Grenman (Ron Glass), a hoverchair-bound double amputee who buys her breakfast one morning. After hearing her story, Philo offers Parker a home on his non-operational spaceship; Parker accepts, and soon settles in with Philo and his first officer Reesa (Cree Summer), the only other person on the ship.

Weeks pass, Parker tracking Naia's progress via news feeds. After seeing reports of a number of troubling incidents - Atem dying in a mysterious shuttle crash, Chat leaving the band due to a previously unknown drug addiction, and another talent signed to Dorlan's company dying just as her popularity peaked - Parker realizes that Dorlan is going to have Naia killed in order to maximize the popularity of her music. She strikes a deal with Philo and Reesa: if she buys them the last part needed to make the ship operational, using money from selling her antique saxophone, Philo and Reesa will help her recover Naia before she can be killed. Parker makes her way to a massive Naia concert, but after listening to her unemotional performance she realizes that the Naia on stage is actually an android duplicate, meaning the real Naia is being held somewhere else. She, Philo, and Reesa update their plans.

Parker infiltrates the fake Naia's luxury apartment, with friends of hers providing a distraction. She confronts the fake Naia, incapacitates her, then grabs her. When security forces arrive Parker flees down the side of the building on Philo's loaned hoverchair, accidentally dropping the Naia android in the process. Though damaged, Parker recovers it and is soon picked up by Philo, who has stolen Dorlan's car. Philo flees from the police while Parker searches the android's databanks for Naia's location, eventually finding it. Successfully evading the police, Philo and Parker find the lab where Naia has been held, being used as a template to better enhance the Naia android's behavior. Naia is near death but alive; Parker rescues her, leaving the android in her place and setting the lab on fire.

Naia is placed in a medical treatment device on Philo's ship, Parker unsure if she will survive. The destroyed lab is investigated; finding remains which seem to match Naia, the authorities declare Naia dead. Dorlan is soon arrested for his presumed involvement in the lab and Naia's death, especially since his car was found just outside. After some time, Naia finally awakes on the ship, greeting Parker lovingly.

Mary Maloney is a pregnant housewife waiting for her husband, Patrick, to return home from his job as a police officer. When he returns, Mary notices he is uncharacteristically aloof. Although it is not explicitly stated, it is suggested that Patrick has asked for a divorce as he states she "will be looked after."

Seemingly in a trance, Mary fetches a large leg of lamb from the deep freezer in the cellar to cook for their dinner. Patrick, his back to Mary, angrily calls to her not to make him any dinner, as he is going out. While he is looking out of the window, Mary suddenly strikes Patrick in the back of the head with the frozen leg of lamb, killing him instantly.

Mary realizes Patrick is dead and begins, coldly and practically, to think about what to do. Thinking about her unborn child, she decides to cover up the murder. She prepares the leg of lamb and places it in the oven to destroy the evidence, then considers an alibi. After practicing a cheerful mask and some innocuous remarks to make in conversation, she visits the grocer and chats blandly with him about what to make for Patrick's dinner. Upon her return to the house and to the room where her husband lies dead on the floor, she acts surprised and starts crying, then calls the police.

When the policemen (who are all friends of her husband) arrive, they ask Mary questions and look at the scene. Considering Mary above suspicion, the police conclude Patrick was killed by an intruder with a large blunt object, likely made of metal. As the men search the house for the murder weapon, Mary offers them whiskey, distracting a few of them from the hunt through the house. After they make a fruitless search around the house and surrounding area, Mary is reminded the leg of lamb is just about done and offers it to the policemen. She points out they have already been working through and past the dinner hour and that the meat will otherwise go to waste; they hesitate but accept in the end. During the meal, as Mary sits nearby but does not join them, the policemen discuss the murder weapon's possible location. One officer, his mouth full of meat, says it is "probably right under our very noses." Mary, overhearing them, begins to giggle quietly.

Kitty Pryde's father Carmen has run into trouble with the Japanese Yakuza. In order to help him, Kitty follows him on a business trip but is captured by mob boss Shigematsu and the evil ninja Ogun, who brainwashes her into becoming a deadly ninja assassin. After she has perfected her skills, Ogun orders her to kill Wolverine, Ogun's former student, who has come to Japan to look for Kitty.

A masked Kitty almost kills Wolverine, before she is knocked out by Logan's friend Yukio and comes to her senses. Terrified at having been turned into a killing machine, Kitty wants to flee, but Logan challenges her to overcome her conditioning by focusing on her inner strength. When Kitty, Yukio and Logan vanquish their opponents, Kitty has the chance to kill Ogun. But she balks, stating she cannot do it. For Wolverine, it is the proof that she is truly herself again. When Ogun tries to kill her, Wolverine impales him on his claws. Carmen Pryde exposes Shigematsu's schemes, turning himself in, and they return to the United States.

The family visits Paradise Pier, the Ferris wheel of which Marge has been looking forward all her life to riding, only to find out that it is being dismantled with its equipment being too old. Homer purchases a dumbbell while Marge gets a tandem bicycle. When Marge wants to take the bike for a ride, she finds Homer and the kids unwilling to join her. Marge tries it on her own and repeatedly falls. Realizing that she might actually be lonely, Bart offers to go for a ride with her. They ride into an unincorporated part of the county and come upon a small village that features a tea house. Later, the tea house closes forever, causing Bart to invite Marge to his treehouse for tea.

Marge redecorates the treehouse and the pair goes off to get a new tea service; Bart gets a Krusty the Clown Tea Set. Outside the store, the bullies Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney accuse Bart of being a mama's boy, which causes Bart to rebel on her. Marge goes into a depression and eventually sells the bike to Chief Wiggum, Eddie and Lou.

Feeling bad, Bart offers to team with her in a karaoke contest. While seeing Principal Skinner and his mother Agnes perform, Marge has visions of a bad future for her and Bart, and she stops the show to prevent that future from occurring. She then lets Bart know that he can find his own way of life and that he should not worry about her because she has to worry about him. To make things better, she gives him a fire extinguisher to spray in front of the audience, including the bullies that tormented him.

Meanwhile, at Moe's tavern, Homer shows off the strength in one of his arms he has gained from working with the dumbbell, and Moe has an idea on how to capitalize on it. Moe takes Homer to the arm wrestling championships, where Homer readily wins the grand prize—a refund on his $50 admission fee—but finds that he really misses his wife. He drives home to reunite with Marge at karaoke, stopping to win a pie-eating contest along the way.

The film is a gentle comedy about two strangers with personal family issues who drive across wintery America after Michael Lindsay (Charles Grodin) offers a lift to Jane Alofsin (Lasser) and how they gradually get to know each other. Jane is a little neurotic and very indecisive while Charles is more focused.

The Colorado Army National Guard is called in to investigate a strange epidemic at ADX Florence. Its soldiers struggle to contain the disease before it overruns the United States, and search for a mysterious woman who may be vital to the solution.

The novel begins with a mysterious woman in California being bitten on the street by a random man who walks up to her. She runs into the nearest establishment, an oxygen bar and proceeds to get high while waiting for the police to show up. The police arrive and take her to the hospital where a zombie outbreak is occurring. Although restrained, she manages to convince a nurse to let her go, who is then consumed by zombies.

While this is occurring, we are also introduced to two additional characters, Captain Bannerman Clark and Dick Walters. Captain Bannerman Clark is in the Colorado Army National Guard and is the Rapid Assessment and Initial Detection Officer in Charge, making him the always ready first man on the scene of any major disaster, trained to get the best intelligence on the situation and report to others who will take over. He is called away from enjoying a steak dinner alone to investigate an outbreak of what is believed to be a biological weapon at a prison in Colorado which spread from the prisoners to the guards, causing them to become perceived cannibals. The warden of the prison had travelled to California and had succumbed to the biological agent there, biting and infecting a young woman. Clark then goes to California to assess the damage.

Dick Walters is travelling in the rural areas of Colorado to check on an outbreak of an infectious agent in sheep. When he arrives at the farm, the woman he is there to visit greets him with a gun and surmises quickly he is not, "One of them." She takes him to an abandoned mine shaft where several zombies are trapped, zombies which ate her husband and young son. The pair spend the night on the roof of her cabin, waiting for the walkers to come.

Clark and the woman meet for the first time when she walks out of the hospital he arrives at, besieged by zombies. She is thought to be one of them and is to be executed in front of him when she disappears, removing her own aura. The girl then decides, after seeing a vision of a man, to head east towards Colorado. She is picked up by two delinquents along the way and runs amok with them for a bit, seeing a disturbing scene in a small town where the village kills a zombie. They eventually bunker down for the night in a small, abandoned inn. The woman, calling herself Nilla after Nilla Wafers, is approached for sex by the man of the group, but he runs when he sees she is covered in mold. She runs into the forest nearby and kills a bear when attacked, turning the bear into one of the undead. The next morning the trio depart.

Clark is determined to find Nilla after seeing her disappear, but his superiors force him to go to Washington to meet with and work for a civilian. The civilian likes Clark and intends on using him to figure all this out. Clark returns to Colorado to work on the cause of the disease and later transfers to Las Vegas for a short time as the West Coast is eventually overrun by zombies.

Dick and his companion eventually come off the roof and go exploring in the night. The woman is attacked atop a hill and he runs, tripping on a rock and falling down the hill. He has a concussion and is attacked, first by the woman's dead sheep, slaughtered to control the disease and then the woman herself. When he is reanimated without arms, he is drawn towards the source, an area nearby which exudes life force. He is eventually recruited by a voice coming from the source to go on a mission. The voice guides him along the way.

Nilla and her two friends leave the inn and go on, eventually stopping by a truck with two men in the back. The man goes and checks on the two and is bitten when it is revealed it is a zombie feasting on a corpse. The zombie is Dick and he is then tasked with following Nilla after she is abandoned by the woman and her dying boyfriend. Nilla continues on, psychically drawn to a house where she is met by a handicapped man who tells her she is the only one who can stop the source.

Like the cyborg Joseph, Labienus was recruited by the Enforcer Budu when his village was wiped out by the "Great Goat Cult" about 15,000 years ago. Unlike Joseph, Labienus was destined for high office in the Company, but was first allowed to develop as an arrogant young individual, delighting in terrifying mortals, who are content to live in small villages. Like many cyborgs, he despises mortals.

Eventually Labienus is told to begin organizing mortals and start civilizing them - the first direct evidence in the Company stories that civilization itself is a result of Company activities. Labienus creates a city, which may be Nippur, presenting himself as the god En-lil. After installing a mortal ruler, he moves to Egypt, to run Company operations there. As part of this, he contacts an operative called Imhotep, who is actually Joseph, to begin the secret cabal which will develop, through the centuries, into Dr. Zeus Inc.

Another figure in the Company is Victor. He is also one of Budu's recruits, having been born as an Anglo-Saxon. His mentor in the Company is Aegeus.

Victor's first mission is to supervise the revival of Lewis, who was almost destroyed in an encounter with Homo Umbratilis, strange, dwarf-like people in 5th century Ireland. Aegeus is anxious to make sure that Lewis remembers nothing, as he is trying to use the strange new race, who are mechanical and scientific geniuses, to further his own ambitions. These are the same people who pursue Lewis in ''The Graveyard Game''. Victor is somewhat disgusted by what he has to do, and Labienus is able to use this later to manipulate Victor for his own purposes.

Roland Bishop (Tupac Shakur), Quincy "Q" Powell (Omar Epps), Raheem Porter (Khalil Kain), and Eric "Steel" Thurman (Jermaine 'Huggy' Hopkins) are four teenage African-American friends growing up together in Harlem. They regularly skip school, instead spending their days hanging out at Steel's apartment, at a neighborhood arcade, and also a record store where they steal LPs for Q's DJ interests. They are also harassed daily by the police and a Puerto Rican gang led by Radames (Vincent Laresca).

Fed up with the harassment he and his friends have endured, Bishop decides that the group must go on to do bigger things in order to win respect. However, Q is unsure if he wants to become involved in a life of crime. One night, under Bishop's persistence, the friends decide to rob a local convenience store owned by Fernando Quiles.

However, Q is unsure of the plan, and also fears that it will affect his chances of participating in a DJ competition which he has yearned to compete in for years, although he is eventually pressured by his friends. During the robbery, Bishop fatally shoots Quiles in the head, and the group flees the scene.

The four then gather in an abandoned building where they argue over the evening's events; Q, Raheem and Steel are angry at Bishop for killing Quiles, and Raheem demands that Bishop give the gun to him. However, Bishop resists, and a struggle ensues before Bishop shoots Raheem dead. Panicking, Bishop, Q and Steel flee to another building, where Bishop threatens to kill Q and Steel if they reveal to anybody that he murdered Raheem.

Q and Steel realize that Bishop is beginning to become addicted to the thrill of killing, and they agree to give Bishop as wide a berth as possible. However, while attending Raheem's funeral, they find Bishop there, who goes as far as to comfort Raheem's mother (Lauren Jones) and promise to find his killer. While Q and Steel are mostly able to avoid Bishop, he eventually finds and confronts them, questioning their loyalty.

Later, Bishop confronts and kills Radames, then plans to frame Q for his murders in order to cover his tracks. Fearful of Bishop, Q resorts to buying a gun for his own protection. Meanwhile, Bishop confronts Steel in an alley, accusing him of disloyalty, and shoots him. However, Steel survives the attack and is rushed to the hospital, where he informs Q's girlfriend Yolanda (Cindy Herron) about Bishop and his plan to frame Q. Frustrated with the troubles brought upon him, Q throws his gun into the river and decides to confront Bishop unarmed. Q and Bishop meet, where a fight and a chase ensue.

Q is subsequently chased into a building where a party is being held, where Bishop begins firing into a group of partygoers in an attempt to hit Q, but Q escapes unharmed. Q manages to disarm Bishop while he is distracted, and he pursues Bishop to a roof of a high-rise building. As the two get into a physical altercation, Bishop eventually falls off the ledge, but is caught by Q. Bishop begs Q not to let go, but Q eventually loses his grip, and Bishop falls to his death.

As Q is leaving the rooftop, a crowd from the party gathers to see what happened. One of the people in the crowd turns to Q and says, "Yo, you got the juice now, man." Q turns to look at him, shakes his head in disgust, and walks away.

A group of grifters rip off their latest mark and celebrate, while de facto leader of the group Jake Vig (Edward Burns) explains the art of the con. When one of the four, Big Al (Louis Lombardi) is found shot to death, the other three learn that the latest money they stole actually belonged to a local L.A. crime lord called The King (Dustin Hoffman). Jake proposes that the grifters work for the King and steal money from Morgan Price (Robert Forster), a rival who owns a bank.

Jake enlists the aid of his remaining partners, Gordo (Paul Giamatti) and Miles (Brian Van Holt), and also convinces an independent con artist named Lily (Rachel Weisz) to round out their foursome. The King, a ruthless killer who has ADHD, demands that one of his men, Lupus (Franky G), also come along.

The con involves bribing a bank vice president into wiring money offshore. The plan hits a snag when Special Agent Gunther Butan (Andy García) shows up in L.A., looking to finally bust Jake, whom he has followed for years. Butan forces corrupt LAPD detectives Omar Manzano (Luis Guzmán) and Lloyd Whitworth (Donal Logue) to switch their allegiance from Jake to him.

After hearing about Butan's arrival, a nervous Jake pulls the plug on the whole con. He screams at Lily, making her walk out. Lupus gets Jake to reconsider nixing the con, hinting that The King will torture and kill the grifters if the plan falls short. The con is back on, though now without Lily's help.

The bribed bank VP wires the money to Gordo in Belize. Gordo brings it to Ontario Airport, where he is met by both Butan and The King's men, both sides after the $5 million in a duffel bag. Butan arrests The King and confiscates the money.

Gordo disappears. Lupus, thinking the King has the money, reveals he was the one who killed Jake's grifter friend. Lupus holds Jake at gunpoint, but is shot by Travis (Morris Chestnut), a henchman for Morgan Price. It turns out that when Lily walked out, she went straight to Price himself and revealed the entire con, which was taking place that minute. Price told Travis to locate Jake and find out exactly how the con was engineered, to stop such a thing from ever happening again.

Travis takes Jake to an abandoned lot and forces him to explain the entire story. A furious Lily takes out a gun and shoots Jake. Travis demands that he and Lily both disappear immediately. Minutes later, Butan arrives in a car and Jake sits up from a pool of blood, unharmed.

The final parts of the con are revealed. Lily's "quitting" was faked—a set-up to confuse Lupus. Butan is actually an old confidant of Jake's. He managed to "confiscate" the money and arrest The King at the same time. Butan has the money and it's split five ways. Jake was wearing squibs to fake his own death in the lot.

In the end, everyone was in on everything except for The King and Lupus (the first marks), Price and Travis (the second, bigger marks), and the two corrupt LAPD detectives, who have been arrested. The four grifters reunite and celebrate by driving off into the night.

A young woman awakens from a nightmare in a run down hotel. She leaves the lodging and wanders into the night. She encounters a dwarf hawking newspapers with the bold headline "Mysterious stabbing". She smiles enigmatically and quickly walks on. In a dark alley, a wino approaches and grabs her. A policeman rescues her and beats up the drunk as she leaves. Along her way, a pimp, with a pencil-thin mustache, and sharply dressed, approaches her, buys her a flower from a flower girl's basket, and cajoles her into escorting a porcine rich man in a chauffeured limousine. As they cruise through the night, she thinks back to her tragic youth and her abusive father. She had stabbed him to death with a switchblade after he shot and killed her unfaithful mother.

The rich man takes her to bars and nightclubs and finally to his elegant high-rise apartment. He first ignores her as he feasts on an extensive meal. She tempts him, and when he advances on her, she stabs him with her switchblade, pushing the dying man out of an upper story window. As he topples, he grabs the pendant around her neck, and it snaps off in his hand as he plummets. The crazed woman races out of the building onto the street and confronts the man's corpse. The dead man's hand still grasps her pendant in an iron grip, forcing her to saw it off with her knife. She flees while holding it, as she imagines faceless bystanders watching her impassively. Again, a patrol car appears. The same cop, with a strange frozen smile, tracks her with a spotlight as she runs; he appears to have her father's face. She ducks around a corner, hiding the severed hand in the flower girl's basket.

As she runs down an alley, the pimp suddenly grabs her from inside a doorway and drags her into a club; an enthusiastic audience watches a jazz band playing. The smiling policeman enters, as the corpse of the rich man lies at the window pointing to his murderer with his bloody stump. The crowd moves forward, encircling her, laughing maniacally. She passes out, reawakening alone in her dingy hotel room. She goes to the mirror on the dresser and searches for clues. In the top drawer, she discovers her broken pendant, clutched in the fingers of a severed hand closed over it.

One dark night, Bugs Bunny pokes up out of his rabbit hole, dressed in a nightshirt and holding a candle, and tells the audience, "Did you ever have the feeling you were being watched?" In fact, he is being watched by an evil scientist (a caricature of Peter Lorre) who is planning to catch a rabbit to provide dinner for his large, hairy, orange sneaker-wearing monster (Gossamer).

The scientist lures Bugs to his castle via a shapely robotic female rabbit, with a large wind-up key in the back, and accompanied by "Oh, You Beautiful Doll". Once Bugs gets to the castle and begins kissing the mechanical rabbit on the hand, the robot malfunctions and breaks into pieces. Bugs faces the audience and says, "That's the trouble with some dames... kiss 'em and they fly apart!"

Bugs heads for the door, but the scientist persuades him to stay and meet another "little friend". When it becomes clear that this "friend" is a ferocious beast, Bugs vigorously shakes the scientist's hand "Goodbye!" and launches into a schtick where he packs luggage for a vacation trip, accompanied by a very brassy rendition of "California, Here I Come". Just before bolting for the door, he tells the scientist, "And don't think this hasn't been a little slice of heaven...'cause it ''hasn't!''" He then bolts for the door. The scientist releases Gossamer who chases Bugs.

Bugs hides behind a door that Gossamer is trying to break through, and he cries out, "Is there a doctor in the house?" A silhouette, seemingly from the theater audience, stands up and offers, "I'm a doctor." Bugs suddenly relaxes, starts munching a carrot, and asks, "What's up, Doc?", just before Gossamer breaks through and the chase resumes.

Bugs Bunny and Gossamer pass by a mirror; Gossamer looks at the mirror, then his reflection runs away screaming; Gossamer looks at the audience and shrugs. Bugs acts as a lamp; he dances and taunts Gossamer by calling "Hey, Frankenstein!". Bugs and Gossamer keep running until a door on the floor opens and a rock falls into the empty space. While Bugs is tip-toe-ing backwards and praying, he bumps into Gossamer. He comes up with an idea and gives him a manicure. He puts the monster's fingers into the water to have his fingernails cut, but it contains two mousetraps. The monster yelps in pain, and then sobs.

Bugs twice thinks he has escaped. The first time, the monster is hiding behind a picture frame and Bugs apparently was not aware until he poked Gossamer in the eye. The second time, Gossamer is following Bugs behind a wall until Bugs marks where he previously was and smashes the mark with a giant mallet when Gossamer appears behind it. The wall crumbles and a barely-conscious Gossamer quickly follows. The third time, Gossamer is in a knight's armor, holding an axe above his head. He gets hit by Bugs Bunny in his locomotive-style knight-riding horse, causing him to hit the wall to turn into a can called "Canned Monster". However, as Bugs saunters off toward the exit, singing to himself, Gossamer gets the bunny in his clutches. Bugs repeats his opening line, "Did you ever have the feeling you were being watched?", and Gossamer's expression changes from anger to anxiety. Bugs points to the audience. Gossamer shrieks, "People!" and runs away screaming, breaking through a series of walls, leaving his cartoon outline in all of them.

Having "re-re-disposed of the monster", Bugs is about to "exit stage right", when the female robo-rabbit re-appears, intact, and again accompanied by "Oh, You Beautiful Doll". Bugs snickers, "Mechanical!" Then the robot smooches him on the cheek, leaving a lipstick mark on the smitten bunny, who says, "Well, so it's mechanical!" He assumes a robot-like gait (with his tail magically rotating like the robot's wind-up key) and follows her off the screen.

Charlie has a crowd around him as he uses a stick in his mouth to turn pages over on a flip board. Each page dramatically builds on the theme that there is something these people should have in their home. When the last page reveals that the to-be-desired item is Charlie, the people who have been watching walk away in disgust. Charlie then stows away in a pet shop truck which makes a delivery to Porky's hotel room. Porky ordered a canary, but when he removes the cage covering it is Charlie, crammed into the cage. Porky proceeds to dial the pet store to complain ("I ordered a canary, not a monster!") He discovers he is actually talking to Charlie, who has pulled the telephone wire from the wall and is speaking through it.

Porky throws the dog out several times but each time, Charlie returns to demonstrate how wonderful he would be to have around. He even pretends to be a baby left in a basket outside the door. Porky leads Charlie on for a minute, then kicks the entire basket down the hall. Disguised as an old lady, Charlie hits Porky with an umbrella while berating him for being a brute to an innocent baby. Porky ends up being chased out of the room; he knocks angrily until Charlie opens the door. At this point, Porky demands the dog get out once and for all. Charlie conducts a fake suicide by jumping from the window onto an unlikely stack of mattresses piled up from the street. Frustrated, Porky slams the window and closes the curtains.

Porky initially believes the next knock on his door is Charlie, but it is his lunch, and he prepares to dig in. When he lifts the warming lid, Charlie is trussed up on the plate. Porky is holding a knife and the dog puts on an over-the-top performance begging Porky not to use it on him. He promises to do several chores if he is allowed to stay. Porky appears to give in. Pretending to be pinning a paper pattern for the coat onto Charlie, Porky succeeds in wrapping the dog up for mailing, and sticks a label on him reading, "To Siberia". In spite of being stuffed into a mailbox, Charlie returns wearing traditional clothing and, while doing the Cossack dance, kicks Porky in the rear end until he ejects him into the hall. The upstairs neighbor phones threatening to come down to stop the noise. Charlie responds by counter-threatening the man. He tricks Porky into going upstairs, and the man beats him up.

The man then drops off the injured Porky, who finally submits to making Charlie his pet. However, Charlie decides otherwise, saying that he thinks Porky's place is too noisy. As Charlie starts to leave, Porky approaches him, laughing maniacally and with an evil look in his eyes showing that he has finally snapped. The screen fades to black, then the cartoon returns with a scene similar to an earlier one, but with the roles of dog and master reversed. Charlie tries to sneak away, but Porky's growls force him back into the chair.

While traveling to Miami Beach for an overdue vacation from Warner Brothers, Bugs Bunny yet again misses the left turn at Albuquerque and ends up at the South Pole. As Bugs studies a map, a young penguin fleeing an Eskimo hunter knocks him down, then disappears into the distance. The pursuing Eskimo does the same, but immediately returns to 'ask' Bugs which way the penguin went. Bugs sends the hunter in the opposite direction. He then finds that the penguin has grown attached to him. Wanting to get back to his vacation, Bugs fools the penguin into thinking they will spend part of it together, then distracts him and pushes him down a snowbank, only to see him slide into the hunter's bag. Bugs starts to resume his journey, suggesting to himself that he is not responsible for what happens, but is quickly overcome by his better nature ("''Oh, always somethin'! I'll never get to Miami!''") and, through a clever ruse involving him disguising himself as a female Eskimo and followed by a chase and a close-call, he rescues the penguin. Bugs grumbles that he only has four days of vacation left. He learns from the penguin that, at the South Pole, the days are six months long. Figuring this means he can stretch his four-day vacation until July 1953, Bugs dons top hat and tails and accompanies the penguin on "a nice long formal vacation."

Kang Ho (Eric Mun) is just an average guy who got a college degree in physical education from a second-rate, provincial university. Disheveled, unskilled, and unemployed, Kang Ho has wasted most of his life kickboxing and reading comic books, much to the frustration of his family and friends who think he's just a freeloader. He sends his resumes to many companies, but nobody gives him a shot because he has no experience and no apparent prospects. One day, Kang Ho decides to apply to the same prestigious company that his handsome, successful classmate Bong-sam (Oh Ji-ho) works at. He completely bungles the interview process, but thanks to a computer error, he gets hired as the number one recruit. Struggling in a job he's totally unqualified for, Kang Ho gets by with his enthusiasm and street smarts. His co-workers include Bong-sam, an overachiever trapped by his own ambitions; Mi-ok, a mousy, bespectacled contract worker (or "temp") who was dumped by Bong-sam; and Hyun-ah, the privileged daughter of a company executive.

Synopsis

The game takes place in the distant future and the player assumes the role of bounty hunter Bolt Logan. On the first assignment in the game he is betrayed by his partner and gets ambushed. He survives and while trying to escape the complex he meets a woman named Carrie. He does not know her motivations but as they are both trying to escape the guards they decide to work together. After successfully leaving the planet she becomes his new partner who will support him via radio on all future assignments. As the game progresses the two discover a great conspiracy involving the discovery of the most valuable resource known to mankind: "chrome". They make contact with several factions and on the final mission it is up to the player to decide which faction Logan will stick with.

Story

''Chrome'' takes place in the final years of the 22nd century, and opens with partners Bolt Logan (Jon St. John) and Ron "Pointer" Hertz, former special forces members turned freelancers, engaging on a routine mission to the planet Zorg to retrieve corporate blueprints that have been stolen by an unknown party. During the mission, Logan is betrayed and left to die by Pointer, who states his resentment of "being held back" by Logan and desire to prove his own superiority. Pointer also frames Logan for the theft of the blueprints, in case he survives. Logan meets up with another freelancer named Carrie, a computer hacker, and the two of them team up to escape the planet.

One year later, Logan and Carrie have become business partners, traveling to the remote Valkyria system to engage in freelance bounty missions. Their initial missions are on behalf of the mining corporation SPACON, battling a group of pirates that have been hijacking SPACON transport ships and have also kidnapped a nanotechlogy scientist, Dr. Shybkov. The pirates turn out to be led by Jurgen Dexon, another form special forces associate of Logan who he describes as a sadist. Logan succeeds in rescuing Dr. Shybkov, and shoots down a shuttle carrying Dexon as he attempts to escape, seemingly killing him.

Later, Logan and Carrie are contracted by SPACON to help colonists on the planet Terbon fight off attacks by a gang of thugs called the Hannibals. Logan rescues the daughter of the colony's leader, John Brown, and succeeds in killing the Hannibal leader. However, he learns that a single operative (revealed to be Pointer) has single-handedly massacred the entire SPACON corporation, effectively dissolving the company. SPACON's assets are absorbed by the larger Coretech corporation, with which they had been partners. Coretech's representative, Nicole Parker, contacts Logan and reveals that Dexon and the Hannibals were in the employ of the Zetrox corporation, who want to drive off the colonists from Terbon to seize the resources on their land. Logan embarks on Coretech's behalf to a Zetrox space station to retrieve evidence of Zetrox's illegal actions. Logan succeeds in retrieving the evidence, and escapes after a shootout with Ming Tse, Zetrox's representative. However, Nicole Parker is captured by Zetrox soldiers while on her way to delivering the evidence against Zetrox to the government. Logan succeeds in rescuing her, in the process killing Jurgen Dexon, who had survived the shuttle crash and been rebuilt by Zetrox with bionic implants and cybernetic limbs in order to lead the kidnapping operation.

Coretech contacts Logan and informs him that Zetrox has developed a nanovirus using Dr. Shybkov's research, which Coretech claims Zetrox plans to use to exterminate the Terbon colonists. They hire Logan to destroy the Zetrox warehouses containing the nanovirus, while implying that Pointer is the Zetrox commander overseeing the warehouses and the mission will give Logan a chance at revenge against him. However, the mission turns out to be a double-cross; Pointer is revealed to be working for Coretech, who were the ones behind the destruction of SPACON. Logan was sent to the Zetrox facility as a distraction so Pointer and his Coretech forces could steal the nanovirus and use it on the colonists. Pointer reveals that the Terbon colonists have discovered Chrome, the most valuable resource in the universe, which is why the corporations are fighting over the planet. Logan is again left to die by Pointer, but is rescued by Nicole Parker, who defects from Coretech after learning of their duplicity. Logan and Parker travel to a Coretech facility to try and stop them from using the nanovirus; however, Parker is killed by Pointer, who escapes to Terbon with the nanovirus. Logan pursues him and succeeds in killing him just before he can deploy the nanovirus against the colonists.

With Pointer dead, Logan's revenge is complete and he and Carrie are ready to wash their hands of the entire affair, when they are contacted by Zetrox, Coretech, and the Terbon colonists. Zetrox's representative Ming Tse reveals that they have used their wealth and influence to quash the evidence against them Logan gathered, and now they want to hire him to help them forcibly relocate the colonists in order to claim their Chrome-rich land; Ming Tse promises that the colonists will not be harmed, stating that Zetrox plays hard but does so transparently. Coretech, in contrast, wants to hire Logan to exterminate the Terbon colonists, threatening to release incriminating information they have on Logan to the authorities if he decides not to work for them. Finally, John Brown and the colonists want Logan to help them defend their homes from the corporations, a seemingly hopeless fight. At this point, the player can choose to side with Zetrox, Coretech, or the colonists, leading to 3 separate final missions and endings.

If the player sides with Zetrox, Logan will help them defend the colony from a Coretech assault. Zetrox will forcibly relocate the colonists, leaving them without homes. Logan states that the colonists should be grateful to still be alive, and that he has no regrets. Carrie, disillusioned by the whole affair, decides to end her partnership with Logan.

If the player sides with Coretech, Carrie will quit on the spot, disgusted by Logan's willingness to commit mass murder for money. Logan will kill all the armed male colonists defending the colony, finally assassinating the colonist leader John Brown. Coretech's lawyers find a way to remove Zetrox from the Valkyria system, and Coretech will congratulate Logan on his work and offer him Pointer's former position with them.

If Logan sides with the colonists, the government will storm Coretech's offices, removing them from the equation. Logan then helps the colonists fight off a Zetrox assault. With her forces defeated, Ming Tse will threaten to wipe out the colony with the nanovirus unless they surrender to Zetrox's authority. Logan succeeds in disabling the nanovirus bombs, killing Ming Tse in a final showdown when she tries to stop him. The grateful colonists offer to share the wealth from their newfound Chrome with Logan and Carrie, who discuss taking a well-earned vacation.

Jim Branch (Clark Gable), a newspaper editor, falls for wealthy socialite Sharon Norwood (Constance Bennett), after having fired her as a reporter, all while trying to solve a murder mystery.

While riding the bus to school, Milhouse shows Bart his new fortune-telling toy, a Magic 8 ball. Bart asks the ball whether he and Milhouse will still be friends by the end of the day; the ball predicts they will not. A new girl from Phoenix, Samantha Stanky, arrives at Springfield Elementary School the same day, and Milhouse instantly falls in love with her. To Bart's dismay, Milhouse and Samantha start a relationship. Rather than playing with Bart alone after school, Milhouse brings Samantha to the treehouse and spends the entire time hugging and kissing her. They ignore Bart, leaving him in tears.

Milhouse and Samantha spend all their free time together. Feeling jealous and excluded, Bart reveals their relationship to Samantha's father. As punishment, Mr. Stanky sends Samantha to Saint Sebastian's School for Wicked Girls, a convent school run by French-Canadian nuns. After seeing Milhouse heartbroken, Bart begins to feel guilty for his actions. Bart and Milhouse pummel each other after Bart reveals that he snitched to Samantha's father. After calming down, the boys visit Samantha at the convent school, where Bart apologizes to her. Samantha says she loves Saint Sebastian's but still has feelings for Milhouse. She gives him a goodbye kiss despite knowing it is against the rules.

In the subplot, Lisa worries that Homer's obesity will lead to his early death. On Lisa's suggestion, Marge orders a subliminal weight loss tape for Homer. The company is out of weight loss tapes and sends him a vocabulary-enhancer tape instead, unbeknownst to Marge and the family. Homer falls asleep while listening to the tape. When he wakes up, he speaks a flowery, erudite English, but ends up eating more food than ever. Once he realizes the tape makes him gain rather than lose weight, Homer discards it and his vocabulary quickly returns to normal.

Robert Cole (Albert Brooks) is a Hollywood film editor right in the middle of cutting a new science fiction film featuring George Kennedy. His relationship with very patient bank executive Mary Harvard (Kathryn Harrold) is caught between undying devotion and endless agony. It's all because selfish Robert is a bit of a self-involved neurotic who can't quite decide if their relationship is meant to be, mainly because he's not sure if she's the one or there's someone else.

Robert breaks off their relationship only to find that modern romance isn't as easy as it seems, and the people you love might be the ones you constantly hurt the most. He and Mary end up driving to a cabin in Idyllwild, California, where intense jealousy causes Robert to alternately accuse and annoy Mary and propose marriage to her.

An expatriate American doctor in London allows herself to lighten up when her freewheeling younger sister and a mysterious man enter her life. Her inhibitions released, the beautiful doctor learns that freedom has its own price.

The series takes place behind the scenes of a live sketch comedy show (also called ''Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'' or ''Studio 60'') on the fictional television network NBS (National Broadcasting System), whose format is similar to that of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live''. National Broadcasting System is owned by the TMG Corporation. The show-within-a-show is run by executive producers Matt Albie (Matthew Perry) and Danny Tripp (Bradley Whitford). Matt serves as the head writer and Danny produces the show.

The play is set in the upper class German-Jewish community living in Atlanta, Georgia in December 1939. Hitler has recently conquered Poland, ''Gone with the Wind'' is about to premiere, and Adolph Freitag (owner of the Dixie Bedding Company), his sister Boo, and sister-in-law Reba, along with nieces Lala and Sunny – a Jewish family so highly assimilated they have a Christmas tree in the front parlor – are looking forward to Ballyhoo, a lavish cotillion ball sponsored by their restrictive country club. Adolph's employee Joe Farkas is an attractive eligible bachelor and an Eastern European Jew, familiar with prejudice but unable to fathom its existence within his own religious community. His presence prompts college student Sunny to examine intra-ethnic bias, her Jewish identity (or lack thereof), and the beliefs with which she has been raised.

Hoops McCann, a recent high school graduate, fails to get a basketball scholarship, disappointing his parents. He hopes to be admitted to the Rhode Island School of Design, and must write and illustrate a love story for his application. He joins his friends, siblings George and Squid Calamari, to spend the summer on the island of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

En route, they pick up a young rock singer named Cassandra Eldridge, who is pursued by a motorcycle gang at the time. Once on the island, Hoops and George, along with twin brothers Egg and Clay Stork and outcast Ack-Ack Raymond, must help Cassandra save her grandfather's house from the greedy Beckersted Family (led by the callous Aguilla). Along the way, Hoops must find a way to write his cartoon love story.

Hoops runs afoul of Teddy Beckersted and his neglected girlfriend, Cookie. She secretly offers Hoops a date, and he is persuaded to go out with her even though he had promised to appear at Cassandra's first musical performance (which turns out to be sparsely attended). Hoops and Cookie go to a drive-in that night, where Teddy's friend Ty sees them and notifies Teddy.

Meanwhile, Egg gets stuck in a Godzilla costume and causes havoc at Beckersted's promotional party for the Beckersted Estates (which would be located at the spot of Cassandra's grandfather's house). Hoops, George, Egg and Ack-Ack run into Teddy and his friends. As he threatens them, Cassandra appears and offers an impromptu basketball challenge between him and Hoops; Teddy dominates and Hoops fails. After spraying Teddy and his friends with mace, Cassandra is upset that Hoops did not appear for her performance and lied that he was a good basketball player.

In an effort to make it up to her, Hoops and his friends promote her next performance, which turns out to be a big success, and Cassandra forgives him. However, Aguilla immediately forecloses on the house before it can be saved. Ack-Ack proposes they take part in the local regatta, despite Hoops' fear of the water. Nevertheless, they find and renovate an old boat to use. The regatta starts with the teams using paddles, then sails. Teddy's team recklessly injures a member of one team and Ack-Ack jumps into the water to save him. Aguilla, having stowed away on Teddy's boat, sabotages Hoops' sail with his crossbow. To repair the mast, Hoops successfully shoots the new guy line into the mast and they continue onward. Before Aguilla could shoot the mast again, he is thrown overboard by Squid operating a mechanical dolphin from a nearby movie set, as retaliation for when he kicked her beloved dog earlier. When the teams use the motors, Hoops and his team win after using Teddy's car engine as their motor.

Hoops and his friends celebrate their victory—they are awarded the prize, Squid's dog turns out okay (after giving birth to puppies), George hooks up with Cookie, and Ack-Ack wins his stern father's approval for his heroics. Despite winning, Hoops offers the trophy to Teddy if he spares Cassandra's house, but Teddy immediately backs out on his promise. However, Old Man Beckersted (father of Aguilla and grandfather of Teddy) gives back the trophy and spares Cassandra's house, stating he wasn't going to "put a dime" in the Beckersted Estates; he then drags Teddy away by his ear.

With the prize returned and the house spared, Hoops and Cassandra kiss, and she inspires a love story for his application. In the final scene, George's uncle Frank finally wins a $1 million prize from a radio contest (having been driven insane every summer for trying to win), but his phone gets disconnected and his prize is given away to someone else; he snaps and promptly uses a rocket launcher to blow up the radio station, and shortly thereafter the Stork twins arrive and head to the still-burning station to roast marshmallows.

When Charlie Brown's baseball team loses the first Little League game of the season, he becomes convinced that he will not win anything. On the way to school one day, Lucy jokingly suggests that Charlie Brown enter the school spelling bee. However, Linus considers it a good idea and encourages him despite the jeers of Lucy, Violet, and Patty.

Charlie Brown nervously enters the spelling bee and defeats the other children in his class. As Charlie Brown studies for the school championship, he and Linus sing a spelling mnemonic ("I Before E") as Snoopy accompanies them on a Jew's harp. In class the next day, Charlie Brown freezes when challenged with ''perceive'', but he recovers when Snoopy plays the song's accompaniment outside the school. Crowned champion, the other kids cheerfully follow him home and sing ("Champion Charlie Brown"). Lucy proclaims herself his agent, and when his friends suggest that he continue studying, he is confused. They tell him that he must now take part in the National Spelling Bee in New York City, and he is again filled with self-doubt. As Charlie Brown leaves, Linus reluctantly offers him his blanket for good luck, and the other kids cheer for him.

Back at home, Linus suffers terrible withdrawal after being separated from his blanket. Unable to withstand it, he pleads with Snoopy to go to New York City and help him recover it. The two meet with an exhausted Charlie Brown at his hotel room, but does not know where he left Linus' blanket. After searching outside of the hotel, The two return to Charlie Brown, only to find him absentmindedly using the blanket as a shoe-shine cloth. Linus joins Snoopy in the audience as Charlie Brown competes; the other children watch the contest at home on television. One-by-one, the other contestants are eliminated until only Charlie Brown and one other boy remain. However, after correctly spelling several words, Charlie Brown is eliminated when he accidentally misspells ''beagle'', the type of dog Snoopy happens to be, as B–E–A–G–E–L, much to his and everyone else's frustration, and Lucy (who is equally ashamed that Charlie Brown is eliminated).

Depressed, Charlie Brown returns home, along with Linus and Snoopy. the next day, Linus visits Charlie Brown. Who has been in his bed all day and refuses to see or talk to anybody. Linus tells Charlie Brown that the other kids missed him at school and that his baseball team finally got their first win of the season, but Charlie Brown says he will never return to school or do anything again. As Linus leaves, he now points out that the world did not end despite Charlie Brown's failure. Charlie Brown thinks for a moment, gets dressed, and goes outside. He sees the other children playing, and when he spots Lucy as she plays with a football which is the same one he failed to kick earlier, he sneaks up behind her to kick it. She pulls it away and welcomes him home.

The film begins in the early 18th century with Rob Roy leading his McGregor clansmen against King George I's forces commanded by the Scottish Duke of Argyll.

While determined to establish order in the Highlands, Argyll is sympathetic to "the bonny blue bonnets" whom he is fighting, even refusing to unleash German mercenaries against them. A final charge by royal dragoons scatters the clansmen but honour appears satisfied and Rob Roy returns to his village to wed his beloved Helen.

The wedding celebrations are interrupted by fencibles – the private army of the Duke of Montrose who has been appointed as the King's Secretary of State for Scotland and who lacks Argyll's regard for the highlanders. All clans involved in the Jacobite rising of 1715 are pardoned except for the McGregors.

Rob Roy is arrested and the Clan McGregor is deprived of the right to use its name. Rob Roy escapes, leaping a waterfall and subsequently leads McGregor opposition to the increasingly repressive regime imposed by Montrose through his agent Killearn. During a skirmish with the fencibles McGregor's mother is killed. A fort is stormed by the clan and its garrison of royal soldiers taken prisoner.

The Duke of Argyll goes to King George to plead the case for leniency for the Clan McGregor, who have been forced into rebellion. Montrose urges repression.

At this crucial point Rob Roy appears at the royal court, heralded by a piper. Rob Roy's self-evident qualities quickly convince the king to pardon him and his clan. After an exchange of compliments: "Rob Roy – you are a great rogue"; "and you sire are a great king", the McGregor returns to his people and his wife.

Yelena (Mariya Strelkova), a well-off would-be singer who can't carry a tune, mistakes shepherd Kostya Potekhin (Leonid Utyosov) for a famous Paraguayian conductor of a symphony orchestra Costa Fraschini and invites him to an elegant party held in her house. He plays his pan flute, which attracts the herd of animals from his kolkhoz to the dining tables. Yelena's servant Anyuta (Lyubov Orlova) falls for Kostya. But Kostya is attracted to Yelena, and when she turns him down following the discovery of his real identity, he is very upset. He leaves for the city to try himself as a professional musician and finds himself in many comical situations. Eventually he joins a jazz band consisting of young "jolly fellows". Kostya becomes a head of the band and it turns to be quite a challenge – not only is he supposed to manage the creative work and performances but he must also control his quick-tempered bandmates, whose fiery arguments sometimes turn rehearsals into a brawl that results in the band being turned out of the house by their landlord. Because of this the band is urged to rehearse before a forthcoming performance right in the street and even play at funerals for more practice. On a rainy evening Kostya and his band mates accidentally meet Anyuta on their way to a concert hall and take her with them. She is revealed to be an excellent singer, so she joins the band and they start to perform together successfully.

