From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== Dave Goodman, Sam Schecter, and Jeff Davis are best friends who have spent almost four years at Holden University scamming their way through college. During one exam scam in their final semester Dave discovers Angela, and asks her out while writing his phone number on her exam sheet. Ethan Dulles (who calls himself "Cool Ethan"), a classmate obsessed with Angela to the extent of collecting loose hairs and making a hair doll and having surveillance photos and a shrine to Angela setup in his dorm room, takes her exam question sheet after Angela leaves and uses it to repeatedly confront and then blackmail the guys into setting up a successful date with Angela for him in exchange for his silence on the matter. The guys set Ethan up in multiple situations in an attempt to convince Angela to like him, while Dave tells Sam during their work researching her that Angela is no more important to him as any other scam they have done. Ethan fails to attract her after frequent confrontations based on his delusional behavior, immaturity and ignorance of social norms. Though Ethan seems a lonely harmless nerd, he is scheming, psychotically obsessive and hopelessly socially incompetent. While trying to convince Angela to go out with Ethan, Dave and Angela grow a mutual attraction to each other. After telling Ethan that he has failed to convince Angela to go out with him, Ethan reveals to Dave that he has been obsessing over Angela for quite some time. He reminds Dave that he still intends to get Dave and his friends expelled if they fail him. Angela and Dave go on an impromptu date after a study session. Ethan finds out and follows and records them. Dave and Angela share a romantic swim and lovemaking session, which causes Ethan to storm around the campus in an obscene and childish tantrum (thus showing that while Ethan is lonely, he is in no way ready for a relationship). In revenge, he shows the tape of Dave and Angela making love to Sam and Jeff to establish that Dave intends to keep Angela for himself. Sam and Jeff, unhappy with Dave's dishonesty, hand over their research on Angela. Ethan uses that file to prove to Angela that Dave and his friends were actively stalking her. This causes Dave to punch Ethan in the face. But as far as Ethan is concerned he has won and Angela is his. After a falling out with everyone, Dave returns to the dorm and admits to Sam and Jeff that he honestly cares for Angela. After making amends, the guys sabotage Ethan's job interview with a law firm and, during the final exam, while Dave is telling the truth to Angela in front of the whole class about his entire dishonest college career of cheating, Jeff plants an answer key in Ethan's backpack while tipping off the teaching assistant proctoring the exam. In the end the guys get expelled, but Dave and Angela get back together and Sam ends up in a relationship with Angela's roommate, Reanna Cass while Jeff falsifies their diplomas from Holden University after Angela and Reanna graduate. Ethan, now miserable that he lost Angela forever and having also been expelled from college after it was revealed he was stalking her, continues to work at the restaurant. The movie ends with him singing his love of Angela and his hatred for Dave. ===== ===== Clem Morgan, demobilised from the Royal Air Force and unemployed after the war, is drawn into the world of crime. His psychopathic crime boss Narcy (short for Narcissus) deals in the black market, transporting goods in coffins to his headquarters in a funeral parlour. Clem finds the activity harmless enough, until one day he finds drugs in the latest coffin. Clem objects and tells his girlfriend, Ellie, that he will quit after one last job that night, the looting of a warehouse. Narcy betrays him, triggering the burglar alarm while he is inside. Clem manages to get back in the car with Narcy and another member of the gang, Soapy, before they drive off. When Narcy orders Soapy to run down a policeman, Clem grabs the wheel in an unsuccessful attempt to save the man's life and the car crashes into a lamppost. Narcy knocks him unconscious and has him moved to the driver's seat before fleeing with Soapy. Inspector Rockliffe arrives on the scene with other police officers to find the police officer dead and Clem injured in the car. Clem is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to fifteen years in prison in HM Prison Dartmoor. Sally Connor, Narcy's girlfriend, visits him in prison, telling him that Narcy is now with Ellie (who has not visited Morgan in prison) and that she knows he was framed as she was told so by Cora, Soapy's girlfriend. Sally offers to try and persuade Soapy to give evidence but Clem tells her to go away. Back in London, Sally tells Cora that she has seen Clem and wants to go and speak to Soapy to get him to tell the police what really happened, but Narcy has found out that Sally has gone to see Clem in prison and brutally beats her up. Clem escapes from prison and the police start a manhunt for him. He seeks shelter in a remote farmhouse, where Mrs. Fenshaw lets him bathe, shave and change his clothes, and also cooks him some food. Mr. Fenshaw comes into the room, but turns out to be a hopeless drunk who is hardly aware of his surroundings. Mrs. Fenshaw then tries to get Clem to shoot her husband, stating that as he is already a murderer it won't make any difference to him. Clem refuses and leaves, but he has handled the gun, leaving his fingerprints on it, and Mrs. Fenshaw uses it to shoot her husband dead. Clem is now wanted for the murder of Mr. Fenshaw as well, but makes his way back to London and goes to stay with Sally; he then manages to escape both the police and Narcy, but Sally is kidnapped by Narcy and his gang and taken to their hideout, where Cora is already being held. Cora is forced to tell Narcy where Soapy is hiding out (in a room in a rundown hotel nearby) and Narcy sends Jim to go and kill Soapy, which he does. Clem, whilst trying to find Cora and Soapy, is caught by Rockliffe, who tells him that he is not convinced by Mrs. Fenshaw's story, the first indication that the police might believe in Clem's innocence. In order to use him as bait, Rockliffe lets Clem go, and he goes to the Valhalla funeral parlour to meet with Narcy's gang. After knocking other members of the gang out, Clem and Narcy end up fighting on the roof of the parlour, before Narcy falls to the ground. Rockliffe, Sally and Clem gather round, begging Narcy, who is dying, to tell the truth about who killed the policeman but Narcy sticks to his story and repeats that it was Clem, before dying. Rockliffe leads Clem away, whilst Sally promises to wait for him. The ending is rather ambiguous, as Clem presumably has to return to prison, and he is also facing a possible murder charge; all that Rockliffe can do is promise to look at any new evidence that comes up. ===== Yôsuke Kobayashi is a detective and is on the case of a serial killer who dismembers his victims. The killer later sends Yôsuke's girlfriend dismembered but kept alive. Yôsuke hunts down the killer and due to the events, loses his sanity and develops Dissociative identity disorder with the two main personalities being Kazuhiko Amamiya, a cool headed detective and Shinji Nishizono, a reckless psychopath. After being placed in prison for murdering the killer, Yôsuke Kobayashi is released and works for an independent detective agency ran by Machi Isono. Later serial killers are appearing with barcodes in their left eyes, which Yôsuke Kobayashi also has. Yôsuke Kobayashi investigations lead him to believe he is not who he thinks he is and that his Kazuhiko and Shinji personalities have existed since childhood. During the case known as "Lucy Seven", Shinji gains control of Yôsuke Kobayashi and disappears. Later, it is found out that the Gakuso organization is behind the barcodes. Machi investigates and learns that Kazuhiko Amamiya and Shinji Nishizono are programmed personalities, genetically created (apparently by Gakuso) so that they could merge into a joint personality that is expected to greatly resemble that of Lucy Monostone, a legendary serial killer with a counter-culture personality. It is revealed that there are multiple Shinji Nishizono personalities and that one exists in Machi's sister, Miwa. Miwa meanwhile runs into Yôsuke Kobayashi on a plane and manages to absorb the Kazuhiko Amamiya personality. At the same time, another host of a Shinji Nishizono personality (a teenager named Tetora Nishizono, who can temporarily transfer his Shinji Nishijono personality template to others) escapes from the Gakuso organization and runs into Miwa. She later gives the Kazuhiko personality to Tetora, who needs to add that personality to his own in order to remain psychologically stable. In exchange, Miwa demands that Tetora promise to keep the Kazuhiko personality alive and safe inside him no matter what. Meanwhile, evidence of internal conflict inside Gakuso and of political use of same by high Japanese authorities mounts, and the police officers investigating the murders find themselves dealing with conflict and suspicion from all sides. A few years later, Tetora continues his run from the Gakuso organization. The plot takes surprising turns, removing central characters while introducing new ones, leading to issue #11 which is in its entirety a flashback to events previous to the first issue of the series, bringing a new, more complete understanding of the whole situation. By #12 we resume the current day storyline and learn of new motivations for at least two characters. Gakuso's nature and goals are also fleshed out in a surprising way. ===== This game is based on the long-running, French comic book series Asterix the Gaul. The characters Asterix and Obelix must rescue Getafix (Panoramix) and Dogmatix (Idéfix) from the Romans, who are in the process of taking over Gaul. ===== The book opens in a café in Piraeus, just before dawn on a gusty autumn morning. The year is most likely 1916. The narrator, a young Greek intellectual, resolves to set aside his books for a few months after being stung by the parting words of a friend, Stavridakis, who has left for the Russian Caucasus to help some Pontic Greeks (in that region often referred to as Caucasus Greeks) who are being persecuted. He sets off for Crete to re-open a disused lignite mine and immerse himself in the world of peasants and working-class people. He is about to begin reading his copy of Dante's Divine Comedy when he feels he is being watched; he turns around and sees a man of around sixty peering at him through the glass door. The man enters and immediately approaches him to ask for work. He claims expertise as a chef, a miner, and player of the santuri, and introduces himself as Alexis Zorba, a Greek born in Romania. The narrator is fascinated by Zorba's lascivious opinions and expressive manner and decides to employ him as a foreman. On their way to Crete, they talk on a great number of subjects, and Zorba's soliloquies set the tone for a large part of the book. On arrival, they reject the hospitality of Anagnostis and Kondomanolious the café-owner, and on Zorba's suggestion make their way to Madame Hortense's hotel, which is nothing more than a row of old bathing-huts. They are forced by circumstances to share a bathing-hut. The narrator spends Sunday roaming the island, the landscape of which reminds him of "good prose, carefully ordered, sober… powerful and restrained" and reads Dante. On returning to the hotel for dinner, the pair invite Madame Hortense to their table and get her to talk about her past as a courtesan. Zorba gives her the pet-name "Bouboulina" (likely inspired by the Greek heroine) while he takes the pet- name "Canavaro" (after real-life Admiral Canevaro, a past lover claimed by Hortense). The next day, the mine opens and work begins. The narrator, who has socialist ideals, attempts to get to know the workers, but Zorba warns him to keep his distance: "Man is a brute.... If you're cruel to him, he respects and fears you. If you're kind to him, he plucks your eyes out." Zorba himself plunges into the work, which is characteristic of his overall attitude, which is one of being absorbed in whatever one is doing or whomever one is with at that moment. Quite frequently Zorba works long hours and requests not to be interrupted while working. The narrator and Zorba have a great many lengthy conversations, about a variety of things, from life to religion, each other's past and how they came to be where they are now, and the narrator learns a great deal about humanity from Zorba that he otherwise had not gleaned from his life of books and paper. The narrator absorbs a new zest for life from his experiences with Zorba and the other people around him, but reversal and tragedy mark his stay on Crete. His one-night stand with a beautiful passionate widow is followed by her public decapitation. Alienated by the villagers' harshness and amorality, he eventually returns to the mainland once his and Zorba's ventures are completely financially spent. Having overcome one of his own demons (such as his internal "no," which the narrator equates with the Buddha, whose teachings he has been studying and about whom he has been writing for much of the narrative, and who he also equates with "the void") and having a sense that he is needed elsewhere (near the end of the novel, the narrator has a premonition of the death of his old friend Stavridakis, which plays a role in the timing of his departure to the mainland), the narrator takes his leave of Zorba for the mainland, which, despite the lack of any major outward burst of emotionality, is significantly emotionally wrenching for both Zorba and the narrator. It almost goes without saying that the two (the narrator and Zorba) will remember each other for the duration of their natural lives. The narrator and Zorba never see each other again, although Zorba sends the narrator letters over the years, informing him of his travels and work, and his marriage to a 25-year-old woman. The narrator does not accept Zorba's invitation to visit. Eventually the narrator receives a letter from Zorba's wife, informing him of Zorba's death (which the narrator had a premonition of). Zorba's widow tells the narrator that Zorba's last words were of him, and in accordance with her dead husband's wishes, she wants the narrator to visit her home and take Zorba's santuri. ===== After years of hopeful struggle, Al Stone (Jolson) is on his way to stardom. He plays a blackface minstrel, but this character is very different from his negro servant who helps him in the dressing room.Blacks in Films, Jim Pines, ISBM 0289 70326 3 "I'm Sittin' on Top of the World", he sings to an appreciative speakeasy crowd. But, as Al discovers, getting there is one thing. Staying there is another. Singing waiter Stone gets his huge break on a magical night when his song wows a big- time producer and a gold-digging showgirl he fancies. Broadway success and marriage follow, but sure enough, hard times are on the way. Al's fickle wife abandons him, taking the beloved son he calls Sonny Boy with her. Heartbroken, Al becomes a devastated loner until friends from the speakeasy that launched his career rescue him from a life on the streets. Soon, Al is back in lights. But another crisis awaits: Sonny Boy is in the hospital and dying. ===== Max is a 10-year-old lonely child in the suburbs of Austin who creates an imaginary dream world named Planet Drool, where all of his dreams come to life. He creates two characters; Sharkboy, who was raised by sharks after losing his father (who was a marine biologist) at sea and became a shark- hybrid himself, and Lavagirl, who can produce fire and lava, but has trouble touching objects without setting them on fire. The two left Max to guard Planet Drool. In reality, Max's parents have little time for him, and their marriage is not going well. Max is also bullied by his fellow classmate Linus. However, he does receive friendship from Marissa, the daughter of his teacher Mr. Electricidad. After a chase, Linus steals Max's dream journal and vandalizes it. The next day, as Max attempts to retaliate, twin tornadoes form outside the school. Sharkboy and Lavagirl emerge from the tornadoes and have Max accompany them to Planet Drool, which he learns is turning bad thanks to Mr. Electric, a robot resembling Mr. Electricidad and the dreamworld's now- corrupt electrician, under the orders of an unknown mastermind. They confront Mr. Electric in his lair, but he drops them into the Dream Graveyard, where some of Max's dreams have been dumped. They find Tobor, a robot toy that Max never finished building in the real world after being discouraged by his father. Tobor gives them a lift to other parts of the planet. The three form a friendship during their journey, but they face hardships, such as Sharkboy's anger for the oceans being frozen over, and Lavagirl's desperation to find her true purpose on Planet Drool. They are pursued by Mr. Electric and his "plughounds" across the planet. They plan to visit the Ice Princess and obtain the Crystal Heart, which can freeze time, giving them enough time to get to the center of Planet Drool and fix the dreamworld using Max's daydreaming. However, they are captured by Mr. Electric, and delivered to the mastermind, who is revealed to be Minus, a villain resembling Linus who has altered the dreamworld with Max's journal, and traps the three in a cage. Sharkboy gets annoyed by singing bubbles called LaLas and has a "shark frenzy", destroying the cage. After they escape, Max retrieves the dream journal from Minus while he is sleeping. Max informs Sharkboy that his father is alive in his book, but when Lavagirl wishes to learn what it says about her true identity, she burns the book to ash. In rage, Lavagirl asks Max why she is made out of lava, but Sharkboy tells him to let her cool down. Max, Sharkboy, and Lavagirl eventually reach the Ice Princess, who resembles Marissa. She hands over the Crystal Heart, but they are too late to stop the corruption since the Ice Princess is the only one who can use the Crystal Heart's power, and she cannot leave her home. Afterwards, Mr. Electric seemingly kills Sharkboy by fooling him into jumping into water filled with electric eels, which are his weakness, with Lavagirl