Construction for the Federal Building began with the demolition of the Old Central Armory and the Cuyahoga County Morgue. The Armory building was designed by Lehman and Schmitt and constructed in 1896. It was made in a late Victorian style with a Gothic exterior. The Morgue, constructed in 1894, showed examples of Egyptian Revival architecture.

Prior to the opening credits we see portions of the stag film that is shot in the course of the movie. Voices are overheard that make it apparent that men and women are watching this in the present day. At the end a man complains that there was no "cum shot", something that will later develop into a plot point.

The story takes place in Hollywood in the early 1930s, shortly after the start of the talkie period. A visionary and gifted young Hollywood director known as Boy Wonder (Richard Dreyfuss) has fallen out of favour with the studios. This is ostensibly due to his reluctance to lower his standards or abandon his artistic and experimental style, such as using a hand-held camera, for the sake of churning out lesser quality stag films for easy money, due to his alcoholism and his fear of leaving his house. He works out of his decaying mansion, which is the only one left on a street being turned into a freeway.

On the morning of this particular shoot, a heroin-addicted waitress named Harlene (Veronica Cartwright) arrives. Harlene was once a well-known and respected star during the silent film era, and she too is reluctant to join the ranks of the "talkies" due in part to her unappealing, high-pitched squeaky voice. She is now the star in the first of his six-picture deal. She prepares and shoots heroin while Boy Wonder drinks heavily during a conversation about the changing times in Hollywood.

An actor called Rex the Wonder Dog (Stephen Davies) soon arrives, wearing a white suit with grass stains on his knees, having just come from his job working for a mortician. During his introduction, Rex gullibly believes a man from a studio who that says that he will put him in the mainstream talkies, and has an appointment to meet him in his hotel room later that same day.

Boy Wonder awkwardly attempts to make an artistic film using an actress under the influence of heroin and an actor who becomes increasingly frustrated with the director and all of his poetic talk, much of which he admits he doesn't understand. The scene goes wrong when Rex gets out of control during the action and Boy Wonder needs to smash a wine bottle over his head to get him to stop.

Just then Big Mac (Bob Hoskins), a porno film producer, enters the scene. He has small heroin packets in his jacket pocket, an unlit cigar in his mouth, wads of money for Rex and a pretty wannabe actress named Cathy Cake (Jessica Harper) hanging on his arm. Harlene takes her payment in heroin and soon dies from an overdose in an upstairs bedroom. Rex finds the dead body, and everyone is terribly upset over this turn of events. Boy Wonder talks about continuing his film, but Rex refuses to perform with a dead woman.

Big Mac offers Rex a part in a mainstream movie in order to convince Rex to help him bury the body and, while the two are away, Cathy and Boy Wonder develop a chemistry that eventually leads to another ironic high point in the film. Boy Wonder offers to film Cathy for insert shots of her nude body to double for the late Harlene. At first, Cathy refuses to undress, but when she does, she soon becomes aroused by Boy Wonder filming her. After a while, he makes love to her believing he has found something of a soulmate, but she is disappointed when she learns the camera was off. Boy Wonder's sexual experience with Cathy marked the end of his longstanding problem with impotence, which was evidently related to his emotional problems.

Boy Wonder quickly realizes that this romantic encounter was simply a ploy to get her into the film, and that she has used and directed him the way he used and directed her. Big Mac and Rex return to find both of them half naked. In a jealous rage, Big Mac ends his six-picture stag film contract with Boy Wonder, who by this time is completely drunk. Rex beats up Boy Wonder in retribution for hitting him earlier with the wine bottle by doing likewise. Big Mac takes the film reel that Boy Wonder used and leaves with Rex and Cathy. After Boy Wonder is left alone in his home, a man knocks at the door. This is Clark Gable, a then little-known actor who had been said to be intending to call on Boy Wonder about a film project. Boy Wonder will not answer the door, and after a short time the unseen man leaves. The end of the film finds Boy Wonder alone in his spacious living room, sitting in the same place where the film began; playing piano and singing, pondering what he'll eat for lunch.

This last remark brings home the fact that, while a great deal has occurred in the course of the film, the movie was shot in real time.

Evangeline "Dot" Freeland is sent to her rich father's country estate Roselawn for her health. She soon meets the gardener's son "Tot" Thompson, who becomes her friend and playmate. One day, they have a picnic and sit in a boat they find by the river, which gets away and takes them to a passage in a cliff face that brings them to the magical country of Merryland.

Merryland is made of seven valleys, arranged in a circular pattern connected by a river running through them. The first valley is populated by clowns, the second is a land in which everything—including the people—is entirely made of candy, and the third the valley where babies grow from blossoms before storks deliver them to their parents. The fourth valley is populated by living dolls and is also the home of the Queen of Merryland, a large wax doll who makes Dot and Tot her adopted children. After Dot and Tot have a day of running the valley by themselves, the queen joins Dot and Tot to see the remaining three valleys.

The fifth valley is populated entirely by cats, the sixth valley is run by Mr. Split, who makes wind up animals. The final valley is the Valley of Lost Things, where every lost item goes. Tot finds a doll he'd lost and is allowed to take it with him. The Queen decides to allow Dot and Tot to travel onward, which will take them back to Roselawn, but she will close the way to Merryland forever. Returning to the river, Dot is found by her father who notices that she no longer looks sickly. Tot deduces that the Queen of Merryland—who was either interrupted or forgot to answer when asked her name—must be named "Dolly."

Sam Laker is a former World War II Office of Strategic Services (OSS) operative who is recruited by his former commanding officer to do a mission while he is attending a business conference in Leipzig. To ensure his cooperation, his son is kidnapped.

Colleen Gibson doesn't realize live-in boyfriend Dick Rasmusson, a third-rate private detective, has been cheating on her until phony psychic Madame Hugonaut inadvertently provides accurate details about his most recent indiscretion. When Colleen confronts him with what she believes is an empty gun, she shoots and kills Dick, who had loaded the firearm without her knowledge.

Enter Daniel Gallagher, an Irish mobster whose desire to be a crooner was dampened by his ex-girlfriend Mary when she laughed at his singing. Daniel has managed not to kill anyone in his short career as a hit man, so when he discovers Colleen has killed Dick, who was next on his hit list, he's happy to take the credit and tell his boss and brother-in-law Jared O'Reilly that he finally completed an assignment. Unfortunately, Jared starts giving him a lot more assignments, and Daniel enlists Colleen to do his dirty work for him.

Complicating matters are Daniel's sister Ivy, who would like to see her husband dead; two bumbling detectives investigating Dick's murder; and the reappearance of Mary and her new boyfriend, mumbling Tony Moretti.

In the Edo period of Japan, a lone wanderer wearing a cloak of skins ends up in a gambling town run by demons, namely Boss Ounizo, that hide in the guise of humans to interact with other people. Demons Youkai in this era, like the fair folk, were once equal citizens, and lived beside mankind peacefully; but as advances in technology, especially warfare (with the explosive introduction of the Howitzer, nonetheless), humans have forgotten their tolerance and nearly wiped their counterparts into extinction. Kibakichi is forced to stay, but uncovers the gambling house's secret: the demons, tired of living in fear, have taken the biggest gamble of all - a pact with the current ruling human government to fortify a sanctum where they would be free from tyranny. Kibakichi himself remembers, though not all humans are bad, not all can be trusted. Being the likely sole survivor of his exterminated clan (a native tribe of Wolves that once put their faith in humanity, to catastrophic consequences),he is a cautious and un-trusting warrior, though quickly comes to see that not all is as it seems. The shady business acts more like a close and happy family of those without homes, like him, that welcome him warmly; even Ounizo has adopted a human girl, Kikyo, as his daughter, and all do their best to live.

The series begins with a man named Kaiba (Warp) as he awakens in a ruined room. He has no memories, but he has a hole in his chest, a triangular mark on his stomach, and a pendant with a picture of an unknown girl inside. After being attacked, Kaiba escapes and, through his travels, regains his memories. Meanwhile, the woman from the pendant struggles with her own convictions and her past, which may be intertwined with Kaiba's origins.

Mrs. Roger Fairboalt, an elderly gossip, visits the younger Evylyn Piper at her home. The older woman is a snoop who is curious about Mrs. Piper and her rumored affair with Freddy Gedney. They discuss the furnishings in the house, including the china. Mrs. Fairboalt focuses on a large cut-glass bowl. Evelyn explains that it was a wedding gift from a friend, someone she saw socially before she married. When he gave it to her, he exclaimed: "Evylyn, I'm going to give a present that's as hard as you are and as beautiful and as empty and as easy to see through."

After Mrs. Fairboalt's departure, Freddy Gedney surreptitiously approaches the house, and Evylyn informs him that she is ending their extramarital affair. Her husband Harold Piper arrives home early. She conceals Freddy, but he hits the cut-glass bowl revealing his presence to Harold. Following the discovery of Evylyn's adultery, the marriage becomes strained thereafter, and Evylyn focuses on raising their two children. She begins to noticeably age.

On Evylyn's thirty-fifth birthday, her alcoholic husband Harold calls and tells her they are having guests for dinner—a business dinner with a potential partner and his wife to discuss a merger of their companies. Harold insists using the cut-glass bowl for the punch. Everyone becomes inebriated at dinner, and Evylyn's daughter cuts her hand on the bowl and develops blood poisoning. Her hand is amputated.

After this incident, Evylyn receives a letter with news of her son's death in World War I, which the maid has placed in the bowl. She reads the letter next to the bowl. In grief and despair, she takes the bowl outside the house but, as she descends the stairs, she falls and the bowl shatters into pieces.

Horace Tarbox is a young and prospective intellectual, completely absorbed in his studies. Marcia shows up at his door one day (the "rap" alluded to in the story's ending) and takes to showing Horace another side of life. It quickly snowballs into an improbable pairing between a philosopher and an actress. Marcia talks Horace into watching her in the theater, and he finds emotions and appreciation for a beautiful woman. And she returns the affection, being drawn to their connection as "infant prodigies", as she calls them. The story concludes as a role reversal of the two characters, for the better or for the worse, as Horace becomes a successful entertainer using gymnastics and Marcia becomes a successful writer.

The title comes from Marcia's idea that she represents the shoulders as a "chorus girl" known for shaking her shoulders during her dance routine in order to support the couple, and Horace as the head for all the ideas and thinking. Towards the end of the story, this dynamic reverses: Horace's athletic shoulders financially supporting Marcia's writing, as she becomes the supposed "head" or thinker in the family, as an acclaimed writer.

A young girl, Lois, is on her way to a tryst with her lover, Howard. She stops to meet her much older brother, Kieth , who is in a seminary and about to become a priest. Lois sends a telegram on her arrival in Baltimore. She wires Howard that she will meet him after her visit to a seminary too see her brother who is to be ordained a priest.

She arrives by bus and is welcomed by Kieth who takes her on a tour of the grounds. They have not seen each other for many years. He informs her that he anticipated the meeting between them. They discuss their pasts. She informs him that she is not a devout Catholic. She tells him: "It really doesn't seem to apply anymore."

Lois participates in a benediction or blessing in the chapel with her brother. She is overcome by the experience and collapses into his arms. She undergoes an emotional catharsis.

Kieth bids her farewell and sees her off as she departs by bus. After her departure, he is seen in prayer before the pietà. When she arrives back at the station, she tears up a telegram she meant to send. The clerks read the discarded message: "This is in the way of a permanent goodbye. I should suggest Italy. Lois."

The film begins in the spring and documents Eads' life through the following winter. Eads falls in love with Lola, a transgender woman. He spends those remaining warm days in the company of his "chosen family": Maxwell, Cas, and "the rest". That summer, his mother and father drive ten hours to visit Robert, who is still their daughter in their eyes. His son and grandson also come to visit him that summer. His son struggles to gender him correctly and says he will always be "mom" in his eyes. But his grandson knows and has always known him as "papaw". Later that year, Eads makes his last appearance at the Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, a prominent transgender gathering. Already feeling ill, he addresses a crowd of 500 and takes Lola to what is for them a prom that never was. Shortly after the conference, Eads dies in a nursing home with his chosen family beside him.

After Eads' death, his ashes were spread across the family farm around a lone Christmas tree which was to symbolize Robert's many changes and blossomings in life.

Eads' friends, Tom and Debbie King, also appear in the film. They saved Eads' life when he collapsed in a pool of his own blood while staying with them. They initially sought treatment for Eads but were unable to locate a doctor willing to treat a transgender man.

Eads' lifelong struggle to have his outer appearance match his inner self is a salient theme in the movie. All persons portrayed in the movie wrestle with themes of rejection from others, rejection of self, feeling ostracized from humanity and ultimately crafting their own lives and personal support systems.

The title character, Challenger, is an archaeologist who seeks to rescue the princess, Maria, from the hands of the evil boss, Don Waldorado, in the land called Pleasio Land. The setting of the character as an archaeologist is an homage to the Indiana Jones franchise, while his name may be an allusion to Conan Doyle's Professor Challenger (best known for his appearance in ''The Lost World'').

The scene in the first level where the princess is taken away by the villain is programmed as part of the level, and it is impossible to catch up to the princess no matter how quickly the player progresses. The background music for this level is an arranged version of the well-known military march by Franz Schubert.

At Aisya's coronation, a Salamander appears and burns everyone except Aisya into ashes. She retrieves her hereditary bracelet, and when creatures born of the Flame Serpent attack, Bullnequ is reanimated from the ashes and defends her. Wanting to restore her kingdom, Aisya goes on a quest to pursue the Flame Serpent. The Flame Serpent subsequently attacks the other kingdoms, laying them to waste. Using her power to revives others from ash to build her army, she meets and partners with Dan, rescues Emu from the destruction of her people, and are later nearly killed by Bamyganant. Jeekwawen saves them, but Bullnequ is destroyed. They later salvage Cootrolan from a group of attacking Mechanics. Cootrolan reveals the Mechanics are from a future where Mechanics and humans are locked in conflict in a world dying from an imbalance of energy. Finding Sumnelthia's capital under attack from the Flame Serpent, Aisya rescues Maritie from the city dungeons, who believes Sumnelthia is behind the Flame Serpent. Dan likewise thinks Aceshin is responsible, and leaves when Aisya prevents him from killing Maritie.

They discover evidence of Sumnelthia collecting energy from the Salamanders, produced when new Mechanics are crafted, then escape through a cave system fighting through monsters born of human fear and rage. They also learn the Salamanders are manifestations of the planet's will summoned by human conflict, and they must restore the balance between the benevolent white and malevolent black energy. Cootrolan ends up resetting to a hostile position after a run-in with Mechanics, forcing the party to leave him. The party confront the Sumnelthian King, who created the Mechanics in an unhinged bid to conquer the world, and he sets Jeekwawen and a conflicted Dan on the group. Dan rejoins them, and upon learning their mission to restore the world's balance Jeekwawen allows them to proceed. They confront the Sumnelthian King, but when he summons more Mechanics, a powerful Fire Dragon is born and begins destroying the world. The King escapes, and the group seek answers in Aceshin, with Jeekwawen eventually joining them. They are almost ambushed and killed by Bamyganant, but Maritie's mother Aceshin XV saves them and they reunite with a restored Cootrolan. The Fire Dragon soon attacks Aceshin, turning its people to ash.

Aceshin XV sacrifices herself to hold back Bamyganant so the party can escape by airship back to Sumnelthia to stop the King. The Fire Dragon unexpectedly shields the ship from Sumnelthia's defence guns, and they learn that Bamyganant allied with the King to secure the Mechanics' future domination of the world. Bamyganant and the King respectively place Cootrolan and Dan under their control, turning them against the party. Dan briefly recovers when Bamyganant kills the King after activating the Mechanic army, generating a giant Fire Dragon, but then the party sacrifices itself to save Aisya from its attack. Cootrolan is left to guard the present-day core of Bamyganant. Aisya is saved from despairing by Aceshin XV, who returns in ash form. Her companions revive as ash, revealing the Fire Dragon's purpose is to test human worth and reset the planet if they fail. Now the world's balance between black and white energy has been destroyed, Aisya fights and defeats Bamyganant, first by Cootrolan sacrificing itself to destroy Bamyganant's present-day core, then when the party defeat Bamyganant when the world's black energy preserves him. The Mechanic future is erased and the world restored, and the last Fire Dragon asks Aisya her wish; Aisya wishes for a "future", and the Fire Dragon restores all turned to ashes to life including Bullnequ.

A group of terrorists led by Luther take over a high school. Whilst outside, authorities work to negotiate with the terrorists, a group of students lead a revolt in order to prevent a disaster, led by Lenny Slater.

A group of teenagers visit a lake with intentions to spend the weekend there. Despite warnings from the locals, the group continues with their weekend plan and soon discover the lake is cursed.

Sixteen-year-old Jake Livingston has been the man of the Livingston home since his parents divorced 2 years earlier, that is, until his mother started seeing Sam. Sam, an alcoholic and drug addict, introduces Jake's mother to a self-destructive lifestyle.

His mom, Wendy, can't see beyond Sam's charms or her own emotional needs, while his younger brother, Brian, succumbs to Sam's ingratiating manner. Jake resents Sam's constant presence in the household, however, particularly when Sam begins to establish rules and discipline for the boys and expects them to obey.

Jake becomes aware of a drug deal that Sam is engaged in, steals the drugs, and hides them. Sam becomes verbally then physically violent with Jake, demanding the drugs be returned. Seeing this behavior, Wendy finally realizes that Jake was only protecting her and Brian, so she demands Sam leave. Sam starts beating Jake, then tries to beat Wendy. Jake stands up to Sam and demands that he leave, threatening to kill him if he ever comes back. Sam then leaves as the family holds each other. Wendy apologizes and thanks Jake for saving the family's lives.

Under Tokyo's underground railway system is a world called , populated by Elemental Users, people who can manipulate various elements. When the Maiden of Life, Ruri Sarasa, and her bodyguard, Gravity User Chelsea Rorec escape to the surface, they take refuge with swordsman Rumina Asagi and his bespectacled best friend Ginnosuke Isuzu. During a battle with the flame-using Seki, Rumina is killed and then resurrected by Ruri. The revived Rumina finds he now has the power to manipulate air, a rare talent amongst the Underground people. Realizing Ruri is in danger, Rumina vows to protect her, even if it means going to the Underground to rescue her from her eventual captors before she gets sacrificed.

Rumina eventually goes to the Underground with Chelsea and Ginosuke after Ruri is kidnapped. As soon as they arrive they encounter a genetic experiment from The Company but manage to escape.

The film opens with the words of Professor Stanley Wolpert:

The guide takes Jinnah to 1947 where, at the Cromwell Conference with Lord Mountbatten, Jinnah demanded a homeland for Indian Muslims. After World War II, the British Imperial Government intends to withdraw and grant independence to the subcontinent. This would mean a Hindu-dominated state. Religious tensions between Hindus and Muslims were increasing after the Second World War. Flashbacks resume when the Guide recounts the marital life of Jinnah, when he fell in love and married a Parsi named Rattanbai Petit, later known against the will of her parents, mainly on grounds of religion and the difference in their ages. In 1922, Jinnah faces political isolation as he devoted every spare moment to be the voice of moderation in a nation torn by Hindu-Muslim antipathy. That created tension between Rattanbai and Jinnah. She finally leaves him with their daughter in September 1922, and they eventually separate in 1927. Rattanbai died of cancer on 18 February 1929. The death of Rattanbai had a huge impact on Jinnah's life and his fight for Pakistan. He went back to British India in order to start a political journey of the two-nation theory. In 1940, the Muslim League annual conference is held from 22 to 24 March. Jinnah addresses thousands of Muslims and gives them the assurance of the birth of Pakistan.

The Guide questions Jinnah as to who he loves the most apart from Ruttie and Fatima. He then mentioned his daughter, who married a Parsi boy without his permission.

While he was addressing a Muslim League conference in 1947, Muslims fanatics attacked the conference and argued that if Pakistan is to be a Muslim state, it cannot give equal rights to women and non-Muslims. Jinnah replies that Islam doesn't need fanatics but people with vision who can build the country. However, the partition of India was carried out, and the Guide and Jinnah saw the massacre of Muslims in migration done by Hindus and Sikhs. Jinnah is sworn in as the first Governor-General of Pakistan and announces Liaquat Ali Khan as the first Prime Minister of Pakistan. Jinnah then says goodbye to his daughter. Dina promises that she will visit him but she tell that her home is now in Bombay with her husband and child.

After independence and the end of British rule, Pakistan stands as a new nation and sanctuary for the Muslims of the subcontinent. Jinnah is given the title of ''Quaid-e-Azam'' of Pakistan. Jinnah waits for the first train carrying Muslims who left India for Pakistan, but when the train arrives, they are all found dead save for one infant child. Fatimah and Lady Edwina Mountbatten visit refugees and Lady Mountbatten learns the importance of independence. Mountbatten betrays Jinnah as the Hindu Maharaja of Kashmir, Sir Hari Singh, stalls his decision on which nation to join. With the population in revolt in October 1947, aided by Pakistani irregulars, the Maharaja accedes to India; Indian troops are airlifted in. Jinnah objects to that and orders that Pakistani troops move into Kashmir, which leads to a war between India and Pakistan then and afterward from time to time in the Kashmir conflict.

The film jumps into a final fictional scene of Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (last Viceroy of India) in a Heavenly Court. Jinnah is fighting a case against him over his betrayal. The film ends with Jinnah and his angel judge traveling back in time to the scene of Muslim refugees. Jinnah expresses his sorrow over the plight of the refugees during the division of Punjab. They chant "Pakistan Zindabad" in response, which ends the film.

A college freshman Ramsy experiences love for the first time in the 1960s when he asks out Joy.

The pair of Bobby Keller (Corey Feldman) and Dinger (Corey Haim) each find themselves with a pair of seemingly ordinary sunglasses. But, this is no normal pair of shades — once two people are wearing the set, one can manipulate the other physically to do whatever their mind wishes to.

The set of sunglasses were part of an experiment, and the original owners of the products will stop at nothing to get them back from Bobby and Dinger.

Milford Farnsworth (Hope) is a bumbling insurance agent who unknowingly sells a life insurance policy to the outlaw Jesse James (Wendell Corey). Farnsworth is sent out West to shield the insurance company's investment by "protecting" James.

James has his own plan: to have Farnsworth killed while the insurance man is dressed as the outlaw, so that James and his soon to be "widow" Cora Lee Collins (Rhonda Fleming) can collect on the $100,000 insurance policy. Farnsworth avoids several attempts on his life while he and Collins fall in love,

After the last attempt is made on his life, Farnsworth impersonates the justice of the peace who is supposed to marry James and Collins. When Farnsworth and Collins make a run for it, they end up in a gun battle with the James Gang; several Western heroes make their cameos to surreptitiously help Farnsworth. In the end Farnsworth is celebrated as a hero, marries Collins, and becomes president of the insurance company.

Convict Jack Hammond stops at a gas station in Newport Beach, California, where he encounters two police officers and a young woman. When the officers receive a car radio call that indicates the car Jack is driving is stolen, he panics and kidnaps the woman. Fleeing in her car, Jack learns that his hostage is Natalie Voss, daughter of a millionaire industrialist. Two police officers pursue them in a squad car with a television crew filming a reality show. The car chase moves onto southbound Interstate 5 as Jack decides to flee to Mexico. As the chase intensifies, two bystanders attempt to run Jack off the road in their monster truck, but lose control and roll the truck onto its side, where it is hit by a semi-trailer truck and explodes. The bystanders manage to escape, but are arrested by police during a live T.V. interview explaining why they felt inspired to get involved.

The news media dramatize the car chase, going to such lengths as having a reporter hang out of the side of a van alongside the speeding car. Jack explains to Natalie that, while working as a clown performing at children's birthday parties in Sonoma, he was mistaken for the "red-nosed robber", a criminal who had robbed several banks while wearing a clown costume. A blood test sample improperly collected at one of the crime scenes proved Jack's innocence but its inadmissibility led to his conviction and sentence to 25 years' incarceration. During transfer to prison, he escaped the guards and stole a car, leading to their present situation. Jack's lawyer explains Jack's predicament to the media and tries to convince him to surrender to the police, but Jack believes escape is his only option.

Natalie sympathizes with Jack. She shares with him her hate for her stepmother and that she seeks to escape from her dysfunctional family. As the chase continues, she begins to fall in love with Jack; the two have sex while he drives, and she suggests feigning being his hostage so that they can flee together to Mexico. They reach the San Ysidro Port of Entry and find it heavily blockaded. Jack continues to evade the police but eventually stops, telling Natalie that her life cannot be ruined by him. He releases her reluctantly to her father. After considering going out in a blaze of glory, Jack decides to surrender. As he is being arrested, Natalie takes a television producer hostage at gunpoint and demands Jack's release. The two steal a news helicopter and escape to Mexico, where they relax on a beach.

The Cherokee Outlet across the Cimarron River was the last free homestead land in America. It was leased and controlled by cattlemen, and the newly arriving farmers were expecting authorities in Washington to send news that they would be given rights to the land, for which they had been campaigning. U.S. Marshal Jim Crown (Stuart Whitman), who led a rather wild life and had cleaned up Abilene, was assigned to the town of Cimarron. He arrives to find that the sheriff has resigned, leaving Crown on his own to settle the increasing unrest caused by the news he brings, that the cattlemen's leases have been revoked and a final decision on the land is postponed indefinitely. With no sheriff and no support from Army troops, Crown is on his own to keep law and order in this borderland between the Kansas Territory and Indian Territory.

Dulcey Coopersmith (Jill Townsend), born in England in 1869, arrives in Cimarron City on the same train as Marshal Crown, two months after her mother's death in Providence. Dulcey worked as an upstairs maid and traveled to Cimarron to be with her father, whom she had not seen since the age of five, only to discover he had been killed by a beer wagon. Her father's partner was MacGregor (Percy Herbert), a Scotsman, who had let the Wayfarer's Inn fall into disrepair. He was a retired colonel in Her Majesty's (Queen Victoria) forces. Another of Dulcey's father's friends was Francis Wilde (Randy Boone), born in St. Louis and trying to make his way in the world as a reporter and photographer.

Crown wears a U.S. Marshal badge that is seen in close-up in the show's opening title sequence. MacGregor, Francis, and another character are seen in various episodes wearing a Deputy U.S. Marshals badge. The badge with that wording is shown in a close camera angle in the episode "The Deputy".

In the original flashback episode "The Battleground", Dulcey tells Marshal Crown her age is 18. Crown says he is 35.

In the episode "Nobody", Dulcey describes MacGregor as her business partner in the Wayfarer's Inn and decisions regarding its operation are shared responsibilities.

The police force of the somewhat-quiet town of Amity decide to get crime off the streets and decide that the prostitutes are better off working out of the police station. The ladies take over several police duties to ensure their cover.

Anqi was imprisoned for manslaughter. The victim was her husband Zi Wen. There were doubts as to whether she indeed killed him. The usual suspects - her long-time good friend Ye Ning who had a child with Zi Wen, Shi Sheng who was Anqi's partner in an illicit affair and the father of Anqi's daughter, a cop who wanted to kill Anqi.

The actual solution is completely unexpected.

Depicting the afflictions of youth, ''First Love'' is the story of two brothers who fall for the same woman.

The drama is about 3 daughters and their father. Hao Meili is the second sister and the ugliest and wishes to find a boyfriend, Yukiko Hao Meide is the youngest and is the prettiest. She has plenty of suitors but won't settle down. Hao Meiman is the eldest. She is a career-minded woman and has an arch rival, Raymond See. In the end, Hao Meiman married Raymond See and was pregnant when Hao Meili married Simon See and Hao Meide married An Zhengxi.

The core plot begins with the kidnapping of Patrick (Andreas Stitch), the son of a wealthy industrialist. Sexual and romantic entanglements push the drama forward. At the film's climax, Gudrun delivers a soliloquy on the importance of personal life in revolution. She puts particular emphasis on the breaking of heterosexual and possessive sexual norms, urging her comrades to join "The Homosexual Intifada".

The pressure of Gudrun's controlling personality causes the group to break up. Most of the urban guerrillas escape into the night. In the dénouement, the characters are visited some time later. Several have found happiness in the homosexual relationships established during their revolutionary activities. Che has become a terrorist trainer in the Middle East. Patrick escapes with Clyde, where they embark on a spree of bank robberies. This action is reminiscent of Patty Hearst's actions with the SLA. Gudrun and Holger settle down and have a child named Ulrike (after Ulrike Meinhof), whom Gudrun believes could embody the next generation of the Red Army Faction.

Sammy, Dennis, and Tom are 18 years old and enrolled as students at the university in Leuven. They rent some rooms in a fraternity house. As first-year students they decide to join a student association and have a hazing. They become freshman and "sell" themselves to do some tasks. The shy Sammy is giving the task to bring a jar of his own semen to the initiation ceremony. As he rejects, he is set on a "flying carpet". Whilst Sammy is in the air, chairman Guy Bogaerts orders the students to withdraw the carpet. Sammy falls on the ground, breaks his vertebra and dies immediately.

The police starts an investigation: the students won't talk, the students' union claims Sammy died due to alcohol abuse and the university declares not to be responsible for fraternities.

Dennis and Tom start their own investigation. They find a man who was fraternized some years earlier also under command of Guy Bogaerts. He was also set on the flying carpet which was suddenly removed. He broke his leg and walks with a limp since then. The case "Sammy" is set to court, but the judge opines there is not enough proof so Guy is set free.

Dennis and Tom want revenge and challenge Guy to steal the town's flag. Guy climbs the town hall and takes the flag. However, an unknown person opens the window. Guy falls down and is considered to be dead.

Steph, a commodities broker living in Paris, wants a divorce from his wife Patricia to marry another woman: Charlotte. However, Patricia has been living among the French Guiana Amazonas Indians for the past 13 years, so Steph travels to the Indian village to meet her and ask her to sign the divorce papers.

When they meet, Patricia tells Steph that they have a teenage son, Mimi-Siku, who has been raised as an Amazonian Indian. Patricia tells Steph she will not sign the divorce papers unless Steph takes Mimi-Siku on a visit to Paris, which he agrees to. In Paris, Mimi-Siku meets the children of Steph's colleague Richard and falls in love with his daughter Sophie.

Nelson Potter, now retired from bank robbing, runs an insurance business in Tucson, Arizona with his partner Patrice. Their job is to evaluate security measures at local banks by staging armed robberies. After one such drill, Nelson is confronted and assaulted by a shady FBI agent named Rankin.

Later that night, Lilly (a vengeful ex-partner from Nelson's bank robbing days) arrives at the same bank. Faking a flat tire, she tricks the two janitors into opening the door and incapacitates them before sending two of her own men to carry out the robbery.

The next morning, Nelson receives a call notifying him of the breach. However, Patrice gets fed up with his immaturity and womanizing and quits the business. Nelson learns that no money was taken from the bank, but instead the thieves were after the contents of a safe deposit box. Nelson brings surveillance photos from the break-in to his father Sam in prison, who quickly identifies Lilly as the culprit.

Meanwhile, Agent Rankin confronts Patrice at Nelson's house. He alleges that Nelson is nothing more than a common criminal, who only escaped justice because his father made a deal with the District Attorney. He also reveals that three of the five banks she and Nelson evaluated for security had been robbed afterwards, and suspects Nelson is responsible. He then manhandles Patrice and threatens her with prosecution if she is involved.

Lilly stages a medical emergency at another bank in order to steal a key to the front door. That night, a drunken Nelson returns home from a date to find a burglar lurking within. He chases the man outside, only to be knocked out by Lilly. She then enters the bank with her cohorts and gains access to the vault, where she plants a pocketknife taken from Nelson's home to incriminate him.

Nelson calls Patrice over to his house and the two make amends. While watching his own security footage, Nelson witnesses the encounter between her and Agent Rankin, just before Ranken arrives to arrest him. Nelson flees with Rankin in pursuit, but he eventually manages to get away.

At the prison, Sam watches a news broadcast implicating Nelson in the robberies. With the help of Lilly's old partner Tony, Sam escapes the prison and sneaks into Nelson's house, where he runs into Patrice. The two leave together, unaware that Ranken is tailing them. They reunite with Nelson at a laundromat, where Sam reveals Lilly's scheme to replace old money to be taken out of circulation with counterfeit bills. When Ranken arrives, Sam and Nelson barely avoid being captured; Patrice surrenders herself in their stead. With the help of a colleague, she tracks Nelson to the bank where Lilly is predicted to strike next.

Lilly takes Nelson, Sam, and Patrice captive while she robs the bank, but an exploding bundle of money triggers the fire alarm causing everyone to flee. Lilly takes Patrice hostage while Sam and Nelson give chase. When a psychotic Rankin shows up with a grenade launcher, Sam distracts him long enough for Nelson to catch up with Lilly and rescue Patrice.

Early the next day, Sam returns to prison just in time for the morning roll call, having smuggled in a bag of money from the previous night's robbery. Outside, Nelson and Patrice share a kiss and discuss renewing their partnership before driving away together.

A competition is held between two brothers on their father's ski slopes; one is a skier, the other a snowboarder. The competition would determine if snowboarders could be allowed to be a part the ski patrol. Into the scene arrives Rudy James who stumbles his way into a job as ski patrol, entertainment host, and jack of all trades. What was cut out of the film was that Rudy James was hired by Mimi to ineptly sabotage the ski hill so that she could win it in a divorce proceeding. The two brothers discover her plot to damage their father's ski hill. While nearly uncommon today, there was a time when snowboarding was banned from many worldclass resorts, resulting in the concept of poaching. Writer/producer, Rudy Rupak, who was an avid skier trying to learn how to snowboard, seized upon this interesting concept to mine it for its subversive comedic value. Subsequently though Columbia Pictures removed all references to poaching from the script.

''Deadly Genesis'' is a retcon of the classic ''Giant Size X-Men'' #1 story, titled ''Second Genesis'', of 1975 by Len Wein. In that story, he used the abduction of the original X-Men by the living island Krakoa as an instrument to discard the first-generation X-Men of 1963. Wein's story depicts Professor X recruiting international characters into a new team of X-Men, to rescue the missing original team; the new team replaced the old when most of the original X-Men left Xavier's school at the end of the story.

In ''Deadly Genesis'', Ed Brubaker writes that this episode was only half of the truth: the international X-Men had been Professor X's ''second'' attempt to rescue the original X-Men. The first attempt to retrieve the missing X-Men was conducted with a team of young mutants (the energy-wielding Vulcan, time-manipulator Sway, the hype adaptive Darwin and terrakinetic Petra) who had been taken in by Moira McTaggert, which had ended in catastrophe, seemingly claiming all of their lives. However, Vulcan had survived, having absorbed the energies from his fallen comrades. When Polaris (though mentioned incorrectly in this mini-series as Jean Grey/Phoenix) blasted Krakoa into outer space in ''Giant Size X-Men'' #1, Vulcan was shot into space, too, but survived in a comatose state, thanks to Darwin's reactive powers. After the debacle, Cyclops—the only member of the group who was aware of the "first" wave—was deeply distraught, prompting Professor Xavier to decide to mind-wipe him in order to spare him the agony and grief of knowing that his brother died for him, and later working to clear his name by creating an elaborate illusion that Krakoa was sentient.

After the 2005 "House of M" storyline, a large surge of mutant energies was released throughout the galaxy. It awakened the comatose Vulcan and caused him to return to Earth, out for revenge. He kills the X-Man Banshee, easily defeats the X-Men several times in battle with his now semi-godlike powers, and reveals the terrible truth to the X-Men, in full view of Charles Xavier, who explains his own role in events. However, Rachel Summers is able to weaken Vulcan when she realizes that Darwin also survived the attack, converting himself into energy and absorbing the powers of his teammates before combining with Vulcan, Rachel's actions separating Vulcan and Darwin and weakening both. However, when the X-Men attack him in order to avenge Banshee, Vulcan flees into outer space. Feeling deeply betrayed, Cyclops banishes Professor Xavier from the X-Mansion as punishment.

The storyline from ''Deadly Genesis'' continues in ''Uncanny X-Men'' #475 in a 12-part story called "The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire".

In a lake at a rock quarry in rural Wisconsin, a young woman, Mandy Pullman, and her boyfriend, Roy, are swimming. The two spend the night at the lake camping, but are attacked by an unseen figure; Roy is killed, and Mandy violently raped. Mandy is taken to the hospital with a ruptured uterus and serious trauma. As the attack occurs, teenager Tim Galen experiences a recurring nightmare he has in which a woman is tortured by a monstrous figure; his grandmother, Agatha Galen, tries to dissuade him of his suspicions about the premonitory dream. At the hospital, Mandy is treated by Dr. Sam Cordell, a surgeon and physician in the small community of Galen.

Sam's teenage daughter, Jenny, is dating Tim, but he disapproves of their relationship. At the hospital, Sheriff Hank Walden questions Sam about Mandy's injuries, and a nosy local reporter, Laura Kincaid, arrives to question Walden, who forces her to leave. That night at the local library and museum, a librarian, Carolyn Davies, is brutally raped and murdered while closing the building. During her autopsy, Sam finds she suffered similar wounds as Mandy, and finds an inexplicable amount of semen in her vagina.

Attempts to question the comatose Mandy about her attacker are futile. Sam shows Laura pictures of his deceased second wife and notes their amazing resemblance to each other. The following day, local farmer Ernie Barnes and his two daughters are brutally slain at their farmhouse. Tim again is tormented by his vision, and runs into a local movie theater in an attempt to distract himself. While there, a young woman is raped and murdered in the downstairs bathroom of the theater, and the metal stall door is found nearly bent in half. Sheriff Walden and Sam arrive at the crime scene shortly before Laura, who insists she may be able to help the investigation. She confides in Sam that she discovered historical records detailing Satanism and similar crimes occurring throughout the town's history.

Tim confronts Jenny at her home, hysterical, and says he believes his dreams are responsible for the crimes. Sam gets a sample of Tim's semen to compare against that which was found inside the victims, but they do not match. Tim and Agatha meet with Sam, Jenny, Laura, and Sheriff Walden at the library that night, where Laura reads a passage from a book detailing the shapeshifter known as the incubus, which manifests through dreams and can appear in human form. Agatha reveals that Tim's mother had died before his birth and had been accused of witchcraft due to psychic powers she possessed; Agatha claims that the Galen family has a legacy of witch hunters, and that his dreams are a result of this.

Laura and Tim return with Sam and Jenny to their home. As Laura takes Jenny upstairs to go to bed, Sam attempts to induce Tim's dream to prove its connection to the murders. Tim goes into a seizure-like state and runs upstairs into Jenny's room where he tries to attack Laura with a dagger given to him by Agatha, but Sam intervenes and stabs him to death. Laura then approaches Sam, and her face briefly shifts into that of the monstrous incubus; it is revealed that Laura has in fact been the incubus all along, manifesting in female form. As Laura embraces Sam, he looks over her shoulder to see Jenny's dead body lying on her bed, blood pouring out from between her legs.

In the far future, the Earth's magnetic field has cut out, and humanity has abandoned the planet, leaving it to multiple species of sentient robots, which after centuries of evolving look (and in some cases behave) similar to the now extinct terrestrial animals. This signals the end of the Humanic period, and the beginning of the Metalzoic age.

Legend surrounds ''The God Beast'' - Amok - the leader of a herd of robotic elephants (wheeldebeasts), and his return to the geographical location that another tribe now occupies - the Mekaka, led by the psychotic - yet also cunning - gorilla robot Armageddon. Armageddon's brutality and drive is explained that he operated on his own brain to remove lesser emotions which would impede his intentions to make "The Mekaka the greatest tribe on Earth".

At the same time Armageddon leads his tribe to search for Amok, The God Beast is returning to the Mekaka's territory, and needing metal to facilitate repairs to himself, he attacks the Mekaka tribe, killing Armageddon's mate - Koola - and almost Armageddon's son - Ham. Only the intervention of a Novad human - Jool - (who Armageddon had unintentionally rescued earlier) prevents his destruction as well.

Armageddon is in fact consumed by Amok, but he draws on the planets magnetic field and reconstitutes himself - ''Pumping Iron'' - subsequently vowing to track down and kill Amok, which he now believes to have gone rogue.

After following Amok's trail they arrive at the Pits of Zinja - a long since exhausted mine, and coincidentally Jool's last home. During a three-way fight between the Mekaka, the Wheeldebeasts and the Zinja, Jool believes that The God Beast has not brought the herd to Zinja for more metal, but to kill them, as he buries them in the empty pits. To prevent this, Armageddon attacks The God Beast directly, and inadvertently hacks into his brain - releasing ''The Master Program'' into Armageddon. Breaking the fourth wall, The Master Program explains to the reader how Earth came to be (mentioning the only date in the series - that the Earth's magnetic field cut out in the 24th Century) and also reveals to Armageddon that The God Beast is not destroying his herd, but protecting them from an imminent asteroid shower - the Moonsoon. As the asteroids start to fall, fighting is broken off and all the combatants take joint cover in the pits. As Armageddon now has ownership of The Master Program he becomes the new God Beast, Amok dies, and passes control of the herd onto Armageddon. Armageddon states that the ore in the asteroids will help him rebuild his tribe - referring to the Wheeldebeasts.

The graphic novel ends with the tribe shamek Jugarjuk commenting that now Armageddon has the Wheeldebeasts as well as his own Mekaka he will indeed control the world. Jool agrees, and quotes from Pythagoras, but this does not go down with the other surviving robots as well, and they leave in disdain - all apart from Ham who is strapped to her back.

Judd Holdren, in what was only his second starring screen role, plays Captain Video, the leader of a group of crime-fighters known as the Video Rangers. He faces an interplanetary menace, as the evil dictator of the planet Atoma, Vultura (Gene Roth) and his lackey, the traitorous earth scientist Dr. Tobor (George Eldredge) are planning to conquer the earth.

Behzad, Keyvan, Ali, and Jahan, journalists posing as production engineers, arrive in a Kurdish village to document the locals' mourning rituals that anticipate the death of an old woman. However, she remains alive, and the main "engineer" is forced to slow down and appreciate the lifestyle of the village.

The film is divided into 13 vignettes, each prefaced by an aphorism. Set in New York City, the story revolves around ambitious district attorney Troy (Matthew McConaughey), who is stricken with guilt following a hit and run accident in which he injures Beatrice (Clea DuVall), an idealistic cleaning woman who, forced to reassess her life during her recuperation, finds herself thinking more like her cynical co-worker Dorrie (Tia Texada). Mid-level insurance claims manager Gene (Alan Arkin), unable to cope with his son's downward spiral into drug addiction, is rankled by an unrelentingly cheerful staff member and suffers pangs of regret after firing him without just cause. College physics professor Walker (John Turturro), trying to cope with a midlife crisis, becomes romantically involved with a colleague, an infidelity his wife Patricia (Amy Irving) is forced to face when his wallet, stolen in a mugging, is mailed to their home and she discovers incriminating evidence inside it.

Trying to go straight, ex-gangster Jimmy "The Saint" Tosnia runs Afterlife Advice in Denver, where dying people videotape messages for their loved ones. His business isn't doing well and his former boss, a local crime lord known as "The Man With The Plan," has bought up his debt in order to command a favor involving the crime lord's son, Bernard, who has been arrested for child molestation. The Man With The Plan, who was left a quadriplegic after an attempt on his life, wants Jimmy to persuade Bernard's ex-girlfriend Meg to come back to him; The Man With the Plan believes this will cure Bernard of his pedophilia.

A reluctant Jimmy recruits his friends Easy Wind, Pieces, Big Bear Franchise and the rage-prone Critical Bill. The plan is to have Pieces and Critical Bill pose as police officers, intercept Meg's current boyfriend, Bruce, and intimidate him until he agrees to break up with Meg. Things go wrong when Bruce grows suspicious of the two men's identities and mocks them, whereupon Critical Bill stabs Bruce in the throat. The commotion wakes up Meg, sleeping in the back of Bruce's van. Meg's appearance startles Pieces, who accidentally shoots her dead. The Man With The Plan is furious at the outcome of their botched mission. He informs Jimmy that he will allow him to live, as long as he leaves Denver, but his crew have been sentenced to "buckwheats" to be assassinated in a gruesome and painful manner.

Jimmy's friends come to terms with their impending deaths as they are stalked by a hit man, Mr. Shhh, who never fails. Pieces accepts his fate, with Mr. Shhh providing a quick death. Easy Wind goes into hiding with a gang lord called Baby Sinister, but is given up after Mr. Shhh infiltrates and kills most of Sinister's entourage. Because Franchise has a family to raise, Jimmy pleads with The Man With The Plan to spare his life. The Man With The Plan agrees to Jimmy's terms but betrays him anyway by having Franchise killed. The betrayal makes Jimmy vengeful; in turn, Jimmy is also sentenced to die.

Mr. Shhh finally locates Critical Bill holed up in his apartment, but is ambushed by Bill and the two end up killing each other. In the wake of Mr. Shhh's death, the contract on Jimmy falls to a trio of Mexican brothers. In his final hours, Jimmy says goodbye to a young woman he had fallen in love with, Dagney. Knowing that he will most likely be killed, Jimmy murders Bernard for all the misery he indirectly brought upon the group. He also impregnates Lucinda, a prostitute, in order to fulfill her wish of becoming a mother. In a pre-recorded Afterlife Advice video, Jimmy gives life advice to his unborn child. The trio of killers catches up to Jimmy and he takes his death gracefully. The Man With The Plan is seen mourning his son's death. Jimmy and his friends are then seen together having "boat drinks" in the afterlife.

Two Americans who are stranded in Cairo, Egypt, happen to overhear Dr. Gustav Zoomer discussing the mummy Klaris, the guardian of the Tomb of Princess Ara. Apparently the mummy has a sacred medallion that shows where the treasure of Princess Ara can be found. The followers of Klaris, led by Semu, overhear the conversation along with Madame Rontru, a businesswoman interested in stealing the treasure of Princess Ara.

Abbott and Costello go to the doctor's house to apply for the position to accompany the mummy back to America. However, two of Semu's men, Iben and Hetsut, murder the doctor and steal the mummy just before Abbott and Costello arrive. The medallion has been left behind, though, and is found by Abbott and Costello, who attempt to sell it. Rontru offers them $100, but Abbott suspects it is worth much more and asks for $5,000, which Rontru agrees to pay. She tells them to meet her at the Cairo Café, where Abbott and Costello learn from a waiter that the medallion is cursed. They frantically try to give it to one another, until it winds up in Costello's hamburger and he swallows it. Rontru arrives and drags them to a doctor's office to get a look at the medallion under a fluoroscope. However, she cannot read the medallion's inscribed instructions, which are in hieroglyphics. Semu arrives, posing as an archaeologist, and offers to guide them all to the tomb. Meanwhile, Semu's followers have returned life to Klaris.

They arrive at the tomb, where Costello learns of Semu's plans to murder them all. Rontru captures Semu, and one of her men, Charlie, disguises himself as a mummy and enters the temple. Abbott follows suit by disguising himself as a mummy, and he and Costello rescue Semu. Eventually all three mummies are in the same place at the same time, and the dynamite that Rontru intends to use to dig up the treasure detonates, killing Klaris and revealing the treasure. Abbott and Costello convince Semu to turn the temple into a nightclub to preserve the legend of Klaris and the three criminals who wanted to steal the treasure are presumably arrested.

Dr. Ernst Grood has succeeded in winning control over the planet Ergro as the first step in his desired conquest of the Universe. Reporter Rex Barrow, his photographer Tim Johnson, Professor Edmund Dorn and his daughter Ella are all captured by Grood, who plans to make use of the professor's knowledge. With the help of the professor's inventions, Rex is able to free Ergro of Grood's domination, while Grood is sent on an endless voyage into space.

''Breed''

In 1949, a small town in Texas was wiped out by a mysterious force, leaving behind only skeletons and blood. One girl was found comatose and pregnant. The captain leading the force adopted the boy and raised him as his own. During the Vietnam War, the now grown boy, Raymond Stoner, was ambushed by enemy forces and survived by transforming, which he later forgot. After being discharged and an attempt at living in New York City, Raymond discovers another world called "Elsewhere". There he meets a mysterious woman named Rachel, who reveals that both of them are "'Breeds": half-breeds of demon and human. Most are raised by the demons to be their minions, although they were not. She then teaches him about how demons invade Earth to hunt and find women to breed with. They are attacked by a large force of 'breeds. Rachel is killed, but Ray triumphs over them.

''Breed II''

Having been left alone since the death of his 'breed friend and ally Rachel at the conclusion of the first series, Raymond Stoner leaves Elsewhere and tries to find inner peace in a Nepalese Sanctuary in an attempt to banish his (literal) personal demons. Having no success, he leaves the Temple and hones his martial skills fighting in various South American wars, with and against varied rebels and gangsters, but cannot shake off the CIA and the Demons, both of whom are hunting him. He learns more about the nature of these demons and their aims, and realises he must choose whether to side with humanity in the confrontation which is about to come. Rejecting an offer to join the demons, he battles with the highest level demon he has yet encountered - with the aid of Rachel's spirit - yet his victory comes at a heavy price when the fountain which provides him with his rejuvenating water is destroyed in the battle.

''Breed III''

Dreadstar and Oedi appear on the last page of '''Breed III'' #5 and in issue #6 along with other of Starlin's creations, such as Wyrd and Kid Kosmos as part of the "Elsewhere Alliance". Issue #7 concludes the storyline.

The story begins with a car accident involving a man named Jung Joon-seok and it flashes back some scenes of him chasing a young adorable girl, his daughter Jung Hae-won, around the hanging blankets. He was living with his wife, Park Young-ran, Hae-won's mother.