Set in the fictional city of Gray City, a girl named Aimi Komori leads an ordinary, unassuming life as a waitress in a cafe until a small oni named De-Mo attacks her in an alley. Oddly, it brushes eyeshadow on her, transforming her into the daring, flirtatious cat burglar "Shadow Lady". To remain on Earth undetected, De-Mo takes a human form and they pass him off as her little brother. Shadow Lady's crimes befuddle the Gray City police, and a detective named Bright Honda takes it upon himself to discover Shadow Lady's true identity. Bright is also an inventor, and uses his inventions to try to apprehend Shadow Lady, but like the regular police's efforts, he too fails continuously. A Demon Police comes to take De-Mo back to the Demon World and execute him, for the crime of giving the magic eyeshadow to a human. In an effort to spare De-Mo's life, Aimi agrees to use her powers as Shadow Lady to retrieve three Demon Stones hidden in the Human World..

Bates Motel ignores the existence of ''Psycho II'' and ''III'' (and would in turn be ignored by ''Psycho IV''), with Norman Bates never being released from the mental institution to allow the events of those films. Alex West (Bud Cort) is a mentally disturbed youth who was admitted to the asylum nearly twenty years ago for killing his abusive stepfather. He became close friends with Norman Bates (Kurt Paul) at the asylum. Years later, Norman dies and Alex learns that he has inherited the Bates Motel. He travels to Norman's California hometown (renamed Fairville for this film; in the original film it was Fairvale) and with a little help from teenage runaway Willie (Lori Petty) and local handyman Henry Watson (Moses Gunn), Alex struggles to re-open the motel for business. Alex gets a loan to renovate the motel, but the project is plagued with rumors about the place being haunted by the ghost of Norman's mother, Mrs. Bates, and the discovery of her remains, as well as those of her late husband, buried on the grounds of the motel. When recovering the remains of Mrs. Bates, the sheriff said that the body "was never found," which seems to conflict with the original Psycho, where Mrs. Bates' corpse is present in the basement where Norman is finally captured by Sam Loomis.

While renovating the motel, Alex sees Mrs. Bates in her bedroom window, and sees the corpse of her late husband from the same window, supporting the idea that the property is haunted. After Alex tells her that he owes his first loan payment of $10,000 the day after the motel opens, Willie becomes suspicious and eventually they find that the haunting was a prank and the ghost was the bank manager, Tom Fuller (Gregg Henry). Fuller had approved a loan with predatory terms with Alex and was trying to sabotage the motel by trying to scare him away. Tom is then forced to help Alex and the others by negotiating friendlier payment terms for the loan or face prison for fraud. The motel is soon finished with the renovation.

Meanwhile, not all ghost stories turn out to be hoaxes as Barbara Peters (Kerrie Keane) books a room in Alex's motel for the night, planning suicide because she was getting older, and had been through three divorces without children. Barbara meets a teenage girl (Khrystyne Haje), who invites Barbara to dance at an after prom party in the motel with her and her teenage friends, including Tony Scotti (Jason Bateman), though Barbara felt uncomfortable hanging with young kids. It is then revealed that Barbara's real name is Sally, and that the teenage girl who took her own life 25 years ago is a ghost along with Tony, and other teens who also committed suicide. She tells Barbara that she has a life worth living for, then leaves with the rest of the group. Barbara leaves the motel the next day, planning to live her life to the fullest.

Alex looks at the screen telling viewers, "If you ever need a room, come by. I can't say for sure what you'll find, but that is what makes the world go around."

In 1969, Henry Brubaker arrives at Wakefield State Prison in Arkansas disguised as an inmate. He immediately witnesses rampant abuse and corruption, including open and endemic sexual assault, torture, worm-ridden diseased food, fraud, and rampant graft. During a dramatic standoff involving Walter, a deranged prisoner who was being held in solitary confinement, Brubaker reveals himself to be the new prison warden, to the amazement of both prisoners and officials alike.

Brubaker attempts to reform the prison, with an eye towards prisoner rehabilitation and human rights, clashing frequently with corrupt officials on the state prison board who have profited from graft for decades. He recruits several longtime prisoners, including trustys Larry Lee Bullen, Richard "Dickie" Coombes, and former warden's clerk Purcell (who secretly remains loyal to the unscrupulous trustys) to assist him with the reform. Lillian Gray, a public relations specialist for the governor's office, also attempts to influence Brubaker to reform the prison in a way that will cast the governor in a positive light.

To improve the prison, Brubaker fires his crooked bookkeeper, who built up a stash of illicit food ostensibly for inmates but actually sold to generate profit, tosses the former prison doctor out of the facility when he learns inmates were being charged for medical treatment, and burns down an illicit pleasure shack on prison grounds where influential trusty Huey Rauch and his girlfriend Carol lived. After a faulty roof cave-in in the prison barracks, Brubaker meets with C.P. Woodward, a lumber salesman and longtime participant in the prison graft scheme. Accusing Woodward of using prisoners as slave labor and purposely pocketing contract money while intentionally building a shoddy, uninsured roof, Brubaker terminates Woodward's contract. He also oversees the formation of an inmate council, allowing the inmates to govern themselves. During the first meeting of the inmate council, Abraham Cook, an elderly black inmate still imprisoned three years after the end of his sentence, pulls Brubaker aside and confesses that he was instructed to construct coffins for murdered prisoners. Eddie Caldwell, a sadistic trustee, takes notice, and he, Purcell, and Rauch lure Abraham to the medical ward, where he is tortured with a Tucker Telephone. Brubaker attends the prison board meeting, where he discovers that many of the members are enraged at the disruption of their graft schemes via his reforms and are uninterested at investing any money to improve the prison. Brubaker accuses prison board head John Deach of defrauding the prison through insurance policies on nonexistent farm equipment (while leaving the prison buildings uninsured) before storming out of the meeting.

The morning after the prison board meeting, Brubaker awakes and discovers Abraham's body suspended from the warden's residence flagpole. While excavating the area Abraham disclosed to him, Brubaker discovers multiple unmarked graves which contain bodies of prisoners who died violently. Word reaches the governor's office, and Gray, alongside Edwards, a liberal member of the prison board, and corrupt State Senator Hite, attempt to convince Brubaker to stop excavating graves with the promise of funding for the prison, trying to convince him he has instead discovered an old pauper's graveyard. Brubaker refuses, and continues the excavations. Rauch rudely laments Abraham's confession, and Coombes, knowing Rauch's involvement in Abraham's death, threatens Rauch, who then escapes the prison and hides out at a local restaurant. Brubaker and several trustys pursue him, and in the resulting gunfight, Bullen and Rauch are killed. Due to the spillage of violence outside the prison walls, the board fires Brubaker and holds a hearing about the exhumed bodies where the board continues to lie about their origin. Brubaker walks in and makes a comment about saving taxpayer money by shooting prisoners rather than sending them to Wakefield, which enrages Deach. Brubaker leaves and Gray follows him, imploring him to compromise, but he refuses to compromise over murder.

Brubaker exits the prison as the new warden, hardline disciplinarian Rory Poke, addresses the prisoners. Coombes approaches Brubaker and tells him simply, "You were right." Coombes begins clapping, and the convicts ignore Poke and approach the fence, clapping a farewell to a teary Brubaker.

A pre-credits title card reads:

Set in downtown Chicago during one long evening and night, the film follows several characters as they attend a ten-year high school reunion organized by the smarmy Robert S. Levitt (David Schwimmer) who used to be the high school's class president. Among the many guests attending are Kevin MacEldowney (Philip Rayburn Smith), his wife Molly (Joy Gregory) and their friend Zane Levy (Joey Slotnick). Kevin is medical doctor who does not look forward to the reunion ever since he was humiliated on graduation day after being beaten up in a brawl by his rival Pat Prince (Tom Hodges) who is also attending the reunion. Zane is a composer who is trying to make a comeback after a song that he wrote was plagiarized by a national record label, something over which he remains bitter.

Among the guests are Duncan Shepard (David Caitlin) and Clay Mellon (Thom Cox), two mismatched best friends who are having their own life problems. Duncan recently lost his business and tries to sugar-coat his life while he inadvertently helps out others with their own business problems. Clay is a manic depressive at a crossroads with his life while trying to connect with others to find his own life path.

Electra Pollack (Laura Eason) and Holly Petuto (Heidi Stillman) are also best friends attending where the accident-prone Electra tries to find a man to hook up with in order to be her potential new husband, and Holly is book author and self-help therapist who constantly talks about surviving a recent plane crash where she emerged unscathed. Electra and Holly are friends with Maria Goldstein (Teri Hatcher) who has become a wealthy business entrepreneur but who finds her own success to be lonely as well.

Grace Williams (Laura Flynn Boyle) is a demented practical joker who causes various mischief and mayhem at the reunion to anyone who slightly angers or annoys her, and who later hooks up with Clay after they bond over their similar life situations as both of whom hold a personal grudge against Robert Levitt.

The film also features cameo appearances by various actors and actresses whom include Molly Ringwald as a book fan of Holly's; Liev Schreiber as Fred Neff, a solo dancing attendee; Jennifer Grey as Polly Reed, a prescription medication addict; Carlos Jacott as the reunion's bartender; Helen Martin as a rude old lady that Clay and Grace encounter; and Marisa Tomei as Tori, another reunion guest.

Antigone, the daughter of Oedipus King of Thebes, Greece, learns that her two brothers Polyneices and Eteocles have killed each other fighting on different sides of a war. Creon, Antigone's uncle and newly appointed King of Thebes, buries Eteocles, who fought on the Theban side of the war, hailing him as a great hero. He refuses to bury Polyneices, proclaiming that any who attempt to defy his wishes will be made an example of, on the grounds that he was a 'traitor' fighting on the opposing side in the war. The play opens with Antigone and her sister Ismene discussing what action to take in response to Creon's new law against the burial of their brother. Antigone is reactive, arguing that Creon is breaching Divine Law by denying burial to Polyneices. Despite Ismene's pleading, Antigone heads off alone to enact the burial rites both for her own glory and for the preservation of her brother's soul.

Antigone is caught defying her uncle's orders, and is punished severely despite being engaged to Creon's son Haemon. She is sealed within a tomb and left to die. After a visit from the oracle Tiresias warning of the consequences, Creon eventually repents, but by then she has killed herself and is followed in death by Creon's own son and wife, both of whom commit suicide. Creon's isolation is complete and he ends the play a broken and lonely man.

Central to the play are the conflicts between individual freedom and the imposition of restrictions by state, as well as the conflict between Divine Law and Civil Law.

The play contains many digressions from the Greek original, Heaney adding Irish idiom and expanding the involvement of some characters such as the Guard. Relevant to the time of its writing, Heaney also adds in "Bushisms", referencing George W. Bush and his approach to leadership, drawing a parallel between him and the character of Creon.

Toomai (Sabu), a young boy growing up in India, longs to become a hunter. In the meantime, he helps his mahout (elephant driver) father with Kala Nag, a large elephant that has been in their family for four generations.

Petersen (Walter Hudd) hires the father and Kala Nag, among others, for a large annual government roundup of wild elephants to be tamed and put to work. Amused by Toomai and learning that he has no one but his father to look after him, Petersen allows the boy to come too.

Strangely, no elephants have been seen in the region in a while, so Petersen has staked his reputation on a guess that they will be found further north. However, six weeks of hunting prove fruitless. He is ready to give up, but his right-hand man, Machua Appa (Allan Jeayes), persuades him to keep hunting for another month. When the other hired natives learn of Toomai's ambition, they mock him, telling him that he will become a hunter only when he sees the elephants dance (a myth).

One night, Toomai's father spots a tiger prowling near the camp and wakes Petersen. When the two go out to shoot the beast, Toomai's father is killed. Kala Nag's grief becomes so intense, he rampages through the camp, only stopping when Toomai calms him down.

Petersen decides to assign cruel Rham Lahl (Bruce Gordon) to Kala Nag, as Toomai is too young for the job. When Rham Lahl beats the elephant, however, Kala Nag injures his tormenter. The mahout insists that Kala Nag be destroyed, as is the law. Petersen manages to get him to change his mind and accept 100 rupees instead by threatening to have him removed from the safety of the camp.

Unaware of this reprieve, Toomai takes Kala Nag and runs away into the jungle. There, they stumble upon the missing wild elephants, and Toomai sees them dancing. He leads Petersen to them. The other natives are awed, and hail him as "Toomai of the Elephants". Machua Appa offers to train the boy to become a hunter, a plan Petersen approves of.

Phillips' storyline followed the relationship of Irish-American widow Mother Moynihan and her unmarried daughter. Listeners in 1931 heard this dialogue in episode 25:

:''(Kitchen: Irene and Sue arguing. Mrs. Moynihan preparing breakfast.)'' :IRENE: I tell you, Sue, it won’t work. I’ve never worn that shade of orchid in all my life. I’d look like a perfect washout. Besides, that’s your very best special occasion dress. I wouldn’t think of taking it. :SUE: Don’t be silly. A wedding is a special occasion, isn’t it? And as long as I won’t need to wear it, you might just as well. If you’re a bridesmaid, you’ve got to look the part, kid. :IRENE: But I don’t look good in that color. I’d look faded or something. :SUE: Cracked ice! You can’t tell. You’ve never had it on. Gee, with gold slippers and a gold turban hat, you’d be a wow! Wouldn’t she, Mrs. Moynihan? :MRS.: Won't you be wearing it, Sue? :SUE: Why no; there's no reasons for my dressing up. I'm not in the wedding party. And I think that it would be just right for Irene, if there were a few tucks taken in around the waist. Anyway, it would save her from buying a dress. :IRENE: Well, who says I don't want to buy a dress? It's about time I was getting a new formal, anyhow. I haven't got a rag that's fit to be seen.

Phillips occasionally played the lead of Mother Moynihan, as did Bess Flynn, who was a member of the show's writing team. Flynn, born August 18, 1899 in Tama, Iowa, went on to script three other soap operas: ''We, the Abbotts'', ''Bachelor's Children'' and ''Martha Webster'' (originally titled ''Life Begins''). In addition to performing the title role on ''Martha Webster'', she also portrayed the annoying maid Tilda on ''The Gumps''.

The series begins as Paul Callan (Skeet Ulrich), an investigator of modern miracles for the Catholic Church at the Archdiocese of Boston, is feeling frustrated with disappointing groups of believers each time he investigates and disproves the authenticity of a supposed "miracle". Upon the advice of his mentor, Father "Poppi" Calero (Héctor Elizondo), Paul takes a sabbatical. Months later while doing humanitarian work in Arizona, Paul receives a phone call from Poppi asking him to investigate the case of a young boy with supposed healing powers in the nearby town of Cottonwood. Paul finally sees a true miracle when he sees that young Tommy Ferguson (Jacob Smith) can truly heal people, but every time Tommy heals someone, his own rare disease worsens. When Paul is involved in a near fatal car accident, Tommy uses his healing power for the last time and dies healing Paul, but not before both of them see Paul's blood form itself into the words "God is Now Here" on his broken windshield.

His faith restored, Paul returns to the Church, only for the Monsignor to dismiss his report on a lack of proof. Paul resigns out of frustration and discovers that Poppi never called him about Tommy Ferguson's case. Later, Paul is approached at a diner by a man named Alva Keel (Angus Macfadyen), who offers him a job with his organization, Sodalitas Quaerito (Latin for "Brotherhood in search of truth"). Keel tells Paul that his encounter with "hemography" (blood forming itself into readable words) is part of a large, dark impending event; the same miracle has appeared to six other people in the past 25 years, only every other time the message appeared as "God is Nowhere". Paul teams up with Keel and Evelyn Santos (Marisa Ramirez), a former police officer, to investigate his paranormal experience and discover a solution to the impending darkness.

Sellers is featured as the would-be singing matador Juan Bautista. A theater manager offers to give him a big break if he seduces the beautiful Olimpia (Ekland) and spends an hour in her apartment with the lights off. The plot centers on Juan's attempts to woo the woman and famously includes Sellers covered in blue dye as the "Blue Matador."

Junior, and his friends Ivy and Teddy, log into "Digimon Online", where Ivy renames herself "Kail". Soon after Junior arrives, the players are trapped in the game by an error in the system. MAGAMI's "Game Master" publicly assures the players that the situation is under control, and blames the incident on the hacker, Lucky Mouse. Junior proceeds with his adventure as normal and travels to the A.o.A. controlled West Sector, and after defeating the real leader, travels to a secret base of Lucky Mouse, who reveals himself to be Kail's long-lost brother and an agent working against the A.o.A., Kurt, who reveals that MAGAMI is a front for the A.o.A., but soon the A.o.A. arrive and threaten to turn Kail into Oinkmon, if Kurt doesn't give the Vemmon Digi-Egg to the A.o.A. This results in Kurt being turned into Oinkmon and the Vemmon Digi-Egg stolen. Junior leads an attack on the Admin Center, which results in the Game Master being defeated and interrogated. Junior uses a network break to transport himself to the Amaterasu Server, where he defeats two of the A.o.A.'s chiefs and learns more about their plans. He returns to Asuka, defeats the fourth leader, and uses an emergency teleport system to reach MAGASTA, but is unable to prevent the Juggernaut from being unleashed. The Juggernaut is then used by Vemmon to digivolve to Destromon, which also allows it to manifest in the real world- thus becoming a very real threat to humans.

Junior returns to the Amaterasu Server to defeat the final two chiefs, and gains access to Amaterasu City. He leads a fresh attack on the Amaterasu Admin Center, leading to the MAGAMI President being defeated. Junior then uses the central computer to destroy Destromon, before returning to Asuka to ask Airdramon to help him in lifting the virus which is affecting most of the players by transforming them into Oinkmon. Before long, the Oinkmon virus returns and strikes most of the players, with only Junior and Kail surviving untouched. Vemmon had used the beam containing the Oinkmon virus and shot the beam through all servers. Junior then goes into the admin center, and in the Master Room, Junior is challenged by an entity calling himself Lord Megadeath. Junior then travels to a military satellite, Gunslinger, to challenge Lord Megadeath. Once close to the control room, Junior battles Armaggeddemon, and defeats it. He then reaches the control room, and battles Lord Megadeath. Lord Megadeath is defeated, but succeeds in his project of creating Snatchmon, by combining four Vemmon. Snatchmon absorbs Lord Megadeath, challenges the player, and merges with the Gunslinger to become Galacticmon- its ultimate goal being to merge with the Earth to become an unimaginably powerful Gaiamon. Junior defeats him, and Galacticmon's satellite body falls to Earth, burning up into a meteor shower in the atmosphere.

Three months later, Junior returns to the Amaterasu Server, where, as is revealed in the PAL and Japanese versions of the game (i.e. in ''Digimon World 2003''), four new Server Leaders have been established and Kurt is the new World Champion.

Playable Digimon

While only three Rookie Digimon may be chosen in the beginning of the game, rest of the Rookie Digimon may be obtained later. Veemon is the only Rookie Digimon that is not available from the beginning of the game and can only be obtained later in the game.

• Agumon (available from Powerful pack)
• Bearmon (listed as Kumamon; available from Maniac pack)
• Guilmon (available from Maniac pack)
• Kotemon (available from Balanced pack)
• Monmon (available from Powerful pack)
• Patamon (available from Balanced pack / Maniac pack)
• Renamon (available from Balanced pack / Powerful pack)

• Veemon (unlockable)

• Angemon

• Devimon
• Dinohyumon
• ExVeemon
• Greymon
• Grizzlymon (listed as Grizzmon)
• Growlmon
• Hookmon
• Kabuterimon
• Kyubimon

• Stingmon

• Angewomon

• Armormon
• Digitamamon
• GrapLeomon
• Kyukimon
• MagnaAngemon
• MetalGreymon
• MetalMamemon
• Myotismon
• Paildramon
• SkullGreymon
• Taomon

• WarGrowlmon

• Beelzemon

• BlackWarGreymon
• Cannondramon
• Diaboromon
• Gallantmon
• GranKuwagamon
• Hououmon (listed as Phoenixmon)
• Imperialdramon Dragon Mode
• Imperialdramon Fighter Mode
• Imperialdramon Paladin Mode
• Marsmon
• MegaGargomon
• MaloMyotismon
• MetalGarurumon
• Omnimon
• Rosemon
• Sakuyamon
• Seraphimon
• SlashAngemon (listed as GuardiAngemon)

• WarGreymon

• Agunimon

• AncientGreymon
• KendoGarurumon (listed as BladeGarurumon)

Enemy Digimon

• Betamon
• DemiDevimon
• Gizamon
• Goburimon
• Hagurumon
• Kunemon
• Tapirmon

• Vemmon

• Airdramon

• Apemon
• Bakemon
• Clockmon
• Coelamon
• Devidramon
• Dokugumon
• Dolphmon
• Drimogemon
• Flymon
• Fugamon
• Gekomon
• Gesomon
• Guardromon
• Kiwimon
• Kokatorimon
• Kurisarimon
• Kuwagamon
• Meramon
• Minotarumon
• Musyamon
• Numemon
• Octomon
• Ogremon
• RedVegiemon
• Roachmon
• Seadramon
• Shellmon
• Snimon
• Sukamon
• Tankmon
• Tuskmon
• Tyrannomon
• Vegiemon
• Vilemon
• Woodmon

• Yanmamon

• Andromon

• Antylamon
• Arukenimon
• BlackKingNumemon
• BlackWarGrowlmon
• Blossomon
• BlueMeramon
• Brachiomon
• Bulbmon
• Datamon
• Divermon
• Dragomon
• Etemon
• Garbagemon
• Giromon
• Infermon
• Kimeramon
• Knightmon
• LadyDevimon
• Mamemon
• Mammothmon
• MarineDevimon
• MasterTyrannomon
• Megadramon
• MegaSeadramon
• MetalTyrannomon
• Minotarumon
• Mummymon
• Okuwamon
• Persiamon
• Phantomon
• Scorpiomon
• ShogunGekomon
• SkullMeramon
• SkullSatamon
• Triceramon
• Vademon
• WaruMonzaemon

• Whamon

• Apokarimon

• Armageddemon
• BlackImperialdramon
• BlackMegaGargomon
• BlackSeraphimon
• BlackWarGreymon
• Boltmon
• Daemon (listed as Creepymon)
• Fuujinmon
• Galacticmon
• Ghoulmon
• Gryphonmon
• HerculesKabuterimon
• HiAndromon
• KingEtemon
• Machinedramon
• MetalEtemon
• MetalSeadramon
• Pharaohmon
• Piedmon
• Pukumon
• Puppetmon
• Raijinmon
• SkullMammothmon
• Suijinmon
• Valkyrimon
• VenomMyotismon
• Vikemon

• Zanbamon

• Baronmon

• Gargoylemon
• Lynxmon
• Maildramon
• Quetzalmon
• Shadramon

• Tylomon

• Cardmon

• Destromon

In 1911, a young Orthodox Jew named Solomon Levinsky lives with his Yiddish-speaking family in the South Wales Valleys. Solomon peddles fabrics door to door, but hides his ethnicity due to anti-Semitism. One day, Solomon meets a demure, young gentile woman named Gaenor Rees, who he instantly falls in love with. Solomon tells Gaenor his name is Sam Livingstone and that his family is English. Solomon makes Gaenor a red dress and has her try it on. Solomon is struck by how beautiful Gaenor looks and they share their first kiss.

Gaenor's father, Idris, finds the red dress and demands to know who gave it to her. Gaenor introduces Solomon to her family, who are polite, but suspicious of his intentions. Knowing they will never accept him being with a gentile woman, Solomon hides his relationship with Gaenor from his family. Due to the burden of keeping the secret, Solomon begins to struggle with his faith and feels distant from his family. After they are intimate for the first time, Solomon guesses that Gaenor is not a virgin and she reveals she was once engaged to a man, who was severely injured in a mining accident. Gaenor wants to meet Solomon's family, but he claims that his mother is ill and his father is away.

Gaenor's violent brother, Crad, invites Solomon for a drink with his friends and teases him about his profession. Before going to see Gaenor, Solomon always hides his tzitzit in a wall, but this time he is unable to find it. Gaenor becomes frustrated with Solomon's unwillingness to introduce her to his family and tells him she feels like she means nothing to him.

One day in chapel, a fellow worshipper named Noah Jones accuses Gaenor of being pregnant after "fornicating with an outsider." When asked by the Minister to confirm or deny the accusation, Gaenor has to admit in front of the whole congregation that she is pregnant. The Rees family is then expelled from the chapel. Idris tells Gaenor she has to get married or she cannot keep the baby.

Solomon comes to see Gaenor, but her sister, Bronwen, tells him that Gaenor does not want to see him. Solomon hides out near Gaenor's home to get a chance to speak to her, but is beaten up by Crad and his friends, who tell him to never come back. Solomon finally gets to talk to Gaenor and is stunned when he finds out she is pregnant, but Gaenor declares that it is not his business. Solomon finds out his brother, Benjamin, took his tzitzit and when Benjamin asks him if he does not want to be a Jew anymore, Solomon explains that the prayers make everything seem so simple when they are not.

Gaenor tracks down Solomon and confronts him about lying to her about who he is. Solomon explains that his family will not accept her and he would be cast out for being with her. Solomon also admits that even he has struggled to accept her. Gaenor tells him that her family has arranged for her to stay with extended family elsewhere and the baby will be taken away. Gaenor and Solomon begin to see each other again in secret and plan to run away together.

Anti-Semitic feelings rise in the valley due to many people's financial struggles. Crad and his friends plan to ransack the shop owned by the Levinsky family. The family decides to hide elsewhere when they get wind of the plan. That same night, Solomon and Gaenor plan to run away. Solomon sneaks out and is devastated to see his family's business being destroyed. Solomon's father, Isaac, catches up with him and tells him that if he leaves with Gaenor, he will be dead to the family. Solomon reluctantly returns to his family, who have lost everything after the ransacking.

Solomon leaves for Cardiff to work for his uncle to help his family get back on their feet. He writes letters to Gaenor, but they are disposed of by Crad. Gaenor asks Isaac and Solomon's mother, Rezl, where Solomon is, but they decline to tell her. She reminds them she is carrying their grandchild, but they reject the child. Gaenor is sent away to have the baby. Solomon learns from his mother that Gaenor has gone and returns to the valley. He finds Crad, who brutally beats him and refuses to tell him Gaenor's location. Solomon violently attacks Crad and repeatedly demands to know where Gaenor is. Crad tells him Gaenor's location and he sets off to reunite with her.

Solomon treks through the harsh winter to find Gaenor, who is staying with her aunt. When Solomon finally arrives at the home, he is severely ill. Gaenor nurses Solomon, but it is clear it is too late to save him. As Solomon lies dying, he and Gaenor declare their love for each other and Gaenor climbs into bed with him. She awakens the next morning to see that Solomon has died and cries out in grief. Shortly after, Gaenor gives birth to their baby. Along with her father, Gaenor takes Solomon's casket to be buried. They pass by Crad, who climbs on the cart carrying the casket.

The film flashes back and forth between the 1970s and 1980s and centers on the relationship between Fielding Pierce, a young Coast Guard officer with political ambitions, and idealistic Roman Catholic Sarah Williams, who is drawn to programs designed to better the lives of the underprivileged and has mixed feelings about his career goals.

In the opening scene, Fielding sees a television news program reporting Sarah's death in a Minneapolis car bombing following a church-organized excursion to Chile to feed the poor and organize resistance to the oppressive Pinochet dictatorship. He never quite recovers from the news, and he finds himself increasingly haunted by the past, in which the couple were as romantically close as they were politically apart, divided by his desire to work within the system and her conviction that the system is the root of all evil. His obsession with Sarah slowly puts his career, forthcoming marriage, and sanity in jeopardy.

The question of whether or not Sarah actually was killed remains unresolved as Fielding's sister Caroline reports having seen her on the street some years later and Fielding himself supposedly meets her after being elected to the United States Congress, only to wonder afterwards if she merely was a hallucination.

Nancy Drew takes a semester off of school to visit her Aunt Eloise in Florida. A student named Jake Rogers is murdered at the local high school, where Eloise works as a librarian. Eloise asks Nancy to investigate, so Nancy goes undercover as a new student and attempts to solve the mystery. Throughout the game, Nancy discovers that Jake Rogers was blackmailing several of the other characters by videotaping their misdeeds:

''Hal Tanaka'' took on additional coursework in order to be approved for a scholarship. He knew that if he didn't get the scholarship, his family would send him back to Japan. He slowly became overwhelmed and buried in work, so he decided to plagiarize an English essay from a school library book, which Jake caught on camera. Jake blackmailed Hal into doing his homework for the remainder of the semester, otherwise Jake would reveal the plagiarism to Hal's family. ''Connie Watson'' was struggling to get enough money for college tuition, so she decided to use her Judo expertise to compete secretly in a men's tournament (the prize money was significantly better than the women's tournament), which Connie easily won. Jake caught her removing her mask on camera, and subsequently forced her to date him. ''Hulk Sanchez'' was badly injured while playing football, so in order to continue playing and impress the college scouts, he decided to break into the local pharmaceutical plant to steal some steroids. After filming Hulk leaving the plant, Jake forced him to be his lackey. ''Daryl Gray'''s father was former U.S. senator Eugene Gray, who went bankrupt after some poor business deals. Daryl got involved in a drug smuggling deal with Mitch Dillon. Jake caught video footage of the transaction and thus demanded a cut of the profits that Daryl was receiving. *''Mitch Dillon'' was running a drug transport ring from the local pharmaceutical plant. When Jake caught video footage of a transaction between him and Daryl Gray, he attempted to blackmail Mitch.

Upon talking to Daryl, Nancy realizes that it was Mitch who killed jake and Daryl tells Nancy to stay away from him and the case. Nancy however has a plan to get Mitch arrested with Daryl and Connie’s help, together the two are able to hold Mitch off long enough until the cops arrive and arrest him. With Jake’s killer behind bars, everyone resumes their normal lives while Nancy goes to Hollywood to solve the mysterious death threats of a rising star named Rick Arlen which leads into the events of the next game.

Lieutenant Jordan, U.S. Coast Guard, responds to a number of pleas for help from civilian pleasure boat sailors around Southern California's Balboa Island. This type of event is typical of what the Coast Guard deals with on a regular basis, and is one of the reasons why Jordan has requested to transfer to a new station. He is handing over the reins to Ensign Tom Garland, a polite but remarkably clumsy fellow who will now report to Commander Taylor, a man who fought in World War II with Garland's father and holds him in high regard.

Through a series of events, Garland's ineptitude as the station's new skipper is revealed. He repeatedly flounders in tending to the various minor issues plaguing the crowded waters' impatient travelers. It also does not take long for him to fall for Kate Fairchild, a "girl next door" who runs a local boat rental and sailing school spot on the coast.

Meanwhile, three jewel thieves are making their way to Mexico while listening to reports of their pursuit. There's ringleader Harry Simmons, who poses as a yacht club "commodore" and dispatches orders to his two associates, Charlie, and Max. This trio has managed to steal a jewel collection, and they intend to smuggle them inside an assortment of casually hollowed food. They decide to rent a boat from Kate to make their way south of the border, although none of the three know how to sail.

With Kate's suggestion that the crooks' suspicious behavior might indicate criminality, she and Tom begin to suspect that they are indeed the three men reported about in a newspaper article. Tom is right about the suspects, but Commander Taylor initially does not believe it. Ultimately, Tom is able to convince Taylor to retrieve the stolen jewels, and ensure that the jewel thieves are arrested. THe film ends when the boat is about to get into a collision with the abandoned sub like craft, which would have capsized the boat.

Myra Breckinridge, the transsexual who terrorized Hollywood with dildo-rape and lesbianism, has transformed back into her former self, the literally and figuratively castrated Myron.

One night, while watching the movie "Siren of Babylon" on the late show, he/she is transported to the set of the 1948 film through the television. It's Myra's dream come true, and Myron's nightmare. As Myron tries to adapt to life inside an endlessly repeating B-movie, Myra slowly starts creeping her way back into Myron's head, making a connection with a gay member of the community to obtain dresses and wigs. Her lapses back into Myron's personality are strongly encouraged by a character slyly based on Norman Mailer (though at one point he drunkenly hits on Myra), while most of the others on the set seem to prefer Myra to Myron. She attempts to castrate a crew member, then tries to castrate herself and partially succeeds in acquiring silicone implants. While Myron desperately searches for a way off the set (running into Richard Nixon along the way, who is considering taking up residence in "Siren of Babylon" in order to escape the Watergate hearings), Myra wants to stay permanently.

Eventually, Myra/Myron trades places with Maria Montez, the star of the film. Myra is ecstatic and Myron disappears entirely from the narrative for a time. But when Montez, inhabited by Myra, coincidentally meets the 1948 Myron (who at this point is a child, possessed by the soul of a perplexed Maria Montez) their respective personalities are restored to their original bodies, returning Myron at once to his living room in 1970s California. The changes wrought by Myra's running amok on the set of "Siren of Babylon" continue to influence the present and the book ends with a former cowboy actor in the film, now a transsexual, being elected Republican governor of Arizona.

Zora Banks (Sanaa Lathan) moves from Manhattan to her newly renovated brownstone in Brooklyn. Franklin (Wesley Snipes) is polishing the floors in what will be her new apartment. He informs her that she cannot move in yet due to her wood grain floors not being dry. An upset Zora threatens to fire one of the moving men, who proceed to leave her furniture and boxes on the sidewalk. Desperate, she asks Franklin to help her move her things. After moving her in, they begin to talk and she accepts his offer to help her unpack and get settled in.

Later while Zora is walking home, she finds Franklin waiting for her on the stoop and chastises him for coming by without warning. Franklin says he was waiting for her because he wanted to see her. Zora invites Franklin inside. They cannot hide their mutual attraction and proceed to have sex. Later, the couple talk of their dreams and aspirations; Zora wants to become a singer and Franklin wants to get his contracting business off the ground. Both confess that they were putting off love until they got themselves together. Franklin then tells Zora that he is not a wealthy man. Zora reassures him, stating that she is not looking for a rich man.

The two spend a lot of time together eating home cooked meals, playing ''Scrabble'', and watching television. While getting a drink with his friend Jimmy (Clark Johnson), Franklin expresses that he likes Zora because she listens and they talk more than have sex. Jimmy then repays a loan that Franklin had made him. Franklin uses part of the money to get Zora's piano out of layaway. Zora then auditions for up-and-coming producer Reggie Baptiste (Q-Tip), and gets cut a deal to do a six-song demo with him.

Franklin confesses to Zora that he dropped out of high school in the eleventh grade, never earning a GED. He also tells her that although separated for the last four years, he is still married with two sons. Zora does not take the news well and Franklin accuses her of caring more about "degrees and dollars" than their relationship.

The next day, Zora finds Franklin at work and admits that she would not have gotten involved with him had she known the truth about him earlier. She then confides that she loves him and asks him to move in with her, expressing the desire to meet his children. In return, he tells her he loves her and promises that as soon as he gets the money he will get the divorce.

Zora meets Franklin's sons, Marcus (Dequan Henderson) and Tyree (Fernando Phifer Cameron), and while the younger Tyree warms up to Zora quickly after she teaches him some notes on her piano, Marcus is not so welcoming to her. Despite all the obstacles, the couple continue to fall deeper in love, but things come to a head when Zora suffers an epileptic seizure while sleeping. The next morning when confronted by Franklin on why he never knew of her condition, she says she did not want to scare him off. Franklin reassures her that it will take more than that to get him to walk away.

A while later, Zora gets pregnant. She wants an abortion since she does not think the time is right. But Franklin convinces her to keep the baby, and nine months later she gives birth to a boy named Jeremiah.

After the birth of the baby, times get really hard for Zora and Frankie. He is out of work again and because of this he drinks and forgets to pick up the baby from daycare, this causes Zora to leave work to pick up the baby and miss her recording session with Reg. Reg is unhappy about this so she loses her demo deal. One night Zora and Frankie get in a heated argument and they break up. A heart broken Frankie drinks and plays sad records while Zora sleeps in the other room. Frankie then goes to the room and tries to have makeup sex with Zora, she pushes him away and says "I'm leaving and when I come back tomorrow I want you out of my house". While she is away a distraught and angry Frankie vandalizes their once home together with a hammer and leaves.

About seven months go by and Franklin goes to Zora's house. He says he wants to see his son. She lets him in and Frankie holds his son and puts him to bed. The ex-couple then converse about what has been going on. Frankie tells Zora that he is taking his contractor test the next day and that he got his GED. Zora tells him that she writes songs and that one of them is on the radio. While walking out the door Frankie talks about their love and how it was real no matter what the timing was. He leaves and she follows him and says "I never got to beat you in Scrabble". He smiles, goes back upstairs and they play Scrabble.

Goofy and his friend Wilbur, a tame grasshopper, team up for a fishing expedition. Goofy decides to use Wilbur as bait, but has second thoughts when he realizes too late, that his friend might actually get eaten by a fish. Goofy has a row boat and a net, but no fishing rod. Wilbur, being a live bug, becomes the perfect choice for bait inside the net, which will lure fish when the boat approaches.

Wilbur's life depends on the hapless and incompetent Goofy to save the little bug, who becomes the bait for a half-dozen fish. As Wilbur gets tricked again and again, he is even swallowed by a frog; then that frog gets eaten by a stork, all while Goofy desperately attempts a chasing rescue. In the end Wilbur hatches out of the stork egg, and to Goofy's relief, seems okay. It is not explained how Wilbur ended up in the egg of the stork. One dedicated blog writer comments; "I wonder if Goofy has had a psychotic break at the end of the cartoon, and the reappearance of Wilbur is simply a delusion".

Following from the events of ''Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn'', ''Heart of the Maelstrom'' begins after a period of peace brought about through the use of L'Kbreth's Orb is shattered when the powers of chaos literally begin to emerge into the world. These unnatural energies are especially focused in a series of tunnels beneath the Temple of Sages in Llylgamyn, fittingly called the Maelstrom. Adventurers, namely the player party, are recruited to journey into these caverns and track down a means of summoning a being known as the Gatekeeper who can seal these chaotic energies once more. Unfortunately, he has been imprisoned by a rogue sorceress known as the Sorn.

The party begins by searching for G'bli Gedook, a high priest and guardian of L'Kbreth's Orb. He instructs the party to venture deeper into the caverns. After traversing down to the eighth floor, the party must appease four beings known as the Card Lords by bringing them their respective suit. Once this task is accomplished, the party can venture to the Heart of the Maelstrom and the Gatekeeper may be summoned. As this occurs, the Sorn and her own party of adventurers strike, prompting a final battle. With her defeat, the Gatekeeper awards the party the Heart of Abriel. They return with this to the surface and order is restored to Llylgamyn.

The City of Llylgamyn is threatened by the violent forces of nature. Earthquakes and volcanic rumblings endanger everyone. Only by seeking the dragon L'Kbreth can the city be saved.

Scotland, 1968

Claire Randall has returned to her own time, where she has been living for 20 years with her husband Frank. Following his death, she brings her daughter, Brianna, to the home of the Randalls' old friend, Reverend Reginald Wakefield. There, Claire hopes the Reverend's adopted son, Roger, can help her discover what happened to the men of Lallybroch after the Battle of Culloden. Roger, using his Oxford credentials to obtain information, finds proof that the men of Lallybroch returned home safely. He accompanies Claire and Brianna to an old churchyard, looking for the grave of Jonathan Randall, Frank's ancestor, but also finds Jamie Fraser's gravestone: it is part of a "marriage stone", showing Claire's name but no date. Claire reveals Brianna's true paternity to her and Roger. Brianna angrily denies her mother's story, but Roger is fascinated, and Claire recounts her time after the events of ''Outlander''.

Paris, 1744

At the end of ''Outlander'', Claire has convinced Jamie to stop the Jacobite rising and the subsequent slaughter. After learning that Charles Stuart is trying to get money from the French king Louis XV to fund the Jacobite cause, they travel to Paris, where Jamie uses his cousin Jared's wine business to gain the aristocratic connections necessary to plot against Stuart. A French boy named Claudel, brought up in a brothel, helps Jamie flee from some thugs, and Jamie hires him to steal the prince's correspondence, and renames him Fergus. When Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall arrives, Jamie, despite a promise to spare Randall's life to protect his descendant Frank (Claire's modern-day husband), challenges Randall to a duel, and renders him impotent. Claire miscarries their first daughter and is taken to the hospital. Jamie is sent to the Bastille for dueling.

Scotland, 1745 and the Rising

Claire frees Jamie by an arrangement with King Louis XV of France, and they are banished from France. Back in Scotland with Fergus, they settle into farm life at his home at Lallybroch with Jamie's sister Jenny and her family. Jamie receives a letter from Stuart, announcing his attempt to retake the throne of Scotland, which the prince has signed Jamie's name to, branding him a traitor to the Crown. Left with no choice, he gathers the men of Lallybroch to join the Stuart army. Young Lord John Grey, an English scout, stumbles upon Jamie and Claire. Thinking Claire a prisoner, Grey tries to "save" her, whereupon Jamie breaks the boy's arm but spares his life. Information gleaned by Jamie from this encounter helps the Highlanders win at the Battle of Prestonpans; but the Rising still fails at the disastrous Battle of Culloden. Claire discovers that she is pregnant again. Jamie and Claire discuss assassinating Stuart, but decide against it. Dougal MacKenzie, having overheard their conversation, accuses Claire of persuading Jamie to betray his people, and attempts to kill Claire. Dougal is stabbed and dies in Jamie's arms. Jamie, knowing that the Jacobites lose Culloden, forces Claire and the unborn Brianna to return to her own time to spare her from the battle's aftermath, and returns to Culloden, intending to die in the battle.

1968

Claire relates that she had returned to Frank, who disbelieved her story but insisted on helping her raise Brianna, and asked that she would only tell Brianna the truth after his death. Upon hearing it, Brianna refuses to believe Claire's story. Claire enlists Roger's help by revealing him as the descendant of Dougal MacKenzie and Geillis Duncan. Claire admits to Roger that while hiding in the caves of the Highlands, plotting Jamie's escape from prison (as told in ''Outlander''), Dougal had delivered a message from Geillis that read: "I do not know if it is possible, but I think so" and the numbers 1,9,6 and 7. Claire deduces that these signify the year 1967, and Claire and Roger suspect that Geillis was telling her the year of her own time travel. Claire, Roger, and eventually Brianna witness Geillis Duncan/Gillian Edgars' disappearance through the stone circle at Craigh na Dun after she murders her husband, Greg Edgars. Ultimately, Roger informs Claire that Jamie did not die at Culloden.

Set in the suburbs of Seattle during the mid 1970s, the story follows a group of teenagers who contract a mysterious sexually transmitted disease referred to as "the Bug", which causes them to develop bizarre unique physical mutations and subsequently become social outcasts, many of them running away from home to live in the nearby woodland.

The plot focuses on two central characters who often narrate the story: Chris, a popular and respected female student, and Keith, a stoner who seems to experience anxiety. The viewpoint changes between (and sometimes within) issues. When the characters are introduced, Keith has a crush on Chris, who is kind to Keith but does not reciprocate his feelings. At a party, Chris quickly becomes infatuated with popular student Rob Fancicani. The two leave the party and have sex, Chris unaware that Rob carries the Bug. Once Chris realizes she has been infected, she and Rob do not speak for some time. Keith and Chris share a moment at another party where Keith bandages Chris' cut foot. As Keith becomes even more infatuated with Chris, she does not return his feelings. Around the same time, Keith meets Eliza, a young woman who also carries the Bug which manifests as a lizard-like tail. Despite their instant attraction, the two do not have sex.

Meanwhile, many other teens in the town have contracted the disease, and several of them seek seclusion from society due to the severity of their mutations and build an encampment in the woods outside of town. Some of the infected teens, particularly females, begin disappearing, with strange statues and even body parts being found around the woods. Chris and Rob eventually renew their relationship, which culminates with Chris running away from home to the encampment in the woods. Rob introduces Chris to Dave, a mutated teen who was unpopular and bullied while attending school. Rob continues to live with his parents and attends school, visiting Chris daily at the encampment. Meanwhile, Keith and Eliza have sex, and Keith subsequently becomes infected.

Later, an unknown mutated man murders Rob as he leaves Chris' tent one night. Chris does not know of Rob's fate, and is devastated by his disappearance. Chris starts going to The Pit, where she encounters Keith, a regular visitor who brings supplies to the teens. After pressuring her for some time, Keith convinces Chris to stay at a tract house that he is watching while its owners are on vacation. Chris eventually invites some of the other teens that frequent The Pit to stay at the tract house, which they proceed to destroy to Keith's detriment. Chris becomes closer to Dave, and the two often spend time together. However, Dave's true sinister nature shows when Chris rejects his advances. With Chris locked inside her room, Dave shoots most of the teens living in the house using a gun that he had stolen from Chris' tent. Chris flees through an open window, and Keith discovers the bodies minutes after Dave leaves.