sacrificing herself by jumping into the water to retrieve him. Tobor appears and convinces Max to dream a better and unselfish dream. Just then, Sharkboy regains consciousness and races Lavagirl to a volcano to revive her. Max concludes that her purpose is as a light against the dark clouds which have engulfed Planet Drool's skies. Max gains reality warping as the Daydreamer and defeats Minus, then offers to make a better dreamworld between the two of them, to which Minus agrees. Minus offers Mr. Electric to return to running Planet Drool, but Mr. Electric reveals that he never enjoyed doing so in the first place. He also informs Max that he made a terrible mistake of dreaming him up and flies to Earth to destroy Max while he is dreaming. Max awakens back in his classroom during the tornado storm. Mr. Electric arrives in the tornado before Max and an astonished Mr. Electricidad. Max's parents are caught in the storm as well, but are saved by Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Max gives the Crystal Heart to Marissa so she can use the Ice Princess's powers to freeze and destroy Mr. Electric. Mr. Electricidad, Linus and Max make peace with one another, and Max reunites with his parents. Max later informs his class that Planet Drool has become a proper dreamworld once again, Sharkboy became the King of the Ocean, and Lavagirl became Queen of the Volcanoes, and as the film shows Max finally finishing Tobor, he reminds the class to "dream a better dream, and work to make it real". ===== Taciturn, partially deaf Hanna (Polley) is a Yugoslavian native working in a factory in Northern Ireland. She is forced to use annual leave by her boss, who tells her that her co-workers have been offended by her work diligence. After overhearing a conversation about a need for a nurse, she takes on a job as private nurse for burn victim Josef (Robbins). He is bedridden on an offshore oil rig after a fire on the rig, and has severe burns and is temporarily blinded. The rig is not operational awaiting an investigation, and few people remain on board. Hanna talks very little, and especially does not want to talk about herself. Despite his pain, Josef is constantly making jokes, some of them humorous sexual advances. Hanna's care for him includes holding the urinal and washing his entire body. As they get closer, they start sharing their experiences. Unbeknownst to him, she listens over and over again to a message on his cell phone from a mysterious woman who was in love with him. Hanna learns from a colleague that Josef was injured while trying to save a man who committed suicide by intentionally throwing himself into the oil-rig fire. Some other tragic connection between the two men is implied. He tells about a near-drowning experience because he cannot swim. Eventually Josef confides to Hanna his greatest secret guilt, and she tells him about her previous life in the former Yugoslavia. She describes in detail the horrors she endured during the Balkan Wars (Yugoslav Wars), including being kidnapped and repeatedly raped. She shares experiences of the other women, including one that was forced to shoot her own daughter, and the slow and agonizing death of her best friend. She tells of her own repeated torture and lets him feel the scars on her body from the wounds inflicted on her. Josef is not getting better, and at Hanna's initiative he is air-lifted off the oil rig to be taken to a hospital. When the helicopter lands, Josef wants Hanna to accompany him, but she walks away without a word. However, she leaves behind a backpack (apparently intentionally), and it contains enough information to give Josef a chance to find her. After he recovers, Josef travels to Denmark to visit a counselor that Hanna had seen after fleeing the war, seeking to learn more about her. He then tracks her down at the factory in Northern Ireland where she works. They talk, and at first she keeps her distance, saying she couldn't be with him because she thinks one day she could drown them both in her sorrow. When he tells her that he will "learn to swim," she reciprocates the love. Later, Hanna is shown in a home with the voice of a young girl explaining that Hanna now has two sons, whom the narrator refers to as her brothers, indicating that the woman Hanna described as having been forced to kill her own child was, in fact, herself. The voice of her daughter ends the film with the hope that Hanna will one day be able to live completely in the "now" and no longer be haunted by the past. ===== Lawrence "Larry the Liquidator" Garfield (Danny DeVito) is a successful corporate raider who has become rich buying up companies and selling off their assets. With the help of a computerized stock analyzing program called "Carmen", Garfield has identified New England Wire & Cable Company as his next target. The struggling company is run by the benevolent and folksy Andrew "Jorgy" Jorgenson (Gregory Peck) and is the primary employer in its small Rhode Island town in New England. The company is doing okay and stock is rising. Garfield decides to take over the company. After Jorgy learns that he has filed a Schedule 13D report, and after stubbornly insisting that no outsider can seize control of a business his father began, Jorgy is finally persuaded to hire his stepdaughter Kate (Penelope Ann Miller), a big-city lawyer, to defend against a hostile takeover. Garfield is instantly smitten with the beautiful Kate, although he is on to her tactics and does not waver from his goal of becoming the majority stockholder of New England Wire & Cable. Garfield tactlessly and unsuccessfully tries to seduce her. Despite their antagonism, Kate finds herself attracted to Garfield's bold nature. The takeover attempt begins to fracture the New England Wire & Cable Company family. Kate's mother Bea (Piper Laurie) secretly travels to Garfield's offices to offer one million dollars in greenmail to Garfield if he'll go away, but he refuses, stating, "I don't take money from widows or orphans." Trusted company president Bill Coles (Dean Jones), fearful that the takeover will leave him with nothing, offers to let Garfield vote his shares in the company in exchange for a million-dollar payout. Garfield agrees, but specifies that Coles will get only half as much if his shares fail to make up the margin of victory. Garfield concedes to Jorgy's offer to let the matter be settled at the annual shareholder's meeting. Relying on the support of longtime friends and investors, Jorgy makes an impassioned plea to save the company, appealing to the traditions of manufacturing as opposed to the new breed of capitalism which Larry the Liquidator represents, in which buyers of companies create no products or jobs and are interested only in money. The shareholders seem swayed by Jorgy's speech and boo Garfield when he gets up to give a rebuttal. In his rebuttal, Garfield compares New England Wire & Cable to the last buggy whip manufacturer, arguing that even though the company's product may be high quality, changing technology has rendered it obsolete. Rather than running a failing business into the ground, he contends that the shareholders should follow his lead and get what value they can from the stock before the company's inevitable demise. At least when this company is liquidated, he says, they'll end up with a few dollars in their pocket. When the vote is taken, the shareholders agree to give Garfield controlling interest in the company. The margin of victory is greater than Coles' shares and thus he does not receive the full amount he betrayed Jorgy to get. Back at home in Manhattan, Garfield finds himself uncharacteristically despondent after his victory, having realized he has lost his chance for a romance with Kate. Just then, Kate calls. She's been having discussions with a Japanese automaker that wants to hire New England Wire & Cable to manufacture stainless steel wire cloth for making automobile airbags, something which will make the company profitable again on a new expanding industrial product. An excited Garfield invites her to dinner to discuss it. Kate tells him lunch, “strictly business, you know where.” Garfield blushes and smiles at this. ===== American schoolteacher Harriet Winslow goes to Mexico to work as a governess for the Miranda family, and becomes caught up in the Mexican revolution. Mexicans transporting her from Chihuahua, secretly soldiers of Pancho Villa's army, use her luggage to smuggle weapons to the servants at the Miranda hacienda. The servants in turn aid the attacking revolutionary army of General Tomas Arroyo. During the attack, a sardonic "Old Gringo", American author Ambrose Bierce, joins the fighting on the side of the revolutionaries; he operates a railway switch that sends a railroad flatcar laden with explosives to its target. After the Miranda hacienda is taken, Winslow becomes romantically attracted alternately to Bierce and then Arroyo. Bierce has come to Mexico to die in anonymity; he feels that his fifty years as a writer have won him praise only for his style, not for the truth that he's tried to tell. Arroyo, by contrast, has returned to the hacienda where he was born. His father was a Miranda who had raped his peasant mother. Later in his youth, Arroyo murdered his father. While his army enjoys previously unknown luxuries on the war-damaged palatial estate, Arroyo becomes obsessed with his past. Transfixed by childhood memories of his family buried there, he fails to move his army when ordered by Villa. To bring Arroyo to his senses and avert a mutiny of his officers, Bierce burns papers that the illiterate Arroyo considers sacred—papers that supposedly entitle the peasants to the hacienda land. Arroyo responds by shooting Bierce in the back, killing him. Bierce dies in Winslow's arms. Winslow goes to the U.S. embassy in Mexico to claim Bierce's body and bring it back to the United States. She claims that he was her long-lost father. This puts Villa in a predicament because a U.S. citizen was murdered by one of his generals. Wishing to avoid American meddling in the revolution, he has Winslow sign a statement that her father had joined the revolution and was executed for disobeying orders, as was General Arroyo who had shot him, and that she witnessed both executions. She signs the statement, is provided with the coffin bearing Bierce's body, and witnesses the execution of Arroyo. ===== The film is set in London in June 1911. George V will be crowned king on 22 June and in the preceding days many important dignitaries arrive. Among those arriving are the 16-year-old King Nicholas VIII of the (fictional) Balkan country of Carpathia, with his father the widower Prince Regent, Charles (Laurence Olivier) and his maternal grandmother the widowed Queen dowager of Carpathia, considered to be inspired by King Michael of Romania, Carol II of Romania, and Queen Marie of Romania. The British government decide that keeping Carpathia in the Triple Entente is critical during the rising tensions in Europe. They find it necessary to pamper the royals during their stay in London, and thus civil servant Northbrook (Richard Wattis) is detached to their service. Northbrook decides to take the Prince Regent out to the musical performance The Coconut Girl. During the intermission, the Prince Regent is taken backstage to meet the cast. He is not particularly interested in engaging with the male actors but extremely interested in the physical charms of Elsie Marina (Marilyn Monroe), one of the performers, and he sends a formal invitation for her to meet him at the Carpathian embassy for supper. Elsie arrives at the embassy and is soon joined by the Prince Regent, a stiff and pompous man. She expects a large party but quickly realises the Prince's true intentions – to seduce her over a private supper. She is persuaded not to leave early by Northbrook, who promises to provide an excuse for her to escape after supper. The Prince Regent turns his back on her during the supper, taking phone calls and addressing matters of state. He then makes a clumsy pass at her, which she immediately rebuffs. She pointedly explains how inept he is and that she had hoped the Prince was going to sway her with romance, passion and "gypsy violins". The Prince changes his style and tactics, complete with a violinist. The two eventually kiss and Elsie admits she may be falling in love, rebuffing Northbrook's promised feint to help her leave the embassy. Elsie then passes out from the many drinks she consumed before, during and after her semi- solitary supper. The Prince places her in an adjoining bedroom to stay the night. The following day, Elsie overhears a conversation concerning the young Nicolas' plotting with the German embassy to overthrow his father. Promising not to tell, Elsie then meets the Dowager Queen (Sybil Thorndike), the Prince's mother-in-law, who decides Elsie should join them for the coronation in place of her sick lady-in-waiting. The ceremony passes and Elsie refuses to tell the Prince Regent details of the treasonous plot. Nicholas then invites her to the Coronation Ball, where she persuades Nicholas to draw up a contract in which he confesses his and the Germans' intent, but only if the Prince agrees to a general election. The Prince is impressed and realises that he has fallen in love with Elsie. The morning after the Coronation Ball, Elsie irons out the differences between father and son. Her honesty and sincerity have inspired the Prince to finally show sincere love to his son. The next day, the Carpathians must leave to return home. The Prince Regent had planned to have Elsie join them. In eighteen months' time, his regency will be over and he will be a free citizen. She reminds him that that is also the length of her music-hall contract. They both realise that much can happen in eighteen months and say goodbye. ===== The film tells the story of three young friends whose passion in life is surfing. The friends include: Matt Johnson (Jan-Michael Vincent), a self-destructive type who has a devil-may-care attitude; Jack Barlow (William Katt), the calm and responsible one of the bunch; and Leroy "The Masochist" Smith (Gary Busey), whose nickname tells a lot about his personality. Their surfing lives are traced from the summer of 1962 to their attempts of dodging the Vietnam War draft in 1965 (including faking insanity, homosexuality, and all manner of medical ailments), and to the end of their innocence in 1968 when one of their friends is killed in Vietnam. The three make the difficult transition to adulthood with parties, surf trips, marriage, and the war. The friends reunite years later, after Barlow has served in Vietnam, for the "Great Swell of '74." With this reunion, the transition in their lives becomes the end point of what the 1960s meant to so many as they see that the times have changed, and what was a time of innocence is gone forever. ===== Peggy Martin (Marilyn Monroe) and her mother Mae (Adele Jergens) both work as burlesque chorus girls. After star Bubbles LaRue quits, Joe, the stage manager, asks Mae to do a specialty number, but Mae secretly arranges for Peggy to do the number instead, and her performance is so good that she is given the starring spot. One evening, Randy Carroll (Rand Brooks), a member of a wealthy society family in Cleveland, Ohio, is brought to a performance by friends and becomes completely enamored of Peggy. Learning that Peggy generally does not go on dates because her mother disapproves, Randy adopts a subtle strategy. Every night, he sends Peggy an orchid, but does not sign the card. Curious about her secret admirer, Peggy goes to the florist to learn his identity. When the florist tells her that the man is due to arrive at any moment, Peggy waits for him. After they finally meet, Randy asks Peggy to dinner and she accepts, but first she invites him to meet her mother. Randy is shocked to learn that Mae is also a dancer, but he politely asks her to join them for dinner. Mae declines, but waits anxiously for Peggy to return home. That night, an ecstatic Peggy tells Mae that Randy has proposed. The next day, when Randy asks Mae for her consent, she warns him that there is a class difference between him and Peggy. In response to Randy's indifference, Mae tells him the story of her marriage to a Boston socialite, Peggy's father. After their marriage, she explains, her husband's family was horrified to learn how she made her living and had the marriage annulled. Randy protests that people are more broadminded now than they were in her day, and Mae agrees to the marriage, providing that Randy tells his mother about Peggy's profession beforehand. Randy then tries to tell his mother Adele (Nana Bryant) about Peggy, but gets cold feet. Adele, however, is delighted that Randy has fallen in love and invites Mae and Peggy for a visit. Adele plans a lavish engagement party for all their friends. Before the party, Mae's old friend, Billy Mackay (Eddie Garr), a retired burlesque comic, joins them. The trio of musicians that Adele has hired to entertain recognize Peggy and ask her to sing. The party guests are scandalized, and feeling snubbed, Peggy and Mae decide to go home. Mrs. Carroll stops them, because, she declares, if they run away, it will only make things worse. Adele then asks Billy to help her sing something. Afterwards, she announces to her shocked friends that she too used to be a chorus girl, but later she secretly tells Mae and Billy that she made up that story to help Peggy and Randy. She then suggests that it is time for Mae to marry her old friend Billy, who has loved her for years. ===== Carol (Josie Davis), Maggie (Mayim Bialik) and Joan (Joanna Clare Scott) are three friends who took different ways in their lives. The girls go back to Kalamazoo, Michigan for their 10-year high school reunion, but they discovered that a time capsule placed on their graduation night containing predictions would be opened in one week. Horrified at the thought of having their unfulfilled goals made public, they decide to steal the time capsule and destroy. But they have to deal with the life they left behind, including former loves and family. ===== The film begins in a maternity ward of a hospital, where the mother of Solmaz Gholami is upset to learn that her daughter has just given birth to a girl, even though the ultrasound indicated that the baby would be a boy. Worrying