Joon-seok's father, Jung Geun-woo paid off Young-ran to stop looking for Joon-seok and lied that Joon-seok doesn't want to see them. Young-ran tried to catch up to Geun-woo to return the money but failed resulting to her sudden faint because of her illness. The two kitchen helpers, Im Cheong-ok and Song Kyung-hwa, run to rescue Young-ran and while Cheong-ok was pulling Young-ran inside, Kyung-hwa happen to see the envelope which was given by Geun-woo and was shocked to see the amount of money inside.

One night, Cheong-ok was being pursued by some loan sharks and threatened her that they will kill her in front of her sons. She didn't have a choice but to steal the money from Young-ran but was caught red-handed. Young-ran beg her to return because she will return it but due to this, her illness become worst resulting to death. The scene was witnessed by Kyung-Hwa.

Kyung-Hwa made Cheong-ok her accomplice to divide the money and get rid of Hae-won. Cheong-ok refused but Kyung-Hwa threatened her about her killing Hae-won's mother. Kyung-Hwa begs Cheong-ok to do it since it will be for their sons and daughters who are in need to be raise well. Choi Soo-ji, Kyung-Hwa's daughter, overheard about their plan. Soon, Cheong-ok left Hae-won, while carrying a bear given by her father, to a train travelling to Seoul and watches her crying and calling her name. Back to Young-ran's home, Kyung-hwa was busy collecting Young-ran's jewelries. She didn't bother to notice that Soo-ji hid Hae-won's family picture to herself.

15 years later, the now 19-year-old Hae-won, Han Yoo-min lives alone with her adoptive brother, Han Kang-pyo. She has no memory of her childhood and only remembers herself running around the hanging blankets. One day, she meets Kang Min-jae, a doctor who treats her brother, and instantly falls in love. It suddenly turns out that Min-jae is Cheong-ok's eldest son. At the same hospital, Geun-woo was rushed inside and gave words to Joon-seok, who lost his memories after the car accident, to find her daughter 'Hae-won'.

Min-jae wanted to dedicate the wife position to Seo-yeon, the girl who left him without a word a year ago. But because of her mother who keeps pushing him to marry a tycoon's daughter, Min-jae needs Yoo-min help to pretend his fiancée until Seo-yeon return. Yoo-min, who lied to being a 22-year-old woman, decided to tell Min-jae her true age. Min-jae somehows accept her and they renew the contract of if Min-jae will fall in love to Yoo-min before Seo-yeon returns, their engagement will turn to real.

Soon, Yoo-min and Kang-pyo move into Min-jae's house as well as Soo-ji and Kyung-hwa. Soo-ji started to become suspicious of Yoo-min's identity after seeing her teddy bear, which is that she also has the same that is also given by Yoo-min's biological father.

Yoo-min accidentally enters Min-jae's younger brother, Kang Seung-jae's school which is also a school where Soo-ji and Hye-rim is studying. Due to this, Yoo-min and Kang-pyo decided to build up another lie to Soo-ji and Hye-rim.

Peaceful times were reigning in Wai Wai World, when suddenly a great wizard by the name of Warūmon emerged from the darkness and swiftly conquered the land. In response, Dr. Cinnamon, who escaped the attack for being away on a sightseeing trip, created a super robot named "Rickle" by using his secretly developed "Konami Hero Transformation Circuit" and sent him forth to defeat Warūmon.

When Warūmon learned of Cinnamon's plan, he kidnapped Wai Wai World's Herb Princess and took her away to his base in outer space, known as "Parsley Castle". There, he revived villains that had been previously defeated by former Konami heroes and sent them over to stop Rickle.

Characters

• : The game's main protagonist, who is also a robot created by Dr. Cinnamon. Goemon: This ninja from the ''Ganbare Goemon'' series, returns from ''Wai Wai World''. He throws his pipe like a boomerang which is used as a weapon. Simon Belmont III: The Vampire Killer from the ''Castlevania'' series returns from the first ''Wai Wai World'' game, armed with his whip. Getsu Fūma: He is from the Famicom game released only in Japan, ''Getsu Fūma Den'' armed with a sword. He also returns from ''Wai Wai World''. Upa: The baby hero who uses a rattle as a weapon from ''Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa''. He also returns from the mobile phone versions of ''Wai Wai World''. Bill Rizer: The Rambo-style hero from the ''Contra'' series. He uses his spreader gun that can shoot in multiple directions. Vic Viper: The spaceship from the ''Gradius'' series who the player can only use for the Gradius shooter stages. Twinbee: From the ''TwinBee'' series, who the player can only use in the ''Twinbee'' shooter stages. Dr. Cinnamon: Scientist from the ''TwinBee'' series, helps the characters throughout the game. *Pentarou: Penguin from ''Dream Penguin Story'' and the ''Parodius'' series.

After observing the launch of a new space platform, Z.O.W.I.E. Chief Lloyd C. Cramden joins President Trent for a game of golf. Their game is interrupted by a small group, two women disguised as boys and an actor disguised as an old man, all from the Fabulous Face organization. Substituting the presidential golf ball with a small gas bomb, they succeed in temporarily immobilizing the presidential party and replacing the president with the now-undisguised actor, who has been surgically altered to look exactly like him. The Fabulous Face organization plans to gain control of the world and run it entirely by a group of women led by an influential female triumvirate in fashions, cosmetics and mass communications. Cramden has inadvertently stumbled upon this world-domination plot. The women want to establish a matriarchy, and the first step in their plan is to gain control of a US space facility in the Virgin Islands. Elisabeth has established the spa there as a cover. The women establish their headquarters near the rocket base to brainwash their male-oriented sisters by planting tape recorders in their hair dryers.

Puzzled by an apparent three-minute time discrepancy—revealed by a perusal of a stopwatch that was active during the switch—Cramden visits the former super agent Derek Flint at his New York City home. Greeted by Flints' three female live-in companions in the living room of Flint's spacious Manhattan apartment, Cramden is informed that Flint is experimenting with the creation of a dolphin language dictionary. Flint tells Cramden these undersea mammals are intelligent creatures and that they use sounds or sonics to communicate, a notion that had been only relatively recently reinforced by scientific experimentation at the time the film was produced. Flint then shows Cramden a sonic device of his own invention that is integrated into a cigarette lighter (and that, amongst many other uses mentioned—82 are claimed for the gadget—is later revealed to serve as a belt buckle), first moving and then shattering a white cue ball on the pool table. Cramden requests that Flint investigate the "lost" three minutes recorded by the stopwatch. Flint agrees to take up the matter after his return from a survival exercise in the Mojave Desert. During their meeting, Lisa Norton, an operative of Fabulous Face, is meeting with Flint's three live-in girl friends, where she tricks the girls into accepting a free visit to the Fabulous Face Spa in the Virgin Islands. That evening Cramden encounters Norton, whom Fabulous Face has re-tasked to deal with his unexpected interference with their plans, at an Italian restaurant. Disguised as a southern schoolteacher visiting the city, she drugs him using cigarettes treated with a soporific substance and stages a compromising scene with a prostitute at a hotel; the scene is then photographed and published under the auspices of General Carter, who is working with Fabulous Face. With Cramden framed as a libertine, the "imposter" President publicly suspends the disgraced spy chief from active duty.

Recalled from his exercise, Derek Flint hypnotizes Cramden with his watch, which incorporates lights specifically designed for such a purpose, and learns the details of the encounter with Lisa. Tests of trimmings from Cramden's mustache (secured through the use of the ubiquitous, multi-talented cigarette lighter) reveal traces of "euphoric acid", a drug that when mixed with alcohol leaves the subject mildly sedated and aroused. Investigating further, Flint breaks into Z.O.W.I.E. headquarters and discovers that the two astronauts on the recently launched space platform are, in fact, Russian female cosmonauts. Flint is interrupted by General Carter and a force of turncoat guards who, after a struggle, believe they have killed Flint when he apparently falls into a document incinerator.

Having actually escaped his supposed demise, Flint travels to the Soviet Union to investigate the cosmonaut connection. Dancing in the Bolshoi ballet, he makes contact with ballerina Natasha, unaware that she is a Fabulous Face operative until she attempts to drug him with soporific cigarettes, as Lisa Norton had done to Lloyd Cramden in New York. Flint manages to foil Natasha's designs, but his subsequent interrogation of her is interrupted by the KGB, who arrive at her apartment intending to bring Flint to the Soviet Premier. Flint escapes their clutches and leads the KGB agents in a chase across the roof, tricking one agent to looking over the ledge by imitating a pigeon (making cooing noises), then reaching up from his precarious perch beneath the building's eaves and pulling the man to his death. Flint, hopping atop roof again, evades the other agent and manages to propel a grappling hook, shot from his multi-purposed cigarette lighter, onto another nearby roof and, walking along the line he's secured at his end, crosses over and escapes into a lower vent hatch. Flint next sneaks into the Kremlin, where he overhears the Premier bluffing the (fake) U.S. President; conversational clues point Flint to the Fabulous Face spa in the Virgin Islands.

Cramden has also traveled to the Fabulous Face Spa to investigate further but he is captured and imprisoned with the real President. The Fabulous Face staff, in anticipation of Flint coming to the spa, have imprisoned his girl friends in cryogenic freezing chambers. Flint boards an Aeroflot flight for Cuba disguised as a bearded Cuban Revolutionary. An amusing scene ensues on the Russian airliner which pokes tongue-in-cheek fun at the idea of how an airline would be run in the Caribbean "socialist paradise". Distracting the other passengers, he ties up the pilots, parachutes out over the Virgin Islands, and swims to the Fabulous Face complex (with minor help from a wild dolphin). There, he is intercepted by Lisa Norton, who brings him before the Fabulous Face leadership, a group of female business executives who explain their plan to brainwash women (through the use of subliminal messages transmitted by salon hairdryers, as revealed in the film's opening scenes) into overthrowing the male-dominated political order. As Flint attempts to talk the women out of their plan, he is interrupted by General Carter, who is dissatisfied with his subordinate role in the women's plot and plans to take power himself with the aid of the fake president. After a fight, Flint is captured by Carter's men and placed, along with Cramden, the captive U. S. President, and the Fabulous Face leadership with their lead staff, into cryogenic suspension. Derek Flint escapes his freezing chamber, where he has been imprisoned with the lovely Miss Norton, with the sonic wave amplifier device he demonstrated to Cramden in his New York apartment. Subsequently, Flint decides to join sides with the women in stopping Carter's plan to atomically arm the space station. Flint, Cramden, the real President Trent, and the women of Fabulous Face travel to the nearby base where the launch is scheduled to take place. Once they arrive, the women execute "Operation Smooch", using their beauty and sexual allure to distract, seduce, and subdue the male guards. After the women thereby succeed in taking over the control room, Carter (who is on board the rocket) threatens to activate the atomic warheads under his control unless he is allowed to proceed with the launch. Flint manages to board the capsule just before it takes off; once in orbit he and Carter fight in zero gravity, causing the spacecraft to tumble. After overpowering Carter, Flint escapes the capsule, which is then destroyed with a nuclear missile launched from the surface. Using his wave amplifier, Flint floats to the nearby space platform, where he enjoys the hospitality of the resident female cosmonauts while awaiting return to Earth.

A 38-year-old writer of pornographic novels named Scott (Charles Bronson) meets and falls in love with a sixteen-year-old school girl (Susan George) whilst living in London.

When Scott is refused a permanent visa to remain in Britain, the couple get married in Scotland and move to America where by state law Twinky must go to school. Tensions arise when Twinky wants to engage in teenage pastimes, while Scott struggles to complete his novels in order to earn a living. She runs away and is found by Scott in the cellar. Twinky then leaves for London the next day after writing Scott a tearful farewell letter.

After SG-1 was thrown into another galaxy by the supernova, they now face Apophis. Because there are no other options they contact Apophis but he isn't interested in what they wish to say and threatens to destroy them. The SG-1 can do nothing but wait for their destruction. Apophis finally fires. However, not on them, but instead he fires upon another alien ship, which attacks Apophis. Jacob uses this chance to escape and flies the ship into the corona of a blue giant, whose radiation will mask their presence however blocking their own sensors at the same time. They are able to repair their shields but have no crystals left to repair the Hyperspace engines. In the meantime, O'Neill recounts what happened on Vorash to Daniel.

At Stargate Command, the Tok'ra visit General Hammond, explaining that they destroyed Apophis' fleet as planned but contact has been lost with SG-1. Hammond, however, refuses to believe they are dead.

On their ship, the Carters complete the repairs and leave the corona. They detect Apophis' ship, yet no life signs emanate from it, so they ring aboard to get new crystals. There, it appears the self-destruct command was activated, which Jacob wants to deactivate, while O'Neill and Major Carter retrieve the crystals. However, they soon detect Replicators. Nevertheless, they procure the crystals, but not before the Replicators attack. The three ring back to the Ha'tak and escape in the wake of the explosion of Apophis' ship. Afterwards, they bring the hyperspace engines back online when they suddenly detect a Tel'tak, piloted by Teal'c with several Jaffa which, according to Teal'c, helped him escape. Teal'c lands his ship on the Ha’tak and is greeted by his team mates. However, when O'Neill's goes to embrace him, Teal’c takes his gun and, with the other Jaffa, holds SG-1 at gunpoint. Apophis enters and declares Teal'c as his First Prime again.

SG-1 is arrested while Teal'c claims that he was in the service of Apophis all along, calling his time with SG-1 “subterfuge.” The Jaffa begin to unload the cargo from the Tel'tak, unknowingly bringing Replicators aboard. As SG-1 tries to escape, Jacob frees them, only to be stopped by Teal'c, imprisoning him as well. Suddenly, the ship unexpectedly exits hyperspace. Jaffa find the engine room infested with Replicators. By mere happenstance, the Replicators also allow SG-1 to escape their cell. Apophis tries to escape from the Replicators as they kill his Jaffa, forcing him to barricade himself in the command center.

While Jacob and Daniel secure the cargo ship, Jack and Sam try to subdue Teal'c with help from a shock grenade. They successfully capture him with a precise but not lethal shot and kill the remaining Jaffa. Teal'c is safely brought aboard the Tel'tak but, without any warning, the mothership enters hyperspace, barring any way to get off the Ha’tak.

SG-1 quickly learns that the Replicators have modified the engines so that the ship exceeds its fastest velocity by 800 times. This will also allow SG-1 to quickly travel back to their home galaxy. However, because of the threat which the Replicators pose, they must prevent the scourge from ever infesting the Milky Way. So, they plan to use the same tactic which they used on Thor's ship by destroying the sub-light engines' controls (causing an uncontrolled re-entry of the ship into the atmosphere (see "Nemesis"). While Jacob returns to the cargo ship, SG-1 goes to the engine room to lay in wait for the right moment to execute their plan. When the ship leaves hyperspace right in front Sokar's home planet, they destroy the control crystals and escape but are chased by Replicators. Nevertheless, they are able to get into a ring room and Jacob rings them to the Tel'tak. They leave the Ha'tak, which falls to the planet and is destroyed, thus finally eliminating the evil Apophis.

As they head home, Jacob tells Jack that although they've gotten Teal'c's body back, getting his mind freed from Apophis's brainwashing techniques won't be easy.

Unbothered, Jack attempts to convince Teal'c that Apophis is dead but Teal'c refuses to believe him, simply stating that Gods cannot be killed.

Dinah opens the story by recounting for readers the union of her mother Leah and father Jacob, as well as the expansion of the family to include Leah's sister Rachel, and the handmaids Zilpah and Bilhah. Leah is depicted as capable but testy, Rachel as something of a belle, but kind and creative, Zilpah as eccentric and spiritual, and Bilhah as the gentle and quiet one of the quartet.

Dinah remembers sitting in the red tent with her mother and aunts, gossiping about local events and taking care of domestic duties between visits to Jacob, the family's patriarch. A number of other characters not seen in the biblical account appear here, including Laban's second wife Ruti and her feckless sons.

According to the Bible's account in Genesis 34, Dinah was "defiled" by a prince of Shechem, although he is described as being genuinely in love with Dinah. He also offers a bride price fit for royalty. Displeased at how the prince treated their sister, her brothers Simeon (spelled "Simon" in the book) and Levi treacherously tell the Shechemites that all will be forgiven if the prince and his men undergo the Jewish rite of circumcision (''brit milah'') so as to unite the people of Hamor, king of Shechem, with the tribe of Jacob. The Shechemites agree, and shortly after they go under the knife, while incapacitated by pain, they are murdered by Dinah's brothers and their male servants, who then return with Dinah.

In ''The Red Tent'', Dinah genuinely loves the prince and willingly becomes his bride. She is horrified and grief-stricken by her brothers' murderous rampage. After cursing her brothers and father she escapes to Egypt, where she gives birth to a son. In time she finds another love and reconciles with her brother Joseph, who is now vizier of Egypt. At the death of Jacob, she visits her estranged family. She learns she has been all but forgotten by her other living brothers and father but that her story lives on with the women of Jacob's tribe.

Raina (Schneider) tells her best friend, Nichola, that she and her fiance Matt (Guiney) have been arguing. Nichola — who happens to be living in a room of the couple's beach house — assures her that it's merely "pre-wedding jitters," and voices a recurring line: "Your happily ever after is just around the corner."

The two return home, and it's not long before Matt and Raina run into yet another argument, resulting in Matt storming from the house in anger. Later that night, Raina awakens and begins to search the house for Matt. She is horrified to encounter him in bed with Nichola, and she storms from the room. The lovers slash her throat in the ensuing struggle. Mortally wounded, Raina stumbles into a pool of water, floating helplessly.

Seventeen months pass, and four friends decide to rent out the long-abandoned beach house together, completely unaware of its dark history. The four are couples, and are secretly cheating on each other. This, of course, enrages Raina's ghost, and she disposes of the "cheaters" through the creative means of a staircase (DQ (Fairplay)), pulling them into the earth (Angie (Morasca)), and even through an explosive lava lamp (Seth (Lehmkuhl) and Jennifer (Cooley)). While the survivors — including the leading couple, Kirsten (Lewis) and Oliver (Hill) — desperately try to figure out what's happening, they soon find themselves dealing with an eccentric named Murry (Zohn) who uses their property to "communicate with Raina's spirit." Murry reveals that Raina is, indeed, responsible for the deaths.

Soon, Kirsten and Oliver find themselves caught between two stories — one from Matt, and another from the slightly volatile Nichola. Through both stories, it can be surmised that, immediately following the accident, Matt told Nichola to flee to Mexico, promising to come rescue her once the entire problem was resolved. When the police arrived, however, Matt told them that Nichola had inflicted the wound on Raina, and that she had stolen quite a good deal of property. Thus, Nichola was stranded in Mexico and had taken the entire rap for the accident. Angry, she sneaks back over the border to seek revenge.

Meanwhile, Kirsten realizes that she has been acting quite strangely, and feels a strange connection to Raina. Murry explains that this is not demonic possession, as it may appear, but Raina is merely making Kirsten feel what she feels. This leads to several instances of Kirsten acting quite strangely. For example, when Nichola tries to explain to the couple her side of the story, an enraged Kirsten blows up on her, and the two scuffle. Also, she has a vision of killing her ex-boyfriend Oliver, as he long ago allegedly cheated on her. This connection is vital to the storyline, as it compels Kirsten and Oliver to solve this problem, not retreat from it.

Kirsten and Oliver learn that Raina did not actually die, but is in a coma in a nearby hospital. Soon only Matt, Kirsten, and Oliver remain in the mystery — as the other characters met certain doom (Matt kills Murray after he confronts him; and Nichola gets dragged by Raina's spirit into the pool) — and it is at this point that Raina wakes up. Disoriented, she staggers for the beach house for the final confrontation. In a heated finale, Matt attacks Kirsten, who is saved by Oliver, and Raina is finally able to confront Matt. She utters what became the movie's slogan: "All those cheaters...they all deserve to die!" She loses her will to live, and she tears open the skin that has grown over the slash on her neck. Matt falls to the floor soon after, landed on the fire poker that he originally wounded Raina with, and the two die with their fingers interlocked.

At the end of the movie, Kirsten and Oliver remain alive and well, and have made amends. Ready to escape this mystery, they depart from the hospital.

The movie ends with a plot twist: Nichola is not dead, but in a coma, which she wakes from as the credits roll.

The book's plot is similar to that of a Victorian romance – specifically, Anthony Trollope's novel ''Framley Parsonage'' – with the obvious difference that the protagonists are not human beings but dragons. The novel begins with the death of the patriarch of a family of dragons and follows the lives of his children, along with other characters.

Miyu Kouzuki is an 8th-grade student whose parents left for the United States to work for NASA. They arrange for her to stay with their long-time family friend, Hōsho Saionji, a monk who lives in an old temple on a hill overlooking the town of Heiomachi. However, Hōshō leaves soon after on a year-long pilgrimage to India, leaving Miyu to stay in the same house with his son, Kanata.

Suddenly, a UFO lands in the honden of the temple. Inside is a humanoid alien baby, Ruu, and his catlike guardian, Wannyā. They arrived on Earth from their home planet, Otto, when they fell into an interplanetary wormhole (a time warp which can transport objects across several regions, planets, and time planes). They cannot return to their home planet because it is too far from Earth; Wannyā asks Kanata and Miyu to allow them to stay in their house, and they agree. Miyu and Kanata learn from Wannyā that people from Planet Otto look identical to human beings, and that Wannyā can also transform into human beings, animals, and objects.

Miyu and Kanata feel deep love for Baby Ruu, who also cares for them – thinking of them as his parents due to their similar looks – and they go to great lengths to help and protect him and Wannya. As the story progresses, the group is often involved in comedic and funny situations, but their sense of family deepens. Kanata will soon realise that he is in love with Miyu but finds it hard to confess the same as Miyu. The story ends with a rescue team from outer space coming to Earth and returning Ruu and Wannyā to Otto safely. Miyu goes to boarding school alone. However, 6 years later, Miyu and Kanata reunite, marry and have a daughter named Miu; they also reunite with Wannya and Ruu.

In ''Shin Daa! Daa! Daa!'', set many years later, Ruu meets a confused earthling girl called Miu that has arrived through a wormhole. Miu desperately wants to go home, and he agrees. Unbeknownst to him, Miu is the daughter of the same people who lovingly cared for him during his stay on Earth, Miyu Kōzuki and Kanata Saionji. They meet Ran, Ruu's best friend, a robot named Ann, and Mininyā, Wannyā's son.

Stan and his cohorts meet at a park to discuss planning a surprise 25th anniversary celebration for Bullock. Bullock, of course, is spying on them and Stan takes all of the credit for the party idea. Bullock is pleased. At home, Stan tells Francine the good news: she’s in charge of planning Bullock’s party for Saturday. However, that’s the same night that Francine is due to appear in a play. Meanwhile, Hayley and Steve take in the new Michael Moore movie which features him making love to Angelina Jolie. Hayley is outraged by his selling out. On Saturday night, Stan is getting ready for the party, while Francine is dressed for her play. She ignores Stan’s demands, declaring marriage to be an equal partnership. At the party, Stan breaks Jay Leno's neck when he, due to Francine's absence, insinuates to Stan that Francine wears the pants in their family, and has to perform the roast by himself. It goes horribly wrong and Stan is thrown out. Stan sings a song about how he doesn’t want an equal partner, but a wife who will listen to his every demand. In the process, he manages to dance his way into a family's house and trash their dinner.

The next day, Bullock relocates Stan and his family to Saudi Arabia as a punishment for the roast. The family initially enjoy the chance to experience new things, but Roger freaks out upon learning that alcohol is banned in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Stan receives his new mission: overseeing guards protecting a pipeline that’s being built. As the family adjusts to the new culture, Francine finds that she likes the neighboring women although she doesn’t like how they cater to their men. Stan, however, learns about the country’s strict moral codes from his new co-workers and finds that he loves it, especially the ones that involve women. And Steve is thrilled to find out that, not only is he considered a man, he can fire guns whenever he wants. Stan begins throwing orders around but Francine resists. At the same time, Hayley is begging Steve to accompany her to the bazaar so she can leave the house. Roger, hidden in a burka, goes with them. At home that night, Stan introduces Francine to his new second wife. Back at the bazaar, Steve sells Roger to a man who thinks Roger is a woman.

With his new money, Steve buys a Mercedes, sunglasses, grenades, and a bootleg DVD of the Michael Moore documentary from earlier. During a dinner party, Stan enjoys himself with his new friends, even accepting a robe as a gift, while Francine engages in a brutal fight with his second wife. Bullock calls and tells Stan he can have his old job in the States back but Stan says that he likes Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the other Smiths are in grave trouble: Steve crashes his Mercedes into an oil derrick in the middle of the desert, Roger is being taken to a remote location by his new husband, Hayley is running from the morality police and Francine is being smacked with the dishwasher by her rival. Stan angrily tells Bullock he renounces his American citizenship and burns the family's passports; he intends to stay on the Arabian peninsula.

In Philadelphia, a cart containing $1.2 million in $100 bills falls out of an armored van as it leaves the Federal Reserve Bank. Joey Coyle, a struggling longshoreman, finds the cart laying on the side of a road, and decides to keep the bags of money. He reveals the discovery to his friend Kenny Kozlowski, who is driving his father's car. After Kenny refuses to be incriminated, Joey decides to keep the money for himself. Upon returning home, he stashes a large portion of the money in his closet, and tries to keep it a secret from his mother, siblings Billy and Eleanor, and niece Katie. South Philadelphia Police Detective Pat Laurenzi is assigned to investigate, and discovers that the van's faulty latch is to blame for the money falling out of the vehicle. News reports of the money's disappearance attract significant attention among local residents.

Joey meets with his former girlfriend, investment banker Monica Russo, and asks how he can make a large deposit without attracting the Internal Revenue Service. Monica initially scoffs at the notion that he would have a large sum of cash laying around, but ultimately deduces that he found the money that was reported missing. Joey then goes to his favorite bar and buys rounds of drinks for its patrons, claiming to have won earnings from a horse racing bet. He confides the truth to Dino Palladino, a bookmaker who agrees to help launder the money. Although he is unable to comprehend how the laundering scheme works, Joey agrees to the terms proposed by Dino's boss Vincente Goldoni.

Laurenzi finds a homeless boy who reveals that he saw someone take the money and identifies the make and model of the car belonging to Kenny's father. At the bar, some of the patrons begin to question how Joey got the money, and their suspicions are heightened when Laurenzi walks in and asks questions. Worried that the detective will discover the car Kenny was driving, Joey drives the vehicle into a river. When his mother and siblings realize what has happened, he offers to share the money with them, but they strongly object to keeping something that is not rightfully theirs. After hiding the money in Monica's office, Joey goes to Goldoni's office with a gun and forces Dino to give him back his first batch of cash. He is furious when he discovers that Goldoni has changed the money into nickels and quarters. After recovering the car from the river, Laurenzi confronts Kenny while Kenny's father beat him with a belt, who confirms that Joey found the money.

Joey returns to the bar and watches a news report identifying him as the thief. The other patrons label him as a hero and vow to protect his identity, much to Billy's frustration. Dino attempts to shoot and kill Joey in the restroom, but is subdued by Billy, who then urges his brother to leave town. Monica arrives with the remainder of the money and airline tickets. They spend a night at a hotel where Monica bleaches Joey's hair and counts the cash obsessively. At the bar, Laurenzi interrogates Dino, who, to avoid being implicated, arranges to have the money that Joey tried to launder returned without question.

Joey and Monica go the airport and are unknowingly pursued by Laurenzi, who searches the terminals. After being informed that his suitcase containing the cash is too big to carry onboard the plane, Joey purchases a pair of pantyhose from a gift shop and stuffs the money down his pants. Once through the security checkpoint, he goes to a restroom and transfers the money into a small duffel bag. As Joey and Monica try to board the plane, Laurenzi notices them standing in line and raises his gun. Joey flees, but he and Monica are quickly surrounded by other police officers and arrested.

An epilogue reveals that the armored car company recovered all but roughly $196,000 of the stolen money. Joey was charged with theft, conspiracy and receiving stolen property, but was acquitted of all charges by reason of temporary insanity.

''The Cool and the Crazy'' tells the story of Ben Saul, a reform school graduate who is transferred to a Kansas City high school. There, Ben's clowning in class ticks off the local gang of tough guys, but he soon wins all of their admiration when he begins buying them beer, taking them to dances, giving them "kicks," and then finally turning them on to marijuana. Ben is working as a frontman for a local marijuana ring, but the local police detective is hot on his trail. When a marijuana-crazed addict teenager whom Ben has sold the drug to dies trying to hold up a filling station for drug money, the police question him and events begin to spiral out of Ben's control. In the dramatic (or melodramatic) finale, Ben ends up killing the pusher for more marijuana only to find that there is none, and gets his just deserts in a fiery car wreck. Then there is an obligatory moralizing segment, where a policeman screams at the surviving addicts, "Is this what you call 'kicks'?! Sooner or later, if you don't wise up you're all gonna wind up like this, one way or the other."

Part I

Seven of Nine dreams of a beautiful forest, which in reality is subconscious realm inhabited by the minds of certain Borg drones during their regeneration periods. Only a few drones possess the recessive gene required to experience the realm called Unimatrix Zero.

In the utopian Unimatrix Zero, Borg of various species and ages (including children) exist as their individual, unassimilated selves while regenerating on their Borg ships; when not regenerating, they revert to normal drones with no memory of time spent there. The Borg Queen is aware of Unimatrix Zero, considering it a disease, and destroys drones discovered capable of visiting there. However, the process of detecting affected drones is time consuming and she is eager to find a faster method of finding and deactivating them. Those who are detected are deactivated, dismembered, and studied in an effort to speed up the search.

Seven of Nine journeys with Captain Janeway to Unimatrix Zero and reverts to Annika Hansen, her human identity before assimilation. She discovers she used to visit Unimatrix Zero when she belonged to the Borg Collective. Her forgotten lover Axum made contact with her so she may help them; the inhabitants of Unimatrix Zero have developed a masking nanovirus to inoculate them from detection by the Queen, but it can only be administered from the corporeal world. Seven is overwhelmed by her new-found emotions and denies them but eventually finds acceptance. If Unimatrix Zero cannot be stopped in the real world, the Queen plans to destroy it from within by sending drones to kill the subconscious, unassimilated drones.

As ''Voyager'' plans to help the Unimatrix drones, the Borg Queen makes contact to offer Janeway transwarp technology if Janeway ceases to help the Unimatrix drones. Janeway refuses and plans to infiltrate a Borg ship on her own and release a version of the nanovirus, now modified to allow the Unimatrix Zero drones to retain their memories and stage a resistance. After being blackmailed by Chakotay (he threatens to have the Doctor remove her from command if she insists on going alone), she, Tuvok and B'Elanna penetrate the Borg cube to reach the central plexus and administer the nanovirus but are caught. ''Voyager'' leaves them to be assimilated.

Part II

The Janeway, Tuvok, and Torres drones proceed with their plan to help Unimatrix Zero. They are not connected to the Borg Collective as the Doctor had inoculated them with a neural inhibitor, protecting their individuality. Tuvok's inhibitor wears off and the Collective eventually overcomes his mind.

The Borg Queen confronts Janeway to demand the drones of Unimatrix Zero submit themselves for reassimilation. The Queen destroys several of her own ships because only a handful of crew are "offline" and suspected of being the newly sentient drones from the dream realm. Janeway calls her bluff, pointing out that such a tactic would essentially require her to destroy the entire Collective. Having discovered a means of sending Borg as drones into Unimatrix Zero, the Queen threatens to release a Borg-modified form of the nanovirus from within Unimatrix Zero to kill every affected inhabitant's corporeal drone, unless Janeway agrees to speak with them.

Janeway informs her crew that Unimatrix Zero can no longer exist. Chakotay realizes this means destroying the matrix so the Queen cannot spread the nanovirus. Seven is forced to say goodbye to her lover, who is on a Borg ship in the Beta Quadrant. ''Voyager'', aided by a Borg sphere crewed by liberated drones, rescues the away team. Independent Borg who now, like the Queen, have the advantage of being self-aware, take command of some vessels, rebel, and start a civil war with the Collective.

While Giles is in Manhattan for a librarian's meeting, the Scooby Gang finds that Sunnydale is suddenly overrun by demons. Meanwhile, Giles' hotel room in Manhattan is ransacked and he gets assaulted, which leads to him ending up in the hospital. Michaela Tomasi, a fellow Watcher, tries to warn him of something but disappears. Eventually Giles makes it back to Sunnydale. There they discover that portals from another realm are opening in Sunnydale which caused the drastic increase in the demon population. Giles figures that there must be something wrong at the Gatehouse, a huge mansion that is infested with demons but kept under control by Jean-Marc Regnier, a wizened sorcerer called the Gatekeeper. Giles, Buffy, Xander and Cordelia fly to Boston where the Gatehouse is located, while Willow, Oz and Angel remain in Sunnydale to ward off demons and the Sons of Entropy that seem to be stalking the Slayer. After Angel captures two Sons of Entropy, he learns, by beating them, that their boss, Il Maestro, is planning on opening the gates to other dimensions to let the demons run loose on the earth with the sons of Entropy as their kings and their immediate plan is to take over the Gatehouse in order to do this.

Oz takes off to Boston to warn Buffy of the Sons of Entropy. Meanwhile, in the Gatehouse the gang is fighting off hordes of demons and they somehow manage to survive. Xander locates the Gatekeeper who manages to regain control of the Gatehouse by securing the demons in their rooms with his magic. The Gatekeeper is frail and on the verge of death, only by immersing himself in the Cauldron of Bran the Blessed, can he continue to live past his 138 years. To keep the Gatehouse in order they must find his son who is somewhere in Europe. They decide to take the ghost roads, which is a realm ghosts wander endlessly if they cannot move on. These ghosts only allow those touched by the supernatural to pass, even though grudgingly. They envy the living. Oz takes the ghost road back to Sunnydale to get Angel, when they make it back to the mansion they discover that it's under attack. The spell fuelled by her friends’ and Angel's love must work its magic with the Gatekeeper's help in order to save Buffy's life

In search of Jacques Regnier, the Gatekeeper's son, Buffy, Angel and Oz take off to London via the ghost roads while the rest of the gang returns to Sunnydale. The trio in England run into every possible problem; another fake Watcher leads them into a trap and the Sons of Entropy are hot on their heels. Back in Sunnydale the ghost ship the Flying Dutchman has arrived and are taking human prisoners aboard, including Giles. Meanwhile, Il Maestro pleads to his lord Belphegor to spare Micaela, his adopted daughter, from the pain and suffering humans will have to deal with when the evil breaks loose. Spike and Drusilla are busy keeping Jacques Regnier hidden until the Sons of Entropy give them what they want. Angel learns that Il Maestro is in Florence and the trio sets off for it. Buffy's mom is kidnapped by the Sons of Entropy and they plan to use Joyce as bait to bring the Slayer to them. Back in Sunnydale Willow, Xander and Cordelia must figure out how to save Giles from the Flying Dutchman or he will be brought into hell when the boat leaves Sunnydale and no one makes it in to hell without dying first. In Boston the Gatehouse has become under attack again and though the Gatekeeper is weak he can still fend off the Sons of Entropy. Buffy, Angel and Oz infiltrate the Sons of Entropy base in Florence and are then captured by Il Maestro's men. There they learn that Il Mastero is an ancient sorcerer named Fulcaneli who was believed killed a long time ago. They manage to escape with the help of Micaela who realizes that what her father is doing is very wrong. They head back to Sunnydale along with Spike, Drusilla and Jacques Regnier via the ghost roads which is when Buffy learns that her mother has been captured and that Xander was shot during a rescue attempt. Buffy must rescue her mother from a fiery death...

To save Xander's life Willow and Cordelia take the Ghost Roads to the Regnier house. When they get there they find that the Gatekeeper has died and Xander is immediately put into the Cauldron of Braun the Blessed. But the Cauldron recognizes Xander as the new heir and bestows all of the Gatekeeper's magickal power to a very surprised Xander. Back in Sunnydale, Joyce Summers has been captured by Fulcanelli. Giles is busy searching for where Joyce might be held and where the rightful heir to the Gatekeeper's line might be. The bloodline must be continued otherwise Xander's body may not be able to withstand the strain that the magic will do to his body. Ethan Rayne also appears, offering his help to a skeptical Buffy and friends. Buffy manages to save her mother in a maze that Fulcanelli designed, complete with Minotaur. Jacques, the new heir, escapes from Fulcanelli and joins Buffy's entourage. Oz and Angel lead Jacques through the Ghost Roads and back to the Gatekeeper's house where an assault is being conducted on Xander and his abilities. Further complicating things is Oz, who has become a werewolf at the most inopportune moment. But Jacques arrives and his powers are restored to him. Fulcanelli's men begin their assault again and Willow tries to help out with her binding and protection spells, binding Oz into the house when he attacks. But the house begins to crumble in on itself while back in Sunnydale, after using a Sphere of Order to hold back the demons, they manage to break through when Fulcaneli's demon master Belphegor, one of the Lords of Hell, escapes from Hell. Buffy battles Belphegor and thanks to a momentary telepathic connection with the unconscious Ethan, learns that no weapon will work against Belphegor, only brute force. After discovering that Belphegor has a third human eye and realizing that its part of the riddle that describes how to kill him, and rips it out and finally manages to beat Belphegor to death. With Belphegor's death, Fulacneli, who is connected to him, is also destroyed and Belphegor's human eye turns into a portal to Hell that sucks in all the demons that escaped.

A young would-be artist Nicolas, with his partner Marianne, are introduced by the art dealer Porbus to the aged painter Frenhofer, inactive for many years, who lives in a grand château in the south of France with his young wife Liz. Conversations are desultory, until Porbus suggests that Frenhofer might like to paint the attractive Marianne, he thinks she may be what he needs to complete his last piece, abandoned ten years ago when Liz was his model. Nicolas okays the idea, later Marianne is angry with Nicolas for not having asked her first before promising the master that she will model, but goes to the château the next day.

Work starts early next morning in Frenhofer's isolated studio, consisting of continual pen and wash studies on paper of Marianne in different positions, as he tries to capture the uniqueness of her body and the character of the woman within it. Over long days together their relationship varies, sometimes staying distant and sometimes getting relaxed. He progresses to working in oils on canvas, one day overpainting an unfinished study of Liz. When she sneaks into the studio one night and sees it, she is furious and hurt at the symbolism. As the object of Frenhofer's concentrated attention all day, mostly in silence, Marianne has time to rethink her relationship with Nicolas and decides she no longer needs him.

Eventually Frenhofer finishes his picture, which the film audience never sees. Once complete, the image is too powerful for Liz and for Marianne. Frenhofer hides it in a recess, which he seals with bricks and mortar, and quickly paints an innocuous version in which the face of the model is unseen. Porbus is invited to a celebratory party, after which Nicolas and the changed Marianne go their separate ways.

In 1963 Texas, convicts Robert "Butch" Haynes and Terry Pugh escape from the state penitentiary in Huntsville. Fleeing, Pugh stumbles into a house where eight-year-old Phillip Perry lives with his devout Jehovah's Witness mother and two sisters. Butch follows, and hits Pugh to make him stop molesting the mother. Needing a hostage to aid their escape, Butch grabs the boy, who meekly accompanies them. The trio's journey soon hits an unpleasant note as Butch kills Terry, following the latter's attempt to harm the child. With his partner out of the way, the convict and his young victim take to the Texas highway in an attempt to flee from the pursuing police.

Meanwhile, Texas Ranger Red Garnett is in pursuit. With criminologist Sally Gerber and FBI sharpshooter Bobby Lee in tow, Red is determined to recover the criminal and the hostage before they cross the Texas border. Also, Red reveals to Sally that he has a personal interest in apprehending Butch alive. Even though Butch doesn't realize it, Red has a history with him. When Butch was a teenager, he stole a car, and Red was the arresting officer. Butch was living with his abusive father, also a criminal, at the time. Due to his age and it being a first offense, Butch was supposed to get a lenient sentence. Red thought juvenile prison was safer for Butch than home, and muses that some of the kids who went through Gatesville turned out ok, and one even became a priest. He also felt that if Butch had been left at home with his father, he would have a rap sheet "as long as my arm." Red asked the judge to give Butch a harsh sentence. Years later, Red has come to realize that the harsher sentence only encouraged the very life of crime he feared would happen. Now, Red is hoping that if he can bring Butch in alive, he can redeem himself for his past mistake.

Phillip has never participated in Halloween or Christmas celebrations due to his religion. Escaping with Butch, however, he experiences a freedom which he finds exhilarating, as Butch gladly allows him the kind of indulgences he has been forbidden, including the wearing of a shoplifted Casper the Friendly Ghost costume. Gradually, Phillip becomes increasingly aware of his surroundings, and with constant encouragement from Butch, seems to acquire the ability to make independent decisions on what is wrong and right. Butch slowly finds himself drawn into giving Phillip the kind of fatherly presence which he himself never had.

Butch and Phillip try to make it to New Mexico, but find out that the highway they are driving on is unfinished. While asleep in their car in a cornfield, they encounter Mack, a farmer, and his family - Lottie his wife, and his grandson Cleveland. Mack frequently abuses Cleveland, which Butch tries to tolerate, but when Mack figures out who he is he puts a stop to it. He beats Mack and plans on killing him, but Phillip picks up Butch's gun and shoots Butch in the stomach. Phillip walks out of the house, drops the gun into a well, throws the car keys away, and runs across a meadow. Butch follows, and rests at the tree Phillip has climbed. In the following dialogue Phillip apologizes for shooting Butch who tells him he did the right thing.

Red's team surrounds the field where Phillip and Butch are situated, and Butch soon sends the boy to his mother, who has arrived by helicopter and who Butch has made promise to take Phillip trick-or-treating every year. Unwilling to leave the already wounded Butch, the boy runs back and hugs him – a gesture which, along with his knowledge of Butch's character and background, convinces Red that he can resolve the situation peacefully. His plans are thwarted, however, when Bobby Lee, mistaking one of Butch's gestures to mean he is about to draw a gun, shoots him in the chest, killing him. The move leaves Red angry and frustrated at his inability to save Butch and take him alive. Red punches Bobby Lee and Sally knees him in the groin before walking away. Phillip is then reunited with his mother, and they fly away in a helicopter while Phillip sadly looks through the window at Butch's lifeless body in the meadow.

On Tiptoes's episodes mostly dealt with the situations that Farhad (Mehran Modiri), an architect living in Tehran would end up in along with members of his family and friends. Farhad was originally from a fictional village in Iran, named Barareh. He had moved to Tehran, when he had been accepted into university. He eventually settled in Tehran and married a woman named Mahtab (Sahar Zakaria). The real story though begins when Farhad's cousin, Davoud (Javad Razavian) moves to Tehran from Barareh to find a job. Davoud has very little in terms of education, and still carries a thick accent, showing his Barareh roots. Farhad's sister, Shadi (Sahar Valadbeigi) also has come to Tehran to begin her studies in university. Toghrol (Mohammad-Reza Hedayati) , an old man who hates anything related to Barareh is a friend of Mahtab's family, and helps maintain the property which Farhad and his wife live on. Farhad and Davoud are often the recipients of severe beatings from Toghrol. Davoud finds employment at the engineering company Farhad works at. Davoud has to be the tea-boy because of his poor educational background. Davoud slowly starts reminding Farhad of his village's culture and ways, which often would give hilarious results. Davoud would eventually marry Yasaman (Shaghayegh Dehghan), and soon after Mahtab's brother would become a cast member, eventually marrying Farhad's sister.

With the end of Prohibition, bootlegger Remy Marco ("Marko" in a sequence of the film, and in the closed captioning) becomes a legitimate brewer; but he slowly goes broke because the beer he makes tastes terrible, and everyone is afraid to tell him so. After four years, with bank officers preparing to foreclose on the brewery, he retreats to his Saratoga summer home, only to find four dead mobsters who meant to ambush him, but were killed by their confederate whom they meant to betray. More and more problems begin to pop up in the life of the former bootlegger, as he has taken in a bratty orphan, and his daughter comes home with a fiancé that turns out to be a state trooper.

The film opens with military veteran helicopter pilot and guide Don Stober (Prine) flying individuals above the trees of a vast national park. He states that the woods are untouched and remain much as they did during the time when Native Americans lived there.

Two female hikers are breaking camp when they are suddenly attacked and killed by an unseen animal. The national park's Chief Ranger, Michael Kelly (George), and photographer Allison Corwin (Joan McCall), daughter of the park's restaurant owner, decide to follow a ranger to the primitive campsite to check on the female hikers. There, they discover the mangled corpses of the two girls, one of which has been partially buried.

At the hospital, a doctor tells Kelly that the girls were killed by a large bear. The park supervisor, Charley Kittridge (Joe Dorsey), blames Kelly for the attacks, saying that the bears were supposed to have been moved from the park by Kelly and naturalist Arthur Scott (Jaeckel) before the tourist season began. Kelly and Kittridge argue over closing the park before deciding to move all hikers off the park's mountain, while allowing campers to remain in the lowlands. Kelly calls Scott, who had been traveling with a deer family. Informing Scott about the bear attack, Kelly also tells him to come back.

During a search of the mountain, a female ranger stops for a break at a waterfall. Unaware that the bear is lurking nearby, she is attacked and killed while showering in the falls. Kelly recruits the helicopter pilot, Stober, to assist in the search. Flying above the forest, they see what they believe to be an animal, only to discover the naturalist Scott adorned in an animal skin while tracking the bear. Telling them all of the bears are accounted for and this specific bear is unknown to the forest, Scott informs them that the animal they are looking for is a prehistoric species of grizzly bear (a fictional Pleistocene Epoch ''Arctodus ursus horribilis'') standing at least tall and weighing between . Kelly and Stober scoff at the notion.

At the busy lowland campground, the grizzly tears down a tent and kills a woman. Kelly once again insists on closing the park, but Kittridge still refuses. The attacks are becoming a national news story and, to counteract this, Kittridge allows amateur hunters into the forest. Now a team, Kelly, Stober and Scott are disgusted by this development. Later, a lone hunter is chased by the grizzly, but he manages to escape the animal by jumping into a river and floating to safety. Later that night, three hunters find a bear cub that they believe is the cub of the killer grizzly, so they use it as bait for the mother. However, the grizzly finds and eats the cub without the hunters even noticing. Scott thus concludes that the grizzly is a male, as only male bears are cannibalistic. Kelly assigns fellow ranger Tom at a fire lookout tower on the mountain. However, he is attacked by the grizzly. The animal tears down the tower and kills Tom.

Kelly and Kittridge continue to argue over closing the park. Frustrated by the politics of the situation, Scott sneaks away to track the grizzly on his own. On the outskirts of the national park, a mother and her young child are attacked by the grizzly. The mother is killed while the child survives, albeit severely mutilated. Stunned by this development, Kittridge finally allows Kelly to close down the park and ban all hunters.

Stober and Kelly now go after the elusive grizzly alone, setting up a trap by hanging a deer carcass from a tree. The grizzly goes for the bait, but suddenly retreats. The men chase the animal through the woods, but it easily outruns them. When they return, they discover the grizzly tricked them and took the deer carcass anyway. The next day, Scott, tracking on horseback, finds the remains of the deer carcass and calls Stober and Kelly on the radio. He plans to drag the deer carcass behind his horse and create a trap by leading the grizzly towards them. However, the grizzly ambushes Scott, killing his horse by ripping its head off with one swat of its massive paw, and knocking Scott unconscious. He subsequently awakens a short time later to find himself alive, but half-buried in the ground. Just as he finishes digging himself out, the grizzly returns and kills him.

Kelly and Stober discover Scott's mutilated body and, in despair, return to the helicopter to track the grizzly from the air. They soon spot the grizzly in a clearing and quickly land. The grizzly attacks the helicopter, swiping at the craft and causing Stober to be thrown clear. The grizzly kills Stober before turning on Kelly, who frantically pulls a bazooka from the helicopter. Before the grizzly can reach him, Kelly fires the bazooka at the grizzly, killing him in a large explosion. For several seconds, Kelly sadly stares at the burning remains of the grizzly before walking towards Stober's mutilated body.

The series centers around Mitsuo Shiozu, a lonely high school student who has the psychic ability to see "spirits" who can use him to interact and communicate with the living world for a purpose. These purposes usually don't go very well for Mitsuo, but the spirits seem to be able to do what they need to do to move on. They also lead Mitsuo to quite a few admirers – of the male sex. The story is mostly lighthearted, and much of its humor comes from the awkward and embarrassing situations and misunderstandings the characters find themselves in. The manga itself is yet also a parody of storylines and stereotypes.

''Mother'' begins with the story of a young, married, American couple who mysteriously vanish from their small, rural town. Two years later, the husband, George, returned as mysteriously as he vanished, and began a strange study in complete seclusion. His wife, Maria, was never heard from again. Years later, in 1988 (changed to an ambiguous point in the 1980s in later releases), a young American boy named Ninten is attacked at home in a paranormal event. His father explains that Ninten's great-grandfather studied psychic powers, and asks Ninten to investigate a crisis occurring across the world, later revealed to be the work of an invading alien race. After resolving crises in the town of Mother's Day (Podunk in later translations), Ninten is warped to the world of Magicant, where the land's ruler, Queen Mary, asks Ninten to rediscover a song that appears in her dreams by collecting the parts and playing them for her. Ninten returns to Earth and befriends a young boy, Roido (Also called Roid, Loid, or Lloyd in later translations), who is being bullied at an elementary school. The two travel to the town of Snowman to deliver a lost hat to Ana, a young girl with psychic powers. Ana tells Ninten she saw him in a vision, and joins the party in hopes of finding her missing mother.