Dave is seen ordering a bucket of chicken and bringing it to his friend Rick, who murdered Rob at Dave's behest. While Rick eats, Dave shoots him in the head and then himself. Keith calls Eliza and the two flee town with survivors Carla and Doug. After dropping off Carla and Doug, Keith and Eliza check into a motel, where they are fearful of the future, but happy together. Meanwhile, Chris hitchhikes to a beach where she and Rob had spent time together. Realizing that he is gone forever, and swearing to remember him, Chris swims out into the ocean, uncertain of her future.

Diijon, a tired magician, gives up his act to study the power of the mind. His wife Victoria, once supportive, now is struggling to pay bills. She urges her stubborn and older husband to return to the magic field where Diijon was considered one of the greats. He refuses but does reluctantly agree to do a hypnotism nightclub act at Victoria's urging. The act goes bad and he's laughed off the stage. He's convinced this is the handiwork of Victoria's ex-lover Tony Holliday. Later, Diijon finds that he does indeed have the power to control men's minds and begins to take revenge on the people he felt made him look like a fool. He hypnotizes his young wife to kill the man. Unfortunately for Diijon, things go horribly wrong.

The opening of the film features a memorable scene depicting a woman being beheaded, with a guillotine—then revealed to be a magic trick.

During a space pirate attack, Bender—trying to find some peace and quiet in a torpedo tube—is accidentally fired into space. Because Bender was launched when the ship was at its top speed, it is impossible to catch up with him. After an asteroid crashes into Bender, a civilization of tiny humanoid "Shrimpkins" grows on him and worships him as a god. Bender enjoys his new-found status, picking a prophet named Malachi and having him bring "The One Commandment" ("God Needs Booze") to the Shrimpkins, who brew what for them are vast quantities of "Lordweiser" beer. The Shrimpkins begin praying for rain, sun and wealth, and Bender attempts to heed their prayers, failing and unintentionally harming the Shrimpkins in the process. Malachi tells him that the Shrimpkins who migrated to his buttocks feel their prayers are unheeded and have become atheists. The atheists threaten war with Bender's worshipers. Bender, horrified that his previous attempts to help the Shrimpkins only harmed them, refuses to intervene. The micro-civilization is destroyed when the Shrimpkin factions launch atomic weapons out of Bender's nuclear piles.

Bender continues floating through space until he encounters a cosmic entity. During their time together, the entity tells Bender that it has had much the same experience with helping those who pray to it, and has given up on directly interfering in its worshippers' lives. It now uses a "light touch", which it compares to safecracking, pickpocketing, or (as Bender adds) insurance fraud. Bender asks if he can be sent back to Earth, but the entity claims that it does not know where Earth is.

Meanwhile, Fry and Leela search for a way to locate Bender, which leads them to a sect of monks who use a radio telescope to search for God in space. Leela locks up the pacifist monks and Fry spends the next three days searching for Bender. Leela convinces him to give up the search, considering the odds of finding Bender astronomical. Fry spins the telescope's trackball and finds the cosmic entity by accident as he wishes out loud he had Bender back. The entity hears him and flings Bender toward Earth, where he lands just outside the monastery. Bender recounts his tale and Fry boasts they "climbed a mountain and locked up some monks", which reminds Leela that they never let them out. Fry is reluctant to return to the monastery and claims that their God will surely help them. Bender tells them that God cannot be counted on, and demands they rescue the monks themselves. The cosmic entity chuckles and repeats advice it gave to Bender earlier: "When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."

In ''Oidheadh Chlainne Tuireann'' (The Tragedy of the Sons of Tuireann), the three set out to kill their father's enemy Cian. Cian is the father of Lugh, one of the greatest of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Cian shapeshifts into a pig to disguise himself, but the brothers shapeshift into dogs and hound him. They kill him, dismember his body and try to cover up their crime. In recompense, Lugh makes them quest all around the known world fetching magical weapons, which Lugh plans to use at the Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh. They succeed in obtaining all that Lugh demanded, but return to Ireland badly wounded, pleading for Lugh to heal them; but he refuses.

In at least one version of this tale, Brian is the clever and subtle one, while his brothers Iuchar and Iucharba are bumbling and easily overawed by Brian. This tale of the Sons of Tuireann has sometimes been likened to an Irish ''Argonautica''.

Taran and Gurgi have returned to Caer Dallben after leaving Princess Eilonwy at the royal court of Dinas Rhydnant for education in the ways of a princess. Taran has come to realize that he loves Eilonwy; but although he has proven his worth as a man, he is restless and determined to know his parentage, partly in hopes that noble birth will support a marriage proposal. Dallben the enchanter tells him nothing about his heritage, but gives his approval for Taran and Gurgi to travel on their own in search of an answer. Taran and Gurgi travel first to the Marshes of Morva to ask the witches Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch. Taran has nothing of great value to give in exchange, so Orddu merely tells him of an alternative: that the Mirror of Llunet in the far east Llawgadarn Mountains will show him who he is.

Taran sets out to Cantrev Cadiffor to be outfitted by King Smoit. After a border patrol of Smoit's vassal, Lord Goryon, steals his horse Melynlas and Gurgi's pony, they spend the night with the farm couple Aeddan and Alarca who have lost their son and livestock. Taran is welcomed to remain, but he gently declines and leaves with new respect for common farmers. Taran and Gurgi recover their steeds at Goryon's fortress because Melynlas will have no other rider, and Goryon is relieved to escape the burden of mastering him. At the neighboring stronghold of Lord Gast, they meet their old friend Fflewddur Fflam, who has returned to wandering as a bard, and together they go on to Caer Cadarn, where Smoit welcomes them.

Goryon and Gast have been feuding over their cattle stock for years, especially over Cornillo, an exceptional cow. When their dispute breaks out again the next day, Cornillo and the combined cattle herds of the two lords run off. After they recover the herd, Taran persuades King Smoit to resort to a wiser judgment to settle the continual dispute: The rival cantrev lords shall resow the fields of Aeddan, which have been ruined by their feud, and Cornillo is given to Aeddan as further compensation, although the lords shall have her next calves. The childless widower Smoit later offers to adopt Taran as his son and future King of Cadiffor. Taran declines, but says he will gladly accept if he discovers noble birth.

Continuing eastward, they cross the river Ystrad. Taran's pet crow Kaw reveals the hiding place of a polished bone the size of a toothpick, which has been stashed high in a tree. Fflewddur's mount Llyan, a giant cat, brings a green and yellow frog, who is really their old friend Doli the dwarf. Doli has been transformed during his investigation of a deadly threat to the Fair Folk: A human wizard named Morda has attained the power to enchant them, and to raid their underground realms. Taran, Gurgi and Fflewddur investigate Morda's abode, but are all captured. Morda begins to boast to his captives, explaining that during a winter many years ago, he was sought out by the enchantress Angharad, who was searching for her kidnapped daughter Eilonwy, but left her to die from exhaustion. Among her possessions, Morda found an amulet, a gift to her from the Fair Folk which became the primary source of his power, and an empty book, which he gave to Glew when the latter begged him to make him a sorcerer.

Morda turns Fflewddur and Gurgi into a hare and a mouse, respectively, but fails to transform Taran. Taran deduces that the bone splinter Kaw found is Morda's little finger, in which he has stored his own life force to attain immortality and then cut off of his hand to keep it safe, and that Morda is unable to harm Taran so long as he possesses it. As Taran and Morda struggle over the bone, Morda inadvertently snaps it, causing his own death and ending the spell which transformed the companions. After recovering Angharad's amulet, Taran reflects that it could make him powerful, but decides to return it to Doli's people, the Fair Folk, who made it. Just before they part ways, Doli identifies the ceremonial horn Eilonwy recovered from the ruins of Caer Colur, which Taran still carries with him, as a magical item with which Taran can issue one single call for aid from the Fair Folk.

Taran, Gurgi, and Fflewddur camp next with the ruffian Dorath and his band. Their hosts suspect a quest for treasure and offer guidance to Llunet, in exchange for a share. The guests try to slip away early next morning, but Dorath prevents it and extracts a wager on hand-to-hand combat with Taran. He cheats and takes Taran's sword, then departs.

An old shepherd with decrepit holdings, Craddoc, welcomes the companions next. From Taran's account of the mission, Craddoc reveals that Taran is, in fact, his son. Fflewddur departs, but Taran and Gurgi remain and labor beside Craddoc. Taran and Craddoc develop a bond, but Taran also resents the end of his dream of noble birth. During the next winter, however, Craddoc suffers a bad fall down a mountain gorge and Taran is unable to rescue him. Near death, Craddoc reveals that he merely posed as Taran's father to gain himself a son. The gorge and the weather threaten Taran as well, and he finally summons the Fair Folk, who are able to save only Taran and Gurgi.

After burying Craddoc, Taran and Gurgi continue eastward, across Little Avren to the Free Commots, and stay for a while with lucky Llonio and his family on the banks of the river. Next, Taran assists and learns the trades of three great craftmasters: Hevydd the smith, Dwyvach the weaver, and Annlaw the potter. He learns enough that he would be welcome to remain as an assistant, and gains a new sword, a new cloak, and a new bowl, but still cannot find fulfillment. While ferrying the wares of Annlaw to Commot Isav, he leads the poor farming village in resistance of a raid by Dorath, killing half the band at no loss of life on the farmers' side.

Upon Taran's return, Annlaw tells him the way to the Mirror of Llunet, which he knows about, but has never visited. After a short journey, Taran and Gurgi find the Mirror: a pool of water at the mouth of a cave beyond the Lake of Llunet. Taran gazes into it, but Dorath interrupts and defiles the pool. He and Taran meet in a swordfight, in which Taran's old sword shatters on his new one and Dorath flees. Taran does not pursue but returns to Annlaw, whom he tells that the Mirror showed his own reflection and nothing more. He does not feel cheated by Orddu, for he has seen what he has become by his own labor and all he has learned on the way. With new confidence in himself, he and Gurgi depart back to Caer Dallben.

Eighteen months after the destruction of the Black Cauldron, Dallben the enchanter has decided that Eilonwy, as a princess and last of the line of the House of Llyr, needs a proper royal lady's education that he cannot provide. He sends her to reside at Dinas Rhydnant, a royal court on the Isle of Mona, in the west of Prydain. Taran and Gurgi escort her to Mona on a ship belonging to Prince Rhun, a cheerful but incompetent youth. Taran is finally aware of his feelings for Eilonwy, but is saddened that he is a commoner and she a princess and envies Rhun's noble birth.

While Eilonwy is introduced to the tedium of life at court, Taran encounters his old companion Fflewddur Fflam—a minor king who lives as a wandering bard—and a shoemaker who turns out to be Prince Gwydion, traveling incognito. Gwydion tells Taran that Eilonwy is in grave danger, very likely from the evil sorceress Achren, from whom Taran and Eilonwy escaped in ''The Book of Three''. Taran and Gwydion witness Chief Steward Magg leave the castle at night to signal a ship at sea. The next morning, Magg and Eilonwy do not show for breakfast and it is concluded that Magg has kidnapped the princess. King Rhuddlum organizes search parties, with Prince Rhun in charge of one. The king assigns Taran to the same group and personally asks him to protect his son Rhun during the search, confiding to Taran that he and Queen Teleria hope to betroth their son to Eilonwy. Although resentful and envious, Taran vows to ensure Rhun's safety.

Shortly before dusk, Rhun separates from the group. Taran, Fflewddur, and Gurgi pursue, and the next morning they find Rhun at an abandoned hut in the woods. Inside, they find a small book of blank pages that Rhun keeps for himself, along with a sheaf of notes belonging to the former resident, Glew, a man who experimented with size-enhancement potions. As the companions prepare to leave, they come face to face with Llyan, a mountain cat that Glew made larger than a horse, seemingly intending to eat them. Fflewddur entrances the cat with his harp playing, allowing the companions to escape.

Taran's pet crow Kaw spots Magg and Eilonwy heading for the river Alaw on horseback. Reaching the river, Rhun finds Eilonwy's bauble and tracks indicating Magg and Eilonwy continued their journey by boat. The companions hastily construct a raft to follow downstream, but it disintegrates before reaching the mouth of the river. While repairing the raft, Rhun tumbles into a deep pit and causes a landslide that traps the group. Exploring nearby caverns, the companions eventually find Glew, who is now a giant trapped in the caverns by his enhanced size. The companions promise him Dallben's aid in creating an antidote to his potion, while Glew promises to lead them out of the caverns. Instead, Glew takes the companions to a dead-end and traps them. Glew explains he already knows how to make an antidote that will decrease his size, but he must kill one of the companions for a final ingredient. Glew leaves, promising to free the others if one of them agrees to be a sacrifice for his antidote. Rhun surprises everyone by volunteering to sacrifice himself, believing he is burden to all and incompetent to rule.

Before Glew returns, the companions notice an exit above their heads and convince Rhun to let them help him reach it. As he escapes, Rhun promises to return to the city and bring help. When Glew returns, Taran, Fflewddur, and Gurgi break out and attack him. Rhun does not leave the area but instead doubles back, guided by the light of Eilonwy's bauble. Having grown accustomed to the darkness of the caverns, Glew is overwhelmed by the bauble's light, allowing the companions to escape. Taran discovers that under the light of the bauble, Rhun's book of blank pages is revealed to be filled with writing, though none of them can read the language.

Reaching the mouth of Alaw on the reconstructed raft, the companions reunite with Gwydion, who reveals that he has visited the northeast offshore ruin of Caer Colur, the ancestral home of the House of Llyr, where Eilonwy's grandmother Queen Regat was the last in the line of women to reign. Against Regat's wishes, Eilonwy's mother, Angharad, married the common man Geraint and left Caer Colur, taking a book of the House of Llyr's most powerful enchantments, as well as the Golden Pelydryn necessary to read them. Gwydion tells Taran and the companions that Eilonwy's bauble is, in fact, the long-lost Golden Pelydryn, and that the book of seemingly blank pages found in Glew's house is actually Angharad's book of spells. Gwydion explains that Eilonwy had not been sent to live with Achren to study magic as a child, as Eilonwy had believed; rather, Achren had kidnapped the princess and taken her to Spiral Castle with the intention of harnessing the House of Llyr's magic for her own ends.

Gwydion explains he has seen Achren, Magg, and Eilonwy arrive at Caer Colur with several mercenary guards. Achren hopes to rule Prydain by controlling Eilonwy's mind while also awakening her full ancestral magical power. That night, Gwydion rows their raft to a point of land below the seaward walls that protect the ruins of Caer Colur from the being flooded by the ocean, hiding the book and bauble before they begin their search for the princess. Taran climbs to the tower room where Eilonwy resides, only to find that she does not recognize him or the names of her former companions. She flees from her room and Taran follows, but he is arrested by Magg. Gwydion, Fflewddur, and Gurgi then struggle with Magg and several guards, until Eilonwy and Achren appear, the princess now fully under the witch's control. Achren needs the spell book to master her control of the House of Llyr's magic, and Rhun stupidly reveals that he and the companions know its location. Achren turns to Taran and offers a bargain: she will restore Eilonwy's memories of him and allow them to wed if the young man helps her acquire the book and bauble. Rather than force Taran to decide or be punished for refusing, Gwydion reveals the location of the items.

Eilonwy is given the two heirlooms and begins to examine the book in the light of the bauble. While doing so, she begins to resist Achren's spell. Calling upon the full power of the Pelydryn, she incinerates the book in a column of crimson flame rather than let it be abused. Achren aims her fury at Magg, who responds by opening the gates that protect the castle from the sea. He then escapes on the only ship with his surviving guards. As the castle floods, Taran loses consciousness.

Taran awakes to discover the companions have reached the shallows alive, thanks to the still-enchanted Llyan pulling them up the beach. Eilonwy explains how she was kidnapped by Magg and lost her bauble en route to Caer Colur. Before leaving the sea, she finds a ceremonial horn that has washed ashore, remarking that this artifact is "all that's left of Caer Colur." She gives the horn to Taran as token of her pledge that she will not forget him during her tenure at Dinas Rhydnant. Having no gift of his own to give to her, Taran can pledge only his word in return, but notes that the word of an Assistant Pig-Keeper "shall do very well indeed." Taran then mentions the hope of Prince Rhun's parents that he and Eilonwy will be engaged. Eilonwy scolds him for taking such a hope seriously.

Thirteen years after the events of ''RoboCop'', RoboCop has become outdated and tired. Delta City (formerly Detroit) is now considered the safest place on Earth, and he is no longer viewed as particularly necessary.

The first half of the series focuses on Alex Murphy's former partner, John T. Cable, who is slain by RoboCop after his system is hacked to program him to terminate Cable. Cable is then resurrected as a cyborg in most aspects identical to the RoboCop model, save for color and the addition of a second sidearm. "RoboCable" is sent to destroy RoboCop, but after several battles, Cable is convinced to ally with Murphy. Meanwhile, OCP (on the verge of bankruptcy) is taken over by a scheming executive, Damian Lowe, who manages to murder the entire board of directors. To bring OCP back, he plans to use an artificial intelligence called SAINT to automate the entire city.

The second half of the series introduces Dr. David Kaydick, who plans to introduce a "bio-tech" virus called "Legion" to wipe out not only Delta City but all life on the planet, infecting computers and people alike. He takes control of RoboCable by planting a chip in him that causes him pain or death, at Kaydick's discretion. RoboCop receives aid from a group of tech thieves led by Ann R. Key, who are determined to stop Kaydick, and RoboCop's own son, James – now fully grown and aware of his father's fate. RoboCop and his rag-tag band race to stop Kaydick from infiltrating OCP tower and activating SAINT, which would presumably kill almost all humans. During the confrontation, RoboCop and James reconcile with each other, and manage to rekindle RoboCable's previous personality. Key and Kaydick both die during a confrontation with each other. Using James's EMP device, and having shut down RoboCop, RoboCable and Legion are terminated. RoboCop gets rebooted without his previous OCP restriction programming (as well as restoring his identity as "Alex Murphy" as opposed to an OCP product number) or his prime directives. After viewing a goodbye message left by Cable, Murphy returns to active duty to stop the resultant crime in Delta City due to the EMP pulse blacking out the city, deciding that he will follow his three prime directives: Serve the public trust, protect the innocent, and uphold the law.

In the epilogue, Murphy and his allies form the Prime Directives foundation while OCP is disgraced publicly and facing thousands of indictments and a multi-trillion dollar class action lawsuit.

After a mission in which the uniforms of the Planet Express crew are ripped to shreds by a gigantic moth, Professor Farnsworth and Hermes agree to buy new ones. They pay a visit to a clothing store and buy a set of uniforms commissioned by the professor a year ago, but were never picked up, complete with the Planet Express logo. Bender purchases fox hunting attire and joins a hunting club, dragging Fry and Leela along with him. Leela protests the injustice of such an activity, much to the dismay of the Master of the Hunt (voiced by Patrick Stewart) and other club members. It is revealed that the fox they are hunting is actually a robot, as are the hunting dogs and horses, leading Bender and Leela to launch a protest movement called B.A.R.F. (Bender's Animal Robot Front), culminating in attempts to legally abolish the injustice against robotic animals.

Though B.A.R.F. succeeds in banning the butchering of robotic animal flesh and liberating robotic chickens from laying eggs as they were designed to, they fail to outlaw robot foxing via injunction due to the judge being a member of the hunting club. Bender kidnaps the next robot fox to be hunted and takes its place in the cage. The fox is taken back to Planet Express and quickly becomes popular with the crew, until it rips apart their new uniforms, kills Amy's beloved chicken, scratches Fry in the face, tears up Leela's sign and flees, prompting Fry and Leela to hunt it.

Bender is discovered with the fox hunt about to start. His plan backfires as the Master of the Hunt makes Bender the new target of the hunt. He flees into the forest and meets with the robot fox, which assists him out of a leg trap by chewing off his foot. They evade several traps laid by the hunters and catch the Master of the Hunt. Fry and Leela catch up to them as Bender is poised with a rifle aimed at the Master of the Hunt, though Bender ultimately declines to kill him.

The Master of the Hunt reclaims the rifle and is about to shoot Bender, but the robot fox attacks and kills him, revealing the Master himself to be a robot. This prompts Bender to state that robot-on-robot violence is OK.

A disadvantaged young man tries to get by in Margaret Thatcher's England. Writing in his book ''The Cinema of Ken Loach'', Jacob Leigh comments: "''Looks and Smiles'' reveals the depression people felt in the industrial North of England in the 1980s; but it is as depressing as Mick's life. ... Loach's characteristic attention to detail renders the film a period piece."

Within the Marvel Multiverse is an alternate Earth designated '''Earth-2149''', which contains alternate zombie versions of Marvel superheroes. The story begins as an unknown superhero from another dimension, brought by the "Hunger", crash lands before infecting the Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four and almost all other superheroes. The infection spreads by contact with the blood of the victim, usually through a bite by an infected individual. The zombie super heroes largely retain their intellect, personality and super powers, and are able to function regardless of damage to their brain, although they are consistently driven by the "Hunger" for human flesh.

The series begins where the ''Crossover'' story-arc ended, with Magneto destroying the cross-dimensional transporter after the Ultimate Fantastic Four and survivors escaped back to the Ultimate universe. After a battle with the zombies, Magneto learns that the Acolytes and Forge are still alive on Asteroid M. However, before he can reach them, he is attacked once again, killed and eaten by the zombies, though he manages to behead the zombified Hawkeye. The Silver Surfer arrives on Earth and informs the zombies that his master Galactus is en route to devour the planet. The zombies attack the Silver Surfer, who is overpowered and devoured by several of the former superheroes: Colonel America, Iron Man, Giant-Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, the Hulk, and Wolverine. After acquiring a portion of the Power Cosmic, they slaughter most of the remaining zombies, intent on satiating their hunger despite the latters' unpalatability.

The Acolytes return to Earth to find Magneto, but instead discover a still-living Black Panther. The Panther has escaped from the lab of the zombie Giant-Man, who has been keeping him alive as a food source, as a result of which the Panther is now missing an arm and a foot. Zombie Wasp gets into an argument with her husband when she discovers he was hoarding the Black Panther. He promptly decapitates Zombie Wasp by biting off her head, which remains sentient. After observing the Wasp's head begging for flesh, Black Panther reasons that the hunger is more psychological than physical.

Meanwhile, the zombies have decided that the flesh of other zombies just isn't satisfying. Galactus then arrives on Earth and is attacked by the zombies, but he repels them easily. Giant-Man, Iron Man and Bruce Banner create a device that amplifies the powers they gained from the Silver Surfer, and together with Colonel America, Luke Cage, Spider-Man and Wolverine they are able to injure Galactus. The cosmic-powered zombies fight off zombified versions of several supervillains, although Colonel America is killed by the Red Skull, and then proceed to devour Galactus. Giant-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Man and Wolverine are then infused with Galactus' power cosmic' the group thus becomes collective Galacti.

Five years later, Black Panther, the Acolytes, and the Wasp, restored with a cybernetic body, return to Earth to find the planet depopulated. Unknown to them, the Zombie Galacti have taken their hunger to the stars. In the final scenes, an intelligent alien race on a distant planet is fearful of the coming of Galactus, as they can see the signs of his imminent arrival in the night sky. To their horror, the Zombie Galacti land on their world instead and immediately begin to consume the populace.

Dr. Stephen Fleming (Irons), a physician who has entered politics and become a minister, lives in London with wife Ingrid (Richardson) and daughter Sally (Clarke). Their adult son, Martyn (Graves), a young journalist, lives elsewhere in London. At a reception, Stephen meets a young woman, Anna Barton (Binoche), the daughter of a British diplomat and four-times married Frenchwoman (Caron). Anna introduces herself as a close friend of Martyn's; she and Stephen are instantly attracted to each other. Some time later, Martyn brings Anna to meet his parents at their elegant townhouse and reveals they are romantically involved. The sexual tension between Stephen and Anna is apparent, although Martyn and Ingrid seem unaware.

After Anna calls his office, Stephen goes to her flat, where they have sex. The following day, Martyn is promoted and Ingrid arranges a celebratory dinner. There, Ingrid seems suspicious and interrogates Anna about her childhood. Anna says her brother, a year older, committed suicide at age 16 over "love." After dinner, Martyn drives Anna home and Stephen follows them. Once Martyn leaves, Stephen enters and tells Anna how much he "wanted to touch her during dinner", leading to them having sex again. Anna describes her brother's death, after he had expressed incestuous desire, saying "he wanted me all to himself and not to grow up." She says that damaged people are dangerous, and that she hates possessiveness.

Stephen's obsession with Anna deepens; on a whim, he leaves a conference in Brussels to go to Paris, where Anna is spending the weekend with Martyn. While Martyn sleeps, Stephen and Anna have sex in a doorway. Afterwards, Stephen moves in opposite Anna and Martyn, spying on them; he now wants to be with Anna permanently, even if it destroys his family. Anna dissuades him, assuring him that, as long as she is with Martyn he will always have access to her. Visiting Anna's home, Stephen finds Peter Wetzler (Stormare), her former lover. A jealous Stephen assumes Anna is cheating and, when Peter leaves, confronts her. Anna denies it and recounts that, when she witnessed her brother's suicide, she had fled to Peter and slept with him as a reaction.

The Flemings visit Edward Lloyd (Bannen), Ingrid's father and Stephen's political mentor, to celebrate her birthday. Martyn announces that Anna has accepted his proposal of marriage, which visibly disturbs Stephen. That night, Sally observes him leaving Anna's room. An anxious Stephen lies about it, telling Sally he was talking to Anna about the marriage because Ingrid was upset. Later, the Flemings have lunch with Anna's mother, Elizabeth, who disparages the marriage, saying that Martyn doesn't seem like Anna's 'usual type' but noting how closely he resembles Anna's dead brother. Elizabeth notices the strained behavior between Anna and Stephen. She deduces the affair and warns Stephen to end it.

Stephen initially complies and ends the relationship. He tries to confess to Martyn and Ingrid, separately, but in the end does not do it. He phones Anna, but hangs up when Martyn answers. Anna sends a key to Stephen's office, with the address of a flat where they can meet. She tells Stephen that she could not marry Martyn without being with him. They meet at the flat and begin another tryst, but Martyn—having discovered about the flat by chance—finds them in bed. Stunned, he accidentally falls over a railing to his death. A devastated Stephen clutches him while Anna silently leaves.

Stephen's affair is exposed and becomes a media frenzy. An anguished Ingrid questions whether he had ever loved her and tells him she wishes they had never met. Stephen resigns his government position. Meeting Anna's mother, he discovers Anna is staying with her, but he and Anna are silent in their last meeting. Stephen, leaving his wife and daughter, retires to a rented room in a southern European town. In narration, he reveals that he saw Anna only once more, in passing at an airport, and that she has a child with Peter. Stephen stares at a huge blowup on his wall of a photo Martyn gave him of Stephen, Anna and Martyn together. He ends with a calm note: "She is no different from anyone else."

Young motorcycle racer Takuya Yamashiro sees a UFO falling to Earth, a space warship named the ''Marveller''. Takuya's father Dr. Hiroshi Yamashiro, a space archaeologist, investigates the case, but is killed upon finding the spaceship. The incident also attracts the attention of Professor Monster and his evil , an alien group that plans to rule the universe.

Takuya follows his father to the Marveller and discovers Garia, the last surviving warrior of Planet Spider, a world that was destroyed by Professor Monster and the Iron Cross Army. Garia explains that he was hunting Prof. Monster but now needs someone to carry on the fight and he injects Takuya with some of his own blood. The blood of a person from Planet Spider gives Takuya spider-like powers. Garia then gives Takuya a bracelet that activates his spider protector costume, shoots web-lines, and controls the Marveller ship (which can also transform into a giant battle robot called "Leopardon"). Using his powers, Takuya fights Professor Monster's army and other threats to Earth under the name Spider-Man.

Three years out of high school in the fictional Burnfield (filmed mainly in Austin, Texas), four friends are in the daily habit of hanging out drinking by the garbage dumpster of a corner convenience store, occasionally taunting the foreign-born store owner/operator, married couple Nazeer and Pakeesa. The film's main character, Jeff, is an aimless soul unsure of his future since dropping out of college. Jeff is dating Sooze, a student at the local community college who plans to leave Burnfield and study visual arts in New York City. Jeff's best friends are Buff and Tim. Tim, recently honorably discharged from the Air Force, is a troubled heavy-drinker with a knack for shooting off his mouth. Sooze's friend Bee-Bee is a recovering alcoholic who hangs out with the group one evening.

This particular evening, the group are expecting a visit from a high school friend, Neil "Pony" Moynihan, lead singer for Dreamgirl, an up and coming rock band that is on a stadium tour as the openingact for a major rock band. Dreamgirl performed in Austin that night, but the gang could not afford tickets. Pony arrives with Erica, Dreamgirl's publicist. Erica reveals how excited Pony has been about seeing the gang and most of the group is glad to see him, although some of them are bitter and jealous of his recent success. As the expanded group hangs out beside the store, their actions and conversations show that they all are contemplating what they want to do with the rest of their lives. By the end of the night, Bee-Bee is in medical trouble after drinking an entire bottle of hard liquor. Buff has slept with Erica and is going to Los Angeles to shoot a Dreamgirl music video. Sooze has left town with Pony. Tim has been arrested and released, and Jeff is berated by Nazeer for "throw(ing) it all away".

Min-kyung, is a fresh high school graduate. She has worked in a liquor restaurant to pay off her father's gambling debt. However, Min-kyung borrowed some money and ran away, hoping to find a rich man as her spouse. Meanwhile, Young Ho is the son of a poor rice cake house owner, and works to pay off his dead father's debt. He falls in love with Min-kyung, because she looks exactly like his dead girlfriend. When Min Kyung finds out that Young Ho is not rich, she dumps him, and goes back to a rich man (Son Chang Min) who proposed to Min Kyung once before. However, Min Kyung wakes up to true love and realizes that happiness does not necessarily come in money.

Young-ho's father Moon Dae-cha (Lee Soon-jae) observed his diligence and decided to give Young-ho a chance to prove his worth in comparison with Dong-kyu (There is no scene that Young-ho realized that Moon Dae-cha is his illegitimate biological father, and the poor rice cake house owner is not his birth father, but a stepfather). Young-ho's father announced that there would be a fair competition from the two men to prove their worth and decide the heir to the company.

That same night, Young-ho's father met Min-kyung's father. Dong-kyu's father, who was drunk, knocked down the duo as they were talking to each other and crossing the road. Dong-kyu was seen rushing and persuaded his father to escape while he called for an ambulance.

Dong-kyu used this opportunity to gain advantage over Young-ho in the competition to become the heir, with his father's help. Young-ho, on the other hand, was having a hard time struggling to compete against Dong-kyu and his acts of sabotage.

Young-ho was shocked when he saw his father at the meeting. Young-ho was declared to be the heir of the company and both Dong-kyu and his father announced their resignations.

Young-ho instead wished to fulfill his long-time dream of becoming an astronomer and announced his intention of resigning as boss in order to become a full-time astronomer, after working for a few months. With the consent of his father, Young-ho took up astronomy at a space observation centre in Australia. He later married Min-kyung, and was seen swearing their wedding vows in front of a Christian priest.

Isaac Knott (Nick Stahl) is a successful radio talk show host on a New York City public radio outlet. He lost the use of his legs at the age of eight in an automobile accident that also claimed the lives of his parents. He is a wheelchair user.

One day, Isaac learns about a man who showed up at a local hospital and demanded to have his legs amputated. The man was part of a secret subculture of able-bodied people who want to be paraplegics. They use wheelchairs whenever possible, and they try to deaden their legs through artificial means. Isaac becomes fascinated by these strange people, and begins studying the phenomenon for a news piece on his radio show.

Through his research, Isaac meets Fiona (Vera Farmiga), a sexy but mysterious blonde who collects and restores Chinese art. Fiona also owns a wheelchair she doesn't really need. Increasingly attracted to her, Isaac tries to learn all he can about her role in the fake-paraplegic underground. Fiona, however, does not give away her secrets for free. Soon, Isaac discovers that the exchange of information and trust goes deeper the longer they know one another.

''Dom Juan or The Feast with the Statue'' (1665) presents the story of the last two days of life of the Sicilian courtier Dom Juan Tenorio, who is a young, libertine aristocrat known as a seducer of women and as an atheist. Throughout the story, Dom Juan is accompanied by his valet, Sganarelle, a truculent and superstitious, cowardly and greedy man who engages his master in intellectual debates. The many facets of Dom Juan's personality are exposed to show that he is an adulterer (Act I); an accomplished womanizer (Act II); an altruistic, religious non-conformist (Act III); a spendthrift, bad son to his father (Act IV); and a religious hypocrite who pretends a spiritual rebirth and return to the faith of the Roman Catholic Church, which is foiled by death (Act V).

In New York City, Helen returns to the apartment she shares with her boyfriend, Marco, after enduring an unhygienic and inept abortion. Helen becomes ill and Bobby, an amiable small-time drug dealer to whom Marco owes money, shows unexpected gentleness and concern for her. Helen considers returning to her dysfunctional family but moves in with Bobby, and when she finds him taking drugs, he explains that he is not an addict, but only uses a little. At Sherman Square nicknamed Needle Park for being a location where addicts trade and use drugs Bobby introduces Helen to various acquaintances, including his brother Hank, who burgles for a living. Helen witnesses the intricate ritual of addicts shooting up heroin.

Bobby and Helen are eventually evicted from their apartment and move into a sleazier building. After Bobby asks her to score heroin for him, Helen and the dealer, Freddie, are arrested by Detective Hotch. Hotch asks Helen, "Bobby's got you scoring for him already, huh?" implying this is a common trend for Bobby and his girlfriends. He then explains to Helen what it's like when there is a panic in Needle Park; a panic is when the heroin supply on the street is low and addicts begin to turn on each other, often "ratting" or turning others in to the police in return for favors. Hotch unexpectedly releases Helen and she returns to Bobby, who begins to use drugs more heavily. Helen eventually begins to shoot up as well.

Bobby soon realizes Helen is using and proposes marriage to her. Hank asks what they will live on and offers Bobby work as a burglar, to which Helen objects and insists that she will get a job. However, Helen quickly quits her new waitress job after getting customer orders muddled. Just before Bobby is to assist Hank in a burglary, he overdoses. Hank is angry with Bobby for jeopardizing his plans, but he allows Bobby to assist him on another night, during which Bobby is arrested. While he is in jail, Helen finds it harder to get drugs and ends up having sex with Hank, after which they do heroin together. When Bobby is released, he viciously beats Helen.

Bobby persuades Santo, a major drug dealer, to let him handle distribution in Needle Park, while Helen turns to prostitution for fast money. After Bobby distributes Santo's drugs, Needle Park residents are happy to have a reliable source. As Helen's health deteriorates from increasing drug use, her relationship with Bobby suffers, and Hotch keeps an eye on her. After Helen and one of her customers are detained, Hotch asks the arresting officer not to book her, as he needs her for something he is planning.

Helen's mother writes to her, inviting Helen to meet family friends who are visiting the city. Reluctantly, Helen agrees, dressing carefully to hide the track marks on her arms. Instead of meeting the friends, she picks up a customer, who Bobby scares away when he finds them together. Realizing they have been through a lot, they take the ferry to the countryside and buy a puppy. On the return trip, they discuss making a fresh start by moving away from Needle Park, but Bobby refuses and convinces Helen to shoot up in a men's room. When the puppy begins to whine, Bobby puts it outside the restroom, and when Helen discovers the dog missing, she sees it just before it falls off the end of the ferry into the water.

Helen goes to see her ex-boyfriend, Marco, but soon returns to Bobby to steal drugs from him. Needing to get high, Helen goes to a doctor claiming she needs drugs for pain. Aware Helen is an addict, the doctor gives her a few samples and tells her never to return. She is arrested for selling some pills to children, during which Hotch warns her about the dangers of the women's prison. Knowing that Bobby can lead them to Santo, he offers Helen a deal if she will help them to catch Bobby in the act of picking up a drug shipment.

In the next two weeks, Hotch approaches Helen several times, reminding her of her pending trial. Depressed, she increases her drug use, but finally agrees to help the police. One night Helen and Hotch watch a squad of policemen apprehend Bobby, who is in possession of a large amount of heroin. When Bobby spots Helen on the street, he yells at her. Months later, when he is released from jail, Helen waits for him at the gate. Although his first impulse is to rebuff her, he turns to her and asks her, "Well?", and together they walk away.

The novel begins with a frame tale in which the unnamed narrator describes the narrative that follows as "the great secret of my life." The narrator notes that he is taking a substantial risk by composing the narrative, but that it is one he feels compelled to record, regardless. The narrator also chooses to withhold the name of the small Georgia town where his narrative begins, as there are still living residents of the town who might be able to connect him to the narrative.

Throughout the novel, the adult narrator from the frame interjects into the text to offer reflective commentary into the events of the narrative.

Early life

Born shortly after the Civil War in a small Georgia town, the narrator's African-American mother protected him as a child and teenager. The narrator's father, a wealthy white member of the Southern aristocracy, is absent throughout the narrator's childhood but, nevertheless, continues to provide financial support for the narrator and his mother. Because of that financial support, she had the means to raise her son in an environment more middle-class than many black people could enjoy at the time.

The narrator describes learning to love music at a young age as well as attending an integrated school. It is while attending this school that the narrator first realizes he is African-American and thus subject to ridicule and mistreatment for his racial heritage. This "discovery" occurs when he is publicly corrected by his teacher and the headmaster when he stands when "the white scholars" (schoolchildren) are asked to stand. Returning home from school, the distraught narrator confronts his mother, asking her if he is a "nigger." His mother reassures him, however, noting that while she is not white, "your father is one of the greatest men in the country—the best blood of the South is in you." The narrator notes that this event became a racial awakening and loss of innocence that caused him to suddenly begin searching for—and finding—faults in himself and his mother, setting the stage for his eventual decision (though far in the future) to "pass" as a white man.

While in school, the narrator also grows to admire and befriends "Shiny," an unmistakably African-American boy, who is described as one of the brightest and best-spoken children in the class.

After the narrator's mother dies, he becomes a poor orphan and subject to harsh conditions.

He adapted very well to life with lower-class black people and was able to move easily among the classes of black society. During this carefree period, he taught music and attended church, where he came in contact with upper-class black people. Living in an all black community, he discovers and describes three classes of black people: the desperate, the domestics, and the independent workmen or professionals.

The Ex-Colored Man believed the desperate class consists of lower-class black people who loathe the whites. The domestic worker class comprises black people who work as servants to whites. And the artisans, skilled workers, and black professionals class included black people who had little interaction with the whites. Many white readers, who viewed all black people as a stereotype of a single class, were unfamiliar with class distinctions described among black people.

Time with the Rich White Gentleman

While playing ragtime at a late night hotspot in New York, the Ex-Colored Man caught the attention of a wealthy white gentleman. The gentleman's liking for ragtime develops as liking for the Ex-Colored Man himself. The white gentleman hired him to play ragtime piano for guests at parties. Soon the Ex-Colored Man spent most of his time working for the white gentleman, who paid him to play ragtime music for hours at a time. He would play until the white gentleman would say "that will do." The Ex-Colored man would tire after the long hours but would continue playing as he saw the joy and serenity he brought the white gentleman.

The white gentleman frequently "loaned" the Ex-Colored Man out to other people to play at their parties. The gentleman was not "loaning" him out as a piece of property, but simply giving the narrator a broader palette to display his talents. The Ex-Colored man saw how the rich lived; he was thrilled to live in this lifestyle. The Rich White Gentleman influenced the Ex-Colored Man more than anyone else he met. In his relationship toward the Rich White Man he was aware of aspects of the slave/master, but saw there was also one of friendship. While he was with the white gentleman, the Ex-Colored Man decided he would use his skills to aid in abolitionism. Even though life was pleasant, it was void of substance; using his music to aid poor African Americans he felt would be a better use of his talents. The Ex-Colored Man continued to show devotion to the white gentleman, as the white gentleman treated him with kindness, which eventually led to the forming a friendship while in Paris.

The Ex-Colored Man's devotion to the white gentleman expresses the relationship that some slaves had with their masters (slaves who showed devotion to the slave-owner). Johnson suggests that, although the Ex-Colored Man had "freedom," he was still suffering from the effects of slavery. After playing for the white gentleman while touring Europe, the Ex-Colored Man decided to leave him and return to the South to study Negro spirituals. He planned to use his knowledge of classical and ragtime music to create a new Black American musical genre. He wanted to "bring glory and honor to the Negro race," to return to his heritage, and proud and self-righteous race.

Many critics have suspected that the Rich White Gentleman may not be white but is passing, as well. His love for ragtime music and his conviction that the Ex-Colored Man not embrace his blackness to pursue a career as a definitively black composer could be used to argue that he experienced inner turmoil with his racial identity similar to that experienced by the Ex-Colored Man.

The narrator's time in Paris, however, is cut short when he goes to see a performance of ''Faust'', during which he sits next to a beautiful young woman for whom he initially expresses great admiration. However, throughout the performance, he notices the young woman speaking to an older couple whom she refers to as "mother" and "father." The narrator is shocked when he recognizes the man as his own wealthy white father, whom he has not seen for ten years, and realizes that the two women must be the man's lawful wife and daughter, making the young woman the narrator's biological half-sister. This event leaves a deep impression upon the narrator and causes him to decide to leave the company of his patron (the Rich White Gentleman) to return to the United States on his mission of advancing African-American musical forms.

The lynching

Just as the Ex-Colored Man began to work on his music in the South, he witnessed the lynching of a black man. The crowd wanted to hang the man but burned him instead. The Ex-Colored Man narrates in detail what he saw, "He squirmed, he withered, strained at his chains, then gave out cries and groans that I shall always hear." The narrator is horrified by the extent of this violent racism played out in the town square. He continues, "The cries and groans were choked off by the fire and smoke; but his eyes, bulging from their sockets, rolled from side to side, appealing in vain for help." The scene that day stuck vividly in his mind and burned a sharp image in his brain. He finishes with, "Some of the crowd yelled and cheered, others seemed appalled at what they had done, and there were those who turned away sickened at sight. I was fixed to the spot where I stood powerless to take my eyes from what I did not want to see".

Many critics believe that Johnson wrote this scene to heighten awareness of and opposition to lynchings. The turn of the century was the peak of lynchings conducted against blacks, mostly in the South, in the period when southern states disfranchised blacks through new constitutions and practices such as poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses and white primaries. Michael Berube writes, "there is no question that Johnson wrote the book, in large part, to try to stem the tide of lynchings sweeping the nation."

After the lynching, the Ex-Colored Man decides to "pass" as white. He gives up his dream of making music to glorify his race and thinks he does not want to be "identified with people that could with impunity be treated worse than animals," or with people who could treat other humans that way. He simply wishes to remain neutral. The Ex-Colored Man declares that he "would neither disclaim the black race nor claim the white race."

Passing

The world accepted the Ex-Colored Man as white. Our narrator has been "passing" as a white man for the remainder of his life, and titles his autobiographical narrative "Ex-Colored Man." At the same time, the narrator learns that his childhood friend "Shiny" is now teaching as a professor at a Negro college, suggesting a contrast between himself, who has chosen to pass, and Shiny, who has embraced his African-American heritage.

The narrator eventually begins a courtship with a white woman, causing an internal dilemma as to whether or not to reveal his African-American heritage, and he asks her to marry him. After the two have a chance meeting with Shiny, in which the narrator is "surprised at the amount of interest a refined black man could arouse," the narrator decides to reveal his secret to her. At first shocked, she flees, and the narrator resolves to give her sufficient space to let her make up her mind. Eventually, she returns to him, having absorbed his revelation and chosen to accept him. They are eventually married and have two children, and the narrator lives out his life as a successful yet mediocre businessman.

His wife dies during the birth of their second child, leaving the narrator alone to raise their two children. At the end of the book, the Ex-colored Man says:

My love for my children makes me glad that I am what I am, and keeps me from desiring to be otherwise; and yet, when I sometimes open a little box in which I still keep my fast yellowing manuscripts, the only tangible remnants of a vanished dream, a dead ambition, a sacrificed talent, I cannot repress the thought, that after all, I have chosen the lesser part, that I have sold my birthright for a mess of pottage.