that the parents of the child's father will force their son to divorce her daughter, she tells another daughter to call her uncles. At the phone booth, she passes by three young women, including Arezou and Nargess, who have just escaped prison. The three of them are trying to come up with money so that they can go to Nargess's home village. The third prisoner is immediately arrested, as she tries to pawn a gold chain, leaving just the two women. While waiting for Arezou in a market, Nargess spots a copy of A Wheatfield with Cypresses and mistakes it for a painting of her hometown. She shows it to Arezou, describing the paradise that awaits them at the end of their bus journey. Arezou acquires enough money from an acquaintance to get Nargess a bus ticket. Arezou decides not to go to Nargess' hometown, explaining that she would prefer to envision it as a paradise than to experience the real thing. The two of them separate. At the bus station, Nargess convinces the clerk to issue her a ticket, despite not having a male companion or a student card. After buying a present to bring home, Nargess returns to the bus only to find it is being searched by police. She retraces her steps in search of Arezou, but cannot find her. Instead she tries to find another prisoner, Pari, who also snuck out of the prison that day. Pari's father aggressively denies Nargess entry to the house and lies that his daughter is dead. Just as Nargess leaves defeated, Pari's two brothers arrive, and angrily force their way into the house, in order to "talk" to their sister. Pari manages to escape, and eventually makes her way to a hospital where she finds Elham, another former prisoner who has hidden her past and is now a nurse, married to a doctor. Pari confesses to Elham that she is four months pregnant and entreats her to help her abort the baby. Elham, concerned about arousing suspicions about her own past, is reluctant to do anything to help her, so Pari is left to wander the streets at night. Without ID, she cannot get into a hotel. At a street corner, she finds a mother trying to abandon her little girl, hoping that she will find a better life with a family. She continues wandering the street. The mother is caught by an undercover police officer who thinks she is a prostitute, but she later manages to escape. Then, another woman who has been picked up as a prostitute is taken to prison. She is placed in a cell with other women we have previously met in the film, and the phone rings outside the metal door. A guard answers and comes to the window, calling for Solmaz Gholami, the woman with a baby girl in the first scene, bringing the story to a circular conclusion. ===== Louis de Pointe du Lac is being haunted by the spirit of Claudia, a child who, like Louis, had been turned into a vampire by Lestat de Lioncourt but was destroyed long ago. With the help of former Talamasca leader-turned-vampire David Talbot, Louis asks the beautiful witch Merrick Mayfair to use her spiritual powers to contact Claudia's ghost. Merrick is also a former agent of the Talamasca, and shared many adventures with David in the past. Flashbacks introduce Merrick's malevolent sister, Honey Isabella or Honey in the Sunshine; Merrick's mother, Cold Sandra; and the Great Nananne, a powerful witch whose very presence is enough to frighten and instill respect in David. Merrick and David recall their journey to a cave in Central America which contained malevolent spirits protecting an ancient jade mask, which allows people to see spirits as if they were corporeal. Merrick retrieves Claudia's diary from the Talamasca vaults, and makes it possible for Louis to speak with Claudia. The spirit's harsh words confirm the negative feelings for Louis that Claudia expressed in her diary, and a despairing Louis attempts suicide by exposing himself to the sun. Made a vampire by Lestat, Louis is too powerful to be destroyed in this manner, and his burned body is restored with vampiric blood bestowed by Lestat, David, and new vampire Merrick. She reveals that from the beginning, she used her magic to lure David and Louis to her in hopes of receiving the Dark Gift of vampirism. The turning of Merrick into a vampire infuriates the Talamasca, but in a letter David advises that they not wage war against the vampires because Lestat is too formidable a foe. ===== After nurse Jane Marvin (Beverly Garland) is administered the drug sodium pentothal by psychiatrists Erik Lorimer (Bennett) and Wayne McGregor (Douglas Kennedy), she recalls a series of events from her forgotten past when she was known as Joyce Webster. Joyce has just married a young man named Paul Webster (Richard Crane). Aboard their honeymoon train, Paul receives a telegram, and in a panic, immediately leaves the train to make a phone call. When the train pulls out, Paul is missing, having vanished without a word. Throughout the following months, Joyce employs private detectives and conducts her own search for her husband, to no avail, until one day she discovers the address of the Cypresses Plantation that Paul entered on his college enrollment forms. Joyce takes the next train to the desolate whistle-stop town of Bayou Landing in the heart of Louisiana swamp country. While waiting at the rail station, she notices a large crate, marked as containing radioactive cobalt, and meets Manon (Chaney Jr.), a hermit handyman at the Cypresses, when he comes to pick up the crate. She asks him to drive her there and he obliges. As they proceed deeper in the swamps, Joyce is horrified when Manon tries to run over an alligator and then exhibits the hook where a gator bit off his hand, explaining his hatred for the reptiles. At the plantation, Joyce introduces herself to Lavinia Hawthorne (Frieda Inescort), the Cypresses' stern mistress. When Joyce suggests that Paul once lived at the plantation, Lavinia calls her a liar and tries to have her thrown out. However, when her manservant Toby (Vince Townsend Jr.) points out that Joyce has missed the last train back to town, Lavinia reluctantly invites her to stay the night under the proviso that she not leave her room. That night, in a drunken craze, Manon is in the swamps attempting to shoot several alligators. Joyce is disquieted by the sound of gunshots, but when she tries to open the door to her room, she discovers it is locked. When the maid Lou Ann (Ruby Goodwin) delivers Joyce's dinner tray, she warns that the house is deeply troubled and advises her to leave as soon as possible. Later, Lavinia notifies Mark Sinclair (George Macready), a self-proclaimed "Swamp Doctor" who operates a clinic on the plantation, that Paul's wife is there. At the clinic, Mark administers an injection to an agitated patient who is swathed in bandages. Soon after, Lavinia arrives to confer about how to deal with Joyce. Meanwhile, at the house, Joyce hears the strings of a piano and slips out of her room to investigate. As she descends the stairs, she sees a man in a trench coat, his face in shadows, seated at the piano and fails to recognize the shadowy figure as mutated Paul. When Joyce enters the room, Paul flees, leaving behind a trail of muddy, clawed footprints. Paul, his face terribly disfigured, stops Lavinia's car and in a distorted voice, insists that Joyce leave as soon as possible. The next morning, Mark comes to the house to question Joyce, and sensing that he is withholding information about Paul, she refuses to leave. Later that day, when Joyce demands that Lavinia tell her what she did to Paul, the older woman breaks down and confesses that Paul is her son. That night, as a storm rages, thinking that Joyce has gone, Paul returns to the house. When Joyce sees him, he runs away and she follows him into the swamps. After being menaced by several alligators and a giant snake blocking her path, Manon rescues and carries her to his shack. After trying to get her to strip, Manon assaults her. When Joyce screams and tries to resist, Manon angrily knocks her unconscious. An outraged, reptilian- looking Paul then bursts in and fights Manon. After a struggle, Paul manages to incapacitate Manon and takes Joyce back to the house. Manon recovers and screams out in rage into the storm, vowing to kill Paul just like he would kill any alligator no matter what. Back at the house, Lou Ann is caring for Joyce as Lavinia confronts her son. After his mother insists that Joyce be told the truth, Paul presses Mark to give him an untested cobalt treatment in hopes of curing his condition. Mark reluctantly agrees to give him the treatment the following evening after Joyce has been informed of the situation. The next morning, Mark summons Joyce to his lab and tells her about his experiments with reptilian hormones that are capable of regenerating limbs. He continues that after Paul was horribly mangled in a plane crash, Mark administered the serum to him and several other accident victims. The treatment appeared to be a great success, until his patients began to increasingly take on reptilian traits. Mark explains that after Paul received the telegram notifying him that his tests were positive, he hurriedly left the train and came home in hopes of reversing his condition. When Joyce learns of Paul's scheduled radical cobalt treatment, she insists on being present. That night, Paul encounters Joyce at the clinic and turns away from her in shame. After seeing Joyce clasping her son's hands and reassuring him of her love, Lavinia apologizes to her for her brusqueness. As Paul climbs onto the table and Mark aims the ray at him, Manon bursts into the lab and destroys the control panel, shooting powerful rays at Paul that transform him into a bipedal, reptilian monster with an alligator-like head. After trying to attack Manon, Paul looks on as Manon's hook gets caught on some cords and is electrocuted while trying to kill Paul. Confused, Paul stumbles over to the other room and tries to communicate, but his voice has been replaced with a reptilian snarl. Hearing his wife and mother scream in horror, Paul flees into the swamps and sadly peering into the water, sees his reflection. Joyce scrambles after him, as the cobalt machine, short circuiting due to Manon's body, self-destructs and destroys the lab. Scrambling away from his wife, Paul is attacked by an alligator and wrestles it while Joyce screams at the sight. Managing to fight off the reptile and hurl it away, Paul stumbles into quicksand and slowly sinks out of sight to the sound of Joyce's shrieks, seemingly meeting his demise. Back in the present, the psychiatrists review the tapes of Joyce's ordeal, and concluding that her amnesia has allowed her to suppress the horror and resume a normal life, they decide not to tell her about her life as Joyce Webster. ===== Cassie Grant (Christina Ricci) is a young girl from the United States who is wandering through England on foot. On her way to Ashby Wake Cassie is hit by a car. The driver of the car, Mrs Marion Kirkman (Kerry Fox), immediately calls an ambulance. During an examination at the local hospital the doctor concludes Cassie only has some scratches and not even a concussion, but Cassie has lost her memory due to the accident. She only knows her name and mother country, but she does not know which town she comes from, who her family is and why she is in England. The doctor explains to her that the loss of memory is caused by a shock and that she will regain it after some recuperation. As a result of the examination Cassie is checked out. Marion Kirkman invites Cassie to stay at her house until she has overcome her loss of memory, because Mrs Kirkman feels guilty and responsible for the lonely girl who nobody knows. While recovering, Cassie is drawn into a deeper mystery, which seems to involve her hosts and other people she sees about the town. Her lack of memory compounds the air of suspense as she encounters a man named Dan Blakely (Ioan Gruffudd), whom she believes she knows, but with no idea from where. Cassie becomes very attached to Marion Kirkman's son, Michael (Harry Forrester) and becomes acquainted with her husband Simon (Stephen Dillane), an art historian, who is in the process of examining a church from Early Christianity (built in Glastonbury during the first century AD) after the arrival of Joseph of Arimathea. This church was recently discovered by two visitors to the Glastonbury Festival who died after falling down a hole through the open roof of the buried church. In the Church there is an unusual relief made of stone, which illustrates the crucifixion of Christ. Also depicted are many curious onlookers who appear to be observing the gruesome scene. During the next few days, Cassie has visions of the future of the people around her. She also recognises certain people who seem to watch her and often appear in a certain place in Glastonbury which she visits. She observes the strange auto mechanic Frederick Michael Argyle (Peter McNamara) and examines his belongings, which include a scrapbook containing news clippings that detail accusations of child abuse at a local orphanage, that were ignored by the townspeople. The orphanage turns out to be the house the Kirkmans now live in. Cassie finds that Argyle was one of the children who was abused and that he identifies himself with the young Michael. She discovers that Argyle is planning to take revenge on the people of the town for their cruelty to him. Cassie suspects that a catastrophe is imminent, but she is unable to persuade anyone else of the impending danger she senses. She eventually finds out that the relief in the church illustrates a group of people known as "The Gathering". They are immortal and damned to watch catastrophes and murders for eternity as they stopped to watch the crucifixion of Christ out of morbid curiosity, a concept similar to the legend of the Wandering Jew. The priest and Bishop also discover this, and the priest rushes to inform Mr Kirkman. However, on the way he sees the "Gathering" on a bridge over the highway, and dies in a car accident as a result. The Gathering merely watch. Later that same day, Cassie experiences visions where she watches a young Argyle dragged into the house by the orphanage priest while three of the town's leading figures watch and laugh. The priest then drags the child into a nearby room where he further abuses the child and is joined by the other three men. Cassie follows the men into the room, only to wake from the vision to see Michael standing over pictures of the archaeological site. Cassie then finds one of the photographs, which seems to horrify her. However, after the priest's accident, the Bishop is able to pass on this strange news to Mr Kirkman, who realises that his family is in great danger. He hastens to drive home to try to prevent whatever is fated to occur. Cassie is then seen attending the local festival with the Kirkman children only to then see the strange people gathering around the fairgrounds. She attempts to warn the police once more of Argyle's intent, but instead discovers Dan, who has killed the officer on duty. He then reveals that he is one of the Gathering, who have since stopped simply watching the world's tragedies but have also begun to set up the potential tragedies to be more likely to happen. Cassie manages to prevent Argyle from killing festival goers with a bomb, but is unable to stop him taking revenge upon the men who had abused him. After a harrowing chase, Cassie sacrifices her life to save the lives of the children of the Kirkman family. Mr Kirkman arrives just in time to stop Argyle from killing his family. At the end it is revealed that Cassie also belongs to The Gathering, because just after she "dies", she appears standing among them as they stare at Argyle being electrocuted. Cassie is shown to be weeping while the others just stand there and watch impassively. Because Cassie has shown compassion and tried to prevent evil deeds, her life of wandering will end and she will find peace, which she tells the son of Mr Kirkman at night on the same day. Similarities with the Ray Bradbury story "The Crowd" have been noted. ===== The play is set in Nick's Pacific Street Saloon, Restaurant and Entertainment Palace, a run down dive bar in San Francisco. Much of the action of the play centers around Joe, a young loafer with money who encourages each of the bar's patrons in their eccentricities. Joe helps out a would-be dancer, Harry, and sets up his flunky, Tom, with a prostitute, Kitty Duval. The bar is frequented by a number of colorful characters, including a frenetic young man in love, an old man who looks like Kit Carson, and an affluent society couple. Nick's saloon is based on the café operated by Izzy Gomez in San Francisco, which Saroyan frequented. ===== The protagonist of The Last Ninja series is Armakuni, the sole survivor of a ninjutsu clan that was destroyed by an evil shogun named Kunitoki. This struggle leads our hero to the island of Lin Fen (in the first Last Ninja) to modern day New York City (in Last Ninja 2) and to the mystical Buddhist temple in Tibet (in Last Ninja 3). In each of the games, Kunitoki is the final adversary and every time eludes death after a somewhat decisive victory from Armakuni. ===== The year is 2999 and the Earth is at peace following the Space Wars. The safety of the human race is ensured by Earth Defense Force (EDF). Shortly before the turn of the fourth millennium, the peace is broken by the appearance of a gigantic alien battle cruiser. Powerless to defend itself, the EDF's Pluto base is completely destroyed and the evil Commander Makara reveals that the same fate awaits the Earth unless the mysterious F-Zero-One is handed over to her. Unaware of the nature of F-Zero-One and fearing retribution, the EDF presses into action an untested, incomplete weapon, codenamed X-Project, from its hidden moon-base. The X-Project is revealed to be a powerfully-armed spacecraft named X-Bomber. The series then follows the adventures of the crew of the X-Bomber, namely Doctor Benn, Shiro Hagen, Barry Hercules and John Lee who are joined by PPA, Lamia and her guardian Kirara. They set off to discover the nature of the F-Zero-One and try to protect it from the increasingly desperate Commander Makara and her menacing overlord, the Imperial Master. Eventually it is revealed that Lamia herself is the mysterious F-Zero-One, a powerful alien destined to bring peace to the galaxy at the