After finding multiple parts of Queen Mary's song, Ninten is harassed at a karaoke bar by Teddy, the leader of a local gang. Teddy surrenders after battling Ninten in a fistfight, and joins Ninten's party with the intent to avenge the deaths of his parents, who were killed at Holy Loly Mountain (Mt. Itoi in later versions). Roido stays behind. In a cottage at the base of Holy Loly Mountain, Ana pulls Ninten aside and asks him to always be by her side. The two dance and profess their mutual love. Soon after, Teddy warns the party of a strange noise, and a giant robot attacks Ninten and his friends. Roido arrives with a tank and destroys the robot, but accidentally hits the party and critically wounds Teddy, so Lloyd re-joins the party. They take a boat out on Holy Loly Lake and a whirlpool pulls them into an underwater laboratory, where they find a robot who claims to have been built by George to protect Ninten. When the laboratory floods, they leave for the mountain's peak and the robot helps them ascend. Another robot (implied to be an upgraded version of the one fought at the cabin) attacks them at the summit, and George's robot self-destructs to destroy it, leaving behind the seventh part of Queen Mary's song. After learning this melody, the party travels back to Magicant, where Ninten sings the melodies he had learned to Queen Mary. She recalls the rest of the song, thus teaching Ninten the eighth and final melody in the process, and reminisces about an alien named Giygas that she loved as her own child. Queen Mary reveals that she is George's wife, Maria, and vanishes. Magicant, revealed to be a mirage created by her consciousness, vanishes with her. In later translations of the game, Ninten first visits George's grave at the top of Holy Loly Mountain, where George's spirit teaches Ninten the final melody.

The party is warped back to the top of Holy Loly Mountain. Large rocks block the entrance to a cave inside Holy Loly Mountain, but are cleared by the power of Maria's consciousness. In that cave, they find an area with human prisoners including Ana's mother. They need to defeat the Mother Ship to free the prisoners. The party encounters the ship that the fully-grown Giygas is on. The alien expresses its gratefulness to Ninten's family for raising it, but explains that George stole vital information from its people that could have been used to betray them, and proceeds to accuse Ninten of interfering with their plans. Giygas offers to save Ninten alone if he boards the Mother Ship, only for Ninten to decline, leading Giygas to attack Ninten's party. The party begins to sing Queen Mary's lullaby while Giygas tries to quiet the party through his attacks. However, the party persists and finishes the lullaby, causing Giygas to become overwhelmed with emotion at the thought of Maria's motherly love. Giygas swears that they will meet again and flies off in the mother ship.

In the original Famicom release, the game then ends with Ninten, Ana, and Lloyd facing the player as the credits roll behind them. However, later releases feature an extended ending with the kids returning home and reuniting with their families. Teddy recovers from his injuries and becomes a singer, and Ana is shown receiving a letter from Ninten. Ninten goes to bed as the cast of characters appear at the bottom of the screen before the credits. After the credits, the game freezes on an image of a man, presumably Ninten's father, trying to call his son, stating, "I know that boy is home. Come on son and answer the phone. Something new has come up and . . ."

Dang, the son of a prostitute, growing up in 1950s Thailand, compensates for his inferiority complex by boosting up his ego. At the age of 13, he killed a man who was beating his mother. By age 16, he had dropped out of school and started his own protection racket. With his right-hand man Lam Sing, Dang is highly protective of Piak, and is also friends with Pu Bottle Bomb and Pu's sidekick Dum.

Dang attracts the attention of a young night club singer named Wallapa, who pressures Dang to stop being a gangster and live a normal life. Dang's mother also wishes that he would stop being gangster and ordain as a Buddhist monk.

Dang carves out more territory by killing the local crime boss Mad Dog. Meanwhile, Piak is caught up in a fight between rival school gangs, instigated by Pu and Dum. The fight leads to a falling out between Dang and Pu the beginning of a feud between the two. Following a military coup all the gangsters must leave Bangkok for the countryside, Dang, Lam Sing and Piak go to work for Sergeant Chien, a former policeman turned gangster, at Chien's bar and gambling den next to an American military base. Chien needs more muscle to go against a rival operator, Headman Tek, and brings in Pu and Dum against Dang's wishes. Pu and Dum stir up trouble in the gambling den and reignite their feud with Dang's gang although Sergeant Chein tries to calm them. However Sergeant Chien is killed by a motorcyclist gunman and Pu and Dum go to work with his rival Headman Tek forcing Dang's gang out of the town.

Dang returns to Bangkok, where he plans on fulfilling his mother's wishes and taking his oath as a monk. However Pu and Dum show up during the ceremony and gun battle ensues. Lam Sing is killed, and Dang and Piak are wounded, but Pu and Dum are killed.

In an epilogue, narrated by an older Piak, it turns out Dang survived his wounds, but continued as a gangster seemingly unable to become a monk, and then died in a car accident at age 24, just like his idol James Dean.

In 1868, within the Ruby Mountains, Gideon roasts hare over an open fire. Suddenly, gunshots ring out with one striking his left arm. He grabs what he can and races down the mountain. His attackers emerge from their cover to inspect his campsite. Colonel Morsman Carver, a former Confederate officer, is accompanied by Pope, Hayes, Parsons and the Kid, who are all engaged in a bounty operation to apprehend him.

After removing the bullet from his arm with his hunting knife at a secluded location, Gideon leaves an open fire burning, which attracts the posse. He ends up killing Pope with his knife and then ventures out again into the wilderness. He attempts to steal a horse, but is caught by a young woman named Charlotte who helps him after she realises he is injured. She dresses his wound and her family let him sleep overnight in their farmhouse. He later offers to buy their horse and leaves before daybreak. As the group of men approach Gideon's trail, he lays an ambush using a bear trap which impales the Kid, who is then shot by Carver as an act of mercy. Later, Parsons decides to leave the other men following the discovery of a dead bank robber, whom Gideon had killed earlier in an act of self-defence and whose bounty money exceeds Gideon's. As Parsons is preparing to load the dead body to take to Carson City for the reward money, Carver shoots the horse – which he declares is his – leaving Parsons to walk the 30 miles back to town carrying the body.

Coming across a railroad under construction, Gideon hitches his horse and steals some food. The foreman recognises the horse as stolen and detains Gideon. Carver and his remaining man, Hayes, also reach the railroad site and search for Gideon. Meanwhile, he escapes from custody and makes off with another horse. As Carver and Hayes draw closer, Gideon's horse can no longer take the strain of the heat and collapses. Gideon euthanises the horse with his knife. When Carver and Hayes finally reach the horse's carcass, Hayes dismounts and marvels at what type of an animal would disembowel the creature. Suddenly Gideon leaps out from the horse's belly, where he had been hiding, and grabs Hayes, threatening to kill him if Carver doesn't give up his gun. Carver instead shoots Hayes with his last bullet. Confronting each other, Carver and Gideon recall the events that put them at odds. After the end of the American Civil War, Gideon was ordered to track down former Confederate officers. When he arrived at Carver's home in Seraphim Falls to interrogate him, Carver was out in a nearby field. To coerce Carver's wife into revealing his whereabouts, and believing that their house was empty, Gideon orders their barn to be set on fire. The blaze quickly spreads to the house, as Carver returns from the cropland. While the soldiers restrain him, his wife and son run inside the house to save their infant child who is still in a bedroom. Both men look on with horror at the unfolding tragedy; trapped by the flames, Carver's wife and children perish. Gideon, racked with guilt over the tragedy, is seen dropping his gunbelt and walking away from his men.

The two men fight, Gideon eventually getting the better of Carver. He points Carver in the direction of a town and tells him that he will get nothing but torment if he continues his pursuit. Gideon takes the horses ridden by Carver and Hayes and sets off deeper into the countryside. When Carver later catches up with Gideon, both men are on the brink of exhaustion. They confront each other again with their pistols. Gideon shoots Carver in the side but, instead of finishing him off, he offers himself to Carver. Carver decides not to shoot him and throws his pistol aside. Gideon helps Carver to his feet and the two men walk into the distance away from each other. As a final gesture Gideon abandons his knife (his primary tool throughout the film), throwing it into the ground.

Earth is devastated by a nuclear war in 2084. The sky is red from chemical waste, and what was once the United States has become "Deathlands" inhabited by mutants. Communities ruled by powerful survivors are called "villes", and the one known as Front Royale had been ruled by a good man who is killed by his wife, Lady Rachel Cawdor (Traci Elizabeth Lords). His son, Harvey Cawdor (Alan C. Peterson), kills one of his brothers and partially blinds his young brother Ryan Cawdor (Vincent Spano), who then escapes.

After spending 20 years in the wastelands, the one-eyed Ryan returns to Front Royale accompanied by his girlfriend, Krysty Wroth (Jenya Lano); the teenage mutant Jak Laurent (Nathan Carter); and weapons specialist J. B. Dix (Cliff Saunders) to face his stepmother and brother and avenge his father's murder.

This adventure takes place in modern France and uses the normal continuing storyline of the series. It describes the holidays of Lapinot (a.k.a. McConey) and his friends Richard, Titi, and Pierrot in a winter sports resort. This volume is mostly a collection of unrelated episodes, although there are a few recurring links such as the much talked about but never seen wolf (except for an ambiguous fog shape) which reportedly killed skiers in the area. The dialogue is sometimes philosophical, sometimes silly. This is the album where Lapinot first meets Nadia, who would later on become his girlfriend, although she only plays a minor part here.

Category:French comics

The book contains two interwoven plots: the story of the gospel's author, set in the first century AD (who narrates his adventures in the form of the gospel itself); and a contemporary story surrounding Lucy Danton, a somewhat naive Roman Catholic seminary student, and Patrick O'Hanrahan, her maverick Jesuit professor, who together set out to recover that gospel.

The gospel's author is revealed to be Matthias, whom the Book of Acts describes as Judas's replacement. The fictional Gospel of Matthias's descriptions of first-century Christianity are not always edifying, but often wittily call to mind contemporary religious movements. The fictional gospel revolves around whether, after his crucifixion, Jesus's body was smuggled to Egypt and mummified. However, the question remains unanswered in the end.

This is the first volume in the series to be set in a stock historical setting: the Wild West. Although it uses the same main characters (Lapinot, Richard, Titi) and gives them the same type of personality, this story bears no relation to the continuing storyline of the volumes taking place in modern Paris. Lapinot is chased by outlaws for accidentally killing Rex Logan, their leader, and is later on mistaken for an outlaw himself by the villagers of Blacktown, who start chasing him as well. The story is often dark, contains plenty of action and witty dialogue, and moves at a quick pace.

Category:French comics

In November 1984, Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius is given command of , a new Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine with a "caterpillar drive", rendering it undetectable to passive sonar. Ramius leaves port to conduct exercises along with Alfa-class attack submarine ''V. K. Konovalov'', commanded by his former student Captain Tupolev. At sea, Ramius secretly kills political officer Ivan Putin and relays false orders that they are to conduct missile drills off America's east coast. American attack submarine USS ''Dallas'', which had been shadowing ''Red October'', loses contact once the sub's caterpillar drive is engaged.

CIA analyst and former Marine Jack Ryan, after consulting with Vice Admiral James Greer, the Deputy Director of the CIA, briefs government officials on ''Red October'' and the threat it poses. After learning that the bulk of the Soviet Navy has been deployed to the Atlantic to find and sink the sub, they conclude that Ramius plans a renegade nuclear strike. During the briefing, Ryan hypothesizes that Ramius, a native-born Lithuanian widower with few remaining personal ties to the Soviet Union, instead plans to defect to the United States, and National Security Advisor Jeffrey Pelt gives Ryan three days to confirm his theory. He is sent to an aircraft carrier in the mid-Atlantic. Meanwhile, after some delay, Tupolev also receives orders to intercept and destroy ''Red October''.

Due to an unknown saboteur's actions, ''Red October'' s caterpillar drive malfunctions during risky maneuvers through a narrow undersea canyon. Petty Officer Jones, a sonar technician aboard ''Dallas'', has discovered a way to detect ''Red October'' using his underwater acoustics software, and ''Dallas'' plots an intercept course. After a hazardous mid-ocean transfer, Ryan is able to board ''Dallas'', where he attempts to persuade its captain, Commander Bart Mancuso, to contact Ramius and determine his real intentions.

The Soviet ambassador informs the U.S. government that Ramius is a renegade and asks for help in sinking ''Red October''. That order is sent to the U.S. fleet, including ''Dallas'', which has reacquired the Soviet sub. Ryan remains convinced that Ramius plans to defect with his officers and finally convinces Mancuso to contact Ramius and offer assistance. Ramius, stunned that the Americans correctly guessed his plan, accepts. He then stages a nuclear reactor "emergency", ordering his crew to go on deck and abandon ship. After a U.S. frigate is spotted heading right for them, Ramius submerges, leaving his crew in life rafts. Ryan, Mancuso, and Jones board ''Red October'' via a rescue sub and Ramius requests asylum for himself and his officers.

''Red October'' is suddenly ambushed by ''Konovalov''. As the two Soviet subs maneuver, one of ''Red October'' s cooks, Loginov, is revealed to be an undercover GRU agent and the saboteur. He opens fire on the bridge, fatally wounding first officer Vasily Borodin, before retreating to the missile bay, intending to ignite a missile engine and destroy the ship. He is pursued by Ryan and Ramius, whom Loginov wounds before being killed by Ryan. Meanwhile, ''Konovalov'' fires upon ''Red October'' with a torpedo, which ''Dallas'' is able to divert toward herself and evade by launching countermeasures and conducting an emergency blow to the surface. The torpedo reacquires ''Red October'' but Mancuso, placed in temporary command by Ramius, executes a maneuver that diverts the torpedo towards ''Konovalov'', which it strikes and destroys. The crew of ''Red October'', now rescued, witness the explosion from the deck of the U.S. frigate. Unaware of the second Soviet submarine, they believe that Ramius has sacrificed himself and scuttled ''Red October'' to avoid being boarded.

Ryan and Ramius, their subterfuge complete, navigate ''Red October'' to the Penobscot River in Maine as Ramius admits that he defected because he believed ''Red October'' was intended for a pre-emptive nuclear first strike against the United States and was unwilling to support such an action. Ryan boards a flight home to London and, thanks to his exertions, is finally able to sleep aboard a plane while seated next to a teddy bear intended for his daughter.

This adventure takes place in modern France and uses the normal continuing storyline of the series. While walking on the street, Lapinot and Richard accidentally bump into a bum about to commit suicide. They prevent him from doing so despite his repeated attempts, and he eventually accepts to stop trying to kill himself as long as they accept to take his little stone which, according to him, is cursed and brings terrible bad luck to the bearer. Lapinot accepts, not taking him seriously, but most other characters around him seem to be plagued with bad luck from that moment on. Up until the end of the book, it isn't clear whether there is a real curse or if it all happens in the characters' minds.

Category:French comics

This volume is set in a stock historical setting: Paris in the late 19th century. Although it uses the same main characters (Lapinot, Richard, Titi) and gives them the same type of personality, this story bears no relation to the continuing storyline of the volumes taking place in modern Paris. The plot mixes the mystery, horror, and science fiction genres. A giant monster is seen ravaging the apartment of the missing scientist Prof. Walter, before being caught (and presumably killed) by the authorities. When Richard the journalist wants to take pictures at the morgue for his newspaper, they are told there never was a monster. An investigation follows in which they learn the monster is the result of a scientific experiment gone wrong.

Category:1996 in comics Category:Works set in the 19th century Category:Comics set in Paris

''For Want of a Nail'' opens in 1763, after the end of the Seven Years' War. Attempts by the British government to impose direct taxation on the American colonies provokes resistance by the colonists, which flares into open rebellion in 1775. After driving British troops from Boston and declaring independence, the American rebels suffer a series of reversals and lose control of New York City, Albany, and Philadelphia by the end of 1777. The point of divergence from actual history occurs in October 1777, when British General John Burgoyne defeats American Generals Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Saratoga. Conciliationists gain control of the Continental Congress in 1778 and negotiate a truce that re-establishes British control.

In 1780, seeking to prevent further rebellion, the British Parliament passes the Britannic Design, a bill that reorganizes the North American colonies into the partially self-governing dominion called the Confederation of North America (CNA). However, many former rebels refuse to submit to British rule, and an exodus of pro-independence colonists to the Texas region of New Spain takes place. The ex-Patriots in Texas organize themselves as the State of Jefferson, after the executed author of the Declaration of Independence. Though the French Revolution is averted, war erupts between Britain and France in 1795, and Spain is drawn into the conflict on the side of the French. Both Jefferson and the CNA use the situation as a pretext to invade Spanish territory, and the CNA absorbs both the Florida and Louisiana territories while the Jeffersonians expand to the northern banks of the Rio Grande. Mexico gains its independence in 1805 and immediately descends into chaos and civil war. The Jeffersonians eventually become involved, and a Jeffersonian army under Andrew Jackson captures Mexico City in 1817. By 1819, Jackson manages to engineer the merger of Jefferson and Mexico as the United States of Mexico (USM), and in 1821, he wins election as the new country's first president.

In the CNA, industrialization takes root in the Northern Confederation, a union of the New England and mid-Atlantic colonies, and the invention of the cotton gin brings prosperity and widespread slavery to the Southern Confederation. The rapid industrial development, however, fosters resentment between rich industrialists and the working classes, and a financial crash in 1835 leads to a series of social upheavals, including the abolition of slavery in the Southern Confederation for economic reasons. The CNA eventually wins approval from London for a second "Britannic Design" to transform itself from a loose conglomeration of states to a unified nation with a governor-general, a central executive office of which General Winfield Scott is the first holder.

After clashing with each other in the Rocky Mountain War (1845–1855), the CNA and USM go their separate ways. The CNA becomes increasingly isolationist, and though it becomes a prosperous industrialized nation, it suffers recurring bouts of internal civil strife. Meanwhile, its parliamentary democracy stabilizes into a two-party system with a pro-industrialist Liberal Party and the social democratic "People's Coalition" routinely trading power. Multicultural diversity occurs by the immigrant exodus from the ongoing turmoil in 19th-century Europe, and one confederation, South Vandalia, becomes majority African American after ex-slaves move there, and Quebec and Nova Scotia are given a devolved, semi-independent status. As recurrent strife continues in the 1920s, the country embraces the Galloway Plan, which subsidizes travel to settle new areas of the Confederation while relieving overcrowded cities and diffusing politically opposed groups.

The USM gives rise to a monopolistic corporation, Kramer Associates, and enters into a period of imperialistic expansion and dictatorship in the late 19th century that sees it conquer Central America, part of South America, Alaska, and Hawaii and ultimately create a puppet state in Siberia that destabilizes the Russian Empire into collapsing. A clash between the Mexican government and Kramer Associates in the 1920s and 1930s results in the latter relocating to the Philippines in 1936.

A Global War breaks out in 1939 pitting the British, French, and Japanese against the Germans and Mexicans, with the CNA remaining neutral. The war dies down, without officially ending, in 1948, with the Germans in control of Continental Europe and the Middle East, the Japanese in control of China, Siberia, and the western Pacific; Kramer Associates relocating to Taiwan with control over 1/6 of the world's resources; and the USM suffering a social breakdown and renewed dictatorship. The CNA, wrecked with collective guilt for avoiding the bloodshed and profiting from it, embarks on a quixotic foreign aid plan.

The Kramer Associates detonate an atomic bomb in June 1962, which plunges the world into a nuclear arms race. The British detonate their own bomb in 1964, followed by the Germans in 1965 and the CNA in 1966. The bomb sharply polarizes the CNA, leading to renewed internal strife between internationalists and peace factions. The leadership of the USM, unable to develop a bomb on their own accord, becomes aggressive and paranoid, increasing world tensions. The novel ends as global armament talks break down, and a USM spy ring is discovered in the CNA.

The final section is a critique of the history by USM historian Frank Dana, who complains that Sobel's central thesis was the simplistic notion that the North American Rebellion represented a conflict between moderation (CNA) and extremism (USM) and that Sobel is a beneficiary of Kramer Associates, allowing readers to possibly see Sobel as an unreliable narrator of the history.

The Damoclès company, a mysterious organisation whose goals and methods are not entirely clear, suddenly offers a job as managing director to Lapinot, even though he doesn't know anything about the company. After originally declining the job, he hesitates and finally accepts, partly because he thinks a job in the same town as Nadia, a woman he met during winter holidays in ''Slaloms'', will help him start a relationship with her.

Category:French comics

This volume is set in a stock historical setting: England in 1870. Although it uses the same main characters (Lapinot, Richard, Titi) and gives them the same type of personality, this story bears no relation to the continuing storyline of the volumes taking place in modern Paris. Lapinot is a naive English gentleman who wonders what love is, and tries to conquer the heart of his childhood love, Miss Nadia. But his rivals Richardon (Richard) and McTerry (Titi) are also competing for her attention.

Category:French comics

Joseph, Rose and Olive suspect Carl, the owner of a retirement home, of misusing the funds of the home's residents. Together they set out to see that no one takes advantage of their unhealthy friend Woody.

This adventure takes place in modern France and uses the normal continuing storyline of the series. Lapinot and Nadia are now a couple and they retire for a few days to the countryside in the house of Nadia's uncle. Nadia, working as a TV journalist, wants to find unique and interesting people to interview, hiring Lapinot as her assistant. As the story goes on and as they keep meeting new people, several mysterious events occur, sometimes related to each other, sometimes unrelated. It also seems the house of Nadia's uncle is haunted.

Category:French comics

This adventure takes place in modern France and uses the normal continuing storyline of the series. Lapinot and Nadia are still working together (see the previous volume ''Pour de vrai''), this time doing radio interviews. Things don't always go smoothly and work-related arguments lead to tensions in their couple. They most notably meet with a group of radicals with originally noble goals but questionable methods. At the same time, Richard becomes convinced his neighbour is an alien.

Category:French comics

This adventure takes place in modern France and uses the normal continuing storyline of the series. Lapinot meets with all his friends for a party in the apartment he shares with his girlfriend Nadia. There, a tarot card reader predicts someone in the room will die before the next day. Lapinot and Nadia break up and pretty much all the other characters suffer various misfortunes: for example, Richard is beaten up and falls into a coma, and Titi is diagnosed with cancer.

It turns out to be Lapinot, the main character of the series, who dies as the story finishes. After the book's publication, Trondheim explained in his book ''Désoeuvré'' that the death of his character didn't exclude the possibility of seeing him again in stock historical settings or in modern-day flashbacks before his death. In August 2017, however, the graphic novel "Un monde un peu meilleur" brings back Lapinot in his established continuity, with the only difference being that he didn't die. The opening pages hint that the reader might be looking at a parallel universe were Lapinot lived.

Category:French comics

This volume is set in a stock historical setting, so to speak: the universe of the Spirou et Fantasio comic strip, which was a modern setting but with some added specific flavours. Lapinot plays the part of Spirou, while a newly introduced character plays the part of his friend Fantasio. They are both pursuing a gang of mysterious thieves who own a groundbreaking scientific invention, the atom accelerator. Neither the "Spirou", nor the "Fantasio" character are ever named.

Category:French comics

The manga takes place on the fantasy world of Orgos. Naoto Saki is the main character. Naoto was summoned to Orgos by the sorceress Lusia during a battle with her rival, Camu. Naoto, who previously visited the world many times before through his dreams as an invisible entity, gains a body and becomes visible to everyone else in Orgos. Naoto is initially not a welcome visitor among the rest of Lusia's group (who call themselves "Desert Coral"), but their aloof and unfriendly attitude gradually changes over time. The group known as Desert Coral never clearly state what their intentions are, but they primarily seem to be together in order to destroy the Elphis, a sadistic semi-immortal race that lives in the 'superior levels' of Orgos. It is later revealed that Naoto had visited this world before when he was a child. These prior visits by Naoto were apparently a means to escape reality after the death of his little sister. The world of Orgos is also revealed to be a dream created by Naoto to escape reality. It is later discovered that Lotus, Lusia's older brother and in one way or another related to every member of Desert Coral, is trying to steal the world of Orgos from Naoto.

The firemen led by their foreman (Eric Campbell) practice in the fire station, but one is missing ... Charlie. He is still sleeping. The bell eventually wakes him and he slides down the pole to join the others. He reverses the pair of horses onto the fire engine and drives off, but without the others. He reverses the horses back again. Their first task is to polish the engine, but a lot of butt-kicking ensues.

During their meal break Charlie uses the engine as a giant water urn and serves an unappetising soup to the others.

A young woman comes to the station with her aristocratic father, and the foreman sends Charlie away so he can talk with the father. Charlie and the girl flirt on one side of the station while the girl's father (Bacon) arranges with the local fire chief to have his house burn down so he can collect the insurance money. In exchange for the chief's complicity in the arson, the father will permit the fire chief to marry his daughter.

However, a real fire breaks out elsewhere in the town. The owner uses a public alarm to signal to the station but Charlie and another fireman continue to play draughts and ignore the alarm, putting a cloth in the bell to stop it ringing. The worried man then phones the fire station but they still ignore him. Finally he goes to the fire station in person. Eventually Charlie understands the predicament, and finds the fire chief at the girl's house and the company rush to extinguish the fire. Charlie mans the hose but his aim is poor and the chief has to take over.

Meanwhile, the father deliberately sets a fire in the basement of his own house without realizing that his daughter is still inside the house on the upper floor. Upon knowing his daughter is in mortal danger from the fire, he rushes to find the fire chief to cancel the arrangement not to extinguish his house fire. The fireman (Chaplin), who is also in love with the daughter, abandons the first house fire (taking the fire engine and water) to rush to the second one. The water tank falls off during the rush. He heroically scales the outside of the building to save her, carrying her back down the face of the building, but then fainting. When he revives he and the girl go off arm in arm.

Zixx is an Intergalactic Network (simplified as the Network) agent who has crash landed onto Earth with her partner Flanngo. As luck would have it, Earth also happens to be a hotbed of activity for the evil Onccalon and the Hargokk Empire. Zixx has no intention of letting him win, so she and Flanngo need to find a way to access the Network and make sure they can get to the next level of the Keep before Onccalon's henchmen do.

Level 1

Zixx and Flanngo need to find a way into the Keep, a trans-dimensional antimatter field (a cyber dimension resembling a video game), the last legacy of the ancient Gaanth race, the leaders of the Network (reminiscent of ''Tron''). The difference is that death is permanent if they die in the keep. Reluctantly accepting the help of earthlings, Adam and Griff, the four need to move fast and finish level one of the Keep, to do so they will need to recover the six fragments of a crystal that are scattered throughout the level. When the crystal is whole and combined with the crystal base, it shows the map to the three neuropods buried deep within the level that, when solved, show the path to the next level. They must accomplish all of this before Onccalon's henchman Deeth does.

Level 2

Having made it to the shifting labyrinth of level 2, Zixx and Flanngo have gotten a nice inventory upgrade, but seem to have lost their pals Adam and Griff. Finding their new Earth location outside of the Keep to be a quiet rural town called Glen River, they find themselves forming a new team composed of their new friends Riley, Meghan, and Dwayne. Zixx needs to keep one step ahead of her foes. Unlike the previous level, level 2 changes layout randomly making it difficult to find locations again. Zixx and her new team must find the key to the golden gate, the portal to the next level, but it is not as easy because the gate also shifts around. They will need to hurry and beat various new agents of the Hargokk Empire, as well as finding out that Onccalon is still alive and regenerating now they need the help of Adam and Griff.

Level 3

Zixx is thrilled when her team enters Level Three intact. The challenges of Level Three turn out to be far greater than the previous levels, requiring puzzle solving to gain upgrades and somewhere on this level in the Keep, Onccalon is growing ever stronger and is about to be resurrected. Only the most powerful weapon of all time can defeat Onccalon, and so the race is on to find the Sword of Gaanth, which is split into a hilt, a blade and six Vortrian gems. If they fail, then the last remaining Gaanth who resides within the sword will destroy the entire universe before Onccalon can rule it. In the end, Onccalon is destroyed by Zixx using the Gaanth, and Zixx, Flanngo and Tarphex go back to their home planet.

In ''Michigan'', players take the role of a rookie cameraman for ZaKa TV, the entertainment division of the powerful ZaKa conglomerate. Accompanied by Brisco, an outspoken sound engineer, and Pamela, a reporter, the player is sent to investigate a mysterious mist that has descended over the city. The player quickly discovers that the mist is somehow transforming people into fleshy, leech-like monsters with human limbs. Pamela is attacked by the creatures, and is later found in the process of transforming into one. The player, Brisco, and a new female reporter are sent to investigate the source of the monster outbreak.

It is eventually revealed that the cause of the monsters is a mutative virus developed by a scientist, Dr. O'Conner, intended to be used as a biological weapon against the enemies of the United States. The virus was developed with the complicity of the U.S. military, the U.S. government, as well as the powerful ZaKa group for whom the protagonists work.

After unsuccessfully attempting to retrieve a vaccine for the virus, the camera crew attempt to evacuate the city by heading to an airport on the outskirts of the city where a military evacuation transport is supposed to arrive. At the airport, the group encounters a strange young man who appears to be intellectually disabled. He somewhat disjointedly reveals that he was Dr. O'Conner's original guinea pig, and begins to run around and yell immaturely in a bizarre manner. After the player commands the reporter to shoot the strange man, he transforms into a massive pile of mutated flesh before exploding messily. With the man's death, the mist clears, and Brisco theorizes he was the cause of both the mist and the monster outbreak.

In the game's epilogue, the camera crew approach a nearby lighthouse, which the military has ordered them to activate so that the transport plane can locate them and pick them up. While the tired reporter waits outside, Brisco and the cameraman ascend the lighthouse and activate the light at the top. Suddenly, Brisco begins to mutate; the cameraman flees, and the Brisco-creature laughs maniacally before escaping out a window.

The game ends with a final film clip of the cameraman, whose appearance is determined by the player's actions, speaking in front of his camera. In three of the endings, the cameraman attempts to reveal the identity of the people behind the virus, but is killed by an unseen assassin before he gives a name. If the player has obtained a high enough amount of "Immoral" points, the cameraman claims responsibility for the outbreak.

Characters

• '''The Cameraman''': The player character, a rookie cameraman for ZaKa TV. He is a silent protagonist, who does not speak or appear during the course of the game, until the game's conclusion. His appearance differs depending on the ending the player receives. In the "Immoral" ending, the cameraman is named '''Andy Steamboat''' (voiced by Chris Koprowski), and in the "Erotic" ending, he is named '''Teddie Snooker''' (voiced by Jack Merluzzi). His name is not given in the "Suspense" and "High Immoral" endings, although the credits purport that his name is '''Dwight Murdoch''' (voiced by Robert Tsonos) in the former and '''Diego Morales''' (voiced by Jack Merluzzi) in the latter.
• '''Jean-Phillppe Brisco ''' (voiced by Greg Irwin): The outspoken and excitable sound engineer/boom operator, Brisco will accompany the player throughout the entire game. Unlike the reporters, he cannot be killed during normal gameplay.
• '''Ann Anderson, Carly Reis, Justine Rhoades, Paula Orton, and Mark Bockwinkle''' (voiced by Lynn Harris, Terry Osada, Peggy Woo, Rumiko Varnes, and Chris Koprowski): Five reporters for ZaKa TV. If one of them dies, the next in line will replace them as the player's reporter in the next level.
• '''Pamela Martel''' (voiced by Bianca Allen): The player's reporter in the game's tutorial level and ZaKa TV's star reporter.
• '''Nina Valkov''' (voiced by Rachel Walzer): A young woman who serves as the player's reporter in a mandatory level regardless of the fate of previous levels' reporters. Not actually a ZaKa TV reporter, she is in a relationship with an employee.
• '''Debora Flair''' (voiced by Bianca Allen): The cold and mysterious chief of ZaKa TV. She sends several ZaKa TV crews to cover the monster outbreak without warning them of the dangers involved. Brisco believes that she is partially responsible for the monster outbreak, but whether or not this is true is never established during the game.

Half the youth of Europe is at war but Acasto, a nobleman retired from court and living in the country, encourages his sons Castalio and Polydore to stay home, study art and politics, and avoid the company of women. As well as having a daughter, Serina, Acasto is the guardian of a young girl, Monimia. Both Castalio and Polydore are in love with Monimia but Castalio, being the first-born twin, claims to have the right to woo her first. He secretly contracts himself to Monimia in marriage but Polydore overhears and makes plans to replace Castalio on the wedding night. Using the wedding-night signal of ''"three soft strokes on the chamber door"'' he is allowed access to Monimia's bedroom. When Castalio then attempts to enter the room using the same signal he is believed to be Polydore, and turned away. When everything is discovered and explained the next day, there is only the prospect of death for those involved. In the end, Polydore provokes Castalio into a duel and runs into his brother's sword on purpose, after which Monimia takes a fatal draught of poison and Castalio stabs himself.

Many contended that the illegal fighting tournament in Southtown was sponsored by the gangland syndicate "Mephistopheles" to achieve the annihilation of their rivals and procure some operating capital. After its "King," Duke, suffered defeat at the hands of Alba Meira in the finals, he and his organization vanished from Southtown. Meanwhile, the media, firmly under Duke's control, released a fusillade of sensational exposés based on information from confidential sources regarding their former oppressors. In spite of this new torrent of "information," almost no one knew that an even larger entity had been pulling Mephistopheles' puppet strings.

The truth behind the Addes organization name was only known throughout the dark recesses of the underworld. No one really had an inkling as to what this organization truly entailed. Now, another of Addes was to reveal a new battle royale. Invitations in white envelopes were sent to the world's mightiest, who will find the call to the battle by Addes irresistible.

As stated in Alba Meira's private novel by Akihiko Ureshino on the official ''KOF Maximum Impact 2'' site (which serves as an official follow up to the story of ''KOF Maximum Impact 2''), Alba was in fact the one who defeated Jivatma and Luise. Soiree was kidnapped as a result of that and Alba has not seen him since then.

The two cats pursuing Speedy in ''Cat-Tails for Two'' are the slow-witted (and injury-causing) Benny and the fully functioning but unfortunate George, both patterned after the characters Lennie and George in the novel ''Of Mice and Men''. George and Benny are walking down a pier looking for food, when they find a Mexican ship. Figuring the ship will have plenty of Mexican mice, i.e. "Mexican food" (Benny: "It gives me the heartburn and I love it!"), they climb on, only to find an unkempt mouse calling himself "Speedy Gonzales: The Fastest Mouse in All Mexico".

George and Benny go through numerous attempts to capture Speedy, who always outwits them. Speedy comes to think of them as private entertainment, at one point declaring "I like those fellows. All the time having ''fon'' (fun)!" Among the cats' failed attempts:

1. A crate full of "Acme Anvils" set above a piece of cheese. With Benny holding the rope and George setting the bait, Speedy gives Benny a scare from behind, causing him to let go of the rope and the crate to flatten George. As punishment, George swings down on Benny's cranium with a mallet, but the mallet bounces off Benny's head right on top of his own! When Benny asks "Why did you hit yourself on the head for, George?", the slap-happy cat answers: "I like it, I like it!!"

2. George sets up seven pieces of cheese with dynamite-stick booby traps throughout the ship, but doesn't have a match to light the sticks. Speedy taunts George with a match and sets him up to take the explosions. Benny comes to the rescue by cooling George down, but misinterprets a bucket of petrol as "a funny way to spell 'water'" leaving him half furless.

3. A pipe with one end disguised as an entranceway to a cabaret and Benny standing at the other end with a mallet. When Speedy enters the pipe, George fires a skyrocket in behind him, the idea being to force Speedy out into the path of the mallet. But the rocket unexpectedly yanks George through the pipe behind it. Speedy is too fast for Benny, and Benny ends up clobbering George when he is pulled out the other side turning his head into a mallet size.

Finally, the two cats run a pipe into Speedy's hiding place (to the tune of Raymond Scott's ''Powerhouse''), but Speedy grabs a wrench and bends the pipe back around to the cats, unbeknownst to them. George starts shoving a lot of dynamite into the pipe, resulting in a mountain of TNT piling up behind him and Benny. When George is done shoving dynamite through the pipe, he lights the last stick with a match, and the mountain of dynamite blasts him and Benny up into the air. As they descend, Benny asks George about their Mexican dinner, with George responding "I kind of lost my appetite for Mexican food," before both cats plunge into the harbor. A smug Speedy looks at the camera and declares "I love those fellows. They're so see-lee (silly)!"

Two sombrero-wearing cats, Jose and Manuel, are singing while relaxing on the "Avenida de Gatos" when they are taunted by Speedy Gonzales. After Manuel fails to catch Speedy, Jose informs Manuel that Speedy is "the fastest mouse in all Mexico" and that they will have to use their brains, not their feet, to catch him. The pair set off for Speedy's home in Guadalajara where they again fail to capture him. During their struggles, Manuel gets hit on the head by Jose with a guitar, Jose hooks Speedy with a fishing line and gets towed to Los Angeles, Manuel gets blown up by dynamite, and both cats get blown up in a minefield that they constructed.

Jose and Manuel are sitting on top of a wall after failing to outsmart and catch Speedy. Manuel laments they should have gone after Speedy's cousin, Slowpoke Rodriguez, the "slowest mouse in all Mexico". Jose is convinced to go after him and runs off. Manuel desperately tries to catch up to warn him about Slowpoke and his reputation. No sooner than Jose arrives at the mouse house and catches him, Slowpoke shoots him. Manuel finally catches up and tells Jose exactly what he was trying to warn him about Slowpoke: "He pack a gun". Slowpoke blows steam off his gun and returns to his mouse hole, leaving the charred Jose to lament, "'''Now''' he tolls me."

It is Halloween night, and Witch Hazel is concocting a batch of witch's brew. As she goes about her business, she pauses at her magic mirror and asks it who is the ugliest one of all. The genie in the mirror replies that she, Witch Hazel, is the ugliest one of all. Hazel explains to the audience that she is "deathly afraid" of getting prettier as she grows older; then laughs this notion off as the absurdity it is.

Meanwhile, Bugs Bunny is out trick-or-treating dressed as a witch, his face hidden by an ugly green mask. He calls on Witch Hazel, who, seeing his costume, mistakes him for an actual witch ("I don't remember seeing ''her'' at any of the union meetings."). After making a comment about Bugs' appearance ("Isn't she the ugliest little thing?"), she dashes to her magic mirror and asks it a second time who is the ugliest one of all. The genie looks towards Bugs, also thinks that he is a witch and replies that he actually finds Bugs far uglier.

The jealous witch then hatches a plot: she invites the disguised Bugs in for tea, and prepares a potion containing an assortment of beauty enhancers. Bugs is about to drink the tea when he remembers that he is still wearing his mask and takes it off. Seeing that her "rival" is a rabbit, Witch Hazel dashes off to consult her cookbook. Sure enough, one of the ingredients for the brew she was making earlier is a rabbit's clavicle.

While she is gone, Bugs suspects that there is trouble afoot and makes to leave, but he is stopped by Witch Hazel brandishing a meat cleaver. Bugs flees, with the cackling witch chasing him through the house. During the chase, Hazel dashes to her magic broom closet to grab her flying broomstick to keep up with Bugs, but the broom she mounts starts sweeping the floor with her clinging to it until she lets go ("Crazy me, that was my ''sweeping'' broom!"). Bugs takes shelter behind a wall; Witch Hazel, using a carrot on a fishing rod, manages to capture him.

Back at her cauldron, Hazel prepares to kill Bugs and use him in her potion. She is about to bring her cleaver down on the trussed-up rabbit, but he plays to her sympathies, gazing back at her with tear-filled doe eyes. Overcome with mercy, Witch Hazel bursts into tears, saying his innocent face reminds her of Paul, her pet tarantula. Bugs tries to comfort her by bringing her the cup of beauty elixir disguised as tea, which she unknowingly drinks. Hazel instantly changes into a curvy redheaded beauty (a caricature of what Hazel's voice actress, June Foray, looked like at the time) as Milt Franklyn strikes up "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" in the background.

Horrified, Hazel dashes to her magic mirror a third time and asks the genie (in a much more gentle and dulcet tone, Foray's natural voice) who is the ugliest one of all. Upon seeing this beauty, the genie gives a very Bob Hope-like "ROWR, ROWR!", and immediately falls for her. Hazel retreats as he, intending to grab her, lunges from the mirror. She flees on her flying broom—unfortunately, the genie is chasing her on his flying carpet, and he is slowly catching up. Bugs (who has somehow managed to free his arms from his bonds) promptly calls the local air raid headquarters on Hazel's telephone to report "a genie with light brown hair chasin' a flying sorceress!".

Ten years after crime lord Geese Howard's death, the city of Southtown has become more peaceful, leading it to be known as the Second Southtown in reference to having formerly been corrupted by Geese. A new fighting tournament called "King of Fighters: Maximum Mayhem" starts in the area, and several characters related with the fighters from the previous King of Fighters tournaments participate in it.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 is heard over the opening credits, featuring Carnegie Hall parody "Corny-gie Hall". Afterwards, a musicologist, played by Elmer Fudd appears in an ill-fitting tuxedo, unshaven and in glasses, parodying Deems Taylor in ''Fantasia''.

The first of the two musical segments is set to Strauss' waltz Tales from the Vienna Wood. Porky Pig plays Elmer Fudd's usual role of hunter, accompanied by his hunting dog. Porky explains what he is doing via a sign reading, "I'm hunting that @!!*@ rabbit!!", which turns out to be Bugs Bunny. A series of visual gags ensue, culminating with all three characters believing that they have been shot. After Porky and the dog realize that they are unharmed, they attempt to give first aid to the apparently fatally wounded Bugs, as the dog bawls in tune with the music. When Porky finally pries Bugs' clenched hands off the supposed gunshot wound in his chest, Bugs is revealed to have a baby blue bra underneath. Emitting a scream of modesty, Bugs caps the bra over the bewildered hunters' heads and then, wearing a tutu and pointe shoes, gracefully dances off into the distance, falling over at the music's climax.

Fudd returns briefly to introduce the second segment, Strauss' The Blue Danube waltz. Young Daffy Duck attempts to join the three cygnets (baby swans) who follow their mother swan, all paddling around in waltz time; the mother consistently violently rebuffs the "ugly duckling" because he looks and sounds so different from her own brood. Meanwhile, a large buzzard with a "hep cat" hairdo spots the troupe and goes "Out To Brunch" by swooping down and sprinkling salt and pepper on the cygnets. He plucks each out of the water (the last youngster is revealed to be fitted with a tiny outboard motor), then grabs Daffy, but immediately puts him back with a sign reading "Rejected 4F" (unfit for military service). Upon realizing her children are gone, the mother swan faints and Daffy becomes shocked. Upon seeing the Buzzard making off with the cygnets, Daffy gets angry, takes on the aspect of a Curtiss P-40 fighter aircraft and buzzes the Buzzard, who literally turns yellow, drops the cygnets (who parachute back to the water) and flees. Daffy stuns the Buzzard then hands him a drum of TNT which blows him sky high. The buzzard is last seen gliding towards heaven (via an attached balloon) in angel garb, strumming a harp. The cartoon ends with the swan family and Daffy merrily quacking the Blue Danube as they glide across the water together. They wave goodbye to the audience as the cartoon ends.

A destitute Sylvester rummages through trash in search of food. Nearly out of luck, the cat hears singing coming from atop a tall tree inside an enclosure, looks up and sees Tweety. Sylvester, eager for his supper, rushes inside the enclosure ... unaware that the enclosure is the city dog pound. Sylvester gets attacked and driven from the pound by an army of bulldogs, whose purpose in life seemingly is to protect Tweety from predators.

Wanting to get by the dogs, Sylvester employs the following tricks, all of them ending in failure:

Holding an umbrella for balance, the cat walks across a guide wire connecting a light pole and the tree. The dogs collectively blow a gust of doggie breath at their foe, causing Sylvester to lose his balance and fall into the waiting horde of dogs. Digging a tunnel beneath the dog pound, to get at the tree unnoticed and snatch Tweety. The dogs, already having anticipated this latest scheme, have dug their own tunnel and wait for Sylvester to break through to their side. They attack Sylvester and chase him back to the tunnel entrance. Once he's all the way out of the tunnel, he closes it up with a shovel and forces the dogs back in. A dog suit. The dogs startle their new "companion", causing the head to come loose, and Sylvester quickly tries to secure it before the dogs notice. However, either having already noticed or never being fooled from the start, the dogs reject Sylvester (as a fake dog) and force him to flee. The cat temporarily gets away, but the city dog catcher quickly returns him to his "home" (and a further beating). Sylvester tries to climb over the fence, but the fence knocks him to the ground as a dog comes on the outside. The dog goes back in, flipping the fence frame back and revealing Sylvester having been clobbered. Mass hypnotism, which momentarily evens the odds; by staring at the dogs, Sylvester is able to freeze and paralyze the dogs in place. Sylvester easily grabs Tweety, who panics and helplessly yells to his protectors to rescue him. When Sylvester blurts out the secret to un-freezing the dogs (a police whistle), Tweety instantly provides one and begins to blow ... except Sylvester quickly sees that coming and places a glass over Tweety. But Tweety fights back by poking Sylvester's palm with a needle ... and breaking the dogs out of their trance. Entering an empty dog pound, Sylvester tries climbing the tree ... only to discover the dogs waiting on the branches. Blasting himself off in a rocket. The rocket shoots without him and he is shown furless. A swing, which Sylvester hopes will allow him to swing harmlessly above the dogs to the tree. However, the swing's reach is too low, and the dogs are able to get at Sylvester ... who never returns to the outside.

The final attempt nearly works: Painting a phony skunk stripe down his back to scare the dogs away. This plan proves to work too well: just as he grabs Tweety and makes his getaway, he is intercepted by Pepé Le Pew who mistakes Sylvester for a female skunk and tries to make love to him. While Sylvester tries to break free from Pepé's grasp, Tweety looks on and comments, "That puddy tat has turned into an awful stinker!" Pepé's high-pitched kissing sounds are heard just before the "That's all, Folks!" title card appears.

Clayton Riddell, a struggling artist from Maine, has just landed a graphic novel deal in Boston when "The Pulse", a signal sent out over the global cell phone network, suddenly turns every cell phone user into mindless zombie-like killers. Clay is standing in Boston Common when the Pulse hits, causing chaos to erupt around him near an ice cream truck. Civilization crumbles as the "phoners" attack each other and anyone in view.

Amidst the chaos, Clay is thrown together with middle-aged Thomas McCourt and fifteen-year-old Alice Maxwell; the trio escapes to Tom's suburban home as Boston burns. The next day, they learn the "phoners" have begun foraging for food and banding together. Clay is still determined to return to Maine and reunite with his young son, Johnny. Having no better alternatives, Tom and Alice come with him. They trek north by night across a devastated New England, having fleeting encounters with other survivors and catching disturbing hints about the activities of the phoners, who still attack non-phoners on sight.

Crossing into New Hampshire, they arrive at the Gaiten Academy, a prep school with one remaining teacher, Headmaster Charles Ardai, and one surviving pupil, Jordan. The pair show the newcomers where the local phoner flock goes at night: they pack themselves into the Academy's soccer field and "switch off" until morning. It is clear the phoners have become a hive mind and are developing psychic abilities. The five survivors decide they must destroy the flock and, using two propane tankers, they succeed in doing so.

Clay tries to get everyone to flee the scene, but the others refuse to abandon the elderly Ardai. That night, all of the survivors share the same horrific dream: each dreamer sees himself in a stadium, surrounded by phoners, as a disheveled man wearing a Harvard University hooded sweatshirt approaches, bringing their death. Waking, the heroes share their frightening dream experiences and dub him "the Raggedy Man". A new flock surrounds their residence, and the "normies" face the flock's metaphorical spokesman: the man in the Harvard hoodie. The flock kills other normals in reprisal and orders the protagonists to head north to a spot in Maine called "Kashwak". To stop their main objection, the flock psychically compels Ardai to commit suicide. Clay and the others bury him and travel north, as Clay is still determined to go home.

En route, they learn that as "flock-killers" they have been psychically marked as untouchables, to be shunned by other normies. Following a petty squabble on the road, Alice is killed by a loutish pair of normies. The group buries her and arrives in Clay's hometown of Kent Pond, where they discover notes from Johnny which tell them Clay's estranged wife Sharon was turned into a phoner, but their son survived for several days, before he and the other normies were prompted by the phoners to head to the supposedly cell phone-free Kashwak. Clay has another nightmare which reveals that once there, the normie refugees were all exposed to the Pulse. He remains intent on finding his son, but after meeting another group of flock-killers, Tom and Jordan decide to avoid the ceremonial executions the phoners have planned. Before separating, the group discovers that Alice's murderers were psychically compelled into a gruesome suicide act for touching an untouchable.

Clay sets off alone, but the others soon reappear driving a small school bus; the phoners have used their ever-increasing psychic powers to force them to rejoin him. One of the flock-killers, construction worker Ray Huizenga, surreptitiously gives Clay a cell phone and a phone number, telling him to use them when the time is right; Ray then commits suicide. The group arrives at Kashwak, the site of a half-assembled county fair, where increasing numbers of phoners are beginning to behave erratically and break out of the flock. Jordan theorizes that a computer program caused the Pulse and that, while it is still broadcasting into the battery-powered cell phone network, it has become corrupted with a computer worm that has infected the newer phoners with a mutated Pulse. Nevertheless, an entire army of phoners is waiting for them and Clay notices Sharon is among them. The phoners lock the group in the fair's exhibition hall for the night; tomorrow is the ceremonial execution to be psychically broadcast to all phoners and remaining normies in the world.