"Passing" could be interpreted as a decision to avoid the black race. He states that he "regrets holding himself back." He may have been implying that if he had, he embraced the Negro community and let the community embrace him, that he could have made a difference.

The Ex-Colored Man was one of the few people who was not held back by being black. He had a strong education, smart wits, and light skin. The masses all assumed he was white. However, his talent was in black music. Because of his fear of being a Negro, he threw away his talent as a musician to "become" a white man. This is one portrayal of the social strains due to racial discrimination; he felt that society forced him to choose between his love of African-American music and the safety and convenience of being white with the majority. The white gentleman fully accepted the Ex-Colored Man for who he was, but he feared that others would not. He decided to protect his mixed-race children by having them grow up "white." He wanted to give them every advantage he could.

The epic narrates the adventures of its protagonist, '''Arsalan'''. The story begins with the ''Banu (lady) of Roum'' (the Arabian-Parsi name for Eastern ''Roman'' Empire or also known as Constantinople). Roum was conquered by European invaders, and its pregnant Banu forced to flee for her life. She is wedded to an Egyptian merchant and gives birth to her child, Arsalan. The merchant claims the child as his own. Eventually, of course, Arsalan learns of his royal origin and decides to reclaim his throne.

Members of a municipal band, Stanley and Oliver seem to be always following someone else's lead, rather than that of the temperamental conductor. Soon they're out of a job, as well as their lodgings when the landlady finds out they've been fired. The boys try their luck at being street musicians, but the tiffs they get into with each other soon spread to passersby in general, until the street is filled with men pulling each other's pants off.

Stan and Ollie are ordered to wash the dishes by Ollie's wife (in the first film-title pun-gag, Stan pours too much liquid-detergent into the dishpan, causing the resulting washing-solution to be "much thicker than water") but Stan dries them and puts them back in the washbowl. Ollie then tells him to put them somewhere dry and he places them on a gas ring where they heat up, so that when Ollie picks them up he drops them and they all smash. James Finlayson then calls to collect payment for some furniture. Stan, Ollie and Mrs. Hardy embark on a lengthy "the money that you gave to him, to give to me to pay him" dialogue routine. At Stan's suggestion Ollie then withdraws the couple's savings from the bank to buy furniture and inadvertently pays virtually the whole amount at an auction for a grandfather clock which is soon crushed under a passing truck. Awaiting the wrath of Mrs. Hardy back at home he tells Stan that "here is another nice kettle of fish you've pickled me in".

Mrs. Hardy then causes serious injuries to Ollie when she hits him over the head with a frying pan, requiring him to be rushed to hospital for a blood transfusion. The doctor conscripts Stan to be the unwilling blood donor ("what do you think I am, a blood worm?"). During the transfusion, the blood-transferring equipment malfunctions and too much blood is pumped out of Stan and into Ollie, requiring some of the blood inside Ollie to be pumped into Stan. But too much blood gets pumped back into Stan, requiring another reversal, and so forth ... until the transfusion machine explodes. This sets up the climactic sight gag: when Laurel and Hardy exit the hospital they appear to have morphed into each other. Ollie is minus his toothbrush mustache and wearing Stan's hat and bow-tie, while Stan is wearing Ollie's hat, necktie and mustache. The two comedians proceed to do spot-on imitations of each other's mannerisms. Ollie mimes Stan's famous befuddled head scratch while an exasperated Stan twiddles his tie in response and delivers Ollie's signature catchphrase, "Here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" (in Hardy's dubbed voice). Ollie reacts by breaking into Stan's trademark cry for the comic fadeout. And after they said their goodbyes to the doctors as they leave the hospital, Oliver (as Stan) told Stan (as Oliver) "Wait a minute, I forgot something!" And it was pulling the end title screen.

Laurel and Hardy play two sailors on shore leave who decide to rent an automobile. With Laurel at the wheel, he nearly crashes the car into a pedestrian at a street corner. Hardy apologizes for Stan's poor driving, takes the wheel, and shortly thereafter crashes the car into a lamppost. Chagrined, Hardy drives off and parks in front of a drugstore where two young ladies are having difficulty with a street-side vending machine that has taken their penny without giving them a gumball. Hardy tries to shake a gumball from the dispenser but only ends up breaking the glass container, scattering gumballs all over the sidewalk.

Seeing this, the angry proprietor confronts Hardy with Stan joining in, constantly slipping on the scattered gumballs. The girls come to their rescue and rough up the proprietor, accidentally breaking another gumball machine in the process. This action leads to a chain reaction of numerous drivers and passengers battling one another and deliberately damaging their automobiles. Eventually a motorcycle policeman arrives and is told that Stan and Oliver were the instigators of the fracas.

After serving time in prison for an assault on a liquor store employee, Brett Sprague is released from prison and returns home to his two brothers and his and their girlfriends, mother and stepfather. Things have changed, and as Brett begins to drink his way through the day, he regains his "top-dog" position one argument at a time. This power trip gets Brett and his brothers united in rage against their girlfriends and mother, and they are involved in a heinous crime. The aftermath of the night unfolds through the story with flashforwards.

As with its predecessor, ''Blotto'', the film is set during the Prohibition.

The film starts with Stan and Ollie listing ingredients outside "Malt and Hops", a shop selling ingredients for brewing. Ollie says he is going to make 15 gallons of beer and Stan says "we can't drink 15 gallons". Ollie replies "what we can't drink we will sell". The film then cuts to Laurel and Hardy arriving in handcuffs at prison for concocting and selling their own home brew. They become prisoners 44633 and 44634.

Stan's loose tooth gets him into trouble with the governor. As they are taken to their cell Stan says that two other inmates are Amos 'n' Andy.

They are put in cell 14 with five other prisoners including "The Tiger" (Walter Long), the roughest, toughest and meanest of all inmates. Stan has a loose tooth that causes him to emit a razzberry at the end of every sentence; the inmate interprets this as a coolly defiant attitude and is impressed—nobody else ever stood up to him like that. He and Stan become fast friends. Stan and Ollie have to share the top bunk as there are only six beds.

Laurel & Hardy attend prison school with James Finlayson as the teacher. The vaudeville routine that follows ends with an ink-soaked ball of paper, meant for somebody else, hitting the teacher, in the face and the boys wind up in solitary. There is a sustained scene of the bleak cells with the unseen boys conversing through the walls.

During a prison riot, the boys escape. A $500 dollar award appears on a wanted poster. They end on a cotton plantation, where they hide out undetected, in blackface. Ollie sings "Lazy Moon" while Stan dances. Stan falls in a pond and his blackface washes off. The prison warden drives by the plantation with his daughter and his car breaks down. When they attempt to repair the warden's car, they are discovered due to Stan's involuntary razzberry and are sent back to prison.

A warden decides to send Laurel to the prison dentist to have the offending tooth pulled. Ollie decides to sit with Stan in the second chair and accidentally gets his tooth pulled. When the dentist eventually pulls Stan's tooth he pulls the wrong one.

Tricked by a prison guard into breaking their alleged personal hunger strike, by being promised a thanksgiving-style feast, they go to the mess hall, only to be served the usual drab fare. Laurel protests the absence of the feast, but is threatened by the guards. Soon after, as guns are being passed around under the tables, the naively-puzzled Laurel cluelessly sets off the Tommy gun he has been passed and starts the planned riot prematurely. The Tiger tries to stab Stan for ruining the plan. The warden's daughter is trapped in a burning building and Stan and Ollie get ladders to rescue her. The ladder is too short and Ollie has to hold it high. Stan fires off the Tommy gun again and inadvertently breaks up the prison riot. The grateful warden issues them a written pardon. Laurel unintentionally "razzes" him (and naively solicits him for an order of beer when he misunderstands the warden telling them to "start all over again") and their exit from the prison is a very fast one.

Opening title card

H.M. Walker wrote the opening title card to this film, which states, "Mr. Hardy is a man of wonderful ideas—So is Mr. Laurel—As long as he doesn't try to think."

Stan and Ollie are down to their last six bucks. They visit an employment agency, where a call comes from Mrs. Vanderveer looking for a maid and butler to help at a dinner party she is holding that night. Ollie tells the receptionist they can fill the post. They arrive and Stan is dressed in drag, pretending to be the maid "Agnes."

At the dinner party, Stan is told to take the cocktails, but instead of clearing them away, he drinks them and becomes drunk. Mr. Vanderveer gets impatient with Ollie's incompetent attempts to seat the guests. When Mr. Vanderveer tells the drunken Stan to "serve up the salad ''without dressing''", Stan serves the salad in his underwear. Mrs. Vanderveer faints at the sight of Stan, and Mr. Vandeveer chases Stan and Ollie out of the house.

Stan and Ollie then become road sweepers and wonder why they are always in the gutter. They decide to get an education because in Stan's words "we're not illiterate enough." They eat their lunch outside a bank building while a robbery is taking place inside. They inadvertently catch the robber when he slips on a banana peel tossed on the sidewalk by Stan. The grateful bank manager offers them a job in his bank. When Oliver mentions they would not be much use since he and Stan do not have an education, the bank president expands on their goal to attend night school by saying, "If it's an education you want, you shall have the finest education money can buy." He enrolls Stan and Ollie at Oxford University in England, and they depart the U.S. for England by liner, arriving at Southampton then taking a steam train north to Oxford.

When Stan and Ollie arrive at the university, they are accidentally dressed for Eton College. The snobby undergraduate students, led by the mischievous Johnson (Gerald Rogers) decide to give them the "royal initiation," which involves a number of pranks. They are sent off into a maze and quickly became lost. One of the students (Henry Borden) dresses as a ghost to frighten Stan and Ollie, and while they sit on a bench to sleep, the ghost's hand comes through the hedge to help Stan smoke his pipe and cigar (substituting for Stan's actual hand).

Stan and Ollie finally exit the maze the next morning. Johnson poses as the dean and gives Stan and Ollie the real dean's quarters to live in. They make themselves at home until they are confronted by the dean and the prank is uncovered. Johnson is threatened with expulsion, but the students plan to drive Stan and Ollie away to stop them testifying. Meanwhile, the boys arrive at their real quarters where Meredith the valet recognises Stan as Lord Paddington, the "greatest athlete and scholar the university ever had". He says that Lord Paddington had lost his memory and wandered from campus after a window fell on his head. Stan dismisses the story, as does Ollie who insists that Stan is the dumbest guy he ever met.

The students arrive in a slowly chanting mob, in a parody of the "hazing" scene from ''A Yank at Oxford''. They attempt to throw Stan and Ollie out the window, but the boys try to escape through the window into the next room. The window falls on Stan's head, which transforms him back into Lord Paddington. When the students call him a "dirty snitcher", he becomes angry and his ears wiggle (something that occurs whenever Lord Paddington becomes angry, according to Meredith's story) and he throws the students out of the window. Stan does not remember Ollie any longer and throws him out the window as well.

Lord Paddington takes pity on Ollie and employs him to be his personal valet. The transformed Stan is super-human in intellect and body: his mantle is covered with athletic trophies, and his advice is sought by Albert Einstein. He nicknames Ollie "Fatty" and criticizes his manner as a servant, which makes Ollie so angry he quits his job and storms out. Stan hears students come to cheer him outside. As he looks out of the window it falls on his head once again, returning him back to his usual dumb self. Ollie storms back in, still on a tirade about the way Lord Paddington treats him, and stops only when he realizes that Stan is now back to normal. Ollie hugs his best friend, in an uncharacteristically happy ending.

Stan learns that he is to receive an inheritance left by a wealthy uncle. Unfortunately, most of the inheritance is consumed by taxes and legal fees, and he is left with only a rickety but fully provisioned yacht and a private island in the Pacific Ocean. Stan and Ollie leave for the island, accompanied by stateless refugee Antoine (Max Elloy) and stowaway Giovanni Copini, a malcontent Italian bricklayer (Adriano Rimoldi).

On the voyage, the friendly Antoine acts as chef, but the food mysteriously disappears from Stan's plate because stowaway Giovanni is taking it. This leads Stan to blame Ollie and an argument ensues. The engine then fails (it's revealed in the beginning that the problem is merely a fuel leak due to the cap's coming loose, but the boys don't know this yet), so Ollie removes parts in an attempt to fix it. He hands them to Stan, who puts them on the deck where they slide overboard. Ollie then realizes that his efforts were in vain when he notices that the fuel gauge reads empty. Having lost the engine, they hoist the sail, revealing Giovanni hiding in it.

They encounter a storm and Stan battles with an inflating liferaft in the cabin while Ollie is at the helm. They are shipwrecked on a newly emerged desert island, which they dub "Crusoeland" after the book ''Robinson Crusoe'' that is on their yacht. They are soon joined by Chérie Lamour, a nightclub singer (Suzy Delair) who is fleeing her jealous fiancé Jack Frazer, a naval lieutenant (Luigi Tosi). In order to prevent the island from falling into the hands of an existing nation-state, it is established as a new republic, with Hardy as president and Laurel as "the people." They write a constitution declaring their atoll will have no laws, no taxes, and no immigration controls.

All goes well until the singer's fiancé arrives to confirm the island is rich with uranium deposits. People from all over the world flock to "Atoll K" as it has been named, but soon the situation turns chaotic when a revolt seeks to overthrow and execute the island's original inhabitants. Before the execution, another storm strikes and floods the island. Laurel and Hardy are rescued and arrive at the island Laurel inherited, only to have their land and supplies confiscated for failure to pay taxes. The film ends with Oliver ranting to Stan "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" and Stan whimpering.Aping 2008

Jan Letterman, the personal assistant to wealthy, over-the-hill actress Laura Winters, hires pilot Grant Murdoch to fly her from New York to Provincetown, Massachusetts, but a storm forces them to land on a small island. They meet Prof. Peter Bartell, a marine biologist with a German accent who is living in seclusion on the isle.

A series of strange skeletons wash ashore (human, then fish), since the water is inhabited by some sort of glowing microbe which devours flesh rapaciously. Bartell is a former US Government agent who was sent to Nazi Germany to recover as much of their scientific data as possible. He was chosen for the job for his scientific skills and knowledge of the German language. Using the methods learned there he hopes to cultivate a group of monstrous "flesh eaters" that can devour the skin off a victim in mere seconds. A beatnik named Omar joins the group after becoming shipwrecked on their shore. Tensions mount after the plane drifts off into the ocean, leaving the castaways and Bartell as potential meals for the ravenous monsters.

High-voltage electrification (from a battery system devised by Bartell) is utilized in an attempt to slay the monsters. Bartell explains that he has been tracking these creatures and attempting to cultivate them to sell as biological weapons. An electrical shock does not kill the creatures, but instead causes the numerous smaller microbes to merge into a larger organism. By accident, the survivors stumble upon the solution to killing them: the creatures devour flesh but not blood, as in each case where remains have been found blood has been present. Bartell surmises that the creatures have a negative reaction to hemoglobin and, when directly injected with it, are slain. By applying a large electrical shock to the waters surrounding the island, the survivors force the numerous dispersed microbes into forming a giant single organism. Following a struggle, Bartell is killed just before Murdoch destroys the last of the creatures. Murdoch and Letterman leave the island together.

After murdering an unnamed woman, the villainous "Chain Gang" targets Cee Bee Beaumont, the girlfriend of rock-and-roll star Lonnie Lord. The Chain Gang harasses, stalks, and eventually abducts Beaumont.

In order to save his girlfriend, Lord takes on the identity of "Rat Pfink", and his friend, Titus Twimbly, assumes the role of Rat Pfink's sidekick, "Boo Boo". On their Ratcycle, the duo eventually manages to track down the Chain Gang. After a long chase and the resulting confrontation with the gang, Rat Pfink and Boo Boo rescue Beaumont. However, Beaumont is abducted again, this time by "Kogar the Ape", a gorilla that has escaped from a local zoo. Kogar easily knocks out Rat Pfink, but his keeper soon comes and collects the ape. At the end of the film, Lord performs for everyone at a parade held to honor the heroes.

The story begins on the evening of the Independence Day in Las Vegas. Hank, a mechanic, and Frannie, a travel agent, break up while celebrating their fifth anniversary. He has been insensitive to her yearning for adventure and excitement. They both spend a night with their idealized partners — Hank goes with Leila, a circus performer, and Frannie goes with Ray, a waiter who passes himself off as a cocktail pianist and singer.

After their mutual nights away from each other, Hank breaks down, tracks Frannie to the motel room she and Ray are in, and abducts Frannie. Frannie refuses to stay with Hank.

Hank follows Frannie to the airport, where Frannie is about to leave for her dream trip to Bora Bora. Hank sings to Frannie to prove he is willing to be more romantic, but Frannie boards the plane. Hank, distraught, goes home and is about to burn Frannie's clothes when Frannie returns, realizing she "made a mistake".

In the distant future, at a genetic research station located on the remote desert planet of Xarbia, a research team has created an experimental lifeform they have designated "Subject 20". This lifeform was built out of the synthetic DNA strain, "Proto B", and was intended to stave off a galaxy-wide food crisis. However, Subject 20 mutates rapidly and uncontrollably and kills all of the laboratory subject animals before cocooning itself within an examination booth.

Military officer Mike Colby, accompanied by his robot assistant SAM-104, is called in to investigate the problem. After Colby settles in, his decision to terminate Subject 20 to prevent further deaths is met with research-minded secrecy and resistance. The staff of the station includes the head of research, Gordon Hauser, his assistant Barbara Glaser, lab assistant Tracy Baxter, lab technician Jimmy Swift, electrician Brian Beale, the station's head of security, Earl Richards and Cal Timbergen, the medical doctor.

When Subject 20 hatches from its cocoon, it begins killing the personnel at the station, starting with Jimmy, who was charged with cleansing the subject lab of the dead animal test subjects. As Subject 20 continues to kill most of the station crew, the reason for the deception is revealed. Subject 20's genetic design incorporates human DNA, and its method of killing is to inject its prey with the Proto B DNA strain which then proceeds to remove all genetic differences within specific cells. The result is that the victim's living body slowly erodes into a gelatinous pile of pure protein which Subject 20 consumes for sustenance. After its final mutation, where the creature evolves into a huge insect-like being with a large mouth full of sharp teeth, the creature is slain when it eats Cal's cancer-ridden liver, its body genetically self-destructing from within. Mike and Tracy are left as the only survivors from Subject 20's rampage.

The ''Enterprise'' has arrived 2 days early for a rendezvous with a supply ship, USS ''Biko'', and thus the crew spend the time to pursue personal activities. Data and La Forge propose to Captain Picard to attempt to set up systems that would allow them to use Data's processing abilities to run critical systems in the case of main computer failure, and he allows them to proceed.

Meanwhile, Worf reluctantly joins his son Alexander in a holodeck adventure set in the town of Deadwood, South Dakota, in the American Old West, later joined by Deanna Troi.[http://www.st-minutiae.com/academy/literature329/234.txt ''STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION: "A Fistful of Datas", #40276-234, Written by Brannon Braga and Directed by Patrick Stewart - FINAL DRAFT SEPTEMBER 17, 1992''] The three play the role of lawmen in Deadwood, where Eli Hollander, the "Butcher of Bozeman", is wanted. Worf tries to use his Starfleet tactics to end the episode quickly, but Alexander insists that he play along with the scenario. They capture Eli, learning that his father Frank is a sly and powerful man.

As Data and La Forge work on the interface, a brief energy surge occurs. The ship's systems react strangely, specifically around elements of Data's logs and records. Data also takes up stereotypical Wild West mannerisms and vernacular, unaware.

In the holodeck, Frank, who appears exactly like Data, captures Alexander, demanding the release of his son Eli. Worf gets into a gun battle and is wounded, and he and Troi find that the holodeck safety protocols are off and they cannot end the program. They realize Alexander could be in trouble and the only assured way is to play out the story. Further, Troi observes that Eli now possesses skills comparable to Data's. As more of the holodeck characters take on Data's appearance, Worf works to create a personal shield as protection, knowing he would not be victorious against characters that all have Data's skills.

Data and La Forge determine that the power surge causes segments of the main computer and Data's processes to swap memories, and they start a memory purge to restore both to normal operation.

On the holodeck, Worf and Troi successfully defeat Frank and his gang, and recover Alexander. They believe the story is now over, but the holodeck does not yet respond. Only after Miss Annie, proprietress of the local tavern and also now looking like Data, thanks Worf for his bravery and throws herself into Worf's arms, does the story end, allowing the three to leave safely. Data and the ship's computer are restored to normal, and Worf promises to join Alexander on the holodeck for another adventure in Deadwood. As a final nod to the Western genre where heroes are often seen riding off into the sunset, the episode concludes with the Enterprise flying toward and seemingly into a star that is half obscured by a nearby planet.

The show revolves around four children; Billy O' Toole, Marcus Snarkis, Ruby Snarkis and Lydia Lopez. The show's main antagonists are Earl P. Sidebottom, also known as the Phantom, and his rat sidekick, Ratticus. Earl is a boy genius who, sometime before the show's beginning, got a “D” grade in shop class and retreated to the school's sub-basement boiler room in shame. There, he built a supercomputer capable of altering reality, which he uses to cause chaos in the school as revenge, leaving the main group to stop him.

The film begins with a group of Union soldiers being captured and forced to surrender at Cold Harbor, Virginia, in June 1864. They are transported to prisoner-of-war Camp Sumter, near Andersonville, Georgia. When they enter, they discover a former comrade, named Dick Potter, who was captured at Antietam, who explains the grim realities of life in the camp – primarily the lack of shelter, clean water, and regular food supplies. He also states the danger of a prison gang of fellow Union POWs, called the "Raiders", who hoard the camp's meager rations, and lure unsuspecting "fresh fish" – newly captured soldiers – into their area of the camp, to attack and rob them.

With every able-bodied man required for fighting, young teenagers and old men are used as guards. At one watch tower, manned by two young guards, a Union soldier offers money for some corn. He is instructed to step over the "dead line" fence and approach the watch tower to trade, which contradicts the rules of the camp. But reluctantly, compelled by starvation, the soldier steps over the line, and (in a macabre type of game) the Confederate soldiers in the next watch tower shoot him dead.

As the story unfolds, the unit captured at the beginning of the film ally with some inmates, and help them by working on their tunnel under the stockade wall. Eventually it is complete, but one man tries to inform the guards, in hope of receiving a reward. He is captured and "TT" (meaning tunnel traitor) is cut into his forehead as a warning. The escape is attempted one night, and all goes well until the last man is spotted and shot, and the dogs are unleashed. In a very short time, most escapees are back in the camp and placed in standing stocks as punishment.

The situation with the Raiders eventually becomes unbearable, as group after group of new prisoners are targeted upon arrival. Night raids are made, with possessions being taken from tents and prisoners injured or killed by the Raiders. After a banjo is stolen, one man fights to get it back but is badly beaten. Things progressively get worse until finally one man decides he has seen enough of the "vultures out to rob and murder the new boys". He rallies support from the disparate groups, and within minutes hundreds of his comrades are charging the Raiders' camp. A massive and deadly riot ensues.

In the end the Raiders are beaten, stolen goods are redistributed to their owners, but many want them all hanged outright. But upon the insistence of a few, a request for a legitimate court-martial is made to Captain Henry Wirz, the Confederate commandant of the prison camp. A trial is held, with a jury made up of new internees, which ultimately results in the six ring-leaders being found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. After the executions life becomes relatively peaceful, but the cold reality of starvation, and lack of sanitation or medical care, begins to set in as emaciation, dysentery, scurvy, and fever take their toll, causing many to die. As the film ends, an announcement is made by Captain Wirz that all prisoners are to be exchanged – the surviving Federal soldiers leave the camp, filing past their dead comrades on the way to the trains.

Against a view of the present-day Andersonville National Cemetery, the movie's end coda reads: :In 1864–5, more than 45,000 Union soldiers were imprisoned in Andersonville. 12,912 died there. The prisoner exchange never happened. The men who walked to the trains were taken to other prisons, where they remained until the war ended. After the war, Wirz was hanged, the only soldier to be tried and executed for war crimes committed during the Civil War.

Pepe is a hired hand, employed on a ranch. A boozing Hollywood director, Mr. Holt, buys a white stallion that belongs to Pepe's boss. Pepe, determined to get the horse back (as he considers it his family), decides to go to Hollywood. There he meets film stars, including Jimmy Durante, Frank Sinatra, Zsa Zsa Gabór, Bing Crosby, Maurice Chevalier and Jack Lemmon in drag as Daphne from ''Some Like It Hot''. He is also surprised by things that were new in the U.S. at the time, such as automatic doors. When he finally reaches the man who bought the horse, he is led to believe there is no hope of getting it back. However Mr. Holt offers him a job when he realizes that Pepe brings new life to the stallion. With his luck changing, Pepe wins big money in Las Vegas, enough that Mr. Hold lets him be the producer of his next movie. Most of the movie centers around his meeting Suzie Murphy, an actress on hard times who hates the world. Just like with the stallion, Pepe brings out the best in Suzie and helps her become a big star in a movie made by Mr. Holt. The last scene shows both him and the stallion back at the ranch with several foals.

Simon McKay is a genius and inventor with dwarfism who chooses to spend his life as a philanthropist and innovative toymaker dedicated to preserving and protecting innocence. CIC agent Alex Jagger is assigned to protect Simon from the evil forces who wish to use Simon's genius for their own nefarious purposes. They are soon joined by Simon's long time friend, Tillie Russell. Simon, Alex, and Tillie become a family unit working together through adventure and adversity, especially when it comes to defeating Simon's self-proclaimed arch-enemy, Troyan, who would rather seek revenge upon the world for his suffering from the radiation poisoning he brought upon himself than take responsibility for his own actions.

Tripp Spence (Harry Connick, Jr.) is a widowed Virginia-based lawyer who becomes the focus of an intensive IRS investigation regarding false bankruptcy claims he filed during his wife's fatal illness. Realizing his case against the inevitable criminal charges is hopeless, he takes his 13-year-old son Derrick (Shawn Salinas), who loves playing Little League baseball and is competing in his final year of eligibility due to age restrictions, and flees from the investigation, moving out west to Las Vegas, Nevada. Through a corporate connection, Tripp acquires new identities for the two of them, with Tripp becoming Glen Simon Ryan and Derrick becoming Michael "Mickey" Jacob Ryan, whose fictional backstory is that they recently moved into town from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Derrick's new identity makes him a year younger, which enables him to play another year of Little League, an endeavor both of them look forward to since their spontaneous move forced Derrick to miss his All-Star team's participation in the official Little League qualifier tournaments. Tripp researches the local Little League operations and discovers that the most successful league's top team is coached by Tony (Mike Starr). Tripp contacts Tony and convinces him to give Mickey a private tryout session by reciting the Fort Lauderdale story (Florida is known as a major "hotzone" for youth baseball). Tony is impressed with Mickey's pitching velocity and ultimately drafts Mickey once the real tryouts roll around. Glen also begins dating Patty, who works at Mickey's school.

A full year of physical development ahead of the rest of the players, Mickey displays outstanding abilities on the field, quickly emerging as the league's top pitcher and hitter, which unanimously earns him a spot on the All-Star team. Glen is initially satisfied, but begins to worry as Mickey's team continuously ascends their way through the district and regional brackets, which attracts considerable media attention as they earn a spot at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Paranoid that the media attention will ultimately give away their location to the IRS, Glen tries to convince Mickey to quit playing, but Mickey refuses to let his new friends down, stating that they knew the risks from the beginning.

After pitching a perfect game against the Gulf States team, Mickey removes the faux glasses that were used as a disguise when he sees his father getting up and being arrested by the IRS agent at the end of Little League World Series Championship game as the U.S. representative against a highly publicized team from Cuba, the International finalist. During the game, a politician who had vowed to ban the Cuban team from participating in the tournament passes on information to LLWS officials of ineligible players on both the Cuban and U.S. teams. It is found that the Cuban team, which is supposed to be strictly from Havana, is made up of All Star players from various island teams, and Mickey and Glen's true identities are exposed.

Following the game, Glen is arrested and a press conference is called. Tripp/Glen reveals the truth about Derrick/Mickey. The LLWS Commissioner announces that both teams' participation in the tournament will be forfeited, and that the semifinal losers will play the next day for the championship. Derrick confesses the truth to his coach and teammates, but his friends forgive him because they never would have made it as far as they did without him. Derrick visits Tripp at the local precinct, where they say goodbye. After a year in prison, Tripp is released, and in the final scene he throws a baseball to Derrick that hits the windshield of Patty's car.

Set in the 23rd century in the year 2230, the player assumes the role of a bandana wearing mercenary named Damage. Working for Colonel Bossman and his underground crime syndicate, B.O.S.S., the player is pitted against Bossman's main rival, Takahiro Industries. Takahiro Industries has its own security, too, with an army of guards as well as various sophisticated robots. It is these that Damage has to fight against, going through various futuristic environments in order to assassinate Takahiro himself.

The book follows Jason Worthing, also known as Jazz, who is a boy growing up on Capitol, the capitol planet of the Empire. Jas has "the swipe", which is a genetic trait that allows for telepathy. The swipe is feared in the Empire, so those who possess it are executed. After being found out as a swipe, Jas tries to escape, which leads to his capture by Abner Doon, who helps him rise to prominence as a space pilot. Eventually, Abner sends Jason away as the head of a colony so that the swipe would become more widespread, but when his ship reaches the planet he is attacked, and the memories of all but one of the 333 colonists are destroyed and two-thirds of the colonist are killed or damaged beyond awakening. Jason prevails, however, leading to the survival of the colony, which he visits every several years, being on Somec the rest of the time. Eventually, Abner Doon comes and sees how Jason has done, and after Doon leaves, Jason takes his ship to the bottom of the ocean.

Stan takes a free "personality test" offered by Scientologists on the street. After answering a long questionnaire, Stan is informed that he is extremely depressed and therefore a perfect candidate for Scientology. They offer to help him out for $240. Back home, Stan asks his parents for the money. His father suggests that he use the money he had been saving for a bicycle. Stan pays the Scientologists and is taken into an auditing room where an attendant reads his "thetan levels" using an "E-meter". Stan has such a high reading that the Scientology headquarters in Los Angeles is notified. There, the president of Scientology determines that Stan's high reading makes him a reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology's founder and prophet.

Later that night, a group of Scientologists, including John Travolta, gather outside the Marsh house to celebrate Hubbard's "second coming". The president of Scientology arrives in a helicopter and talks with Stan's parents. They are opposed to Stan's participation, but the president informs them that "we're not asking him to ''join'' us; we're asking him to ''lead'' us". Randy sends Stan to his room, where he finds Tom Cruise waiting. Cruise asks him whether Stan has enjoyed his acting. When "Hubbard" replies that his acting is okay but not as good as others' such as Leonardo DiCaprio or the ''Napoleon Dynamite'' guy, Tom hears that he is "a failure in the eyes of the prophet" and locks himself in Stan's closet. He refuses to come out, despite the protests of Randy, Nicole Kidman, the police, Travolta and R. Kelly to "come out of the closet". Travolta and Kelly eventually join Cruise in the closet.

Downstairs, the church president tries to convince Stan's parents to allow their son to participate. He tells to Stan the great secret behind the church—a condensed version of the story of Xenu, according to the Scientology Operating Thetan III document. During this, an onscreen caption reads "This is what Scientologists actually believe". He then begs Stan to continue writing where "L. Ron" left off. Stan is impressed by the story and shows his writings to the president who initially approves of the work. Stan suggests that "to really be a church, you can't charge money to help", to which the president admits to Stan that the church is in reality a global money-making scam. He asks that Stan continue with that in mind. Stan appears to agree and keeps writing.

Outside the house, the president introduces Stan to his followers, where he will read parts of his new doctrine. However, instead of presenting it to them, Stan states that he is not the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard, and that "Scientology is just a big fat global scam". The Scientologists and celebrities in the closet are angry and threaten to sue Stan. Stan dares them to sue, and the episode ends.

The closing credits name only "John Smith" and "Jane Smith", a reference to Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology's reputation for litigiousness.

''The Mysteries of Udolpho'' is a quintessential Gothic romance, replete with incidents of physical and psychological terror: remote crumbling castles, seemingly supernatural events, a brooding, scheming villain and a persecuted heroine.

Modern editors note that only about a third of the novel is set in the eponymous Gothic castle, while tone and style vary markedly between sections of the work, to which Radcliffe added extended descriptions of exotic landscapes in the Pyrenees and Apennines, and of Venice, none of which she had visited. For details she relied on travel books, which led her to make several anachronisms. The novel, set in 1584 in Southern France and Northern Italy, explores the plight of Emily St. Aubert, a young French woman orphaned by the death of her father. She is imprisoned in Castle Udolpho by Signor Montoni, an Italian brigand who has married her aunt and guardian Madame Cheron. He and others frustrate Emily's romance with the dashing Valancourt. Emily also investigates a relationship between her father and the Marchioness de Villeroi, and its connection to Castle Udolpho.

Emily St. Aubert is the only child of a landed rural family whose fortunes are in decline. Emily and her father share a notably close bond in a shared appreciation for nature. They grow still closer after her mother's death from illness. She accompanies him on a journey from their native Gascony, through the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean coast of Roussillon, over many mountainous landscapes. During the journey, they encounter Valancourt, a handsome man who also feels an almost mystical kinship with the natural world. Emily and Valancourt fall in love.

Emily's father succumbs to a long illness. Emily, now orphaned, is forced by his wishes to live with her aunt, Madame Cheron, who shares none of Emily's interests and shows little affection for her. Her aunt marries Montoni, a dubious nobleman from Italy. He wants his friend Count Morano to become Emily's husband and tries to force him upon her. After discovering that Morano is nearly ruined, Montoni brings Emily and her aunt to his remote castle of Udolpho.

Emily fears she has lost Valancourt forever. Morano searches for Emily and tries to carry her off secretly from Udolpho, but Emily's heart still belongs to Valancourt, and she refuses. Morano's attempted escape is discovered by Montoni, who wounds the Count and chases him away. In subsequent months, Montoni threatens his wife with violence, trying to force her to sign over her properties in Toulouse that will otherwise go to Emily on his wife's death. Without resigning her estate, Madame Cheron dies of a severe illness caused by her husband's harshness.

Many frightening but coincidental events happen in the castle, but Emily manages to flee with the help of a secret admirer, Du Pont, also a prisoner there, and of the servants Annette and Ludovico. Returning to her aunt's estate, Emily learns that Valancourt has gone to Paris and lost his wealth. Nonetheless, she takes control of the property and is reunited with Valancourt in the end.

Andy Jones stars as Faustus Bidgood, a clerk in the Newfoundland provincial department of education who harbours secret dreams of becoming president of Newfoundland and leading the province to secede from Canada. The film contains several levels of what might be termed competing "realities, " oscillating between visions of mundane office work and sequences in which Bidgood accidentally leads a revolution, and containing a film within a film that narrates Faustus' real life and imaginary rise to power.

In the film within a film, we learn that Faustus' paternal grandfather has predicted that a great man will lead the people of Newfoundland to glory. His name is the Reverend Dempster Peebles, although his son (Faustus' father) is named Bruce Bidgood and Faustus full name is Faustus Peebles Bidgood.

One year ago, Dr. Brown had created the World Heroes tournament in order to find out on who the strongest fighter of history is, but because of the unexpected arrival and interference of Geegus, Dr. Brown was unable to get his answer. Now Dr. Brown is prepared to hold the tournament once again, not only having to invite the eight original fighters back for a second round, but also having to bring forth six new fighters as well, each and every one of them seeking to prove themselves in being the strongest fighter of history. Dr. Brown hopes that this time around, a definite winner will truly come out of the World Heroes tournament and emerge as the strongest fighter of history without interference from Geegus or other threats.

The plot follows skate instructor Lili Heiser (Henie), who works at a local luxury hotel in the Swiss Alps. She falls in love with a man who goes skiing every morning (Power). She thinks he's an everyday tourist, not knowing that he's a prince trying to escape the pressures of royal life.

The movie showcased Sonja Henie's skating talents. After winning gold in the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Winter Olympics, Henie became a professional film actress in 1936.

The film also features Tyrone Power in the beginnings of his career.

Major Yeates (Peter Bowles) is portrayed as an Englishman, and much of the humour of the first series derives from his difficulty in adjusting to the more relaxed class boundaries and slower pace of life of rural Ireland. The timeline of the television series begins in 1897, when the Major departs for Ireland, and ends shortly after the death of Edward VII.

The R.M. has to deal with all sorts of everyday events with colourful characters, often being outfoxed by the machinations of his Anglo-Irish friend, Flurry Knox (Bryan Murray). Anna Manahan played the redoubtable housekeeper, Mrs Cadogan, while Virginia Cole played Bridget.

Eun Jae (Han Chae-young) is a very stubborn and proud 20-year-old girl who has a passion for cooking. Because she does not have an interest in studying, she runs away to Vicenza in Italy before she graduates from high school to enroll in a cooking school. Her high school friend, who loves her dearly and shares her passion for cooking, comes along with her.

Han Yi-joon (Jo Hyun-jae) is from a wealthy family who owns a large hotel and various restaurants. He travels to Italy in search of his mother that abandoned his family when he was young and there he runs into Eun Jae. Coincidentally, Eun Jae had also been seeking the mother, who happens to be a chef in Vicenza, to learn the secrets to making great pasta. Both chance upon the mother just as she was about to get remarried to an Italian. She comforts Yi-Joon, who is distraught over his mother's remarriage, and they spend the night together. She ends up pregnant and has to give up her dream - but does not tell Yi-Joon.

Six years later, they have all returned to live in South Korea - Eun Jae working low paying cooking jobs, Yi-Joon taking over the operations of his family's restaurant, and Eun Jae's friend working as a chef for one of the restaurants owned by Yi-Joon and financially supporting Eun Jae's family, including the child born out of wedlock, because they have fallen on hard times. Yi-Joon still has feelings for Eun Jae and they run into each other just as he is looking for a new chef for his restaurant-with her in mind. Soon Hyeon who is a family friend of Yi-joon is in love with him and tries to confess her feelings to him

Horror writer Edmund Blackstone (Jonathan Frid) sees his recurring nightmare come to chilling life one weekend as one by one, his friends and family are killed by three villains: the Queen of Evil (Martine Beswick), a dwarf named Spider (Hervé Villechaize), and a giant scar-faced strongman called Jackal (Henry Judd Baker).

Story

The story of ''Enchanted Arms'' begins as Atsuma studies to become an Enchanter along with his friends Makoto and Toya at Enchanter's University in Yokohama City. When the trio skip class to attend a local festival, an earthquake occurs and the man-made golems in the area become berserk and attack citizens. After returning to university, Atsuma, Toya and Makoto find that things are in chaos, and that the mysterious "''sealed ward''" had been opened. While seeking to discover what has happened, the group meet up with the Queen of Ice, a Devil Golem sealed long ago. With her immense Ether capability and regeneration power, she overpowers the three. She captures Toya as ice falls on Makoto; as a result, Atsuma fights her by using his right arm that turns into something out of the ordinary that could harm a Devil Golem.

Detained in London City, Atsuma learns that the Queen of Ice had destroyed Yokohama. Escaping with local resident Karin and her bodyguard Raigar, Atsuma discovers that the two are part of a resistance movement that opposes King Caliban's plans to revive the Emperor of Fire, another Devil Golem hidden right under the city. They find that Yokohama is now an icy wasteland. Venturing further in and returning to the university, they encounter Professor Kou, a teacher at the university. He reveals that he was very interested in Atsuma's right arm and started the golem riot to awaken its power, all for the Queen's revival and the restoration of Magic, the greatest technology in existence. Toya, possibly having been mind controlled, is now the Queen's Magicore, the power source and activation device of a Devil Golem. The Queen turns on Kou and destroys his laboratory, killing him.

In London, Atsuma is recruited into the Arsenal, the resistance group and the golem hunter, Yuki, who he encounters in Yokohama before the golem riot, joins him. After an attack from the London Knights, the arsenal suspects Raigar, a former knight and brother of Ooka, leading the attack. The others reveal to everyone that the Leader and his giggling companion are collaborators and give the Emperor of Fire's Magicore to Ooka. Ooka and Baron Hartson conspire to ruin the King's public image and revive the Emperor themselves. Karin reveals that she has no choice but to merge with the Emperor, for those who have ancient blood can activate and control Devil Golems to some extent. The Emperor fights with the Queen in the city before he is killed and consumed by Atsuma's right arm to save her.

Hearing of a secret art taught near Kyoto City, the group leaves London to go there. The Queen orders Lord Tokimune, Shogun of Kyoto, to revive the Lord of Earth and thus, they could not enter the city until tomorrow. They stay in Iwato village and meet Sayaka, Raigar's fiancée. They learn that the secret art is taught by the Ascetic Monk, who lives in the Ascetic Court, which is accessible from the village but Tokimune has the key to get in. Though he refuses an alliance with London City, he allows them the key. Once they get it, Karin is kidnapped by a group of ninjas led by Oboro.

Rescuing Karin, the group confronts Tokimune, who was collecting Ether to revive the Lord of Earth. Despite being warned by Sayaka and Tokimune not to enter the Ascetic Court, Atsuma and the others defeat Sayaka and meet the Ascetic Monk. The group is told to get a portion of the Lord of Earth's core material in order to master the art of "Gaea". Though the group succeeds, the village is attacked by ninja, and confronts Tokimune. As they flee, Tokimune is killed by Oboro who learns the location of the Magicore: inside the Shogun; he is then killed by the Queen of Ice. They fight against the near revived Lord of Earth, but when he transforms into his full form, Atsuma kills him by pulling him into his right arm.

After the Lord of Earth's Magicore is drained of Ether, the group meets up with Sage, Raigar's teacher, who initially declines their offer to help them. The Queen of Ice invites them to her ice castle north of Gravekeep Holm. Atsuma is sent into a mental vision where he retrieves a God orb, which was molded into a weapon for him. Raigar learns from the Sage that Atsuma's parents left him as a child at the base of her tower, so sick that she used the cells of an unknown Devil Golem named Infinity, to save him. She also theorizes how to separate a human Magicore from a Devil Golem; just insert its original one to release the human. Atsuma, Karin, Raigar and Yuki defeat the Queen of Ice and save Toya; the mysterious man the group encounters several times reveals himself as Makoto soon afterwards. However, Atsuma has a vision and the disembodied entity then reveals itself as Infinity, who was ordered to reconstruct all matter in the world to the time of the Era of Magic. When Infinity attempts to possess Atsuma, Toya and Makoto free him from Infinity's control. As Infinity begins to revive, Atsuma remembers the opposite word of Gaea, "Fury", and transforms into his half-golem form, combining everyone's enchanting to defeat Infinity. Yokohama is restored and the population returns as the game ends.

Characters

The protagonist of the game is (voiced by Johnny Hawkes in English and Daisuke Kishio in Japanese ), a student who is able to draw ether and enchantment power from others through his right arm to fight golems. Assisting him in his journey are (voiced by Kana Ueda), a native of London City, a fighter who can use her legs to fight enemies and a member of a resistance movement; and (voiced by Kenjiro Tsuda), Karin's bodyguard and another member of the resistance movement. Also assisting him is (voiced by Ryō Hirohashi), a hunter who attacks Golems to earn expensive bounties by using her two guns.

Decorated and retired security guard Walter Koontz lives in a downtown apartment complex, where he is in constant conflict with drag queen Rusty and his friends. He frequents a night club, from which he conducts a superficial sexual relationship with Karen. At the same time he rejects Tia, deeming her a 'whore'.

One night crime boss "Mr. Z" and two goons come to the building looking for the money Amber's boyfriend stole from his organization. Having heard gunshots upstairs, Walt suffers a stroke while ascending the stairs to help. He awakens with the right side of his body paralyzed resulting in poor speech and posture, and giving him a limp that requires him to use a cane. Walter's ego massively suffers and he becomes ashamed to be seen in public, even skipping therapy, leading to his doctor visiting him at home. His physical therapist, who had been sent to Walt's home by the doctor, recommends a singing teacher to improve his speech. When Walt hails a taxi outside the building, he falls and drops the plan.

Rusty desires to have sex reassignment surgery, but lacks the money. When Walter comes to Rusty to use his musical talents for singing lessons, the pair, while initially argumentative and uncomfortable with each other, slowly become friends. Walter begins to gain confidence and progress towards resuming a normal life, his speech showing considerable improvement. Meanwhile, after having been told by Rusty that everyone pays in a relationship, including husbands and boyfriends, Walt calls Karen. After she claims rent problems Walt lies that all his money went to therapy, after which she holds off on seeing him. Tia visits his apartment, and they dance and kiss. She leaves however, when Walt states his belief that his former colleague and friend Tommy must have hired her.