turn of the millennium. The series continues with Lamia gradually discovering her true nature and powers while the Imperial Alliance attempts to capture her and destroy the X-Bomber. The series climaxes with the X-Bomber crew destroying Commander Makara and Lamia finally confronting and defeating the Imperial Master and bringing peace to the universe. ===== Former NYPD Captain Dewey Wilson is brought back to the force and assigned to solve a bizarre string of violent murders after high-profile magnate Christopher Van der Veer, his wife and his bodyguard are slain in Battery Park. Executive Security, the private firm employed by Van der Veer, blames the murders on terrorists, but knowing that the victim's bodyguard was a 300-pound Haitian with voodoo ties makes Wilson skeptical. With pressure to solve the case coming from both the Police Commissioner and the Mayor, Wilson is partnered with criminal psychologist Rebecca Neff. Elsewhere, in the South Bronx, a homeless man explores an abandoned church that is scheduled to be demolished by Van der Veer's development company. He is killed by an unseen monstrous being. Wilson and Neff investigate his murder. At the church, apparent sounds of a baby crying lure Neff up to the bell tower. Wilson follows her but does not hear the crying; once Neff is separated from him, he hears a wolf howl. He goes up after Neff and drags her to safety. Later that night, a bridge worker is apparently murdered by the same creature. Coroner Whittington discovers non-human hairs on several victims and consults a zoologist named Ferguson, who identifies the hairs as belonging to an unknown subspecies of Canis lupus. Ferguson compares wolves to Native Americans. Inspired, Wilson finds Eddie Holt, a militant Native activist he arrested some years previously, working in construction. While Wilson interrogates Holt on top of the Manhattan Bridge, Holt claims to be a shapeshifter, which implicates him as the killer. Wilson opts to leave Holt alone and tail him that night. Following animal clues, Ferguson goes to Central Park, where the killer ambushes him in a tunnel. Wilson spends the remainder of his night with Neff where they have sex. The following morning, a man in a jogging suit rides Ferguson's motorcycle past Wilson as he leaves Neff's apartment. Whittington and Wilson stake out the church, armed with sniper rifles and sound equipment; after Whittington almost blows his ears out by opening a beer can near a parabolic microphone, an animal that appears to be a wolf kills him. Meanwhile, Executive Security apprehends a "Götterdämmerung" terrorist cell in connection with the Van der Veer slaying. A traumatized Wilson escapes the church and finds himself at the nearby Wigwam Bar, where Holt and his friends are drinking. The group of Natives reveal the true nature of the killer as "Wolfen", the wolf spirit. They explain that the Wolfen have extraordinary abilities and "might be gods". Holt tells Wilson that he cannot fight the Wolfen, stating: "You don't have the eyes of the hunter, you have the eyes of the dead". The leader of the group, the Old Indian, informs Wilson that Wolfen kill to protect their hunting ground. Wilson resolves to end his involvement in the Van der Veer case but he, Neff and Wilson's superior, Warren, are cornered on Wall Street by the Wolfen pack. Warren is decapitated while Wilson and Neff flee. Wilson and Neff are cornered in Van der Veer's penthouse by the pack, led by its white alpha male. Wilson smashes the model of the construction project that threatened their hunting ground, trying to communicate that the threat no longer exists and that he and Neff are not enemies. The Wolfen vanish just as the police barge in. Wilson claims the attack was made by terrorists. In a voiceover, Wilson explains that Wolfen will continue preying on weak and isolated members of the human herd as humans do to each other through class conflict. Wolfen will continue being invisible to humanity because of their nature; not that of spirits but predators, who are higher on the food chain than humans. The last scene is Eddie and his friends looking at the city from the bridge. ===== The film depicts two days in the lives of four Chicago real estate salesmen who are supplied with leads — the names and phone numbers of prospects — and use deceitful and dubious tactics to make sales. Many of the leads rationed out by office manager John Williamson (Spacey) lack either the money or the desire to actually invest in land. Blake (Baldwin) is sent by Mitch and Murray, the owners of Premiere Properties, to motivate the sales team. Blake unleashes a torrent of verbal abuse on the salesmen and announces that only the top two will be allowed access to the more promising Glengarry leads. The rest of them will be fired. Shelley "The Machine" Levene (Lemmon) is a once-powerful and formerly successful salesman who is now in a long-running slump and with a chronically ill daughter in the hospital with an unknown medical condition. Levene knows that he will lose his job soon if he cannot generate sales. He tries to persuade Williamson to give him some of the Glengarry leads, but Williamson refuses. Levene tries first to charm Williamson, then to threaten him, and finally to bribe him. Williamson is willing to sell some of the prime leads but demands cash in advance. Levene cannot come up with the cash and leaves without better leads. Meanwhile, Dave Moss (Harris) and George Aaronow (Arkin) complain about Mitch and Murray, and Moss proposes that they strike back at the two by stealing all the Glengarry leads and selling them to a competing real estate agency. Moss's plan requires Aaronow to break into the office, stage a burglary and steal all of the prime leads. Aaronow wants no part of the plan, but Moss tries to coerce him, saying that Aaronow is already an accessory before the fact simply because he knows about the proposed burglary. At a nearby bar, Ricky Roma (Pacino), the office's top "closer", delivers a long, disjointed but compelling monologue to a meek, middle-aged man named James Lingk (Pryce). Roma does not broach the subject of a Glengarry Farms real estate deal until he has completely won Lingk over with his speech. Framing the deal as an opportunity rather than a purchase, Roma plays upon Lingk's feelings of insecurity. The next day, when the salesmen come into the office, they learn that there has been a burglary and the Glengarry leads have been stolen. Williamson and the police question each of the salesmen in private. After his interrogation, Moss leaves in disgust, only after having one last shouting match with Roma. During the cycle of interrogations, Lingk arrives to tell Roma that his wife has told him to cancel the deal. Scrambling to salvage the deal, Roma tries to deceive Lingk by telling him that the check he wrote the night before has yet to be cashed and that accordingly, he has time to reason with his wife and reconsider. Levene abets Roma by pretending to be a wealthy investor who just happens to be on his way to the airport. Williamson, unaware of Roma and Levene's stalling tactic, lies to Lingk, claiming that he already deposited his check in the bank. Upset, Lingk rushes out of the office, and Roma berates Williamson for what he has done. Roma then enters Williamson's office to take his turn at being interrogated by the police. Levene, proud of a massive sale he made that morning, takes the opportunity to mock Williamson in private. In his zeal to get back at Williamson, Levene accidentally reveals that he knows Williamson lied to Roma minutes earlier about depositing Lingk's check and had left the check on his desk and had not made the bank run the previous night — something only a man who broke into the office would know. Williamson catches Levene's slip of the tongue and compels Levene to admit that he broke into the office. Levene attempts to laugh it off, but Williamson compels him to keep talking by threatening to turn him to the police. Levene finally caves in and admits that he and Moss conspired to steal the leads. When Williamson decides to turn him in, Levene attempts to bribe Williamson to keep quiet. Williamson scoffs at the suggestion and tells Levene that the buyers to whom he had made his sale earlier that day are in fact bankrupt and delusional and just enjoy talking to salesmen. Levene, crushed by this revelation, asks Williamson why he seeks to ruin him. Williamson coldly responds, "Because I don't like you." Levene makes a last-ditch attempt to gain sympathy by mentioning his daughter's health, but Williamson cruelly rebuffs him and leaves to inform the detective about Levene's part in the burglary. Williamson walks out of the room as Roma enters. Unaware of what just transpired, Roma talks to Levene about their forming a business partnership. The detective calls for Levene, who walks into Williamson's office, heartbroken and defeated. Roma leaves the office to go for lunch. Aaronow returns to his desk to make his sales calls as usual. ===== Noblewoman Alanna of Trebond, disguised as the boy "Alan", exchanges places with her twin brother Thom, to go to the royal palace in the city of Corus to train for knighthood, while Thom studies magic. Throughout the four novels Alanna struggles with her gender identity, as well as going through puberty and bullying. Alanna befriends characters of a wide background during the quartet including George, the commoner king of the thieves; the scholar Sir Myles of Olau; senior students Gareth (Gary) of Naxen, Raoul of Goldenlake, and Prince Jonathan of Conté; Princess Thayet of Sarain; Liam Ironarm, a martial-arts champion; and Buriram (Buri) Tourakom, Thayet's bodyguard. Her principal rivals are classmate Ralon of Malven and Jonathan's kinsman Duke Roger. In the second volume, Alanna also acquires the magical cat 'Faithful', who accompanies her thereafter (Faithful is hinted to be an immortal, but his origins remain unknown. Because of her double identity as a girl masquerading as a boy, small size, magic, and impatience, Alanna often questions her own character. In the third book, she becomes an honorary member of the 'Bazhir' (a Bedouin-like ethnicity) and gains acceptance as a warrior, mage and a woman. In the final volume, Alanna becomes King's Champion to Jonathan and Baroness of the coastal estate Pirate's Swoop." ===== ===== After four foster children create a video game about heroes going up against space alien terrorists suddenly a portal appears and pulls them into a dimension which is really similar to their game. This show also details their adventures in this parallel world as they embark on a quest to find their missing video game cartridges and stop the sadistic extraterrestrial emperor Zorch from taking control of this intergalactic dimension. ===== Axel Nordstrom manages a glass-bottom boat tourist operation in the waters of Santa Catalina Island, California. His widowed daughter, Jennifer Nelson, occasionally helps by donning a mermaid costume and swimming underneath his boat for the passengers' amusement. One day, Jennifer accidentally meets Bruce Templeton when his fishing hook snags her costume. He reels in the bottom half, leaving the irate Jennifer floating in the water without pants. Jennifer later discovers that Templeton is a top executive at her new place of employment, a NASA aerospace research laboratory in Long Beach, where she works in public relations. Templeton later recognizes Jennifer at the research laboratory and hires her for a new full-time assignment: to be his biographer and write his life story. His real purpose is to win her affections. There is a problem: the laboratory's security chief, Homer Cripps, after observing her mysterious behavior and curious, code-like phone calls, concludes that Jennifer is a Soviet spy. To prove his suspicions, he has Jennifer put under surveillance by everyone at the lab. When she learns of this, Jennifer sets out to turn the tables on the bumbling Cripps by pretending that she is a spy, a charade that eventually exposes a real spy, Edgar Hill. ===== Newlywed American heiress Kit Preston (Doris Day) is living with her financier husband Tony (Rex Harrison) on Grosvenor Square in London. Returning home in a dense fog, she is startled by an eerie, electronic-like voice threatening to kill her. The voice calls her by name and torments her as she runs to escape. Tony tries to convince her she has been the victim of a practical joker and suggests they travel to Venice for the honeymoon they never had. The next day, Kit comes to Tony's office to go for lunch and shows him her recent purchases, including a nightgown called "Midnight Lace" which interests Tony. However, business matters force Tony to cancel the lunch with her at the last minute. As she returns home, a falling girder from the construction site adjacent to her building nearly hits Kit, but she is pushed to safety by contractor Brian Younger (John Gavin), who startles her when he addresses her by name. Inside she encounters Malcolm Stanley (Roddy McDowall), her maid Nora's (Doris Lloyd) shiftless son, whose unctuous behavior annoys her. Just after he leaves, Kit receives a phone call from the voice in the park, repeating his intention to kill her with the end of the month as a deadline. Neighbor Peggy Thompson (Natasha Parry) urges Tony to take Kit to Scotland Yard to discuss the situation. After questioning her, Inspector Byrnes (John Williams) tells Tony he suspects that Kit is merely a lonely wife in need of attention. Meanwhile, Kit's Aunt Bea (Myrna Loy) arrives. When Kit tells her of the phone calls, they both put it down to "telephone talkers". Tony must cancel the trip to Italy due to continuing problems at work. Kit receives another call, but before Tony can take the phone to hear the voice, she hysterically hangs up. That evening, Tony and Kit meet Aunt Bea and her former beau Charles Manning (Herbert Marshall) at a nightclub, where Aunt Bea questions Tony about Kit's nervousness. When Tony repeats the inspector's suspicions, Bea wonders if he may be right: Kit received the last call after hearing that the Italy trip was cancelled. The next day, Kit is trapped in an elevator when the power goes out. She panics when she hears footsteps ominously approaching in the dark, and is relieved to discover that it's Brian, who was on his way to warn her that his crew has blown a circuit. Brian escorts the visibly shaken Kit to a pub for a brandy. He relates an experience he had during World War II, suffering "blackouts" and once losing a whole day. Kit, disturbed by his intense manner, returns home. The pub owner asks Brian if she should include last night's phone charges in his bill. Kit, Tony, and Aunt Bea are at the ballet when Tony's assistant Daniel Graham (Richard Ney) calls him away to tell him it appears £1 million ($1.256 million USD in 1960; $10.7 million USD in 2018) has been embezzled from the firm. Daniel knows company treasurer Manning has large gambling debts and suggests he is responsible for the loss. Malcolm confronts Kit at the ballet and asks for money. When she hesitates, he vaguely threatens her. Kit becomes increasingly paranoid. Her reports of more calls and a visit from a mysterious stranger nobody else sees are met with scepticism by everybody. On the street she's pushed in front of an approaching bus and is nearly killed. Kit frantically begs Peggy to lie that she heard the voice on the phone, but the plan backfires: Tony reveals that their phone has been out of order. Now certain that Kit is delusional, Tony and Bea take her to a physician who suggests that she may be suffering from a split personality and should see a psychiatrist. Tony decides to take Kit to Venice immediately and asks Bea to help her pack while he attends a board meeting. Having dinner nearby, Brian sees a man looking ill-at-ease. The pub owner tells him the man has recently been hanging around, staring at the building across—the one where Kit lives. Before Tony leaves for the meeting, the phone rings and he hears the voice. He calls Inspector Byrnes and asks him to come to the apartment, then tells Kit that he will pretend to leave the building and secretly return, hopefully to catch her stalker. As soon as Tony leaves, the caller phones to announce he is coming to kill Kit. Tony returns and they turn off all the lights. Inside the apartment, the voice calls to Kit, telling her he's there to kill her. A man with a gun is seen at the terrace doors. Tony tackles him; as they struggle throughout the apartment, the gun goes off and hits the intruder. Wondering why Scotland Yard is taking so long, Kit starts to place a call. Tony stops her and confesses that he never contacted the police—but he soon will, after she's been thrown from the terrace and killed "fighting off the intruder." He explains his plan to kill her and make her death appear a suicide she was driven to by mental illness; then he would collect her inheritance and repay the money he stole from his business. But the intruder has changed the plan: Tony now has to come down the stairs to kill the intruder after the intruder has killed Kit. Just then Peggy enters the apartment and Kit asks for her help. But Tony explains that Peggy has actually been helping him—with the phone calls and pushing her at the bus stop. When the gunman regains consciousness, he turns out to be Peggy's husband Roy, who had planned to murder Tony and Peggy after learning of their affair. As Tony and Peggy deal with Roy, Kit works her way out on the terrace into the construction site gliding across girders. Brian and a policeman see her and shine a light on her, stopping Tony from following and throwing her off. When Brian reaches her he helps her to the elevator and down to the street, where Aunt Bea waits. When Inspector Byrnes arrives, he reveals that he had tapped Kit's phone and knew she was in trouble when Tony pretended to call the police. Brian and Aunt Bea comfort Kit while the inspector arrests her husband and his mistress. ===== While the Royal Australian Navy evacuates Salamaua in February 1942Established by the mention of the surrender of Singapore ahead of a Japanese invasion, Commander Frank Houghton (Trevor Howard) coerces an old friend, American beachcomber Walter Eckland (Cary Grant), into becoming a coast watcher for the Allies. Houghton escorts Eckland to deserted Matalava