As Clay awaits their morning execution, he sees Ray's unspoken plan: Ray had filled the rear of the bus with explosives, wired a phone-triggered detonator to them and killed himself to prevent the phoners from telepathically discovering the explosives. The group breaks a window for Jordan to squeeze through and he drives the vehicle into the midst of the inert phoners. Thanks to a jury-rigged cell phone patch set up by the pre-Pulse fair workers, Clay is able to detonate the bomb and wipe out the Raggedy Man and his flock.

The majority of the group heads into Canada, to let the approaching winter wipe out the region's unprotected and leaderless phoners. Clay heads south, seeking his son. He finds Johnny, who received a "corrupted" Pulse; he wandered away from Kashwak and seems to almost recognize his father. However, Johnny is an erratic shadow of his former self and so, following another theory of Jordan's, Clay decides to give Johnny another blast from the Pulse, hoping the increasingly corrupted signal will cancel itself out and reset his son's brain. The book ends with Clay dialing and placing the cell phone to Johnny's ear.

Much like in ''Hair-Raising Hare'', Bugs (after being flooded out of his rabbit hole while sleeping during a heavy rain) finds himself trapped in the castle of an "evil scientist" (the neon sign outside his castle says so, punctuated with a second flashing line, "BOO"), a caricature of Boris Karloff, and needs a living brain to complete an experiment, shown to be a giant robot (Bugs' brain is declared to be "A wee bit small, but it will have to do."). When Bugs awakens, he is terrified when he sees a mummy, the scientist ("Eh, eh, eh, w-w-what's up, doc?"), a sarcophagus ("What's going on around here?") and the robot ("Where am I anyway?"), eventually running away after the terror of seeing all three. The scientist sends out an orange, hairy monster he calls "Rudolph" to retrieve him, with the promise of being rewarded with a spider goulash.

In a scene very similar to the one in ''Hair-Raising Hare'', Bugs keeps running until a trap door on the floor opens and a rock falls into a water pit, where there are crocodiles swimming around and snapping their jaws in the air. While he is walking backwards and praying, thankful he did not fall, he bumps into the monster. Bugs comes up with an idea ("Uh oh. Think fast, rabbit!") and makes as a gabby hairdresser, giving the hairy monster a new hairdo ("My stars! Where did you ever get that awful hairdo? It doesn't become you at all. Here, for goodness' sake, let me fix it up. Look how stringy and messy it is. What a shame! Such an ''interesting'' monster, too. My stars, if an ''interesting'' monster can't have an ''interesting'' hairdo, then I don't know what things are coming to. In my business, you meet so many ''interesting people''. Bobby pins, please. But the most ''interesting'' ones are the monsters. Oh, dear, that'll never stay. We'll just have to have a permanent.") He gets some dynamite sticks and places them in the monster's hair, which give the appearance of curlers. He lights them and runs off ("Now, I've got to give an ''interesting'' old lady a manicure; but I'll be back before you're done.") just before the explosion, which leaves the monster with a bald head.

The monster, after tying his hair over the spot, goes after Bugs. In the chemical room, Bugs sees a bottle of "vanishing fluid" and pours it all over himself, becoming invisible ("Hmm,... Not bad."). As the monster looks around for Bugs in the chemical room, Bugs gets a trash can and dumps it on the monster. Then he gets a mallet and hits the trash can, causing it to shake, then pulls out the rug the monster is standing on from underneath his feet, causing him to fall on his bottom when he takes the trash can off and looks around. For the ''coup de grâce'', Bugs takes a bottle of "reducing oil" and pours the entire contents over the monster, shrinking him as he lets out a roar. Putting on a suit, coat and hat and grabbing two suitcases, the monster enters a mouse hole, kicks its resident out and slams the door, which bears a sign saying "I QUIT!", much to the agreement of the mouse, who, while holding up a bottle of whiskey ("xxx"), says "I quit too.", then dashes away.

Bugs, still invisible, eats a carrot in satisfaction of getting rid of the monster ("Well, that's that."). Suddenly, the mad scientist makes him visible with "hare restorer" ("Never send a monster to do the work of an evil scientist."), insisting the rabbit hand over his brain ("Now be a cooperative little bunny and let me have your brain."). When Bugs refuses ("Uh, sorry doc, but I '''need''' what little I've got."), the scientist throws a hatchet straight at him. Bugs ducks and the axe smashes open a large bottle of ether, resulting in the fumes drugging both Bugs and the scientist. In slow motion, the groggy scientist chases after an equally groggy Bugs while issuing demands ("Come...back...here...you...rab...bit!") (Carl Stalling cleverly punctuates the chase by playing a slow, "drowsy" version of the William Tell Overture). Bugs slowly trips the scientist, who while slowly floating to the floor falls asleep saying "Nighty-night.".

Still slowly, Bugs runs out of the castle and across the horizon, trips over a rock and, just like the scientist falls asleep, saying "Nighty-night", landing in a stream which leads Bugs straight back into his flooded hole. Suddenly waking up, he declares that it must have been a nightmare. The miniature monster passes by on a rowboat and tells him in a high-pitched voice, "Oh yeah!? That's what ''you'' think!", leaving Bugs with a confused look on his face.

''Lisey's Story'' is the story of Lisey Landon, the widow of a famous and wildly successful novelist, Scott Landon. The book tells two stories—Lisey's story in the present, and the story of her dead husband's life, as remembered by Lisey during the course of the novel.

It has been two years since the death of famous author Scott Landon, and his widow Lisey (pronounced ) is still in the process of cleaning out her husband's writing area. Over the past two years many academics have come to her hoping to find some piece of writing she might have missed, like an unpublished manuscript. Lisey has sent each away in their turn explaining that she's still working through the clean up, although her lack of progress speaks more to procrastination. Her mentally fragile sister Amanda spends a day with her, searching through stacks of books and magazines to earmark any pictures where Lisey appears or is mentioned. Lisey begins to relive her past, starting with the time she saved Scott from being fatally shot by an insane fan. She often stops herself mid-reminiscence to avoid uncovering terrifying memories. After Amanda discovers that her ex-husband has remarried and is moving back to town she slices open her hands and slips into catatonia. Before admitting Amanda to an institution Lisey hears her sister speaking in Scott's voice, telling her he has created a "bool" hunt with a prize at the end. One day she receives a disturbing phone call from a man calling himself Zack McCool, claiming that if Lisey doesn't hand over Scott's documents to a professor she had recently chased away he, Zack, would be forced to hurt her. His next step is to leave her a threatening letter and a dead cat in her mailbox. At this point Lisey alerts the authorities, although the most they can offer her is a patrol car stationed by her home unless an emergency arises elsewhere. This does not deter Zack in the least and he eventually sneaks onto her property and mutilates her with a can opener.

Throughout the book Lisey begins to face certain realities about her husband that she had repressed and forgotten. She recalls Scott's past—how he came from a family with a history of horrible mental illness that manifested as either an uncontrollable homicidal mania or as a deep catatonia, how he had a special gift, an ability to transport himself to another world, which he called "Boo'ya Moon" with its own unique dangers, how Scott Landon's brother Paul was killed by their father when, at thirteen, Paul succumbed to the family disease and attempted to kill Scott, and how Scott really died.

Using her own repressed ability to cross over to Boo'ya Moon, Lisey is able to pull Amanda out of her catatonia, bring Zack to the other world, and lure him to his grisly death at the claws of a vicious world-crossing beast that stalks the forest of Boo'ya Moon.

The prize at the end of the hunt is a diary of Scott's last days with his family, ending with Scott Landon's confession that he was forced to kill his own father to save him from the madness that had finally taken him over.

Over the next week Lisey is able to pack and give up Scott's things, as she now believes he has moved on. Now Lisey has a hard time keeping herself grounded in this world, often finding that she slips back to Boo'ya Moon in her sleep and sometimes while awake. The book ends with her saying goodbye to Scott in the now-empty study.

The cartoon starts with Elmer Fudd sitting under a tree, crying over his failure to catch Bugs. The "voice of God" tells Elmer to keep trying to catch him. Elmer wonders how long it will take and is shown exactly ''how'' long by being transported "far into the future" past the years 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, until reaching the then-distant year of A.D. 2000, after the sound of the gong.

This offers the chance to use some contemporary gags with a futuristic twist, as Elmer finds a year 2000 newspaper called ''The Daily Rocket''. The front page reads, "Bing Crosby's Horse Hasn't Come In Yet!" (Crosby was known for investing in racehorses that did poorly). Another article says, "Smellevision Replaces Television: Carl Stalling Sez It Will Never Work!" Yet another article, not mentioned by Elmer, states, "Quintuplets Give Birth To Quintuplets."

By now, both Elmer and Bugs are very old and wrinkled ("What's up, prune-face", "Not so fast, there, Grandpa!")—Bugs even has a large white beard, a cane, and lumbago—but their chase resumes. This time, Elmer is armed with an "original Buck Rogers lightning-quick rabbit killer" gun (with a powerful recoil). After a short chase, at slow speed, due to their ages, Elmer gets the upper hand, shooting Bugs with his ultra-modern weapon, with added Pinball effects and "TILT".

At the moment when it seems Elmer has finally beaten his nemesis, the apparently dying Bugs thinks back to when he and Elmer were much younger. This leads to a flashback sequence with a baby Elmer hunting a baby Bugs—both are still in diapers; Bugs is drinking carrot juice from a baby bottle; Elmer is crawling and toting a pop-gun; and they interrupt their chase to briefly take a baby nap-time together.

After the flashback is over, a tearful Bugs starts to dig his own grave, with Elmer getting equally emotional, but Bugs switches places with the weeping and distracted Elmer and cheerfully buries him alive instead. Elmer quips, "that pesky wabbit is out of my life forever and ever!" However, Bugs suddenly pops in and repeats the popular catchphrase of the "Richard Q. Peavey" character from ''The Great Gildersleeve'', "Well, now, I wouldn't say ''that''," plants a kiss on a startled Elmer, then hands him a large firecracker, lights the fuse and quickly departs as the screen immediately fades to black with the firecracker still hissing. The pre-written "That's all, Folks!" card appears, and the firecracker blows up in a tremendous explosion off-screen, rumbling and shaking the title card, leaving Elmer's fate unknown.

The protagonist of the series is the monk-in-training Ikkou Satonaka, who transforms into a super-monk with the ability to perform mass exorcisms for the girls he lives with (Note: In the anime, he transforms from seeing a naked girl). He lives in the Saienji Temple as a Buddhist priest in training with six other nuns: Haruka Amanogawa, Sumi Ikuina, Hinata and Sakura Sugai, Chitose Nanbu and Yuuko Atouda, each of whom represents one of the bosatsu of the six lower realms of the traditional Buddhist cosmology. Chitose is the main love interest and has a love-hate relationship with Ikkou which is somewhat typical in many other anime, involving numerous misunderstandings, beatings, and angry tirades where the male is clearly at a disadvantage to the female. A side effect of Ikkou using his ultimate power is that immediately afterwards he turns into an even bigger pervert than he normally is. The subject matter of the series is Ikkou's self-destructive power and the powers of the other nuns and their training to control these powers, as well as their (mostly non-romantic) relationships.

The plot focuses on the activities of Japan Air Self-Defense Force technician Takuya Isurugi, who is transferred to the 801st Tactical Training Squadron, an elite aerobatics team - originally a dumping ground for difficult cases and near-rejects -, at the beginning of the series. Isurugi is a shy otaku who initially makes a bad impression with the four pilots of the unit, all of whom are female.

The plot quickly turns into that of a love triangle when two of the pilots, Miyuki Haneda and Arisa Mitaka, fall in love with the surprised Isurugi. This inflames their already-existing rivalry, which causes trouble for their co-operation in the air. With the JASDF already considering disbanding their unit, Isurugi must persuade the girls to work together to improve their performance and save the team.

The first three episodes circulate around the love triangle between the pilots and Isurugi, however the remaining four episodes become more typical of an anime series and feature more comical and unusual plots (such as a food eating contest amongst the crew, visiting haunted locales etc.) as well as feature more explicit details behind some of the characters backgrounds.

Mma Ramotswe sits in her office, the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency. She has a secretary, and she has clients. She is in Gaborone the capital of Botswana, a place of which she is proud.

She is the only child of Obed Ramotswe, a man who worked long years in the mines in South Africa, until one day he witnessed a crime, and knew he had to leave the mines. He had married a year or two earlier, and their daughter was born in Mochudi. He was wise with the money he earned in the mines, using it to buy cattle and slowly grow his herd, watched by a cousin while he was in the mines. Not long after he returned, his wife died. A cousin, left by her husband because she was barren, came to help him raise his daughter Precious. The cousin taught her well, caring for her until a second man asked her to marry him, when Precious is about 10 years old. Precious continues at school until she is 16. Her father wants her to pursue more education, but she wants to stop school and does. She itches to see new places. She lives with her cousin and cousin's husband. He has a business running buses, and is doing well. She takes a job in the firm, and uncovers thievery by another employee, defrauding the company. Each weekend she takes a bus home to Mochudi to see her father. On one bus trip she meets a boy, a musician named Note Mokote. Soon he proposes marriage to her, going to her father for his permission. Precious is already pregnant at the marriage, but Note is not pleased at being a father. He beats his wife as part of his lovemaking, for any reason. Once she must see a doctor for treatment after a beating. On return home, he has left her. Her child lives only for five days. She heads back to Mochudi to be with her father until he dies from the lung disease he got in the mines, just after she is 34. Her father's herd is large, and the price was good. She sells some of the good herd of cattle to set up her office in Gaborone and buy a house there. The house is on Zebra Drive. The office is well-located.

She hires Mma Makutsi from the Secretarial College and the first client appears directly.

Stanislaus Demba, an honest, well-intentioned student with little money at his disposal, is desperately in love with Sonja Hartmann, an office girl easily impressed by young men with money—a superficial young woman who, by common consent, is not worthy of his love and adoration. When Demba learns that Sonja is about to go on a holiday with another man, he tries to sell some valuable old library tomes which he has borrowed but never returned to a shady antiques dealer so that he can offer Sonja a more expensive trip. The prospective buyer of the books, however, calls the police, and Demba is arrested. While he is being handcuffed Demba jumps out of an attic window and makes his escape.

It is nine o'clock in the morning, and Demba embarks on his odyssey by furtively wandering around the streets of Vienna while hiding his handcuffed hands under his overcoat. His two immediate aims now are (a) to get rid of his handcuffs by some means or other without being caught by the police and (b) to raise the money necessary for a trip to, say, Venice, Italy. People who realize that he is unwilling to show his hands either believe he is some kind of freak with a deformity or a dangerous criminal carrying a pistol. Throughout the first part of the novel, Demba repeatedly refers to "his hands being tied", but everyone—including the majority of readers—assumes that he is speaking metaphorically.

There is a twist ending to the novel.

After Jean Thatcher (Ware) has been injured in a car accident, her father, Judge Thatcher (Hinds) and beau, Jerry (Matthews) implore retired surgeon, Dr. Richard Vollin (Lugosi) to perform a delicate operation to restore her to health. Vollin is insensitive to human suffering and refuses to help, but a personal visit by Judge Thatcher, who tells him that in the opinion of Vollin's former hospital colleagues, only Vollin has the brilliance to perform the operation successfully, pleases his vanity and he agrees to assist.

After saving her life, Vollin befriends the spirited and grateful Jean, in the process revealing his passion for all things related to Edgar Allan Poe, including his homemade collection of torture devices inspired by Poe's works (such as a pit, pendulum with crescent razor, shrinking room, etc.), and identifying the raven as his talisman.

Vollin's attentions to Jean and her increasing admiration for him, convince her father to try and discourage Vollin from jeopardizing her engagement to Jerry. Angered, Vollin hatches a plan when Edmond Bateman, (Karloff, a murderer on the run), comes to his home asking for a new face so that he may live in anonymity. Vollin admits to not being a plastic surgeon, but says he can help Bateman and asks him to help in exacting revenge on Judge Thatcher, which he refuses. Bateman explains that he feels his violent personality is a result of his having been called ugly all his life, and he hopes a new face may help him reform. Vollin performs the surgery, but instead turns Bateman into a disfigured monster, promising only to operate again on Bateman when Vollin's revenge is exacted.

Vollin hosts a dinner party which includes Jean, Jerry and the Judge. During the night, some of the guests are subjected to Poe-inspired traps, while others are silenced by sleeping powders. Ultimately, Bateman is shot by Vollin as he rescues Jean and Jerry, but throws Vollin into the shrinking room where he is crushed to death, after which the guests escape.

Chun Jae-in, an orphan-turned-police detective, is assigned a job to go undercover in a high school to befriend Seung-hee, the daughter of notorious gangster Cha Young-jae, and protect her from any of her father's enemies who may want to use her as bait to get Cha Young-jae to do what they want, as well as get information about her father's work from her. At first, Jae-in is very reluctant to accept the job; however, her uncle, also a detective, pushes her at the last minute to take it. Jae-in is considered a loser when she first steps into her class, and the gang girls confront her afterward and challenge her to a fight at the backyard of the school. Jae-in, being a policewoman, easily beats them up. This earns her some sort of respect, although what Jae-in really wants is Seung-hee's friendship. She eventually gets this with the help of Kang No-young, a handsome classmate and next-door neighbor who she starts to like; however, Jae-in thinks her crush is wrong because of their age difference.

Meanwhile, a new teacher arrives at their school. Jae-in later is informed that he is also an undercover agent, working on her side. She becomes slightly suspicious of him and vaguely recognizes his face.

One day after school, Jae-in and other policemen spot Cha Young-jae outside an airport; they rush to catch him, but his rivals are also on the chase. They meet up in the parking lot, where Cha Young-jae is trapped. Suddenly a mysterious motorcycle rider speeds into the middle of the group and his motorcycle produces white smoke, therefore allowing Cha Young-jae to get away. Jae-in and other police go after the motorcycle driver, since Cha Young-jae has already gotten away. The undercover teacher also happens to be at the event and shoots at the motorcycle driver, but the driver gets away. Jae-in rushes after him, but the undercover teacher puts a gun to her head. She assumes it is not serious and runs after the driver, but all she finds is a watch strangely identical to that of No-young's. When she gets home, she knocks at No-young's door and confronts him about his watch. No-young shrugs it off and is playful; however, once he gets inside his apartment, he takes off his shirt, revealing a bullet wound to the camera. Jae-in does not know of this, but she suspects that No-young is also undercover as a spy.

Jae-in increasingly becomes more suspicious of No-young, although she is still head-over-heels about him. One day she challenges him to a Judo match during a physical education class at school. During the match, they vocally argue, although none of their classmates or the teacher seems to notice; by the end of the match, they both know of each other's real position as undercover agents. Jae-in thereafter confesses to Seung-hee that she is not really a schoolgirl, which in turn gets Seung-hee very upset.

Jae-in then receives news: her beloved uncle has been stabbed by an unknown person. She sobs, overcome with grief at the loss of her only family. The camera then shows her with Seung-hee in a car with a fellow policeman. The policeman betrays Jae-in and Seung-hee and leads them to the site where Cha Young-jae has been captured and is meeting with a rival gang leader. No-young arrives, and Jae-in teams up with him to fight off everyone. Jae-in goes to capture the rival gang leader; however, as she is handcuffing him, a gun is put to her head. She turns to see the undercover teacher, who was supposed to be on her side. He reveals to her that he was the one who stabbed her uncle, and she becomes overcome with rage. Meanwhile, No-young is wounded and running out of energy; as an undercover spy, he cannot reveal himself, for he would get caught. He slips away quietly as Jae-in punches the undercover teacher again and again. A police officer finally handcuffs the undercover teacher and leads him away. Cha Young-jae is sent off to an emergency room in an ambulance with Seung-hee, and Jae-in receives news that her uncle will get better.

The movie then cuts to a scene where Jae-in is undercover once again. It has been some time since the Cha Young-jae case, although the movie does not specifically say how long. This time, Jae-in is undercover as a singing nun. She bolts after a criminal down alleys and streets; finally, when she catches up with the criminal, she realizes he has already been knocked out by someone. She looks around and discovers No-young. She starts to punch him, but he blocks it. They reconcile and kiss.

The film follows rookie detective Jo Dee Fostar (Billy Zane) on his first case: apprehending a serial killer wanted for over 120 murders. To find the killer, Fostar enlists the help of convicted murderer Dr. Animal Cannibal Pizza (Deluise). During the investigation, Fostar's girlfriend, Jane Wine (Charlene Tilton) is asked by her boss to take a large sum of money to the bank; instead, she leaves town with the money. She decides to hide out at the Cemetery Motel, which is revealed to be a cemetery named Motel after its owner, Antonio Motel (Greggio). Jo must then enlist the help of Det. Balsam (Balsam) and Dr. Pizza to find not only the murderer, but his missing girlfriend. This takes the cast on many adventures at the Cemetery Motel. In the final confrontation, most of the characters are revealed to be other people in disguise.

Danny (Drew Johnson) and Missy (Corinna Harney) are childhood friends. Danny has dreams of making it in Major League Baseball while Missy doesn't really dream of anything except happiness. Danny rescues her from her abusive father (John Saxon) in High School and the two become inseparable. Inseparable, that is, until life comes between them.
Danny goes off to college to pursue baseball where he helps a friend who never played little league learn how to become a long ball hitter. Between Danny and John they lead their team to the college World Series. While this is happening, Missy gets mixed up with a guy who takes seductive pictures of her and paves the way for her to become a super model. During the College World Series Danny is hit by a line drive and knocked unconscious. Battling for his life, Missy leaves her boyfriend for Danny and goes to be with him at the hospital. Eventually pulling through, Danny and Missy become closer than ever until baseball once again comes between them. Danny sets Missy free to concentrate on the game. Missy eventually gets pregnant and agrees to marry the man she met after Danny's accident, whose baby she is carrying. Missing Missy more and more, Danny gets released from his Minor League contract when he finds it hard to concentrate on baseball without Missy. Danny eventually gets back into baseball and Missy, now separated from her husband, begins reconciling with her estranged father. Danny finally gets called up to the majors with the Los Angeles Dodgers in his final minor league, Missy goes into labor at her father's house. Missy's father gets her to the hospital and as the baby is born Danny throws his arm out pitching.
Four years later, Danny is a coach for his old high school team. Missy is in the stands with her daughter Carol, now a published poet. Danny agrees to take her out to celebrate. That night at Danny's home Missy tells him that when Carol was born she came to the realization that she lived her whole life in denial of her feelings for Danny and that she's not afraid of those feelings anymore. Danny's feelings for her have never changed and they promise each other to one day be married, which in the final scene they are.

Olivier, a carpenter by trade who teaches at a trades training center, knowingly takes on Francis Thorion, the murderer of his son, as an apprentice. Francis is unaware of his connection with Olivier from five years ago. Olivier, tormented by the loss of his son and his separation from his wife, develops a slight obsession with Francis. He stalks him home, steals his keys and explores his apartment, whilst slowly discovering more about the boy. Francis looks up to Olivier, seeing him as a surrogate role-model. With this on his mind, Olivier is ultimately torn between hatred for the murderer of his son and the moral ambiguity of accepting this child from a broken home and disillusioned past.

The story is set in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in a small town in Mainland China. A middle-aged couple has three children. The eldest son is obese and mentally challenged, a social outcast, and is constantly teased by others. The second child, the daughter, is energetic and independent and isn't afraid of doing anything to pursue her dreams or to survive. The youngest child is an introverted, quiet boy who is ashamed of his older brother and tries to break away from his family's misery.

The story is broken into three sections, with each focusing on one of the siblings. The story begins with the daughter, Weihong. The mother arranges for her to start work at a nursery but a few days later she drops a child and loses her job. After watching army officers parachuting from a plane, she wonders to the field where they land. She develops a crush on one of the male officers and decides to enlist at her school. In order to get his attention, she steals her mother's money to buy him gifts but ultimately does not give it to him after seeing him with her other classmates. She does not enroll into the military and becomes depressed after seeing other enlisted men and women. In order to recreate her dreams, she knits a makeshift parachute and attaches it to her bike, which she rides down the street before being stopped by her mother. Her action draws the interest of Guozi, a boisterous factory worker. After some time, Wei Hong is working at a factory washing pharmaceutical bottles and sees Guozi with her parachute attached to his bike. They arrange for a meeting in the woods and Guozi suggestively asks for something in return for the parachute but backs out before anything happens. Weihong continues to wonder around searching for purpose and meets an old man playing the accordion, whom she develops a father-daughter relationship with. However, the old man's children suspect her of taking advantage of him and physically assault her while she is at the factory. Through her parents' connections, she is introduced to a district leader's driver and they marry, on the condition that she is given a new job. Before she leaves with her husband, she gives her older brother a watch and bids farewell to her family.

The story then shifts back to the family eating at a table and this time follows the events of the older brother, Weiguo. He is often bullied because of his disability and has to change jobs. However, his parents dote on him, to the chagrin of the younger brother who has to look after him. At a bathhouse, someone sets off a firecracker in Weiguo's cigarette and he has a seizure. Weihong asks for Guozi to get revenge by beating up the bully. One day, when Weiguo shows up at school to bring Weiqiang an umbrella, he is accused of being a peeping tom after he stands outside the girls' bathroom. He is beaten by a group of boys and Weiqiang is also publicly ridiculed. Out of contempt, Weiqiang denounces Weiguo in front of everyone and stabs his leg with an umbrella. Weiqiang is continually ostracized by his classmates because of what happened except for one girl who helps him once out of pity. When the girl later turns her back on Weiqiang, he decides to get rid of Weiguo by putting rat poison in his drink at night. However, Weihong finds out and stops him. The next morning, the mother reveals that she knows about what happened last night by making a duck drink the rat poison in front of the family and making them watch it convulse and die. Weiqiang realizes his mistake, and tries to make it up to Weiguo by buying him a meal and baby duck. After previous attempts to make a match for Weiguo, the parents arrange for him to meet a girl with a physical disability. They set up a small food stall, which becomes successful.

Finally, the story returns to the family eating at the table and Weiqiang becomes the focus. He is infatuated with the girl who helped him earlier on. After his father discovers his drawings of naked women in his textbook, he is almost kicked out. Weiqiang leaves on his own accord and goes missing for days. Guozi spots Weiqiang one day and, together with Weihong, they follow him to an elderly care home and find him working there. Weiqiang then gets on a train the next day and leaves the town. When Weihong is asked where his brother has gone, she imagines he has accomplished her dream of becoming an army officer.

A few years later, the parents are shown eating at the table. Weihong moves back in after she has separated from her husband. Weiguo and his wife are still continuing their business, which has attracted many customers. Weiqiang also returns one day with a wife and son. He has lost a finger but he does not explain this to his family. He does not work and instead relies on his wife as a stage singer to support him. Weihong spots the army officer she used to idolise in the streets but finds that he has become a regular person wearing simple clothing. In the ending scene, Weihong is shown to have remarried and all three siblings visit a peacock enclosure with their families, making remarks about why the peacock won't open its feathers. Only when they have left does the peacock opens its feathers.

The film begins in a coalmine in Pennsylvania in the 1876. Coal is still dug by hand and taken out on rails in wagons pulled by ponies. Pit props are improvised with timber. Conditions are always dirty, often cramped and generally unhealthy. Miners are shown with naked flames on their hats as their only light source. Men are shown planting charges. This appears to be work-related but all men leave the mine and the resultant explosion destroys the mine.

Pinkerton sends James McParlan (Richard Harris) to investigate. He arrives by train in the late evening and goes to a local bar and orders a beer, while Kehoe (Sean Connery) observes and motions for Dougherty and Frazier to deal with the matter. McParlan joins Dougherty and Frazier at a card table and says he is looking for work in the mine. They are suspicious and see his hands have never dug coal. They accuse him of cheating and deliberately start a fight. Police Captain Davies (Frank Finlay) breaks up the fight and arrests McParlan. However this is just a ploy as the police know McParlan's role. Davies explains to McParlan the problem of the Molly Maguires - and that they are named after a gang in Ireland. They need an inside man to infiltrate the pit.

McParlan rents a room from Mary Raines and gives his name as McKenna. He goes to the pit to ask for a job and is told to come back at five o'clock in the morning on the following day. Back at the house he befriends Mary's father.

He begins work the next day - it is back-breaking work and he is exhausted. At the end of the week he joins the long queue for pay. He is paid $9.24 however a long list is made of "deductions" including cost of explosives and cost of shovels. $9 is deducted so his pay for the week is 24 cents.

In church the priest condemns "last night's actions" by the Molly Maguires - beating a watchman and flooding a mine. James attends church with Mary.

Kenoe confronts James in the pit the next day and asks why he is there. A fake accident is organised where Kehoe rescues James from a huge avalanche of coal. James then gives a false confession saying he is there to avoid the law as he is a forger, and he is in hiding. He also says he killed a man in Buffalo, New York over a woman. Kehoe discusses "McKenna" with his wife and then with other miners. They do suspect that he is a spy.

After a violent football match with a rival pit, Dougherty gets in a fight with one of the rivals and is beaten up by the police. James is asked to take a revenge action and breaks a policeman's jaw (we do not see this). The captain chastises James but he said he had to make it look real (quoting the captain regarding his earlier attack in the bar).

Kehoe and the four other ringleaders appear at the Raines house and usher old Mr Raines away. They ask James to kneel and they make the sign of the cross. He thinks he is going to die but instead they make him a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernian. Mary chides him for joining but the next day they take a train trip to the city and go shopping. While Mary is looking at hats he has a rendezvous with the captain and gets payment for giving the names of the ringleaders.

A train of coal wagons is derailed by an explosion on the track co-ordinated by the Mollys. At a meeting of the Hibernians James is asked to put a superintendent at the Shenandoah pit out of action. Kehoe and James go to Shenandoah but are ambushed by the police. The police arrest eight men back at the pit but all men have alibis. James is taken to the captain to interview, who beats him up before he returns for realism.

By now James and Mary are in love. They go for a picnic and discuss morality.

Frazier and his wife are murdered in their bed by police (the "peelers") in a revenge attack. At the funeral the priest shows little sympathy. Dougherty is arrested for killing the superintendent of the Shenandoah (John W. Jones), but this is a ploy to bring the real killers forward. As old Mr Raines gets the last rites the priest calls Kehoe to discuss the whole affair. At Mr Raines' wake the Mollys meet in a back room. The wake party break into the company store and steal a suit for Mr Raines to be buried in. But Kehoe then gets carried away and starts stealing more things. He is distracted when James starts destroying bottles of alcohol with a shovel. They decide to set the store on fire.

Kehoe and McAndrew are caught red-handed as they break into the explosives store at the pit and find that it is full of police.

Only at the trial do they discover James' true identity. Mary watches in shock. Kehoe, McAndrew and Dougherty are sentenced to death. Mary explains she could cope with him as a murderer but not as a traitor.

Awaiting execution, Kehoe is visited in the death cell by James. They have a quiet and civilised conversation. Kehoe sees that James seeks absolution. He suddenly loses his temper and attacks James. He is rescued by the warders. He tells his one-time ally that no punishment short of hell can redeem his treachery. Detective McParland retorts that, in that case, "See you in hell."

When Earth is visited by a massive fleet of flying saucers from Mars, President of the United States James Dale addresses the people of the United States. Talk show host Nathalie Lake and her boyfriend, news reporter Jason Stone, attempt to capitalize on the developing story with an interview with President Dale's scientific advisor Professor Donald Kessler, which is unexpectedly interrupted by a broadcast from the Martian leader. As the Martians prepare to land outside Pahrump, Nevada, numerous people around the country react to their arrival, including donut shop employee Richie Norris and his older brother Billy Glenn, flamboyant casino operator Art Land and his hippie wife Barbara, divorced ex-boxer Byron Williams and his former wife Louise, and Byron and Louise's children Cedric and Neville.

Against the advice of the hawkish General Decker, President Dale chooses to greet the Martians as foreign dignitaries, ordering military officer General Casey to welcome them to Earth. Billy Glenn, a private in the US Army, is among the soldiers who volunteers to accompany General Casey as he greets the Martians in Nevada. Despite the translated message from the Martian ambassador stating that the Martians "come in peace", they turn on the assembled crowd and attack them with rayguns, killing General Casey, Jason, and Billy Glenn, and abducting Nathalie and her pet chihuahua Poppy.

Kessler convinces President Dale that the Martians' attack in Nevada may have been the result of a cultural misunderstanding, and President Dale agrees to let the Martian ambassador address Congress after the Martians issue a formal apology for their actions. Once again, the Martians turn on the assembled humans, massacring most of Congress and abducting Kessler. While Nathalie and Kessler are held captive in the Martian mothership, the Martians switch Nathalie and Poppy's heads and reduce Kessler to a disembodied head.

President Dale narrowly survives an assassination attempt by a Martian disguised as an attractive blonde woman, who infiltrates the White House by seducing and killing his press secretary Jerry Ross. Following the assassination attempt, the Martians commence a full-scale invasion of Earth, attacking major cities throughout the world. When Martian soldiers overrun the White House, First Lady Marsha Dale is killed by a falling chandelier as President Dale escapes to a secure bunker. Shortly after, Land is killed when the Martians destroy his casino in Las Vegas.

In Las Vegas, Barbara prepares to flee to Tahoe in Art's private plane, and offers to let Byron accompany her. The pair are joined by Byron's co-worker Cindy and singer Tom Jones, who offers to pilot the plane. Meanwhile, Richie abandons his parents in their mobile home and goes to his grandmother Florence's retirement home to escort her to safety, leaving his parents to be killed by a Martian piloting a giant robot. At the retirement home, the Martians' brains unexpectedly explode when they hear Florence's record of Slim Whitman's "Indian Love Call", revealing their only weakness.

Eventually, Martian soldiers breach President Dale's secure bunker, crushing General Decker after reducing him to minuscule size with a shrink ray. President Dale makes an impassioned speech attempting to convince the Martians to make peace with humanity, but the Martian leader kills him with a gadget disguised as a hand after offering him a handshake.

Barbara, Byron, Cindy, and Tom Jones reach Art's plane, but find the runway overrun by a group of Martians led by the Martian ambassador. To buy time for his companions to escape, Byron steps forward to challenge the ambassador to a boxing match, and beats him to death before being seemingly overrun by Martians as the plane takes off. Around the world, the Martians are defeated as humans play "Indian Love Call" to incapacitate them.

In the aftermath of the war with the Martians, President Dale's teenage daughter Taffy awards the Congressional Medal of Honor to Richie and Florence. In Washington, D.C., Byron—who survived his encounter with the Martians—walks up to Louise's home to greet his family. In Tahoe, Barbara, Cindy, and Tom Jones emerge unharmed from a cavern.

Nick Venizelos, a prosperous small-town barber, provides his customers with gambling in his back room. He is so lucky that one suggests he go to the big city to take on famous gambler named Hickory Short. Not lacking in self-confidence, Nick puts up half of the $10,000 stake himself, while the others raise the rest. He leaves the shop under the supervision of his assistant, Jack, and takes the train into the city.

He learns from Marie, the pretty blonde working at the hotel cigar stand, where Hickory is holding his illegal, high-stakes poker game. Nick sits down at the game, but loses all his money. Later, however, he sees a newspaper article reporting that the real Hickory Short has just been released from prison far away in Florida. The man he thought was Hickory is actually conman Sleepy Sam, and Marie is his girlfriend and accomplice. When Nick foolishly tries to get his money back, Sleepy Sam and the other fake poker players beat him up. After he gets out of the hospital, he vows to get revenge.

Nick goes back to barbering and raises another stake. Six months later, he tracks down Sleepy Sam and his gang in another city. He proposes a one-on-one game, each man putting up $50,000 and playing until one man has all the money. Sam accepts. Nick insists on sending out for fresh decks of cards, just to be safe. When Nick wins and tries to leave, the con artists reach for their guns, but Jack and another man burst in with their guns already drawn. Nick then gloats, pointing out that he simply cheated better than Sam by using shaved cards.

Nick becomes very successful. He finally gets to play the real Hickory Short; a Walter Winchell column reports the rumor that Nick beat Hickory to the tune of $300,000. Nick becomes the king of illegal gambling in the city, with Jack as his right-hand man.

However, he still has a weakness for women, particularly blondes. As they are driving by, they are stopped and asked to take a young woman who has been fished half drowned out of the river to the hospital. Irene revives during the ride, but Nick insists she stay at his mansion until she is fully recovered, over the very suspicious Jack's protests. Eventually, she is so touched by Nick's kindness, she confesses she is fleeing from a charge of blackmail, but he is unconcerned.

Nick is so brazen that public outrage puts pressure on District Attorney Black, who is up for re-election soon. He has Irene picked up. Black threatens to prosecute her unless she cooperates in incriminating Nick, but she refuses at first. Finally, he gets her to agree to put a racing form in Nick's coat, which will be enough to put Nick in jail for a month. Jack finds out, but when he tries to warn his friend, Nick becomes furious and knocks him to the floor. The police raid the illegal casino, and Black arrests Nick. Then they discover that Jack is dead. Aghast, Irene begs Nick for forgiveness, which he generously gives. He is sentenced to ten years. As he is boarding the train to go to prison, he offers to bet that he will be out in five.

George and Catherine Stewart share not only the burden of Catherine's heart disease, which could cause her death at any time, but the memory of Jerome Martell, her first husband and George's closest friend. Martell, a brilliant doctor passionately concerned with social justice, is presumed to have died in a Nazi prison camp. His sudden return to Montreal precipitates the central crisis of the novel. Hugh MacLennan takes the reader into the lives of his three characters and back into the world of Montreal in the thirties, when politics could send an idealist across the world to Spain, France, Auschwitz, Russia, and China before his return home.

Wilfred Glendon (Henry Hull) is a wealthy and world-renowned English botanist who journeys to Tibet in search of the extremely rare [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/selenotropism selenotropic] plant known as ''mariphasa lupine lumina''. While there, he is attacked and bitten by a creature later revealed to be a werewolf, although he succeeds in acquiring a specimen of the mariphasa. Once back home in London he is approached by a fellow botanist, Dr. Yogami (Warner Oland), who claims to have met him in Tibet while also seeking the mariphasa. Yogami warns Glendon that the bite of a werewolf would cause him to become a werewolf as well, adding that the mariphasa is a temporary antidote for the disease.

Glendon does not believe the mysterious Yogami. That is, not until he begins to experience the first pangs of lycanthropy, first when his hand grows fur beneath the rays of his moon lamp (which he is using in an effort to entice the mariphasa to bloom), and later that night during the first full moon. The first time, Glendon is able to use a blossom from the mariphasa to stop his transformation. His wife Lisa (Valerie Hobson) is away at her aunt Ettie's party with her friend, former childhood sweetheart Paul Ames (Lester Matthews), allowing the swiftly transforming Glendon to make his way unhindered to his at-home laboratory, in the hopes of acquiring the mariphasa's flowers to quell his lycanthropy a second time. Dr. Yogami, who is revealed to be a werewolf, sneaks into the lab ahead of his rival and steals the only two blossoms. As the third has not bloomed, Glendon is out of luck.

Driven by an instinctive desire to hunt and kill, he dons his hat and coat and ventures out into the dark city, killing an innocent girl. Burdened by remorse, Glendon begins neglecting Lisa (more so than usual), and makes numerous futile attempts to lock himself up far away from home, including renting a room at an inn. However, whenever he transforms into the werewolf he escapes and kills again. After a time, the third blossom of the mariphasa finally blooms, but much to Glendon's horror, it is stolen by Yogami, sneaking into the lab while Glendon's back is turned. Catching Yogami in the act, Glendon finally realizes that Yogami was the werewolf that attacked him in Tibet. After turning into the werewolf yet again and dueling with Yogami, finally slaying him, Glendon goes to the house in search of Lisa, for the werewolf instinctively seeks to destroy that which it loves the most.

After attacking Paul on the front lawn of Glendon Manor, but not killing him, Glendon breaks into the house and corners Lisa on the staircase and is about to move in for the kill when Paul's uncle, Col. Sir Thomas Forsythe (Lawrence Grant) of Scotland Yard, arriving with several police officers in tow, shoots Glendon once. As he lies dying at the bottom of the stairs, Glendon, still in werewolf form, speaks: first to thank Col. Forsythe for the merciful bullet, then saying goodbye to Lisa, apologizing that he could not have made her happier. Glendon then dies, reverting to his human form in death.

"Alonzo the Armless" is a circus freak who uses his feet to toss knives and fire a rifle at his partner, Nanon. However, he is an impostor and a fugitive from the law. He actually has arms, but keeps them tightly strapped to his torso, a secret known only to his midget friend Cojo. Alonzo's left hand has a double thumb, which would readily identify him as the perpetrator of various crimes from his past.

Alonzo is secretly in love with Nanon. Malabar, the circus strongman, is devoted to her as well, but she has a strong fear of men's arms and cannot stand being pawed by them, so she shuns him. She only feels comfortable around the armless Alonzo, because she doesn't feel threatened by him. When she embraces and kisses him one day, he is given hope, but Cojo warns him that he cannot let it happen again. If she holds him too tightly, she might feel his arms.

When Antonio Zanzi, the circus's owner and Nanon's father, discovers Alonzo's secret, Alonzo strangles him with his bare hands outside of his circus wagon. Nanon witnesses this through a window, but her view is partially blocked. A flash of lightning reveals that her father's killer has a double thumb on his left hand, but she cannot see the killer's face. Since Alonzo is believed to be armless, he is not a suspect.

When the circus leaves town, Alonzo has Nanon remain behind with him. He takes extreme measures to try to win the woman he loves. He blackmails a surgeon into amputating his arms. While he is away, however, Malabar's persistent love finally enables Nanon to overcome her phobia of arms, and she agrees to marry him.

When Alonzo (now truly armless) returns to Nanon, she excitedly tells him that she and Malabar are getting married. Alonzo is shocked and horrified, first laughing hysterically, then crying, as he realizes he has cut off his arms for nothing. His emotional outburst confuses the couple, but then Nanon tells Malabar "Look! Alonzo is crying because he is so happy for us."

Alonzo then learns that Malabar and Nanon have been practicing a new act, where the strongman's arms are seemingly pulled in opposite directions by two wild horses (who are actually running on hidden treadmills). During the first performance, Alonzo stops one treadmill in an attempt to maim or kill Malabar, hoping the horses will literally tear the strongman's arms from his body. When Nanon starts to intervene, Alonzo threatens her with a knife, telling her to stay back. However, she rushes to calm down one of the horses. Alonzo tries to save her from injury by pushing her out of the way. The horse knocks Alonzo down and fatally stomps him to death. The machine is turned off and Malabar is saved from mutilation.

(Note* - In the original film script, Alonzo murders both the doctor and Cojo to eliminate them as witnesses before he returns to claim Nanon. These scenes never made it to the final print.)

Trot is a young girl with big solemn eyes and an earnest, simple manner. Her real name is '''Mayre Griffiths'''. It was said that she had been marked on the forehead at birth by fairies with their invisible mystic signs. Her father, Captain Charlie Griffiths, is almost always out to sea. She and Cap'n Bill, for whom Charlie was once first mate, are the closest of friends, and they live at her mother's boarding house on the California coast. They get trapped by way of a whirlpool that deposits them in a cavern deep under the sea, and meet a strange flying creature called the Ork, which carries them to Jinxland, a country on the other side of the Deadly Desert. Trot and Cap'n Bill have many wonderful adventures in the Land of Oz including getting their feet "rooted" while searching for a gift for Princess Ozma's birthday. Trot is one of Dorothy Gale and Princess Ozma's best friends.

She is also the main child protagonist of Ruth Plumly Thompson's ''Kabumpo in Oz'' and ''The Giant Horse of Oz''.

In ''Kabumpo in Oz'', her doll, Peg Amy, turns out to be the enchanted form of the Princess of Sun-Top Mountain. Peg Amy marries Prince Pompadore of Pumperdink, and in ''The Purple Prince of Oz'', they are shown with a daughter, Princess Pajonia of Pumperdink.

In ''The Giant Horse of Oz'', she is made a princess of the Ozure Isles as thanks for her help in restoring the Munchkin queen Orin to her royal husband and son. In this book, it is stated that Trot arrived in Oz and stopped aging at ten, the same age as Prince Philador of the Ozure Isles. Based on L. Frank Baum's statement that Trot is one year younger than Dorothy Gale and that Dorothy is one year younger than Betsy Bobbin, we get the other characters' ages through backward reasoning, but since this information is derived from two different authors, it is canon, but not necessarily true to Baum's intentions.

Astrophysicist Ryoichi Shiraishi, his fiancee Hiroko, his sister Etsuko, and his friend Joji Atsumi attend a festival at a local village near Mount Fuji. Shiraishi then tells Atsumi that he has broken off his engagement with Hiroko but gives no reason other than an undisclosed obligation to remain in the village. Then, a mysterious forest fire flares up, burning more rapidly than normal and emanating from the ground, and Shiraishi rushes out to investigate and disappears during the confusion.

The next day, Atsumi is at the local observatory, where he meets with his mentor, head astronomer, Tanjiro Adachi. He hands the doctor a report written by Shiraishi that concerns a newly discovered asteroid that Shiraishi theorized was once a planet between Mars and Jupiter. He has named it Mysteroid. However, Adachi does not believe in his radical theory and also points out that the report is not complete.

Meanwhile, the village in which the festival was held is completely wiped out by a massive earthquake. While investigating the area, Atsumi and a group of police officers stumble upon a giant robot, Moguera, which bursts from the side of a hill. It emits rays which decimate the investigation team; only Atsumi and the lead policeman survive. The robot then advances to a town near Koyama Bridge that night, and is met by heavy resistance from Japan's self-defense force. However, the conventional artillery has no effect on the war machine, and the automaton continues its rampage until it tries to cross the Koyama Bridge, which is detonated, sending the machine crashing down to the ground below and destroying it.

At the National Diet Building, Atsumi briefs officials on what has been learned about the robot. The remains of the giant machine reveal that it was manufactured out of an unknown chemical compound. Shortly afterwards, astronomers witness activity in outer space around the moon. They alert the world to this discovery, and not long after, the aliens emerge, their gigantic dome breaking through Earth's crust near Mount Fuji.

As a combined military and scientific entourage observes the dome, a voice calls out to request five scientists, including Dr. Adachi, who is among the observers, to come to the dome for a conference. The men agree to this meeting and are formally ushered into the dome, where the Mysterians, a scientifically advanced humanoid alien race, list their demands from the people of Earth: a two-mile-radius strip of land and the right to marry women of Earth. The reason for this is that 100,000 years ago their planet—Mysteroid, once the fifth planet from the sun—was destroyed by a nuclear war. Some Mysterians were able to escape to Mars before their planet was rendered unhabitable. However, owing to the nuclear war, strontium-90 has left 80 percent of the aliens' population deformed and crippled. The proposed interbreeding with women on Earth would produce healthier offspring and keep their race alive. The latter part of their demands is downplayed, as they admit to already taking three women captive and reveal two others that they are interested in, one of which is Etsuko.

Japan quickly dismisses this request and begins the mobilization of its armed forces around Mount Fuji. It is also discovered that the missing Shiraishi has sided with the advance race because of their technological achievements. Japan wastes no time, though, and quickly launches a full-scale attack against the Mysterians' dome. However, the modern weaponry is no match for their technology, and Japan's forces are easily fought back. Distraught by this setback, Japan sends their plea to other nations that they join together to remove the threat of the Mysterians from Earth. The nations around the world answer the plea and in no time issue another raid against the Mysterians' dome, this time utilizing the newly developed Alpha and Beta class airships. Sadly, this attack meets failure as well.

The Mysterians then increase their demand, asking for a 75-mile-radius plot of land, as the Earth continues to develop a new method of attack. Earth's efforts in this matter pay off as a Markalite FAHP (Flying Atomic Heat Projector), a gigantic lens that can reflect the Mysterians’ weaponry, is designed. Meanwhile, the Mysterians kidnap Etsuko and Hiroko, causing Atsumi to search for, and locate, a cave entrance to a tunnel under the Mysterians' dome.

In the meantime, the Markalite FAHP's are deployed by large Markalite GYRO rockets, and the final battle against the Mysterians' base of operations commences. Atsumi enters the dome and finds the women, alive and unharmed, in an unguarded room. Taking them back to the tunnel, Atsumi finds Shiraishi, who admits the Mysterians duped him and have no good intentions, and then returns to the dome and sacrifices himself in a final attack on the base from the inside while the Markalite FAHP's assault the base from above ground. In the midst of the battle, a second Moguera is deployed from the dome, but is disabled after it attempts to emerge from the ground underneath one of the FAHPs, which falls on top of it. The dome collapses and then explodes as Adachi and the women reach safety in the hills above the Mysterians' occupied land. A few enemy spaceships are observed fleeing into space, out of range of Earth weaponry, and Dr. Adachi comments on the need for continued vigilance.

In the school that Wataru Fujii goes to, when one wears matching rings on their right middle finger it is a sign of friendship, a ring on the right ring finger means single, and to wear matching rings on the left ring finger means a couple. One day Wataru accidentally switches rings with the very kind, handsome, popular senior, Yuichi Kazuki, because for some strange twist, their rings match. For reasons that Wataru doesn't understand, Yuichi becomes uncharacteristically mean to Wataru. After this strange incident, Wataru and Kazuki happened to meet more often, starting an electric relationship around the matching rings. Wataru starts to wonder why Yuichi's mood towards him switches to sweet-teasing to evil: is it because he just can't stand him or is it because he actually loves him?

This meeting of two students that everything seems to oppose, led to the birth of an unexpected secret that only the ring finger knows.