Walt tells Rusty that a former colleague of him and Tommy abused his friendship by hitching a ride to the airport, after having stolen a fortune from their employer. Rusty responds with his own confession: He had taken Mr. Z's money after the police had vacated the building to pay for her surgery, meaning the singing lessons had been a front. Feeling used again, Walt leaves in anger. Building superintendent Leo, who had been threatened by Mr. Z., opens Rusty's medical bill, realizing he has the money. Walt goes back to the nightclub for the first time since his stroke and makes up with Tia. When he returns Leo tells him to ignore any sounds he might hear that night. The three criminals ambush Rusty in his apartment, and Walt goes upstairs again. Together Rusty and Walt manage to kill them. The wounded Walt is loaded into an ambulance, after which Rusty hands the paramedics the cash to get him the best care available. They renew their friendship and singing lessons.

The series follow the day-to-day work in a police station in Precinct 11 of a big city, from bookings to investigations. The plot in the pilot episode deal with the cases of a man charged with murdering his father; a woman charged with petty theft; and an out-of-towner arrested for attempted robbery.

The tailcoat is custom made for renowned stage actor Paul Orman, who seeks to rekindle a romance with former flame Ethel, who is receptive. However, she is now married, and her husband John finds them together. John offers to show Paul his weapon collection, in particular his favorite hunting rifle. He deliberately loads it. Paul makes no move to escape and is shot by the jealous husband. As Paul feigns death, John claims to his wife, the sole witness, that it was an accident. Ethel finally realizes she loves John and tells him so; she agrees to support his story. Paul comes back to life, surprising the couple and telling them that John missed completely. Paul then leaves the couple, but later collapses in his limousine. He instructs his valet Luther to take him to the hospital to be treated.

Later Luther offers the topcoat, complete with a bullet hole, as collateral for a $10 loan from his friend Edgar. Edgar is the butler of Harry Wilson, who is about to marry Diane. However, Diane's friend Ellen, who is divorcing her husband for infidelity, dares her to examine the contents of Harry's topcoat. She finds a love letter from someone called "Squirrel" to her "passionate lion". Harry overhears and persuades his best man George to pretend that he took Harry's topcoat by mistake after a party last night and that the letter is actually his. George, who has feelings for Diane himself, reluctantly agrees. Diane is completely fooled ... and begins to see George (whom she thought of as "dim") in an entirely different, much more romantic light. Diane learns the truth when Squirrel shows up. She dumps Harry and leaves with George.

Afterward, Luther and Edgar pawn the topcoat for $10. It eventually ends up with Charles Smith, an unknown classical music composer. A friend arranges a meeting with famed conductor Arturo Bellini, who is impressed with his composition. He is offered the opportunity to conduct the premiere of his work at Carnegie Hall. At the last minute, he is informed he must be properly attired. Elsa hurriedly buys the topcoat for him, but it is a very tight fit. When he conducts, it rips at both shoulders and the audience erupts with laughter. Charles is brought to tears. However, Bellini stands up in his concert box, pointedly removes his own tailcoat and asks him to continue; one by one, the "gentlemen" in the audience remove their own tailcoats. After the triumphant performance, Charles donates the topcoat to charity.

Joe, who runs a mission for the poor, delivers a letter to alcoholic panhandler Larry Browne. It is an invitation to his 25th anniversary college reunion, held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Joe convinces Larry to attend, hoping it will help him rebuild his life. Larry manages to convince his former classmates that he is successful, even getting a job offer, but one of them, Williams, knows that Larry was a shady lawyer in Chicago who was disbarred. When one man cannot find his wallet, the group hold a mock trial, with Larry as the defendant and Williams as the prosecutor. In the end, Larry ultimately tells everything and leaves. The next morning, however, three of his classmates come to the mission to let him know the job is still his.

The topcoat ends up in a second-hand shop, has an adventure with a tale featuring W. C. Fields, Phil Silvers and Margaret Dumont [see below]; where it is stolen by a thief. He wears it to get into an upscale illegal gambling parlor to rob the patrons. In his escape by plane, the jacket catches on fire and the panicked thief throws it out, with $43,000 of loot in the pockets. It lands by Luke and Esther, a poor Black couple. They take it to their minister, and they decide to give it to their congregation to buy whatever they have prayed for. An old farmer tells Luke that the only thing he prayed for is a scarecrow, so Luke gives him the now ragged jacket to make one.

Teenager Jim Carroll is a drug-addicted high school basketball player who regularly gets into mischief with his friends Pedro, Mickey and Neutron on the streets of New York City and at school. Outside of basketball, he shows an artistic interest in writing, keeping his work in his journal, expressing his thoughts and creating poetry. Jim's best friend, Bobby, is dying of leukemia; Jim frequently visits him in the hospital. Later, after a trip to a strip show cut short by an annoyed Bobby, Bobby dies, and Jim and his friends attend his funeral. Following the funeral, Jim and his friends go to the basketball court and reminisce about Bobby's life. Depressed over Bobby's death, Jim begins to use heroin.

At basketball practice, Jim's coach Swifty sees Jim in the bathroom showers when he takes a short break to get high, where he then gropes him, and offers to pay him for sex. Jim refuses and pushes Swifty headfirst into a wall. As Jim's frustrations with school and life grow over time, he imagines shooting his classmates. The next day, before a game, Jim, Pedro, and Mickey take pills from Pedro's hat, hoping they are uppers. Neutron refuses the pills and confronts Jim about his growing habit. The pills are downers, and they cause the boys to perform disastrously during the game. A teacher who notices the boys engaging in drug use tells Jim and Mickey that they are suspended for a week, and Swifty tells Jim that he is now banned from playing basketball for his school again. Jim and Mickey, in response, resign from the team and drop out of school, while Neutron stays.

Jim's mother exiles him from the house after exposing his stash of drugs. Jim, Mickey, and Pedro from then on only live for their next score as homeless addicts; one later excursion has them break into a candy shop for money. Mickey finds a gun in the cash register and takes it. Hearing sirens, Jim and Mickey escape, but Pedro, too high and hungover to realize the situation, is left behind and arrested. Jim continues a desperate life of shady dealings and getting high with Mickey, and by the coming winter, passes out in the snow high on heroin. Jim's friend Reggie, who sympathizes with Jim over his predicament having since been in a similar situation, finds him, takes him to his apartment, and forces him to detox, but Jim relapses.

Back on the street, Jim is desperate for drugs and resorts to prostituting himself at a public restroom. Later, Jim and Mickey buy heroin, but discover that the dealer ripped them off. Enraged, Mickey corners the dealer on the roof of an apartment building. He accidentally pushes him off the roof to his death. Mickey tries to escape, but is beaten by a gang and then arrested; he is later tried as an adult and convicted. After escaping, with nowhere else to go, Jim goes to his mother's apartment and she reports him to the police. Jim is arrested, convicted, and sentenced to six months' incarceration at Rikers Island for assault, robbery, resisting arrest, and possession of narcotics and spends the time in jail getting clean.

Jim approaches a stage door to give a poetry reading. He encounters Pedro, who has been released from reform school. Pedro offers him a bag of drugs, which Jim refuses. Jim recites his work before an audience and receives applause.

The story begins with a girl named Susanna English. She is the second child of three, Mary and her brother at sea, William. She desperately wants to join an inner circle of girls who meet every night at the Reverend's house. The leader of the girls, Ann Putnam, is going to set off a torrent of false accusations leading to the imprisonment of innocent people in Salem. She names people her mother disliked as witches, and the elders of Salem believe them. Ann tells Susanna everything about their plan, but if Susanna tells anyone, Ann will name Susanna's parents as witches. Susanna must choose between keeping quiet and breaking charity (that is, telling tales), risking her family being named as witches. Later on, the afflicted girls accuse Susanna's mother and father of being witches, even though she told no one about what Ann said to her. Susanna then starts to believe in witches until her future husband, Johnathon gets her to meet an accused witch so she can see they are fake. She finally tells Joseph, Ann's uncle, leader of the "non-witch 'believers" what she knows, and together, they put a stop to it with help from powerful people (like magistrates). Fourteen years later she returns to hear Ann Putnam apologize for all the innocent people imprisoned, or hanged. This story is based on true happenings of 1692.

The Sahara is being flooded to create a new sea when the protagonist of the novel, Mark Sunnet, crashes his private rocket plane into an island of what is currently little more than a large lake. He soon finds himself and companion Margaret Lawn, and a stray cat that they call Bast, sucked into a cavern in which they are promptly captured by mysterious pygmies.

The diet of little people is centred on large fungi. The captives speculate that stories that reached the surface of the little people and their giant mushrooms may have led to the myth of gnomes.

Sunnet finds that a tiered community has evolved in the caverns, the pygmies inhabiting a large underground collection of natural and artificial caverns and tunnels, and the captured humans are deliberately isolated in a subsection of the caverns. He is also surprised to learn that family life exists there. "Natives", children of captured humans who were born underground and lived all their lives in the caverns are generally happy with their life and have no wish to escape.

By virtue of being accompanied by Bast, the pygmies consider Margaret to be divine and isolate her in a separate area of the caverns.

Most of the captured humans wish to escape by trying two different methods. One by tunneling up at an angle to try to break through to the surface and another horizontally in the hope of intersecting a pygmy tunnel or cavern from which to make their way to the surface.

The pygmies are distressed, and Sunnet's arrival reveals the reason to the captives. The pygmies fear that the newly-formed Saharan Sea will flood and destroy their environment, annihilating them. Their fear is well-founded, and the waters break through into their world, flooding the entire ecosystem. Sunnet, Margaret, Bast and a handful of others survive. The story finishes with sunburn after years of subterranean life, and with establishing a new company based on the primitive but unique technology that the escapees brought with them from the caverns.

Set in a private mental institution, Chestnut Lodge in Rockville, Maryland, the film tells of a trainee occupational therapist, a troubled ex-soldier named Vincent Bruce (Beatty), who becomes dangerously obsessed with seductive, artistic, schizophrenic patient Lilith Arthur (Seberg).

Bruce is successful in helping Lilith emerge from seclusion and leave the institutional grounds for a day in the country, and later escorts her on excursions in which she is alone with him. She attempts to seduce him, and eventually Bruce tells Lilith he is in love with her, after which they begin sleeping together. He catches Lilith seducing an older female patient and witnesses her behaving inappropriately with young boys on two of her outings, incidents which greatly disturb Bruce.

Bruce triggers the suicide of another patient (Fonda) out of jealousy over the patient's crush on Lilith. This brings up memories in Lilith of her brother's suicide, which she implies was due to her attempt to initiate an incestuous relationship with him. She goes on a destructive rampage in her room and winds up in a catatonic state. Bruce then presents himself to his superiors for psychiatric help.

It tells the story of a nameless girl from rural Minnesota who works in a bar in St. Paul. Clara, a fellow waitress working as a prostitute on the side, takes the girl under her wing as she learns the rudimentaries of love and sex, but also of rape, prostitution, abortion, and domestic violence. Along with the bar-owner Belle and the labor organizer Amelia, Clara and the girl watch their unemployed men self-destruct one by one under the grinding conditions of the Depression. Impregnated by her lover Butch, the girl secretly defies his demand that she get an abortion, hoping that the money from a bank robbery will enable them to get married. However, Butch and three other men are shot and killed during the crime, and the girl, dependent on state assistance during her pregnancy, is forced into a relief maternity home where sterilization after delivery is routine. Amelia rescues the girl before she has her baby, but fails to save Clara from state-mandated electric shock treatments that shatter her health and her sanity. The novel ends with the climactic conjunction of three dramatic events: a mass demonstration demanding "Milk and Iron Pills for Clara," Clara's death scene, and the birth of the girl's baby. The novel closes as an intergenerational community of women vow to "let our voice be heard in the whole city" (130). [https://archive.today/20140321034353/http://reconstruction.eserver.org/081/gentry.shtml Link text]

Originally completed in 1939, the book was blacklisted during the McCarthy Era for its alleged Communist ideas. In the 1970s, Le Sueur modified the story, making Girl's baby a girl instead of a boy, and the book was eventually published in 1978. Feminists' interest in the novel led to renewed attention for the author.

Set in 1898, the movie follows Ezra Lambert and his family as they travel from Sacramento to the Yukon gold country in search of riches. Problems arise when Ezra is injured by a grizzly bear, forcing his young son to set out in search of help.

An elderly couple tries to visit their mentally ill son in a sanatorium on his birthday. They are informed that he attempted to take his life and they cannot see him now. After their return home, the husband announces his decision to take him out of the sanatorium. The story concludes with mysterious telephone calls. The first two apparently misdialed calls are from a girl asking for "Charlie"; the story ends when the phone rings for the third time.

In the course of the story the reader learns many details of the unnamed couple's life: they are Russian Jews who went into exile after the revolution; depend financially upon the husband's brother, Isaac; had a German maid when they lived in Germany; had an aunt, Rosa, and many other relatives who were murdered in the Holocaust; and have a nephew who is a famous chess player. The elderly man is in bad health.

The son suffers from "referential mania", where "the patient imagines that everything happening around him is a veiled reference to his personality and existence". "Everything is a cipher and of everything he is the theme". Real people are excluded from this paranoia, and the condition is worse the further he is away from familiar surroundings. The son's condition is based on a real condition—compare ideas of reference.

Painter Claude Lantier advocates painting real subjects in real places, most notably outdoors. This is in stark contrast to the artistic establishment, where artists painted in the studio and concentrated on mythological, historical and religious subjects. His art making is revolutionary and he has a small circle of like-minded friends equally intent on shaking up the art world and challenging the establishment. His best friends are his childhood comrades Pierre Sandoz, novelist and Louis Dubuche, an architect. Like Zola, Sandoz contemplates a series of novels about a family based in science and incorporating modern people and everyday lives. Dubuche is not half as bold as Claude and, he chooses a more conventional course, opting for the security of a middle-class life and a bourgeois marriage. Sandoz also pursues marriage – not for love but stability and to better understand what he is writing about. The outcry in the artistic community over the sidelining of new artists in favor of popular, established, traditional artists at the annual Salon of the Académie des Beaux-Arts leads to the creation of a Salon des Refusés for the rejected artists to display their work. No painting gathers more interest or generates more criticism than Claude's. Entitled ''Plein Air'' (''Open Air''), it depicts a nude female figure in the front center and two female nudes in the background, with a fully dressed man, back to the viewer in the foreground. (Zola deliberately invokes ''Le déjeuner sur l'herbe'' by Édouard Manet, which provoked outcries at the actual Salon des Refusés in 1863.)

Claude moves to the country to soak up more of the 'Open Air' atmosphere he revelled in as a child and to create more masterpieces. Accompanying him is Christine Hallegrain, who served as the model for Claude's nude and they have a son. Claude is unable to paint much and grows more and more depressed. For the sake of his health, Christine convinces him to return to Paris. Claude has three paintings in three years rejected by the Salon before a spectacular view of the Île de la Cité captures his imagination. He becomes obsessed with this vision and constructs a massive canvas on which to paint his masterpiece. He is unable to project his ideas successfully or combine them into a meaningful whole. He begins adding incongruous elements (like a female nude bather), reworks and repaints until the whole enterprise collapses into disaster, then starts over. His inability to create his masterpiece deepens his depression. The slow breakup of his circle of friends contributes to his decaying mental state, as does the success of one of his confreres, a lesser talent who has co-opted the 'Open Air' school and made it a critical and financial triumph.

Christine, whom he has at last married, watches as the painting – and especially the nude – begins to destroy his soul. When their son dies, Claude is inspired to paint a picture of the dead body that is accepted by the Salon (after considerable politicking). The painting is ridiculed for its subject and its execution and Claude again turns to his huge landscape. Christine watches as he spirals further into obsession and madness. A last-ditch effort to free him from Art in general and from his wished-for masterpiece in particular has an effect but in the end Claude hangs himself from his scaffolding. The only ones of his old friends who attend his funeral are Sandoz and Bongrand, an elder statesman of the artistic community who recognized and helped nurture Claude's genius.

Jack, Lauren, Patrick, and Sarina show up at Deep Space Nine, impersonating an Admiral and his staff, so that Bashir can try to cure Sarina's condition. They help Bashir refine a medical instrument so he can operate on her.

The operation is a success and Sarina is able to speak and interact with her surroundings for the first time. When she's reintroduced to the rest of her group, they try to help her feel included by starting up a sing-along. Though initially only able to sing in monotone, within minutes Sarina masters solfège and is able to improvise an a capella fugue with the others.

The quartet later is discussing the eventual Big Crunch, trying to figure out how to stop it. When Sarina argues against the feasibility of doing so, Jack shuts her down. When Bashir comes in to check on her later, she's drawn within herself, seemingly catatonic as she was before the operation; fearing the worst, he goes over to check on her. She tells him that she resumed this stance to stay out of the discussion, because she had been made to feel Jack and the others expected her to be quiet.

Bashir falls in love with her and assigns another doctor to take over her care so he can pursue her romantically. She is not ready for a relationship, and goes catatonic again after he invites her to his quarters for dinner. After she recovers, she tells him she felt pressured to thank Julian for curing her by being the woman of his dreams. At the end, she leaves DS9 for a scientific internship.

''Heat Guy J'' chronicles the adventures of a young Special Services officer named Daisuke Aurora and his android partner known simply as "J". The pair live and work in the fictional, futuristic Metropolis of "Judoh" (Jewde), where the understaffed and underfunded Special Services Division of the Bureau of Urban Safety has its headquarters.

Odo is summoned to a secret rendezvous by Weyoun, who says that he has decided that the Dominion's war against the Federation is misguided, and offers to defect. Odo distrusts Weyoun, and is irritated that Weyoun considers him a god, but takes him into custody. Soon their runabout is hailed by ''another'' Weyoun, who explains that the Weyoun clone with Odo (Weyoun VI) was activated after the accidental death of the previous Weyoun; his successor, Weyoun VII, was activated when Weyoun VI abandoned his post and was deemed "defective". Weyoun VII orders Weyoun VI to activate his self-termination implant, but he refuses.

Damar persuades Weyoun VII to order the runabout destroyed to prevent Weyoun VI from reaching the Federation; Weyoun VII is reluctant to risk the death of Odo, a Changeling, but eventually consents. When one of his Changeling superiors demands an update, Weyoun VII is subservient but vague in his answers, not revealing Odo as their target. Damar notices that the Changeling looks unwell.

As they try to escape the pursuing Dominion ships, Weyoun VI reveals to Odo that an illness is spreading among the Changelings, with Odo possibly the only one uninfected. He urges Odo to be prepared to take command of the Dominion himself and turn it away from its imperialistic ways. Realizing they will be unable to escape, Weyoun VI tells Odo he lives to serve him, hails Weyoun VII, and triggers his termination implant. Weyoun VII immediately calls off the attack and allows Odo to escape. Before dying, Weyoun VI asks Odo for a blessing.

In a side plot on Deep Space Nine, Chief Miles O'Brien is missing a crucial piece of equipment needed to repair the starship ''Defiant''. Nog offers to help O'Brien by navigating "the Great Material Continuum"—a Ferengi metaphor for the economics of supply and demand as a great river on which a skilled navigator can always find what he needs. O'Brien reluctantly authorizes Nog to make a long series of trades, including loaning out Captain Sisko's desk and selling a shipment of wine sent by General Martok's wife. An increasingly alarmed O'Brien watches with dismay as Nog works deal after deal while the required part appears no closer to arriving. In the end, the ''Defiant'' is finally repaired, Martok's wine is replaced with a better vintage, and Sisko's desk is returned before he even discovers it was gone.

In early 20th-century rural Hartwell, Georgia, Celie Harris is a teenage African-American girl who has had two children, removed by her sexually abusive father. He gives her away as a wife to Albert "Mister" Johnson, a widower, who initially wanted to marry her prettier, younger sister. He also abuses her, and his children mistreat her. Celie's loving younger sister, Nettie, runs away from the abusive father and seeks shelter with Celie. The sisters promise to write if they are separated. Mister attempts to sexually assault Nettie, and he kicks her out after she fights him off.

Years later in 1916, Celie is meek from abuse. Mister's son Harpo marries Sofia, and Celie is shocked to find her running a matriarchal household. Harpo attempts to overpower and strike Sofia, but he fails. Celie advises Harpo to beat Sofia. Sofia retaliates and confronts Celie, revealing her long history of abuse. She threatens to kill Harpo if he beats her again and tells Celie to do likewise to Mister. After Harpo fails to change after years of continuous abuse between them, Sofia leaves and takes their children.

Mister and Harpo bring home the ailing Shug Avery, a showgirl and Mister's long-time mistress. Celie, who has slowly developed a fondness for Shug through a photograph sent to Mister, is in awe of Shug's strong will. She nurses Shug back to health, and Shug, in turn, takes a liking to her, writing and performing a song about her at Harpo's newly opened jook joint. Shug tells Celie she's moving to Memphis, and Celie confides to Shug that Mister beats her. Shug tells Celie that she is beautiful and that she loves her, and they kiss. Celie packs her things to follow Shug to Memphis but gets caught by Mister.

Meanwhile, Sofia has been imprisoned for striking the town's mayor after he slaps her for cursing at his wife. Years pass, and she, now a shell of her former self, is released from prison only to be immediately ordered by the judge to become a maid to the mayor's wife, Ms. Millie. Having not seen her children in eight years, Sofia is allotted Christmas to be with her family by Ms. Millie after encountering Celie in town, but Ms. Millie recants her offer after panicking while trying to leave the yard and not being able to get the car in gear.

Shug returns to Celie and Mister's home with her new husband, Grady, in town on business. Grady and Mister become intoxicated while Shug checks the mailbox. She finds a letter from Celie's sister in Africa. Shug gives Celie the letter from Nettie, who tells her that she is working for a couple who adopted Celie's children. Celie and Shug realize that Mister has been hiding Nettie's letters from Celie. While he and Grady are out drinking, Shug and Celie search the house, finding a hidden compartment under the floorboards containing bundles of Nettie's unread letters.

Engrossed in reading, Celie does not hear Mister's calls to shave him, and he slaps her. Celie attempts to kill Mister with his straight razor, but Shug stops her. At a family gathering, Celie finally speaks up against Mister and his years of abuse, to the delight of Shug. This fighting spirit also brings back Sofia's old self, and prompts Harpo's new girlfriend, Squeak, to stand up for herself, as well. Shug and Grady drive away, taking Celie and Squeak with them.

Years later, Shug reunites with her father, who is a pastor, after years of not speaking because of the life path she chose. Mister is an old, lonely drunk who has let his home and farm fall into ruin, and Harpo has made amends with Sofia; they now run the bar together, and Shug still performs there. Upon Celie's father's passing, she finally learns from Nettie's letters that he wasn't their biological father after all. When their mother passed, "his" property was legally inherited by Celie and Nettie. So, she receives the home and shop that had belonged to her biological father.

Celie begins to operate a tailor shop. Mister receives a letter from Nettie addressed to Celie, takes money from his secret stash, and arranges for Nettie, her husband, and Celie's children to return to the U.S. from Africa, where they had been living. While a now redeemed Mister watches from a distance, Celie, Nettie and the former’s children reunite, and the two sisters bond over a hand-clapping game from their childhood.

In a distant galaxy, a starship searches for the evil Count Zarth Arn (Spinell). Closing in on a planet, the ship is attacked by a mysterious weapon which drives the crew insane. Three escape pods launch during the attack, but the ship crashes into the atmosphere of the planet and is destroyed.

Meanwhile, smugglers Stella Star (Munro) and Akton (Gortner) run into the Imperial Space Police, led by robot sheriff Elle (Judd Hamilton) and Police Chief Thor (Robert Tessier). Akton and Stella escape by jumping into hyperspace. When they emerge, they discover an escape pod from the attacked starship, and in it, a sole disoriented survivor. Before they can escape, they are apprehended by the police, who have tracked their hyperspace trail.

Tried and convicted of piracy, they are each sentenced to life in prison on separate prison planets. Stella manages to escape from her prison, but Elle and Thor recapture her, only to inform her the authorities have canceled her sentence; she is taken to an orbiting ship, where she is reunited with Akton. They are contacted holographically by the Emperor of the Galaxy (Plummer), who thanks them for recovering the starship survivor.

He informs them that Count Zarth Arn has a secret weapon of immense power hidden away on a planet somewhere. The Emperor orders Stella and Akton to find the Count's weapon. They are offered clemency if they help find two more missing escape pods as well as the mothership, one of which may contain the Emperor's only son. With Thor and Elle accompanying them, Stella and Akton set off on their quest.

They quickly arrive at the location Akton computes for the first escape pod. Stella and Elle take a shuttle from the spaceship and land near the pod on a sandy, rocky beach. There are no living survivors. Stella meets an Amazonian warrior tribe and is escorted to their underground fortress. On arrival, Elle is ambushed, shot and left for dead, and Stella is taken captive. Stella is taken before Amazon Queen Corelia (Nadia Cassini), who is in league with Zarth Arn. Elle, revealed not to have died, makes his way to the throne room, taking Corelia hostage to secure Stella's release. They escape, but the queen activates a giant female robot which chases them until they are rescued by Akton and Thor.

On an uninhabited, frozen planet, Stella and Elle investigate the mothership crash site. As with the first crash site, they find no survivors. Upon their return to the ship, Thor, who has ambushed and apparently knocked out Akton, reveals that he is an agent of Zarth Arn. Thor locks Stella and Elle outside on the planet's surface, where the temperature drops thousands of degrees at night, but Elle is able to preserve Stella's life by using his energy to keep her heart going while they freeze over in the snow. Meanwhile, Akton revives and battles Thor, killing him and subsequently rescuing Elle and Stella.

Approaching the planet of the third escape pod, their ship comes under attack from the same weapon seen at the beginning of the film, but Akton steers the ship through it, saving them. Stella and Elle, inspecting the pod wreckage, are attacked by cavemen who smash Elle to pieces and abduct Stella, but a man in a golden mask arrives, firing lasers through his eyes, and rescues her. He is revealed to be the Emperor's son, Prince Simon (Hasselhoff). They are again attacked and overpowered by the cavemen, but Akton appears and fights them off with his laser sword; he then reveals that they are standing on the Count's weaponized planet.

Arriving at an underground laboratory, the three are captured by the guards. The Count appears and reveals his plan to use them as bait to bring the Emperor to the planet and then have his weapon self-destruct, destroying the planet, the Emperor and all three of them. He leaves, ordering his two robot golems to keep the group there. Akton engages them in a laser sword duel and defeats the robots, but is mortally wounded and fades away. The Emperor arrives at the planet and fires a green ray from his flagship to "stop time" for three minutes, allowing them all to escape as the planet explodes behind them.

A huge battle commences between the Emperor's armada and the Count's, with the Emperor's soldiers storming the Count's space station; however, the attack fails and the victorious Count gets ready to destroy the Emperor's home planet. With no further options left, the Emperor decides to use a massive space station, the Floating City, to ram the Count's space station in a 4th dimensional attack, “Starcrash”. Elle has been rebuilt by the Emperor's men. Stella and Elle volunteer to smash the City into the Count's station. They fly the City towards the space station and manage to escape together just as their station crashes into the Count's, finally winning the war.

Stella and Elle are picked up by Simon and the two humans embrace. The movie ends with the Emperor delivering a short victory speech.

The novel is about 43-year-old Dr. Ernst Sebastian, a lawyer who works as an ''Untersuchungsrichter'' (investigating judge) in the fictional town of Sankt Nikolaus during 1927. One Saturday afternoon a middle-aged man called Franz Adler, who has been arrested for the murder of a prostitute, is brought before him. During the interview—a preliminary hearing during which the two men are alone in Sebastian's office—Sebastian recognizes Adler as his old classmate, who attended the secondary school in Sankt Nikolaus, which was then in Austria-Hungary, for two years when they were both 16 and 17. Adler, however, who appears to him fearful and beaten by life, does not seem to recognize the judge, and Sebastian decides to postpone any private talk with Adler till the following Monday.

As it happens, that same Saturday night Sebastian attends a class reunion (the ''Abituriententag'' of the title) occasioned by the 25th anniversary of his ''Matura'' (Class of '02), a meeting he knows he will regret going to as it will bring back both a plethora of unpleasant memories and a confrontation with the bourgeois self-satisfaction of his former classmates.

That night, Sebastian does not go to sleep. Rather, upset by his chance meeting with Adler and the enervating talk at the class reunion, he sits down at his desk and writes down a confession in shorthand, which on the following morning turns out to be indecipherable to everyone including himself—except to the reader, who can read Sebastian's confession as the middle part of the novel).

At the age of 16, Sebastian, on the command of his father, the highest-ranking judge in Austria-Hungary, has to leave the prestigious ''Schottengymnasium'' in Vienna due to poor grades and is forced to continue his education in the provincial town of Sankt Nikolaus, where he stays with two aunts of his. A mediocre pupil, he tries desperately to attract the attention of his new classmates, who turn out to be very reluctant to accept the new boy into their close-knit community. In the course of one school year, however, Sebastian succeeds in tempting, and eventually seducing, many of his classmates to truancy, stay up late on a regular basis, lie to their teachers and parents, drink excessive amounts of alcohol, and eventually associate with prostitutes.

In particular, although he is aware of his mediocre performance at school and also of his own abominable character, Sebastian, rather than repent for his sins, sets out to conquer the intellectual superiority of his classmate Adler, a red-haired Jew who writes dramas and philosophical treatises, though he is only 17. To get rid of his rival once and for all, Sebastian pushes him into forging a document. The truth comes out, and before Adler can be expelled, Sebastian helps him escape to Germany, thus ensuring that his own part in the crime will never be revealed.

On the Monday following the class reunion, Adler is again brought before Sebastian. This time the judge does reveal his identity to Adler, but on closer inspection of the file in front of him he finds out that the man's assertion that he has never gone to school in Sankt Nikolaus is true.

Upon his parole from the California Youth Authority, Hoover Street Deuces gang member Bobby Johnson meets with girlfriend Carole, son Jimmie, and fellow "Deuces" Ray Ray, Loco, and Bear. The gang attends a party thrown by a heroin dealer named Genie Lamp, who forces Bobby to snort a line of heroin. Bobby and Jimmie return home in the morning to find Carole passed out on the couch from smoking PCP. The Deuces return to Genie Lamp's club, where they shoot Genie's bodyguard and Bobby shoots Genie. Bobby returns home and tells Carole that they have to move immediately. Soon after, the gang is caught and Bobby gets a ten year prison sentence for the murder.

Ten years later, Bobby's son Jimmie has followed his father into the gang life. He begins stealing car stereos and selling them to Ray Ray for $20 each. Jimmie is shot in the back by a man named Willie Manchester while attempting to steal Willie's car radio. After recuperating in the hospital, he goes to a juvenile halfway house.

In prison, Bobby becomes a respected gang leader, falls from grace, and turns his life around with the help of his cellmate, Ali. Once released, he returns to South Central Los Angeles and drives to the halfway house to find Jimmie. Jimmie is shocked that his father has denounced the Deuce gang and will not seek revenge against Willie Manchester. Jimmie insults Bobby for not being the proud Deuce gang leader that he thought his father would be.

Jimmy breaks out of the halfway house and hides out with Ray Ray. Bobby goes to Ray Ray's warehouse and the two have a talk. Ray Ray opens up a door that reveals a kidnapped Willie Manchester. Ray Ray gives Jimmie a gun and tries to talk him into shooting Willie. Willie begs for his life and tells Jimmie that he did not mean to shoot him. Bobby takes Bear's gun and threatens to kill Ray Ray, but puts the gun down when he sees the look on Jimmie's face. Bobby talks to Jimmie about the mistake it would be if Jimmie killed Willie Manchester. Bobby states that Jimmie can replace goods that he steals from a man, but he cannot replace a man's life that he took. Jimmy lets go of the gun he had been holding.

Ray Ray lets go of Jimmie, Bobby, and Willie Manchester. Bobby tells Jimmie that they must start their lives over, but this time they will do it the right way. The scene fades to black as the two walk out of the warehouse together as father and son.

Set twenty years after the Bloody Mary Virus (released in the original ''Headhunter''), Jack and his new partner Leeza X find out something is amiss when they try to stop Weapon Smugglers. The pair must face opposition from the Glass Skyscrapers filled and media controlled 'Above' and The Dregs & Criminal Infested colonies of 'Below'. Jack and Leeza must also face their fears as they try to redeem a world from chaos, especially Jack, whose son was taken away by forces from 'Below', but might still be alive.

Rachel finds out that her ex-fiancé, Barry, is engaged to marry Mindy, the woman who was to be Rachel's maid of honor. Ross still pines over Rachel, and is about to ask her out when he's interrupted by the rest of the gang. He asks Rachel to watch Marcel for him, but Rachel lets him escape. Not knowing that Ross' ownership of Marcel is illegal, she calls Animal Control for assistance.

The responding Animal control agent, Luisa (Megan Cavanagh), is a former high school classmate of Rachel and the Gellers. Since Luisa was none too fond of Rachel, she isn't willing to cut any slack. She eventually relents when she accidentally shoots Phoebe in the rear with a tranquilizer dart and Rachel threatens to report her.

After they get Marcel back, Ross is about to tell Rachel of his feelings when Barry bursts in and tells Rachel he's still in love with her.

The Curtis brothers' parents are dead, so eldest brother Darrel ("Darry") is left to raise and support his 2 younger siblings, Ponyboy and Sodapop ("Soda"), in 1965 Tulsa, Oklahoma. Some socially affluent teens harass and assault Ponyboy, until some of his fellow greasers chase them off. The next night, he, Johnny and Dallas (Dillon) catch a movie at the local drive-in, where Dally flirts with "Social" Cherry Valance. Unsuccessful, he leaves, however, Cherry invites Ponyboy and Johnny to sit with her and Marcia. Later, while walking the 2 teen girls home, their boyfriends, ''"Socials"'' Bob and Randy, take umbrage with this situation and so the girls leave with them to avoid any escalation.

Pony and Johnny walk to an abandoned lot, instead of home, so Johnny can avoid the routinely volatile bickering and domestic violence of his parents. He laments the hopelessness of his young life, both domestically and within the socio-economic structures established at school. Falling asleep, Ponyboy awakens a few hours later and rushes home, fearing his elder brother's discipline, who rebukes and even strikes him. He runs off to a local park with Johny. They climb on the jungle gym, reminiscing about their childhood, until they are confronted, chased and attacked by Bob, Randy and three other ''Soc's''. Johnny is beaten and Pony almost drowned in the park's fountain, until Johnny stabs Bob, killing him.

Fearful of the legal ramifications, Ponyboy and Johnny find Dallas, who gives them money for food and a loaded gun. They flee to Windrixville, OK, hopping a train, then hiding in an abandoned church there, where they dye their hair, play poker and read ''Gone with the Wind'' to each other. Four days later, Dallas visits; he has lied to the police, who are now searching in Texas. A note from his brother, Sodapop Curtis, exhorts Ponyboy to come home, as Cherry is willing to testify on their behalf. While buying food, Johnny favors turning themselves in, but Dallas disagrees.

Returning to the church, it's on fire with children trapped inside. They rescue them, but are burned and Johnny breaks his back. In the hospital, Ponyboy Curtis reunites with his 2 older brothers, then returns home. Their heroic deed has made the cover of the local paper, however a judge may send Ponyboy to a boys' home.

Ponyboy and Two-Bit visit Johnny and Dallas in the hospital. Ponyboy asks Two-Bit to buy another copy of ''Gone with the Wind'' at the hospital gift shop. When Johnny’s abusive mother comes, he refuses her visit, so she takes out her ire on Ponyboy and 2-Bit, who decries her a bad mother. Dallas, encourages them to win the upcoming rumble, sparked by Bob's death, for Johnny.

Later, Ponyboy meets with Cherry about court. She won't visit Johnny at the hospital as he killed Bob. Later that night, the greasers, including Dallas, who left the hospital, win the rumble. Afterwards, Dally drives an injured Ponyboy to the hospital to see Johnny. Telling him about the greasers' victory, he is ambivalent and dies after telling Ponyboy to "stay gold".

Upset over Johnny's death, Dallas robs a store, but is shot by the owner. He calls Darrell Curtis to meet him in the park and help hide him. The police arrive first, surrounding Dally. He commits suicide by cop, pointing the empty gun at them.

In court, the judge exonerates Ponyboy for Bob's death, and is placed in Darrell's custody. Later at school, Cherry sees Ponyboy and ignores him. He is offered a passing grade by his English teacher, to write a quality, personal experience essay, but is uninspired.

Inside Johnny's copy of ''Gone with the Wind'', is a letter explaining how saving the children was worth sacrificing his life, and admonishes Ponyboy to "never change", thus "Stay gold."

Johnny's letter inspires Ponyboy's essay, "The Outsiders". The story begins: "When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman, and a ride home."

In the year 2052, the planet Gotham, situated around 30 light years from Earth, was about to be destroyed when a roving black hole is about to engulf its sun and the entire planetary system. When all attempts to avert tragedy failed, the scientist named Leader Zytel (General Zee in the English dub) announced to all of Gotham that he was able to construct a space ship/satellite capable of housing 200 million people of Gotham (Gothamites) and save their species from extinction. This space ship/satellite was named Terror Star and is capable of traveling vast distances in order to search for a new home planet. Zytel asked for absolute power in order to be able to carry out this monumental task of saving their race. Hence, Zytel becomes the highest leader of the Gothamites survivors living in Terror Star.

After thirty years of wandering endlessly in space, Terror Star crossed path with the planet Earth. Leader Zytel quickly ordered the scouting of the planet to determine its suitability to be the next home of the Gothamites. They sent fake meteorites with transmitters in order to scout the planet. The high generals of Gotham immediately noted that a civilization exists on Earth and even though the planet is not exactly suitable to house the Gothamites, it can be made hospitable by extensive terra-forming.

Meanwhile, on Earth, scientists study the fake meteor fragments that landed on Earth and found out their real content. They were able to conclude that an intelligent alien species were conducting a study of the Earth and were anxious of the intentions of the aliens. The nine major scientific research centers around the world, named N1 to N9, were informed of the situation and the political, military, and scientific leaders of Earth were summoned to N1 – the headquarters of all the research centers to discuss the next steps. One of these scientist is named Dr. Cromwell Colins – head of the oceanographic research center affiliated with N1.

Because of their spying capabilities, Gotham was made aware of this event and General Gulf decided to launch a preemptive attack on Earth in order to take advantage of the situation where all world leaders are vulnerable in one place. Gotham's space ships destroyed the Earth's extraterrestrial research facilities and attacked Earth – destroying much of the civilization on Earth including research centers N2 to N8. Only research center N1 and N9 was able to escape destruction. Dr Colins was one of those killed by the attack. Before he died, he gave his son – Colin Collins – a pendant and asked him to remember the word "Thundersub". He then asked Colin to proceed to research center N1 since the hope of humanity is in there. Colin and his high school classmates then met a mysterious young lady named Anna who cannot talk because she was in a state of shock during a brief stopover on one of Colin's classmates home. Colin and team then boarded a flying craft and decided to proceed to N1 to fulfill his father's wishes.

Terror Star move to stay in orbit of the planet Earth. Because of the tidal forces brought about by the new satellite, the Earth's axis was shifted and geological and environmental disasters like tornadoes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions occurred. Ninety percent of the Earth's population were wiped out in less than a day. The few remaining survivors of the human race escaped to the mountains.

Within days, the Gothamite occupation has built a series of sea fortresses around the world that converts sea water to heavy water – the aliens main source of energy. Meanwhile, Colin and his other classmates arrived at research center N1. The team decided to go for a swim in the bay side of the island research center when suddenly they were pulled under by a whirlpool. They ended up in an underwater lake inside a cave at the bottom of research center N1. The pendant that Colin's father gave him suddenly started glowing and points to a door. Using the pendant, they were able to open the door and walked their way through darkness right into Blue Noah's (Thundersub) bridge. They recognized a command input panel where Colin spoke the word "Thundersub". Blue Noah was activated and broke free of the island research center N1.

Near where Blue Noah was drifting after being activated, Blue Noah's sister submarine – the Tempest Junior – was returning from a test being conducted by Ei Domon (Captain Noah in the English dub) and his crew when they spotted Blue Noah afloat. They discovered that a group of teenagers are aboard the submarine. After the Tempest docked at the bow of Blue Noah, the crew met the youngsters and the Captain learned that Colin's father was Dr. Cromwell Collins who designed the submarine. The Captain also saw Anna – who turned out to be his daughter whom he had bad relations with because she thinks that the captain abandoned her and her dying mother for the sake of duty.

Colin and his classmates and Anna were allowed to be part of Blue Noah's crew by serving in Tempest Junior. After a couple of skirmishes with the Death Force – the military arm of Gotham headed by Colonel Jrgens (Colonel Lupus in the English dub), Blue Noah saw the wreckage of a fighter plane containing an unnamed pilot. They rescued the pilot from the wreckage and brought him to Blue Noah for medical treatment. After destroying a Death Force sea fortress using the anti proton gun, the pilot who was rescued from the wreckage came about and talked to Captain Noah. He told the captain that he is Flight Lieutenant Domingo from research center N9 and he was ordered to go to N1 to meet Blue Noah and inform them that they should proceed to N9 in order to upgrade Blue Noah with an Aero Conversion Engine which would make the warship capable of outer space flight.

Captain Noah now embarks on a mission to reach research center N9 which is located in Bermuda. During the course of the trip, the Blue Noah encountered many skirmishes to save humans taken as slaves by the Death Force and also innocent people who were caught in the war. Because of the many successes of Blue Noah, Col. Jrgens held a personal vendetta with the warship and vows to destroy it one way or another. Among the people that were rescued by Blue Noah were Tara and Kapira – natives of a small island called Gypsy Atoll.

The trip to Bermuda was deferred when Blue Noah learned of the construction of Gravity Control base in both the North and South poles. The Gravity Control base is designed to alter the gravitational characteristics of Earth in order to make it hospitable to the Gothamites. Once fully operational, they would change the living conditions on the planet and make it inhabitable by humans – thus causing their extinction. Captain Noah ordered to strike the two bases simultaneously – Blue Noah will strike the base at the south pole while Tempest Jr. will destroy the north pole base. Blue Noah was successfully able to destroy the south pole Gravity Control base. However, Tempest Jr. failed in its attempt to destroy the north pole base and was heavily damaged in doing so. Skipper Bergen sacrificed his life to save the Tempest from destruction when it was caught in an anti submarine net.

The captain learned of the failure to destroy the north pole base and have rendezvous with Tempest Jr. They then set sail to N9 in order to upgrade the warship before making plans to destroy the north pole base. En route to N9, they destroyed the biggest Death Force sea fortress in the Panama Canal by using the Anti Proton Gun. After some sojourn in the Amazon, they were finally able to reach research center N9 in Bermuda.

At research center N9, Blue Noah underwent extensive modifications in order to prepare it for space travel using the Aero Conversion Engine. Tempest Jr. was decommissioned and the crew were reassigned to various post among Blue Noah and its three new companion space ships. After 48 hours, the modifications to Blue Noah was complete and the crew prepared for an all out offensive against the Death Force. Now capable of flight, Blue Noah destroyed the Gravity Control base in the north pole while Lt. Domingo and his squadron destroyed the Death Force's center of operations on Earth in the Sahara desert – with Lt. Domingo sacrificing himself to complete the mission.

Blue Noah along with its three companion space ships then flew to outer space in order to confront Terror Star itself orbiting above the planet Earth. Hegeler and Jrgens were pleading with Leader Zytel (General Z) in order to send more reinforcements to Earth in order to destroy Blue Noah when they learned that it is headed for Terror Star. Battle after battle ensued with Blue Noah firing the Anti Proton Gun in order to destroy all the enemy warships and damage Terror Star itself. Hegeler told Zytel that they should just look for a new planet since they will not be able to conquer Earth. Zytel vehemently rejects the idea. During this time, Hegeler learned through his scout that most of the 200 million Gotham citizens of Terror Star are dead because of a flaw in the design of the satellite causing the life support systems to fail. He then concluded that the reason why Zytel decided to stay on Earth and make it their new home is because the satellite can no longer go further to look for a new planet more hospitable to Gothamites because of this flaw in the design. Zytel intended to make Earth the dream planet in order to cover up for the flaw in Terror Star's design even if Earth was not the ideal planet for their people.