Island to watch for Japanese airplanes. To ensure Eckland stays put, Houghton sees to it that his own ship "accidentally" knocks a hole in Eckland's launch while departing, so his only boat is a utility dinghy. To motivate Eckland, Houghton has his crew hide bottles of whisky around the island, rewarding each aircraft sighting (once it is confirmed) with directions to one of the bottles. Houghton finds a replacement watcher, but Eckland has to retrieve him from nearby Bundy Island by dinghy. He instead finds eight civilians stranded there: Frenchwoman Catherine Freneau (Leslie Caron) and seven young schoolgirls under her care. She informs him that the man he came for was killed in an air raid. Eckland reluctantly takes the party back to Matalava with him, but there is no safe way for them to be evacuated. The fastidious Freneau clashes repeatedly with the slovenly, uncouth Eckland; they call each other "Miss Goody Two Shoes" and "a rude, foul-mouthed, drunken, filthy beast", respectively. In the end, though, he adjusts to her and the girls. She learns that Eckland had been a history professor before he chose life in the South Pacific. Afterwards, Ecklund cares for Freneau after they mistakenly believe she has been bitten by a deadly snake. With nothing else to do, he gives her whisky; she gets drunk and speaks freely. Now in love, the couple arrange to be married by a military chaplain over the radio, but strafing by a Japanese airplane interrupts the ceremony. Since they have been detected, Houghton sends an American submarine to pick them up, but an enemy patrol boat shows up first. Leaving Catherine and the schoolgirls in his dinghy, Eckland takes his now-repaired launch out to lure the Japanese vessel beyond the surrounding reef so the submarine can torpedo it. The Japanese sink his boat, but the submarine sinks the patrol boat, and Eckland survives. ===== The series takes place in the same fantasy world as Ryo Mizuno other series Record of Lodoss War and Rune Soldier, albeit on a different continent. It focuses on the land which Ashram sailed to after the Lodoss series, a continent called Crystania which is under the rule of the animal gods. Ashram is the king of the people of Marmo, the cursed island in Record of Lodoss War. In order to keep his companions safe, Pirotess, Ashram is forced to make a pact with an evil god called Barbas. Most of the plot in Crystania centres on Pirotess's (now called Sheru) quest to free Ashram from Barbas, although many new characters are introduced in the course of the story and the main character of the first series is Prince Redon. ===== The story revolves around unrelated pairs of people who spend time in karaoke bars across the United States in the week leading up to a big contest in Omaha. *Ricky Dean (Huey Lewis) is a hustler on the karaoke circuit. He travels from town to town feigning ambivalence of karaoke, then winning both the contests and side bets with locals. He is detoured by a phone call and travels to Las Vegas for the funeral of an ex-girlfriend; while there, he meets his daughter Liv (Gwyneth Paltrow), with whom he hasn't made contact for many years. Seeking a father figure after the death of her mother, Liv joins him against his wishes on the road, both singing solos at karaoke bars. They are involved in a bar fight when one of Ricky's marks retaliates. *Depressed California salesman Todd Woods (Paul Giamatti) is so exhausted from business travel that he doesn't even know what city he's in; when he gets home, his wife Candy (Kiersten Warren) and two children are too self-absorbed to even say hello. Bored, he walks out on his family and his old life, driving aimlessly. He wanders into a karaoke bar in New Mexico, where a fellow participant offers beta blockers to help him overcome his anxiety and stage fright. Todd gets hooked on the drugs as he keeps driving. In Utah, he picks up hitchhiker Reggie Kane (Andre Braugher), a charismatic but violent fugitive convict, who has already robbed at gunpoint a truck driver who gave him a lift. The two form an unlikely friendship after Reggie reveals a beautiful singing voice during a duet at another karaoke bar. Todd's mental health deteriorates further as Reggie tries to keep him out of trouble; he first has to drag Todd out of a hotel when he threatens the clerk with a gun; then, after Todd causes a standoff at a service station, Reggie shoots and kills the attendant. Reggie arranges for Candy to meet them in Omaha, but an emotionless Todd rejects her, insisting he is finished with his former life. *Cincinnati-based underachieving cab driver and onetime aspiring priest Billy (Scott Speedman) goes on a drinking binge after catching his partner cheating on him. He meets Suzi Loomis (Maria Bello), a broke drifter who gets by on karaoke contest prizes and sexual favors. Neither respects the other's lifestyle, but Billy nonetheless agrees to drive her to California, stopping at karaoke bars for Suzi to compete along the way. All three pairs end up at the Omaha contest, each having won the right to compete there for $5,000 by virtue of winning in a smaller town. Finally accepting his daughter, Ricky invites her to perform a duet of her mother's favourite song, "Cruisin'". Billy discovers that Suzi's confidence is fake when he finds her in the ladies' room, vomiting from stage fright, but he convinces her to compete. Reggie sees the police arrive, investigating the service station shooting. He performs an a cappella version of "Free Bird" before pulling a gun on stage, prompting police to shoot him; this gives Todd a chance to put the full blame for the service station shooting on Reggie, which frees Todd to return to his old life. After the contest, Billy and Suzi continue on their way to California. Billy invites Liv (with whom he had been flirting with at the contest) and Ricky to join them, and they resolve to take a slight detour to another karaoke contest in Nevada. Todd and Candy contemplate reconciliation, but the fate of their relationship is left open. ===== The show featured the adventures of the title character Fortycoats (Fran Dempsey) - his catchphrase was "Be me forty coats and me fifty pockets" - and his companions Sofar Sogood (played by Conal Kearney), a prim goody two shoes character and Slightly Bonkers (played by Virginia Cole), a naive schoolgirl. They occupied the Flying Trick Shop (also known as the Flying Tuck Shop and the Flying Sweet Shop) and battled against the evil Whilomena, the Whirligig Witch (and her cat, Spooky) and the equally evil Pickarooney (who lived in a rubbish tip and kidnapped children). ===== On October 31, 1978, Michael Myers is shot and falls off a balcony. Taking shelter to recover from his injuries, Michael steals a kitchen knife from the home of an elderly couple, and kills a teenage girl living next door. Laurie Strode, who narrowly avoided being killed by Michael earlier in the night, is taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, while Michael's psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis, continues his pursuit of his patient. Accompanied by Sheriff Leigh Brackett, Loomis mistakes a teenager Ben Tramer for Michael, when Ben gets hit by a squad car which pins him to another vehicle that bursts into flames, killing him. Upon learning his daughter Annie was killed by Michael, Sheriff Brackett goes off duty to inform his wife, leaving Deputy Gary Hunt in charge to help Loomis. At the hospital, paramedic Jimmy becomes to fall in love with Laurie. Michael discovers Laurie's location after overhearing a news broadcast and makes his way to the hospital. Upon arrival, he cuts the phone lines and disables the cars. He wanders the halls in search for Laurie, killing security guards, doctors, and nurses that get in his way. Jimmy and nurse Jill Franco search the hospital for Laurie, who is trying to evade Michael. Jimmy finds the corpse of head nurse Virginia Alves and slips in a pool of blood on the floor, hitting his head and passing out. While Laurie wanders the halls of the hospital, she has a few dreams in which she recalls learning that she was adopted and had been with a pre-teen Michael. Meanwhile, Loomis is informed that Michael had broken into the local elementary school. As he investigates, he discovers clues connecting Michael to Samhain and the occult which might explain his apparent indestructibility, but his colleague, Marion Chambers, arrives to escort him back to Smith's Grove on the governor's orders under the enforcement of a US Marshal. Along the way, Marion tells Loomis that Laurie is Michael's sister; Laurie was put up for adoption after the death of Michael's parents, with the records sealed to protect the family. With the realization that Michael is after Laurie and being told that she was taken to Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, Loomis forces the Marshal, at gunpoint, to drive back to Haddonfield. After killing Jill, Michael finds and pursues Laurie through the hospital. She flees to the parking lot, and hides in Jimmy's car. Jimmy has awakened and he exits the hospital. He gets in his car with Laurie and attempts to drive away but he passes out again on the steering wheel horn, which alerts Michael of Laurie's location. Loomis, Marion, and the Marshal reach the hospital just in time to save Laurie, and Loomis shoots Michael six times once again. While Marion attempts to call the police, Michael awakens and kills the Marshal. Michael chases Loomis and Laurie into an operating room and stabs Loomis in the stomach with a scalpel. Laurie blinds Michael by shooting him in the eyes with the Marshal's gun. As Michael staggers around trying to find them, Loomis and Laurie fill the room with gas. Loomis orders Laurie to run and proceeds to ignite the gas, immolating Michael and himself in an explosion. Loomis is presumed dead. Michael, engulfed in flames, follows Laurie out of the room before collapsing. The next morning, Laurie is transferred to another hospital. The television version includes an extended ending where Laurie finds Jimmy alive in the back of an ambulance. ===== Hurricane Julia, a Category 4 hurricane, strikes the Gulf of Mexico, making a direct hit on New Orleans, Louisiana, killing thousands of people and causing severe damage. Large numbers of offshore oil rigs in the Gulf, and a major pipeline and the primary nerve center of the Gulf Coast petroleum industry at Port Fourchon, Louisiana are destroyed. It shows how the effects of that disaster could have significant consequences throughout the United States, even in areas far removed from landfall. While the loss of life and property in the storm is staggering (with the death toll in the thousands and the damage in the billions), the greater impact is on the crippled energy industry. Due to the destruction at Port Fourchon and in the Gulf, oil prices skyrocket from $55 to $77 per barrel, and the United States government is forced to take immediate action to rebuild the Gulf's energy infrastructure. Once the storm passes, the government starts to rebuild the infrastructure at Port Fourchon (requiring a minimum of eight months) and repair or replace damaged offshore rigs (requiring a similar amount of time). Also, shipping that normally goes through Port Fourchon is rerouted to the Port of Houston; Houston's port facilities are open around-the-clock with higher-than-usual throughput, with attendant higher risk of accident. With widespread gas lines and prices over $3.00 per gallon, the U.S. persuades Saudi Arabia to increase its oil production by 1m barrels a day. The Saudi decision to aid America causes a backlash among a restive Muslim population already energized because of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Local terrorists stage an attack on an upscale shopping mall in Riyadh which (after intervention by Saudi special forces) kills about 300 Americans associated with multinational oil companies. This attack leads the U.S. to send troops to Saudi Arabia. In the meantime, the oil crisis escalates when two large tankers collide in the narrow Houston Ship Channel, shutting down the Channel. Once winter sets in, gas lines take a back seat to critical shortages of heating oil during a bitterly cold winter, with thousands dying in the cold. Some good news comes after the Houston Ship Channel is reopened, but on Christmas Day, the same Saudi terrorists blow up sections of the mammoth Ras Tanura refinery complex, killing 142 U.S. soldiers who were protecting the Saudi oil infrastructure; among the casualties is the eldest son of the convenience store owners. Oil prices reach $153 per barrel, and gas prices top $8 per gallon. Meanwhile, with a government budget crisis due to military and economic pressures, farm spending is cut dramatically, leading to a subplot in which the social and political effects of this are explored. A well-renowned agricultural leader organizes a 750,000-farmer march on Washington, leading to clashes with police and the leader being taken into custody. In the spring, the U.S. makes a deal with Russia to send of oil by tanker, but the oil companies involved subsequently make a deal with China, which, equally hungry for oil and with greater financial reserves, outbids the U.S. This leaves America in a state of chaos, as well leading to soul- searching on whether China has now become the world's economic superpower. The country considers fast-tracking development of alternative energy sources, but there is little that can be done in the short-term to alter an economy structurally dependent on cheap foreign oil. Later, the U.S. government, showing unexpected diplomatic skill, resurrects the Russian oil deal by agreeing to a $16 billion long-term investment in its oil industry, and the China-bound tankers change course to the United States. The crisis finally eases a year after Hurricane Julia, with Port Fourchon back at 80-percent capacity, the strategic petroleum reserve being replenished and tensions in Saudi Arabia stabilized. Oil prices drop from their highs at the height of the crisis to $73 per barrel, and gas prices nearing the $4 per gallon mark and dropping. However, the country has been through a stress as great as the Stock Market Crash of 1929, and now knowing that relying on OPEC for most of its foreign oil imports makes the United States vulnerable, Americans will never take cheap oil for granted again. ===== A business man's son (Powell) has to choose between playing for his father's team and their rivals in a football match. He does the right thing and romantically impresses his father's secretary. ===== In the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1864, during the Civil War, family patriarch Charlie Anderson (James Stewart) and his six sons Jacob, John, James, Nathan, Henry, and Boy (who is 16) run the family farm, while his daughter Jennie (Rosemary Forsyth) and daughter-in-law Ann (Katharine Ross) take care of the housework. The family has no slaves. Though Charlie attends church weekly and considers himself a "God fearing" man, he doesn't give God credit for anything, but takes credit for himself especially during dinner prayer. He internally blames God for taking his wife from him. His family is constantly late for church and will force people out of their seats to make room for his family, much to the annoyance of the preacher and congregation. Charlie's oldest son Jacob (Glenn Corbett) wants to join the war, but Charlie repeatedly tells his family that they won't join the war until it concerns them. Although a few of the boys want to join, they respect their father's wishes and remain on the farm. Charlie's daughter Jennie is courted by a young Confederate officer named Sam (Doug McClure). He wants to marry Jennie, and when Charlie gives his permission, the wedding occurs a few days later. As soon as the vows are said, a corporal rides up and announces that Sam is wanted back immediately. Sam leaves, much to the sorrow of his new bride. Shortly after Sam leaves, Ann then goes into labor, giving birth to a baby girl whom they name Martha in honor of Charlie's late wife. While out hunting raccoon, Charlie's youngest son Boy (Phillip Alford) and his friend Gabriel (Eugene Jackson Jr.) stumble onto a Confederate ambush. They run away and stop for a drink at a pond. Boy is wearing an old rebel soldier kepi cap that he found at the river. When a Union patrol comes on them, they take Boy as a prisoner of war, mistakenly thinking he is a rebel soldier. Gabriel runs to tell the Andersons what happened. When Charlie hears the news, he and his sons and daughter Jennie leave to look for Boy, leaving James (Patrick Wayne) and his wife Ann at the farm with their young baby. The first place the Andersons look is a Union camp. They are told there are no prisoners there, but Colonel Fairchild (George Kennedy), who also has a sixteen-year-old son, directs them to a possible location, where Confederate prisoners are shipped North via railroad. However, the captain in charge refuses to allow Charlie to look through the cars, as he "has schedules to keep". So Charlie sets up a roadblock, then disarms the Union guards and sends them away. He looks through the boxcars, but Boy is not there, so he mounts his horse to leave. As he looks up, he sees Sam coming through the crowd. Jennie is overjoyed to see her husband. Sam leaves with the Andersons, telling the soldiers to burn the train and go home knowing there's no chance of winning the war. After being taken to a different prisoner of war camp, Boy is befriended by rebel soldier Carter (James Best), who plans to escape and decides to let Boy come along. They and a few other men successfully make it out of the camp and start heading south. Coming onto a Confederate camp, their unit is attacked by the Federals. Carter is killed, and Boy is shot in the leg. A Union soldier almost kills him, but it turns out to be his friend, Gabriel who has joined the Union Army. Gabriel helps him hide in a bush until after the battle. Back at the farm, scavengers raid the place, killing James and it's suggested that Ann was raped before she was killed too. On their way home, the Andersons run across a Confederate unit guarding the road. A young sentry, startled by the sound of horses, takes a shot at Jacob, killing him instantly. Charlie starts to strangle the sentry, but stops to ask him his age. The sentry