Hippety Hopper escapes from a zoo, and when Sylvester first sees him, he believes that the kangaroo is actually a king-size mouse. A bulldog tries to convince the cat that there is no such thing, but when he too sees Hippety Hopper and his mother (who was searching for him), he and Sylvester hitch a ride on the water wagon.

A farm mother scolds Jack for trading his cow for three seemingly worthless beans. The beans are thrown out a window and land under Sylvester's cat bed. Instantly, the beans sprout into a giant beanstalk that reaches into the heavens, taking the still sleeping Sylvester with it. The puddy tat awakens and is startled at how everything seemingly grew overnight. Eventually, he walks inside a castle and instantly spots a giant birdcage (with a giant Tweety inside).

Sylvester opens the cage and chases what he says are "acres and acres of Tweety Bird.", which causes Tweety to say, "I tawt I taw an itty-bitty puddy-tat!", as Sylvester grabs him. However, Tweety's Master the giant comes into the room; after Sylvester hides, the master puts Tweety back in his cage and hangs it on a high ceiling; that way, he won't get into any mischief while he's gone.

Sylvester makes several attempts to get at Tweety, having to overcome both the cage being on the ceiling and dodging a giant bulldog (Hector the Bulldog) whom is trying to chase the cat away. Each of Sylvester's attempts to get the bird ends unsuccessfully; several times, he is barely able to get away from the bulldog.

Eventually, Sylvester manages to snatch Tweety from his cage, but immediately afterwards the Giant returns and, sensing an intruder in his home, remarks, "Fee, fi, fo, fat. I tawt I taw a puddy tat!" He immediately chases after Sylvester, who is forced to flee the castle without Tweety. He makes it to the beanstalk and scurries down, the Giant chasing after him. Sylvester manages to reach the ground and chops down the beanstalk with an axe. The Giant falls to the ground very noisily, the impact crushing Sylvester and everything in sight being wrecked. This causes him to be hurled through the earth to China, where he meets with a stereotypical Chinese Tweety, who remarks (in a Chinese accent) his English counterpart's signature lines ("Oh, I taught I taw dishonorable puddy tat.") in addition to speaking mock Chinese.

Tillie Schlaine is introduced to Pete Seltzer at a party. Her friends Gertrude and Burt are the hosts and attempting to fix her up.

Pete is a confirmed bachelor with eccentric habits. When he isn't doing odd motivational research for a San Francisco firm, he plays ragtime piano, and makes bad puns. He periodically pops in and out of Tillie's life, going days without calling, but showing up spontaneously at her door. When they finally make love, he learns Tillie is a virgin.

It appears Pete might still be seeing other women, but when he gets a promotion at work, Tillie announces it's time to get married. They do, then buy a house, and have a baby boy. Pete's affairs, however, apparently continue, Tillie even needing to discourage one of his young lovers at lunch.

Years go by until one day, 9-year-old son Robbie is stricken with a fatal illness. Pete tries to shield the boy by keeping him in what Tillie calls "a world of nonsense", but the inevitable death destroys Tillie's religious faith, and ruptures their marriage.

Tillie abstains from sex, while Pete turns to drink and takes an apartment. Tillie's depression is alleviated a bit by a friendship with Jimmy, who is gay, but willing to marry her if that would make Tillie happy. When she and Jimmy conspire to make Gertrude reveal her true age at long last, the result is a public brawl between the two women.

Tillie ends up in a sanitarium. Her life has come to a standstill until Pete turns up one day. When she sees the way their son's death affects him, after his years of hiding it, Tillie and Pete leave side by side.

Setting

The game is set in the ''Shadowrun'' universe, in the 2050s. A time where the blending of technology and human flesh is common; it is around the time the Matrix, a huge computer network, came online, with the ability to jack into its cyberspace directly. It was also a time of magic renewal: a phenomenon known as The Awakening occurred, where magic returned into the world. Sorcery was once again possible, and slowly and seemingly at random humans began to mutate into orcs, dwarves, elves or trolls. This time of upheaval was not without political conflicts: mega-corporations began to control the world. But with their magic, native shamans threatened them and the world geography came to a complete change. The Amerindians and Elves reclaimed an area called Salish-Shidhe, close to the free city of Seattle, a major city in the newly formed United Canadian and American States.

''Shadowrun'''s story takes place in these areas, both the wilderness of the Salish-Shidhe and the pollution of Seattle, controlled by mega corporations. Seattle itself is divided in many areas: * Redmond Barrens: Dark slums only active because of the Shiawase Atomics Nuclear Plant and the Hollywood Correctional Facility, as well as a few other generic shops. The Halloweeners gang resides there. * Downtown Seattle: The city center, with many bars and corporation buildings. Lone Star, Seattle's police, patrols every hour to ensure order. The Space Needle lies here. * Penumbra District: A high-class area; only top clubs and corporate buildings can be found in this district. It also houses Lone Star's offices, as well as the Eye-Fivers gang. * Renraku Arcology: An enclosed city on the power of Renraku Corporation, built inside a pyramid. Many top-class shops can be found here, as well as the massive Renraku offices. Renraku uses their own security team to keep order in their Arcology. * Puyallup Barrens: Home to the Ork's gang, as well as factories, black market stores, a number of shady bars and hotels. * Council Island: Neutral lands between the city and the wilderness, and usually peaceful. Orks and humans have an embassy where they live without hatred or discrimination. A bar, stores and a clinic can also be found in the Island. It also has a post where citizens can ask for a visa to enter the Salish-Shidhe. * Salish-Shidhe Indian Lands / Elven Lands of Sinsearach: Amerindians and elves live in peace with nature in these savage and dangerous lands. Many dangerous creatures can be found here, as well as the occasional hunting party. The Salish-Shidhe and Sinsearach are connected through a complex network of caves that house many paths and secrets. A visa is needed to (legally) travel to the Salish-Shidhe. * Ellisia's Tomb: The last resting place of the founder of the Sinsearach and the "greatest elven hero", it lies deep within the Salish Shide and the Sinsearach, its exact location lost with time. It can not be accessed until the end of the game.

The corporations that exist within this ''Shadowrun'''s world are Lone Star Security Services (law enforcement agency in the city of Seattle), Fuchi Industrial Electronics (cyberterminals and Matrix technology), Mitsuhama Computer Technologies (computers and robotics), Ares Macrotechnology (weapons and defense industries), Aztechnology (magic equipment) and Renraku Computer Systems (computer technology).

Story

''Shadowrun'''s story begins on January 31, 2058, in Seattle, United Canadian and American States. In the wilderness of the newly reclaimed Amerindian lands of the Salish-Shidhe, a small team of shadowrunners is brutally ambushed by unknown forces. The massacre is over quickly, but is captured in video by one of the slain member's cybereyes; the video is recovered and made national news. The last man to die in the video was a shadowrunner known as Michael, Joshua's brother.

Joshua spends his last nuyen and flies to Seattle, vowing to avenge his brother's death. He arrives at Sea-Tac Airport and traces back Michael's last credstick transaction to "Stoker's Coffin Motel", in the Redmond Barrens. Joshua travels there to inquire about his brother, only to be told by the owner that Michael never paid his bill and in fact has some belongings being held. He strikes a deal with Joshua, and by beginning to do small shadowruns for a small-time Mr. Johnson, called Gunderson, he gains enough money to pay his brother's bills. In Michael's belongings, he finds three "holopix": one of a young woman, Tabatha Shale; of an Amerindian, David Owlfeather, and of Seattle General Hospital Dr. Heaversheen. There is also a low grade cyberdeck, along with a credstick containing 500 nuyen.

From there, the story divides into three branches that the player can go through in any order, either separately or at once. Each branch gives the answer to three main questions: who killed Michael, and under whose orders; what was Michael's last shadowrun; why was Michael killed. Because of the sandbox style of gameplay and the non-linear story, the entire mystery is not revealed until the three main branches are totally completed. Once they are, the plot slowly arises: * Decades before Michael's death, the Salish-Shidhe lands were reclaimed by a number of Amerindians and Elven heroes; among them was a man known as Ellisia, who founded an elven Council, the Sinsearach, to protect the wilderness from the city's corruption. * After Ellisia's death, his body was sealed in a mausoleum with a number of magical artifacts to prevent the misuse of Ellisia's magic power. * It is then that an ancient free spirit entity called Thon, begins a plot to fully penetrate this world using Ellisia. Free spirits are cursed, as Thon needed to replenish his life force or his form in this world would cease to exist. In order to stay alive, Thon seeks out magical artifacts and in destructive rituals, absorbs their energies. With the power of Ellisia's body and artifacts, Thon could become a physical entity. * Thon begins to use two Mr. Johnsons, Vigore & Jarl, to carry out his plans for him, * A mega-corporation, Renraku, becomes involved with Thon through Vigore, a corporate support at the time. Renraku begins to work with the free spirit in a top-priority project, "Project THON". The project's leader is Mako Sochou, but he soon is blinded by Thon's promises and betrays Renraku, being replaced by Ito Ogami. Renraku itself plans on manipulating Thon, being the only ones with a map to Ellisia's Tomb. * By this point, Sinsearach Council member Harlequin sets on a mission to stop Thon from desecrating Ellisia's Tomb and being freed again. To do this, Harlequin asks his apprentice Frosty to hire a Mr. Johnson, Caleb Brightmore, to organize a small team of shadowrunners to go into Ellisia's Tomb and destroy Thon's magic source. Michael is employed in this team. * Ito Ogami sends a Renraku Strike Team to kill Michael's team; Harlequin is left powerless without his team.

Joshua's mission and investigation eventually leads him to Harlequin himself; but it is not after he completes all stories that the ends meet and he can finally reach Ellisia's tomb, the final stage of the game.

The New York Knicks are also-rans in the NBA, their roster filled with players who either lack talent or are too distracted by off-the-court issues. Nonetheless, limousine driver and rabid fan Edwina "Eddie" Franklin attends every Knicks game in the nosebleed section of Madison Square Garden.

During halftime of a game, Eddie is one of three fans picked to win a chance to be the honorary assistant coach of the Knicks for the second half by sinking a free throw, which she does. She quickly gets on the nerves of head coach John Bailey, whom she had heckled earlier.

Eddie is eventually charged with a technical foul for stepping onto the court during an argument between Bailey and a referee, and she is ejected from the Garden, to the fans' dismay. Eddie's popularity piques the interest of the new Knicks owner, "Wild Bill" Burgess. After he forces Bailey to quit, Burgess names Eddie the new head coach.

The decision is received with skepticism and derision. However, she eventually is able to connect with the players both off and on the court to earn their respect. Eddie is able to lead the Knicks into postseason contention; the winner of their game against the Charlotte Hornets, now coached by Bailey, will receive the final spot in the NBA playoffs.

The night before the game, Burgess tells Eddie that if the Knicks win this game, he plans to sell the team to someone who intends to move the team to St. Louis. A conflicted Eddie must decide what to do when the Knicks take a one-point lead with just a few seconds to play. Realizing the consequences, she stops the game to announce Burgess's plan to the crowd at the Garden.

Faced with the possible enormous backlash from the Knicks' fans, Burgess promises the crowd he won't sell the team or move them out of New York City. When play resumes, the Hornets have one last chance to win, but Larry Johnson commits a charge on the game-winning layup, nullifying the basket and giving the Knicks the victory and the playoff berth.

Facing forced retirement, Master Sergeant Martin Maher (Tyrone Power) goes to the White House to appeal to the Commander in Chief, West Point graduate and 5-star general President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who gives Marty a warm welcome and listens to his story.

Arriving from County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1898, Marty begins waiting tables. After two months he has nothing to show for it, because he is docked for every dish he breaks. When he learns that enlisted men only worry about the guardhouse, he joins the U.S. Army. Captain Koehler (Ward Bond), Master of the Sword, is impressed with his fist-fighting and brings him on as an assistant in athletics instruction.

Marty meets Mrs. Koehler's cook, Mary O'Donnell (Maureen O'Hara), just arrived from Ireland. The Koehlers advise Mary not to engage in conversation with Marty until he re-enlists and proposes, for fear their two fiery Irish tempers will clash. They marry and settle into a house on campus. Marty becomes a Corporal, and Mary saves enough money to bring his father (Donald Crisp) and brother (Sean McClory) to America. Captain Koehler makes Marty a swimming instructor—after teaching him how.

Mary gives birth to a boy. The cadets serenade Marty and give him a cadet saber for Martin Maher III, class of 1936. The doctor arrives with heartbreaking news. The child has died. While Mary sleeps, Marty gets drunk. The cadets go off limits to bring him home, and report themselves for doing so. In the morning Mary tells Marty she can never have another child.

The cadets become the boys they will never have. Over time, Marty earns the love and respect of men such as Omar Bradley, James Van Fleet, George Patton and Dwight D. Eisenhower (to whom he gives advice on slowing hair loss). Marty introduces cadet "Red" Sundstrom, who is struggling with math, to a post school teacher, Kitty Carter (Betsy Palmer). She offers to tutor Red. They marry after graduation in 1917, and Red goes off to war with his classmates.

The casualty lists come in. Marty marks the losses in the yearbooks. Peace comes, and while the campus erupts with joy, a grim-faced Marty places a ribbon on Red's page. Red has won the Congressional Medal of Honor and an appointment to the academy for his infant son.

Cut to the swearing in of James "Red" Sundstrom, Jr. (Robert Francis) and his classmates. Marty has guided three generations of cadets. On Sunday, December 7, 1941, the church service is interrupted by the news of Pearl Harbor and the United States' entry into World War II, Red confesses to Marty that he was married over Thanksgiving. Her parents annulled it but it means expulsion if it is discovered. Deeply disappointed, Marty is filled with pride when Sundstrom does the honorable thing by resigning and enlisting in the Army. Because of his training, he ships out immediately.

Mary wants to view one of the parades she so loves but is too weak. Marty helps her to the porch. She takes out her rosary and quietly dies while Marty is fetching her shawl and medicine.

Christmas Eve, 1944. Marty prepares for a quiet evening alone but is joined by a group of cadets. He picks the all-time football team while they fix his dinner. Kitty arrives with Red, Jr., whose medals make the cadets whistle. He has earned his captain's bars in Europe and wants Marty to pin them on.

The President tells General Dotson to call the Point and find out what the SNAFU is. Marty gives an aide a bottle of hair restorer for the President. Dotson tells Marty he is AWOL and flies him back to the Point, where the Superintendent and Dotson hustle him onto the crowded parade ground. Slightly bemused by the attention, Marty notices the first tune: Garry Owen. “This is for you, Marty. The cadets asked for it.” the Superintendent says. The film concludes with a full dress parade in Marty's honor. All the people Marty loves, both living and dead, step up to honor him. The band plays Auld Lang Syne, which brings tears to Marty's eyes—and to Dotson's.

In 1947, John Nash arrives at Princeton University as co-recipient, with Martin Hansen, of the Carnegie Scholarship for mathematics. He meets fellow math and science graduate students Sol, Ainsley, and Bender, as well as his roommate Charles Herman, a literature student.

Determined to publish his own original idea, Nash is inspired when he and his classmates discuss how to approach a group of women at a bar. Hansen quotes Adam Smith advocating "every man for himself", but Nash argues that a cooperative approach would lead to better chances of success developing a new concept of governing dynamics. Publishing an article on his theory, he earns an appointment at MIT where he chooses Sol and Bender over Hansen to join him.

In 1953, Nash is invited to the Pentagon to study encrypted enemy telecommunications, which he deciphers mentally. Bored with his regular duties at MIT, including teaching, he is recruited by the mysterious William Parcher of the United States Department of Defense with a classified assignment: to look for hidden patterns in magazines and newspapers to thwart a Soviet plot. Nash becomes increasingly obsessive in his search for these patterns, delivering his results to a secret mailbox, and comes to believe he is being followed.

One of his students, Alicia Larde, asks him to dinner, and they fall in love. On a return visit to Princeton, Nash runs into Charles and his niece, Marcee. With Charles' encouragement, he proposes to Alicia and they marry. Nash fears for his life after surviving a shootout between Parcher and Soviet agents, and learns Alicia is pregnant, but he is forced to continue his assignment. While delivering a guest lecture at Harvard University, Nash tries to flee from people he thinks are Soviet agents, led by psychiatrist Dr. Rosen, but is forcibly sedated and committed to a psychiatric facility.

Dr. Rosen tells Alicia that Nash has schizophrenia and that Charles, Marcee, and Parcher exist only in his imagination. Alicia backs up the doctor, telling Nash that no "William Parcher" is in the Defense Department and takes out the unopened documents he delivered to the secret mailbox. Nash is given a course of insulin shock therapy and eventually released. Frustrated with the side effects of his antipsychotic medication, he secretly stops taking it and starts seeing Parcher and Charles again.

In 1956, Alicia discovers Nash has resumed his "assignment" in a shed near their home. Realizing he has relapsed, Alicia rushes to the house to find Nash had left their infant son in the running bathtub, believing "Charles" was watching the baby. Alicia calls Dr. Rosen, but Nash accidentally knocks her and the baby to the ground, believing he's fighting Parcher.

As Alicia flees with the baby, Nash stops her car and tells her he realizes that "Marcee" isn't real because she doesn't age, finally accepting that Parcher and other figures are hallucinations. Against Dr. Rosen's advice, Nash chooses not to restart his medication, believing he can deal with his symptoms himself, and Alicia decides to stay and support him.

Nash returns to Princeton, approaching his old rival Hansen, now head of the mathematics department, who allows him to work out of the library and audit classes. Over the next two decades, Nash learns to ignore his hallucinations and, by the late 1970s, is allowed to teach again.

In 1994, Nash is awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his revolutionary work on game theory, and is honored by his fellow professors. At the ceremony, he dedicates the prize to his wife. As Nash, Alicia, and their son leave the auditorium in Stockholm, Nash sees Charles, Marcee, and Parcher watching him, but glances at them before departing.

A former police detective and Vietnam veteran in New Orleans and a recovering alcoholic, Dave Robicheaux, is living a quiet life in the swamplands of Louisiana with his wife Annie. The couple's tranquility is shattered one day when a drug smuggler's plane crashes in a lake, right before their eyes.

Robicheaux succeeds in rescuing a lone survivor from drowning, a young Salvadoran female, whom Annie quickly pulled up onto the boat to administer mouth-to-mouth by covering the little girl’s nostrils with her right cheek while breathing into her airway. With the arrival of a DEA officer named Dautrieve and an inherent connection to Bubba Rocque, the leading drug kingpin in the area and Robicheaux's longtime friend from New Iberia, Dave becomes involved in solving the case and consequently finds himself, his wife, and their new adoptive daughter Alafair in danger.

Robicheaux is assaulted by two thugs as a warning. With help from his former girlfriend Robin, an exotic dancer who still has feelings for him, he continues to investigate. His longtime acquaintance Bubba denies any involvement, but Dave warns him and Bubba's sultry wife Claudette that he is going to find out who is behind all this and do something about it. He tracks down one of the men who attacked him, Eddie Keats, and splits his head open with a pool cue in Keat's own bar. Killers come to the Robicheaux home late one night. Robicheaux is unable to prevent his wife Annie from being killed. He falls off the wagon and neglects the young girl they adopted. Robin comes to stay with them.

Clearing his head, Robicheaux seeks vengeance against the three killers. He first goes after a large man called Toot, chasing him onto a streetcar and causing his death. Bubba and Claudette reassure a local mob boss named Giancano that they will not let this vendetta get out of hand, and Bubba gets into a fistfight with Robicheaux, falsely suspecting him of an affair with Claudette. Eddie Keats is found dead before Robicheaux can get to him. Going after the last and most dangerous of the killers, Victor Romero, he knows that someone else must be giving them orders.

He finds Romero and kills him. Then, going to Bubba's home, Robicheaux discovers that it is Claudette who planned the hit. After overhearing Claudette confessing her plan to take over the drug business, Bubba appears and shoots Claudette, and Robicheaux calls in the crime. When he returns home, Robin has left forever, and all Robicheaux has left in his life is his daughter Alafair.

Law student and athlete Allan Mann is struck by a truck and rendered quadriplegic following surgery. As his overbearing mother and strict nurse try to help him, Allan, now in a SNP-equipped wheelchair, struggles to adjust. He eventually attempts suicide. His friend, Geoffrey Fisher, suggests he get a Capuchin monkey as a service animal to lift his spirits and help around the house. Geoffrey has an ulterior motive: he is a research scientist under pressure to produce results. Geoffrey has been dosing a monkey in his lab with a serum to boost its intelligence, and he believes the serum's effects will be amplified if the monkey is around humans.

Geoffrey enlists Melanie Parker, a specialist in training helper monkeys. Geoffrey provides the Capuchin he has been experimenting on, lying to Melanie and Allan that the monkey is completely normal. Allan names the monkey Ella, and he and Melanie work closely training her. Initially, Ella is a huge help to Allan. Allan grows very close to Melanie.

However, as time passes, Allan grows more short-tempered and resentful. Ella, too, becomes more aggressive. Allan dreams of running through the grass at night, and he believes that he has a telepathic link with Ella, whom he suspects can escape the house. Geoffrey finds evidence confirming this but, pleased with Ella's intelligence, does not tell Allan and Melanie. After the pet bird of Allan's nurse flies around and pesters him, the irate Allan wishes that it were dead - that night, Ella stealthily kills the bird and leaves it in the nurse's slipper; causing the nurse to quit in a huff.

Allan gets a second opinion about his paralysis and discovers that he may have been misdiagnosed; another surgery may enable Allan to walk again. Before attempting the risky surgery, the doctor needs Allan to demonstrate some ability to move an appendage. Rather than feeling happy at this news, Allan is filled with anger at the surgeon who originally (possibly purposely) misdiagnosed him (and who is now dating Allan's former girlfriend). He fantasizes about burning the man's cabin down, and that night, Ella escapes and does just that; killing the surgeon and his girlfriend with a pack of stolen matches.

After seeing the fire in a vision and having it confirmed by his mother, the horrified Allan believes that Ella has been carrying out his dark impulses. He also realizes that when he is around Ella, he becomes easily enraged. Allan demands that Geoffrey take Ella away for good, which he does under protest. With Ella gone, Allan becomes more relaxed; he spends the weekend at Melanie's house and the two become sexually involved.

Allan returns home and tries to mend bridges with his mother, but feels a sudden burst of rage at her utter disapproval of Melanie. Allan realizes that Ella must be nearby (Ella has returned to the house after escaping Geoffrey's lab). Allan's mother ignores his desperate warnings that she leave, and instead takes a bath. Ella kills her by dropping a hairdryer into the tub, electrocuting her. Allan briefly answers a call from Melanie before Ella disables the phone; concerned, Melanie departs for Allan's house.

Geoffrey arrives and confesses that Ella was an experimental subject. The enraged Allan demands Geoffrey to leave, upset at being used for an experiment yet concerned for his safety with Ella around. Instead, Geoffrey pursues Ella around the house; intending to put her down with one of the syringes of sodium pentobarbitone he has brought. Ella gets hold of one of the syringes and injects it into Geoffrey, killing him.

Ella returns to Allan, who is filled with self loathing because he believes that Ella is acting out his own impulses. He screams at Ella, but the monkey responds by urinating on him. Melanie arrives and Ella attacks her. This finally convinces Allan that Ella is not simply carrying out his desires. Melanie falls and is knocked unconscious. As Allan rages at Ella, she ignores him and prepares to inject Melanie with one of Geoffrey's lethal syringes. Allan calms himself and moves his right arm to engage his tape deck. As peaceful music plays he lovingly summons Ella to cuddle close to him, and she complies. When Ella comes near enough to his head, Allan viciously bites her on the neck and repeatedly slams her body against the back of his wheelchair, killing her.

Later, Allan undergoes successful spinal surgery. Melanie arrives at the hospital to pick him up, and Allan carefully stands up from his wheelchair and gets into the van with her.

The story is set in the provincial city of Corrientes, part of the Argentine Littoral, on the shore of the Paraná River.

Eduardo Plarr is an unmarried medical doctor of English descent who, as a boy, fled to Buenos Aires with his Paraguayan mother to escape the political turmoil of Paraguay. His English father remained in Paraguay as a political rebel and, aside from a single hand-delivered letter, they never hear from him again.

When Plarr moves to Corrientes, a quiet, subtropical backwater, he meets the two other English inhabitants: Humphries, a bitter elderly English teacher; and Charles Fortnum, the unimportant British honorary consul, a divorced, self-pitying alcoholic who abuses his position for gain. Plarr also meets Julio Saavedra, a forgotten but self-important Argentine writer of novels full of silent machismo.

Visiting the town brothel with Saavedra, Plarr is attracted to a girl, Clara, but she is taken by another man. Later, when he is called to treat Fortnum's new wife, Plarr recognizes Clara. Although he has never been to England, Plarr regards himself as a cool, self-controlled Englishman. Nonetheless, he finds himself obsessed by Clara and seduces her with a pair of highly decorative sunglasses. They then begin an affair in which he remains emotionally distant from her. "Caring is the only dangerous thing," Plarr says in the novel. "Love was a claim which he wouldn't meet, a responsibility he would refuse to accept, a demand. So many times his mother had used the word when he was a child; it was like the threat of an armed robber. 'Put up your hands or else ...' Something was always asked in return: obedience, an apology, a kiss which one had no desire to give." When Clara becomes pregnant Fortnum, believing the child is his, drinks less.

Two of Plarr's friends from his Paraguayan Jesuit schooldays turn up at his surgery. One is Leon Rivas, a married priest, now defrocked, the other Aquino, a failed lawyer. They tell Plarr his father is alive and in a jail in Paraguay, and that they have a plot for which a doctor's assistance is needed to kidnap the US Ambassador on his trip to Corrientes to see ruins. They intend to ransom the ambassador for the release of political prisoners in Paraguay, including Plarr's father. However, they are incompetent and mistakenly kidnap Fortnum instead. Meanwhile, Colonel Perez of the National Police questions Plarr on the kidnapping.

Rivas and Aquino take Plarr to a squalid hut in a shanty town while bargaining with the authorities. Plarr has been taken to the hut to treat Fortnum, who has been shot in the leg while attempting to escape, lies drinking whisky. Fortnum spends much of his time, as he faces up to his impending death, sentimentalizing about Clara and remembering the fearsome figure of his father. He overhears Plarr confessing his adultery with Clara and that the child is Plarr's. Army paratroopers surround the hut while the failed priest, Rivas, conducts a makeshift mass inside with the rain coming down. When the police deadline is about to expire, Plarr goes out to talk with them, with Leon shooting him in his leg. The paratroopers shoot Plarr, Leon and Aquino dead, with Plarr's death blamed on the kidnappers. The surviving kidnappers and Rivas's wife are captured, and Fortnum restored to Clara.

Plarr's mother, once a beauty and now bloated, along with some of his previous mistresses, attends his funeral. Saavedra reads a homily. The UK embassy then relieves Fortnum of his consulship and tell him he will be appointed an OBE in the next UK honours. In the last scene, Fortnum and Clara reconcile and name the child Eduardo, after Plarr.

As war rages between Cornwall and Ireland, the Cornish knight Tristan defeats Morholt, a formidable Irish warrior, in combat. Tristan himself is gravely injured and drifts out to sea, eventually landing on the coast of Ireland. He pretends to be a minstrel named Tantris and is treated at a convent by the Irish princess Isolde, who is disguised as a maid. As Tristan recovers, they fall in love—even after Isolde examines his sword and deduces that he killed Morholt—and he promises to return for her when he is called back to the Cornish court.

Tristan's uncle, King Marke of Cornwall, plans to establish peace through a political marriage to Isolde. Tristan volunteers to escort the princess to Cornwall. When he arrives in Ireland again, he and Isolde are each astounded to learn of the other's true identity. Tristan, who is fiercely loyal to the king, rejects Isolde's suggestion that they run away together. She prepares a potion that will cause its drinkers to fall senselessly in love forever and mixes it into both her and Tristan's wine. In Cornwall, Isolde weds Marke immediately but the potion exerts its influence on her and Tristan. They regularly meet in secret with the assistance of their servants, Brangäne and Gorvenal. Andret, a court advisor who seeks the throne, eventually exposes their tryst.

Confronted with the reality about his nephew and his wife, Marke orders their imprisonment and execution. Tristan escapes and Isolde is spared with the help of Tristan's friend Dinas. She is sentenced to live with a leper but is rescued by Tristan, and the lovers flee Cornwall. Three years later, Cornwall is under attack by the Irish, led by the traitorous Andret. Dinas finds Tristan and Isolde and urges them to return to the court and reconcile with Marke. Though Tristan is unwilling, Isolde agrees because she feels responsible for the resumption of the war. She returns to Cornwall and undergoes trial by ordeal, holding a red-hot iron to establish her innocence and restore peace.

Tristan travels to Brittany alone. He rescues a peasant woman from robbers and cynically names her "Isolde". Some time later, he is mortally wounded and sends Gorvenal to ask Isolde of Ireland to visit him on his deathbed. Gorvenal returns to Cornwall, where Andret has taken the throne. Marke learns of Gorvenal's plan and agrees to mobilise his knights to safely escort Isolde out of Cornwall. Andret is killed in the ensuing commotion. As Isolde sails to Brittany, the jealous Breton maid lies to Tristan about the color of the sails on the returning boat, implying that Gorvenal's mission was unsuccessful. He dies, and when Isolde arrives to see him, she collapses in grief and joins him in death.

Paul Prentice (Rupert Graves) and Karl Foyle (Steven Mackintosh) were close friends during their secondary school days. Paul used to defend Karl from the violent attacks of their classmates, who ridiculed Karl for being effeminate.

Some years later they are reunited literally by accident, when Paul, on the motorcycle he rides as a courier, runs into the cab that Karl (who has undergone gender confirmation surgery and is named Kim) is riding in. Paul is initially surprised to discover that Karl has become Kim, but asks her out to get re-acquainted.

Their first date goes badly and Kim assumes that it's because Paul is nervous about being seen in public with her. Paul brings her flowers at her workplace (as a verse writer for a greeting card company) and they go out again. This date works out better and they end up back at Paul's place listening to music.

The two continue to spend time together, with Paul teaching Kim how to ride a motorcycle. Their next dinner date, at Kim's place, is disastrous. Paul, struggling to understand transgender issues, drinks too much and ends up in the courtyard outside Kim's apartment, exposing his penis and ranting. The police arrive and arrest him for indecent exposure. Kim places a hand on one of the officers and he arrests her for obstruction. In the police van, one of the officers makes crude remarks about Kim and places his hand under her skirt. Paul intervenes and is beaten by the officer.

At the police station, Paul is charged with assaulting the officer. Kim, his only witness, is terrified of being in trouble and intimidated by the police into keeping silent. She flees to her sister's home.

At Paul's trial on the assault charges, Kim is able to gather her courage and testify for Paul. While he is still convicted, he receives only a token fine. A reporter at the courthouse tries to buy Kim and Paul's story but they refuse. They return to Kim's place, where Paul is surprised and delighted to discover that he and Kim are sexually as well as emotionally compatible; they make love.

Paul, desperate for money following the repossession of his motorcycle, sells Kim's and his story to a London tabloid. With the story splashed all over the papers, Kim thinks she's going to be sacked from the greeting card company. Instead, her boss stands behind her.

As the film draws to a close, it's revealed that Kim and Paul are living together and that it was Kim's idea for Paul to sell the story.

First story arc

The first four issues of the series focuses on Daniel Llanso. His story is set some 400 years in the future in an apocalyptic world some time after Armageddon where the Devil Phlegethonyarre has his servant, Abaddon the Angel of the Bottomless Pit and their Undead Army of Nightmares (Necro-Soldiers, Zombies powered by Hell's Darklight) dominate and hunt all humans.

Daniel's life was an abusive one for the young man: he killed his abusive/drunken father with a laser rifle in order to protect his mother and sister, Madrid. He consequently spends most of his teen years and a portion of his 20s in various prison facilities on the Moons of Mars and Earth. During his time behind bars, he falls in love with a female Public Defender named "Mrs. Noon," with whom he has a strong but short love, as she is apparently killed because of him for an unknown reason. Daniel's memories of his past are mostly filled with pain and anger, of being shocked with tazer-prods in prison or murdering a Crater-Gang thug by smashing the face-mask of his spacesuit with a rock. At some point Daniel Llanso escapes from a lunar prison in a stolen freighter, but as the story points out, the cargo on board was 'Fetid' or, more likely, booby-trapped. Daniel Llanso dies as his spaceship burns up in the Earth's atmosphere; his space suit melts and his flesh burns. He screams as his soul falls burning into the darkness of damnation ending deep within the Twelfth Level of Hell.

Having died and resurrected as a Hellspawn, Daniel is at first lost in a blur of treacherous memory and whispers to do evil deeds and use his energy to violent ends. The Hellspawn rises from the barren earth just in time to stop a large demon from killing his sister and her son Matthew. Daniel instantly recognizes her, but not his nephew. She then fires her Energy rifle at the Hellspawn as Madrid and Matt escape. Spawn is left alone only to be 'found' by Abaddon who goads Spawn to kill the last humans on Earth. Spawn agrees.

The forces of evil, now gathered within Vatican City, are led by the "Anti-Pope", who summons a demon named Bune to attack a human stronghold, while Abaddon goads Spawn to kill human soldiers and become Hell's General. Daniel resists at every turn, remembering the promise he made the last time he saw his sister alive: to never give up on himself. Abaddon reveals to Spawn that the Anti-Pope has already sent Death to claim Madrid and Matt, Spawn removes his mask and sees what he has become in a pool of water. In a moment of anger, he is confronted by his master Phlegethonyarre who admits to Daniel that his fate was sealed from the beginning and using his new necro powers consumes a part of his soul. The hellspawn Daniel races against time to rescue Madrid and her son Matt from an army of 'Navkies'(undead children) under the command of Bune. Phlegethonyarre gloats to Abaddon that once Spawn kills Madrid & Matthew the REAL Game can begin.

The story arc during Curse of the Spawn ends on a cliffhanger. Daniel rescues his sister yet discovers that Matthew was kidnapped by Abaddon and taken to "The Tower". Spawn battles Bune and ultimately kills him with his own scythe. Spawn races to the top of the tower only to find Abaddon waiting, preparing Matthew for a demonic sacrifice. Abaddon gives Spawn the chance to 'save' Matt's soul by killing him so he'll go to heaven (though this is probably a lie); instead, Spawn talks to Matt and tells him to picture the place he most wants to be, teleporting Matt back to his mother, who flee while Spawn confronts Abaddon. Spawn and Abaddon battle and Spawn appears to win by using his Darklight energy to completely destroy the tower and Abaddon in one huge blast.

Daniel, Madrid, Matthew and a few other minor characters survive the end of the story arc. The story concludes in its own miniseries called ''Spawn: Blood & Salvation''.

Issues 5-29

The rest of the ''Curse of the Spawn'' issues focuses around related characters from the main ''Spawn'' series, like Jessica Priest, Sam and Twitch, The Angel Abdiel and Angela, Hatchet a Zombie Spawn, and other tales of other hell throughout the comics timelines.

Some of these stories include; An angel named Abdiel sent to spy on Malebolgia is tricked and banished from heaven, A Greek boy named Raenius, who was killed by Zeus (the god) and resurrected as a Hellspawn, who kills Zeus with the gorgon Medusa by his side.

The film follows the life of Pippa McGee (Heather Graham) as she takes a giant step between the ages of 29 and 30, which involves growing up, becoming responsible, and discovering true love.

Pippa is a freelance travel writer who, after enjoying holidays in a Mexicanized Pamplona (Spain), comes home for a friend's wedding. She then finds herself running her father's wedding magazine while he recovers from a heart attack. Not only does Pippa have to run the magazine ''Wedding Bells'', but she also has to save it from the chopping block. The future of magazine is at risk as hungry vultures wait to take over her father's media conglomerate.

Pippa and her strait-laced father have never truly gotten along since her mother died. To complicate things, Pippa becomes involved in a love triangle with her father's right-hand man Ian (David Sutcliffe) and the free-spirited photographer Hemingway Jones (Taye Diggs).

The story is completed by a cast of token friends, Lulu (Sandra Oh), Jane (Sarah Chalke), and Rachel (Sabrina Grdevich) who provide Pippa with the moral support she needs to get the job done, both in her love life and in her editor job.

Storyline

The game's main questline takes place a short time following the destruction of the world of Enroth - the location of ''Might and Magic VI'' through ''Might and Magic VIII'' - as depicted in ''Heroes of Might and Magic IV'', and deals with the attempted invasion of the region of Chedian by the army of the Beldonian warlord Tamur Leng. The player controls a party of raiders from the town of Ravensford, who are shipwrecked on the Isle of Ashes and told of their fate by a hermit, Yrsa the Troll. Joined by another shipwrecked warrior named Forad Darre, they travel to the six clans of Chedian, uniting them against the threat of the Beldonian Horde.

Forad Darre is sent to lead the armies of Chedian against the Beldonian Horde while the party performs a task for Yrsa, but they are slaughtered to the man. The spirit of one of the six slain Jarls, Sven Forkbeard, reveals that Darre is a double-agent working for Leng, and the party is sent to the Otherworld of Axeoth to recover the dead warriors from Skraelos, the god of death. Before doing so, they are sent to the ethereal Dark Passage by the gatekeeper of Hallenhalt, Hanndl, to obtain a Writ of Fate from the Wyrd, Igrid. Returning to Chedian, they find the Beldonian armies occupying the city of Frosgard, and slay Forad Darre. Confronting Tamur Leng, the party learns that Leng possesses a second Writ of Fate, which contradicts the party's destiny.

Returning to Hallenhalt with Tamur Leng, the party speaks with Krohn and Fre, the leaders of the gods, who reveal that the god of chaos - Njam the Meddler - has been orchestrating their destiny from the start. Disposing of the Wyrdes, influencing Leng to send Forad Darre, and taking the forms of Yrsa the Troll and Igrid, the god of chaos plotted an elaborate coup against Krohn, coveting Fre and desiring rulership of the denizens of Axeoth for himself. Krohn sends the party to imprison a pursuing Njam in the Tomb of a Thousand Terrors, and they succeed, encasing the malevolent god in a shell of impenetrable frost. The gods present them their true Writ of Fate, stating that their true destiny all along was to imprison Njam in the Tomb.

Setting

The game takes place on the fictional world of Axeoth, in the Chedian region of the continent of Rysh. The previous three games in the series had taken place on the world of Enroth, the land of ''Heroes of Might and Magic''. The change to a new world with little direct connection to previous storylines was prompted by the destruction of Enroth, as depicted in ''Heroes of Might and Magic IV'', which also takes place on Axeoth. Unlike ''Heroes IV'', however, ''Might and Magic IX'' makes only passing reference to the series' previous setting. Only one character from previous games in the series, Nicolai Ironfist, makes a return appearance, though King Roland Ironfist and the Kreegan are also mentioned.

The land of Chedian lies upon the east coast of Rysh, and is divided into several towns and cities ruled by six disagreeable clans, with the nations of Framon and Beldonia further to the west. Time in Rysh is calculated according to years following the Great Cataclysm, an event in which the enigmatic sorcerer, Verhoffin, unleashed a destructive spell of such power upon the continent that its entire geography was reshuffled, crippling the Ursanian Empire from which the Beldonians are descended. Each clan is ruled by a Jarl, and uniting the clans under one banner is a major objective of the game. Many themes, characters and location names, such as the gods, the Frost Giants, Lindisfarne, Arslegard and the Otherworld, were directly inspired by Celtic and Norse mythology. The continent upon which ''Heroes IV'' takes place, which was settled by refugees from Enroth, is located far across the sea, and is not referenced in-game. In a break from tradition, very few elements of the series' science fantasy theme are prevalent in the game itself, though they are present in the backstory.

After returning from a scouting mission in a time machine, the Mandroid gives a Roman centurion shield to his master Abbot Reeves. Reeves orders the Mandroid to be dismantled (killed), but Reeves' assistant Takada tries to help the Mandroid to escape. Although Takada dies in the escape attempt, he tells the Mandroid to seek scientist Col. Nora Hunter for help in stopping Reeves from enacting an evil plan. In the U.S., the Mandroid finds Hunter and reveals himself to her. She believed Reeves to be dead and recognizes her designs for a Mars probe in the Mandroid. She repairs damage done to the Mandroid in his escape. The Mandroid plans to return to stop Reeves' evil plans (whatever they may be) and Hunter insists on accompanying him as his mechanic. She also brings along S.P.O.T., a small flying scout robot of her own design.

Arriving in Mexico, Hunter hires the best river boat captain she can find in a seedy bar, one Harry Fontana, and they head down a river. After running afoul of rival riverboat captains and Reeves' men, they end up finding the Mandroid's crashed plane after an encounter with a tribe of cavemen brought to this time by Reeves' time travel experiments. They also meet Kuji, the ninja son of Doctor Takada, who has come to find his father. The Mandroid informs him that his father is dead, killed by Reeves. He joins the group, which then storms Reeves' headquarters, only to be captured by Reeves, now a cyborg himself, more advanced than the Mandroid, whose body is designed to look like Roman armor. Reeves plans to travel back to ancient Rome and become the new Caesar.

The Mandroid fights Reeves and is quickly defeated. Badly damaged, the Mandroid sacrifices his life to free the rest of the group. They pursue Reeves to his laboratory just in time to watch him escape to ancient Rome in his time machine. In frustration, Fontana smashes the laboratory control panel, causing the time machine to overshoot its target date and maroon Reeves hundreds of millions of years in the past.

Alex is a single, 35-year-old video game tester who lives with his friend Josh. When Josh wastes their rent money on Filipino hookers, their landlord Yuri evicts them, purposely breaks one of their bongs, and has his movers trash everything that doesn't belong to them, forcing Alex to find a new place to live.

Alex tries to stay with his marijuana dealer Dante, but cannot do so because Dante is adopting a wild lion to live in the house. Alex spends one night with his co-worker Jeff, but Jeff still lives with his parents. After an embarrassing "encounter" with Jeff's mother in which he is caught masturbating in the bathroom and subsequently ejaculates on her, she still allows Alex to stay with them, but he has the option of moving in with his grandmother Lilly and her two eccentric friends Bea and Grace.

Alex is given many chores and fix-up projects to do around the house, but has a hard time completing them because his grandmother and her friends are a constant distraction. He also finds it hard to get any work done. Alex discovers that the three women have a fascination with the television program ''Antiques Roadshow'' and later is able to get some work finished by giving them tickets to attend a taping of the show.

At work, Alex meets the beautiful Samantha, who has been sent by the company's corporate office to oversee the production of a new video game. Alex and Samantha hit it off, but the only person in the way of their relationship is the creator of the game they are all working on, J.P., a self-proclaimed "genius" who is obsessed with video games and has a crush on Samantha. Samantha is not interested in J.P. and declines his constant advances.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to sound cool to his younger co-workers, Alex says that he is living "with three hot babes". Alex's friends believe the lie and actually think the reason he is so tired every day at work is because he is living with three women who constantly "wear him out" in the bedroom. The real cause of his fatigue is because he stays up late at night working on his own video game called ''Demonik'' which he has been developing in secret for some time. Lilly asks about the game one night and he teaches her to play it. To his surprise, she becomes quite good at it and beats many levels.

After Alex and his co-workers finish successfully testing ''Eternal Death Slayer 3'', their boss Mr. Cheezle tells Samantha to take the boys out to eat at a vegan restaurant, but they instead make fun of the restaurant and their waiter Shilo when they arrive, and then leave to a burger shop. When Jeff has to use the bathroom and refuses to use the one in the restaurant, Alex is forced to take everyone to his house.

Alex comes home to find that Lilly, Grace, and Bea drank all of his pot, which they thought was tea. When Samantha admits to smoking weed too, Alex calls up Dante and throws a wild party. During the party, the group prank-calls J.P. and leaves him a voicemail that makes fun of him about wanting to be a robot. J.P. is upset by the message and shows up at Lilly's house a couple nights later in tears. Feeling bad for him, Alex agrees to let him borrow his only copy of ''Demonik'' and test it out for a few days.

In retaliation for Alex making his life miserable, and having become accustomed to stealing others' ideas, J.P. steals the game and tries to pass it off as his own at work. Mr. Cheezle does not believe Alex when he insists the game is his since it was his only copy, so his friends call Lilly to the office. Because she has mastered the game already, she plays J.P. and wins to prove it belongs to Alex.

J.P. is fired by Mr. Cheezle while Alex is vindicated and creates a successful game. Alex and Samantha start dating.

The show starred Clint Walker, a native of Illinois, as Cheyenne Bodie, a physically large cowboy with a gentle spirit in search of frontier justice who wanders the American West in the days after the American Civil War. The first episode, "Mountain Fortress", is about robbers pretending to be Good Samaritans. It features James Garner (who had briefly been considered for the role of Cheyenne but could not be located until after Walker had already been cast) as a guest star, but with higher billing given to Ann Robinson as Garner's intended bride. The episode reveals that Bodie's parents were killed by Indians, tribe unknown. He was taken by Cheyenne Indians when he was an infant but left to be raised by a white family when he was 12. (One episode, 'West of the River' is inconsistent and states that he was taken when he was taken and then raised by the Cheyenne when he was 10 years old, and he left them by choice when he was 18 years old.) In the series, the character Bodie maintains a positive and understanding attitude toward the Native Americans, despite the death of his parents.

In Season 5, Episode 1 "The Long Rope", which originally aired on September 26, 1960, Cheyenne returns to the town where he was raised by a family (the Pierces) whose father/husband Jeff was lynched when he, Cheyenne, was a youth. This causes some confusion with the viewer as it was said that Cheyenne was raised by a Cheyenne tribe after unknown Indians had killed his parents, but the various accounts say that he left the tribe at 12 or 18.

Michael and Corinne Mulvaney are the parents of four children: Michael Jr., Patrick, Marianne, and Judd. Living in a picture perfect farm in upstate New York, the Mulvaneys own a successful roofing company; Michael Mulvaney is considered a serious businessman. Corinne is a bubbly, earthy mother, whose life revolves around the family unit. For nearly twenty years the Mulvaney clan thrives, admired throughout the small town of Mt. Ephraim for being a model family.

On St. Valentine's night 1976, after prom, Marianne Mulvaney goes to a party where she becomes intoxicated and is raped by an upperclassman, whose father is a well-respected businessman and friend of Mr. Mulvaney.

Marianne's rape is the beginning of a tumultuous fifteen-year period. Her father, lost and angry, does not understand why his daughter will not press charges against her attacker. He can no longer look at his daughter the same way and sends her to live with a distant relative of Corinne's in Salamanca, New York. Marianne, moving haphazardly from place to place, continues to wait for her father to call on her, but he never does.

Michael Mulvaney Sr.'s casual drinking turns into full-fledged alcoholism. Gradually, his reputation as a respected businessman disintegrates. The Mulvaneys are forced into bankruptcy and must sell the farm. Eventually, Corinne and Michael split up. For the other family members, things continue to get worse. All three of the Mulvaney boys leave home angrily, never to return. One of them "executes justice" on his sister's rapist.

After many years, the Mulvaneys meet once again at a family reunion in Corinne's new home, which she shares with a friend. The family has extended to include spouses and children. Finally, the Mulvaneys come full circle and receive closure.

In a prologue, Mary, a recent Mormon convert, has traveled over 4,000 miles to Nauvoo, Illinois, with her father to meet Joseph Smith. Her father asks if she intends to find out whether Smith is a prophet of God. Mary responds that she already knows he is, and that her father can know too by reading what he wrote. Mary's father begins to read an issue of ''Times and Seasons'' and the Book of Mormon.

In 1813, young Joseph Smith suffers a severe injury and subsequent infection to his left leg. He undergoes an experimental operation to remove the infected parts of the bone, thus avoiding the need for amputation.

In the spring of 1820, Smith receives his First Vision of God and Jesus Christ, in which he is told not to join any existing churches, as he will be called to start his own. Three years later, the Angel Moroni tells him where to find the golden plates which will form the holy scriptures of this new church. Shortly thereafter, Joseph's eldest brother, Alvin, dies.

Smith meets and marries Emma Hale, against the objections of her parents. A few years later, Smith retrieves and translates the golden plates. During one session of translation, Smith and his scribe, Oliver Cowdery, pray to learn more about a particular doctrine. They receive a visitation from John the Baptist, who confers upon them the authority to baptize. Next is a visitation of Peter, James and John, who confer upon them the authority to organize the Church of Christ, which they do in April 1830. The nascent church suffers persecution and harassment, forcing a move to Kirtland, Ohio in 1836. While in Kirtland, Smith reveals that God wants them to build a temple. After it is finished and a meeting has been held, Smith and Cowdery see another vision where God accepts the temple. Other personages then appear and confer additional priesthood keys or authorities on them. Smith calls several men to travel and preach the gospel to the British Isles for the first time. During this time, Mary meets the missionaries and joins the church.

Despite the success of the finished temple and visions, Smith and many others are forced to move several more times to escape persecution, eventually ending up in Nauvoo, Illinois, where they build another temple. Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum discover their old enemies are trying to get them to Carthage, Illinois to kill them. Joseph decides to confront them directly, telling Hyrum that if they go, they will not come back. Smith transfers his authority to his apostles, including Brigham Young.

On June 24, 1844, Smith, Hyrum, and two other men, John Taylor and Willard Richards mount their horses and ride through the town on the way out of town. Meanwhile, Mary and her father, who have just arrived in Nauvoo, attempt to follow the riders so that they can meet Smith, but give up when the riders pass out of town. Mary's father says, "We don't have to meet him to know that he is a prophet."