Col. Jrgens went on a one on one duel with Blue Noah. Just when the duel is about to start, Hegeler discovered another treacherous plan of the leader Zytel. When Zytel discovered about the Terror Star's flawed design, he preserved the Gothamites in computer cells and had plans to escape the satellite with these cells to Earth. When Zytel was confronted by Hegeler, Zytel vehemently denied the accusations. Hegeler then ordered that they should now leave Earth. Zytel tried to stop him and in the struggle that ensued Zytel was stabbed by Hegeler to his death. Outside, Jrgens was defeated by Blue Noah and was killed when his ship was destroyed. On the other hand, Captain Noah was severely wounded by shrapnel on his chest and he expired a few moments later. Before the captain died, he asked Colin to take over command of the fleet and told him to do whatever is necessary in order to save the Earth.

Hegeler took leadership of the Gothamites and he maneuvered Terror Star to sail out of the solar system by using Jupiter's gravitational force to slingshot the satellite outside the system. However, the engines are no longer functioning normally and the satellite was sent on a direct collision course to planet Earth. Blue Noah plotted an intercept course to ram Terror Star and place it out of Earth's path. However, calculations show that it is too late for anything to be done by Blue Noah.

Just as when the Terror Star was about to impact Earth, Hegeler ordered that the engines be forced to start even with the risk of them exploding. In the nick of time, Terror Star was able to alter course to prevent collision with the Earth. The tidal forces brought about by this event forced the Earth's axis to be shifted back to its original position.

As Terror Star makes its way to the outer realms of the solar system, Hegeler contacted Blue Noah and talked to Colins never to repeat the same mistakes they did by choosing a selfish leader. Terror Star's navigation systems and engines overheated and exploded, which caused the satellite to drift directly into the sun and its destruction instead of it escaping the solar system. That was the end of the Gotham civilization. The Earth was saved from the Gotham threat for good.

In the aftermath, Captain Noah was given an honorable burial and his epitaph simply reads "The man who saved Earth". Colins and Anna got married and set up an organization that helped in the prevention of extraterrestrial invasion.

Three Australian computer game champs, Tyler, Marty, and Alison and one Fijian computer champ, Kirra are forced to swap their game consoles for real swords when they are thrown into a virtual pirate island world in Fiji. They face the dreaded Captain Blackheart and his dangerous, seductive new First Mate, Lily and a band of fierce pirates for a hoard of treasure stolen from an Egyptian Pharaoh's tomb by the legendary pirate ship, Neptune's Revenge, and its captain, Salty Ben. Tyler, Kirra, and Alison befriend a local Fijian tribe and its leader, Sol, who takes a liking to Kirra, while Marty preferes the pirate lifestyle, becoming Captain Blackheart's cabin boy at one stage. Marty's allegiance is constantly questioned whether he's on Blackheart's side or his brother Tyler's side, after Lily, leads a revolt and takes over Blackheart's ship. This is a problem for Marty, as Lily is crueller, more suspicious and far cleverer than Blackheart, who is more there for comedy than fast-paced action scenes.

Will Tyler, Kirra, and Alison find the three torn pieces of the treasure map and find their way home, or will the dreaded Captain Blackheart, Marty, Lily and the pirate crew find the Eye of Osiris, treasure of treasures, and live forever?

With the beginning of the Bosnian War in early 1992, Ervin Rustemagić, his wife Edina, and children Maja and Edvin have just returned to their home in the Sarajevo suburb of Ilidža after an extended trip to the Netherlands.

By April the city is under siege — the Serbs have closed the roads and are killing anyone who tries to escape the Sarajevo area. With he and his family spending every day terrified of the shelling, and often hiding in their basement to avoid the bombs, Rustemagić has to debate the safety of taking his son to the hospital to deal with his high fever.

Shortly thereafter, a Serbian tank rumbles through their neighborhood — Rustemagić's home and the SAF offices are destroyed. More than 14,000 pieces of original art were lost in the flames. Barely escaping with the clothes on their backs, Rustemagić and his family first find shelter in a half-destroyed building. The next day they find shelter in an apartment building in Dobrinja.

Over the months that follow the Rustemagićs are reduced to living in near-primitive conditions. Broken water pipes lead to days standing in line hoping to fill plastic jugs with water rations. Electricity and cooking fuel are scarce, and children trying scavenge for fuel are the targets of Serbian snipers (who are promised a cash bonus for every kill).

A Rustemagić family's friend escapee from a rape camp, making her way to the family's' shelter to tell the horrors of her experience.

In June 1992, Ervin tries to gain permission to leave the country from the French consulate; each time he visits their offices he must drive a dangerous route from Dobrinja to Sarajevo in his Opel Kadett, protected from live fire only by metal plates attached to the car and piles of comic books, meant to absorb the force of a bullet.

Some months later, in October 1992, the family moves locations to the Sarajevo Holiday Inn, at that point mostly occupied by foreign journalists and constantly under fire.

Thanks to help from European publishers and artists, in late 1993 Rustemagić gains accreditation as a journalist, enabling him to escape Bosnia and Herzegovina. After more than a month fruitlessly attempting to get his family out of the country, he is given Slovenian citizenship, which immediately transfers to his family.

In September 1993, after a tense moment at the airport, Edina, Maja, and Edvin are allowed to fly out of Sarajevo. The entire family is reunited in Split, Croatia.

Outcast teen genius Peter Parker develops spider-like superhuman abilities after being bitten by a genetically altered spider created by Oscorp. He learns how to use his newfound powers in the form of an optional tutorial, narrated by Bruce Campbell. Peter then decides to use his powers for personal gain and enters in a wrestling competition; however, he is cheated out of his prize money by the fight promoter. The promoter is then robbed by a robber, whom Peter lets go out of spite. Shortly afterwards, Peter is devastated when his Uncle Ben is killed by a robber, whom the police identify as the leader of the Skulls gang. Peter tracks down and defeats the murderer at a warehouse where he is hiding from the police, only to discover that he is the same robber he let go earlier, who then dies after accidentally slipping out of a window. Remembering Ben's words that "with great power comes great responsibility", Peter vows to use his powers to fight evil, and becomes the masked superhero Spider-Man. He also gets a job at the ''Daily Bugle'' as a photographer after selling photos of himself as Spider-Man.

Meanwhile, Oscorp CEO Norman Osborn and his scientists are investigating the appearance of this new hero. Anxious to develop his Human Performance Enhancer "Super Soldier" serum, the main goals of which are already exhibited by Spider-Man, Osborn sends robots to capture him, but Spider-Man destroys them. Later, Spider-Man witnesses the Shocker and the Vulture robbing a jewelry store and escaping separately. Going after Shocker first, Spider-Man pursues him through the sewers and into a subway station, where he defeats him. Not wanting to let the Vulture get away with his share of the loot, Shocker tells Spider-Man that he is hiding in an old clock tower. Spider-Man climbs the tower, but the Vulture attempts to escape. After a chase through the city, Spider-Man finally defeats Vulture on top of the Chrysler Building, and leaves him, along with the stolen loot, for the police to find.

Later, Oscorp creates several spider-shaped robots to capture Spider-Man, but they end up pursuing Scorpion instead, whom they had mistaken for Spider-Man due to him also having arachnid DNA. After returning to the subway station to take photos of his battle site with Shocker, Spider-Man runs into Scorpion and helps him fight off the spider bots. However, an increasingly paranoid Scorpion then attacks Spider-Man, believing he is trying to take him back to the scientists who experimented on him. Scorpion is defeated, but manages to escape.

Meanwhile, Osborn is fired from Oscorp due to failing to complete the super-soldier serum in time, and decides to test it on himself, leading to the creation of a psychopathic alternate personality: the Green Goblin. Sporting experimental armor, a glider, and an arsenal of advanced weapons, he attacks the yearly Oscorp Unity Day Festival to exact revenge on those who fired him. Peter's friend and crush, Mary Jane Watson, is caught in the chaos, but Peter intervenes as Spider-Man and rescues her. Grateful, she kisses him, just as a spider bot photographs them from afar. Spider-Man then fights the Goblin, stopping from harming more bystanders. Impressed, the Goblin offers Spider-Man a chance to join him, but the latter refuses. The Goblin then reveals he has planted bombs filled with deadly gas all over the city, and escapes while Spider-Man finds and disarms the bombs.

In the Xbox version only, Osborn later hires Kraven the Hunter to capture Spider-Man. Luring him to a zoo, Kraven poisons him and forces him to complete an obstacle course filled with deadly traps, all the while he is hunting him. In the end, Spider-Man defeats Kraven and leaves him for the police, obtaining an antidote for the poison in the process.

After another battle with the Goblin, Spider-Man studies a piece of the villain's gear that he recovered and learns it was manufactured by Oscorp. Infiltrating the Oscorp building to investigate further, he avoids detection by the security as he makes his way to the secret labs, where he discovers chemical weapons being made and a giant robot, and neutralizes both. Spider-Man then arrives in Osborn's office and learns that the Goblin knows about Mary Jane after seeing the photograph of her kissing him. Deducing that the Goblin kidnapped Mary Jane to lure him out, Spider-Man escapes from Oscorp and chases the Goblin to the Queensboro Bridge, where he rescues Mary Jane and defeats the villain. The Goblin unmasks himself as Osborn and, in a final attempt to kill Spider-Man, accidentally gets impaled by his glider. Before he dies, Osborn asks Spider-Man not to reveal his identity as the Goblin to his son Harry. Spider-Man attempts to reveal his identity to Mary Jane, but stops when she kisses him. Spider-Man then ends the game with a fourth wall break, telling the player to "go outside and play."

The starship ''Defiant'' investigates a planet surrounded by an unusual energy barrier. They find the planet is inhabited by 8,000 descendants of the ''Defiant'' crew. The descendants' history began when the ''Defiant'' tried to escape the planet. Instead of passing through its energy barrier, the ship was thrown back in time 200 years and crashed with no hope of contacting the Federation or repairing the ship. Faced with that reality, the stranded 48-person crew of the ''Defiant'' (including Dax, Sisko, O'Brien, Worf, and Dr. Bashir) decided to remain and establish a society.

Unfortunately, the stranded Major Kira died a few weeks after the crash due to neural damage she incurred when the ship was passing through the energy barrier; Bashir did not have the medical equipment on the ''Defiant'' required to treat her.

In addition to their descendants, two members of the original crew of the ''Defiant'' still exist on the colony. The Changeling physiology of Odo has given him greater longevity than the rest, while the Trill symbiont Dax continues to live on in a new host, Yedrin Dax. The "original" Odo is inadvertently trapped in his gelatinous form, during which time the older Odo confesses that he has been in love with Kira since very early in their friendship.

The officers now realize they face a dilemma. If they use the ''Defiant'' to safely leave the planet, they will never have traveled back in time and the community on the planet will be erased from existence. But if they allow history to repeat itself by crashing in the past, they will never see their homes and loved ones, and Kira will die in a few weeks. Yedrin shows them a way out by using the quantum bubble to duplicate the ship and crew so that they can make both choices at once. But it turns out to be a trick, as he wants to survive; if they try it, they will just repeat the crash.

After much discussion, and joining in the community's planting festival, they choose to repeat the crash. But the older Odo loves Kira so much he would rather prevent her death than allow the 8,000 colonists to survive. He secretly changes their programmed flight plan so that they escape from the bubble—causing the colony to vanish from existence.

A flashback shows how Ellen (Loretta Young) met George (Barry Sullivan) in a naval hospital during World War II while she was dating his friend, Lieutenant Ranney Grahame (Bruce Cowling), a young military doctor whose busy schedule left little time for her. George was a pilot, and Ellen swiftly fell in love with him, although the flashback strongly hints he had some capacity for arrogance and selfishness. Nevertheless, they soon married and, after the war, wound up in a leafy suburban Los Angeles neighborhood.

Unhappily, George is now confined to his bed with heart problems. There is a heat wave, and Ellen is spending most her time caring for him. George's doctor is their old friend Ranney, with whom George thinks his wife is having an affair. In response, Ranney suggests George may need psychological help. After Ellen tells her bedridden husband she dreams of having children, he becomes angry. Meanwhile, George has written a letter to the district attorney in which he claims his wife and best friend are killing him with overdoses of medicine for his heart.

A little neighbor boy dressed as the movie and TV cowboy, Hopalong Cassidy, and wearing cap pistols (Bradley Mora) befriends the childless Ellen, who gives him cookies. He hands her a toy (fake) television set and asks Ellen to give it to George, which she does whilst serving her husband lunch in bed. He tells her an unsettling story about how, as a child, he had beaten a neighbor boy with a rake until he drew blood. Thinking the thick letter has something to do with insurance, Ellen gives it to the postman (Irving Bacon), who sees George in the upstairs bedroom window. When Ellen rushes up to find out why he has gotten out of bed, George lets her know what the letter says and who it is addressed to. George pulls a gun and is about to kill her when he drops dead on the bed. In her narration she describes George's death as "one of those awful dreams."

Ellen panics over the letter and, as noted by a reviewer over 50 years later, throughout the film's second half seems "much more concerned with absolving herself from the blame of his death than missing her spouse."Tooze, Gary W. [http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReview/causeforalarm.htm ''Cause for Alarm!''], review. ''DVD Beaver'', 2007. Accessed: May 17, 2020. Running from the house and shown the way by two teenagers (in the film's brief nod to Los Angeles' mid-twentieth-century jalopy culture), she chases down the overly talkative postman to whom she gave the letter; but he won't give it back to her without talking to George first, since he wrote it. The postman says she can ask the supervisor at the downtown post office, who has more authority. Ellen is frantic when she gets back to the house, only to find George's aunt Clara (Margalo Gillmore) climbing the stairs to see him and stops her barely in time. After the two talk for a while, Clara again heads up the stairs; but Ellen stops her once more, saying George told her earlier not to let his aunt see him. Clara leaves in a huff, telling her George was "rude, mean and selfish since he's been six... he's worse if anything."

Ellen goes back up to the bedroom to change her clothes and sees the gun still in George's hand, narrating, "Somehow I knew I shouldn't leave it there." As she wrenches the pistol from his hand, it fires. Readying herself to leave the house, a polite but somewhat aggressive notary (Don Haggerty) rings the doorbell, telling her he has an appointment with George to go over some legal documents. She steadfastly says George is too sick to see anyone. Ellen desperately drives downtown to the post office to see the supervisor, who gives her a form for George to sign but then, nettled by Ellen's unhinged and uncooperative behavior, tells her he is going to allow the letter to be delivered. Defeated, she returns to the house and, as she gets to the front door, a kindly neighbor woman (Georgia Backus) offers to help Ellen, since she has seemed so upset all day.

When Ranney shows up to check on George, Ellen is hysterical. Ranney tells her to be calm and goes up to the bedroom. Showing no apparent emotion for his dead best friend, he sees the bullet hole in the floor, finds the gun in a dresser drawer, methodically repositions George's body in the bed, and draws down the window shade. Back downstairs with Ellen, Ranney listens as she tells him what happened, saying "I did everything wrong, just like he said I would." The doorbell rings. She thinks the police have come to arrest her, but Ranney urges Ellen to open the door. When she does, it is the postman, returning the thick letter for insufficient postage. Ranney gives a sigh of relief; Ellen takes back the envelope and is overcome after closing the door. Ranney wordlessly rips the letter into narrow strips and burns these shreds in an ashtray along with a matchbook bearing the embossed names ''George and Ellen''.

Penniless and straight out of the University of Iowa, Joe (Jerry O'Connell) moves to New York needing an apartment and a job. With the fortuitous death of Mrs. Grotowski, an artist named Walter Shit (Jim Turner) helps Joe to take over the last rent controlled apartment in a building slated for demolition by convincing everyone that Mrs. Grotowski was Joe's mother. If Senator Dougherty (Robert Vaughn) can empty the building, he can make way for the prison he intends to build there, and uses thug Alberto Bianco (Don Ho) and his nephews, Vlad (Shiek Mahmud-Bey) and Jesus (Jim Sterling), to intimidate tenants.

Joe discovers he has twenty to thirty thousand roommates, all of them talking, singing cockroaches grateful that a slob has moved in. Led by Ralph (Billy West), the sentient, tune-savvy insects scare away the thugs in an act of enlightened self-interest that endears them to their human meal ticket. Tired of living on handouts from mom back in Iowa and after a series of dead-end jobs ruined by his well-intentioned six-legged roomies, Joe finds himself the unskilled drummer in Walter Shit's band. Hanging posters for SHIT, he encounters Senator Dougherty's daughter Lily (Megan Ward) promoting her own project, a community garden to occupy the vacant site surrounding Joe's building.

A gift to Lily while working on her garden is enough to woo her back to Joe's apartment. However, the cockroaches break a promise to keep out of his business and a panicked Lily flees, only to discover the garden she'd worked on has been burned to the ground. During a fight with his roommates over his spoiled romantic evening, the building suffers the same fate as the garden. A mutual truce between the hapless and now homeless roommates leads the cockroaches to "call in favors from every roach, rat and pigeon in New York City" to try to make amends to Joe. Overnight, the roaches scour New York to gather materials to convert the entire area into a garden and take care of all the necessary paperwork to ensure harmony reigns over all.

The film is a fantastical journey through the looking-glass of history into the darkest recesses of the mind of Adolf Hitler. In a dreamlike subterranean environment removed from historical time, Adolf Hitler (Norman Rodway) confronts the demons of his own psyche. As he dictates his memoirs, Hitler encounters apparitions of his confidant, Joseph Goebbels (Joel Grey), his enigmatic mistress, Eva Braun (Camilla Soeberg), Hermann Göring (Glenn Shadix), Sigmund Freud (Peter Michael Goetz) and the mysterious Woman in Black (Hope Allen).

Through haunting images, Hitler's stream-of-consciousness soliloquies and exchanges with his phantom guests, ''The Empty Mirror'' presents a frightening primer on genius and psychosis, domination and destruction. The action unfolds amidst a streaming flow of archival film footage intercut with images from Leni Riefenstahl's masterpiece of Nazi propaganda, ''Triumph of the Will'', as well as private home movies shot by Eva Braun.

Buffy notifies her poetry professor that she is dropping out of college so that she may take care of Dawn. Dawn and Buffy are called into Dawn's principal's office where Buffy is informed that Dawn has been skipping school. Buffy seeks Giles's advice about being Dawn's mother figure and then takes her sister home, warning Dawn that her behavior in school needs to improve or Buffy could possibly lose guardianship of her.

Ben is fired from his job at the hospital, as Glory has been monopolizing the human form they share and he has not shown up for work in two weeks. Glory takes a bath while she demands that her blindfolded minions tell her everything they know about the Key. Glory's minions provide her with enough information to conclude who the Key is and Glory leads the way to gather it.

Meanwhile, Tara and Willow discuss their relationship and Willow's powers as a witch, but the discussion ends up angering Willow when Tara expresses her concerns about Willow's "frightening" powers. Depressed over her first major fight with Willow, Tara goes to a cultural fair, but finds herself sitting next to Glory on a park bench. Giles finds one of Glory's minions at the shop and questions him about Glory's plans. Willow goes after Tara who is in Glory's grasp, but cannot reach her in time. Glory discovers that Tara is not the Key, and offers to let her go if she reveals the key's identity. Protecting Dawn, Tara refuses, and Glory drains Tara's mind of sanity.

At the hospital, doctors look after Tara while Willow plans her vengeance against Glory. Buffy arranges for Dawn to be kept safe by Spike in some caves while she takes care of the issues involving Tara. Blaming herself for all of the harm that Glory has caused the people of Sunnydale, particularly Spike and Tara, Dawn tearfully expresses a belief that she is evil and a "lightning rod for pain", while Spike comforts her and tries to convince her otherwise. Willow rages, going to the magic shop to gather dangerous magic supplies in preparation for her attack on Glory. Buffy thinks she has talked Willow out of any attempts to go after Glory, but Spike convinces her that one cannot be talked out of something like that.

At Glory's place, Willow makes an unexpected, but grand appearance, casting spells wildly, all in attempts to attack and destroy Glory. Although she manages to use a lightning strike to cause Glory some pain (something no one else, not even Buffy, was able to do), subsequent assaults have no effect; the goddess is far more powerful than the witch, and Willow is almost seriously wounded once her strength fades. Luckily, Buffy shows up in time to stop her from getting hurt. Buffy and Glory battle ferociously, until one of Willow's force fields allows Willow and Buffy to escape. The next day, Willow, Tara, Buffy, and Dawn sit down to eat. Willow spoon-feeds applesauce to Tara, who is still unstable after Glory's attack, while discussing the responsibilities she has to undertake in order to take care of Tara. When all seems peaceful, Glory makes a surprise appearance, tearing out an entire wall. Tara, distressed, describes Dawn as having "pure" energy, revealing that Dawn is the key.

With Glory now possessing knowledge that Dawn is the Key, Buffy and Dawn run for their lives and escape, thanks to Willow's magic and a large semi-truck slamming into Glory out on the street after which she transforms into Ben, ending the chase. The gang gathers in Xander's apartment to discuss possible plans of action, where Buffy surprises everyone by declaring that they will never be able to defeat Glory and the only way to stay alive is to leave Sunnydale, to which the gang reluctantly agrees. Spike solves their transportation problem by providing a sun-protected Winnebago, and Buffy allows him to accompany them. Though Giles and Xander are anything but pleased by this, Buffy informs them that she and Spike are now the only ones who stand a chance at protecting Dawn in the event that Glory catches up to them.

Ben talks to one of Glory's minions, who reminds him that he is just a human body encasing Glory's god form and that upon her full rejuvenation, he will die; Ben, knowing this, states that he will do anything in his power to keep his life, even destroying the Key (whom he knows to be Dawn). The Knights of Byzantium retrieve their crazed member from the hospital, who babbles that the Key is the Slayer's sister; their General, Gregor, orders the Knights to assemble for battle.

Giles, driving the RV, talks with a motion-sick Xander about Buffy's state of mind. Depressed and worried about their future plans, Buffy is comforted by Dawn until the Knights attack surprising everyone but Buffy, who had never told the Scoobies about her earlier encounter with the Knights. A sword through the roof nearly kills Buffy, but Spike stops it with his bare hands. While Buffy battles the Knights from the top of the RV, one knight impales Giles with a thrown spear, causing the RV to crash onto its side. The Scoobies rush to an abandoned gas station, where Buffy fends off a siege by the Knights until Willow erects a barrier spell; Gregor, having fallen during the siege, is also contained in Willow's forcefield with the others, making him an unanticipated prisoner of war. Meanwhile, at the hospital, all those left crazy by Glory repeatedly mutter, "It's time". Spike suggests to Xander that they run, with some (most notably himself) sacrificing their lives so the other can escape, but Buffy refuses to let anyone die.

The now-revived Gregor taunts Buffy over the dissension in her ranks, but Buffy silences his mockery with a blow to the face, prompting him to be more co-operative and provide the answers that have eluded the Scoobies since Glory's arrival in Sunnydale: one of three hellgods that ruled over one of the more horrific demon dimensions, Glory's fellow hellgods, fearing her lust for power would drive her to seize the dimension for her own, attacked first. After emerging victorious from the bloody war that ensued, but unable to destroy her, the other gods banished Glory to Earth, to wither and die as a mortal. The magic which would allow Glory to return to her dimension was embodied in the Key, which the Knights sought to destroy but which a sect of monks instead concealed from both Glory and the Knights, hoping to eventually use the Key's power for good. In the intervening years, both Glory and the Knights have hunted for the monks and the Key, but Glory ultimately found the monks first, who before their deaths, converted the Key into the form of Dawn, confident Buffy would protect her. The Knights, arriving too late to prevent the monks' deaths, remained in Sunnydale, where they, like Glory, sought to wrestle the Key from Buffy's control. Glory's goal is to use Dawn's blood in a ritual to open a portal, allowing her to return to her home dimension and reclaim power.

Gregor further explains that Dawn's power will, in opening the portal, dissolve the boundaries between dimensions, essentially causing the collapse of reality; Glory herself is well aware of these facts, Gregor adds, but she will gladly allow such chaos so long as she can return to gain her revenge. However, if Dawn dies before Glory finds her, Glory's plan is doomed to failure and the dimensional boundaries, including those that protect Earth, will remain safe, and it is for this reason the Knights seek Dawn's death. Gregor also informs Buffy that, upon Glory's banishment, she was bound to a newborn human male, who has served as her host body ever since and who is now an adult, whose identity the Knights, despite their best efforts, have yet to learn (but whom the audience knows is Ben); if that man is killed while in mortal form, then Glory, within him, will also perish and, without the threat of Glory's ritual, Dawn herself will pose no further danger to the dimensional boundaries. Although shaken by these revelations, Buffy remains dedicated to protecting Dawn's life and defeating Glory before she can use Dawn in her ritual.

Realizing that Giles is seriously injured, Buffy, through Xander, arranges a deal with the Knights to allow Ben to safely pass and treat Giles' injuries in return for Gregor's guaranteed safety; Ben stabilizes Giles, and then is left alone with Gregor. Recognizing Ben as an outsider (although not as Glory's host body), Gregor tries to tempt him into killing Dawn, whose death will end the conflict as far as the Knights, who have no other quarrel with Buffy and the Scoobies, are concerned. Ben realizes that Glory is about to take over his body, but before he can get outside the forcefield, Glory comes forth, stunning the Scoobies and horrifying Gregor. Exuberant that Ben has "finally [done] something right", she kills Gregor, fights off the Scooby Gang to take Dawn, and bursts through the forcefield. By the time Willow releases the field, Glory has disposed of all the Knights and disappeared with Dawn. Knowing they have to move fast, everyone heads for Ben's car to chase after Glory. Having lost Dawn to Glory after going through so much to protect her — having in fact unknowingly guaranteed Glory's victory by extorting the Knights to allow Ben through the forcefield to begin with — Buffy suffers a nervous breakdown and collapses into a state of shock.

Glory prepares for the ritual to open the portal, talking to her minions and Dawn, who is tied up and gagged on a chair. Spike reports that he cannot see Glory anywhere, but the gang has a new problem as Buffy has been reduced to a state of catatonia. Spike tries to violently shake Buffy back to normal, which only leads to a fight with Xander, and Willow forces them apart with magic. Willow takes command and quickly formulates a plan with both Buffy and Giles incapacitated: the Scoobies are to return to Sunnydale, with Xander taking Giles to the hospital, Anya looking after Tara, and Spike tracking down Glory while Willow helps Buffy. After mentioning that Ben and Glory share a body, Spike realizes that Glory's magic makes the humans forget that bit of information every time it is revealed to them.

Glory first attempts to comfort a frightened Dawn, but starts to lose her cool as she realizes she is feeling guilty. Dawn reveals to Glory that she remembers the transformation from Ben; this really worries Glory, as it implies Ben is closer to the surface than before. She asks to have Ben taken out of her body, but it is the punishment she must face for her crime.

With Anya looking after Tara, Willow performs a spell to enter the mind of the Slayer, where she finds herself talking to Buffy as a child. Willow witnesses Buffy's memory of baby Dawn being brought home by their parents Joyce and Hank. In Buffy's mind, Willow watches a now adult Buffy shelve a book at the magic shop, followed by Buffy's memory of the First Slayer telling her that "death is [her] gift". At her house, Buffy calmly acknowledges that death is her gift, before going to Dawn's room and smothering the young girl with a pillow, much to Willow's horror. In Buffy's mind, the remembered scenes repeat endlessly.

At the hospital where Giles is getting care, Xander fills him in on Willow's plans. Spike reports that Glory has left her apartment. Spike and Xander visit Doc for information on Glory but, noticing his shifty attempts to hide a small carved box, quickly find that he is playing for the other team. With his super speed and long tongue, Doc throws the box into the fireplace and attacks the men. Spike is able to recover the box while Xander stabs the reptilian creature with a sword. Thinking that the creature is dead, the two leave with the box, but after they have gone, Doc awakens.

Glory becomes Ben, who flees with Dawn. A good distance away from Glory's hideout, Dawn breaks away from Ben and knocks him out with a chain; but this only allows Glory to re-emerge. Ben and Glory battle for control of the body until Glory strikes up a deal: if Ben cooperates in sacrificing Dawn, Glory will grant him immortality and an independent existence from her. Out of self-preservation, Ben agrees, and hands Dawn over to Glory's minions.

In Buffy's mind, before Buffy can go to kill Dawn again, Willow stops her and asks her about the significance of the seemingly mundane scene of placing a book on a shelf. Buffy explains that was the exact moment when, in her heart, she gave up hope of defeating Glory. Buffy blames herself because she thinks that she is the reason Glory has Dawn and Dawn will soon die. Willow tells her that it is not over yet and she can still do something to stop it. Buffy then returns to reality, crying and collapsing into Willow's arms.

As they return to the magic shop, Xander tells Buffy that Ben and Glory are one and the same. After reviewing the information Spike stole from Doc, Giles reveals that a bloodletting ceremony will occur to open the portal, and once it begins there is only one way to stop it: Dawn must be killed.

The Scooby Gang rushes to find Buffy and figures she is at her house. The bikers are on the run now that Razor has been destroyed. At the house, Buffy is confused, and Dawn tells her Giles has left. Spike arrives, angry and looking for Dawn. When he realizes Buffy is back, he softens and helps clean her wounded hands. When the Scooby Gang arrives, Spike slips out.

Unable to stand all the concern, Buffy goes upstairs while Xander and Anya leave for food. Outside, the two find a hurt Spike who is furious that he was not told about the resurrection plans despite having helped the gang all summer. He warns Xander of the consequences they will have to face with magic.

After notifying Giles of Buffy's return, Willow and Tara go to bed and talk about the spell and changes in Buffy. In her room, Buffy looks at the pictures surrounding her and they briefly turn to pictures of skulls. During the night, Willow and Tara are visited in their room by a Buffy who yells at them and hints at Willow killing the deer for the ritual. When the girls get up to investigate, Buffy is asleep in her room and neither knows the source of the incident. A moving lump appears in the ceiling, motivating Willow to call Xander. While Xander talks, Anya enters the room with a knife and smokey eyes, slitting her cheek before collapsing.

The gang gather the next day at The Magic Box for brainstorming, but Buffy is still very closed off and leaves to patrol alone. With Buffy gone, the demon takes over Dawn, shouts at her friends and breathes fire before collapsing. Buffy finds Spike at his crypt and the two talk. Spike opens up to her, expressing his guilt for not being able to save her.

Led on by Spike's hint, Xander questions Willow and Tara. Willow reveals that this creature was created by the spell that brought Buffy back. The demon does not possess a body, which is why it has been possessing members of the gang. A reversal of the spell will cancel out the creation of the demon, but it cannot be done without reversing Buffy's resurrection. After Dawn panics at losing Buffy again, Willow discovers that the demon can only survive if Buffy is killed. The demon, which had been housed in Xander's body while Willow shared this information, heads for the Slayer. Buffy is attacked by the formless demon. Willow and Tara cast a spell to make the demon solid, and Buffy kills it with an axe.

Normality is somewhat resumed as Dawn heads to school the next day and Buffy sees her off. Buffy visits her friends and tells them she was in Hell during her death and appreciates that they brought her back. However, when Buffy goes outside and finds Spike hiding in a patch of shade, she admits to him that she was actually in Heaven and was happy. Spike is shocked as she relays that feeling the loss of Heaven, where she felt safe, loved, and complete, is Hell, and she stresses that her friends can never know the truth.

Buffy attempts to repair a leaky pipe in her basement only to have it burst and flood the basement. At breakfast, the gang discusses the damage while Xander and a plumber examine the damage caused by the pipes. The plumber advises Buffy that a full re-piping is necessary and hands her a very large bill. The size of the cost leads to Buffy finding that, with hospital bills and funeral costs, the Summers girls are broke. Needing a way to pay for the expenses, Buffy goes to a bank to consult with a loan director. Buffy finds that, without a job and with no real collateral, she cannot get a loan. A demon breaks through the office window, interrupting the meeting, and Buffy fights him despite her conservative clothing. The demon escapes and the director refuses to give Buffy the loan for saving his life.

Later that night, Willow tries to upset Buffy purposely in order to get her to express some real anger, but Buffy does not fall for it. Dawn wants to help with research, but Tara thinks she is too young and that fact is proven when Dawn looks at a picture in one of the books. Buffy is not pleased that Dawn is researching with the gang, but Dawn is able to identify the bank-robbing demon that Buffy encountered earlier. Giles returns to have a happy reunion and intense discussion with Buffy before meeting up with the rest of the gang.

The bank robbing demon, an M'Fashnik, throws a fit in front of his "controllers", Jonathan, Warren, and Andrew (brother of Tucker from "The Prom") complaining that the Slayer still lives even though they got the money from the bank. After a brief internal argument, Jonathan, Warren, and Andrew think up a way to accommodate the demon without killing Buffy. Giles takes the couch at the Summers home and talks with Buffy, offering to help her take care of the financial problems in the morning. The three guys discuss their mission - taking over Sunnydale - and somewhat agree unanimously that none of them wants to kill Buffy, but Warren secretly provides Buffy's address to the M'Fashnik demon so he can kill her.

Later that night, Giles asks Willow for specifics regarding the spell she cast to bring Buffy back to life. Willow, seeking Giles' praise, begins to boast about how scary the spell was, but Giles harshly reminds her why such spells are not practiced, including the possible consequences. He notes that he left her in charge of the group because he thought she was the most responsible, which he now sees is clearly not the case, ultimately calling her a "rank, arrogant amateur". Failing to see that Giles' anger is at least partially motivated by his deep affection for her, Willow stands up for herself, even threatening Giles, however he reminds her that the gang still has no idea where Buffy has been or what she has been through. Spike finds Buffy – who overheard Giles and Willow's conversation – on the back porch and the two exchange small talk about life and money. Giles and Dawn both have trouble sleeping and go for a snack. The M'Fashnik crashes their late night cereal party, but Buffy catches him. A fight ensues with Buffy and Spike working together against the M'Fashnik.

The fight ends up in the basement where the demon latches on to one of the pipes and Buffy immediately attacks as the expensive pipes are threatened. The "supervillain" guys plot to hypnotize Buffy and make her their willing love slave. The Scooby Gang regroups after the demon is taken care of and hopelessly attempts to save the furniture that was destroyed in battle. A phone call off-camera reveals that Angel (currently in Los Angeles) needs to meet with Buffy and she needs the same so she leaves to meet him at an intermediate location.

Buffy returns from her visit with Angel but refuses to talk about it. The Scoobies discuss Buffy's future. Buffy agrees to audit the classes Willow and Tara are taking until the next semester starts. Meanwhile, the Trio prepare for their competition to test Buffy, setting up their van with high-tech monitoring equipment.

At school, Buffy finds herself overwhelmed by a class she takes with Willow. Buffy later meets up with Tara for Art History, but before class begins Warren tags her with a tiny device that causes time to fast-forward. Buffy is dazed as the world whizzes around her; when she finally notices the device Warren planted on her, it self-destructs and puts Buffy back in normal time.

Buffy works with Xander at his construction job, telling him about the time situation at school before she is introduced to Tony, the boss. Andrew summons demons from the van, which trash the construction site before Buffy kills them. Unfortunately, Buffy knocks Tony unconscious and the construction men she saves refuse to admit they were saved by a girl. Xander gets mad at Buffy for bringing slaying to his work place but understands that something is happening. However, he is still forced to fire her.

Buffy learns about working at The Magic Box from Giles and Anya as Jonathan begins a spell to loop time until Buffy satisfies a customer. Buffy assists a man with a candle sale and then goes downstairs to fetch a live mummy hand for a female customer, but the hand attacks her and she is forced to kill it, which also kills the sale. Events start to repeat as Buffy must help the customers and fight the mummy hand over and over again, being reduced to tears out of frustration. She is stuck in an unsolved dilemma, but soon Buffy is able to end the spell by telling the woman she will order the hand instead of going downstairs to fight with the one they already have. Stressed out by the repeating time and the job itself, Buffy walks out. All the while, the three villains keep scores on their Buffy attacks.

Later that night, Buffy gets drunk with Spike at his crypt where he plays poker (using kittens as currency) and searches for information. After the poker game ends badly, Buffy rants to Spike about the new low her life has reached with her inability to understand school or get a decent job. Buffy and Spike notice a black van; the Trio notices Buffy approaching with alarm.

Jonathan, disguised as a fake demon, appears from behind the van and threatens Buffy, but he is beaten down while the van drives away. With the use of smoke to confuse the slayer and vampire, Jonathan runs away and complains to Warren and Andrew who realize they now have much information on Buffy's fighting style that can be used against her. Buffy begins to recover from her drunken state and complains to Giles about her life. He consoles her and offers her a cheque to help pay for all the expenses. Buffy says she is happy that Giles will always be there, but the look on Giles's face suggests that he might not always be.

It is Halloween and Anya has set the gang to work in the magic shop. She sends Buffy to the basement, where she runs into Spike. At his suggestion, Buffy attempts to leave to go patrol with Spike, but Giles points out that Halloween is an inactive day for most evil creatures, and engages Buffy in helping with bagging products.

An elderly man, Kaltenbach, is seen walking down the street humming "Pop Goes the Weasel" while carrying a bag of what appears to be groceries. He enters his home, peers out of a window at the children in costumes walking by, and says he will give them something "special" this year. He then pulls a large knife out of his kitchen drawer.

The Magic Box has enjoyed its busiest day ever, to Anya's delight. Xander decides that the time is right to announce his engagement to Anya, and the group makes its way back to Buffy's house to celebrate. Back at the Summers home, Willow conjures up decorations for the party, but Tara now shares Giles's concerns about Willow's frivolous use of magic. Willow brushes off these concerns.

Dawn tells Buffy that she is going to her friend Janice Penshaw's house, but really meets Janice and two older boys: Justin and Zack. Dawn becomes attracted to Justin. When the foursome stops in front of "old man" Kaltenbach's house, Dawn, on a dare, walks up to the porch to smash a pumpkin. She is caught by Kaltenbach, who warns her not to mess with them, then laughs and invites them all inside for a "special treat". Inside, Justin volunteers to help Kaltenbach with his preparations in the kitchen. The old man is about to cut into a baked dish when Justin, now revealed as a vampire, bites and drains him. Justin then returns to the others and announces that they need to flee because he stole the man's wallet.

Meanwhile, at the Summers home, Xander, who was already nervous in response to Giles's serious talk with him about his and Anya's future plans, becomes even more nervous when Anya chatters with Giles, Buffy and Xander about the wedding and plans for children.

On patrol, Buffy runs across an accident scene with a corpse that was left behind by Zack while he was stealing a car. While she is tracking the culprit, she encounters Spike, who passes on a message from Giles: Dawn has misled the adults regarding her plans for the night. Now the whole gang is on the case. At The Bronze, Willow wants to use an extremely risky spell – shifting everyone that except Dawn into an alternate dimension for a split-second – to locate Dawn, but Tara stops her, and an angry argument ensues.

In the stolen car, Justin drives Dawn and the others out into the forest and stops. Zack and Janice depart, leaving Justin and Dawn alone in the car. Justin kisses Dawn – her first kiss – and then reveals his vampire face. Dawn attempts to escape from Justin, but he catches her. Giles is quickly on the scene to help, but vampires emerge from several cars, ready to fight. As they close in, Spike and Buffy show up to assist. Dawn runs away from the fight, but Justin finds her. He attempts to change her, but as he is leaning in to bite her neck, Dawn stakes him with a crossbow bolt, fired earlier in the melee.

The gang returns home, where Buffy is quick to leave the job of chastising Dawn to Giles, who is unhappy about how Buffy is relying on him so much. Meanwhile, Willow casts a spell on Tara to make her forget their quarrel.

Whilst trying to help Buffy defend a couple from two muggers, Spike confronts Buffy on their previous two kisses; she refuses to discuss the matter and he gets frustrated, telling her she is still not admitting her feelings towards him.

In a comical scene resembling a famous sequence from the ''Mission: Impossible'' films, Warren, Jonathan and Andrew steal a large diamond from a museum, leaving its sole guard frozen by their freeze-ray. As Buffy rushes to the scene, Spike again asks her about the last kiss; she says she was on edge due to Giles' decision to leave and apologizes for leading him on. Spike remains unconvinced and tries to coax her until she punches him; he punches her back and discovers that the chip in his head gives him no pain when he hits her. After verifying, with Warren's help, that the chip appears undamaged and still causes him agony when he harms humans, Spike tells Buffy that she "came back wrong" and that she has a "little demon" in her. In furious disbelief, Buffy assaults Spike and they battle until Buffy unleashes her desire and kisses him, initiating such passionate sex that the abandoned house in which they were fighting collapses around them.

Willow, sad and lonely without Tara, figures out a way to turn the metamorphosed Amy from a rat back into human. Feeling newly liberated, they decide to go out and have some fun. At The Bronze, a couple of guys try to intimidate them. They perform a spell on the boys to make fun of them, but soon they begin to perform more and more complex spells, filling the Bronze with strangely dressed people, sheep, mutations and so on. Willow is beginning to have a taste of her real power and she likes it. Meanwhile, Tara meets with a depressed Dawn and assures her that she was not to blame for her moving out or her break-up with Willow. Tara admits that she still loves Willow but is uncertain of their future and still concerned about Willow's overuse of magic. She reluctantly agrees to have a sleepover with Dawn to keep her company.

Tara and Dawn wake on the couch and find that neither Buffy nor Willow returned home the night before. Buffy wakes up naked with Spike to find that the building around them fell down as she remembers what they did. Spike tempts Buffy as she tries to leave and reminds her of everything they did the night before. Disgusted by their actions, Buffy leaves, threatening to kill Spike if he tells anyone about what happened.

Amy returns home with Willow and rambles about Willow's amazing magic – in front of Tara and Dawn. Tara leaves as Buffy returns, and after a chat, Amy leaves and Buffy and Willow go to bed after their long nights. Willow tries to shut the drapes of her room with magic, but she is too exhausted to manage it. Anya reads bridal magazines instead of researching the freezing demon. Xander gets frustrated, finding bridal magazines in every research book he checks. At the magic shop, Xander, Anya and Buffy discuss Willow's behavior and Buffy comes to Willow's defense.

Amy suggests that she and Willow visit a warlock, Rack, who can give them great spells that last without any recovery time. The house is cloaked and filled with the magically addicted, seeking a fix. Rack takes a "tour" of Willow's mind before giving her what she came for. Amy spins about the room wildly as Willow hangs out on the ceiling, seeing spots and weird images. The next morning, Willow wakes in her own room and cries in the shower. She manipulates some of Tara's clothes to form an invisible body and curls up against it.

When Buffy returns home to find Amy stealing some of Willow's magical supplies, she scolds her as Amy behaves obsessively about the supplies and tells Buffy about Willow's whereabouts. Willow and Dawn talk about food and Tara, then take a detour to Rack's place so Willow can get a fix. Dawn waits impatiently in the waiting room with a freaky man. Meanwhile, Willow floats in Rack's room and sees herself flying in space before a demon holding a limp body makes her scream.

Buffy wakes Spike and demands his help in finding Willow and Dawn. Dawn is mad that Willow left her for so long, and Willow's carefree attitude makes Dawn nervous and eager to return home. Buffy refuses to admit she likes Spike and he again reminds her how much she really wants and needs him. A demon confronts Willow, claiming that she summoned him with her magic. The demon cuts Dawn and the girls run. Willow uses magic to take over and drive a car, but it crashes and both are wounded; with Dawn breaking her arm. The demon catches up with their wrecked car and Dawn tries desperately to fight it off. Spike and Buffy, who heard Dawn scream, come to the rescue. Buffy fights the demon while Spike takes care of Buffy's wounded younger sister. Suddenly the demon explodes into flames as a result of a killing spell cast by Willow. Despite Willow's sincere apology and tearful regret, Buffy tells her to stay back and Dawn slaps her away in anger.

Spike takes Dawn to the hospital and Buffy confronts a devastated and remorseful Willow who is now finally able to ask for help. At the house, Buffy talks with Willow about her abuse of magic and the consequences. With Buffy's support, Willow decides to give up magic for good. Buffy also senses the similarities between Willow's magic use and her own situation with Spike. Later, Willow fights the symptoms of withdrawal in her bed while Buffy hugs a cross and surrounds her bedroom with garlic.