replies, "Sixteen, sir." Charlie, remembering that his youngest son is sixteen, emotionally tells the sentry that he wants him to live and be an old man and have many sons. He wants him to know what it feels like to lose one of them. When the Andersons return home, the doctor tells them what happened to James and Ann. Their child Martha is still alive, with the black woman acting as her nanny, and Charlie takes her in his arms. Next day at the breakfast table, Charlie begins his standard prayer, but is so heartbroken that he can't finish it. He goes out to the family graveyard to see his wife's grave. He sees the graves of James, Jacob and Ann alongside hers, and he hears church bells ringing in the distance. At the farmhouse, he demands to know why no one told him it was Sunday. The whole family gets dressed and ready for church, arriving as the singing begins. As the congregation completes the first song, the pastor (Denver Pyle) starts to announce the next hymn. Boy stumbles through the back door on a crutch. The whole congregation looks, and Charlie Anderson turns to see what is happening. His face lights up, and he helps his son to the pew. Everyone joyously sings in unison as the story ends. ===== Guy Mannering is set in the 1760s to 1780s, mostly in the Galloway area of southwest Scotland, but with episodes in Cumberland, Holland, and India. It tells the story of Henry "Harry" Bertram, the son of the Laird of Ellangowan, who is kidnapped at the age of five by smugglers after witnessing the murder of a customs officer. It follows the fortunes and adventures of Harry and his family in subsequent years, and the struggle over the inheritance of Ellangowan. The novel also depicts the lawlessness that existed at the time, when smugglers operated along the coast and thieves frequented the country roads. ===== ===== Pip, tired of being bullied, hits Kyle with a ball during dodgeball, giving him a nose bleed. Kyle is sent to Nurse Gollum, only to discover that she has a dead fetus attached to her head, due to a condition called conjoined twin myslexia. Kyle tells the others and they react in disgust, making fun of her. Kyle's mother, Sheila, attempts to educate the boys on Nurse Gollum's condition, but is confronted by an irate Sharon Marsh. Sheila, in order to remedy the unawareness apparent in people of conjoined twin myslexia, decides to help the woman, and winds up causing a "Conjoined Twin Myslexia Week" declared in South Park for its sole sufferer. Meanwhile, the school dodgeball team becomes eligible for competitions, and goes on to fight the state competition in Denver. South Park ends up winning because Pip becomes filled with rage whenever others bully him, giving him the strength to take down the other team. In the national competition, the Washington, D.C. team forfeits because of their fear of the inevitable international opponent, China, who are brutal and merciless at dodgeball. In China, the team is dismantled until Pip is the only one left. After they are tricked into teasing him, Pip single-handedly annihilates the entire Chinese team with one throw, but by this point, everyone has decided they do not want to play dodgeball anymore since even Kenny gets killed by China's team. In South Park, after a week of festivities, a parade is held for Nurse Gollum to give a speech. She finally snaps at the crowd that all she wants is to be treated normally and that calling this kind of attention is aggravating and counter-productive and storms off, much to their annoyance. ===== Chibi-Robo! takes place in a 1960s-style American home and revolves around a tiny, highly advanced robot of the same name given as a birthday gift to the socially withdrawn eight-year-old Jenny Sanderson by her father. This is much to the dismay of Jenny's mother, a homemaker who is constantly stressed over how much money her husband spends on toys despite his unemployment. Chibi-Robo is packaged with a small "Chibi-House" and an assistant named Telly Vision who speaks on his behalf. Each of the one million Chibi-Robos in the world is supposed to collect "Happy Points" by doing good deeds for their owners and must occasionally charge their batteries at electrical outlets. During the night, or when humans are not around in the Sandersons' house, several toys come to life, including the superhero action figure Drake Redcrest, a group of egg-shaped army men called the Free Rangers, a wooden pirate named Plankbeard, and others. Chibi-Robo eventually finds a large robot in the basement called Giga-Robo, who was once a companion of the Sandersons', but had to be deactivated due to its high electricity consumption. Chibi-Robo attempts to revive Giga-Robo by fully charging its massive battery and makes it a goal to find Giga-Robo's missing leg, but is attacked by spider-like robots called Spydorz. When Mr. Sanderson purchases yet another toy, his wife locks herself in her room and tells him that she wants a divorce, prompting the rest of the family to do housework in an attempt to make up for it. Meanwhile, Chibi-Robo finds a strange pattern in the backyard and uses his radar to contact an alien species. Once the aliens land and greet him, Chibi-Robo uses a time machine made by the visitors to go into the past to find a code to enter a safe in the master bedroom containing Giga Robo's leg. He returns to the present to open the safe, but several larger Spydorz are released and capture the Sandersons. It is revealed that Mr. Sanderson originally created the Spydorz to be friends with the Chibi- Robos, but his toy company reprogrammed them to be hostile, causing Mr. Sanderson to quit his job. Mr. Sanderson upgrades Chibi-Robo's blaster weapon, allowing the small robot to defeat the Queen Spydor, recover Giga-Robo's missing leg, and rescue the Sandersons. Chibi-Robo reactivates Giga-Robo, and the aliens meet them in the backyard. The aliens explain that the toys are able to walk and talk due to a request from Giga-Robo to give them life and to give all Giga-Robos infinite battery power to prevent their energy consumption. The aliens could not do the latter at the time and returned to their own planet to obtain the item necessary to grant Giga-Robo's wish. They then give Giga-Robo this ability, who shares it with Chibi-Robo and the rest of the robots in the world as well, eliminating the energy problem. ===== Newly appointed men's basketball coach Don Haskins gets a new job at Texas Western College in El Paso. Lacking necessary financial resources, he makes an effort to recruit the best players regardless of race to form a team that can compete for a national championship. Some of the young men he brings in possess skill, but are raw in talent when it comes to organized teamwork focusing on defense and ball distribution. In the end, his Texas Western Miners team comprises seven black and five white athletes; a balance that raises eyebrows among university personnel. Haskins puts his players through a rigorous training program, threatening to cut anyone who doesn't work as hard as he demands, while trying to integrate his players into a single team with a common goal. Following initial victories against mediocre local teams, Haskins quickly discovers that he has to give his black players more free room on the court. Yet, the more victories his team achieves with its flamboyant style, up until this point rarely seen in college basketball, the more racial hatred mounts on his squad. This culminates in threats to his own family, the beating of a player while on the road and ultimately the vandalism of his team's motel rooms by racists while they are at an away game. Increasingly frightened, the team loses its last game of the regular season after the black players stop playing with passion. Thus, the Texas Western Miners finish the 1965–1966 regular season with a 23–1 record, entering the 1966 NCAA tournament ranked third in the nation. Going on to the NCAA final, played at College Park, Maryland, they take on the top-ranked University of Kentucky under legendary coach Adolph Rupp. Rupp, with a well-organized and more experienced all-white Wildcats squad, firmly believes that his opponent stands no chance. On the eve of the decisive game, Haskins decides to experiment with a bold strategy, informing his team that he intends to start an all-black lineup in the game, and also only using the two other black players in the rotation. In the midst of seemingly insurmountable odds, Texas Western encounters mounting problems with forward and team captain Harry Flournoy leaving the game with an injury, and their center David Lattin in foul trouble. In a close game, the Miners narrowly lead at halftime, but finally manage to beat Kentucky 72–65 with some impressive steals, rebounding and passing techniques in the second half. The film ends with the players exiting the plane that brought them back to El Paso to the greeting of a raucous crowd. ===== Bart and Lisa go to spend the summer at a camp, which proves to be the dangerous Camp Deadly run by Mr. Burns's nephew, Ironfist Burns. His intentions are to make sure that the children suffer and have as little fun as possible. In the first stage of the game, Bart and the other children play capture the flag in a forest, as part of the camp's morning activity. Bart is harassed by camp counselors and bullies Blindside Bill and Rebound Rodney, and must make his way through nests of angry bees and other obstacles. The second stage takes place during lunch break at the mess hall, where the counselors throw knives and forks at Bart. Another game of capture the flag follows in the next stage as the afternoon activity. While playing, Bart must avoid counselors, bullies, killer hornets and traps set out for the escaped madman Mort. The fourth stage is dinner break and is the same as the lunch break stage. Later that day, Bart and Lisa decide to escape from Camp Deadly, both because it is too dangerous and because they cannot stand it anymore. However, Ironfist Burns overhears their plans. At night, in the next stage, they escape by climbing to the other side of a mountain called Mount Deadly. The game's final stage takes place in a forest on the other side. Partway through, Lisa is kidnapped, and Bart later finds her at a power station with Ironfist Burns. Bart defeats him and frees Lisa. Together, they find and flip a switch at the station that shuts off the power at Camp Deadly and puts an end to their stay there. Bart Simpson's Escape from Camp Deadly is a side-scrolling 2D platform game. It is single-player-only, and the player controls Bart. Lisa's role in the stages is giving Bart boomerangs to use against the various enemies. His default weapon is spit wads, and in the cafeteria stages, the barely edible food offered at the camp. ===== Polly (Sheila McCarthy), is a worker for a temporary secretarial agency. Polly serves as the narrator for the film, and there are frequent sequences portraying her whimsical fantasies. Polly lives alone, seems to have no friends and enjoys solitary bicycle rides to undertake her hobby of photography. Despite her clumsiness, lack of education, social awkwardness and inclination to take others' statements literally, all of which have resulted in scarce employment opportunities, Polly is placed as a secretary in a private art gallery owned by Gabrielle (Paule Baillargeon). Ann-Marie MacDonald plays Mary, who is Gabrielle's former young lover, and also a painter. Mary returns after an absence, and she and Gabrielle rekindle their former relationship despite Gabrielle's misgivings that she is too old and Mary too young. Polly, who's fallen a little bit in love with Gabrielle, is inspired to submit some of her own photographs anonymously to the gallery. She is crushed when Gabrielle dismisses her photos out of hand and calls them "simpleminded". Polly temporarily quits the gallery, and goes into a depression. She returns to the gallery, and revives a little when Mary notices one of her photos. All the while, Mary and Gabrielle have been perpetrating a fraud. Gabrielle has been passing off Mary's work as her own. When Polly finds out, she becomes livid and tosses a cup of tea at Gabrielle. Believing she has done something unforgivable, Polly retreats to her flat in anguish. Mary and Gabrielle later visit Polly at her flat, and realize that the discarded photographs were by Polly. As the film ends, Gabrielle and Mary look at more of Polly's photographs and in a short fantasy sequence the three are transported together to an idyllic wooded glen, a metaphor for the beautiful world that supposedly plain and unnoticed people like Polly inhabit. ===== Sabah is a 40-year-old single immigrant from Syria living in Toronto with her family. She is responsible for her mother's well-being. Since her father's death, her brother Majid has been the family authority figure. His niece, Souhaire, does not want him choosing her husband. His marriage is rocky, and he insists on tradition. Sabah decides to start swimming again; an activity not allowed by Majid. At a city swimming pool she meets Stephen; they are attracted to each other. Because he is not a Muslim, Sabah hides their friendship from her family. With passage of time, their relationship gets deep and at one point they share a kiss. Sabah's niece teaches her belly dancing which Sabah enjoys. One day, while visiting Stephen at his carpenter workshop, she decides to stay overnight with him. Informing her mother that she will not be back that night, she dances and the two have sexual intercourse. The next day, as she returns home, she faces her mother, brother, sister, sister-in-law and niece who are anxiously waiting for her. After some hesitation, she tells them the truth about her doings in the last few months. Majid responds by announcing that Sabah is no longer a part of the family, as Muslim traditions forbid marriage for Muslim women to non-Muslims. Sabah leaves and Majid decides to take care of their mother. At Stephen's workshop, Sabah is met by her mother, sister and sister-in-law who insist that she speak to Majid. Majid tells her that the money their father left had run out eight years ago and he is supporting the family himself. Eventually both agree that the family must change. The women of the family are impressed by Stephen and his deep blue eyes. The film ends with a feast at Sabah's family home. Stephen is mingling with his in-laws and everyone is having a good time. Young stated that Sabah's family previously had "drawn" a "hard line" so the "[T]urnaround ending, though comically inevitable, seems dramatically forced". ===== Night of Knives takes place in the 24 hours leading up to the night of the "Shadow Moon", a night on which a prophecy promises the return of the Emperor. Kiska is a young and enterprising girl who knows the Malaz City inside out and yearns to escape the dreary island and into the Malazan military. On the other hand, Temper, former bodyguard to Dassem Ultor, the legendary First Sword of the Empire, wants to stay beyond notice of the powers now converging on the city. In the city, the mages of Malaz, much reduced since the cull, now face an almost impossible task as an ancient power draws close. ===== Set in Port of Spain, Trinidad, the book opens with Mr. Haynes deciding to rent part of a house situated nearby on the title street—a very short alley. His mother has died, and he is trying to make the best out of an otherwise dull life. Figuring out how to pay for the house, he arrives there the following day, meeting Maisie and her aunt, Mrs. Rouse, who has a small room to let. Haynes agrees to use it after hearing of the conditions and the price—$2.50. Early next morning, Haynes begins transferring his goods to his new home. Back at that residence, he is introduced to his new landlord, Mr. Benoit. On the first Saturday evening of his stay, he meets a sick Miss Atwell and an East Indian servant named Philomen, as well as a cake- seller named John. Later on, Mrs. Rouse arrives with her new lodger, a nurse named Jackson, and the rest in the house engage in a lot of conversation soon after. Yet after such good times, Haynes is bored and wants to move out of No. 2 in a month, in which case he will leave the rest up to Ella. The next morning, while Rouse and niece are attending Mass, he secretly encounters a brief love affair between Benoit and the lodger nurse. As days go by, that nurse becomes the dominant factor of life at No. 2, keeping the entire house in full shape. One morning, a stay-at-home Haynes witnesses Sonny, Nurse Jackson's son, being beaten by the landlord over his prize for winning a marbles game: a kiss for his opponent, Maisie. After a caning from the nurse, he is chased by her all the way to Haynes’ room, where he hides from her. Then, as she calls him out like she would a dog, Haynes misses his chance to save Sonny, who is intent on staying with him for protection. But upon a further caning by Sonny’s mother, the bachelor decides he must move back to Ella, even with an injured foot. That evening, the nurse comes by to check on his foot and have it treated—the first of such a series of twice-daily visits. Only some days later does his foot become any better. Another few days pass, and the people at No. 2 are preparing to avoid the local bailiff and Mr. Brown from visiting their home. Luckily, both are nowhere to be seen; but word of the two crops up in their conversations for days afterward. Because of a fight between her and Mrs. Rouse, the nurse soon leaves the house. Troubled times thus begin herein: another morning later, a policeman asks for Aucher, who turns out to be a thief; and quarrels between Benoit and Mrs. Rouse erupt for nights at a time, all due to the nurse's departure and her love for the landlord. Even the two try to murder each other, and for that action Haynes decides strongly to move out. Surprisingly, Nurse Jackson passes her examinations, thanks partly to Benoit's help, but nothing more than her affair with the landlord is talked of for days at No. 2. More surprisingly, they both have been engaged, and news of their romance and upcoming marriage crops up regularly soon after. Their wedding takes place at nine on a Sunday morning, at the start of the month, but the people at the house are getting impatient about Miss Atwell's arrival from the ceremony. When she returns at eleven, she tells them everything that