The Smith brothers report to the jail in Carthage, as requested, when men with guns force their way into the jail and kill them. The film ends with some of Smith's words from the Doctrine and Covenants: "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"

The novel takes place in Three Rivers, Connecticut, in the early 1990s. Dominick Birdsey's identical twin, Thomas, suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. With medication, Thomas is able to live his life in relative peace and work at a coffee stand, but occasionally he has severe episodes of his illness. Thinking he is making a sacrificial protest that will stop the Gulf War, Thomas cuts off his own hand while at a public library. Dominick sees him through the ensuing decision not to attempt to reattach the hand, and makes efforts on his behalf to free him from what he knows to be an inadequate and depressing hospital for the dangerously mentally ill.

In the process, Dominick contemplates his own difficult life as Thomas's brother, his marriage to his gorgeous ex-wife, which ended after their only child died of SIDS, and his ongoing hostility toward his stepfather. Dominick also displays classic symptoms of PTSD, as a result of stressors in his adult life. First in Thomas's interests, and then for his own sake, he sees a therapist, Dr. Rubina Patel, a psychologist employed by the hospital. She helps Dominick come to understand Thomas's illness better and the family's accommodations or reactions to it.

In the course of Thomas's treatment, Dominick is covertly informed of sexual abuse taking place in the hospital, and helps to expose the perpetrators. He succeeds in getting Thomas released, but Thomas soon dies, apparently by suicide. After Thomas's death, Dominick discovers the identity of their birth father, who was part African American and part Native American–a secret their mother had shared with Thomas, but not with him.

In the midst of this, Dominick is also reading the autobiography of his grandfather, Italian/Sicilian-born Domenico Tempesta, which discloses details about the legacy of twins in their family. Dominick learns about himself and his mother through learning about his grandfather.

He also learns that his live-in girlfriend, Joy, has been seeing a gentleman on the side who is her bisexual half-uncle, and has also let him watch her and Dominick during sex on previous occasions. She is also HIV-positive, having contracted it from her secret lover. She asks Dominick to raise her baby if she dies. At first Dominick resists but later, after having found his way back into a relationship with his ex-wife, Dessa, they decide to remarry each other and adopt Joy's daughter. The book ends with Dominick able to cope with the considerable loss, failure, and sorrow in his personal and family history.

Returning from the Crusades in the eleventh century, English knight Sir William Longsword stops at Orlok's castle in Transylvania, Romania, and finds the nuns dead or dying of plague. Longsword's squire, seeking treasure, inadvertently frees Orlok who kills the man. He bites Longsword but does not turn him into a vampire— rather, he becomes immortal for reasons known only to Orlok. The series tracks Orlok throughout history as he perpetuates his evil, instigating wars and bringing down plagues. Longsword tracks him through 19th century India and the madness of the Vietnam War and finally catches up to him in an abandoned cathedral in contemporary Brooklyn.

The final chapter ends in a conflagration in which both Orlok and Longsword are killed but the curse of the Nosferatu is passed onto an innocent, as it was to Longsword ten centuries before. The series was notable for presenting a vampire character drawn from European folklore rather than the refined Anne Rice model that was in vogue at the time.

A ''Nosferatu: Plague of Terror'' compilation in graphic novel format was released by Millennial Concepts in October 2009.

Popeye is on a quest to find his missing father Poopdeck Pappy. Popeye is dogged by nightmares warning him that his Pappy, who abandoned him as a child, is in danger and needs him, so he bravely sets out on the open sea to find his long-lost father and reunite with him for the Christmas holidays. Accompanied by the admiring Olive Oyl, the brawny Bluto, the hungry Wimpy, and little Swee'Pea, he heads for the Sea of Mystery, which happens to be in the evil Sea Hag's domain. Strange things begin to happen along the way, as the group encounters sirens, serpents, and menacing mists. This was clearly all of the Sea Hag's attempts to destroy Popeye for good.

In Poland of early 1944, a Polish-Jewish shopkeeper named Jakob Heym is summoned to the German headquarters after being falsely accused of being out after curfew. While waiting for the commander, Jakob overhears a German radio broadcast speaking about Soviet offensives. Returned to the ghetto, Jakob shares his information with a friend, sparking rumors that there is a secret radio within the ghetto. After hesitating, Jakob decides to use the chance to spread hope throughout the ghetto by continuing to tell the optimistic, fantastic tales that he allegedly heard from his "secret radio", and his lies keep hope and humor alive among the isolated ghetto inhabitants. He also has a real secret, in that he is hiding a young Jewish girl who escaped from an extermination camp deportation train.

However, the Gestapo learn of the mythical radio and begin a search for the resistance hero who dares operate it. Jakob surrenders himself to the Germans as they demand the person with the radio give himself up or risk hostages being killed. During interrogation, Jakob tells the police commander that he had only listened to the radio inside his office. He is ordered to announce publicly that this was all a lie, so the ghetto's liquidation would then proceed in an orderly fashion. When presented to the public, Jakob refuses to tell the truth, but is shot before he can make his own speech.

At the film's ending, Jakob says, post-mortem, that all the ghetto's residents were then deported and were never seen again. As in the novel, there is an alternate "but maybe it wasn't like that at all" ending where, following Jakob's death, the train carrying the Jewish prisoners to the death camps is halted by Soviet troops and the occupants released.

The film takes place in 1970. The Vietnam War is escalating and United States President Richard Nixon has just decided on a "secret" bombing campaign in Cambodia. Faced with a growing anti-war movement, President Nixon decrees a state of emergency based on the McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950, which authorizes federal authorities, without reference to Congress, to detain persons judged to be a "risk to internal security".

Members from the anti-war movement, Civil Rights Movement, feminist movement, conscientious objectors, and Communist Party, mostly university students, are arrested and face an emergency tribunal made up of community members. With state and federal jails at their top capacity, the convicted face the option of spending their full conviction time in federal prison or three days at ''Punishment Park''. There, they will have to traverse 53 miles of the hot California desert in three days, without water or food, while being chased by National Guardsmen and law enforcement officers as part of their field training. If they succeed and reach the American flag at the end of the course, they will be set free. If they fail by getting "arrested", they will serve the remainder of their sentence in federal prison.

European filmmakers follow two groups of detainees as part of their documentary; while Group 637 starts their three-day ordeal and learn the rules of the "game", the civilian tribunal begins hearings on Group 638. The filmmakers conduct interviews with members of Group 637 and their chasers, documenting how both sides become increasingly hostile towards the other. Meanwhile, the film crew documents the trial of Group 638 as they argue their case in vain for resisting the war in Vietnam. The first group splinters into one group that refuses to accept the rules of the game and tries to resist with violence, and another group that goes on towards the goal. The violent group are all killed. As the others come near the flag they find a group of police waiting for them; it turns out that there is no way to win the Punishment Park course as the system controls it from start to finish.

After being shot down from the World Trade Center, Kong is kept alive in a coma for about ten years. When another Kong-sized female gorilla is found, a blood transfusion is arranged from the female and an artificial heart is installed inside Kong. With a functioning heart, Kong escapes from the facility and seeks to procreate with the female Kong still held in captivity.

The film revolves around the story of a group of very wealthy Kalmyks Russian who are attempting to steal a new Quentin Tarantino film (Tarantino was portrayed by actor Yegor Barinov) before it is officially released. They plan on showing the unseen film at their children's wedding.

Specter, the Pipo Monkeys' leader, finds a Monkey Helmet, and hires the human scientist to aid him in his evil plans. They establish television stations protected by the Freaky Monkey Five where they plan to broadcast TV shows worldwide. The television shows that are broadcast on every television put every human except the twins, Kei and Yumi (Satoru and Sayaka outside of North America), their aunt Aki, and Natalie (Natsumi outside of North America) into a mindless trance. When Natalie informs Kei and Yumi that Spike (Kakeru), Jimmy (Hikaru) and the Professor were all infected by the television show, Kei and Yumi go out to catch the monkeys and thwart Specter and Tomoki.

Their mission was to go to every movie set and capture all the monkeys there and destroy the satellite there. Kei and Yumi easily capture Monkey White, Monkey Blue, and Monkey Yellow. When they reach the TV Station where Monkey Pink is, Kei and Yumi's attempts to capture her fail and she escapes, although they manage to stop her Specter TV broadcast anyway. They manage to capture Monkey Red afterwards.

When they reach Tomoki City, Tomoki challenges them to a battle in his giant Tomo-King robot. Tomoki, after being defeated by Kei and Yumi, and being humiliated by Specter, lets them take his rocket to space to defeat his former partner. Once they reach Specter's outer space base of operations: Space Station SARU-3, they capture all the monkeys and deactivate the movie sets on their way to Specter. When they reach Specter, he tells them his plan about how he will use his space station to cut the earth in half and keep half of it for the monkeys (leaving the other half, originally meant for Tomoki, to the humans). Afterwards he gets in his new Gorillac Mech and tries to activate his plan. He is defeated and the two escape from the satellite, leaving Tomoki to give his life to deactivate the Twin Heavens. He survives. After Specter is defeated, Monkey Pink releases him and the rest of the Freaky Monkey Five, leaving them to be caught again in extremely similar missions. To complete the game one hundred percent, all the four hundred and forty-two monkeys have to be caught, all the time trials have to be completed with a gold time, and all the items, CDs, Video Tapes (except 28), Car Skins, Genie Dance tracks, books, etc. have to be bought. The game holds a total of four hundred and thirty-four monkeys if the secret code monkeys are not caught.

In near-future Tokyo, a group called the Demon Seed has been antagonizing the city with its thefts and giant robotic Power Suits. After various failed attempts against the Demon Seed, the Special Operations Anti-Demon Seed Team (five men in a downtown office) begins to look for an idol to pilot a robotic suit against the Demon Seed. A talent show is held; and after a particularly dull line-up of contestants, the extremely strong Maron Namikaze is discovered. She is fitted with a metal costume and sent to take the Demon Seed down, all the while having an idol singer career forced upon her.

Nanami Simpson is a young Japanese-American girl. Having lost her mother when she was young, she now lives with her marine biologist father, Scott Simpson, on board his research vessel, the ''Peperonchino''. Scott has been in search of a creature known as the Luminous Whale, a whale that can glow brightly underwater, for many years and is determined to eventually see it and preserve its existence. Nanami also is close friends with an orca named Tico, who was rescued as a baby just before Nanami was born. The two have an unbreakable bond and swim with each other every day. As a result, Nanami gradually learns to hold her breath longer and swim deeper than other humans can.

Scott's search from the Luminous Whale soon puts him at odds with the Gaiatron Corporation, a greedy research conglomerate led by the ruthless and ambitious Adrienne Benex, who wishes to exploit the creature for a rare element it seemingly carries in its body. Aiding Benex are her right-hand man, Gaulois, and Dr. Charles LeConte, an old acquaintance of Scott's who is obsessed with the Luminous Whale.

Together, Nanami, Scott, and Tico, along with Scott's first-mate and right-hand man, Al Andretti, seek to locate the Luminous Whale before Benex and Gaiatron can. Over time, they are joined by a few new crew members: * Cheryl Melville, an English-American heiress looking for adventure. * James McIntyre, Cheryl's loyal butler. * Thomas LeConte, Dr. LeConte's introverted and lonely, but intelligent son, who wishes to prove himself capable in the real world. * Junior, Tico's calf, born nearly halfway through the series.

As their journey goes on, the crew of ''Peperonchino'' encounter and make both new friends and enemies, and form bonds with each other, as they race against the corrupt Benex and Gaiatron to find the Luminous Whale first.

Tomokazu Mikuri, the main character in the game and anime, turns 16 years old and has led a dull life without girls. On the night of his birthday, he dreams of a strange world in which he sees a young girl in a blue outfit fighting against an unknown enemy. Tomokazu has a strange, unknown power which seems to "power up" this girl, who has fallen into his arms. She uses this "power" to repel enemies, the alien race known as the Feydooms, who are attempting to break through the dream world and take over the real world.

Waking up, Tomokazu is amazed at his dream's realism, thinking of his strange power and the mysterious girl who fought off her enemies. Rolling over, he is shocked to see the girl from his dream, Mone, in bed next to him. Soon Tomokazu, his classmate Mizuki Agatsuma, Mone, Neneko, Nanase, and her sister Kuyou enter the dream world Moera to destroy the Feydooms and save the world.

The second generation of legendary Guardians of the Veil – Wilhelmina "Will" Vandom, Irma Lair, Taranee Cook, Cornelia Hale and Hay Lin – must save planet Meridian from the evil Prince Phobos and Lord Cedric, who are searching for the tyrannical prince's younger sister, the long-lost princess of Meridian and true heir to the throne. They later find her to be Irma and Taranee's classmate and Cornelia's best friend, Elyon Brown, and the Guardians then set about saving her from Prince Phobos' cunning.

When Meridian is finally freed from evil and the true heir takes the throne, a mysterious sorceress named Nerissa releases Prince Phobos' top henchmen and reforms them as the Knights of Vengeance to act as a distraction to the Guardians. Once the Guardians learn more about the sorceress and her evil plan of reuniting the other four former Guardians- the deceased Cassidy, Halinor, Yan Lin and Kadma- they are able to defeat the Knights of Vengeance, only to battle with more powerful Knights of Destruction made from Nerissa's dark vengeful feelings of hatred and anger, fear and misery: Shagon, Khor, Tridart and Ember.

The Guardians' chief ally is Hay Lin's paternal grandmother Yan Lin, the original, former Guardian of Air, and the one that taught the girls about their magical abilities and destiny as the second generation of Guardians of the Veil. They are also helped by Caleb, a heroic soldier from Meridian, leader of the rebellion against Phobos, and Blunk, a frog-like goblin creature (known as a Passling) who takes things from the human world to Meridian (and vice versa), humorously mistaking everyday objects for other things or items of value. Matt, Will's boyfriend, accidentally learns about Meridian and when he sees the troubles there going on, he learns how to become a warrior to help them. They are also helped by the Oracle, leader of the Universe in Kandrakar, who was the one who chose the five girls.

Guardian Abilities/Magic

Each Guardian's powers are further developed and magnified greatly by the mystical world of Kandrakar, transmitted to the pink Heart of Kandrakar via the Aurameres (the physical representations and very source of the Guardians' powers). The Aurameres grant the same exact elemental powers to each of their guardians; for instance, powers held by Irma would also have been possessed by Cassidy. The Keeper of the Aurameres is Luba, a cat-like being.

When the Guardians transform, they change form and grow wings, which help them fly. Also, the Guardians can combine their powers together and create a beam as seen on the first episode of the series. Since the Veil was taken down, the Guardians have to cross worlds by folding, with the help of the Heart of Kandrakar. Elyon and Blunk can fold as well.

In order to travel to another place in the same world, each Guardian can teletransport. Teletransporting is a difficult ability to learn and one can materialize into another solid object if not careful enough. If a Guardian teletransports while not connected to an Auramere or a Heart, then they will drain their life force.

It has been shown that if a Guardian uses her elemental powers and is not connected to an Auramere, it will drain their life force, making them much weaker. This may be why Nerissa aged so much faster than the rest of the former guardians (C.H.Y.K.N.).

A Guardian can become a Quinto-Guardian, obtaining powers over all five elements. A Quinto-Guardian can gain the power to create solid ice out of thin air as with liquid water. The only known Quinto-Guardians are Cornelia (temporarily via the merged Aurameres) and Nerissa (by using her Seal).

The Guardians can also become one with their dragon (or the powerful nymph Xin Jing, in the case of the Guardian of Quintessence and Keeper of the mystical Heart of Kandrakar, Will) and literally become their element while increasing all of their elemental abilities to their zenith of strength. But this is risky and rather dangerous because it costs them their humanity and they could be easily controlled and enthralled.

Astral Drops and Altermeres

Using the Heart of Kandrakar, a Guardian can create an Astral Drop, a duplicate of herself, when the words "Spord Lartsa" (Astral Drops spelled backwards) are said. The Astral Drops are doppelgangers, summoned when the Guardians have to go on a mission and need doubles so their absence is not felt. Although a Drop is a perfect physical copy of a person, they possess none of their memories, and have no personality of their own. All the Astral Drops make their debut in "Ambush at Torus Filney". Cornelia makes another Astral Drop in "The Mogriffs", as does Will in "H is for Hunted".

An Altermere is an Astral Drop brought to life through the power of Quintessence. Unlike Astral Drops, they do not fade away when "Astral Drop" is said; they are actual living beings with feelings, emotions and memories. The concept of Altermeres is introduced in "H is for Hunted" when Will creates an Astral Drop to do her chores (laundry). Nerissa soon creates trouble by making it an Altermere. In "R is for Relentless", Nerissa tries to corrupt Yan Lin to her side, but can not. So she traps Yan Lin in the Seal of Nerissa and creates an Altermere double who does not realize she is not the real Yan Lin until Nerissa tells her. In "Z is for Zenith", Yan Lin introduces that living, feeling Altermere to her grown son and daughter-in-law as her long-lost "twin sister" from China: Mira Lin.

Nearly 60 years after the events of the first film, Charlie B. Barkin (Charlie Sheen) welcomes his friend, Itchy (Dom DeLuise), to Heaven, but states that he is disillusioned by the afterlife. Their old nemesis, Carface Caruthers (Ernest Borgnine), steals Gabriel's Horn, but loses it somewhere over San Francisco in his attempt to escape with it. When the head angel Annabelle (Bebe Neuwirth) announces the horn's theft, Charlie submits his candidacy to retrieve it, reminding Annabelle of his familiarity with street life. Annabelle sends Charlie and Itchy to Earth to retrieve it, and gives them one miracle to use. Upon arrival in San Francisco, Charlie and Itchy attempt to indulge in their old habits, but they discover that they are ghosts, and therefore unable to interact with the physical world. At a tavern where Charlie is enchanted by a beautiful and charming Irish Setter named Sasha La Fleur (Sheena Easton), Carface appears in a corporeal form granted by a red dog collar created by Red (George Hearn), an elderly dog fortune teller who gives Charlie and Itchy equivalent collars effective for a single day. Unbeknownst to the duo, Red is actually a large demonic cat who intends to take the horn for himself with Carface's help.

Charlie and Itchy meet Sasha and an 8-year-old human boy she is looking after named David (Adam Wylie), who ran away from home to become a street magician. Charlie uses his miracle to grant Sasha the ability to converse with David, who comes to believe that Charlie is his guardian angel. Charlie sees the horn being taken into an SFPD police station and recovers it, but in his reluctance to return to Heaven, he hides it in a lobster trap. After David's street performance ends in failure, he finally reveals that he believes that his father and stepmother, who are expecting a new baby, will care less for him once it is born. Charlie persuades him otherwise and promises to return him home, but privately expresses to Sasha his doubts on being able to fulfill his promise. Charlie and Itchy's collars vanish, and they once more become ghosts.

Carface kidnaps David and orders Charlie to bring Gabriel's horn to Alcatraz Island and give it to Red in exchange for David's life. Determined to keep his word, Charlie satisfies Red's demand, and Red uses the horn to capture and imprison Heaven's canine angels in Alcatraz while opening a portal to permanently connect the human world to Hell. After a struggle against Red, Charlie regains the horn and plays it to free the angels and send Red and Carface – the latter having sold his soul for his collar – back to Hell. Charlie and Itchy are spirited away to Heaven, and Charlie gives the horn back to Annabelle in exchange for a new life. Charlie bids farewell to Itchy, who decides to remain in Heaven, and while Annabelle and Itchy return to Heaven, Charlie returns to San Francisco and happily reunites with Sasha and David. David returns home and reconciles with his relieved father and stepmother. Charlie and Sasha, who have become mates, are adopted by David's family as pets.

When the evil alien Zanon comes to enslave Earth, all hope seems lost. The Earth's resident superheroes, the Spacewomen, are powerless to stop him. They must enlist the help of a young boy who has a special connection with the giant turtle Gamera. The Friend of All Children then battles Gyaos (a huge vampire bat/pterosaur hybrid), Zigra (an alien shark), Viras (an alien squid), Jiger (a female giant prehistoric dinosaur), Guiron (a knife-headed alien monster) and finally Barugon (an enormous lizard whose tongue sprays a freeze-gas that can freeze things solid and whose back spines emit a powerful rainbow ray that can melt or dissolve any solid object). Gamera sacrifices his life in the end to destroy Zanon once and for all and to protect Earth one last time.

Bender becomes worried that his name will not live in infamy after a heist he pulled is attributed to a human crook. Bender sets out to make a name for himself, but his efforts are futile. To make him feel better, the Planet Express crew stage a mock funeral for Bender, but he is unreasonably critical of their efforts and storms out.

Professor Farnsworth tasks the crew with the delivery of a sandstone block to the planet Osiris IV, whose civilization is based on what they learned when they had visited Ancient Egypt (a parody of ancient astronauts). The order turns out to be a ruse to capture the crew and put them to work as slaves, constructing a funeral pyramid for the current pharaoh, Hamenthotep. Bender, amazed with the means of memorializing the pharaoh, becomes a workaholic and far exceeds the pace of the other slaves.

Hamenthotep arrives to inspect the completed work. Greatly satisfied, he decides to free the slaves but is killed when the monument's nose falls and crushes him. The priests plan to determine their next pharaoh using the "Wall of Prophecy" the next day. Bender spends the night modifying the wall so that he is selected as the new pharaoh. At his coronation, he immediately declares a new reign of terror over Osiris IV and orders the construction of a one billion cubits tall statue of himself, and tasks the slaves to complete the work quickly. Bender oversees the construction personally, pushing the slaves on with unreasonable harshness. The statue extends into space to the point where slaves need rocket-packs and spacesuits to complete it. When it is finished, Bender is dissatisfied and orders it be rebuilt. The high priests, fed up with Bender's demands, entomb him, Fry, and Leela.

Fry and Leela propose to use explosive Schnapps stored in the tomb to blast a hole and escape, but Bender, still obsessed with being remembered, refuses to let them destroy the statue. Fry and Leela respond by pretending to forget Bender; unable to endure this treatment, he gives in to their demand. They create a crack in the foot of the statue to escape to the Planet Express ship. As they flee, their explosion ignites the rest of the materials in the tomb, causing it to explode in a giant fireball. Bender becomes depressed that without his statue, he will be forgotten, but Leela assures him that he will be remembered for his brief reign of terror.

Set immediately after the Japanese Sengoku period, Iga and Kouga, two mercenary clans have been waging a vendetta against each other over hundreds of years. Around 1614, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the ruler of Japan and the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, perceives the threat posed by the two clans. Attempting to consolidate his reign, he deliberately stirs up their feud by inviting the clans to choose their five best warriors to fight to the death. Designated as the leaders of the two clans respectively, Kouga Gennosuke (Joe Odagiri) and Oboro (Yukie Nakama), who have secretly married, are unwillingly embroiled in the political plot. Hence, they have to make a difficult decision.

Initially, being peaceful and knowing the preciousness of life, they try their utmost to prevent this meaningless and brutal fight by questioning the shogunate's motives. After the deaths of all their comrades, however, they gradually accept their fate. In the last fight, Kouga Gennosuke chooses not to defend himself and allows his lover Oboro to kill him, thus letting the clan of Iga "win". Meanwhile, Ieyasu sends his armies to exterminate the ninja villages. To accomplish Gennosuke's hope of saving them, Oboro implores Tokugawa Ieyasu not to destroy the villages and, as a show of her sincerity, blinds herself, thereby destroying her most powerful weapons, her eyes (which possess a deadly technique called . Moved profoundly by Oboro, Ieyasu withdraws his armies and issues an injunction to protect the ninja villages. For generations hence, the villages live peacefully.

Professor Farnsworth hauls out his What-If Machine again, fine-tunes it, and the crew takes a look at three alternative realities.

I, Meatbag

Bender asks what would happen if he were human. The simulation opens with Professor Farnsworth announcing that he has invented a process of reverse fossilization, which can turn robots and machines into organic life-forms. He uses his process on Bender, who is transformed into a human. After a short period of adaptation, Bender's self-control is overwhelmed by his new senses of taste and touch, and he goes on a binge of eating, smoking, partying, and drinking alcohol.

A week later, at the Nobel Prize judging, the Professor presents Bender, who is now morbidly obese and in terrible health. The committee initially condemns Farnsworth, but Bender begs them to consider his lifestyle. This inspires the scientists to spend the night in a state of wild hedonism. The next morning, the hungover committee awards Bender the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, but discovers that he died shortly after the party began. The "Woo!" noises that the partygoers assumed were from Bender were actually caused by air escaping the many folds of fat on his body. The Planet Express crew then sadly roll away Bender's corpse.

Raiders of the Lost Arcade

Fry asks to see a world that is more like a video game. As the simulation starts, President of Earth Richard Nixon is preparing to sign a treaty with Ambassador Kong of planet Nintenduu 64. Ambassador Kong attacks Nixon, and a state of war erupts.

Due to his extensive knowledge of video games from the twentieth century, Fry is brought into the Milatari headquarters and introduced to General Colin Pac-Man. Before Fry can impart his wisdom to the military, the Nintendians launch an attack on Washington, D.C., and they are forced into the escape tunnels, which resemble a Pac-Man board.

They emerge outside the Planet Express building, where the Nintendian invaders, led by Lrrr, are laying waste to New New York. Fry situates himself at the controls of a rolling anti-aircraft artillery platform, and begins destroying the alien ships in a manner similar to Space Invaders. Fry is unable to destroy the final ship, which lands nearby. The Nintendians emerge and demand "a million allowances worth of quarters" with which to do their laundry. The crew initially refuse, but then the Nintendians suggest if they would be allowed to throw their laundry in with Earth's as a compromise, to which the crew agrees.

Wizzin'

Leela asks what if she found her true home. However, when the lever is pulled to start the simulation, it hits Leela on the head and knocks her unconscious, prompting her to dream a parody of ''The Wizard of Oz'' with Leela as Dorothy, Nibbler as Toto, Amy as Glinda the Good Witch, Fry as the Scarecrow, Bender as the Tin Man, Zoidberg as the Cowardly Lion, and Professor Fansworth as the Wizard.

Leela and Nibbler, while riding in the Planet Express ship, are taken by tornado to Oz. The ship's landing gear lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her. Leela takes the witch's magic boots from her corpse and puts them on, since it is hard to find footwear in her size. She asks Amy for help getting back home, and Amy tells her that only The Professor at the Emerald Laboratory can send her home. Leela is joined in her quest by Fry, Bender, and Zoidberg. They all are captured by Wicked Witch Mom who asks Leela to be her witch daughter. Leela happily agrees, but when Bender pops opens a celebratory bottle of champagne, the spilled liquid causes Mom to melt into nothing. They resume their journey to the Emerald Laboratory, where The Professor tells Leela to click her boot heels together and wish to be sent back home. Instead, she uses them to become a witch and turns Fry, Bender and The Professor into toads. However, a toilet overflow in the upstairs bathroom (caused by Zoidberg's use of it) leaks through the ceiling and onto Leela, causing her to melt. She wakes up to find Bender splashing water in her face and berates the crew for showing up in her wonderful dream and ruining it.

Assistant Chief Francis Tierney Sr. heads a multigenerational New York City Police Department (NYPD) family, which includes his wife Maureen; their son Francis "Franny" Jr., his wife Abby, their three children Caitlin, Francis III and Bailey; their son Ray; and their daughter Megan, her husband Jimmy Egan, their two children Shannon and Matthew. Deputy Inspector Franny is the Commanding Officer of the 31st Precinct, where Sergeant Jimmy is a patrol officer, while Detective Ray works in the Missing Persons Squad, having transferred to this lighter duty after being shot during an arrest two years earlier.

Jimmy leads the NYPD to victory in city-league football. While everybody is celebrating, Franny receives a call that four men from his precinct have been shot dead when answering a "shots fired" 911 call at the Washington Heights apartment of a local drug gang leader, Angel Tezo. Francis Sr. coaxes Ray into joining a task force put together to investigate the killings.

Jimmy and fellow patrol officers Kenny Dugan, Reuben "Sandy" Santiago and Eddie Carbone find the abandoned cab Tezo fled in, containing the dead cab driver. The four officers are part of a corrupt group in Franny's precinct, along with the four dead officers. Under Jimmy's direction, they burn the cab and dead driver, and set about finding Tezo before Ray and the task force do.

Ray tells Franny that his investigation has revealed that a policeman named Sandy had tipped off Tezo to the raid. When Franny later confronts Santiago, he admits to what he did and expresses surprise that Franny never knew what was going on with the officers in his precinct. He says "Everyone knew." The cops had intended to kill Tezo so they could work with another dealer, Eladio Casado, but Santiago warned Tezo due to a childhood friendship, believing Tezo would simply flee. Though Franny tells Santiago to hand over his badge, he does not take the information to his superiors, fearful of losing his command. Later, Casado arrives at Jimmy's house, pressuring Jimmy for failing to find and kill Tezo.

Steady police work helps Ray find Tezo, while elsewhere Jimmy beats Tezo's cousin and prepares to kill the cousin's baby to get the same information. Ray reaches Tezo only to find Jimmy and his crew there first, torturing Tezo to death. Ray tries to intervene; however, Jimmy suddenly uses Ray's gun to kill Tezo, then tells Ray to accept being the hero who killed the cop-killer. Jimmy's crew leaves just before Ray's backup arrives.

Overcome with grief over his role in the murders and the corruption, Santiago meets privately with a reporter and confesses to the corruption (without giving names) in the 31st Precinct, then commits suicide in the reporter's car. After the newspaper reports the corruption, Internal Affairs (IAB) investigates the Tezo killing. Ray says he was not the shooter and refuses to say more, while Jimmy admits his crew was there then fabricates a story that Ray killed Tezo in cold blood. Jimmy later is chastised by Franny, where its revealed that Franny gave Jimmy and his crew space to conduct their own investigations to bring the crime rate down. But Jimmy and his crew took advantage of that and started acting by their own rules, eventually becoming corrupt. Jimmy offers Franny money from Jimmy's dealings, but Franny refuses and warns him he won't allow him to frame Ray. Francis Sr. is furious with his son for not lying to IAB, but Ray reveals that he did enough lying for his father regarding the shooting that hurt him two years earlier, at which his fellow officers vengefully threw the shooter off a building in revenge. Ray's false testimony cost him his marriage as his ex wife Tasha knew he had lied and told him he was wrong to do it. Francis Snr begs Ray to admit to the accusations, promising that he'll ensure that he receives only a slap on the wrist. Franny arrives and tells his father that the lies and corruption end now, and they will arrest their brother-in-law even if it costs Franny his career.

Matters quickly unravel within the 31st Precinct sector. Franny and Ray look for Jimmy, while Dugan and Carbone hold up a liquor store, with Carbone and a customer soon dead and Dugan holding the owner hostage. While Tezo's cousin agitates the crowd outside the liquor store, Franny goes in and arrests Dugan. Ray confronts Jimmy at a nearby bar, where Ray wins a brutal brawl between them. Ray is walking a handcuffed Jimmy back to the liquor store when the still-agitated crowd surrounds them. Tezo's cousin has the crowd hold Ray while Jimmy offers himself to be beaten to death. Ray staggers away from his dead brother-in-law, returning to Franny at the liquor store. A few days later, the three Tierney men arrive at the New York County Courthouse to give their statements.

OVA

A military transport chopper is flying to an undisclosed location with secret cargo – two fully equipped, but un-programmed M-66 battle androids. It becomes apparent that the chopper is suffering from some sort of attack, as one of the turbines flares up before exploding. Both men evacuate the doomed craft and it crashes in a remote forest miles away from Center City, and both of the M-66's storage pods are thrown from the wreckage. The pods open as the M-66s automatically begin their mission. Sybel, a freelance journalist, receives an intercepted Military Broadband Transmission and loads up her equipment to go see what type of footage she can get of the event to sell to the major networks. She's joined by Leakey, her cameraman. Rushing to the scene of the accident, the two of them abandon their truck and try to sneak closer to the crash site, which has already been sealed and cordoned off by the military's retrieval teams.

The military's Special Ops Forces are directed by a professional soldier who is identified only as the 'Major', his status rank. Among the retrieval team is the assistant professor of the android's main design programmer. The M-66s are active searching out their target as well, this becomes apparent when the lead designer, Professor Matthews arrives at the site and talks to Professor Slade, his assistant. It seems that Slade loaded a 'dummy' program into the M-66s before they were transported, which mimics an actual mission engagement. Professor Matthews tells the Major that the SpecOps Forces must find and rescue his granddaughter Ferris, as she is the target the M-66s have been tasked with killing. The Major decides that the best course of action is to confront the androids on their way into the city area, and he sets a trap for both of the cunning machines.

Sybel and Leakey, meanwhile – had been captured by the SpecOps Forces in the forest, their equipment was taken, and they were arrested. Both were to be administered a shot of sodium pentothal – but only Leakey is given the shot- the android's arrival at the soldier's temporary base allows Sybel enough time to try to knock out the guard, but she is ineffective and he shouts at her to quit resisting. Another soldier walks over to their vehicle with a machine gun, and the guard shouts at him to watch Sybel and Leakey, before jumping out to run and join in the battle. Actually mortally wounded, the soldier falls forward and dies, and Sybel takes advantage of the situation to get herself and Leakey out of there. Despite the Major's best advances and planning, the androids engage his men and kill the majority of them, before his soldiers deploy a magnetic device which shuts down the androids for a limited time. Using the device, the soldiers manage to pin one of the M-66s on the hood of a transport vehicles and restrain it using nets. However just before they can retrieve the android, it self-destructs, which propels 20,000 small bore projectiles embedded within its skin in every direction. The Major's surviving forces turn their attention to the remaining M-66, which easily beats them back and then makes its own escape by jumping into the air and disappearing into the surrounding forest. Beaten, but not one to give up easily, the Major regroups his forces and calls for a transport craft to pick them up.

Sybel and Leakey make it back to their truck, and Sybel drops Leakey off with the film to go sell to the networks while she tries to get more information on what has happened. By accident, she discovers Professor Matthew's house deep in the forest. It has been ransacked by the surviving M-66. She then listens as a voicemail message begins playback. It is Professor Matthew's granddaughter Ferris saying that she will be home late and that she is out with friends at a restaurant in the city. Sybel realizes that the M-66 must have heard this same message and has gone to kill Ferris. In her haste, Sybel arrives at the restaurant and finds Ferris, who is reluctant to follow her. Sybel has to tell Ferris that the M-66 is there to kill her, and from then on, it's a fight to stay alive for both Sybel and Ferris- with help from the Major and his SpecOps Forces running defense against the unstoppable android.

Sybel and Ferris make their way up the skyscraper, pursued by the android as it dispatches the soldiers attempting to escort the pair. As they reach the roof, a fight between the M-66 and a gunship results in the top several floors of the building starting to collapse. As the android closes in, Sybel sets off explosive charges, propelling the M-66 off the tower. Sybel and Ferris are rescued by the military, and the remains of the M-66 are recovered. The Major decides not to arrest Sybel out of gratitude for her assistance, but does confiscate her equipment. Sybel returns home and turns on the news, where it's revealed the incident has been passed off as a terrorist attack. Leaky appears on the news, having sold the footage and taken full credit for it, only to realize too late it includes video of him passed out in the truck. During the credits, scenes play out of Sybel filming various stories, before cutting to a lab where the now-inactive M-66 is placed back into a pod.

Frank Thompson awakens in the middle of the street after wreckage falling from a building in New York City narrowly misses hitting him on the head. Frank soon discovers that his apartment has been rented out for a year and his wife Virginia has been living on her own elsewhere.

Frank confronts Virginia, who is shocked to see the husband who, a year earlier, disappeared without explanation. As Frank slowly pieces together his old life, it turns out he is known by another name and is running from a murder he cannot remember committing. Detective Joe Marucci is shadowing his every move.

Looking for answers in the neighborhood where he awoke on the street, Frank meets Ruth Dillon who knows him only as "Danny". Ruth takes Frank/Danny to the mansion of the wealthy Diedrich family, where she has been employed as a servant. Family matriarch Grandma Diedrich was an eyewitness to the murder of son Harry (this is the murder of which Frank/Danny is suspected) but she is a housebound invalid who also is mute. Through sign language, Frank/Danny learns from her that Ruth is the killer - Harry had caught her stealing. Frank/Danny's life is in danger and a confrontation and a deadly struggle ensues. Marucci arrives to tie up loose ends.

In a town near the Ohio River, Martha (Debbie Doebereiner), a middle-aged single woman, works at a doll factory and cares for her elderly, disabled father. Martha regularly drives her younger co-worker, Kyle (Dustin James Ashley), to and from work. Kyle is an intensely shy, quiet young man in his early 20s, who suffers from social anxiety disorder and lives with his television-obsessed single mother. Martha, who appears to have no social outlets or friends outside of work, has become attached to Kyle, showing concern for his welfare, trying to draw him out, and telling him he is her "best friend". Although the withdrawn Kyle opens up a little bit to Martha, he does not act as interested in her as she is in him.

In order to meet demand, the doll factory hires Rose (Misty Dawn Wilkins), an attractive young woman Kyle's age who is the single mother of a toddler. Kyle and Rose are mutually attracted to each other, and begin to spend time together during their breaks at work, to Martha's chagrin as she herself is pushed aside and unable to have her usual interactions with Kyle. Martha grudgingly agrees to drive Rose to her second job as a housekeeper for a wealthy client, but Martha becomes further irritated with Rose when Rose takes advantage of her client's absence to take a long bath in the client's Jacuzzi. Rose also claims that a watch she stole from her client was a gift. Martha complains to Kyle about Rose's behavior.

Despite her dislike of Rose, Martha accepts the opportunity to earn some extra money by babysitting for Rose while Rose goes on a date. Martha only learns that Rose's date is Kyle when he arrives at Rose's home to pick her up, causing Martha to become upset. During their date, Rose and Kyle go to Kyle's house where Rose, unbeknownst to Kyle, steals money that he has been saving and hiding away in his bedroom. When Kyle drops Rose off, he decides not to go inside with her because he felt a "weird vibe" from Martha earlier. Right after Rose enters the house, her ex-boyfriend Jake appears and accuses Rose of stealing money and marijuana from his house. Rose and Jake have a heated argument in front of Martha. After Jake leaves, Martha asks Rose if he is the father of her child, and Rose angrily tells her to mind her own business.

The next morning the police arrive at Rose's house after neighbors hear her child crying and call them. They find Rose dead of apparent strangulation, with no sign of forced entry. A detective questions both Jake and Kyle, who each claim to know nothing about the murder. Meanwhile, Martha pawns jewelry (which she says she inherited from family members) and spends the money on fishing equipment and a trip to the beauty parlor. She then takes the fishing equipment to Kyle's house and gives it to him as a gift; he tells her of Rose's murder and, apparently surprised by the news, she says she knows nothing. She is later questioned by a detective and maintains her innocence, even when he tells her that the fingerprints found on Rose's neck match her own. Martha is arrested for Rose's murder.

Kyle visits Martha in prison. Martha pleads with Kyle to help her, swearing she did not murder Rose and doesn't know what happened, though she mentions a headache and Rose's rudeness. Kyle is skeptical of her story. Later, in her jail cell, Martha sees a bright light, followed by a vision of Rose's dead body and herself standing over Rose. Kyle's mother takes Rose's job at the doll factory and Kyle's humdrum life working two jobs continues as it did before.

The DVD release of the film also contains a deleted scene in which Martha has a CAT scan revealing that she has a severely malignant tumor in her brain. The doctor explains that the tumor could cause blackouts and highly abnormal behavior.

The film is about a school trip to Conwy Castle in North Wales. Mrs. Kay teaches a remedial class for illiterate children, called the "Progress Class." The whole class—along with Digga and Reilly, the slightly older class bullies who used to be in the Progress Class—are taken on a coach trip. In the original version, the headmaster, Mr Briggs makes the decision to go on the trip as an extra member of staff, emphasising his mistrust of the liberal values of Mrs Kay. In the shorter stage version, the Headteacher commissions Mr. Briggs, the authoritarian Deputy Headmaster, to supervise the trip.

On the way to the Castle, the coach stops at a roadside cafe with a snack shop, where the students take advantage of the storekeepers' confusion to shoplift sweets and snacks, unbeknownst to the teachers supervising. It makes a second stop at Colwyn Bay Mountain Zoo, where the students enjoy the animals so much that they try to steal most of them. The zoo attendant discovers this just in time before the coach pulls out and makes them return the animals.

When the coach finally reaches the Castle, the students race around exploring the grounds, cliffs and beach. Soon it's time to leave but one of the best-behaved students, Carol, is missing. A search ensues and Mr. Briggs finally finds Carol, who is depressed because she doesn't want to return to the bad conditions at her home. She wants a better life and wishes she lived in a nicer area, like that which surrounds the Castle. She becomes so upset that she threatens to jump off the cliff. Mr. Briggs, who up till this point has acted like a harsh disciplinarian, policing the students' bad behaviour and expressing doubts that they should even be allowed to have an outing, shows a more understanding side as he convinces Carol not to jump and to rejoin the rest of the group.

At the suggestion of Mr Briggs, the coach makes one more stop at a fairground where the students have some more fun before returning home. Mr. Briggs joins the students on some of the rides, wears a funny hat and joins in with the sing-song on the journey home, all of which is photographed by Mrs. Kay. She comments on how she never knew he had a softer side and that he certainly wouldn't be able to get away from the fact now she had evidence. Not wanting to undermine his strict image, Mr. Briggs offers to develop the photos, as he is a keen amateur photographer. Once he returns to his car, he unravels the undeveloped film, exposing and ruining the photos of him clowning around with the students.

Along the way, two young teachers, Susan and Colin, who are helping Mrs. Kay supervise, must also deal with the fact that Reilly has a crush on Susan, while two older girl-students have a crush on Colin. Susan and Colin solve their problem by subtly suggesting that Digga and Reilly turn their attentions to the two girls.

Ponta, the Koizumi family's labrador retriever puppy one day eats the 'talking bone' that the grandfather invented to allow an animal who licks it the power of speech. Instead of just being able to talk however, she transforms into a human girl. When she rushes out into traffic as a girl, she is saved by the most popular boy at school and falls in love with him. To be near him she enrolls in school and tries to learn how to live as a human.

Danny O'Neill (Fred Astaire) and Hank Taylor (Burgess Meredith) are friends and rival trumpeters with "O'Neill's Perennials", a college band. Both have managed to prolong their college careers by failing seven years in a row. At a performance, Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard) catches both Danny's and Hank's eyes. However, she serves them a summons notice for her boss, a debt collector, but the fast-talking O'Neill and Taylor soon have her working as their manager, where her business savvy increases their gigs. Meanwhile, tired of losing several gigs to the Perennials, Artie Shaw (playing himself) comes to persuade Ellen to be his booking manager.

Ellen tries to get Danny and Hank an audition for Artie Shaw's band, but their jealous hi-jinks get them the boot. Ellen talks Shaw into letting rich wannabee mandolin musician J. Lester Chisholm (Charles Butterworth) back a concert. It looks like Ellen's plan to get Chisholm as backer fails, when Hank pretends to be Ellen's jealous husband — then her brother. But using the brother ploy, Danny and Hank manage to get Chisholm back on board, then get Shaw to agree to put Danny's song into the show. All they have to do is keep Chisholm and his mandolin — which he wants to play in the concert — away from Shaw until after the show. Hank's solution is to drop sleeping pills into Chisholm's drink, but Chisholm knocks out Hank too, with the same stuff.

To Ellen's relief, Danny finally acts responsibly, arranging his number for the show, which Shaw says "has really grown up into something special." He hands the baton to Danny, who successfully conducts his own composition whilst simultaneously also tap-dancing in front of the band. Danny and Ellen then drive off together into the night.

The play and subsequent film are based on Blunt's role in the Cambridge Spy Ring and, as Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, personal art adviser to Queen Elizabeth II. It portrays his interrogation by an MI5 officer, his work researching and conserving art works, his role as Director of the Courtauld Institute, and his acquaintance with the Queen. Bennett described the piece as an "inquiry in which the circumstances are imaginary but the pictures are real.[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/986784/ A Question of Attribution], BFI Screenonline, retrieved 17 January 2006

While supervising the restoration of a dual portrait in which only partial attribution to Titian is thought credible, Blunt discovers a third figure that had been painted over by an unknown artist, and concludes by comparison with a better known triple portrait in London's National Gallery (''Allegory of Prudence'') that the newly revealed third figure was Titian's son. As Blunt's public exposure as a spy in 1979 draws near, the play suggests that he has been made a scapegoat to protect others in the security service. At the end of the film, the time of Blunt's exposure, Blunt tells Chubb that X-rays had revealed the presence of a fourth and fifth man.

One of the sub-texts in the scene with the Queen is whether or not Her Majesty knew that Blunt was a former Soviet spy. They briefly discuss the Dutch Vermeer forger Han van Meegeren, and how his paintings now look like fakes, but were accepted as genuine in the (early) 1940s, and touch on the nature of fakes and secrets. After she has left and an assistant asks what they were talking about, Blunt replies "I was talking about art. I'm not sure that she was."

The main characters of the programme are the psychic Alison Mundy (played by Lesley Sharp) and the academic who becomes involved with her due to his skeptical interest in the paranormal, Robert Bridge (Andrew Lincoln). Set in Bristol, each of the six one-hour episodes of the first series sees Alison become involved in the appearance of a spirit and attempting to discover why it has come back to haunt the living. Robert becomes involved in the first episode, when Alison first moves to Bristol and her activities inadvertently result in the suicide of one of his students.

Following this, Robert decides to study Alison for a book. Alison's interest in Robert stems from her ability to see the spirit of his young son, whom Robert cannot see. Throughout the series a recurring theme is Alison's attempt to have Robert fully come to terms with the death of his son so that the boy's spirit can be eased and he can fully move on. In the first series it is learnt that Alison was seriously injured in a train crash several years before. The other survivors of the train crash seek her out to contact their own lost loved ones in the final episode of the first series, almost causing Alison's own death. Later, in the second series, it is established that Alison had these powers since she was little, the first 'ghost' she saw was her grandfather. During the second series, Robert is diagnosed with cancer. He dies in the series finale, after having spent much of the series helping Alison to overcome mental problems brought about by the ghost of her mother. He also reconciles her with her father.

Cordelia cries over the severed head of Lorne, until his eyes open. She screams loudly, but Lorne calms her, explaining that his race can survive decapitation if the rest of the body remains intact. Silas is pleased to hear that Cordelia is angry and plans to have his guards get the heads of Wesley and Gunn to add to the Princess's collection. Silas tells the guards' captain to go after the humans and to kill the "bloodsucker" Angel. After talking with one of the servants about these other "cows"—humans—running free, Silas blows up the cow's head with a handheld device. He has a similar, but larger machine that can take care of all the cows. Wesley and Gunn wait to have their heads chopped off by the rebels. Before it can happen, guards attack the camp. After the battle, Gunn and Wesley convince the rebels that they are not enemies. Freed, they discuss their plans to find Angel and get home. Wesley offers suggestions for attacking the castle and unintentionally becomes their leader.

Angel wakes to a pseudo-oatmeal breakfast made by Fred at her cave. Angel and Fred discuss the words she has written on the walls of the caves, and Angel suspects she has unknowingly been opening the portals in Pylea. They are attacked by castle guards; Angel is speared repeatedly but fights off the demon change until Fred knocks the captain out with a rock. Fred takes care of Angel's wounds while the captain sits in the corner, tied up. The captain tells of plans to kill Cordelia after she mates with the Groosalugg, and that Lorne is already dead. Angel goes to find his friends, and Fred goes with him to lead the way.

At the castle, Cordelia summons a servant to show her to the mutilation chamber, where Lorne's body is, but the servant cannot. Instead, Cordelia requests the girl's clothes. Disguised as a servant, Cordelia makes her way into the mutilation chamber and finds body parts strewn about wearing Lorne's clothes. Groosalugg shows up and says he hid Lorne's body and put the clothes on another body to fool the guards. Lorne's body is waiting with his family to be reattached. Groosalugg reveals to Cordelia that during their mating, he would take her visions from her, wishing to spare her from carrying such a burden. Cordelia explains that she uses her visions to fight evil and she does not want to give them up. Before they can talk further, she has a vision of Angel's demon fighting the Groosalugg.

Angel and Fred arrive at the rebel camp, offering their assistance to the efforts. Landok arrives with Lorne's head in a large basket, explaining that he was bringing it home to the body. Later, Wesley tells Angel he must challenge and kill the Groosalugg. Angel explains that the reason he fired the gang months ago was because he felt the darkness rising in him and he did not want them to witness it. The demon he changes into is the darkness personified and he is afraid to change into because he does not think he can come back to human after it. Wesley has confidence that he can; he is strong enough to do whatever is necessary. Everyone disperses from the camp to prepare for the attack. Angel plants a torch in the ground and calls out to the Groosalugg for battle. Silas, who had been demanding that Cordelia get on with the "com-shuk" drags the Groosalugg outside to face Angel, lying to him about Angel to make him angry. Led by Wesley and Gunn, the rebels attack, many of whom get killed in the process. Silas attacks Cordelia, blaming her for all the problems of their land, but she decapitates him just before he triggers the device to kill all human slaves. Groosalugg and Angel fight, Angel struggling to stay human, but eventually turning into the demon. Just as the demon is about to kill the Groosalugg, Angel's human side regains control, and he tells the Groosalugg they need to find another way. Cordelia arrives and stops the fight by confessing her love for the Groosalugg.