Buffy searches newly rented houses for the Trio's hideout, and the three discover her on their surveillance equipment when she gets a bit too close. While they hide in the basement, Andrew Wells calls on a demon that attacks Buffy and starts a fight. The demon grabs Buffy and stabs her with a needle-like skewer from his forearm (similar to the Polgara in season 4). Buffy flashes to a scene in a mental hospital where as a patient she cries out as she is held by two orderlies and stabbed with a needle. Buffy wakes up alone outside the Trio's house with no demon to be seen; hurt and confused, she walks home.

Willow prepares to talk to Tara, but upon spotting Tara greet another woman with a quick kiss (on the cheek), she walks away, wounded, just before Tara sees her. While working at the Doublemeat Palace, Buffy experiences visions of her at the mental hospital, where a doctor administers her drugs. Willow and Buffy talk about Xander's disappearance after his aborted wedding and Willow's attempt to talk to Tara. When Xander shows up at the house, wanting to talk to Anya, the girls tell him Anya left a few days ago and needs time to heal.

Buffy runs into Spike at the cemetery and they talk about the aborted wedding. A confrontation begins between Xander and Spike, and as Willow tries to break it up, Buffy gets weak and collapses. Back in the "reality" of the mental hospital, a doctor informs Buffy that she has been hallucinating her entire Sunnydale life in the hospital for the past six years. She is shaken and confused — especially when both of her parents appear together, with Hank having abandoned his family years earlier and Joyce having subsequently died in the Sunnydale world. Buffy falls back into the Sunnydale world, finding herself surrounded by her concerned friends.

Willow and Xander get Buffy home, and she recounts what she saw and was told at the mental hospital; Dawn is hurt when told she does not exist in Buffy's "ideal" alternate reality. While Willow organizes a plan to research, Buffy falls back to the "reality" of the mental hospital, where her doctor explains to her parents that she has been catatonic from schizophrenia for all of the past six years – except for the brief period of lucidity Buffy dimly remembers as her time in "heaven" – and that her life as the Slayer has been an elaborate improvised hallucination she has constructed for herself in her mind, explaining what Buffy realizes is its extreme improbability and illogicality compared to the "mental patient" scenario.

In Sunnydale, Warren Mears and Andrew return to their hideaway with boxes after leaving Jonathan Levinson alone. Leery of their secretive behavior, Jonathan suspiciously questions the contents of the boxes before trying to leave the house himself. Warren does not agree with that idea and convinces Jonathan to stay in the basement.

Willow shows Buffy a picture of the demon that stung her: a Glarghk Guhl Kashmas'nik. Willow tries to comfort her friend but Buffy confesses to Willow that, in the beginning of her Slayer life, she told her parents about vampires and was put in a clinic for her supposed insanity. Buffy wonders if she is still there and therefore Sunnydale really does not exist, but Willow assures her that is not true. Xander and Spike patrol for the demon that hurt Buffy; Spike recognizes it and they capture it.

Dawn comforts Buffy, who dazedly notes that Dawn has been misbehaving, and the problems need to be dealt with before "coming to" in the hospital, where her mother reminds Buffy that Dawn does not exist. Dawn realizes through Buffy's babbling that she is considering this, and storms out. Xander and Spike manhandle the demon into Buffy's basement chaining it while Willow breaks off its stinger to make the antidote, which she must synthesize without using magic.

Later, Willow presents the antidote to Buffy in a mug and leaves her to drink it as Spike delivers a monologue urging her to abandon the life that has grown so hellish for her and choose peace with him. This misfires, convincing Buffy to reject the antidote (which she pours unnoticed in the trash) and with it, the "delusion" of being a Vampire Slayer. In the hospital, Buffy tells the doctor and her parents that she wants to be healthy and rid of thoughts about Sunnydale. The doctor tells her that she has to do what is necessary to destroy the elements that draw her back there, like her family and friends, in order to truly be healthy.

Willow and Buffy are talking in the kitchen. Xander arrives at the house and finds Buffy alone in the kitchen. He talks to her about Spike, but she knocks him out cold and drags him into the basement, where Willow is already bound and tape gagged. Buffy finds Dawn upstairs where she is packing to stay at her friend Janice's house. Buffy chases her through the house as Dawn pleads that she is real. Dawn is bound and tape gagged in the basement with the others and with the chained demon.

In the mental hospital, the doctors urge Buffy to make her task easy on herself, so in Sunnydale Buffy unchains the demon in the basement to kill her friends for her. Xander pleads with Buffy to free his hands, but she retreats under the stairs. Meanwhile, Tara shows up at the house and finds everyone in the basement. She uses magic to free Willow and Dawn and attack the demon, but the demon is too strong for them; Buffy grabs Tara's feet through the stairs, making her fall and knocking her unconscious. At the hospital, Joyce encourages Buffy to fight against the Sunnydale reality, telling her that she has the strength to fight against the harshness of the world and must fight it because she has people who love her. Buffy, inspired by her mother's mis-chosen words, takes her advice to "believe in" herself literally, thanking her mother and saying goodbye to her as she chooses a life of suffering in the nightmarish Sunnydale reality over the much less arduous world represented by the mental hospital.

Buffy wakes up in Sunnydale to save her friends. She kills the demon and then reconciles with her friends, urging them to quickly make her the antidote while she stays on guard against relapsing again. Back at the hospital, Buffy succumbs to her illness in her corner of the room in front of her heartbroken parents.

The Trio, riding ATVs, pursue two vampires through a cemetery; one of them throws a tree branch at Andrew, causing him to fall off and the others to crash. The vampires encounter Buffy and they fight. One vampire drops the mysterious disk that the Trio were after; Warren snatches it and the Trio escapes, unseen by the Slayer. As Buffy fights, Spike seizes one of the vampires and offers to stake him, provided that Buffy agrees to tell the Scooby Gang about their sex life. Buffy stakes both vampires without Spike's help and dares him to spill the beans himself; since her friends have forgiven her attempt to kill them a little dalliance is unlikely to make them hate her.

The next day, Willow waits for Tara outside of her classroom and the two talk and plan a coffee date. Buffy and Dawn stroll downtown, but there are very few stores where Dawn can show her face: she has confessed to shoplifting at most of them. They chat about all of the things Dawn stole and how they are working to remedy the whole problem.

Jonathan works on a project involving the disk they stole as Warren watches over, eager for it to be complete. While Jonathan finishes his work alone, Warren and Andrew Wells talk about their inability to trust Jonathan and how soon they will not need him anymore.

That evening, Xander comes home from work and finds Anya at his apartment waiting for him, having hid behind the bushes as he left the building the previous day. Xander tries to apologize for walking away from their wedding. There is a glimmer of hope for them until Xander says he wanted to stop the wedding before it happened. Taken aback, Anya asks Xander what he meant by that remark and asks if he still wants to marry her. Xander admits to loving her dearly and wanting to be back with her, but he is still too afraid of himself to marry her. With her back turned to Xander, she reveals her vengeance demon face and angrily begins to wish him physical harm – but nothing happens. Anya morphs back into her human face and, upset that her powers did not work, she leaves while a confused Xander looks on. The next day, Anya has coffee with Halfrek and the two demons talk about Anya's attempts at vengeance. Halfrek reminds Anya that she cannot grant her own wishes and must get someone else to wish Xander harm.

At the Summers house, Buffy makes pancakes for Dawn. Dawn realizes she is trying too hard to make up for what happened when she was crazy, and eventually Buffy catches on to that reality as well. Dawn proposes the idea of joining Buffy on patrol so the two can spend some time together, but Buffy is not interested.

On their coffee date, Willow fills Tara in on all of the supernatural activities that Tara has missed over the past months. Anya interrupts them and tries to maneuver them into wishing harm to Xander. She does the same with Dawn at the Magic Box and with Buffy at home; but no one takes the bait. Xander shows up at Buffy's house and Anya leaves in a huff. Buffy talks him out of following Anya and he takes his aggressions out by kicking a lawn gnome on Buffy's front lawn. When Buffy does not recognize the decoration as something she put there, Xander examines it and finds that it contains a small camera. They guess that it was placed by Spike, who has more than once been caught watching the house in the past. Buffy confronts Spike at his crypt with the mini-camera she found. Spike denies planting the mini-camera, and he further insists that he would never do anything like that to hurt Buffy, because he believes that the love between them is real. Buffy denies being in love with Spike, which hurts him.

At the Magic Box, Anya complains to Halfrek that all the women she knows still love Xander too much to wish him harm, despite what he did to her. Halfrek tells Anya that she needs to find someone who hates Xander to make the wish – and at that moment Spike appears, seeking something to ease his pain. Anya remembers that Giles left something appropriate: a partial bottle of Evan Williams bourbon. After Halfrek leaves, Anya and Spike drink the whiskey and complain to each other about their respective relationship problems. Spike reiterates how he despises Xander, but Anya cannot get him to make a wish. Spike also tells Anya that he likes her forthrightness.

At Buffy's house, Willow uses her computer to try to trace the camera's signal. Given that it was not Spike, they correctly assume that the Trio are behind it. Jonathan completes his work with the disk, and uses it to highlight a spot on a map of Sunnydale. The Trio are delighted, until the map catches fire. This distracts them from a red light, flashing to announce that their network has been penetrated as Willow finds more camera feeds: the Trio are watching her classrooms, the Bronze, Xander's and Buffy's workplaces.

Spike and Anya seek comfort in each other's arms. Anya feels guilty about what happened with Xander and Spike consoles her, which leads to them having sex on a table, where Willow stumbles upon the Magic Box feed. After Andrew belatedly sees the intrusion alarm, Warren directs him to shut down the surveillance network, but they are captivated by the action on the Magic Box camera. Willow fails to keep Buffy, Xander and Dawn from seeing the feed, which enrages Xander. As a stunned Buffy sits in the back yard, Dawn follows her and they begin to talk about Buffy's affair with Spike. Their bonding moment is cut short as Willow informs them both that Xander has left with an axe.

After Spike and Anya awkwardly get dressed, Spike leaves the shop where Xander attacks him. Xander is about to stake Spike when Anya comes outside, trying to stop him; she distracts him long enough for Buffy to knock him out of the way. Xander argues with Anya, disgusted that she slept with Spike, who quietly remarks that he was good enough for Buffy. Xander tells Spike to leave Buffy out of it – then he and Anya see Buffy's startled face and connect the dots. This is too much for Xander; he drops the stake and walks away stunned. Buffy also walks off, angry at Spike for revealing their secret. Spike finally starts to make a wish, but Anya stops him, realizing that she caused too much damage.

Willow is sitting in her bedroom when Tara appears, saying that repairing their love will be a long process – which she would rather skip. They kiss.

Himalaya is a story set against the backdrop of the Nepalese Himalayas. At an altitude of five thousand metres in the remote mountain region of Dolpa, Himalaya is the story of villagers who take a caravan of yaks across the mountains, carrying rock salt from the high plateau down to the lowlands to trade for grain.

At the beginning of the film, Lhakpa, the heir to the chieftainship of the tribe is revealed to have died in a botched attempt to navigate a shortcut.

An annual event, the caravan provides the grain that the villagers depend on to survive the winter. The film unfolds as a story of rivalry based on misunderstanding and distrust, between the aging chief, Tinle, and the young daring herdsman, Karma, who is both a friend and a rival to the chief's family, as they struggle for leadership of the caravan. The elders of the tribe assert that Karma should lead the caravan in the absence of Lhakpa, but Tinle objects and insists that someone else should lead the caravan.

Karma, seeking to prove himself as a worthy leader, departs a few days before the scheduled departure of the caravan, leaving behind only the youngest and oldest members of the tribe. Karma's relatives plead with Karma not to leave as leaving before the scheduled departure of the caravan was seen as deceitful. Karma does not heed this warning, and soon the elders of the tribe congregate to determine which households still had remaining salt. Tinle decides to lead the remainder of the community in a caravan with the remaining salt, recruiting his monastic son, Norbou, to join his endeavours, on the original set day of departure. Tinle soon catches up with Karma's caravan, despite Karma having taken a shortcut and having left days earlier. Tinle asserts his leadership, and Karma acts as a role model to Tinle's grandson Tserin. Tinle predicts an oncoming snowstorm and immediately commands the caravan to depart immediately, which Karma refutes as the sky is clear. Karma stays behind as Tinle and the rest of the caravan departs.

When the snowstorm sets, Tinle grows weary and exhausted, and in ensuring that the caravan is remaining a cohesive unit, Tinle collapses in the snow. Karma arrives, having realized his mistake, and carries Tinle to the front of the caravan. The caravan is successful in reaching a landmark and survives the snowstorm, but Tinle collapses at the landmark, asking to be left to die. The leaders of the caravan agree, indicating that Tinle, as masters of the mountains, should honor his wishes to peacefully pass away in the mountains rather than the flatlands.

The film ends with Tinle's monastic son, Norbou, honoring the legacy of Tinle by painting a monastery wall with the caravan's adventures.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are two hobos roaming the Arizona countryside. After being arrested for loitering, they spend a night in jail in town. When they are released the day after they are ordered to leave town immediately. Since the men lack every kind of transportation, they come up with the desperate idea of traveling as escort to a coffin and an undertaker's railroad transport of a corpse out of town to Dayton, Ohio. The corpse will still be in the coffin, of course, but they at least get the transport for free.

Stan and Oliver are happily unaware that the men who have hired them, Frank Lucas and Joe Morgan, are gangsters, working as henchmen for their boss Darby Mason, who is wanted by the law. Mason's real name is Norton, but this name is known to the police. Mason has seen in the newspapers that a search for an heir to a very large fortune has started in Dayton. The heir's name is Egbert Norton, and Mason plans to sneak unseen into Dayton and pretend to be the heir once he is inside the city limits. Mason has planned to hide at a sanatorium, run by the dubious doctor Lake, until he can re-surface and collect the inheritance from the attorney, Malcolm Kilgore.

Stan and Oliver are trusted with loading the trunk, with Mason in it, onto the train. They manage to mix the trunk up with another, similar one, belonging to Dante the magician, a stage magician, who transports his stage trunk on the train. Once aboard the train, Stan and Oliver also manage to be tricked by two con-men, Phillips and Parker. For their last dollars they buy a fake money-making machine from the con-men. They are so poor they can not even pay for dinner on the train. Dante the Magician picks up their bill for them, and they promise to repay the artist once they get to Dayton, where the magician is to perform on stage.

Arriving in Dayton, the trunk with Mason in it is sent to the theater where Dante will perform, while the magician's trunk is sent to the sanatorium, where Lake awaits its arrival. Lake opens the trunk and realizes that there has been an accidental switch of trunks. He contacts the attorney, Kilgore, telling him that Norton is not available for an interview that day.

Stan and Ollie go to the theater and pay back what they owe to Dante. They are so silly that Dante finds them very amusing. He hires them on the spot, as assistants and comic relief added to his magic act that very night.

Lake finds out that the trunk with Mason has been sent to the theater, and goes there to collect it. Lake is tailed by henchman Morgan and another guy named Dixie Beeler. They suspect Lake of trying to double-cross them in some way.

Kilgore goes to the sanatorium to talk to Lake about his patient Norton, and finds the magician's trunk, full of handbills. Confused by this, he also goes to the theater to see if he can find out what is going on. He arrives to the theater just as the show begins.

Stan and Ollie have been given orders from Morgan to find Mason, who they have lost. They run around the theater as best they can in search of the right trunk. As the show begins they discover the trunk involved in the first trick, standing directly in front of the audience, where they can not reach it without making a commotion. Dante performs his trick (with the aid of a hypnotized Stan), and discovers Lake's dead body in the trunk when he opens it.

Stan and Ollie are separated from each other in the theater. Ollie starts searching for Stan. A police officer, Lt. Foster, arrests the stage manager Tommy White and Dante for the suspicion of murdering Lake. Ollie finds attorney Kilgore knocked out on the floor of the theater. Mason knocked him out when he was suspiciously wandering around the theater. Ollie explains to Kilgore how the three men he works for are looking for the coffin, and that he told them to exit the theater unnoticed. Tommy finds out about the mishap and explains that the exit Ollie showed the three men leads to a trap door into the lion cage in the basement. They realize that the gangsters have fallen into the lion cage. They rush down to the basement and find Mason and his men trying to escape the lions.

Kilgore reveals that he is in fact a federal investigator by the name of Steve Barnes, and that the inheritance was only a sugar trap to flush out Mason from his hide-out and catch him. Trapped in the lion's cage, Mason confesses to killing Lake and putting him in the trunk. The gangsters are all arrested. Ollie continues his search for Stan. He finally finds him inside what he believes is a giant egg. He then realizes that he has been shrunk by magic.

The longstanding estate battle of ''Jarndyce v Jarndyce'' hangs over the heads of many conflicting heirs, confused by multiple wills. Possible beneficiary John Jarndyce of Bleak House welcomes orphaned cousins Ada Clare and Richard Carstone—also potential heirs—as his wards, and has hired Esther Summerson as a housekeeper and companion for Ada. Honoria, Lady Dedlock, the wife of the imperious baronet Sir Leicester, is also a possible beneficiary of the estate. The Dedlocks' lawyer, Tulkinghorn, sniffs out a connection between Lady Dedlock and a newly deceased man called Nemo; as he tries to discover Nemo's true identity, Lady Dedlock secretly seeks information about the dead man herself. Meanwhile, Richard and Ada are falling in love. Richard keeps changing his mind on which career to pursue—first a physician, then a lawyer and then a soldier—but the prospect of his inheritance from the ongoing litigation begins to consume him, despite warnings from John, now his formal guardian. Esther and the young doctor Allan Woodcourt are attracted to each other, but Esther feels unworthy and Allan accepts a commission as a navy physician.

The law clerk Mr. Guppy, enamoured of Esther, hopes to win her affection by helping her discover the identity of her parents. He finds connections to both Lady Dedlock and the deceased Nemo, who has been identified as Captain James Hawdon, and is eventually alerted to the existence of letters left behind by Hawdon but kept by his drunken landlord, Krook. Realizing that Esther is her daughter whom she was told had died—fathered by Hawdon before her current marriage—Lady Dedlock confesses to Esther but swears her to secrecy. Esther is stricken by smallpox and nearly dies; she recovers but is terribly scarred. John proposes marriage to Esther, but though she accepts, he convinces her to keep it secret until she is sure it is what she wants. While amassing other enemies, Tulkinghorn deduces Lady Dedlock's secret and tries to use it to keep her in line.

Tulkinghorn is murdered, with no shortage of suspects. Lady Dedlock is implicated, but Inspector Bucket reveals that her former maid Hortense is the murderess and had tried to frame Lady Dedlock. Richard and Ada are secretly married, but he is obsessed with the lawsuit, encouraged by John's unscrupulous friend Harold Skimpole and the conniving lawyer Vholes. As a result, Richard is penniless and his health is failing. Hawdon's letters—written by a young Lady Dedlock and revealing her secret–find their way back into the hands of the moneylender Smallweed, who sells them to Sir Leicester. Guilty over her deception and not wanting to bring ruin to her husband, Lady Dedlock flees into a storm before Sir Leicester is able to tell her he does not care about her past. He has a stroke but sends Bucket after her. Bucket eventually realizes where she must be—the graveyard where Hawdon is buried—but Esther arrives to find her mother dead from exposure. A final Jarndyce will is found that closes the case in favour of Richard and Ada, but the estate has been consumed by years of legal fees. Richard collapses, overcome by tuberculosis, and soon dies. Allan professes his love for Esther, who rebuffs him out of obligation to John, and Ada, pregnant, returns to Bleak House. John releases Esther from their engagement, knowing that she really loves Allan. Esther and Allan marry, with all in attendance.

A year before his death, Sir Bowen visits the cave of his long-dead dragon friend Draco and finds an egg. He entrusts it to the monastery of his friend Brother Gilbert. Aware of a prophecy stating "a dragon's heart could doom mankind when a two-tailed comet blazed across the night sky," the Friars pledge to hide the dragon until the comet passes, with Friar Peter protecting and teaching him for 20 years. The dragon's care soon falls upon a young and grumpy monk named Mansel.

Geoff, an orphaned stable boy who dreams of becoming a knight like Bowen, lives at the monastery doing menial chores. Meanwhile, the king makes a man named Osric his chief adviser. Osric pledges to ensure the Old Code continues but secretly corrupts it while poisoning the king, plotting to take the throne. Two Chinese citizens from the Hebei Province: Master Kwan and his son, enter the kingdom and ask Friar Peter if he knows anything about dragons. According to the stars, a new dragon was born, and the comet arrives in eight days; they want to prevent the prophecy and confirm if the dragon has a pure heart. Geoff tricks Mansel into doing manual labor and finds the hidden dragon, Drake. Geoff is initially afraid but realizes Drake is equally scared, and they become fast friends. Friar Peter dies suddenly the following day, and Drake goes outside for the first time.

Four days before the comet, the two Chinese learn of Drake's existence. Some knights surprise Geoff, and he discovers the Chinese son is Lian, China's empress in disguise. The knights threaten Geoff, forcing Drake to take his first flight to rescue him, revealing himself to the kingdom. Osric names Geoff and Drake as the kingdom's protectors against the invading Teregoths and takes Geoff under his wing. After testing Drake's purity, Master Kwan begins teaching him to use his dragon abilities, including exhaling ice breath, a rare skill that few dragons master. Lian reveals to Geoff that a rogue dragon, Griffin, betrayed the dragon's honor code and led a rebellion until virtuous dragons captured him and took his heart, placing it in an amulet. Fearing that all dragons were like Griffin, the Chinese emperor Kuo-fan ordered all Eastern dragons killed, so Drake is now the world's last dragon.

On the prophesized day, Kwan and Lian are captured and jailed. Osric takes Geoff and Drake to battle a group of Teregoths at a border house. Osric fakes a fatal blow and asks Drake to give him half his heart, but Geoff realizes the deception and stops Drake. Osric tries holding Geoff hostage but fails. Drake rallies an escape and masters firebreathing to save Geoff. Kwan, Lian, and Mansel escape the castle dungeon, heal the king, and confront Osric, who recognizes Lian and the amulet. Kwan discerns Osric's true identity and orders the amulet burned. Osric recovers and throws a knife at Lian to punish her for her ancestor's sins, but Kwan intervenes and dies.

Geoff and Drake arrive as Osric claims to have exposed the Old Code's true meaning as a way to control the weak. Osric reveals one dragon escaped Bowen's wrath, fled to the East, and sought revenge before the noble dragons stopped him and cursed him to live as a human as punishment. He cuts his chest open with Lian's knife and takes the heart as the comet appears, revealing himself as Griffin and making Lian realize the prophecy was about him. Resuming his dragon form, Griffin asks Drake to join him in humanity's conquest. Recalling how Griffin would've cost him his soul hadn't Geoff intervened, Drake refuses and challenges Griffin. After a short but fierce fight between the dragons, Drake masters ice breath and freezes Griffin to death; Griffin falls and shatters before the comet passes. An ice shard stabs and kills Geoff, so Drake offers part of his heart, reviving Geoff. The Old Code is restored; Lian returns to her royal duties for a time; and Mansel is awarded guardianship of Brother Gilbert's scrolls, finally gaining the desired life of prayer and devotion. Geoff and Drake become brothers, finally getting the family they both wanted.

In the beginning of the story, an elven girl named Elwyn finds Xion washed up on the shore of a river. She checks if he is still alive and as she looks, a ring falls by the water. As Elwyn tries to take it, she sees that Xion is on the verge of death so she takes him quickly to the village doctor, Pios. When Xion wakes up, he finds himself in ''The Heroes' Hearth'', the tavern of the town Heroes' Way.

He is then confronted by Pios and Elwyn, questioning him on what happened. He says he cannot remember and only vaguely remembers his name. The two introduce themselves to him and he finds both his hands have two strange rings. They will not come off his hands as Pios tries to investigate the rings. The two then explain that the rings could possibly be the Twin Dragon Rings, the legendary rings of power. Discarding the thought, Pios investigates more on the rings as Xion falls asleep.

A feature of this game is that there is a unique ending involving each of the eight characters that Xion can team up with, making up a total of eight endings. The ending is determined by the character that Xion has developed the highest relationship with.

Tyrone Power and Cécile Aubry Two hundred years after the Norman Conquest, during the reign of Edward I, Saxon scholar Walter of Gurnie, the illegitimate son of the lately deceased Earl of Lessford, returns from Oxford and hears the reading of his father's will. He receives only a pair of boots, but Walter recognizes it as a token of his father's love for him. The earl's Norman widow takes Saxon hostages against possible unrest. Walter joins a group of Saxons who free them, but is forced to flee England when he is recognized.

Walter, accompanied by his friend Tristram Griffen, a Saxon archer, sets out to make his fortune in Cathay (China) during the time of the ''Pax Mongolica''. The pair join a caravan bearing gifts from the merchant Anthemus to Kublai Khan, who is preparing to invade Cathay. The caravan is under the protection of Mongol general Bayan of the Hundred Eyes. Impressed by Tristram's archery skill and his English longbow and Walter's scholarship, Bayan takes an interest in the Englishmen.

Lu Chung, the head of the caravan, blackmails Walter into assisting the escape of Maryam, Anthemus's half-English sister, nicknamed the "Black Rose", being sent as one of the gifts. Maryam loves Walter, but he is too interested in his adventure to pay her any attention. Tristram does not like all the killing and decides to get away. He takes Maryam with him because she wants to go to England.

Bayan sends Walter on a mission to see the Song dynasty Empress of that part of Cathay not yet under Mongol rule. When he arrives, he is told that he must stay in Cathay as a "guest" for the rest of his life. Then he finds Tristram and Maryam had also been captured and imprisoned. During this time, Walter realizes he loves Maryam. The three of them decide to escape. Tristram dies. The small boat in which Maryam is waiting for Walter in drifts away before Walter can catch her. Walter returns to England alone.

Walter is welcomed back by the Norman King Edward because of all the cultural and scientific knowledge (including gunpowder) he has brought back from China. The king knights Walter and grants him a coat of arms. Two Mongol emissaries from Bayan show up. They have brought the Black Rose to England to join Walter there.

Lizzy Ender's father dumps her at a Santa Fe convent after her mother died on the Santa Fe Trail. A Methodist, Lizzy is an outcast in the school who can't comprehend the dedication to Catholicism. She thinks the nuns who pray to Saint Joseph for help to finish their choir loft (which doesn't have a staircase) are crazy. She befriends an unemployed carpenter and suggests he build the staircase. Her classmates are furious as they were waiting for a miracle to occur. The carpenter, named Jose, proceeds to build the staircase in a matter of weeks armed with three simple tools and his faith. After building the staircase, Jose disappears and Lizzy decides to leave the convent to live with her father, who was currently living on a ranch in Texas.

This story is based on the real legend of the miracle occurring at the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where an unnamed man (said to be Saint Joseph) built a staircase. The circular staircase made two complete revolutions lacking both nails and a center support.

A version of this story was done as the 1998 television movie ''The Staircase'' starring William Petersen (as Joad), Barbara Hershey (as Mother Madalyn), and Diane Ladd (as Sister Margaret).

Category:Novels by Ann Rinaldi Category:Historical novels Category:2000 American novels

Finders Keepers

Magic Knight is ordered by the King to go to Spriteland and bring back a fitting birthday present for the Princess. Magic Knight is transported to the castle in Spriteland and can either amass as much treasure as possible, or find a suitable present and return to the King.

Spellbound

The wizard Gimbal accidentally mixes up a spell, which results in casting himself, Magic Knight and an array of other characters into an unknown castle. Magic Knight must find Gimbal and reverse the spell to return everyone home. *''Crime Busters'' by IJK Software in 1986 used significant portions of the Spellbound code without permission, and was ultimately removed from sale.

Knight Tyme

After freeing Gimbal, the spell to send Magic Knight home goes wrong, and instead of being sent back to the Middle Ages, he awakes on the USS Pisces in the 25th century. Magic Knight must then find a way to reach the Tyme Guardians and return home.

Stormbringer

On returning from the 25th Century, Magic Knight finds his local village terrorised by the "Off-White Knight", who has taken residence in the castle. Further investigation shows the Off-White Knight to be the evil side of Magic Knight himself, and the task is to join the two together again.

Dr. Guy Luthan is a New York emergency room doctor who one night comes across a strange patient: a homeless man who has a wristband from a hospital he's not familiar with, mentioning a drug he's never heard of, and with strange symptoms, including a wildly fluctuating heart rate. When the man dies, Guy attempts to follow up and find out more about the patient - only to find that the body and all records have disappeared, and he's told by his superiors to drop the case.

As he continues trying to find out what happened, Guy's personal and professional life get suddenly sidetracked. His home is ransacked and cocaine is planted near his bedside. The police arrest him and he is convicted and in the process he loses his job, his license to practice medicine and all of his friends. In desperation, he manages to get the help of some homeless men who lead him to their underground home. His ER patient who died also had lived there. Through them he's led to an organization, led by neurosurgeon Dr. Lawrence Myrick, that performs spinal experiments on the homeless people, all of whom have died thus far, in an attempt to find a cure for paralysis.

Myrick attempts to sway Guy to join his team, telling him that his "test subjects" are heroes, and that killing one to save millions is worth the sacrifice. Guy admits that while there is some truth in what Myrick says, Myrick's victims did not choose to give up their lives, which makes Myrick a murderer. Myrick is accidentally shot and killed by rogue FBI Agent Frank Hare. Later, Myrick's widow hands the discs and documentation regarding the research to Guy telling him "my husband was trying to do a good thing, but in the wrong way". He opens the package, views the materials and proceeds towards the neurology building where he is now working.

The film's plot pits a tough loose-cannon cop, Kang Chul-joong, and a psychopathic killer, Cho Kyu-hwan, against each other. Kang typifies the anti-hero cop genre, taking bribes and stealing drugs from criminals. His career is in a slump and internal affairs are investigating his actions. The antagonist Cho, on the other hand, leads a life as a successful business and family man. Under his cool exterior however, he displays a total disregard for others, killing people for the slightest perceived misdeed.

The two main characters first meet by chance in a dark alley shortly after Cho brutally murders his parents for monetary reasons. Cho first asked then started begging to get his parents to leave their will to him. After his parents refuse, Cho gets a knife and stabs them both dozens of times. He sprays flour all around their body and washes the excess blood by taking a shower. Then he starts walking to get rid of the murder weapon. Kang is defecating in the dark alley during an unrelated stakeout and runs into Cho, who ends up slashing Kang in the face with a knife.

Kang later joins the investigation into the murders, but doesn't recognize Cho as he didn't get a good look at his face. His instincts tell him that something is wrong about Cho, and Kang starts stalking him. Kang soon convinces himself that Cho is the murderer, although no one else believes that he has a case. He is eventually fired from the police force and becomes a traffic cop.

Eventually, Kang discovers a crucial piece of evidence, a broken fingernail, at the murder scene and confronts Cho with it. This leads to the two facing off against each other in a fight, which ends with Kang beating Cho to death. Kang is restored to the force, and at the end his internal affairs tail reports that he "is getting better."

Bulldog Drummond (Atholl Fleming) is injured when his car that has been sabotaged is involved in a crash. When Jack Pennington (Jack Hulbert) agrees to masquerade as the sleuth, he is enlisted to help Ann Manders (Fay Wray) find her jeweller grandfather who has been kidnapped by a gang of crooks who want him to copy a valuable necklace they want to steal. Their plan backfires in the British Museum and the film climaxes in a chase on a runaway train in the London Underground.

Joey participates in a fertility study at NYU. Part of the study requires that he abstain from sex for two weeks, impacting his relationship with new girlfriend Melanie (co-owner of a fruit basket company). The gang holds a barbecue to celebrate Rachel's birthday; Ross finds out he has to go to China at the last minute for an important paleontology find. He drops off a present for Rachel before he leaves.

While opening her presents (Chandler got her Travel Scrabble; Joey got her an ''Oh, the Places You'll Go!'' by Dr. Seuss), Rachel finds Ross gave her a cameo pin she had admired several months ago. Chandler accidentally lets slip that Ross is in love with her. Rachel rushes to the airport to talk to Ross, but is unable to reach him before he gets on his flight. Rachel then spends the next few days deciding what to do, and on the night Ross is due to arrive back from China, even tries going on a date with another man to take her mind off it. However, when she keeps fantasizing about Ross during the date, she finally decides to give their relationship a chance and rushes off to greet him at the airport. Unbeknownst to her, Ross has started dating another woman while in China.

The famous warrior Kor, aging and increasingly senile, has lost influence in the Klingon Empire. He comes to DS9 to ask his friend Worf, the only Klingon in Starfleet, for help in securing a starship command and a chance to die in battle. Worf brings the request to General Martok, who angrily rejects it: Kor once rejected Martok's application to become an officer based on Martok's lower-class lineage, and the general still holds a grudge. As a compromise, Worf appoints Kor as the third officer of the ''Ch'tang'', Martok's ship, for a raid into Dominion space.

Once aboard, Kor recounts old war stories to a crew enthused with having a living legend among them. However, this changes after the first battle. when Martok and Worf are temporarily incapacitated and Kor is forced to take command. Kor's senility causes him to relive an old battle and give inappropriate commands. Disaster is averted when Martok and Worf recover and resume command.

Kor's pride is severely hurt as Martok and much of the crew mock him. Worf is forced to remove Kor from duty, but blames himself for placing him in an untenable situation. Martok also realizes mocking Kor has brought him no pleasure. The pair agree to appeal to Chancellor Gowron to find a worthy and suitable place for Kor.

As the Klingons return to friendly space, they discover ten Dominion ships are in pursuit and will intercept them before they reach safety. Worf prepares to embark on a suicide mission in one vessel to delay the pursuers, and allow the remaining Klingon ships to escape. Kor learns of Worf's plan from Martok's aide Darok, an old Klingon who is Kor's age and is sympathetic to his plight. Kor's pride is rekindled when he realizes only his lifetime of experience can make the plan work. It is also the warrior's death he has longed for. Kor sedates Worf and takes his place on the mission, assuring Worf that when he reaches the halls of the honored dead, he will find Worf's late wife Jadzia Dax and tell her that Worf still loves her.

Martok and his crew observe the battle from the ''Ch'tang''. Against the odds, Kor succeeds in delaying the enemy. Martok is the first to toast Kor's bravery, and the crew sing to Kor's victory.

Aspiring comic book artist Josh Baker meets a young woman named Cheryl on the streets of New York City, who proceeds to collapse and is rushed to a hospital by an ambulance. When Josh arrives at the hospital, he is shocked to find that there is no record of Cheryl ever being admitted and he soon learns another startling discovery, Cheryl's roommate also vanished after being picked up by the same ambulance.

Convinced that there is some sort of conspiracy going on, Josh proceeds to investigate the disappearances, despite the overt disdain and discouragement from Lt. Spencer.

The Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, a winged, dragon-like lizard, takes up residence in the art-deco spire of the Chrysler Building, with frequent jaunts in the midday sun to devour various helpless New Yorkers on the rooftops. The resulting bloody mess confounds detectives, Shepard and Powell, who are already occupied with a case involving a series of bizarre ritual murders linked to a secret neo-Aztec cult.

Jimmy Quinn, a cheap, paranoid crook who wishes to be a jazz pianist, takes part in a botched diamond heist. Attempting to hide from police after the robbery, he stumbles upon the creature's lair atop the Chrysler building. Quinn abandons his attempts to settle down and leave his life of crime, deciding to extort from the city an enormous amount of money in exchange for directions to the creature's nest, which houses a colossal egg.

Quinn makes a deal with the city, $1 million for the location of the nest. He leads Shepard and a paramilitary assault team to the top of the Chrysler Building where they shoot the egg, killing the baby inside. Because the creature itself was not present in the nest, the city reneges on its offer to Quinn, taking back the $1 million and leaving him broke once again. Later, after killing Powell, the creature comes to the tower. After the showdown, the creature, riddled with bullets, falls onto the streets of Manhattan. Finally, Shepard shoots the Plumed Serpent's crazed priest (who had been committing the ritual murders) as he tries to kill Quinn to resurrect his "god". Ultimately, a second large egg hatches in a different location in the city.

The plot follows Heidi Holland from high school in the 1960s to her career as a successful art historian over 20 years later. The play's main themes deal with the changing role of women during this time period, describing both Heidi's ardent feminism during the 1970s and her eventual sense of betrayal during the 1980s.

A young drifter named Hall has been working at a decrepit textile mill in a small town in Maine when the cruel foreman, Warwick, recruits him and others to assist with a massive cleaning effort. The basement of the old mill has been abandoned for decades, and over the years, a monumental infestation of rats has taken hold.

This rat empire, cut off from the rest of nature, has allowed the animals to evolve into a strange and varied combination of creatures; complete with its own bizarre, self-sustaining ecosystem. There are large, armored rats, albino, weasel-like rats that can climb up walls or burrow through the ground; and bat-like rats that have evolved to pterodactyl-like sizes. The men eventually come across a sub-basement, locked from the inside. Warwick then enlists Hall to go down and investigate the sub-basement and that he may take whomever he likes. Hall chooses Warwick who, despite trying to prevent them from entering, is forced to press on.

As they make their way through the sub-basement, Hall and Warwick discover that it harbors something more terrifying and hideous than any of them could have dreamed—a cow-calf sized queen rat with no eyes or legs, whose only purpose is to endlessly breed more rats. Hall sprays Warwick towards the queen with a hose they were using to attack the rats. As the queen devours Warwick, Hall makes his way towards the exit while spraying the rats. However, he is overwhelmed and eaten alive by the hordes of mutated rats. Meanwhile, the other team of workers on the surface wonders what has happened to them and, with no idea what kind of horror awaits them, prepares to descend into the basement.

Chandler Smythe (Clayton Rohner) is murdered on his 35th birthday. He is then recruited as an agent of the Corps and becomes a partner to Henry McNeil (Richard Brooks). Henry was killed in the 1970s and still dresses like Shaft. The Corps, best described as God's police force on Earth, has the mission of locating citizens who have made a Faustian-style bargain with the agents of evil. When the Corps find a lost soul, they must decide whether to rehabilitate them or eliminate them from existence if they are beyond redemption.

Overseeing their patrols are Decker (Googy Gress) and Ford (Marshall Bell), who give the weekly assignments. Deacon Jones acts as series narrator and appears on screen as "the Deacon". The Deacon is the head of the corps as shown in the last episode and all corp agents are ranked beneath him. However he is not god. God is never seen on the show.

Chandler's teenage son Ben, played by Tony Denman, occasionally appears. Chandler guides him in subtle ways.

The Corps itself functions much like any police force does, with various departments and a city-based structure. Paramedics, supply officers, spies, intelligence agents, forensic specialists, therapists, and munitions experts are all on hand to help with cases. They operate throughout the world in various cities. Chandler and Henry work out of the Hollywood station. They are based at Ravenswood, a high-rise art-deco establishment, which also doubles as purgatory.

All the agents of the Corps have gone through a violent, mortal death, but merely being alive again does not render them immortal. They can "die" again, and they face immediate judgement upon dying, which may be a problem for those who have not completed their redemption. Injury can happen to them, as can all the usual mental anguish that mortals suffer. Corps agents have no magical powers to give them an advantage over the opposition. Another limitation is that agents of the Corps are not allowed to have sexual relations with others, due to the fact that sleeping with a Morlock will turn an agent into one. They also cannot overtly contact their friends and family from before they died.

The Corps battle with two types of foes: Faustians and Morlocks. The Faustians are ordinary people who have made a deal with the forces of evil and bask in the fortunes that such a deal allows them on Earth. The Morlocks are Faustians who have died their mortal death and are now the ground troops for the dark side, evil's equivalent to the Corps. They are identifiable as people who have suddenly become sarcastic and courageous to extreme degrees. In addition, mirrors reveal the true nature of Morlocks; their reflections are twisted and demonic. Unlike Corps agents, Morlocks have superhuman resilience, and they cannot be easily killed.

Both Morlocks and the Corps have double agents planted in each other's ranks.

''Mighty Final Fight'' follows the same premise as the original ''Final Fight''. The Mad Gear Gang, the dominant street gang of Metro City, have kidnapped Mayor Haggar's daughter, Jessica. After Haggar is informed of her kidnapping, he sets out to rescue her along with his two friends: Cody, Jessica's boyfriend; and Guy, Cody's training partner. The story is presented in a more comical fashion compared to the original game due to its satirical nature. For example, Belger's motive for kidnapping Jessica in this version is to force her into marrying him, having become infatuated with her.

From his room in an 8-story building belonging to the “Bird-Watchers' Society”, Sylvester employs binoculars to focus on the window opposite him, containing Tweety's cage. Tweety does the same (we see Sylvester's dark green eyes magnified enough to see the blood vessels in them, then Tweety's blue eyes—but lacking blood vessels). Tweety puts his binoculars down and says his usual catchphrase, “I tawt I taw a puddy tat!” Then he replaces his binoculars to confirm and, indeed, “I DID! I DID taw a puddy tat!” Sylvester jumps for joy and runs to the building Tweety is in (the 10-story Broken Arms Apartment Building), but fails to notice the sign banning cats and dogs from the building. This results in a confrontation with the guard just inside the door, who kicks Sylvester out.

Next, Sylvester climbs up the drainpipe of the Broken Arms Apartment Building while Tweety sings the song "When Irish Eyes are Smiling". Behind Tweety and off-camera, Sylvester swings a paw in metronome rhythm to his "berry's" song. Only then does Tweety realize that Sylvester is watching him. He calls for help and jumps out of his cage; Sylvester chases him through the room. However, Tweety's owner, Granny is ready for him. She throws him out the window and, looking down on him, snarls: “Yeah that'll teach ya! Next time I'll give you what for!” Tweety joins in the scolding: “Bad ol' puddy tat!”

Sylvester paces around the alleyway, then gets an idea: to climb up ''in'' the drainpipe. Instead of getting scared again, Tweety now drops a bowling ball into the drainpipe. The heavy ball collides with Sylvester – and he swallows it! He frantically attempts to stop himself from rolling into “Champin's Bowling Alley” (a reference to animator Ken Champin), but to no avail. Sounds of bowling pins dropping emanate from said building.

Now Sylvester attempts to come up with a new plan for consumption of Tweety. He then notices a street busker with a monkey across the street. He slips across the street and then, after luring the monkey away from his master with a banana, hits him (off-screen) in the head and manages to pass himself off as said monkey to the busker. Tweety isn't fooled, though, realizing that “OH! Here tum dat puddy tat adain!” Sylvester enters Granny's room chasing Tweety, but has to stop running after him outright when Granny notices him. He now tries (without much success) to surreptitiously look for and eat Tweety. His attempt to pass himself off as a monkey is ruined when Granny gives him a penny and he can't resist tipping his hat politely to her. Granny smacks him in the head with an umbrella and then exposes that she was actually fully aware that he was a deliberately intruding cat who wanted to eat her canary rather than a legitimately in-business monkey whose busker master was trying to make a living. Sylvester, who now has a lump on his head, staggers out of the room, tipping his hat at the angry Granny on his way out.

Next, Sylvester manages to gain access to the desk clerk's office undetected (how he did so is unknown) and hears the telephone ring. Frustratingly, the desk clerk picks it up, but is professionally calm and polite when talking to Granny. Eavesdropping on them, Sylvester hears that Granny is checking out of Room 158, and that she wants someone to pick up Tweety and her luggage.

That gives Sylvester the idea he wants: cut to a shot of Sylvester knocking on Granny's door. Granny opens it a crack and asks Sylvester what he's doing, to which Sylvester replies in his lisping voice, “Your bags, Madame.” Granny answers, “OK, they're behind the door. I'll see you in the lobby.” Sylvester enters Room 158 and picks up Granny's suitcases and Tweety's cage. He carries them all out into the hall, then discards the suitcase and carries the cage down the stairs to the rear of the apartment building. There, he walks into the alley and opens the cage, expecting to enjoy Tweety – but Granny is in the cage! She hits Sylvester with her umbrella several times in rapid succession.

Next, Sylvester drags a box, a plank and a 500-pound weight to the point at the base of the apartment building that is in a direct vertical line with Tweety's window. He supports the plank with the box in the middle, stands on one end of the plank and heaves the weight onto the other end. This propels him up to Tweety's level and enables him to snatch the tiny bird. However, as he runs off, the weight lands hard on his head, freeing Tweety.

Sylvester next tries to swing over to Tweety's window (Granny had obviously opted to stay), and uses all manner of scientific methods to ensure that he doesn't let Tweety slip by him again. However, he misjudges something that forces him to crash into the wall next to the drainpipe. Tweety remarks, "That puddy tat's gonna Hurt himself is he's not more careful!"