happened during that ceremony (the centre of attention being the nurse's expensive white fugi dress). Later on, No. 2 is put up for mortgage, but as an ailing Mrs. Rouse is warned by Haynes, it will take eight years before the house can fully be paid off, even with her cake business on the decline. With Mrs. Rouse, Haynes learns how much the house has fared from the time it was built at the start of the First World War. Then, upon visiting her, he learns of Ella's sickness and that a friend will replace her once she is taken to her mother in the country. December comes, and Haynes, meeting Benoit for the first time since he married the nurse, is nervous to see how much he has changed. It is rumoured that things have not been going well for the couple, and the landlord has had no new job out of this. In spite of their recent woes, Christmas goes on cheerfully for the residents of the house. During the holiday, a freed Aucher helps the rest of them as they work harder than ever to keep No. 2 clean, while Haynes decides to spend some time at the seaside for his health's sake. On Boxing Day, the company at the house, Haynes included, delight themselves with an enjoyable lunch, after which Miss Atwell honours Haynes in a short speech. The bachelor's reply turns out to be "the speech of his life". On New Year's Eve, Miss Atwell pays Haynes a visit, telling him Ella is still sick. On the New Year's holiday the following day, he pays Mrs. Rouse $20 in advance (a plan he had made with Maisie) for the sake of remaining at the house via boarding. Three days later, he learns of the now-recovered headmistress' return to town, even though she has not come to No. 2, because Haynes feels that he does not want her. For another two or three days, he ponders on what has recently come of him. In the midst of a quarrel between Rouse and niece, over Haynes' alienation from Ella, the bachelor is refunded his boarding fee. Now he wants to strike out vulgarly against them both. Late one afternoon, while on a tramcar in town, Haynes encounters the nurse being arrested for stealing clothes. He hurries home to tell everyone at No. 2 about it, but all of them are hearing Philomen's account of the event as he arrives. Then Haynes reads a letter from Nurse Jackson addressed to Rouse, in which the nurse defames Rouse's past relationship with Benoit. With Jackson on bail, gloom hangs over No. 2 once again. On the morning of her trial, everyone but Aucher is in Court to hear of the nurse's fate: she is fined £15 or three months in prison. (This is the last time Haynes will ever see her again in person.) Later, due to accusations about her husband living with another woman, the nurse and her son leave for the United States. After the case, Haynes finds a friend—and lover—in Rouse's niece. But she wants to avoid the presence of her aunt's secret admirer, Sgt. Parkes (a father of six), for fear of a do-over of Rouse's former affairs with Benoit. She does so on the Friday morning of his visit, and for this, Haynes gets upset over Maisie. Later that afternoon, Mrs. Rouse tells him, in distaste, that Benoit has returned by surprise. And at dusk, Aucher tells them the sergeant (whom Rouse is not interested in seeing) has come back. For the next several weeks, Mrs. Rouse tries not to let her house be sold, without Mr. Rojas' help, to a woman who is willing to buy the property. One day, nearly a year after his debut at No. 2, Haynes stunningly finds the major compartments of the kitchen have moved to outside for the sake of convenience. Then, he discovers just how much Philomen has changed in weight and appearance. This is due to heavy work and a love affair with Sugedo, which makes Maisie develop hatred for the servant. To avoid further trouble with Rouse, she is forced to move out of her home and live with her new employer, Gomes. A tearful farewell takes place at No. 2, whence Mrs. Rouse also cries for her before she leaves; Haynes is a part of it as well. Just when life at No. 2 begins anew without Philomen, so its trials and tribulations resume: Maisie and some others are soon accused by Mrs. Rouse for being involved in a string of petty thefts, rising by the score. It comes to a climax one Sunday morning when Mrs. Rouse finds a dollar bill belonging to Haynes, with her niece unwilling to admit to this theft. She disappears from Haynes' sight the rest of the day. After spending a worryfree August by the seaside while on leave, Haynes returns to No. 2 on the final day of the month—a rainy Sunday—and finds out that nothing has changed. As Mrs. Rouse calls for Maisie, right before Haynes and a few lodgers, the niece speaks out against her being treated by her aunt, and also against her aunt's past love life with Benoit. Thus the ultimate quarrel between the two ensues on a now- muddy yard, during which Mrs. Rouse throws away all of her niece's goods out into the mire. Supporting his now almost-defeated lover, Haynes is angry at her aunt, while the niece, in revenge, ruins some of her aunt's attire amid her own outfits. Angry at Mrs. Rouse, she sneaks away from the rest of the lodgers. Four nights later, Haynes meets her at a nearby park for the last time; she tells the bachelor of her plans for New York City. Another two days pass before she heads to the Big Apple by boat. Life at No. 2, for Haynes, will never be the same without her, and thus he cannot afford to stay there. As September comes to an end, Rouse informs him that the former landlord has suffered a stroke, which she is not sorry to see him get. Both head to the Government Hospital that Sunday night to make sure he is there, since they are unable to visit him. The two of them leave, walking up the street—Rouse to her church for prayers, and Haynes to No. 2, where he and Miss Atwell discuss about Benoit's past and present. Rouse joins them both after her session has finished. Late that same night, Haynes decides that he should end his life at the house, for all the effects that Maisie's immigration has left on him. Next morning, 22 September, he wakes up uneasily to the news of McCarthy Benoit's death: this event, in turn, causes regular life at No. 2 to come to an end. Entering October, Haynes finds new lodgings with Ella's help, and this leaves Rouse and Atwell as the caretakers of the house before it can legally be sold. (Gomes [Haynes' new neighbour] and Mr. Rojas are taking over Rouse's declining cake business.) Though his visits are less frequent in time to come, bachelor Haynes often passes by No. 2, thinking of all that used to happen there. At the end of the novel, a family of five—husband, wife and three children—happen to be its new residents. ===== The story follows a dinner party given by Bertha Young and her husband Harry. The writing shows Bertha depicted as a happy soul, though quite naive about the world she lives in and those closest to her. The story opened up a lot of questions, about deceit, about knowing oneself and also about the possibility of homosexuality at the start of the 20th century. The story gives us a bird's eye view of the dinner party, which is attended by a couple, Mr. and Mrs. Norman Knight, who are close friends to Bertha and Harry. Guest, Eddie Warren, is an effeminate character, who adds an interesting mix to someone who Bertha is mysteriously drawn to for reasons unknown to her at the start. The interesting thing is that Bertha's husband is presented to the reader as Bertha perceives him in her mind. Because Bertha is so naive, the reader first gets the impression that Harry is a crude, disinterested person who has a strong dislike for Pearl by his conversational tone and curtness towards her as the conversation unfolds. As the dinner party progresses, Bertha questions her own interest and fascination towards Pearl. The fact that Eddie, who is most likely homosexual, is present, lends an air to the possibility that Bertha's interest in Pearl is more than a platonic feeling one has towards a friend of the same sex. It is only after Bertha analyzes her feelings towards Pearl that she realizes that the connection she feels with Pearl is their mutual attraction for Harry, and coming out of her "blissful" reverie she makes the discovery that Harry and Pearl are having an affair. The title to this story alludes to the sentiment that ignorance is bliss. The story leaves the question about whether it is best to live blissfully ignorant of the truth or live with the knowledge of a harsh reality. ===== Steve Clark (James Marsden) is a high school senior whose family moves to Cradle Bay, a picturesque island community in Washington state's Puget Sound. It has been nearly one year since Steve's older brother, Allen (Ethan Embry), committed suicide, which traumatized the family. During Steve's first day at his new high school, he meets and befriends three outcast students, Gavin Strick (Nick Stahl), Gavin's friend, U.V. (Chad Donella) and Rachel "Rae" Wagner (Katie Holmes). Gavin tries to tell Steve that he believes there is something evil about the "Blue Ribbons" - a clique of students taking part in a "special program" led by the school psychologist, Dr. Edgar Caldicott (Bruce Greenwood). Later that day, Steve witnesses a fight in class between a rebellious student, Dickie Atkinson (Tygh Runyan) and one of the Blue Ribbons. Dickie is later accosted at a secluded marina by the Blue Ribbons. He later reappears at school as a clean-cut Blue Ribbon and assists in smashing up his once-prized muscle car in front of the students. Steve goes to a local yogurt shop to meet Gavin, but the Blue Ribbons, keen to befriend him, invite him to sit with them. Gavin arrives to meet Steve, and takes him outside after a tense exchange with the group. Gavin shows Steve a photograph of himself and several of his friends, who were transformed into Blue Ribbons. The two eavesdrop on a parents meeting, where Gavin learns his parents have signed him up for Caldicott's program. Steve remains skeptical of Gavin's fears of the Blue Ribbons and the program, and wrestles a gun Gavin produces, which he planned to use against his expected abductors. The following day at lunch, Gavin walks in with his hair cut, and looking like a Blue Ribbon. When Steve tries to confront Gavin, he gets punched in the stomach for his impertinence. Later, after being chased home, Steve finds Blue Ribbon member Lorna Longley (Crystal Cass) in his living room, waiting up after tutoring Steve's younger sister Lindsay (Katharine Isabelle). She goes to use the bathroom, then emerges, partially undressed, and forcefully kisses Steve. Her heightened arousal causes her right eye to glow red, startling Steve. Lorna then starts chanting: "Wrong, bad!" and then smashes her head into a mirror, attacks Steve with a mirror shard, and then leaves the house. She is later seen undergoing treatment at a medical facility under Dr. Caldicott's direction. He insists to Lorna's parents that the brain implant where the pituitary gland and right eye are works, and she needed a new one. During this time, Steve also befriends Dorian (William Sadler), the school janitor, who appears to be mentally disabled and hunts rats for the city for some extra cash. Dorian demonstrates a device called an E-Rat-icator which emits a soft, high pitched whine that is supposed to be innocuous but annoying to rats. Dorian tells Steve that he suspects that the entire community of Cradle Bay is part of a massive conspiracy made up of nearly all of the parents, the local police chief, the school principal and entire school faculty, who hired Dr. Caldicott to "reprogram" their own children to become the perfect people that they want them to be and not rebellious teenagers. Rachel finds a CD-R disc that Gavin hid in the school's boiler room, containing a video he made of himself before his "transformation", telling about the history of the club and Caldicott's background. A Blue Ribbon known as "Chug" (A.J. Buckley) attempts to rape Rachel in the basement, when Dorian's E-Rat-icator goes off, and immediately sends Chug into an agonized frenzy, during which Rachel slips away. Chug smashes the E-Rat-cator and walks out, apparently oblivious to what has just occurred. During their personal investigation, Steve and Rachel try to find out what exactly has been happening to the Blue Ribbon kids, which leads them to a mental hospital called Bishop Flats following a lead on the disc. They find out that mind control is being used to make unruly teens become perfect so they can function properly in life, but the programming has some glitches that lead to momentary relapses and violent fits. They also find Caldicott's own daughter, Betty (Julie Patzwald), a failed project who appears to have been lobotomized by her father's experiments. After escaping from the hospital, Steve and Rachel return to Cradle Bay to plan to rescue Lindsay and Gavin's friend, U.V. before fleeing town. They have a run-in with the town's police chief Cox (Steve Railsback) who is also involved in the conspiracy. He tries to arrest them for being out after curfew, but Dorian shows up under the pretense that he is disposing of dead rats, then knocks out the police chief and frees Steve and Rachel, telling them to leave town and go public with what they know. When Rachel and Steve return to Steve's home to get Lindsay, Steve's parents reveal that they moved to Cradle Bay to sign him up for the program. A group of Blue Ribbons ambush them and drag Steve and Rachel to the programming center. Steve grabs a scalpel before being strapped into a chair. Before the reprogramming can start, Steve uses the scalpel to cut his bonds and rescue Rachel, and killing the medical techs. On the way out, they encounter Chug, who attacks Steve. Rachel bludgeons Chug to death, saving Steve. Exiting what turns out to be the town hospital's basement, Steve and Rachel are met by Lindsay and U.V. in Rachel's truck. Rushing to catch the early ferry, they meet with a roadblock made of Blue Ribbons and Caldicott on the road. When hope seems lost, Dorian drives up, striking Caldicott, and activating multiple E-Rat-icators that scramble the mind control tech inside the Blue Ribbons' heads. They chase after Dorian and try to destroy the E-Rat- icators. Steve tells U.V. to drive Lindsay and Rachel to the ferry and follows Dorian on a motorcycle. Dorian, having been fatally wounded by a gunshot from Caldicott, and believing the Blue Ribbons to be beyond help, drives his car off a cliff with most of the Blue Ribbons hanging onto it. A final battle ensues between Steve and Caldicott, which Steve wins by kicking Caldicott off the cliff. Steve then rides the motorcycle to the ferry, where he and Rachel reunite with a kiss. They then leave Cradle Bay on the ferry with Lindsay and U.V. to begin a new life without their parents. The final scene shows a classroom in an urban high school with kids playing loud music, cursing, and acting up. They are informed that they have a new student teacher. The well- groomed teacher turns around after writing on the board and is revealed to be Gavin, with the Blue Ribbon "red twinkle" still active in his right eye. ===== The movie follows the rise and fall of a con man—a story that begins and ends at a seedy traveling carnival. The carnival's barker, Stanton "Stan" Carlisle (Tyrone Power), is fascinated by everything there, including a grotesque geek, who prompts an observation from Stanton that he "can't understand how anybody could get so low." Stanton works with "Mademoiselle Zeena" (Joan Blondell) and her alcoholic husband, Pete (Ian Keith). Once a top-billed vaudeville act, Zeena and Pete used an ingenious code to make it appear that she had extraordinary mental powers, until her attentions to other men drove Pete to drink and reduced them to working in carnivals. Stanton learns that many people want to buy the code from Zeena for a lot of money but she refuses to sell; she is saving it as a nest egg. Stanton tries to romance Zeena into teaching it to him but she remains faithful to Pete, feeling guilty over the role she played in his downfall and effectively nursemaiding him in the hope of some day sending him to a detox clinic for alcoholics. But one night in Texas, Stanton accidentally gives Pete the wrong bottle: the old man dies from drinking wood alcohol instead of moonshine. To keep her act going, Zeena is forced to teach Stanton the mind- reading code so that he can serve as her assistant. Stanton prefers the company of the younger Molly (Coleen Gray). When their romance is found out, the remainder of the carnies including strongman Bruno (Mike Mazurki) force the pair into a shotgun marriage. No longer welcome in the carnival, Stanton realizes this is actually a golden opportunity for him. He and his wife leave the carnival. He becomes "The Great Stanton", performing to enraptured audiences in expensive nightclubs in Chicago. As well as things seem to be going, however, Stanton remains emotionally troubled by Pete's death and by his own part in it. He eventually seeks counseling from psychologist Lilith Ritter (Helen Walker), to whom he confesses all that has occurred. Since Lilith makes a point of recording all of her sessions with her patients, she has a compilation of sensitive information about the lives of various members of Chicago's social elite. Recognizing themselves as kindred spirits to a degree, Lilith and Stanton conspire together to manipulate her patients, with Lilith secretly providing private information about them and Stanton using that information to convince them that he can communicate with the dead. The plan almost works, until Stanton tries to swindle skeptical Ezra Grindle (Taylor Holmes) by having Molly pose as the ghost of Grindle's long-lost love. When the heartbroken Grindle breaks down, Molly refuses to play out the charade and reveals her true self to Grindle, thereby exposing Stanton as a fake. As he prepares to flee, Stanton discovers he has been scammed by Ritter, who gives him only $150 of Grindle's money rather than the promised $150,000 they had conned him out of to that point. With her recordings of Stanton's confessions to her available for use against him, Lilith threatens to testify that he is mentally disturbed should he accuse her of complicity in his crimes. Defeated, Stanton gives the $150 to Molly and urges her return to the carnival world where people care for her. Meanwhile, he