The next day, Lorne, his head reattached, says goodbye to his family, glad he came back to find out he does not belong. Cordelia's last act as princess is to make a new law abolishing slavery, after which she appoints Groosalugg the ruler of Pylea. With Fred's help, they all return home to LA as Angel's car lands in the middle of Caritas. Far happier than they were before they left, the gang return to the hotel only to find a depressed Willow waiting for them; Angel realizes that she came to tell him that Buffy has died.

A man tries to get his stalled car started while his family waits in the car. Connor appears by the car and warns them of danger just before a tow truck arrives with a vampire driving it. The vampire attacks, but Connor intervenes and kills it. Connor breaks into the hotel through a window just in time to see Angel and friends arrive home and spot Cordelia in the lobby. They try to approach her, but she doesn't remember anything about them or herself. Angel tries to remind Cordelia about who she is, but she is scared and doesn't know what to believe.

Lorne approaches the hotel from outside, but Angel sends Gunn to intercept him before Cordelia can see him and be frightened. Angel panics with Fred in the office about how they're going to handle Cordelia's lack of memory while Cordy panics herself in the lobby because of everyone's strange behavior. The phone rings and they let the machine get it until the message reveals more than Cordelia needs to hear and Fred quickly picks it up. Without saying much, she then runs off to get Gunn and prevent a demon from bearing its spawn. Angel takes Cordelia upstairs to one of the rooms where all of her stuff has been stored from her apartment. Cordy looks through some of the boxes as Angel again tries to convince her that she's safe and with friends.

After changing into more comfortable clothes, Cordelia nervously practices saying her name in front of a mirror and then reads the eerie messages left in her high school yearbook and searches through pictures of herself from over the years. Cordelia wanders through the halls of the hotel and follows the sound of singing to Lorne's room where he's listening to a client sing. She doesn't see much and heads downstairs to the lobby. Angel removes several jars of blood from the counter before she can see them, but she finds a drop of blood left behind and starts to worry. Gunn and Fred return covered in purple demon goo and talking about killing the demon babies, unaware that Cordelia is hiding behind the counter. She pops up and runs out into the garden only to be jumped by a couple of evil lawyers. She fights them off with Angel's help and then vocalizes her suspicions that she's a spy and they want something from her. Angel denies that and tries to calm her down without revealing the truth to her.

Back in her room, Cordelia asks about a picture of her, she wonders if she was a nun, handing him a handful of crucifixes she found in her boxes. Angel vamps out at the burning contact and Cordelia again runs away and into Lorne down in the lobby. She's fed up and wants to know the truth, but when the gang finally tells her everything, she has a hard time believing it. Cordelia sings rather badly so Lorne can read her future but the singing sends Lorne running off to his room without much of an explanation. Angel follows after in search of answers and frustrated, Cordelia takes off on her own, despite Gunn and Fred's attempts to stay with her.

Angel desperately tries to get answers from Lorne about his reading of Cordelia, but Lorne is tightlipped. He does reveal that something horrible and evil is coming and it seriously freaked him out. Lilah lies in bed with Wesley and talk about Angel before Wesley conversationally mentions that they're in a "relationship" and has to pay Lilah a dollar because he lost a bet. Cordelia searches for Angel in the hotel, but instead finds Lorne's client—a large mouthed human-eating demon—in one of the halls. She runs from it and is rescued by Connor, who stabs the demon and then takes a willing Cordelia with him to somewhere safer.

Angel, Gunn and Fred look at the dead human-eating demon while Lorne updates them on the horrific things he saw when reading Cordelia. Angel and the others set out to find Cordelia. At some sort of a warehouse, Connor and Cordelia talk and bond as Connor leads her to the place he calls home. He's brutally honest with her about everything and Cordelia appreciates his candor. While sleeping at Wesley's, Lilah gets a call on her cell phone about Cordelia's return and rushes off, leaving an eavesdropping Wesley alone.

Cordelia tries to sleep, but she can't with so many pieces missing from her puzzle. Connor tries to comfort her and remind her of the few things he knew about her. She recognizes his loneliness that somewhat matches her own. As Angel updates the others on his failure to locate Cordelia, Wesley arrives with some answers. He reveals that Cordelia's with Connor but that Wolfram and Hart are planning to go after her again for the knowledge she may have about the Powers. Connor sleeps next to Cordelia with his hand inappropriately placed on her chest but moves it to quiet her as someone breaks into the room. More men attack and Cordelia and Connor are forced to fight them off as best as they can. Lilah watches the proceedings from the roof on a video feed as the gang arrive and help fight off the Wolfram and Hart minions.

After the bad guys are defeated, Angel tries to get Cordelia to return with him, but she chooses to stay with Connor because Connor was truthful with her. Although her choice hurts them, Angel and the others leave. Wesley finds the dollar bill Lilah left behind on the floor of his bedroom and realizes something. Back at the hotel, they hear a noise in the office that distracts them. They find Lorne tied up in the office, a bad wound on his forehead. He reveals that Wolfram and Hart used a special burrowing demon to sneak into his head and steal the knowledge Lorne had about Cordelia. It was all a trap to get Lorne alone and vulnerable.

Wesley shows up at Lilah's door and gets upset with her because she tricked him into luring Angel away from Lorne. She reminds him it was just part of her job and that she spared Lorne's life because he was Wesley's friend. Cordelia sleeps while Connor watches over her, while at the hotel, Angel stares out into the night and longingly back at his empty bed.

Gwen exchanges money for information with a man in downtown Los Angeles and is then soon struck by lightning. She is planning a heist, ostensibly to rescue a young girl, Lisa, from a tycoon who kidnapped her from the head of a company over a business deal gone bad. She enlists the help of Gunn, someone suave enough for the job. They arrive by limo at the tycoon's compound, dressed in formal wear for a dinner party. After some difficulty, Gunn gains entrance by greeting the host, Takeshi Morimoto, in Japanese, and charming him based on Gwen's dossier of Morimoto's charitable work.

It soon becomes apparent to Gunn that Gwen has tricked him: Instead of a kidnapped girl, Gwen is after a high-tech military device titled L.I.S.A. which will enable Gwen to control her electrical powers and touch other people. Gunn is caught in the ruse taking the daughter of Morimoto, though he is able to fight his way free. He finds Gwen after the distraction he had created for her, but they are cornered by Morimoto and his men. Gwen sends a shock of electricity through them all, and Gunn and Gwen escape back to her place. They test the device, a prototype that regulates components of the body for the purpose of stealth, on Gwen. It enters her system through her bare back, and they both realize it works. With relief, the two kiss. Without much human contact in all her years and knowing that L.I.S.A. is only a prototype, Gwen is reluctant to let things continue, but Gunn convinces her otherwise, and they continue to kiss and it is implied that they have sex.

Meanwhile, at the hotel, the gang reels from the shock of Cordelia's very sudden pregnancy. Connor is still agitated by the situation, and Cordelia continues to manipulate his feelings about their family. She explains that she may ask him to do other things before the baby arrives, but there will be a good reason for them all. Fred and Wesley research and talk about the strange relationship between Cordelia and Connor. At the office, Angel tries to remember an ancient code from Lilah's book that may tell them something about the Master. Cordelia tries to disguise her displeasure that they could be getting crucial information about her and attempts to spill coffee on the paper, but Angel's not-so-accurate memory of the text saves her the trouble.

Lorne returns with news that he has information on a ritual that can be performed to restore his empathic powers and that he has to go off on his own to do it. In an empty building, Lorne prepares the ritual, while unknown to him, Cordelia watches from a hidden spot above. Lorne begins the ritual and starts to sing as Cordelia slowly descends some stairs and approaches with a raised knife. Before she can strike, the lights suddenly turn on, exposing Cordelia and Angel standing behind her. Cordy turns and finds Fred and Wesley are also there, both with guns pointed at her, and Lorne refers to a Magic 8-ball to find out if Cordy's been bad. Lorne then turns to read the Magic 8-ball, and it says "definitely."

Cordelia is in the basement of the Hyperion, surrounded by the team, who have figured out that she was the Beast's master. She brags that there was a time when she would have figured out that they were using Lorne as bait eons before it even crossed their minds; she claims to be a lot smarter than Angel. She asks what tipped Angel off and he replies, "Tongue, slip of." In a flashback, Cordelia tells the gang about the baby and calling it "my sweet." Angel says that this was the same phrase the Beast's master used when she talked to Angelus. Cordelia is surprised that she was almost able to end the world and it was two words that tipped him off. Angel demands to know where the real Cordelia is. Connor jumps down through the glass roof and Angel tries to convince him that Cordelia isn’t who he thinks she is, but he doesn’t listen. He fights off the gang, and runs off with Cordelia. In the confusion, Angel is accidentally hit with a tranquillizer dart intended for Connor. "What are you?" Angel manages to ask, before passing out, and Lorne's Magic 8-Ball rolls next to him, replying, "Ask Again Later."

After the group has recovered from Connor's attack, Gunn returns to the hotel from his romp with Gwen and they fill him in. Fred and Wesley realize Cordelia has been "grooming Connor as her champion." They wonder when Cordelia turned evil and if her amnesia upon returning from the higher plane was an act or a side effect. Angel points out that nothing happened until Lorne gave Cordelia the memory potion in "Spin the Bottle." Lorne realizes that Wolfram & Hart stole information from his head to keep the gang from knowing about the Beast's master.

Gunn wonders how Cordelia could get away with killing Manny, since she didn't have any blood on her clothes; Wesley determines that she took off her clothes first. She was then able to slip out, kill the Svea priestesses, and steal Angel's soul. Her vision of how to re-ensoul Angel was misdirection, so that she could put a spell on Lorne and keep him from reading Angelus properly. She then released Angelus from the cage and killed Lilah. The gang wonder what exactly Cordelia is pregnant with.

Cordelia and Connor head to a deserted warehouse, where Cordelia tells Connor that the gang were trying to hurt her "You were right about Angel," she tells him. "He's an animal, and he's turned everyone against us." He promises he’ll kill all of them before he lets them hurt her. "My sweet, sweet boy," she replies. Angel returns to the Hyperion, having had no success finding Cordelia and Connor. Wesley tells him that he's wasting his time looking for them; Connor will stay hidden if he wants to. Angel is distraught that the truth was in front of him the whole time, but Wesley says that Cordelia played on his emotions in order to cloud his judgment. Wesley suggests going to the Powers That Be, but Angel reminds him that the last few times he's gone, they haven’t been forthcoming. He says that they wouldn't stop Cordelia because they "didn’t want to get their hands dirty," so they need to find someone who's willing to: "somebody right in the middle of all this." Angel goes to ask Skip about Cordelia and at first, Skip pretends to be clueless. As they talk, Angel suspects Skip is part of a conspicuous act to keep them in the dark and protect whatever it is that Cordelia's doing. Angel eventually defeats Skip and hauls him back to his (Angel's) dimension.

Cordelia suggests they perform a ritual to speed up her pregnancy and bring the baby to life immediately. Connor rescues a young girl from a vampire attack, but then knocks her out and brings her, unconscious, to Cordelia, so that they can use her blood in the ritual. However, a vision of Connor's dead mother Darla appears before him, claiming to be sent by the Powers. She explains why she couldn't be part of his life, then tries to convince him that killing an innocent is the wrong choice.

After Skip wakes up, trapped by a magical circle, Fred and Angel threaten him with the Sphere of the Infinite Agonies until Skip confesses Cordelia is not in control of her own body. Cordelia didn't ascend to a higher plane because she was a good deserving soul, it was because she was a part of the plan all along. Skip explains all the big events in their lives have been designed for a much bigger purpose: Cordy receiving the visions, Lorne leaving Pylea, Gunn's sister being sired, Fred going to Pylea, and Wesley sleeping with Lilah. Gunn argues that they have free will, but Skip says only about little stuff. The team realize that Connor's birth was also a part of the whole plan; "an impossible birth to make one possible." Angel says that Connor was a vessel and Gunn realizes that the being controlling Cordelia is going to give birth to itself. Angel asks how to stop this being, but Skip tells him that the only way is to kill Cordelia. When she gives birth to the being, the strain will be too much and she'll either die or become incapacitated.

Gunn tries to reassure Fred that even though it appears their future is out of their hands, they always need to act as if the decisions are theirs because they may never know when they will be. After Wesley and Lorne locate Cordelia, Angel arms himself and prepares to leave. He refuses to let any of the others go with him, unable to let them carry the burden of killing Cordelia.

Darla coaches Connor as he starts to free the young girl, but Cordelia catches him and realizes that Darla is trying to turn him away from her. Connor finds himself in the middle as Darla and Cordelia fill his head with opposing suggestions until Connor can't take anymore and sides with Cordelia, grabbing the girl and dragging her into the other room. Cordelia slashes the woman's throat with a cleaver - Connor sees the woman as Darla and stares at the scene before him, reality hitting him. Then Cordelia has Connor coat his hand in the dead woman's blood and place it on her stomach. The bloody print is soaked into Cordy's skin, her labor begins and everything begins to shake around them.

The circle around Skip breaks and he attacks the others; Wesley shoots him dead after finding an open spot. Angel arrives at the factory, intent upon destroying Cordelia before she can have the baby, but Connor stands in his way. Angel and Connor fight with each other while Cordelia struggles with labor. After tossing Connor aside, Angel raises his sword to kill Cordelia but a bright light sends him and Connor flying back. The being using Cordy's body rises in the form of a full-grown, nude, dark-skinned woman. Angel raises his sword again to kill this being, but on sight of her, he drops to his knees with Connor, seemingly awestruck.

After bursting from Cordelia's womb in a flash of blue-green light, the godly woman materializes and covers herself with a blanket. She appreciates the world around her and thanks Cordelia for giving her life. Guiltily, Angel offers the woman his sword to punish him for his earlier intentions of killing her. Fred cleans up around the office while she worries and rants to Lorne about what happened with Cordelia and whether Angel could have really killed her. Connor returns to the hotel and Fred pulls a knife on him, but his strange peaceful behavior confuses her. Angel shows that he's returned as well with a no-longer pregnant Cordelia and he's just as strangely happy as Connor. Wesley and Gunn come upstairs from the basement where they were dismembering Skip, and they all marvel over Cordelia's return and the strange behavior of Angel and Connor.

Awe-struck Angel and Connor boast about this godly creature that rose from Cordelia whom they don't want to kill, but merely to worship. Wesley tries to convince Angel that he's under a magical influence and this creature is evil, but then the woman arrives and kindly offers to help the gang as they all fall to their knees. Later, as Cordelia rests in a bed and candles are lit around the room, the woman explains how she was a power in the very beginning, before man, then became a watcher as humans developed, and finally could not stand to watch any longer and planned a return. She explains how Angel's trip to the trials to win Darla's life bought not Darla's life but Connor's, which was just one of the miracles necessary to bring her into the world. Once Connor was born and Cordelia had ascended to a higher plane, she had the vessels necessary to bring her into the world. She then tells the group that they have all been drowning in the war against evil, but that soon she will take them on the offensive and turn the tide.

A group of vampires tries bowling with a human head for a ball, but it doesn't work. One of them tries to explain that they're there for a good reason, but he doesn't have time to finish as the gang appear and start to fight. The woman and Fred sit and talk about a name, but as they sit, one vampire scratches the woman with its claws. Angel chases the vampire outside and stakes it in front of a crowd of dining people. The woman comes outside, her arm bleeding from the scratch and the crowd falls to their knees. She preaches to them about her power and how wonderful the world will be now that she's there. A man in the crowd grabs a knife and charges at this apparent "monster," but Angel vamps and stops the man, punching him repeatedly. The woman stops Angel and brushes her hand across the man's face before asking Wesley to call for an ambulance. She continues to preach to the crowd about good things as the beaten man wonders why the others can't see what he sees.

At the hotel, the gang tries to brainstorm ideas for a name that fits for the woman. Fred feels guilty about letting the woman get hurt, and muses about how she can clean the shirt for the woman, despite the lack of need for it. As Fred rushes off to continue trying to clean the shirt, the woman observes the common love Wesley and Gunn have for Fred. Connor apologizes for allowing the woman to be hurt, but she shows that the wound has almost healed completely already. He questions why the man tried to hurt her, but she doesn't have much of an explanation for him. The woman moves outside to see Angel, admiring the smell of the jasmine in the Hotel's garden. Angel feels terrible about failing her again and worries about becoming too happy, but the woman offers him inspiration and comfort for his feelings.

Fred scrubs roughly at the shirt while Angel and the other males set out on a mission to destroy vampires and demons, guided by the all-powerful woman. The next day, Fred returns to the lobby, revealing that she had to buy a new shirt for the woman, then breaks down into tears because she can't stand not being around the woman. Upstairs, Lorne shows the woman her new, beautifully decorated room and she loves it. After Lorne leaves, she senses Connor walking in the halls outside and invites him in to talk. She explains why he's special, why he deserves happiness and why he was chosen to be her father. Fred comes into the room to give the woman the new shirt, but instead of the woman's normal beauty, Fred sees a decaying corpse covered in insects. She panics and as the others come in to see what the fuss is about, she quickly excuses herself.

Fred goes to talk to a still unconscious Cordelia, and tells her about the seriousness of their situation since no one else seems aware that there might be a problem or how to deal with it. Angel catches Fred and talks to her about the great new woman in their lives. Fred tries to get him to think about the strangeness of their situation and this seemingly wonderful woman, but Angel's faith is unwavering. Later, Fred goes to the local hospital to check up on the man that tried to attack the godlike woman. The receptionist eventually tells Fred where she can find the man, John Stoler: in the Psychiatric ward. Fred sneaks into John Stoler's room, where he's strapped to a bed, and confronts him about what he saw. She convinces him that she saw the same thing and then he reveals that the side of his face that Jasmine touched has become deformed and decayed. He tells her she's been called like him to stop this woman and her evil, but Fred doesn't like that idea very much and runs off.

Fred returns to the hotel to find that the hotel is full of people who followed Jasmine back to the hotel after she took a walk. Fred talks covertly to Wesley about her visit to the hospital and what she saw. Wesley says he believes her, then goes over to talk to Gunn and then Jasmine upstairs. The news spreads amongst the gang and Fred panics, heading for the weapons cabinet. She grabs a crossbow and lets a bolt fly at Jasmine. Angel takes the bolt in the shoulder and drops to the floor below with Connor chasing after. Lorne tries to confront Fred about her actions, but she pulls a knife on him and uses him to keep the others at bay. Jasmine tells Fred that her love will always be there and Fred lets Lorne go, then runs away alone.

Fred drives alone and stops along the street, crying to herself. Later, after the other guests have left, Angel brings the woman a bundle of jasmine flowers, while the others talk about the fact that Fred is now evil. The woman tries to motivate and keep the mood positive, but classifies Fred as a danger to their purpose. The gang decides that they need to kill Fred, but the woman suggests they wait and try to help her first. A depressed Fred has breakfast at a diner and she watches as the morning news program has a special guest: the godlike creature, Jasmine. The other patrons in the diner drop to their knees and a horrified Fred wanders out onto the streets, alone.

Thanks to the events of "Shiny Happy People," everyone in L.A. is happy and cheerful. The first scene opens with the Beach Boys’ “Wouldn't It Be Nice?” playing behind a montage of harmonious street scenes of pedestrians and drivers in the city, until Fred runs into a car at an intersection and the music stops. She’s pursued by Wesley and Gunn, but Fred eludes them by hiding out in a sewer under a shopping center. Back at the Hyperion, Lorne has to turn away people who have come to the hotel to see Jasmine. She makes time to talk to many of them, and Angel asks how Jasmine always knows exactly what to say to people. She tells him that she looks into their hearts, though sometimes what they need is right on their faces. She tells a man in Spanish that his mustache "provides [him] great strength and dignity." Wesley and Gunn return with the news that Fred escaped. Connor wants to kill her and bring her back, but Wesley reminds him that Jasmine wants her alive.

In the lobby, Jasmine invites a couple of people to go upstairs with her. Fred goes to the Magic Bullet Bookstore, which she apparently visited three days earlier to read up on mass hypnosis. Now she's looking for information on mind control. The shopkeeper, Ted (Patrick Fischler), says that he used to be obsessed with mind control, and though he still believes in it, he just doesn't worry about it anymore because of Jasmine. The shopkeeper pulls out a gun (as well as a yoyo and a book called ''Making Mind Control Work for You'') and says that he thinks Fred is trying to get the government to learn about Jasmine's love. Connor and Angel try to track Fred through the sewers; Angel learns that Connor has been tracking people since he was a kid. Holtz would tie him to a tree and then run away, expecting Connor to free himself and find Holtz. Angel is shocked that Holtz abandoned Connor like that, but Connor considers it good, since he learned to track. Angel and Connor both suddenly close their eyes, receiving a message that Jasmine wants them back at the Hyperion.

Jasmine explains that everyone is connected by love, and she wants to test that connection to see if they can find Fred. Everyone holds hands as Jasmine tells them to picture Fred and concentrate on finding her. Fred checks into a motel, where people around her start looking at her. Fred takes off running, passing a man who is fueling his car. Another car hits his car, which sets off a fire. The guy from the car gets out and, in flames, walks to Fred and tells her not to be afraid. Jasmine's hand starts smoking and burning as she takes the physical damage of the man; she adds that she saw Fred, and now that all of the Jasmaniacs know what she looks like, she can't hide anywhere. Fred walks by the side of a highway and falls down a hill while trying to run from an SUV. She takes refuge in a cave where a short demon is also holed up. The creature assures Fred that he is vegetarian and won't hurt her; it doesn't seem to matter, since Fred makes sure he knows that she can handle herself. Back at the Hyperion, Lorne gives the "hourly Jasmine report," then announces that he has a surprise - open mic night.

A montage follows of various odes to Jasmine, including Lorne singing "Freddie's Dead" and Angel and Connor singing a revised version of "Mandy". The demon in the cave reveals that he's hiding out because of "those freakin’ Jasminites and their demon jihad", but then he uncovers a bunch of human hands, revealing himself to be carnivorous, and attacks Fred, who is injured but fights back with an axe. Fred returns to the Magic Bullet Bookstore, luring a crowd of people outside. The shopkeeper tells Fred that she's famous now, and that he's not supposed to hurt her.

Jasmine arrives with Angel and Connor and, in exchange for the shopkeeper's help, tells him that Lee Harvey Oswald worked alone in assassinating JFK. Fred says that she's sorry, and Jasmine accepts the apology, but it turns out that Fred is talking to Angel. She raises the shopkeeper's handgun, aims at Jasmine, and fires. The bullet goes through Jasmine and then into Angel's shoulder. Angel vamps out and attacks Fred, grabbing the gun and pointing it at her jaw. Crying, Fred tells him to look at Jasmine. He does, seeing the same decaying, maggot-infested flesh that Fred saw earlier. Jasmine realizes that it was her blood that released Fred and Angel and tells Connor that Angel is infected. Fred shoots Jasmine several more times before Connor stops her. Angel runs out with Fred and Jasmine keeps Connor from following them. Jasmine sees how much blood she's lost and tells the shopkeeper to burn the store down. In the hotel office, Jasmine explains that they've lost Angel to Fred: "by being loving to Fred, I opened the door to her hate. By trying to save Fred, I lost Angel. It won't happen again. We must eradicate their hate."

Fred explains that Jasmine's blood breaks the spell - she got it in her system when she washed Jasmine's shirt, and Angel got it after the bullet passed through Jasmine. Fred decides that they need to get more of Jasmine's blood so that they can break the spell for the others. They hear people coming, and Fred kisses Angel to throw the people off, but they do have to run. Later they sneak not-so-stealthily into Cordelia’s room, where she’s still comatose. Angel apologizes to Cordelia, then starts to cut her arm with a knife. She grabs his wrist and he panics, thinking that she’s awake. Fred has to tell him that people in comas sometimes move or do things that don’t mean they’re waking up. Meanwhile, Jasmine tells Connor to keep guard in the hallway as she goes into her room with her chosen guests. She tells them to strip, and as they do, she heals her gunshot wounds. Connor stands guard outside Jasmine’s room; inside, green light shines. In the next act, the green light disappears from Jasmine’s room. Connor asks her where the people went, and Jasmine replies, "I ate them." "Cool," Connor says.

Angel and Fred succeed in "infecting" Lorne with Cordelia's blood to break the spell. Lorne lures Wesley and Gunn upstairs, grabs a baseball bat, and knocks them out so that Fred can administer the cure. When they come to, Wesley brings Connor in, and the others hold him down for the cure. After Connor calms down, Angel tells him they had to make him see the truth. "You understand why we’re here?" Angel asks. Connor nods and goes to the door. He throws it open and yells, "They’re here! Come quick!"

Angel shuts the door on Connor, letting the others escape through the fire escape. Angel then barges out into the hall and begins to pound Connor into unconsciousness. As Fred and the others bring the car around on the street, Angel and Connor come flying out of the window. Angel gets in the car and orders Wesley to drive, even as Jasmine and her followers approach. They listen to a radio announcer reporting that the mayor has named L.A. a "citadel of Jasmine".

In her suite, Jasmine has several of her followers come to her while Connor wakes from his unconsciousness. Restored by feeding on her followers, Jasmine heals Connor and then reassures him that they'll deal with Angel and the others.

Wesley pulls up at a gas station. While Gunn fills the car, the others are attacked by people at the station speaking with Jasmine's voice. Once the car is filled, they all take off, but police cars and other followers chase after them. Leaving the car behind, Angel leads the others down into the sewers, where they are surprised by a group of young kids, who point sticks and makeshift spears at the gang. One of the kids recognizes Gunn and turns out to be Golden, the younger brother of one of Gunn's former crew members. Something causes their surroundings to shake and the youngest of the crew, Matthew, warns that it's back. The kids guide Angel and the others to their hideout, which is secured by bars and makeshift gates. Angel grabs a weapon and directs his team to go out and help get rid of this unidentified monster.

Connor goes to check on Jasmine, but finds that Cordelia is no longer on the bed. Jasmine explains that Cordy is in a safe place where her blood can't be used as a threat. Connor wants to go out and find Angel and the others, but Jasmine won't let him yet. Jasmine gouges her nails into Connor's hand as she demands that he let go of his pain and give it to her. As she releases his hand and Connor releases his pain, the wounds on his hand appear on hers as well.

While searching for the creature in the sewers, Golden is grabbed and pulled up into a high tunnel, but Angel flies up after him and saves him. Angel returns with his vampire face and scares Matthew into running away. Fred and Gunn chase after him, and Angel realizes that Wesley has been taken while they weren't looking.

Fred and Gunn chase after Matthew as they talk about feelings. They start to talk about when they killed the professor and how much that it hurts them both. They arrive on the surface and carefully scour the streets for Matthew, finding him in an alley. He refuses to return with them, so Gunn simply knocks the boy unconscious. Fred is stunned by the action, but helps Gunn carry the boy back anyway.

Angel tells Lorne to stay with the others while he goes to find Wesley, but in light of Angel's newly discovered demon side, Golden and the others are not keen on the idea of letting Angel out of their sight alone. With spears pointed at him, Angel doesn't bother trying to defend his nature, saying he wouldn't be able to, and instead points out that if he chose, he could kill them all without difficulty.

A demonic crab-like creature approaches Wesley, proclaiming that his kind loved "her" first. Once Wesley realizes that the demon is talking of Jasmine, the demon scolds Wesley for giving her a name, then scurries off to work on a mass of flesh and bone against a wall, cutting and stitching together the body of a vampire. Wesley questions where the demon is from and he points out a blue sphere that's the key to his dimension, but warns that the dimension is not one a human can survive. The demon explains that he's working on blood magic, not magic that consists of words. The vampire trapped in the sadistic web asks to just be killed, but the demon instead rips its tongue out. Wesley realizes that there is a word that can hurt Jasmine – her name – but the demon refuses to provide it and instead prepares to kill him, but Angel arrives in time to stop it, eventually managing to kill the demon.

Lorne lectures the rest of the gang about hurtful words just before Gunn and Fred return with Matthew, who begins to laugh in Jasmine's voice, which turns the others on Gunn, Lorne and Fred and the three run for their lives. Before they can get far, though, they run into Connor and a group of military men to back him up.

Wesley grabs the blue orb and explains the other dimension to Angel, while he ponders a way to make it work for them. Angel senses danger and Connor's presence. As Connor and Jasmine sense Angel in return, Angel signals the others to him and Wesley. Wesley figures blood magic is the answer to working the orb and uses a cut on his head as the source. A portal opens before them and while the others hold the door against Connor and the soldiers, Angel reluctantly takes the orb from Wesley and moves through the portal as the others finally release the door and prepare for battle, which is made more difficult because all the damage inflicted to the soldiers is healed by Jasmine instantly, making her followers practically immortal. Meanwhile, Angel finds himself in another dimension, surrounded by the Spider Demons.

The gang, minus Angel, are fighting Connor and his band of Jasminites in the mantis demons lair. Angel and the blue orb are in the demon world, where he's spotted a bridge to a city that holds a temple. Connor takes Wesley, Fred, Gunn, and Lorne captive and announces that he has to kill them. He says that the heroes are all alone and don't belong there. Gunn is happy not to belong, since everyone else is worshipping a false god. Before Connor can kill anyone, a guard speaks in Jasmine's voice and tells him to bring the others back to the Hyperion. As Angel climbs a cliff to the temple, Jasmine thanks some of the Jasminites for being loyal followers. Connor brings in the gang and Jasmine tells them that they've caused themselves pain by abandoning her. She asks where Angel is and Wesley taunts her, saying she should know since she's omniscient. Wesley asks about the mantis demon he met in the previous episode and she compares this past world to the humans’ world. She says that when she came along, she “kicked their evolution up a few ticks,” but it obviously didn't work out (also that she has a better chance in this world as it can be taken over quickly, as mass communications speed the spread of her message). She adds that Angel is wasting his time in the demon world, but Wesley says that if she really believed that, she would have killed them already. Jasmine tells a follower to tell the media that she'll be down soon; Wesley realizes that she's about to beam out her “love” to everyone. Fred tries to get Connor to stop her, telling him that Jasmine will enslave everyone, but he says that she'll bring everyone together. Fred says that they tried to show him what Jasmine really is; he tells her that he knows. He looks at Jasmine, and Connor sees what they have been seeing - her maggot-infested flesh. “She’s beautiful,” Connor says. Jasmine heads for her press interview, telling Connor that she won't be able to keep an eye on everyone while it's going on, so he'll have to do that for her. Connor asks what Angel has gone after and Jasmine replies, “The unattainable.”

Angel makes it to the temple, where he encounters the high priest, a short, bipedal being. The priest says that Angel has come this far only to die. He calls himself “guardian of the word, caretaker of her most blessed temple” and Angel notes that there don't seem to be any other followers. The high priest is sure that Jasmine will return when she's done with the human world. Angel tries to get the priest to say Jasmine's real name, but the priest won't say it. Angel tries to intimidate him and the priest tells him, “You can take away her power, but you’ve already lost…everything.”

Connor sticks Wesley and company in Angelus’ cage in the basement and Wesley notes that the blood ritual didn't work on Connor because he's seen Jasmine's true face all along. Connor says that appearance doesn't matter to him, since he grew up in Quor-toth. Fred tries to get Connor to feel badly about Cordelia; Connor tells her that Cordelia has been moved. Wesley asks Connor what Jasmine eats, since the demon called her “the devourer.” Connor denies that he knows, but Wesley has already figured out that she eats her followers. Gunn worries that Cordelia has already been eaten.

Angel demands that the priest give him Jasmine's true name, but the priest reveals that he can't; only the Keeper of the name has it. The priest is the guardian of the word, but the guardian of the word is not the keeper of the name. The word is the name, so the priest is the guardian of the Keeper - the keeper of the Keeper. The Keeper happens to be in the corner of the room, but the priest warns that he'll only speak Jasmine's real name with his last breath. Turns out he's right, since the Keeper's mouth is sewn shut.

Connor heads to the banquet hall, where Jasmine is chatting with some of her followers who have no idea that they're about to be eaten. He pulls her aside and asks where she took Cordelia. Jasmine assures him that she didn't eat Cordelia; Connor tries to pretend that he didn't think that, but he's relieved. However, Jasmine won't tell him where she took Cordelia.

Angel fights the Keeper as the priest taunts that his friends are probably dead by now, so there's no reason for Angel to try to fight for his world. The priest points out that his world doesn't care about him or want him, but Angel counters that it needs him. The priest says that he's actually fighting for Connor. He's going to lose his son.

The press sets up for the conference, excited to share Jasmine with the rest of the world. Connor finds a couple of followers who moved Cordelia and demands to know where she is. Back at the temple, the priest wonders why Angel keeps trying to make things right with Connor. The priest points out that Connor was only brought about to bring Jasmine into the world. “He will never love you,” the priest taunts. Angel says that it doesn't matter. He ducks a swing from the Keeper and lets the priest get knocked into a wall instead. In the basement of the Hyperion, Gunn is kicking the cage to try to break out of it, but he's mostly just succeeding at annoying Lorne. Fred notes that Connor left them unguarded. Wesley wonders why Jasmine had Cordelia moved, since the gang were the only people using her blood to turn others. He asks why Jasmine doesn't just kill Cordelia. Fred thinks that she can't and Wesley agrees that Jasmine is dependent on Cordelia - she can't hurt her without hurting herself. However, Cordelia might be able to hurt Jasmine. The gang decide that they should figure out how to wake up Cordelia, though first they'll have to find her.

Connor finds a church (with a sign reading, “God is nowhere. Jasmine is the way”) and tries to get past the police officers outside. Connor knocks the cops out and goes into the church, where he finds the comatose Cordelia. While Jasmine eats a large group of people and prepares for her press conference, Connor gives an impassioned speech to Cordelia about needing a reason to fight. He says that he doesn't have one now and wants to just stop. He admits that he never believed in Jasmine but went along because everyone else did and he wanted to belong. She's bringing peace to everyone and helping them get rid of their hatred, but it's not working for him. He says that his whole life has been built on lies, but at least this one was better than the other ones.

In the lobby of the Hyperion, the media prepares for the press conference. Upstairs, one of the men Connor attacked for info on Cordelia alerts Jasmine. Jasmine heads to the press conference and starts talking about love, her image broadcast around the world. From the basement, Wesley and company hear the audience cheering and realize that Jasmine has started her world broadcast. They realize that they really are alone now. Back at the conference, Jasmine tells everyone that they don't have to give her anything, just show her love and maybe a large temple to stand as a beacon of hope.

As Angel suddenly appears during her speech she orders her followers to attack him. They do but Angel cuts the sewn mouth of the Keeper and a long hissing sound is heard. With her name revealed, Jasmine glows and screams are heard as her face switches between her beauty and true form until it settles in the middle. Now with purple eyes and covered in boils Jasmine begs her followers to calm down as they erupt into chaos and despair. Convinced that something has gone terribly wrong, Gunn kicks open the door to the cage and they head upstairs. Out in the streets of L.A., everything is chaotic and Jasmine is upset that no one is worshipping her anymore. She contacts Connor through one of the cops at the church; Connor runs off to find her. Angel catches up to Jasmine and tells her that she lost. She replies, “There are no absolutes. No right and wrong. Haven’t you learned anything working for the Powers? There are only choices. I offered paradise. You chose this!” He counters that he chose this world because he could; she had taken choice away from everyone. “And look what free will has gotten you,” Jasmine says. Angel responds that free will is what makes humans human; Jasmine points out that he's not human. “Working on it,” he says. She heads off, wanting to be alone, and Angel says that he's not going to let her hurt anyone else. He lists the things she's done, pointing out that thousands of people are dead because of her. Jasmine asks how many people will die because Angel stopped world peace. She argues that she murdered thousands in order to save billions, but now the world has to fend for itself. “The price was too high, Jasmine,” Angel says. “Our fate has to be our own, or we’re nothing.” He tells her that everyone has done horrible stuff, but they can make up for it; she doesn't have the world she wanted, but she can still try to make it better. Jasmine doesn't want to. She punches Angel off of a bridge and uses a car as a weapon. She tells him that she loved the world and sacrificed everything to be there. Angel counters that she did so in order to run the world. Jasmine says that the other Powers That Be didn't care the way she did and he knows it.

The fighting continues and Jasmine reminds Angel of the prophecy that said he would play a role in the apocalypse. He never knew which side he would be on, but now he does - she's going to wipe out the human race with the last of her energy, and the blood will be on his hands. He tells her to go to hell; she replies, “You first, baby,” then kisses him. Connor arrives, noting that once again Angel is involved with a girl who was Connor's first. Jasmine is thrilled that Connor is finally there.

Wesley, Gunn and Fred search the hotel but find that everyone has taken off. Lorne notes that all of the TV stations are off the air, which means that something big happened. Wesley realizes that Angel came back and that they need to find him and Cordelia before Jasmine does. Before the gang can get out the door, they're met by something surprising. On the bridge, Jasmine tells Connor that Angel can't defeat both of them. “You still believe in me, don’t you?” she asks. “You still love me?” “Yes,” Connor replies, before punching her through her maggoty head and killing her. Angel tries to comfort Connor, but he runs off. Angel heads back to the Hyperion, where he's shocked to see that the others are still alive. He tells them that Jasmine is dead and Connor killed her. As Wesley tries to interrupt and tell him something, Angel says that he's never seen Connor like that before. “I think he’s gonna do something,” Angel says. “You know, he might--.” “End world peace?” a woman replies. Angel looks over to see Lilah in the office doorway. “Well, you already took care of that,” she says. “Congratulations.”

While Wesley doubts that the Lilah before them is real, Angel (with his preternatural vampire senses) confirms that it is really her. Lilah also shows her beheading scar as she explains that the "Senior Partners", the ruling counsel of the demonic firm who are based in Hell, are offering them control as thanks for bringing back chaos and discord in Los Angeles, which the group intended for the greater good. On the streets, while people raid stores, Connor spots a cop on top of a building, and catches him before he shoots himself with his own gun. The confused cop reveals that he has a family that are his "home". Enraged by the thought that the man would leave his family, Connor attacks the cop.

Wesley confides his doubts to Gunn, worrying his remaining feelings for Lilah cloud his perspective. Lorne returns without news on Connor or Cordelia, but with the news that mayhem has been released on the streets in the aftermath. Angel warns the others against going to Wolfram & Hart, but as dawn approaches, the group finds themselves drawn to the offer of touring the Wolfram & Hart offices. One by one, they sneak off and get into the limo, surprised to see the others there.

At the office, the group is approached by guides for their individual tours. Lorne is introduced to the manager of the entertainment department, who gives Lorne a glimpse of the talent managed by the firm. Wesley's guide, former Watcher Rutherford Sirk, impresses him with a vast collection of mystical references. Fred's guide is Knox, a smart young man who shows off the science department which she would run. Lilah shows Angel his new office, private elevator, and special windows that allow him to be in the sun without burning. She presents him with a file labeled "Sunnydale" and an amulet that Buffy needs for her upcoming battle with the First Evil, but he still acts uninterested. But when Lilah shows him a TV news report about Connor holding several people hostage, including the comatose Cordelia, in a sporting-goods store, Angel is finally ready to make a deal. Gunn is met by an attractive woman, and after mentioning he does not see how he would fit in at Wolfram & Hart, she takes him on a long elevator ride to the White Room. Alone in the room, Gunn is greeted by a black panther.

Connor shouts at one of his captives, who struggles to hold his crying daughter because of a broken arm, then notices Angel has arrived. Meanwhile, Wesley knocks Sirk unconscious and makes his way to the records room, where Lilah finds him searching through the files. Wesley finds her contract with the law firm and burns it in an effort to free her, but the contract just reappears in the drawer. She says she already knew the price when she signed the contract but still appreciates the gesture.

Angel cautiously approaches Connor as the teen warns the hostages are rigged with explosives. As Connor rises - revealing he and a still unconscious Cordelia are rigged similarly - he rages that he cannot seem to feel anything but unloved. Angel tries to promise a better future, but Connor, unconvinced, starts to push the detonation trigger. Angel punches him, yanks the trigger from the explosives around Connor, releases the hostages, and throws a knife into Connor's leg before he can injure Cordelia. Promising to prove his love, Angel brings the knife down in a deadly blow, fulfilling the prophecy.

In the lobby, the others are considering accepting their job offers, then Angel says he already took the deal on their behalf. Lilah confirms that Cordelia is getting the best of care and vows to ensure she recovers from her coma. Completing their deal, Angel asks to see Connor and Lilah reluctantly agrees to let it happen, despite it not being part of the deal. She hands over the folder on Sunnydale along with the amulet and Angel leaves to see Connor, whom the others seem to have forgotten existed. A limo takes Angel to a cabin in the woods where he spies through the window. Connor sits with his new family as they enjoy dinner and laugh about the promising college life before him. Angel walks away, pleased that his son has a new life filled with the love and happiness he lacked.

Michael is a trucker who picks up a blonde, blue-eyed, young female hitchhiker, Sati, in the Arizona desert. Sati claims that she is God, to Michael's disbelief, and sets out to prove this by spreading this message through organized meetings, and convinces many people of her divinity. She is challenged numerous times, once by a fundamentalist preacher, but emerges unscathed in his claims. Meanwhile, Michael sets out to find out where this "Sati" came from, only to find nothing. The book opens as such:

"I once knew this girl who thought she was God. She didn't give sight to the blind or raise the dead. She didn't even teach anything, not really, and she never told me anything I probably didn't already know. On the other hand, she didn't expect to be worshiped, nor did she ask for money. Given her high opinion of herself, some might call that a miracle. I don't know, maybe she was God. Her name was Sati, and she had blonde hair and blue eyes."

Mike Merrick (Audie Murphy) is an American agent who is sent to meet with Professor Schlieben (George Sanders) a German scientist. During the mission it is revealed that the professor is developing a weaponized rocket that can be used against the Western world. Merrick now must destroy the rocket plans hidden in Schlieben's lab. Things are further complicated when Radical Muslims insist on destroying the rocket themselves and killing Merrick. After kidnapping Schlieben's daughter he must now escape Middle Eastern intelligence agencies against impossible odds.

In September 1950, during the Korean War, a U.S. Navy pilot named Neil Smith (Steve Taschler) is caught in a mysterious storm of butterflies and crash-lands his plane in a remote and mountainous part of Korea. He is found by villagers from the nearby mountain village of Dongmakgol, who nurse him back to health. Dongmakgol is cut off from the outside world – its inhabitants have no knowledge of modern technology and are blissfully unaware of the massive conflict raging across Korea. Smith hands a Korean-English primer to Teacher Kim (Jo Deok-hyeon), the village scholar, in an effort to communicate, but Mr Kim effectively gives up when Smith begins a barrage of complaints after being asked in English, "How are you?" as an introductory greeting.

Meanwhile, not far from the village, a platoon of North Korean soldiers is ambushed by a South Korean unit, and the ensuing skirmish leaves most of the North Koreans dead. The surviving North Korean soldiers manage to escape through a mountain passage. The North Korean soldiers, Rhee Soo-hwa (Jung Jae-young), Jang Young-hee (Im Ha-ryong), and Seo Taek-gi (Ryu Deok-hwan) are found by an absent-minded girl from Dongmakgol, named Yeo-il (Kang Hye-jung). She leads them to the village where, to the North Koreans' alarm, they find two South Korean soldiers, Pyo Hyun-chul (Shin Ha-kyun) and Moon Sang-sang (Seo Jae-kyung). The South Korean soldiers, both of whom had deserted their units and escaped into the mountains, had also been led to Dongmakgol by another villager.

The unexpected encounter triggers a Mexican standoff that lasts until the next day. Initially, the villagers are rounded up between the North and South Koreans, but having no idea what the fuss is about they slowly drift away to go about their own business (despite some of the soldiers' efforts to intimidate them into submission). The villagers, who are unfamiliar with the soldiers' weapons, continue to watch on the sidelines and wonder why the two sides are waving "sticks" and "painted potatoes" at each other (which are actually rifles and grenades, respectively). In fact, Yeo-il gleefully pulls out the pin from Taek-gi's grenade (mistaking it for a ring), sending the soldiers into further panic.

The confrontation ends only when Taek-gi, worn by fatigue, accidentally drops his now-armed grenade. While everyone else ducks for cover, Hyun-chul heroically throws himself onto the grenade, but it does not explode. Believing it to be a dud, he throws the grenade behind him in contempt, and it rolls into the village storehouse. It then explodes, incinerating the village's stockpile of corn for the winter. The remnants fall down from the sky, surrealistically, as popcorn.

The two groups of Korean soldiers are now forced to face the fact that their quarrel has condemned the village to starvation in the upcoming winter. They reluctantly agree to a truce and divert their efforts to making up for the damage they have caused. Together, the soldiers undertake work across the village, and help harvest potatoes in the fields.

They even work together to kill one of the wild boars troubling the village. The villagers then bury the boar, much to the annoyance of the soldiers (who wanted to eat it). Both the North and South Korean soldiers and Smith sneak out separately at night to dig up the boar and eat it, leading to an unplanned meal together. The mood is awkward at first, but the tension between the soldiers lessens as they share the meal with each other. However, even afterwards, members of both sides remain haunted by the memories of the terrible things they have experienced during the war.

While this is happening, Allied commanders, having lost several other planes in the area, prepare a rescue team to recover Smith, who they mistakenly believe has been captured by enemy units and is being held at a hidden mountain base. The plan is to secure Smith and evacuate him from the area, with a bomber unit flying in after Smith's extraction to destroy the anti-aircraft guns they presume are located in the base.

The rescue team, led by their commander (David Joseph Anselmo), drops in by parachute at night. They suffer heavy casualties after being swarmed by a torrent of butterflies in the air, with further casualties from the rough terrain. Meanwhile, the villagers and soldiers are holding a harvest feast. The rescue team enter the village, and, assuming it is a cover for an enemy base, begin roughing up toward the villagers. Despite the efforts of the villagers to conceal the Korean soldiers by disguising them as villagers, a firefight breaks out in which all but one of the members of the rescue team are killed, and Yeo-il is fatally wounded in the crossfire. The only survivor of the rescue team, the Korean translator, is hit over the head by Smith and is captured by the villagers.

Through the translator, the people in the village find out about the bombing plan. The North and South Korean soldiers realize that the village is in peril and that there is no time for Smith to make it back to his base to stop the bombing. They decide that the only possible way to save the village is to create a decoy "enemy base" away from the village, using equipment salvaged from another plane that went down nearby. They plan to engage the unit only far as is necessary to divert it and have it bomb the "base" instead of Dongmakgol, with the soldiers fleeing to safety.

Smith is sent back along with the translator so that he can tell the Americans that there is nothing in the village to bomb, in case they decide to send more bombers. Meanwhile, while preparing to engage the planes passing over, Taek-gi encourages the group and quips that they, being a joint North-South troop, are "Allies" too. The decoy is successful, but Young-hee and Sang-sang are killed during the initial engagement. In the end, the remaining Korean soldiers are wiped out by a blanket of bombs – however, they die smiling, knowing that Dongmakgol has been saved.

Smith breaks down in tears on the way to his base upon hearing the bombs in the distance, suspecting that the Korean soldiers have sacrificed themselves. After the bombing, at the site of the destroyed decoy base, butterflies apparate where the Korean soldiers died, which then join the swarm fluttering overhead.

Sung-eun (Song Eun-chae), her friends Soo-yeon (Jeon Hye-bin) and Mi-sook (Park Seul-ki) likes boys until Sung-eun pursues after someone with more experience. She becomes attracted to new student teacher Kang Bong-goo (Lee Ji-hoon) and pursues Bong-goo. But what she doesn't realize about Bong-goo, is that he passes gas when aroused.

Picard is curious when he finds that the stellar cartography department has shut down several systems on the ''Enterprise'', and visits the section to discover what is going on. He meets the head of the department, Lt. Commander Nella Daren, who makes an impression on him. It is a meeting memorable enough to later discuss with Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden). At a musical recital by Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner), Picard is surprised to see Daren again, playing the piano. The two discuss music, and later meet in Picard's quarters and participate in a duet. Daren plays a portable piano and Picard performs on his Ressikan flute.

The two begin to meet more often; including in a Jefferies tube, which Daren claims has the best acoustics on the ship. In this private setting, their attraction for one another is expressed in a kiss. The moment of intimacy is fleeting, however. When they enter a turbolift, and are joined by another crewmember, Picard resumes the professional demeanour of Captain. The ''Enterprise'' is diverted from its mission, when it is directed to investigate a report of firestorms at a Federation outpost. While in transit, Picard consults Counsellor Troi (Marina Sirtis) about pursuing a relationship with Daren. Picard then goes to Daren to apologize and to explain. He recounts the experience shown in the episode "The Inner Light" in which he had a wife and family, became a grandfather, grew old, and learned to play the flute. The experience imparted to Picard a deep appreciation for music, and he is pleased to have someone to share it with.

Daren speaks to Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) requesting a transfer for another crew member to stellar cartography. Riker says he will consider the request. Afterwards, he speaks with Picard, explaining that Picard and Daren's relationship makes the decision complicated. After determining from Riker that Daren's request is not unusual or taking advantages, Picard assures Riker that he will support any decision he makes. Later at dinner, Picard relates to Daren his talk with Riker, saying that they need to be careful about anyone else misunderstanding their relationship.

The ''Enterprise'' arrives at the Federation outpost to find that firestorms are heading toward the facility. Daren suggests a means of deflecting the storms, but the equipment requires trained personnel on the ground to operate it. Daren is assigned to the surface team, along with a number of other crewmembers. The outpost is evacuated during the dangerous mission, leaving only the ''Enterprise'' away team on surface. The firestorms overwhelm the position that Daren's team occupies before they can be retrieved. Believing Daren to be dead, Picard sits contemplating his decision in his quarters. He then hears that survivors are being transported aboard, and heads to the transporter room. Daren is not among the initial group of survivors, but is later transported to the ship. Eight members of the team have died.