Finally, Sylvester's pacing stops quite abruptly when he notices the electric air cable wires over his head. He crosses the street, climbs the supporting pole and walks the wires across to the Broken Arms Apartment Building. However, Sylvester has to get out of the way when he hears the bell ringing to signal the approach of a trolley. His feet aren't quick enough to evade the trolley, and he is electrocuted several times as the trolley pursues him! The driver is shown to be: Tweety, who again says, “I tawt I taw a puddy tat!” and Granny, who is sitting next to him, agrees with him, “You did, you DID! You ''DID'' taw a putty tat!”. The cartoon irises out as the trolley shocks Sylvester three times and the film ends.

The story takes place in the early years of the Cold War and centers on U.S. Army Colonel Bryan Kelly, whose plane has crash-landed on the Asiatic mainland. With him are his two sons, his wife, the pilot and co-pilot, and ten enlisted men. The sixteen prisoners are held captive by the Communist guerrilla chief Pi Ying, who forces Kelly to play a game of chess using his family and men as the white pieces, and himself as the king. Any American pieces that Pi Ying captures will be executed immediately; if Kelly wins, he and his surviving pieces will be freed. A Russian military officer, Major Barzov, and Pi Ying's female companion are present to watch the game.

Pi Ying takes a sadistic pleasure in pointless exchanges of pieces meant to wear down Kelly, who begins to doubt himself over every move he makes. Eventually, he realizes that his only chance to win involves sacrificing one of his knights, played by his sons. Pi Ying captures the piece; before he can order the boy's execution, though, his companion stabs him and herself to death. Barzov then takes over for Pi Ying, but is defeated by Kelly's trap. He spares the captured son's life and offers to transport the twelve surviving group members to safety, saying that since the United States and USSR are not officially at war, he would have let them go even if Kelly had lost. Not wanting Kelly to leave thinking he is a better chess player, Barzov suggests a rematch with no lives at stake. Kelly declines, but says he will play at a later time if Barzov insists on it.

Tyson Bucum, a maverick bounty hunter, is out to capture a petty drug dealer, Lil J. Bucum confronts Lil J in his trailer home and nearly handcuffs him, but Lil J's girlfriend, who wields a shotgun, recklessly shoots at Bucum. Bucum manages to tackle Lil J's girlfriend and arrest Lil J. Bucum's boss Martinez, however, is not pleased with Bucum and pays him less than expected. After a brief conversation about the lottery with his attractive co-worker Pam, Bucum learns from Martinez that he must capture a con man named Reggie Wright, whom Bucum has captured three times prior.

Bucum sees Reggie at a convenience store but fails to catch him after a long chase through Miami. Meanwhile, during a photoshoot, diamond thieves Julian and Ursula are posing as a photographer and model until a Mr. Barkley arrives. The duo murder the co-photographer, the makeup artist and Barkley's bodyguards, much to Barkley's surprise. Barkley is then shot in the head after a brief dialogue with Julian for murdering the witnesses. They then retrieve diamonds from the shoot. Bucum tracks down Reggie again and chases him until he remains unnoticed since he is hidden in a van. The thieves comes down, upon running into him instantly by accident, shoots at Bucum, who shoots back in response, and escapes, unbeknownst to them that Reggie is hidden. In a boatyard, the thieves finds Reggie in the van and shoot at him when he escapes, leaving his wallet behind, which is picked up by Julian. At the crime scene, Martinez is fed up of Bucum's attempts and orders him to stay away from Reggie.

In Reggie's apartment, Reggie and his girlfriend Gina eventually win the lottery, only to find out that Reggie lost the ticket, which was in Reggie's wallet. In the boatyard, Julian and Ursula are yelled at by their boss Williamson, having told him that the diamonds they retrieved from the shoot were fake. Out of frustration of not getting the diamonds, Williamson responds by shooting Julian in the arm, severely wounding him, which is later enclosed in an arm brace. Reggie is soon captured by Bucum during an attempt to retrieve his wallet and while in the car, Reggie manages to convince Bucum to find his wallet and find the thieves. At the boatyard, Bucum and Reggie realizes that the van is unclear of its location, so Bucum tries to look into the connection of the photo shoot and the van, while Reggie is handcuffed to his bed with Gina. Julian, in a psychopathic state, goes after Reggie. He arrives at the apartment, and is knocked unconscious by Bucum, having anticipated him coming after Reggie. The duo then decides to torture Julian for answers by bending a screwdriver into Julian's arm brace, which can rip through his skin. Julian then reveals Williamson's name. Bucum awaits in the boatyard of Williamson's boat dealership and poses as a customer. This soon fails, so the duo decides to go to the Barkley residence. At the house, they find a dead Mrs. Barkley, a man named Roscoe who was the one who murdered Mrs. Barkley, surprises and knocks out Bucum (only to be knocked out by Reggie), eventually finding the diamonds in a fish tank, and putting Roscoe in the trunk of Bucum's car bound and gagged, along with Julian. They return to Bucum's apartment and discover that Williamson has kidnapped Gina.

In response, they roll a car into Williamson's boat dealership with Julian and Roscoe unconscious in the cab. Willamson finds a tape recorder that informs him to meet Reggie and Bucum at a dog track with Gina to exchange for the diamonds. This goes successful with Pam posing as a janitor, Reggie revealing the diamonds, and Bucum taking position as sniper in a dog tracksman disguise to take out a sniper working for Williamson until Reggie flips the diamonds off of Williamson's hands leading to a shootout and chase. During the chase, Williamson pulls out a bazooka and opens fire, missing Bucum, Reggie, Gina and Pam but instead blowing up a nearby fish truck. He escapes, and Bucum and Reggie are so fed up with the plan that they decide to break up their partnership. Pam convinces Bucum to talk to Reggie and they make up again. The duo tracks Williamson to a boat dock in which Gina and Pam await behind them in the car. Bucum gives Reggie a taser since Reggie accidentally dropped one of Bucum's guns into the ocean. On the boat, as Bucum leaves, he sees Pam and Gina running away, having knocked out two henchman by pushing a lifeboat in their direction. Meanwhile, Reggie finds his wallet and recovers the lottery ticket, but is soon caught by Williamson and Ursula and he even forces Reggie to take his money on the boat. Bucum, taking Ursula as a hostage, catches up with them. Williamson, in response, kills Ursula by shooting her in the head and wounds Reggie, leading to a fight as the boat speeds up. Williamson is knocked out by the boat's speed and the boat crashes onto shore. Bucum and Reggie reunite until Williamson, badly injured, attacks Bucum. Reggie tases him and Bucum shoots Williamson to death multiple times. Later, Bucum and Reggie are figuring out what to do next but the coast guards are coming, and Bucum is forced to handcuff Reggie and hide the money.

Six weeks later, Reggie is released from prison. He initially believes that his friends have abandoned him until Bucum finally arrives, along with Gina and Pam. Bucum, who has a new car and spending money, reveals the winning ticket. The film ends with Reggie celebrating his new wealth with Bucum, their women, and the two elderly friends of Reggie, skiing on the boat through the ocean.

In the first book, a wealthy arms manufacturer, Dr. Baines, comes to a black magician, Theron Ware. Initially Baines tests Ware's credentials by asking for two people to be killed, first the Governor of California, Rogan (Reagan was governor at the time of writing) and then a rival physicist. When this is accomplished to Baines' satisfaction, Baines reveals his real reason: he wishes to release all the demons from Hell on Earth for one night to see what might happen. The book includes a lengthy description of the summoning ritual and a detailed (and as accurate as possible, given the available literature) description of the grotesque figures of the demons as they appear. Tension between white magicians (who appear to have a line of communications with the unfallen host in Heaven) and Ware is woven over the terms and conditions of a magical covenant that is designed to provide for observers and limitations. ''Black Easter'' ends with Baphomet announcing to the participants that the demons can not be compelled to return to Hell: the war is over and God is dead.

''The Day After Judgement'', which follows in the series, develops and extends the characters from the first book. It suggests that God may not be dead, or that demons may not be inherently self-destructive, as something appears to be restraining the actions of the demons upon Earth. In a lengthy Miltonian speech at the end of the novel, Satan Mekratrig explains that, compared to humans, demons are good, and that if perhaps God has withdrawn Himself, then Satan beyond all others was qualified to take His place and, if anything, would be a more just god. However, the defeat of Satan is complete. He cannot take up this throne and must hand the burning keys to man, as this is the most fell of all his fell damnations. He never wanted to be God at all, and so having won all, all has he lost.

In the novel, a new form of endogenous retrovirus has emerged, SHEVA. It controls human evolution by rapidly evolving the next generation while it is in the womb, leading to speciation.

The novel follows several characters as the "plague" is discovered as well as the panicked reaction of the public and the US government to the disease.

Built into the human genome are non-coding sequences of DNA called introns. Certain portions of those "non-sense" sequences, remnants of prehistoric retroviruses, have been activated and are translating numerous LPCs (large protein complexes). The activation of SHEVA and its consequential sudden speciation was postulated to be controlled by a complex genetic network that perceives a need for modification or to be a human adaptive response to overcrowding. The disease, or rather, gene activation, is passed on laterally from male to female as per an STD. If impregnated, a woman in her first trimester who has contracted SHEVA will miscarry a deformed female fetus made of little more than two ovaries. This "first stage fetus" leaves behind a fertilized egg with 52 chromosomes, rather than the typical 46 characteristic of ''Homo sapiens sapiens''.

During the third trimester of the second stage pregnancy, both parents go into a pre-speciation puberty to prepare them for the needs of their novel child. Facial pigmentation changes underneath the old skin which begins sloughing off like a mask. Vocal organs and olfactory glands alter and sensitize respectively, to adapt for a new form of communication. For over a year after the first SHEVA outbreak in the United States, no second stage fetus was recorded to have been born alive. The new human species was highly sensitive to all varieties of herpes and could not be viably born to a mother who had ever been infected with any of the virus' many forms, including Epstein-Barr and the chickenpox, thus eliminating 95% of the female population. Anesthetics and pitocin administered during childbirth were also lethal. So while many women would contract activated SHEVA that few would manage to give birth, making the transition from ''Homo sapiens sapiens'' to the new human species very gradual.

The international response to the threat of SHEVA was to form a special task force that would work alongside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to find a vaccine. Because the "disease", called "Herod's Flu", was already in the genome of every person on Earth, the only two options were to inhibit the activation of the SHEVA gene by discovering the signal it used or to abort the second-stage fetus. Due to the rapid mutation rate of the missing-link signal molecule, preventing the activation of the gene was infeasible.

The second option, abortion, was already a controversial issue and the proposal of handing out free RU 486 was met with social upheaval, adding to the already-chaotic social scene. The general public believed that the government was not placing due importance on the death of countless fetuses or that it already had a cure and refused to release it. In response, government research facilities were forced to test prospective treatments prematurely and could not pursue explanations for SHEVA outside of the "disease" category because of the potential reactions from the masses. It was not until viable second-stage fetuses were born that the idea of SHEVA being a part of evolution rather than a disease began to grow from a few isolated sources.

Small-time Boston crook Tony Pino tries to make a name for himself. He and his five associates pull off a robbery whenever they can. Tony stumbles across the fact that the Brink's security procedures are incredibly lax. He and his gang easily rob over $100,000 in cash from a parked Brink's armored car. To find out more, Tony disguises himself as a spark plug salesman to get an inside look at Brink's large and so-called "impregnable fortress" headquarters in the city's North End. The company had been thought to have unbreachable security as a private "bank" throughout the East Coast.

Once inside, Tony realizes that Brink's is anything but a fortress and that employees treat the money "like garbage." Still wary of Brink's public image, Tony breaks in one night after casing the building. He finds that only two doors in the building are locked, and one is easily bypassed by leaping a gate. The only thing locked in the building is the vault.

Tony also realizes that despite what Brink's claims, there is only a 10-cent alarm in the vault room itself, almost impossible to set off. It appears that Brink's had relied so much on its reputation that it had not even bothered locking the doors. Pino begins to plan a robbery, using the rooftop of a neighboring building as a watch tower.

Tony and his dim brother-in-law Vinnie put together a motley gang of thieves. They include the debonair Jazz Maffie and an Iwo Jima veteran, Specs O'Keefe, who is taken aboard before they realize how unbalanced he is. Over the crew's objections, Pino also invites the arrogant fence Joe McGinnis to be in on the job.

The robbers on the night of Jan. 17th, 1950 make off with more than a million dollars in cash, along with another million-plus in securities and checks. Brink's, a company that prides itself in the safekeeping of money, is nationally embarrassed by what the press is calling "the crime of the century." Even FBI director J. Edgar Hoover takes a personal interest in finding the culprits, even so much as creating a makeshift FBI office in Boston.

Law enforcement agents begin rounding up suspects. They come to the home of Tony and Mary Pino, as they often do for crimes in the area. Mary is so familiar with them by now, she makes the cops dinner. Tony is brought in for questioning, but reacts with indignation at being accused.

The crooks begin to crack, however. McGinnis infuriates them by destroying a large sum of the hold-up money, claiming the bills could be traced. He also hangs onto the rest, defying threats by Pino and his cohorts to hand over their shares.

Specs and another of the gang, Stanley Gusciora, go on the road to meet his "sugar doughnut" in Pittsburgh. They are picked up by Pennsylvania State Police on a burglary charge en route at Bradford, Pennsylvania and are each handed a long jail sentence, Gusciora at the Western Penitentiary-Pittsburgh. Specs grows more and more disturbed behind bars, demanding that money from his cut be sent to his ill sister. In interrogation, Specs and Stanley are pressured more each day to reveal whatever they might know about the Brink's job. Specs ultimately confesses.

One by one, the rest of the gang is apprehended, mainly by the Boston Police Department. Tony is on his way to jail in Boston and so is Vinnie, but they unexpectedly find themselves hailed as heroes by people on the street for having pulled off one of the great crimes of all time. One teen remarks to a clearly pleased Pino, "You're the greatest thief who ever lived! Nobody will ever do what you did, Tony!"

When a dysfunctional family gathers for Thanksgiving at their New England home, past demons reveal themselves as one son returns for the first time in three years.

Jing Koo or Koo Jing (Stephen Chow) is a self-proclaimed Trick Expert who has a wide range of tricks at his disposal, including many practical jokes and some more serious tricks which are even capable of driving a person insane. He uses such tricks to accomplish whatever requests his clients give him. When he is hired by Macky Kam (Waise Lee) to ruin the relationship between Che Man-kit (Andy Lau), an honest employee who works at the same company as Macky, and Lucy Ching (Rosamund Kwan), the company president's daughter whom Macky is romantically interested in, Jing sets up an act to get in the Che household as Kit's long lost younger brother Che Man-jing. Kit is suspicious of Jing at first, but is later convinced that Jing really is his brother and decides to treat him better. He gets Jing to work in the same company and introduces him to Lucy and her friend, Banana Fung (Chingmy Yau), who later on becomes interested in him.

From here Jing attempts to embarrass Kit in front of Lucy at every turn, which includes having Kit drink a cola can dosed with 'irresistible aphrodisiac', a medicine that makes the victim unable to control his sexual desires, but Kit cleverly avoids all of Jing's tricks (without suspecting him). It isn't until a contract-signing event which Kit is responsible for that Jing succeeds, in which he makes everyone from his company leave the room and assaults the other party. As a result, Kit is fired. Seeing this, his father Yan Che (Ng Man-tat) also quits the company despite his retirement only a few months away.

That night, Jing prepares to leave the house, but is given a surprise 'birthday' party by his 'brother' and 'father', which moved him deeply. When Macky contacts Jing and asks him to target Kit yet again, he flat out refuses. Banana overhears the conversation and seeks out the Trick Expert who is actually Jing's true identity. She insists that he target Macky to avenge Kit, and promises that she would marry him in return. Jing and Banana go to meet Kit and his father and tell them the truth. They are furious at first, but eventually accept Jing's help.

Jing takes Yan to his office to discuss plans, but they are confronted by a man who claims himself to be the Ultimate Trick Expert. He is hired by Macky to guard his party where he would propose to Lucy. Kit, Jing and Yan infiltrate the party and search for Lucy. They manage to have Kit propose to Lucy before Macky's men find and pursue them. Jing has an intense showdown with the Ultimate Trick Expert using tricks and comes out victorious by blowing him away with a paint bazooka. Meanwhile, Kit is seized and forced to drink a whole bottle of 'irresistible aphrodisiac', however the overdose causes him to become incredibly strong and muscular instead. He easily subdues Macky and his men, then proceeds to ask Lucy's father for permission to marry her, which he readily agrees.

As Jing and Yan happily watch the scene of Kit and Lucy kissing, Banana approaches Jing and reminds him of their promise. Jing takes Banana to his mother, who was waiting outside, but Yan recognises her as Man-yuk, a one-night stand of his many years ago. The last plot twist is revealed that Jing is, in fact Yan's son and Kit's brother, before the credits roll.

Setting and characters

The ''Legends'' series takes place on a flooded Earth. Because of the flooding, only a few sparse islands exist and energy sources are rare. To satisfy the increasing demand for energy to power up machinery, they use quantum refractors found in ancient ruins. Shards of these refractors are used as currency. However, the main goal of every person is to find the Mother Lode, an item of supposed infinite power that can fill the need for the energy in one swoop. Those who try to excavate these ruins are called "Diggers" ("Digouters" in the Japanese version), who have Spotters on the outside that use technology to map the Diggers' paths and help them avoid or defeat Reaverbots, hostile robots that patrol the ruins. The protagonist of the game is Mega Man Volnutt, a Digger living in an airship called Flutter. He lives there alongside Roll Caskett, his Spotter who is searching for her missing parents;Capcom (1997), p. 14 Barrel Caskett, Roll's grandfather;Capcom (1997); p. 15 and Data, a mysterious monkey that talks in gibberish only Mega Man himself can understand. The game's antagonists are the Bonne family, pirates who want to steal Kattelox's secret treasure in order to become rich. Teisel Bonne leads the group, his sister Tron Bonne builds most of their robots used in their elaborate schemes (and develops feelings for Mega Man),Capcom (1997), p. 16 and the youngest brother, Bon Bonne, is either fully robotic or protected by a robot suit, and he can only say one word—"Babu!" The Bonne siblings are accompanied by forty Servbots, robots under the care of Tron.Capcom (1997), p. 17 They live and travel in their flying warship, the Gesellschaft.

Story

On a tower ruin in the middle of the ocean, Mega Man retrieves a sizable blue refractor. Defeating the Reaverbots blocking his way out, he makes his way to the Flutter, which leaves the ruin. However, the Flutter experiences some engine problems and crashlands on Kattelox Island. From there, the Casketts try to find a way to repair their ship. However, when pirates attack Kattelox's city with giant mechanical weapons, Mega Man decides to stop them. Mega Man defeats the armored robots patrolling Downtown, led by Tron Bonne, and the ones laying a siege to City Hall, led by Bon Bonne. Their leader, Teisel, decides to attack the Clozer Woods ruins, but Mega Man defeats him as well. Kattelox's mayor, Amelia, tells Mega Man the Bonnes are searching for the island's secret treasure and that legend says if somebody obtains it, a great disaster will befall the island. Amelia asks Mega Man to investigate the island's ruins. In the Forest Ruins, Mega Man finds a large yellow Refractor. He uses this to power a boat in Uptown to access the Lake Ruins, defeating the Bonnes who had stolen the other boats and turned them into robotic weapons. Mega Man finds a huge red refractor in the Lake Ruins, which Roll and he use to repair the Flutter to access the entrance to the Clozer Woods ruins. Inside, Mega Man unlocks the island's largest ruin, the Main Gate, hoping to find the reason why Reaverbots from the island are being activated. On the way back, the Bonnes confront the Flutter with their mothership, but Mega Man overpowers them again and destroys the Gesellschaft.

When Mega Man explores the depths of the Main Gate, he unlocks Sub-Cities across the island. While exploring the three of them, he finds the Bonnes in the Old City and destroys their newest robot, a colossal monster named Bruno. Accepting defeat, the Bonnes leave him, though they plan to steal the treasure of the Main Gate once Mega Man gets it. After using the three keys from the Sub-Cities to access the depths of the Main Gate, Mega Man discovers a stasis chamber for the ancient robot Mega Man Juno, a 3rd class bureaucratic unit from Eden, a space station orbiting above the planet. Mega Man accidentally awakens Juno, who refers to Mega Man as "Mega Man Trigger", and realizes that Mega Man is suffering from memory loss. Juno claims that the island's population needs to be purged so it will be more controllable, and leaves Mega Man in a trap while he engages the program in the deepest depths of the ruin. Mega Man escapes the trap with help from Tron and Teisel and confronts Juno, and despite Juno upgrading to a giant form, Mega Man defeats him. Even with Juno's physical body gone, his last words transfer his backup data into the systems of Eden and confirm the Carbon Purification Process. Data gives new commands to the system, stopping the Purification and deleting Juno's backup data from Eden. Data then reveals to Mega Man that he contains all of his previous memories from when he was Mega Man Trigger. Mega Man had stored his memories into Data as a way to prevent Eden from ever tampering with it. Data promises to restore Mega Man's memory when the time comes. The residents proclaim Mega Man a hero and the Caskett family rides off in the repaired Flutter to continue their journey. Meanwhile, the Bonnes sail on a small boat built by Tron out of the scraps from the other robots, with the colossal refractor from the Main Gate in tow.

The game is set an undisclosed amount of time after the first installment in the series, ''Jumping Flash!''. After Robbit denounces Baron Aloha's plans to take over Crater Planet (events from the first game), Aloha flees for his life and returns to his home planet, Little Muu.

While planning his revenge, however, Aloha's turn to face the fear of having his planet attacked comes. A hostile alien invader known as Captain Kabuki (voiced by Lorelei King) descends upon Little Muu and starts taking it apart, piece by piece, contrasting on what Aloha himself had once tried to do to Crater Planet in the first game. Aloha flees the onslaught in his space pod, and lands on an asteroid far away from Little Muu, where he calls for help from his sworn enemy, Universal City Hall. Once again, Robbit is dispatched to help, and manages to free the parts of Little Muu which Kabuki has taken, and ultimately faces Kabuki one-on-one in mortal combat. Robbit defeats Kabuki, resulting in the latter escaping.

Still carrying a grudge against Robbit, Aloha seeks Kabuki and convinces him to form an alliance so that they can destroy Robbit together. In exchange, Aloha will pay Kabuki a large amount of money, and Kabuki, also desiring revenge against Robbit, agrees. Aloha and Kabuki attack Little Muu together, prompting Robbit to take action again. Eventually, Robbit and Kabuki battle each other one last time, and Robbit manages to destroy Kabuki once and for all while Aloha flees for his life once again. At the end of the game, Aloha returns to Little Muu, but is disowned by all the MuuMuus, who now resent him for teaming with Kabuki (who had tried to destroy them all) and trying to destroy Robbit, who had saved their lives. They throw him out of the bar and tell him to never come back.

Following on directly from the end of "The Parting of the Ways", the newly regenerated Tenth Doctor sets the TARDIS coordinates for the planet Barcelona (Tuesday, 6 p.m., October 5006) — where his predecessor had been planning to travel just before he regenerated – while Rose watches him suspiciously. He delightedly examines his new appearance (noting he has a slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle, a full head of hair, sideburns, is slimmer, and has a mole between his shoulder blades), while asking her what she thinks of the way he looks.

Rose, confused and frightened, asks him who he is. When he tells her he is the Doctor, she does not believe him. Confused as to what she has just seen, she theorises that this stranger has replaced the Doctor by means of teleportation, or perhaps he is a Slitheen. She demands that he bring the Doctor back, and the Doctor tries to reassure her that it ''is'' him, telling her how they first met in the cellar at Henrik's, and the first word he ever said to her was "run".

Rose starts to believe him, and the Doctor leaps around the console happily, reminiscing about their other adventures, such as when they once had to hop for their lives. However she is still unsettled and asks him if he can change back to his previous self. A deflated Doctor replies that he cannot, and asks her if she wants to leave. When Rose hesitates in her answer, he resets the TARDIS' coordinates for her council estate on Christmas Eve, offering her the choice to stay with her mother, Jackie, or continue her travels with him.

Suddenly, the Doctor suffers a form of seizure, expelling glowing energy from his mouth, and the TARDIS shudders as if in sympathetic response. The Doctor tells Rose the regeneration is going wrong and starts to act maniacally, throwing switches on the TARDIS console and ranting about increasing speed as the sounds of the Cloister Bell start ringing through the console room. As Rose hangs on to the console for dear life, the TARDIS heads for a crash landing on Christmas Eve.

Julie Barnes (Claire Danes), Pete Cochran (Giovanni Ribisi) and Lincoln Hayes (Omar Epps) are three minor delinquents who choose to become undercover cops in place of serving their jail terms. When their superior Capt. Adam Greer (Dennis Farina) is murdered, the trio set out to find the real culprits.

Joe Weber, an anthropologist working in South America, is summoned back to the United States by his ex-wife, Sally, who informs him that their dysfunctional adolescent son, Jeremy, will be committed to a psychiatric institution if Joe does not intervene. Joe takes custody of Jeremy, and decides to return to his hometown of Salem's Lot, Maine, where he owns an abandoned, rundown farmhouse passed down to him by his deceased Aunt Clara.

Unbeknownst to Joe, Salem's Lot is in fact a vampire colony. One night, a group of teenagers are stopped by police officers who subsequently—along with other various townspeople—begin feeding on them. Sherry, one of the teenagers, manages to hide out in a church before fleeing to the outskirts of town, stumbling into Joe and Jeremy's home. Joe brings Sherry to meet with Judge Axel, the town mayor, to report the incident. Inside, Joe, Sherry, and Jeremy are welcomed to a dinner attended by various high society, among them Amanda Fenton, the young granddaughter of the town doctor. At the urging of her grandmother, Amanda takes Jeremy on a tour of the town while the adults congregate. When Sherry notices one of her attackers at the gathering, she becomes hysterical, and is escorted to another room to be killed and fed upon.

To Joe's shock, Judge Axel reveals himself and the townspeople to be vampires. Axel attempts to appeal to Joe's objective anthropological methodology, hoping he can give their community mainstream exposure, and eventually write a religious text for their people. Axel gives Joe a tour of the town, during which he explains the dangers of drinking human blood in the late 20th-century, amongst them various contractible viruses such as hepatitis and AIDS. To remedy this, Axel has arranged for the locals to primarily feast on the blood of live cows at their local dairy. During the tour, Joe is met by his Aunt Clara, whom he believed to be dead—she, too, a vampire.

Bewildered by what he has learned, Joe no less decides to remain in Salem's Lot and renovate his familial home. At a nighttime school meeting, Jeremy and Joe learn that the townspeople have bred "drones", people who can safely be exposed to sunlight in order to oversee daily operations of the community, maintaining a façade of normalcy. The school principal also explains the vampires' origins, and how they traveled to the United States concurrent to the pilgrims. Joe soon rekindles a romance with Cathy (also a vampire), a woman whom he had an affair with as a teenager. Meanwhile, Jeremy attests to Joe that he plans to become a vampire and live eternally in the community. When Jeremy becomes sensitive to sunlight and grows ill, Joe realizes he has already begun his transformation. When Joe attempts to flee with Jeremy, he is attacked along a river by two of the local drones, one of whom he bludgeons to death with a rock, before being knocked unconscious himself.

Joe awakens from the attack in the Axels' home, where Aunt Clara, Cathy, and others reveal that Cathy is pregnant with Joe's child. They also inform him Jeremy is about to be "reborn". Shortly after, Joe is met by Van Meer, an eccentric Nazi hunter who has been surveilling the town. Joe and Van Meer bond together, hoping to save Jeremy from the vampires' influence. After staging a siege against the townspeople with Van Meer and burning down their homes, Joe and Jeremy are confronted by Axel, who reveals himself in his true, grotesque vampiric form. A fight ensues in a barn, culminating in Axel being impaled with an American flag. Van Meer, stealing a schoolbus, saves Joe and Jeremy. The trio drive away from Salem's Lot as sun rises, and the remaining vampires burn alive.

In the late 1960s, 19-year-old Janice McAllister runs away from her home in Indianapolis after an argument with her parents about her future and comes to New York City, where she is taken in by Luther, a playful con artist and bohemian. Renaming Janice "Tiger," Luther becomes both her boyfriend and mentor, schooling her in the art of con games and petty crime. The two prove to be an effective pair and they successfully live from the food and money that they steal or con. As the story progresses, it becomes apparent that Luther is the beneficiary of an enormous trust fund set up by his wealthy parents, and that his lifestyle is a result of boredom rather than necessity.

Although the two enjoy one another's company, Tiger is constantly frustrated by Luther's habit of role playing multiple personas—including Dracula and a terrorist called "The Mad Bomber of London"—even when not engaging in con schemes, a habit she believes is an attempt to emotionally distance himself from her. Even after living with Luther for an extended period, Janice realizes she knows more about Luther's personas than she does him. Luther responds to her attempts at emotional intimacy by claiming he has no need to mature any further in life.

One afternoon, on a whim, Luther invites a pair of pornographers to move in with him and Janice so that they can focus on building a phone sex operation. One of them, a morbidly obese man named Chance, overdoses on drugs and nearly dies in their living room. The experience startles Janice enough to end her relationship with Luther.

At this point in the novel, the narration begins alternating between third-person accounts of Janice's life and italicized, first-person segments narrated by Luther, who appears to be steadily losing his mind. Luther's segments take the form of letters, journal entries, and even direct addresses to the reader, as he documents his attempts to win back Tiger's affections.

Tiger becomes a secretary at a law firm, where she befriends several of her coworkers and is briefly promoted to the personal assistant of a prominent attorney, who demotes her after she rebuffs his sexual advances. Luther, meanwhile, tries to convince Tiger to move back in with him; Luther's attempts at regaining Tiger's love take the form of a number of comic set pieces that take on more and more sinister undertones as the book progresses. In his first-person accounts, Luther indicates that the two pornographers have moved out of his apartment and that his electricity has been shut off, and he begins to obsess over his sudden tendency to wet the bed.

One of Janice's coworkers sets her up on a blind date with an optometrist. Although the date begins successfully, Luther shows up at the restaurant where they are having dinner, in character as one of his old personas, a Russian waiter. After refusing the manager's request to leave, Luther sparks a small riot after he begins rapidly switching personas and starts throwing patrons' food at them. Luther later wonders why he didn't simply leave the restaurant after being found out by the manager, per his grifter's code of always escaping a bad situation when caught. Deciding that he must really be part Russian, Luther travels to the Soviet embassy in New York City requesting asylum, but he is denied.

Tiger is promoted at work and continues to date the optometrist. Luther becomes more aggressive in his pursuit of Tiger, ultimately stalking her at work and breaking into her room at the YWCA. After catching Luther in her room one night, Tiger and Luther discuss their life philosophies; Luther sadly acknowledges that he and Janice are incompatible and agrees to leave her alone.

The next day, Luther phones Janice's office in his "Mad Bomber of London" persona, threatening to blow up the building. Although the rest of the staff evacuates the building, Tiger assures them that it's simply a prank and remains at her desk.

In his final address to the reader, Luther's narration deteriorates into incoherent rambling, rants against Christianity, and an anecdote about once breaking his nose on New Year's Eve.

Sitting at her desk, Janice has a sudden revelation and attempts to leave the building. Before she can, a bomb on her floor detonates, killing her and burning down the office. On the street, Luther watches the rubble burn and has a vision of finding a young Janice on the beach and taking her home.

This special begins with Charlie Brown sitting on a bench at lunch, trying to get the nerve to talk to the Little Red Haired Girl, but of course, chickening out. He says he feels silly to chicken out, because he knows he is the type of person she would like. The Little Red Haired Girl walks by, and drops her pencil. Charlie Brown notices it, picks it up, and sees it has teethmarks. He realizes, this means she nibbles on her pencil, and is human. Charlie Brown wants to use the Little Red Haired Girl's lost pencil as an excuse to talk to her while returning it to her, but unfortunately, Lucy takes the pencil from Charlie Brown and returns it to the Little Red Haired Girl before Charlie Brown has a chance to.

Later that day, Charlie Brown buys an inexpensive box of chocolates for the Little Red Haired Girl, and decides to hide behind a tree and give it to her, commenting Love makes you do strange things.

Throughout the cartoon Sally Brown tries to make Linus like her but to no avail. As shown after the title card screen, Sally tells Linus that if she holds out her hands, Linus can put a Valentine (or any sort of Valentine gift; like a box of chocolates) in them. Linus replies to her that (trying to avoid her) she can stand like that for the rest of her life forever and never get anything.

The next day, Marcie is seen making a Valentine's card for Charlie Brown, and telling Peppermint Patty that she is very fond of him. Later that day, Marcie goes over to Charlie Brown's house to ask him if he likes her, and all Charlie Brown says is, "Do I what?". Marcie then walks away, angry. Later, Charlie Brown receives a letter saying "I know you like me and I like you". Charlie Brown gets very excited thinking it's from the Little Red Haired Girl, but Peppermint Patty yells at him, telling him "That letter was from me. You like me, Chuck". She leaves Charlie Brown standing there, saying "I do?". And the next day Marcie calls Charlie Brown to ask him if he likes her, and he gets confused again.

Charlie Brown buys the Little Red Haired Girl a valentine, and then he wants to practice giving it to her. He tells Snoopy to pretend to be the little Red Haired Girl while he practices delivering the valentine. When Charlie Brown knocks on his door (while practicing), Snoopy answers with a wig on, which annoys Charlie Brown.

Charlie Brown still does not know what to do about the Little Red Haired Girl. Linus suggests Charlie Brown should invite her to the school Valentine's Day dance. Charlie Brown agrees, but first asks Linus to talk to her to find out if she likes him. Linus goes over and asks her if she likes Charlie Brown. However, the Little Red Haired girl does not notice there was a kid in their class named Charlie Brown.

Later, in class, Charlie Brown tries to impress the Little Red Haired Girl by winking at her. However, before she can notice him, the teacher sends Charlie Brown to the nurse because she thinks he is winking because his eye hurts him.

The next day, Valentine's Day, Charlie Brown notices the Little Red Haired Girl handing out valentines. He gets excited that she might give him a valentine, but becomes discouraged when she does not give him one.

Later, when Charlie Brown and Linus are at the wall, Linus suggests that Charlie Brown calls her to invite her to the Valentine's Day dance. Charlie Brown says he cannot because he is worried she might hang up in his face. Linus tells him that is the beauty of calling on the phone. If she hangs up on one ear, that is not considered the whole face.

Later, Charlie Brown with Linus dials on the phone, attempting to call the Girl. However, on the other side of the line, Marcie picks up. Charlie Brown realizes he dialed the wrong number. He tells that to Marcie, and Marcie says she understands, and she thinks he probably meant to call Peppermint Patty. She tells him lucky for him, that Patty is here. She gives the phone to Patty. Peppermint Patty asks Charlie Brown if he called to invite her to his school's Valentine's dance, but before Charlie Brown can answer her, she accepts the offer.

That night, Charlie Brown puts on a suit, because he has to go to the ball with Peppermint Patty. He goes to feed Snoopy first, but Snoopy puts on a bowtie and goes with him. When they arrive at the party, Charlie Brown is told that Snoopy can not come in because dogs are not allowed at this party. Charlie Brown tells a lie to the host that Snoopy is really a kid who comes dressed as a dog because he thinks it was a costume party, so Snoopy is allowed.

At the party, Charlie Brown sees Linus, and Linus tells him the Little Red Haired Girl is at the party, so he should ask her to dance with him. Although Charlie Brown decides Linus is right, and starts walking towards the Little Red Haired Girl, getting more nervous with every step he takes, but before he could make it over to her, Peppermint Patty and Marcie find him, and start dancing with him, much to Charlie Brown's annoyance, and when the two girls finally let him go, Charlie Brown realizes the Little Red Haired Girl is already dancing with somebody else, so that somebody else is Snoopy.

After the dance, Peppermint Patty and Marcie complain to Charlie Brown that he is not a good date, as he is a horrible dancer. They also ask that he does not invite them to any more dances.

Charlie Brown is upset because he did not get to dance with the Little Red Haired Girl and did not receive a single valentine. Snoopy brings Charlie Brown a valentine.

In this novel Burroughs shifts the focus of the series for the second time, the first having been from early protagonists John Carter and Dejah Thoris to their children after the third book. Now he moves to a completely unrelated hero, Ulysses Paxton, an Earthman like Carter who like him is sent to Mars by looking at the red planet in the sky.

On Mars, Paxton is taken in by elderly mad scientist Ras Thavas, the "Master Mind" of the title, who educates him in the ways of Barsoom and bestows on him the Martian name Vad Varo. Ras has perfected techniques of transplanting brains, which he uses to provide rich elderly Martians with youthful new bodies for a profit. Distrustful of his fellow Martians, he trains Paxton as his assistant to perform the same operation on him. But Paxton has fallen in love with Valla Dia, one of Ras' young victims, whose body has been swapped for that of the hag Xaxa, Jeddara (empress) of the city-state of Phundahl. He refuses to operate on Ras until his mentor promises to restore her to her rightful body. A quest for that body ensues, in which Paxton is aided by others of Ras' experimental victims, and in the end he attains the hand of his Valla Dia, who in a happy plot twist turns out to be a princess.

The film begins with the following disclaimer: ''The following dramatization includes time compression and composite and fictionalized characters and incidents.'' In 1980, ABC development executive Vince Peterson (John Terry) meets with producer Aaron Spelling (Nicholas Hammond), looking for a series featuring "greed and manipulation and sex and power and vanity" to battle against CBS' hit nighttime serial ''Dallas'' and make it "look like ''Sesame Street''." Writers Richard and Esther Shapiro (Ritchie Singer and Pamela Reed) are already developing their own modern take on ''I, Claudius'', and ''Dynasty'' is conceived. From the beginning, Esther's intent to explore "real social issues" and not have the show be an "inane soap with beautiful people and beautiful clothes" clashes with the network and advertisers' squeamishness with homosexual character Steven, "the first openly gay character on a prime time drama series." John Forsythe (Bartholomew John)—the voice of ''Charlie's Angels'' Charlie—and Linda Evans (Melora Hardin) are cast as Blake and Krystle Carrington. With the new series at #40 in the ratings, ABC pushes for Steven to be "cured," and Richard conceives a female J. R. Ewing: Blake's bitter ex-wife Alexis. Soon ''Dynasty'' welcomes Heather Locklear (Holly Brisley) as sexpot Sammy Jo, and Joan Collins (Alice Krige) as villainess Alexis.

Ratings rise as Alexis tears her way through ''Dynasty'' and Sammy Jo makes Steven reconsider same-sex romance. Steven's portrayer Al Corley (Rel Hunt), annoyed at the direction his character is taking, asks "Hey, I'm not gay ... but correct me if I'm wrong, is homosexuality a disease that can be cured by a blonde bimbo in Daisy Duke shorts?" ... and is soon replaced. Stuck at #2—despite the tease of an affair by Krystle with guest star Rock Hudson (Robert Coleby)—''Dynasty'' becomes "the most expensive show in history" and spawns a spin-off series. The Moldavian wedding massacre finally drives the show to #1 as the world learns that Rock Hudson has AIDS. Collins wants more money for "putting the 'nasty' in ''Dynasty''," but Esther plays hardball to prove that everyone is replaceable. Ratings begin to slide in the aftermath of the Moldavia storyline, and by the seventh season ABC is talking about cancellation. Esther files a profit-seeking lawsuit when news surfaces of Aaron's plans for Spelling Entertainment to go public. Long unhappy with storyline quality, John finally explodes; Joan faces the public spectacle over her divorce. Realizing that the important things in life are passing her by, Linda decides she needs to leave ''Dynasty'', and a supportive Joan wishes her well. Season nine ends with Blake and Alexis in mortal peril, but few viewers. ABC unceremoniously cancels the show—"the '80s are over."

Wanting to give the fans a proper ending, Esther, Richard and Aaron approach ABC about a reunion movie. The network is reluctant, but Aaron's influence prevails. The cast happily return at reduced salaries; when asked if she wants a stunt double for Alexis' final catfight with Krystle, Joan quips, "What the hell—for a few shots I'd like to get in this time!" All depart smiling, knowing they have made history.

In Bolivia's Amazon basin, corporate cattle ranches are replacing the rain forest. When Santos, the charismatic leader of the union of rubber tappers, forges an alliance with Natives to protest deforestation, he is assassinated. R.J. O'Brien, a US photo-journalist who has no skills as an investigator, wants a story when he thinks the police have framed and murdered an innocent Native as the assassin. In his search for the truth, he involves Alyssa Rothman; who worked for Santos, and who he falls in love with and vice versa. As he gets deeper into trouble with the cops and the real assassin, he needs not only Alyssa's help, but also that of the Natives' leader.

Hélène and Jean have pledged their love to each other, but are not engaged to marry. Their love affair allows dalliances with others, but they have promised to put each other first above all others. Hélène has been warned by a friend that Jean's love for her has cooled and fears this is correct. She tricks him into confessing, by pretending her own feelings for him have cooled to a friendship. She hides her shock and dismay when he enthusiastically accepts her as now just a friend instead of a lover. After he leaves her apartment, it is clear that she is devastated. But instead of mourning her love, she decides to exact a cruel revenge on him.

Young Agnès is a cabaret dancer. Her ambition was to become a ballerina at the Opera, but hard times have fallen on her, and in order to support herself and her mother, she has resorted to dancing in nightclubs and earning money as a prostitute. Hélène, in a pretense of compassion, offers to pay off Agnès' mother's debts and move them into an apartment, allowing Agnès to quit the nightlife.

Hélène sets a trap using Agnès to entice Jean into falling in love with the young woman. She assures him that Agnès and her mother are of an "impeccable" background. He is already smitten as soon as he sees Agnès in the Bois de Boulogne, and makes no attempt to learn anything about her, instead relying on Helene's false information.

Agnès suspects they're being manipulated by Hélène but feels powerless to escape the trap. Jean does not relent in his advances, and finally Agnès agrees to marry him. Hélène advises her not to breathe a word to Jean about her past until after they are wed, and insists to Jean that he allow her to plan a lavish wedding for the two of them.

Immediately after the ceremony, Hélène first hints to Jean that something is amiss. Agnès had assumed that Hélène had already told Jean the truth, and learning she was tricked, falls in a faint. Jean confronts Hélène, who now divulges triumphantly that she maneuvered him into the marriage, and that all of the guests know the truth. Jean, filled with shame, bewilderment and rage, drives off leaving his new bride, still in an unconscious state.

Later that evening, Jean returns. Agnès' mother warns that the girl's heart is weak and that she could die. Jean walks into the room, stone-faced. Agnès, barely conscious, whispers that she hopes he will forgive her, but it's clear that she will free him by giving up her life. Agnès sighs, and appears to stop breathing. Jean is filled with love for her and begs her to be strong and to hang on to life. Although weak, she hears him and her faint smile assures him that she will live.

Hazel Aiken (Carroll Baker) is a Queens housewife and hairdresser who runs an electrolysis parlor in her home. Hazel shares a home with her sister-in-law and infant child and flicks lit cigarettes at her ineffectual husband. She makes extra money by operating a dirty deeds service, connecting clients with sociopaths who perform the jobs. Hazel only hires women, but when one of them can't do a high paying job, she agrees to interview a drifter L.T. (Perry King) recommended by one of the girls. Hazel also receives unwanted attention from Detective Hughes (Charles McGregor), a corrupt cop who wants her to surrender one of her employees so he can make an arrest. Hazel's female employees like P. G. and R.C. wander in and out of the house and occasionally torture her sister-in-law with mean comments about her weight and absent husband. L.T. delights in this and does nothing to prevent it. When it comes time for L.T. to do his job, which is to smother an autistic child in his bedroom while the knowing parents pretend to sleep, things do not go according to plan. L.T. becomes frustrated when the kid does not respond to him and stares inert into space. Feeling sympathy for the child, he brings him to the parents' bedroom and yells, "Do it yourself!" When he returns to Hazel's to explain that he did not do the job, Hazel calls him "sensitive" and demands her rent money. Detective Hughes is also in the house, to Hazel's surprise, and they argue over their agreement. Hazel calls Hughes "picky", which enrages him and he drowns her to death in the kitchen sink. The sister-in-law walks into the kitchen and dispassionately takes Hazel's key to the dial phone's lock and unlocks it.