Afterwards, Picard and Daren discuss their relationship. They conclude that it cannot continue, as Picard could not bear to put her in further danger. They discuss giving up their Starfleet careers to be together. Daren knows that Picard, although still cherishing the family life he experienced as Kamin, has nonetheless chosen duty, career, and loneliness. They both know that Daren must transfer off the ''Enterprise''. They kiss once more, and Daren makes Picard promise not to give up music.

The story of ''Clock Tower 3'' is set in London in 2003. Alyssa Hamilton is a 14-year-old girl who has been living at a boarding school for three years. Her mother, Nancy, sent her there after her grandfather, Dick, disappeared. The game begins with Alyssa receiving a letter from her mother telling her to go into hiding until after her fifteenth birthday. Alarmed, Alyssa decides to go against her mother's wishes and return home. When she arrives at the boarding house in which they live, her mother is absent, and the only person there is a man called "The Dark Gentleman". Determined to find her mother, Alyssa explores her mother's room. Suddenly, Frédéric Chopin's ''Fantaisie-Impromptu'' begins to play with no apparent source, and Alyssa is transported back in time to the streets of London during World War II.

She enters a tailor shop where she witnesses the murder of a young girl by a man wielding a sledgehammer. Eventually, Alyssa is able to piece together what happened: May Norton was killed on Christmas Eve 1942 by Sledgehammer, a stonecutter who went on a killing spree before being caught and executed. Alyssa comes to realise that she must free May's spirit, which is trapped on Earth, by giving her her father's pocket watch. On her way to do so, she is confronted by Sledgehammer, whom she destroys. She then gives the watch to May's spirit, reuniting her with her father. At that moment, Alyssa faints and wakes up back in the boarding house. She explores the house further with her friend, Dennis Owen, and learns more about her past: the girls in her family are known as "Rooders", young women with supernatural powers. Rooders are the sworn enemies of "Entities", beings which can infect innocent humans and drive them to acts of murder, at which point the human becomes a "Subordinate". Rooder powers peak at the age of fifteen, and wane afterward, disappearing completely by the age of twenty.

Alyssa then travels to the 1960s, where she enters the house of Dorothy Rand, a blind elderly woman and her son, Albert, and sees them murdered by a man known as Corroder, who throws them into a vat of acid. Alyssa destroys Corroder, and returns a lost shawl to Dorothy's spirit, freeing both herself and Albert. She then returns to the present, where The Dark Gentleman congratulates her on killing two Subordinates. He sends her to the top of a massive clock tower where he tells her that when her fifteenth birthday arrives they will be united for eternity. He also tells her that her mother is dead. When she refuses to believe him, he flings her from the tower. Regaining consciousness in a sewer system, she is forced to confront another Subordinate, Chopper. She defeats him, but fails to kill him and is sent to a graveyard. She then learns of the "Ritual of Engagement"; if a human wishes to become an Entity, they must remove the heart of a Rooder to whom they are related on her fifteenth birthday and drink her blood. Eventually, Alyssa fights Chopper again and is able to destroy him.

Dennis arrives, and he and Alyssa find their way to an abandoned hospital where they encounter Scissorman and Scissorwoman, who kidnap Dennis. Alyssa is then transported to a castle, where she sees Dick reciting a strange incantation. She learns Dick knew of the Ritual of Engagement, and had discovered that Lord Burroughs, the owner of the castle and from whom he is descended, also knew of the ritual. She then sees an incident from the past of Dick asking for Burroughs' help to become an Entity, inviting Burroughs to enter his body and for them to complete the Ritual together. Burroughs' spirit takes possession of Dick, turning into The Dark Gentleman. Meanwhile, Alyssa is able to rescue Dennis from the twins, killing them in the process. The Dark Gentleman then tells Alyssa if she wants to save Nancy's soul, she must come to the top of the tower. There, The Dark Gentlemen turns into Lord Burroughs and begins the Ritual. However, Dennis distracts Burroughs, allowing Alyssa to fight back. Nancy's spirit transfers what is left of her own Rooder power into Alyssa, giving her the strength to destroy Burroughs. After she defeats him, she reunites with her mother's spirit. The tower then collapses. Alyssa awakens in a field, where she sees Dennis. She runs to him and hugs him as she says "Mum...we did it. We did it, Mum".

Twelve-year-old Tony Miglione lives with his hardworking extended family in a working-class neighborhood in Jersey City. After Tony's family experiences a major increase in wealth due to his father's successful sale of his electronics invention, the family relocates to the fictional upper-class community of Rosemont, New York. His mother becomes absorbed with climbing the social ladder in her new, wealthier neighborhood, while his maternal grandmother becomes angry and withdrawn when she is no longer allowed to cook for the family as she loves to do. Tony's older brother, Ralph, a new father who was previously a well-respected junior high school teacher, gives up teaching to make more money working for Tony's father, causing Tony to feel that his brother is 'selling out'.

Tony meets a neighbor, Joel Hoober, a boy his own age. While Joel's manners impress Mr. and Mrs. Miglione, Tony sees Joel's true colors in private: he secretly engages in misbehaviors such as prank calls, underage drinking, hiding issues of ''Playboy'' magazine under his bed, and shoplifting, and encourages Tony to participate as well.

Joel also has an older sister, Lisa, who is 16 years old and beautiful. Her bedroom window faces Tony's, and Tony soon notices that she does not bother to close her blinds when dressing and undressing; this leads Tony to ask his parents for a pair of binoculars for Christmas – "for birdwatching", he tells them. (Note: publishers seemed to feel this was an important plot point, as a number of variations of the cover art for this novel feature Tony holding a pair of binoculars.)

Tony begins experiencing anxiety-related fainting spells; he is eventually admitted to the hospital after collapsing in class, and is later sent to therapy after doctors determine the malady is not medical (although he is diagnosed with "nervous stomach", now called IBS). The therapy helps Tony learn new ways to deal with his problems.

Joel is eventually caught stealing golf balls from a sporting goods store, and Tony refuses to stand up for him when they are stopped by security. Surprisingly, Joel is not angry at him and the two boys agree amicably to end their friendship when Joel is sent to a military academy; he explains to Tony that he acted out simply to see if he could get away with it. Tony's mother (who tries to emulate everything the Hoobers do) considers sending Tony there too, until Tony's father intervenes and says this is a key decision that only Tony should make. Tony also overcomes his infatuation with Lisa and curtails watching her window after learning of her relationship with his youth group leader.

In the final chapter, Tony is bicycling and talking to himself about his parents building a swimming pool and he is approaching his 14th birthday. Tony is also now more at ease with himself and the family changes, and had the courage to tell the therapist he spied on Lisa. Tony thinks it would be best if he ceases his voyeuristic behavior for good, but finally says to himself 'Then again, maybe I won't.'

Two elderly criminals spend their final night in Los Angeles, California at the Golden Eagle Hotel prior to their departure to Las Vegas, Nevada, to lead a life without crime. Unfortunately, on the hottest night of the summer, these two ex-criminals seemingly get caught in the malice of prostitutes, pimps, drunken bums, fighting monkeys, and young runaways.

Ju Yeong-jak (Hwang Jung-min) is a successful lawyer who works long hours. While he is working, his wife Eun Ho-jeong (Moon So-ri), who gave up her dancing career in order to be "a good lawyer's wife," raises their young adopted son (Kim Young-chan) and works as a dance instructor in the local gym.

Ju Yeong-jak's father, Ju Chang-geun (Kim In-mun), an alcoholic with a terminal liver failure, has not slept with his wife Hong Byung-han (Youn Yuh-jung) in 15 years. She is having an affair with another man, and when Chang-geun finally dies, she tells Yeong-jak and Ho-jeong about her relationship with the other man—an old friend from her grade school—and says that she even plans to marry him. Her daughter-in-law Ho-jeong supports her.

Ho-jeong herself cannot achieve an orgasm from Yeong-jak. But for reasons that are not made clear in the English subtitles, he is not satisfied by her either and is having an affair with Kim Yeon, a younger woman who is an artist and a former model (Baek Jeong-rim). He receives from Yeon the satisfaction he lacks at home.

When Ho-jeong catches her teenage neighbor Shin Ji-woon (Bong Tae-gyu) peeping on her undressing in her apartment, she is, at first, angered. But she then decides to fulfill his peeping wish and allows him to see her doing nude gymnastics through the window. He then follows her on his bike and even barges into her dance class. She eventually follows him to the cinema where they talk. As they watch a movie, she teases him by acting oblivious to him groping her breasts.

Meanwhile, Yeong-jak runs a drunk motor cyclist off the road while receiving a blowjob from his young mistress. Yeong-jak takes the man to a hospital but drops off his girlfriend on the way; his primary concern is that the presence of his girlfriend not become public knowledge. Due to the other driver's reputation as a quarrelsome eccentric alcoholic, the authorities assume that the other driver is entirely responsible for the crash.

Yeong-jak promises the man (Sung Ji-ru), a postman who needs to be able to drive to keep his job, that if the postman does not mention that there was a woman in the car he will use his legal connections to make sure that the man does not suffer any consequences for having been driving while drunk.

One evening, after she Ho-jeong finally learns about her husband's affair, she tells Ji-woon to follow her without giving any details except suggestively saying "I hope you'll be okay." She takes him to the abandoned dance hall. Without exchanging a word, she just allows him to mount her, but he soon stops and rolls aside (apparently the victim of premature ejaculation). Not giving up, she fellates him. She then mounts him herself while at the same time giving him a handjob, moving in spasms and moaning loudly as she finally gains her long sought orgasm.

Ji-woon's father soon finds out about their affair and exposes it to Yeong-jak, unaware that Yeong-jak apparently does not care what his wife does. However, Yeong-jak fails to keep his promise to the postman. The postman kidnaps Yeong-jak's adopted son and throws him off a building to his death. The postman then commits suicide.

Yeong-jak and Ho-jeong are devastated by their son's death. Ho-jeong blames Yeong-jak for starting the chain of circumstances that ended with the murder/suicide.

The story ends on an enigmatic note. Ho-jeong discovers than she is pregnant and knows that Yeong-jak cannot be the father. He offers to accept the child as his own but she informs him that he is "out of the picture."

It is unclear from the final scene if Yeong-jak is hurt or relieved by her announcement.

The story also addresses the legacy of the Korean War and its impact on many families. Yeong-jak's father and grandfather escaped from the communist north—apparently during the war. Yeong-jak's grandmother and his father's sisters remained in the north and "perished". Yeong-jak's father is last seen in the final stages of dementia singing a communist anthem honoring North Korean leader Kim Il-sung.

Yeong-jak goes out into the country to inform his grandfather of the death and discovers that his grandfather has been dead for six months, and that his grandfather's young female companion had not notified the other members of the family.

There is also a subplot about the excavation of a mass grave containing the remains of Korean civilians who were killed—apparently by the communists—during the Korean War.

Lara heads into Bolivia on a tip from Anaya to find a stone dais in the ruined city of Tiwanaku. Lara believes the stone is connected to her mother's disappearance following the plane crash. A flashback shows young Lara activating a similar dais in a Nepalese monastery, creating a magical portal; Amelia vanishes upon drawing an ornate sword from the dais after hearing voices from the portal. Fighting through mercenaries exploring Tiwanaku, Lara confronts their employer, James Rutland, who has a fragment of a sword identical to the one from Nepal. Before leaving, he mentions Amanda as if she were still alive. Lara meets with Anaya in Peru near the site where Amanda died. In a flashback, Lara and Amanda are seen as part of an archeological team investigating a buried tomb. A powerful "Entity" guarding the tomb killed everyone but them before vanishing when Amanda pulled a stone from a door to open it. The tomb flooded, and Lara was forced to abandon Amanda after she was seemingly crushed by falling debris.

Lara drains the flooded tomb and proves that Amanda survived and is now working with Rutland to find the sword. At the tomb's heart, Lara finds a statue of Tiwanaku's last queen—whose life strongly parallels the common legends of King Arthur—and a replica of her sword. The tip resembles an artifact stolen by Takamoto from Waseda University. In Tokyo, Lara's negotiations with Takamoto break down, and she storms his offices before facing and defeating him in a final duel. The stolen sword fragment, which has destructive magical abilities, was discovered by an 11th-century crusader said to have been a knight of Arthur. Lara then pursues Rutland to a Ghanaian temple hidden behind a waterfall that Richard Croft explored during his career. Rutland is searching for the Ghalali Key, a talisman which can reforge the sword. During her explorations, Lara finds a pendant belonging to Amelia. Confronting Rutland, who assumed Richard found the Ghalali Key, Lara takes his sword fragment, having learned that Amanda has ransacked her home in search of it.

Lara pursues Amanda to Kazakhstan, where she discovers a 1950s-era Soviet research base that unsuccessfully tried to weaponise the sword's energies. Amanda, now bitter about the events in Peru, races her to the artifact. She eventually unleashes the tamed Entity on Lara using its control stone. Lara avoids the Entity and retrieves the sword fragment as the ancient facility disintegrates. Lara also discovers the shield of the knight who had the fragment, bearing an ancient map. The decoded map leads Lara to Cornwall and a King Arthur-themed tourist museum built over a hidden complex housing the tombs of King Arthur and his knights around a broken dais. She realises that the sword she is pursuing is the legendary Excalibur—one of many swords forged by an unnamed civilisation that have created a monomyth within multiple later cultures—left in pieces and scattered across the world by Arthur's knights.

Retrieving the fragment left with Arthur, she escapes the tomb and the sea serpent protecting the sword. Back home, the group realise that the Ghalali Key was found in Ghana by Richard and given to Amelia to replace the pendant she lost; it now lies with the crashed plane in Nepal. During a talk with Winston, Lara reveals her determination to salvage her father's ruined reputation by using Excalibur to prove his theories about the daises. Returning to Nepal, Lara recovers the Ghalali Key, then travels to the monastery holding the original dais and reforges Excalibur. The broken dais splinters when she tries to use it, forcing her to return to the intact dais in Bolivia. On reaching it she is forced to kill Rutland during a fight with his mercenaries and destroys the Entity when Amanda summons and merges with it. Placing the sword in the dais, Lara activates a portal and sees a vision of Amelia. Realising that the portal is a time rift, Lara tries to warn Amelia, but Amanda panics and shouts to remove the sword before the dais explodes, triggering the events of Amelia's apparent death. An enraged Lara almost shoots Amanda, but Amanda says that Amelia was transported to Avalon. Lara knocks Amanda unconscious and sets out to find Amelia.

''Cannery Row'' has a simple premise: Mack and his friends are to do something nice for their friend Doc, who has been good to them without asking for reward. Mack hits on the idea that they should throw a thank-you party, and the entire community quickly becomes involved. Unfortunately, the party rages out of control, and Doc's lab and home are ruined—and so is Doc's mood. In an effort to return to Doc's good graces, Mack and the boys decide to throw another party—but make it work this time. A procession of linked vignettes describes the denizens' lives on Cannery Row. These constitute subplots that unfold concurrently with the main plot.

Steinbeck revisited these characters and this milieu nine years later in his novel ''Sweet Thursday''.

On the morning of her 17th birthday, high-school senior Liz Purr, the most popular girl in Reagan High, is kidnapped in her bed by three masked assailants, one of whom stuffs a jawbreaker into her mouth as a gag before she is placed in the trunk of a car. The kidnappers turn out to be Liz's friends—Courtney, Marcie, and Julie—playing a prank on her for her birthday, which they do annually. When the girls drive up to a diner to treat Liz to breakfast, they open the trunk and discover she is dead, having choked to death on the jawbreaker Courtney had used to gag her.

Julie wants to go to the police, but Courtney forbids her. Courtney calls the school pretending to be Liz's mother and tells them Liz is ill and cannot attend school, then the three go to school as though nothing had happened. Fern Mayo, school outcast and fervent admirer of Liz Purr (whom she calls "The Cat's Meow"), is sent by the school principal, Miss Sherwood, to deliver Liz's homework at the end of the day. She stumbles upon the three girls at Liz's house trying to arrange her body in bed. Courtney tries to fabricate a story that Liz died at the hands of a rapist.

Fern attempts to flee the house, but the girls catch her and Courtney buys her silence by accepting her into the clique, telling her to take Liz's place, despite Julie's protests. Courtney and Marcie give Fern a makeover, transforming her from plain and awkward to elegant and beautiful. The transformation is so complete, Courtney introduces Fern as the beautiful exchange student "Vylette."

Julie, overwhelmed by guilt at her part in Liz's death, breaks away from the clique, only to be reviled by Courtney and Marcie. As her popularity dissolves, she becomes a new target for abuse and contempt throughout the school. Her only real friend during this time is her boyfriend, a drama student named Zack.

As Vylette's popularity soars, Julie watches in silence as Courtney spins an endless web of lies to cover up the murder and maintain her popularity. Julie threatens to go to the police and tell the truth, but Courtney retorts that she, Marcie, and now Vylette will claim Julie killed Liz if she attempts to expose them. To her disgust, Julie learns that, after they had returned Liz's corpse to her house, Courtney went out that same night and seduced a stranger at a sleazy bar and had sex with him in Liz's bed in order to frame him for the murder.

Vylette becomes intoxicated with her new-found popularity, which has eclipsed Courtney's own. Courtney orders Vylette to learn her place, but Vylette vows that if Courtney does not watch her step, then she will reveal the truth behind Liz's death. In response, Courtney and Marcie post enlarged yearbook photos of Fern Mayo all over the school with the message "Who is Vylette" written on them, revealing Vylette's true identity and leaving her humiliated by the entire school. Julie takes pity on Fern and forgives her for being corrupted by Courtney.

Remorseless for the lives she has destroyed, Courtney attends the senior prom with jock Dane Sanders. Meanwhile, Julie is at home going through a bag of Liz's belongings that were given to her. She finds a recordable greeting card she was fiddling with when Courtney was faking Liz's death scene, on which Courtney's admission to the killing was inadvertently recorded, saying "I KILLED LIZ! I KILLED THE TEEN DREAM! DEAL WITH IT!". Armed with this evidence, Julie, Fern, and Zack hurry to the prom.

When Dane and Courtney are announced as Prom King and Queen, Zack sneaks backstage and broadcasts Courtney's confession over the sound system. Shocked and disgusted, Dane abandons Courtney while Marcie hides under a table. Horrified that her scheme has been permanently exposed, Courtney races for the exit as the rest of the furious students pelt her with corsages, call her names, and use profanity. Julie snaps a picture of the devastated Courtney to immortalize the occasion.

Bender aspires to be a cook for the Planet Express crew, but the meals he produces are awful. One day, Bender overhears the crew complaining about one of his meals and is overcome by feelings of worthlessness and self-pity. After running away, Bender asks Elzar to teach him how to cook, but Elzar refuses. Bender then becomes a hobo and travels to the "biggest hobo joint in the universe". There he meets Helmut Spargel, a legendary cook who lost his TV show when a young, upcoming Elzar replaced him.

Spargel trains Bender how to cook in order to get revenge on Elzar. As a final test, Spargel challenges Bender to cook an edible meal. Spargel tries the food and tells Bender that it is "acceptable". As a result of eating the food, his stomach explodes, and he dies. With his dying breath, Spargel reveals the secret to perfect cooking: a vial of unknown liquid ("the essence of pure flavour") to use whenever he needs to spice up a food. To avenge Spargel, Bender challenges Elzar to a cook-off on the TV show "Iron Cook" (a parody of ''Iron Chef''). The main ingredient used in this cook-off is Soylent Green. Bender prepares terrible looking food, but applies the liquid that Spargel gave him and wins. As the loser, Elzar is forced to wash the dishes.

When the Professor examines the liquid in the bottle Spargel gave Bender, it turns out the liquid is ordinary water. Fry says that all Spargel gave Bender was confidence, before the Professor adds that the water was laced with trace amounts of LSD. Bender then proposes a meal for his co-workers, who are unsure, but joyfully accept when Bender adds that the meal will include plenty of "confidence".

Meanwhile, Zoidberg accidentally destroys a scale replica of the universe's largest bottle that Professor Farnsworth has just made. He frames Fry for the damage and the Professor demands that Fry pay $10 for the material cost. Zoidberg is riddled with guilt as Fry is easily persuaded to make the payment, not having the wherewithal to defend himself. During the contest, Fry is unable to pay for a commemorative turkey baster, having given the Professor his last $10. Zoidberg's guilt becomes unbearable, and he publicly apologizes for framing Fry before trying to commit ''seppuku'' using the Chairman's ceremonial ''Wakizashi''. Instead, his hard shell damages the $5000 sword, and he quickly accuses Fry before running away.

Millie Baxter, a naïve woman, comes to New York City to meet her salesman husband Paul Baxter, whom she had met only months before, and discovers that he may be a murderer.

Steve Mason, a veteran seeking to go to Southern California to build sailboats, is employed as a salesman during the Christmas season at Crowley's, a New York department store. Connie Ennis is a comparative shopper for a rival store, and hurriedly buys an expensive toy train set from him without asking a single question about it. That night, her son Timmy becomes excited when he peeks at what he thinks is his present, only to be disappointed when his mother sets him straight. When Connie seeks a refund on the train set the next day, Steve reveals he had suspected her all along, and says that he should see to it that her identity is posted everywhere, which would lose her her job. She explains that she is a war widow with a son to support. Steve apologizes and refunds her money, a gesture that costs him his job.

In spite of this, the laid-back Steve invites Connie to lunch - which turns out to be hot dogs with the seals in Central Park. Afterward, Steve helps her complete her shopping. They become separated boarding a bus, but Steve manages to wheedle her home address out of her employer and shows up there, being introduced to the "man of the house" - her son Timmy - and her longtime steady suitor, lawyer Carl Davis. Timmy and Steve get acquainted.

On Christmas morning, Timmy discovers the train set outside the apartment door. He assumes that his mother bought it for him after all. When Connie realizes it was Steve's doing, she seeks him out and tries to reimburse him. He refuses her money, saying that he wants to encourage Timmy to believe that sometimes dreams actually come true. After giving Steve a tie she had originally bought for Carl, Connie reveals that she is marrying Carl on New Year's Day. Steve challenges her for "settling", living in the past, and being afraid to love again. Annoyed, Connie returns home.

After Carl arrives at Connie's, a policeman asks Connie to go to the station; Steve has been picked up on suspicion of mugging a man. She, Steve and Timmy, who refuses to stay home, go there. In the chaos that unfolds, Carl offers to represent Steve, to help him depart post haste for California. Connie confirms she was with Steve at the time of the robbery, but in doing so, some interesting facts emerge that unsettle Carl.

Freed, Steve is invited to an uneasy Christmas dinner, where he openly announces that, while Carl is a fine man, he thinks that Connie should marry him instead. She asks him to leave.

The next day, Timmy, who had learned at the station that Steve is broke and jobless, steals away to return the train set to give the money back to him. At the department store, he eventually gets to tell his story to its owner, Mr. Crowley. Crowley gives Timmy a refund and a ride home to his distraught mother.

Timmy gives Connie the money, and she and Carl drive to the rooming house where Steve has relocated to give it to him. When Connie asks Carl to see Steve by himself, Carl presents the facts of the "divorce case" of ''Ennis versus Davis'', from which he concludes that Connie does not love him. Connie then goes in alone, but is rebuffed by Steve, who declines to propose again, saying he cannot compete against her dead husband, to whom she is still true, and he informs her he's booked passage on ''the Midnight Special'' leaving on New Year's Eve.

Later, as Connie prepares to go alone to a New Year's Eve party, Timmy tells her he is growing up quickly, and that it will not be very long before he is married, leaving her all alone. After thinking it over, she says they have some "fast packing" to do. They then race to the station, to reunite with Steve. As their train leaves it turns into a toy train.

Planet Express holds its stockholders' meeting, and the state of the business is not good. Uninterested in the meeting, Fry and Dr. Zoidberg wander off in search of food. Fry finds his way into a support group meeting for cryogenic clients who have been defrosted, where he meets a sleazy 1980s businessman (referred to only as "That Guy" throughout the episode, though named in the script as Steve Castle). Resembling Gordon Gekko, That Guy arranged to have himself frozen to await a cure for his terminal "boneitis".

Fry and That Guy return to the Planet Express stockholders' meeting, where a revolt against Professor Farnsworth is in progress. Fry nominates That Guy as new CEO, and That Guy beats out the Professor by one vote. That Guy names Fry his new Vice Chairman, and sets out to remake Planet Express by giving it an expensive image overhaul.

That Guy spends tremendous amounts of money on lavish, pricey, flashy items such as flying chairs, expensive suits, and an enigmatic television commercial. Annoyed, Zoidberg sells his stock to That Guy for a sandwich, exclaiming, "Net gain for Zoidberg!". After draining the company's funds and its employees' morale, That Guy announces that he is selling Planet Express to Mom.

The takeover begins at the orbiting Intergalactic Stock Exchange, and all the Planet Express employees vote against it. Unfortunately, the stock That Guy bought from Zoidberg gave him a controlling interest and That Guy outvotes them. Mom and her sons vote for the merger.

However, before the final approval takes place, That Guy abruptly succumbs to a lethal attack of boneitis, causing his body to contort as his bones snap, twist and curl. In his death-throes, That Guy admits he was so busy "being an '80s guy", he had forgotten to cure the disease.

Fry gains control of That Guy's shares, and he votes against the merger. The Planet Express staff initially tries to convince him to sell the company, because the sale of their stock will make them all rich. However, Fry has already given a speech that drove the stock's price through the floor. Since the staff will be poor no matter what he does, he votes against the merger. The staff leaves to spend the weekend in disappointment over the loss of their potential wealth.

Amy is unhappy with her long-distance relationship with Kif and wants to see him in person again. The crew is sent to deliver a giant pill to a planet near where Kif is stationed, Amy stows away on board the Planet Express Ship. While the crew is asleep, Amy changes course to meet with Kif. When Zapp Brannigan sees the ship, the Planet Express crew joins him on the ''Nimbus''. On the ''Nimbus'', Kif implores Amy to move in with him and shows her the HoloShed to illustrate what life would be like with him. Soon, however, the shed malfunctions and the holograms that invade become real. When the holograms reach the rest of the crew, Zapp Brannigan accidentally blasts a hole in the ship, which sucks out the holograms. Everyone else on the ship is also sucked towards the hole, but they hang on to each other's hands until the moon from the Holoshed plugs the hole. Later, at the sickbay, the doctor reports that everyone survived with only minor injuries, and also reveals that Kif is pregnant.

Kif explains to the crew that his race reproduces through touch, their skin being a semi-permeable membrane which can absorb genetic material. They become sexually fertile whenever they experience strong positive emotions for another being, as Kif did with Amy on the HoloShed. Fry points out that everyone on the ship touched Kif while he was trying to hang onto them to prevent being sucked through the hole and it is unclear who the mother is. Professor Farnsworth uses an invention of his, the Maternifuge, to determine the real mother. The machine filters out its occupants based on a DNA sample, revealing that the mother is Leela. Amy is instead only the "smizmar" of Kif's children, which nevertheless makes her the "real" mother by Kif's standards. Amy is dismayed at being cast in the role of a mother, however, her parents are surprisingly happy about having a grandchild and demand Amy and Kiff call Amy's Mum "Grandma" all the time, however, at Fry and Bender's apartment for the pre-birth celebrations, Amy runs away.

With Kif's pregnancy nearing its end, the crew takes Kif to Amphibios 9, his homeworld. Kif encounters the Grand Midwife, who oversees the birthing ceremony, which traditionally involves the participation of the smizmar, further underscoring Kif's sadness at Amy's abandonment. Just as Kif is about to give birth, Amy arrives saying she wants to be with him despite not being ready for motherhood. After Kif gives birth, the babies, in a tadpole-like state, make it to the swampy water and are left to swim about until they are able to live out of water, which Kif reveals will not happen for twenty years, thus relieving Amy of any maternal duties.

The game's plot takes place in 1886, 500 years after Sir Daniel Fortesque's battle against the evil sorcerer Zarok in the previous game. In Kensington, a wealthy industrialist and sorcerer named Lord Palethorn discovers Zarok's spellbook and casts its spell of raising the dead over the city of London. However, the pages of the book soon scatter across London, and Palethorn gains a demon-like appearance as a result. The spell Palethorn casts once again resurrects Dan, whose body had been on display in a nearby museum. He is recruited by a professor named Hamilton Kift and his ghostly sidekick Winston Chapelmount (a play on Winston Churchill) to recover the pages of Zarok's spellbook and put a stop to Palethorn's plans. Along the way, they end up being joined by an ancient mummy princess named Kiya, whom Dan falls in love with.

When Kiya goes to Whitechapel alone to investigate psychic disturbances there, she is killed by Jack the Ripper. Broken-hearted, Dan abandons the quest against Palethorn and wanders into London's sewers, where he encounters the Mullocks, who worship a statue of Dan, and discovers a time machine that Kift had built years earlier. Collecting the parts to rebuild the time machine, Dan travels back in time to defeat Jack & save Kiya. Jack pleads with Dan to be spared, but he mercilessly shoots him dead. Dan then merges with his past self to gain golden "Super Armour", and returns to the battle. Dan collects the final pages and confronts Palethorn, who steals the page from him and offers Dan the choice of joining him, but Dan refuses, saying "I'll never join you!" Palethorn then assigns his two assistants, Mander and Dogman, to stop Dan from following him, but both are killed. Dan then goes after Palethorn. Palethorn uses the pages to summon a large blue demon. Dan manages to turn the demon against Palethorn, putting a stop to both of them. With his last breath, Palethorn drops a time bomb in a last-ditch effort to kill Dan, destroying his lair in the process. Dan escapes and decides to join Kiya in the afterlife as they return to their eternal rest. If the player has collected all the Chalices, Dan and Kiya instead go for a ride on the time machine which takes them back to the end of the first game, encountering Palethorn in a monstrous form similar to Zarok's.

Down on his luck, professional gambler Dan Milner accepts a mysterious job that will take him out of the country for a year but pays $50,000. He accepts a $5,000 advance and tickets that will take him to an isolated Mexican resort, Morro's Lodge, where he will receive further instructions. Milner is attracted to the only other passenger on his chartered flight to the resort, Lenore Brent. When he arrives, Milner finds that several guests at the luxurious Baja California resort have hidden agendas. He is disappointed to find that Lenore is the girlfriend of famous movie actor Mark Cardigan.

Milner overhears two guests, self-proclaimed author Martin Krafft and a man named Thompson, planning something which he suspects involves him. When Milner confronts them, he is given $10,000 and told that someone is on his way to Baja to see him. Seemingly drunk Bill Lusk flies in, despite warnings of very dangerous storm conditions. Milner thinks he must be the contact but when the two are alone, Lusk says he is an undercover agent for the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He tells Milner that the U.S. government suspects that underworld boss Nick Ferraro, deported to Italy four years earlier, is scheming to get back into the country posing as Milner. The two men are a close physical match and Milner is a loner, so no one is likely to miss him. Krafft turns out to be a plastic surgeon.

Cardigan's wife Helen and his personal manager Gerald Hobson show up. She had gone to Reno to get a divorce, though not really intending to go through with it, as she is still fond of her husband. Hobson also thinks it is a poor idea because Cardigan's film contract is expiring and the bad publicity would make it hard to get a new one. With her own plans ruined, Lenore confesses to Milner that she is really just a singer looking to hook a wealthy spouse. Milner shows his softer side when he helps unhappy newlywed Jennie Stone by cheating at poker to win back her husband's gambling losses from investment broker Myron Winton. Lusk sneaks into Thompson's room but is caught and killed. Milner and Lenore stumble upon his body dumped on the beach; Milner is convinced that the dead man must have been telling the truth.

That night, Thompson and his men take Milner to a yacht, recently arrived in the bay. Milner is able to pass along a veiled plea for help to Lenore. She persuades Cardigan, who is tired of just pretending to be a hero, to help out. While the actor keeps the mobsters pinned down with his hunting rifle, Milner sneaks back onto the boat, knowing that the only way out of his mess is to deal with Ferraro once and for all. He is caught and brought to the crime lord. After killing two of the thugs and wounding and capturing Thompson, Cardigan mounts a rescue with the reluctant assistance of the Mexican police and a couple of the more adventurous guests. A gunfight breaks out aboard the boat, followed by a melee. Milner manages to break free and shoot Ferraro dead. Cardigan and his wife are reconciled. Milner and Lenore end the film in a clinch.

After a recent number of challenges, Billy Lo (Bruce Lee) and his friend Chin Ku (Huong Cheng Li) begin to suspect that someone wants them dead. Billy later visits his younger brother Bobby (Tong Lung), who is studying with Billy's former teacher, and leaves him a book on Jeet Kune Do. Chin is soon killed and Billy goes to Japan to find his stepdaughter, May. May tells him that Chin had visited just before his death, and left a film for her. They are suddenly attacked, but Billy manages to escape with the film.

A few days later Billy attends Chin's funeral, where he is turned away from viewing the body. A helicopter arrives during the burial and steals the coffin away. Trying to prevent the theft, Billy is carried up with the casket but falls to his death. Bobby Lo is told of Billy's death by their father, who tells him to find a man named Sherman Lan and avenge his brother. Sherman gives him the film, which shows Chin Ku at the Palace of Death. The Palace of Death is run by a crazed martial arts expert by the name of Lewis (Roy Horan). Any challenger who fails to defeat Lewis is fed to his pack of lions. Bobby decides to meet Lewis, who is impressed with Bobby's abilities. While investigating the Palace, Bobby is attacked by a masked man. Then he informs Lewis that someone is trying to kill him. Later that night, a woman is sent to Bobby's room to seduce and assassinate him. When she fails, one of Lewis' lions attacks Bobby. During the fight, the masked man appears and kills Lewis.

Suspecting Lewis' valet, Bobby seeks him out at the Fan Yu temple, where the underground Tower of Death is rumored to be. After defeating the valet, Bobby spies the secret entrance into the tower. Battling his way through the tower he eventually confronts the operator, Chin Ku. Chin is the head of a global drug trafficking organization and staged his own death to throw off Interpol investigators. He tried to frame Lewis for his death and arranged for the coffin to be stolen to prevent it from being searched. Realizing the only way to defeat Chin's sword skills is with Billy's Jeet Kune Do, Bobby cold-heartedly uses Chin's sword, impales Chin's bodyguard monk (Lee Hoi-San) and Chin together, finally killing Chin and stopping his drug operation.

During his escape, bank robber Joe Maybe (Audie Murphy) sees famous US Marshal Jim Noonan, who is searching for him, stumble and fall off a cliff to his death. He enters a town on the dead man's horse, where he is mistaken for Noonan. Maybe decides to hide behind the badge for a while, but soon raises the suspicions of the local law enforcer, Judge Kyle (Walter Matthau). His real identity is nearly blown when the riverboat brings to town Tessa Milott (Gia Scala), a past acquaintance of Maybe's who calls him by his surname in front of the judge. Thinking quickly, Joe says she called him "Baby," and did this because she is his wife.

She must now pretend she ''is'' his wife to avoid further scrutiny from Kyle, but this in turn causes problems with her current boyfriend, bandit leader Sam Teeler (Henry Silva). The "couple" moves into a house and are well respected in town, although their secrecy is nearly compromised by a young orphan boy who expects "the marshal and his wife" to adopt him. Tessa struggles between her loyalty to her real criminal boyfriend and her growing feelings for Maybe, but each man wants to rob the town's bank.

Salvadore Ross is a brash, insensitive, ambitious 26-year-old man who desires a lovely young social worker named Leah Maitland. Leah and Ross dated for a time, but she broke off the relationship because their personalities are incompatible. When Ross continues to bother her, Leah puts her foot down and finally ends things. He has been so loud that her father has come out to see if she is all right. After a curt exchange, they go inside and Ross slams his fist into the closed door, breaking his hand. This sends him to a local hospital, where he is forced to spend the evening. Ross' roommate is an elderly man with a respiratory infection. Ross sarcastically suggests that he would like to trade ailments with the old man, who jokingly accepts the trade and they go to sleep. Salvadore turns over quickly and hits his hand. He then realizes it no longer hurts and begins to unwrap it. As he unwraps it, he begins to cough. He gets out of the bed and checks the other man, whose hand has begun to hurt. He begs to change things back, but Salvadore tells him no and goes to get his clothes.

Ross realizes he has a supernatural power to make trades with other people. In exchange for $1,000,000 and a penthouse apartment, Ross sells his youth to an elderly millionaire. As a result Ross is now very rich, but old. He offers a number of young men (beginning with a hotel bellboy) $1,000 for each year of their lives they trade to him. In short order, Ross is 26 again.

Ross is now young, rich, and (thanks to a trade with a college student) well-spoken, so he goes to Leah's apartment. Her father is there and unimpressed with the superficial change in Ross, knowing that he does not love Leah, but simply wishes to possess her. Leah comes home and, after she sees Salvadore has changed his ways some, agrees to go to dinner with him. However, by the end of the date she is again repulsed by Ross's personality. She wants a man who is as caring and compassionate as her father. Frustrated, Ross approaches Mr. Maitland, who is kind to him despite his disrespectful and condescending demeanor, but does not think he would be a good husband for his daughter. Ross offers him $100,000 to make him and Leah financially secure in exchange for something from Mr. Maitland. When the father asks what he has, Ross says, "Well, it's a little hard to explain..."

The next day, Ross has become warm, compassionate and has won Leah's heart. Ross meets with Mr. Maitland in private to apologize for his previous behavior and asks for his permission to marry Leah. Maitland refuses. Ross implores the older man to show compassion. Maitland coldly replies, "I sold that to you yesterday", and shoots Ross dead.

Lucas Marsh is a brilliant and dedicated medical student who has aspired to be a doctor since childhood. His mother is dead and he is estranged from his alcoholic father, who has squandered the family's money, leaving Lucas unable to pay for medical school. In order to get the needed tuition money, Lucas marries older nurse Kristina "Kris" Hedvigson, who has substantial savings. Although Kris loves Lucas and helps him in a variety of ways, he is indifferent toward her and considers her "stupid" although she is an excellent nurse. Lucas cares only about his medical work and frequently clashes with other doctors whom he considers incompetent, including his wealthy best friend Alfred Boone. Kris, Alfred, and Lucas' mentor Dr. Aarons try to humanize him and teach him that all doctors sometimes make mistakes.

Lucas looks down on doctors who focus on making money, and after completing his internship, he accepts a position working with Dr. Dave Runkleman in his busy practice in rural Greenville, where many patients lack the money to pay. Runkleman, who has a life-threatening heart condition, hired Lucas to help with the workload and perhaps take over the practice. Overworked and frustrated with the incompetent head of the local hospital, Lucas has an affair with rich widow Harriet Lang, causing Kris, who is secretly pregnant, to finally leave him. When Runkleman's heart condition flares up, Lucas performs surgery to save his life, but makes a mistake during the surgery and Runkleman dies. Struggling to cope with his failure, Lucas begs Kris to help him, and the two reconcile.

An international drug-smuggling racket plants heroin on unsuspecting American tourists traveling from Asia, so that the dope can pass through customs undetected. Two psychopathic killers, Dancer and Julian, and their driver McLain then collect the contraband, and they murder several people along the way. Lt. Ben Guthrie leads the police hunt for the criminals. The head of the heroin ring is a person known only as "The Man".

The story begins when an American tourist disembarking in San Francisco from a cruise ship returning from Hong Kong has his bag stolen by a cabbie. As the cabbie takes off at high speed, he strikes and kills a police officer. The cab later crashes and the cabbie is killed. A police investigation discloses that the cab driver is a heroin addict, and attention is drawn to a heroin smuggling ring.

Dancer and Julian have instructions to retrieve the heroin from the unsuspecting tourists and deliver it to a drop point at Sutro's Museum (a real San Francisco location until it burned down in 1966) where the bag containing the heroin is to be left inside an antique ship's binnacle. Dancer and Julian are instructed by their contact, Staples, that they must make the drop and be gone before 4:05 pm. But when it turns out that two of the tourists—Dorothy Bradshaw and her young daughter, Cynthia—had unknowingly disposed of the heroin, Dancer and Julian are in a bind; if they drop off the bag with a large portion of the heroin missing, their lives may be in danger. Dancer and Julian decide that instead of leaving the bag and departing the premises by 4:05, Dancer will stay, meet The Man and explain why the shipment is short. Dancer and Julian also kidnap Dorothy and Cynthia and bring them to Sutro's so they can back up the story. They surprise The Man, who turns out to be disabled and in a wheelchair.

But when Dancer meets The Man and explains himself, The Man has an unexpected reaction; he tells Dancer that "nobody ever sees me," and that because Dancer has seen him, "you're dead". The Man slaps Dancer across the face with the bag of heroin and Dancer, enraged, pushes The Man off a balcony, killing him.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco police have spotted the getaway car with Julian, McLain, and the kidnapped Dorothy and Cynthia. When Dancer exits Sutro's, a high speed car chase ensues, filmed in the area of The Embarcadero. When the car becomes trapped at a barrier on the Embarcadero Freeway, there is a shootout between Dancer and the police.

Three convicts – Joseph, Albert and Jules – escape from prison on Devil's Island in French Guiana just before Christmas and arrive at the nearby French colonial town of Cayenne on Christmas Eve. Joseph is a thief, the other two are murderers.

They go to a store managed by Felix Ducotel. The store is in a very poor financial position as it is the only one to give supplies on credit. While there, they notice its roof is leaking, and offer to fix it for nothing. They get involved in selling things in the shop and have a knack for it, selling a brush set to a bald man, and getting the first cash income in a long time. They offer to make Christmas dinner for the family and the meal is very successful.

They do not actually intend to, but decide to remain there until nightfall, when they will steal clothes and supplies and escape on a ship waiting in the harbor. As they wait, they find that the small family of Felix, Amelie, and daughter Isabelle, is in financial distress and offer their services to hide the trio's all-too-sinister ruse. Joseph even gets to work conning people and falsifying records to make the store prosperous. However, the three felons begin to have a change of heart after they fix a delicious Christmas dinner for the Ducotels made mostly of stolen items.

Tensions heighten after store owner Andre Trochard arrives from Paris with his nephew Paul, with a set of crocodile skin luggage. The Trochards plan on taking over the store, which they perceive is unprofitable due to its use of credit. Isabelle had planned to wed Paul but it turns out that Paul is betrothed to another woman, to Isabelle's dismay. Before any action can be taken, both men are bitten by Albert's pet viper, Adolphe, and die. Adolphe disappears and the three have to search for him.

Isabelle finds another love, and the family is happy as the convicts finally ready for their postponed escape. However, while waiting on the docks for their boat to arrive, the threesome reconsiders. Judging that the outside world is likely to be worse than that of the prison, they decide to turn themselves back in. As they walk toward it at film's end halos appear over their heads...followed by one above the cage of Adolphe.

Ann Hamilton loves her husband Alan Garroway but their marriage is haunted by the absent figure of his brother Michael. A dark secret seems to lurk around the brothers' relationship and Ann's curiosity will eventually lead to its unveiling.

Britney Allen is living a "dream life" as the cheerleading captain and girlfriend of Brad Warner, the star quarterback of Pacific Vista High School. Her frenemy is the highly ambitious Winnie Harper, another member of the squad. Her life changes dramatically when her father loses his job, and the family must relocate to the disadvantaged city, Crenshaw Heights, which Britney, being the "white girl", takes quite a while to adjust to.

She meets Camille, cheerleading captain of the Crenshaw Heights Warriors and her friends and fellow cheerleaders, Kirresha and Leti. She also meets Jesse, a male cheerleader and the only person who is nice to her on her first day. Britney, at the urging of Winnie, has already vowed to never cheer for another team (as this would make her a "cheer whore"), but after being dared by Camille and Jesse to show up at the cheerleading tryouts, Britney impresses everyone with her skills and experience. Camille, after being persuaded by her friends to "do it for the squad", reluctantly lets her in. Britney and Jesse become close and eventually kiss.

Around this time, singer Rihanna announces a television special where all high school cheerleading squads can compete, with the winners appearing in a performance with her that will be shown worldwide and winning brand new computers for their school. Winnie finds out that Britney's cheering with the Warriors and tells her friends. A week later, Britney lies to Camille, telling her that she cannot cheer at the next game because she will be holding a memorial service for her dead dog; when she is actually going to Pacific Vista's Homecoming dance. Camille and Jesse arrive at Britney's to offer their condolences, and when they see Britney and Brad dressed up for the dance, Camille kicks her off the squad.

At the dance, Winnie reveals to everyone that she has been sleeping with Brad behind Britney's back, causing Britney to break up with Brad and end her friendship with Winnie. She calls them a "pig" and "too much of a backstabber to have any real friends", respectively. On the day of the auditions, Britney arrives at the Warriors' bus and comes to wish them good luck. When Winnie, with the rest of her team, mock and make racial jokes about the Warriors, Britney stands up to Winnie and defends them. Camille, impressed by this, lets Britney cheer with them again. Jesse, however, is still mad at her for not telling him that she had a boyfriend before they had kissed. Both of the rivaling teams show their performances. At the auditions, the two finalists are Pacific Vista and Crenshaw Heights. PV wows the audience with their routine and Camille starts getting worried. Then Britney points out that all their steps are repetitive and that they have their secret weapon: Krumping. Now dressed in streetwear instead of their regular uniforms, steps on stage during PV's performance and begins mirroring their steps. Finally, they begin krumping, wiping PV off the stage and impressing Rihanna with their routine. After the Warrior's performance ends, Winnie approaches Rihanna and insists that Crenshaw Heights should be disqualified ("or arrested") for interrupting PV's routine. This leads to an argument between Winnie and the rest of the Pacific Vista squad, during which Britney notes, "Spirit Law states that if there's a cheer mutiny, a squad can vote to replace their captain."

Everyone present, even Rihanna and the other performing squads, vote to replace Winnie as the Pacific Vista High cheerleading captain. Winnie protests, dismissing CH's style as "ghetto", to which Rihanna responds that she judges a squad by their skills and not by where they come from. Rihanna ultimately selects Crenshaw Heights as the winners, and the Pacific Vista squad with Britney's friend Amber as their new captain comes forward to congratulate them. Britney and Jesse also make up, kissing backstage after their first performance. The film ends with a made-for-film music video of Rihanna's "Pon de Replay" with the Crenshaw Heights squad dancing in the background. During the end credits, the main characters are seen dancing to the outro music as the film ends.

On the Mexico–United States border, Django, wearing a Union uniform and dragging a coffin, witnesses Mexican bandits tying a prostitute, María, to a bridge and whipping her. The bandits are dispatched by henchmen of Major Jackson – a racist ex-Confederate officer – who prepare to kill María by crucifying her atop a burning cross. Django shoots the men, and offers María protection. The pair arrive in a town, populated by Nathaniel, a bartender, and five prostitutes. Nathaniel explains that the town is a neutral zone in a conflict between Jackson's Red Shirts and General Hugo Rodríguez's revolutionaries.

Jackson and his henchmen arrive at the saloon to extort Nathaniel. Django confronts two henchmen when they harass a prostitute, and ridicules Jackson and his beliefs. Django shoots the men, and challenges Jackson to return with his accomplices. Afterwards, he seduces María.

Jackson returns with his gang. Using the machine gun contained in his coffin, Django guns down most of them, allowing Jackson and a handful of men to escape. While helping Nathaniel bury the corpses, Django visits the grave of Mercedes Zaro, his former lover who was killed by Jackson. Hugo and his revolutionaries arrive and capture Jackson's spy, Brother Jonathan. As punishment, Hugo cuts off Jonathan's ear, forces him to eat it, and shoots him. Later, Django proposes to Hugo, who he had once saved in prison, that they steal Jackson's gold from the Mexican Army's Fort Charriba.

Nathaniel, under the guise of bringing prostitutes for the soldiers, drives a horse cart containing Django, Hugo and four revolutionaries, two of whom are named Miguel and Ricardo, into the Fort, allowing them to massacre many of the soldiers – Miguel uses Django's machine gun, while Django, Hugo and Ricardo fight their way to the gold. As Django and the revolutionaries escape, Jackson gives chase, but is forced to stop when the thieves reach American territory. Django asks for his share of the gold, but Hugo, wanting to use it to fund his attacks on the Mexican Government, promises to pay Django once he is in power.

When Ricardo tries to rape María during the post-heist party, Django kills him. Hugo allows Django to spend the night with María, but he chooses another prostitute. The prostitute distracts the men guarding the gold, and Django enters the house via the chimney. Stealing the gold in his coffin and activating his machine gun as a diversion, Django loads the coffin onto a wagon. María implores Django to take her with him.

Arriving at the bridge where they first met, Django tells María that they should part ways, but María begs him to abandon the gold so they can start a new life together. When María's rifle misfires, the coffin falls into the quicksand below. Django nearly drowns when he tries to recover the gold, and María is wounded by Hugo's men while trying to save him. Miguel crushes Django's hands as punishment for being a thief, and Hugo's gang leave for Mexico. Upon arrival, the revolutionaries are massacred by Jackson and the army. Django and María return to the saloon, finding only Nathaniel there, and Django tells them he must kill Jackson to prevent further bloodshed.

Jackson learns that Django is waiting for him at Tombstone Cemetery and kills Nathaniel. Django, resting himself on the back of Zaro's cross, pulls the trigger guard off his revolver with his teeth and rests it against the cross, just as Jackson's gang arrive. Believing Django is praying, but cannot make the sign of the cross with his mutilated hands, Jackson mockingly shoots the corners of Zaro's cross. Django then kills Jackson and his men by pushing the trigger against the cross. Leaving his pistol on Zaro's cross, Django staggers out of the cemetery.