gradually sinks into alcoholism. With nowhere else to go, the fallen Stanton tries to get a job at another carnival, only to suffer the ultimate degradation: the only job he can get is playing the geek, eating live chickens in a sideshow and replying to the offer with his recurring catchphrase, "Mister, I was made for it." Unable to stand his life any further, he goes berserk. Fortunately, Molly happens to work in the same carnival. Stan regains hope when he sees her again and Molly vows to nurse him back to health, but their reunion is bittersweet, recalling Zeena's nursing the ever-drunk Pete. ===== Following the Doom Marine's success thwarting hell in Doom and Doom II: Hell on Earth, a planetary policy is established to quarantine the UAC research installations with apocalyptic levels of radiation. For years, the installations stood motionless and abandoned, until a long forgotten satellite monitoring one of the installations, barely functioning due to years of being subjected to the high levels of radiation, sends a message back to Earth. The message indicates that a single entity, with vast rejuvenation powers and masked by the extreme radiation levels, managed to escape detection. This entity systematically altered decaying dead carnage back into corrupted living tissue, resurrecting the demons. As the only experienced survivor of the Doom episodes, the Marine is sent in alone to exterminate them. Later, he realizes the demons had planned for this, after he unknowingly allowed himself to be lured back into hell. The demons are unable to defeat him, and with the Unmaker, he eventually battles and kills the Mother Demon. The game ends with the Marine, no longer capable of having a normal life following his encounters with hell's forces, deciding to remain in hell forever to ensure no demon ever rises again. ===== In August 1944, during the V-1 doodlebug offensive on London, patient Joseph Higgins (Marriott) dies on the operating table in a rural British hospital in the southeast of England. The anaesthetist, Barney Barnes (Howard), has had a patient die in similar circumstances previously, and when Sister Bates (Campbell) is killed after revealing that the death of Higgins was not an accident, Inspector Cockrill (Sim) is asked to investigate. Cockrill's investigation is hampered by the conflict between Barnes and Mr Eden (Genn) because of their competition for the affections of Nurse Linley (Gray). After a murder attempt is directed at Linley, the inspector restages the operation in order to unmask the murderer. ===== The protagonist and player character of Paganitzu is Alabama "Al" Smith (an obvious nod to Indiana "Indy" Jones), working his way through an ancient Aztec pyramid. ===== Bart and his friends in his treehouse try to eavesdrop on Lisa and her friends having a tea party, and the treehouse gets destroyed in the ensuing fight. The Amish build a grand new one but, ignorant of electricity, install the wiring wrongly. There is a fire at the party to mark the completion of the treehouse. Everyone gets out safely except Homer. Santa's Little Helper is there, but does not even try to save him. Snowball II climbs up to save him, scratching him hard to restore him to consciousness. Homer calls Santa's Little Helper a coward. The dog follows him everywhere, but Homer rebuffs him. Snowball II is a local hero. The local dog park is renamed the "Snowball II Municipal Cat Park". In an interview with Kent Brockman, Homer declares, “I have no dog!" Santa's Little Helper is tethered in the backyard. There is an empty beer can there. Santa's Little Helper flips the can into the air, balancing it on his nose and drinking the last few drops. A Springfield Shopper reporter takes a photo of it which appears on the front page of the newspaper. This gets the attention of Duff Beer, who announce that Duffman will be replaced with Santa's Little Helper, as their new mascot, Suds McDuff. Suds McDuff boosts sales of Duff Beer and the family's fortunes explode. However, this prompts Santa's Little Helper's original sleazy owner and racing trainer (from "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire") to visit the Simpsons and prove that he owns the dog by showing the interview footage of Homer declaring he has no dog. He becomes Suds' owner again and takes the earnings for himself. The family manage to find Duffman, figuring that if they can get him to replace Suds as the Duff mascot, they can get their dog back. He is eager to join their scheme: he will help them get Santa's Little Helper back at a Duff Beer- sponsored beach volleyball event. At the event, Homer pretends to be drowning, while he is actually floating on a keg of beer. As Homer expected, Santa's Little Helper is not brave enough to save him. However, when Duffman is called to save Homer, a shark is seen and Duffman refuses to go in. The shark tries to bite Homer, but bites the beer keg open instead and gets drunk. The crowd at the beach likes the shark, and Duff Beer announces that the shark -- named Duff McShark -- will be their new mascot. Santa's Little Helper returns to the Simpson family. ===== The town goes to the Springfield Botanical Gardens to see the blooming of a Sumatran Century Flower. Because the huge crowd is exactly one person over the maximum legal capacity, Chief Wiggum decides to eject the already unpopular and bitter Moe from the ceremony. However, this otherwise unwelcoming gesture is a blessing in disguise, as when the flower opens, it emits a horrible smell, sickening the townspeople and causing them to flee. When the townspeople start to drive away from the Botanical Gardens, the Simpsons become trapped in a traffic jam. Lisa tries to warn Homer that the traffic is moving, but he accelerates too hard and hits the brakes suddenly. The force sends Maggie flying through the sunroof after her safety belt breaks. Moe, who is incidentally standing depressed on the edge of a bridge about to jump and commit suicide, accidentally catches Maggie just as she is about to fall into the river below the bridge. Moe is then instantly declared a hero, much to his surprise, and he instantly falls in love with the infant. The Simpsons let Moe babysit Maggie all the time and she is instantly attached to him. After a while, Marge is happy that she has had plenty of time to get things done, but Homer feels left out of Maggie's life and worries because she is his last chance to be a good father. Later, Moe tells Maggie the story of The Godfather. When he gets to the part where Don Corleone plays with his grandson, Moe demonstrates how the Don scares him by sticking a cut-up orange in his mouth, and Maggie enjoys it. When it comes to Maggie's birthday party, Moe annoys everyone with his behavior and his gift to Maggie: a toy-sized rendition of his bar, featuring "Classic Drunk Barney" and "Drunk Talking Homer". When Marge and Homer learn that Moe has installed his own baby-monitoring system in Maggie's room, they decide that they have had enough, and as a result, they ban Moe from their house for good. Moe reverts to being depressed, to the point of him imagining the barflies as Maggie. One night, the family is asleep, and Maggie wakes up and hears the mafia outside the house, plotting to kill the Castellaneta family. When one of the mobsters feels hesitant, Fat Tony does the Godfather- orange routine to cheer him up, and Maggie recognizes it and decides to follow the mobsters. When Homer and Marge find her missing, they assume that Moe kidnapped her, and they track him down with the aid of the police. They see Moe at his oven, and they think that Maggie is inside, but it turns out to really be a ham. When Moe is told that Maggie is missing, he offers to help the Simpsons find her. Searching the Simpsons' house yard, the group find the cut-up orange that Fat Tony used, and Moe works out that Maggie must have followed the mobsters. Maggie follows the mobsters to Luigi's, where Fat Tony's gang and the Castellanetas are having a meeting. Maggie enters the restaurant where the two gangs are about to start a gun battle. The situation deteriorates when both groups of mobsters are aiming weapons at each other and Maggie is in the middle of an "Italian-American Mexican standoff". Homer, Marge and Moe are standing outside and Moe decides to go inside and save Maggie. Moe goes inside, and to prevent being shot, tells the gangsters about Maggie's innocence and how it redeemed his life. They start to cry, and Moe and Maggie leave safely. The family apologizes for their injustice against Moe, and Homer and Moe decide to have a "playdate": Homer spends quality time with the ham, and Moe spends more time with Maggie. ===== By February 2020, Earth has succumbed to global famine, energy crises, a plague based on a leaked American-government bioweapon, and, in the U.S., a nine-year drought and a variety of terrorist acts including the contamination of Manhattan's water supply. The U.S. government retreated to a fortress and commenced battling rebels through proxies known as Overseers. One rebel, Sabre, arrives at an abandoned theme park intending to free a group of captured comrades. With him is his lover and fellow rebel, Melissa Siren. As the local Overseer and technician Misty Visions follow their whereabouts, using security cameras that cover most but not every part of the park, Sabre and Melissa infiltrate the park's fantasyland castle and encounter animatronic mermaids and musicians while discussing the nature of men, women and the world that has been left to them. Hunting them are the mercenary Blackstar Blood, who sees Sabre as an honorable adversary, and the Overseer's troops – including the nervous, prattling Willoughby, and Grouse, an "ani-human construction" resembling a hybrid human and jungle cat. Sabre, fully aware the hostages serve as bait to trap him, nonetheless commandeers a replica of an old sailing ship as he searches for the captives. Blackstar and his crew ram it with one of their own, and capture the duo. Sabre is taken to a Synchronization Center, where, displayed before a gathering of scientists and officials, his memories are methodically wiped clean as he is forced to view Melissa, in a brothel suite, being groped and violated by Clarence, a sentient skeleton, and Grouse. She feigns submissiveness and steals Grouse's metal whip, swinging its bunched coils to tear apart Grouse's robotic head and whipping Clarence until he falls apart. Willoughby, who'd been repulsed by his comrades actions, unlocks her shackles. In the Synchronization Center, the Overseer frees a docile-seeming Sabre, who instantly fights back, having resisted the removal of his last few memories and pieces of identity. Escaping with a gun, he reaches the brothel suite but finds Melissa gone – and is told by the Overseer that she is dead. They prepare to duel, while elsewhere, Melissa and Willoughby bond as they about what brought him here. He tells her the Overseer is keeping the captive rebels in the castle's dungeon. As Blackstar and his men hunt Melissa, the dueling Sabre and Overseer fall from a building onto the monorail tracks just below. Technician Visions prepares to shoot Sabre, but Blackstar kills her out of disgust for the way Sabre and Melissa were tortured and wanting to best Sabre personally. As Sabre and the Overseer battle, and as Blackstar charges his horse toward them while a monorail bears down on all, Melissa and the freed rebels attack. Melissa takes a horse from one of Blackstar's men and rides onto the monorail track, chasing Blacksar. Sabre overpowers the Overseer, but when he sees Blackstar, Melissa and the monorail bearing down, loses his grip. Blackstar fires his weapon at the monorail, destroying it in a cataclysm that throws the combatants and horses from the track. Sabre shoots the Overseer dead. Blackstar, saying he is now unemployed, suggests that Sabre leave before more forces arrive to capture him. Two months later, a pregnant Melissa, knowing militias are hunting Sabre, orders him to leave without her. He does, vowing to return for her and their child. ===== Four years after the events of The Final Reckoning, midshipmouse Thomas Triton is troubled by memories of a traumatic incident in his youth that resulted in the death of his best friend, Woodget Pipple. His wife Gwen suggests that it would make him feel better if he wrote down what was bothering him. Many years prior, Thomas is taken in by a kindly community of field mice after being caught in a snowstorm. There he meets Woodget Pipple, a little field mouse who becomes his close friend, and a beautiful maiden named Bess Sandibrook. Thomas falls deeply in love with Bess, but is unaware that Woodget has similar feelings for her. Stating that she loves Woodget, Bess gently rejects Thomas, only for them both to realise that Woodget has run away after mistakenly thinking he's getting in the way of their romance. Thomas vows to find Woodget, and catches up with him at a dock as a ship called the Calliope is getting ready to set sail. Thomas and Woodget meet a tough Irish mouse named Mulligan, who invites them to have a drink with him on the ship before he leaves. But they stay too long and to their dismay are stuck on the ship. The two become suspicious of Mulligan, who is evasive and will not let anyone see the contents of a satchel he always carries with him. The Calliope eventually crashes in a violent storm, killing most of its passengers. Mulligan washes ashore in Crete with Dimlon, a simple-minded young mouse Thomas and Woodget befriended during the voyage. Dimlon reveals himself to Mulligan as Dahrem Ruhar, an adept of the Scale, an evil cult that worships a reptile god called Suruth Scarophion. It is revealed that Mulligan has been carrying a piece of a jade egg sacred to the Scale, trying to prevent them from obtaining it and joining it with the other pieces, which would create a vessel into which Scarophion can be reborn. Thomas and Woodget survived the storm as well, and come onto the island in time to see a dying Mulligan, poisoned by the blades of Dahrem. He has carried the egg fragment with him and pushes it into the horrified Woodget's paws, telling him to take it to a place called Hara. Thomas and Woodget are discovered by an army of Indian mongooses who demand to know where they got the egg fragment from. After they explain the situation, the mongooses offer to take the two mice to Hara, their home city in India so they can speak to the sadhu and ask his advice. Dahrem, once again in the guise of Dimlon, comes along with them. Upon their arrival in Hara, Thomas, Woodget and Chattan go to see the sadhu, who also possesses a piece of the jade egg of Scarophion. In the night, the Scale arrive and launch a vicious attack on the city of Hara to steal the fragment. To everyone's shock, it is the sadhu himself who opens the gates for the Scale to enter. Dahrem attacks Woodget in the sadhu's chamber, demanding that he hand over the egg fragment Mulligan gave him. Thomas and the mongoose warrior Chattan hear the field mouse's screams and come to his rescue. Chattan engages in battle with Dahrem. The adept is killed, but not before poisoning Chattan with his blades. Faced with nowhere else to go, Thomas and Woodget decide to head to Singapore, where it is said that the jerboa prophet Simoon has journeyed. In a seedy bar called the Lotus Parlour, Thomas accidentally lets it slip to the bar's owner, Ma Skillet, that he and Woodget have the final egg fragment. Simoon is present and scolds the two mice for having walked directly into Scale territory. The bar is full of members of the cult (including Ma Skillet, the high priestess) who capture Thomas, Woodget, and Simoon and take them to their temple. The high priest joins the egg fragments together, and it appears Suruth Scarophion will be reborn. But as the reptilian form writhes within the newly created egg, it suddenly shrivels and dies. Simoon reveals that it was the plan all along to let the Scale obtain all the pieces of the egg, as he and other members of the Green Council like the sadhu knew it would ultimately be useless. The fragment held by Mulligan was periodically moved to different Green shrines, and thus gradually became a holy object. Cast from the egg, Scarophion's spirit enters a nearby statue in his image. Riding on its back, the enraged high priest chases Thomas, Woodget, and Simoon. The statue is destroyed when it crashes on a crag of rock, and Woodget kills the high priest to save Thomas's life. At the end of the journey, Thomas and Woodget are at a dock in Singapore waiting for a ship to take them back to England. An old beggar approaches them, but soon they discover that it is Ma Skillet, former high priestess of the Scale. She puts Thomas into a trance, during which he picks up Woodget and casts him into the water. Despite the field mouse's pleas, Thomas lets him presumably drown. Hours later, Thomas emerges from the trance and to his horror, remembers what he has done. He screams in anguish. In present day Hara, Chattan's sister Sobhan is taking her grandson to see the sadhu. She tries to help the latter remember his former identity, but he responds that Zenna, the siren who rescued him from the sea, wiped his memory completely and he is content that way. The final line reveals that this new sadhu is none other than Woodget. ===== In the sewers of Deptford there lurks a dark presence that fills the tunnels with fear: Jupiter, a dark god known only by his evil glowing eyes seen behind a dark "portal" in the tunnel wall. The rats worship him and do his dark bidding. No one really knows who he is except for his lieutenant Morgan. The Deptford mice, who worship the Green Mouse who brings Spring, are aware of Jupiter's evil presence in the tunnels. One of the mice, Albert Brown, is pulled through a grate into the sewers by the dark enchantments that Jupiter has woven there. He meets a cheeky mouse from the city, Piccadilly, also lost inside the lair of the rats. When Albert is captured by Morgan, a Cornish, piebald rat with a stump for a tail and rings through his ears (none other than Jupiter's lieutenant) and brought to Jupiter, Piccadilly escapes into Albert's home, known as the Skirtings, where he meets a large number of friends. Firstly, there is Audrey Brown, Albert's day-dreaming daughter who hates Piccadilly for surviving where her father did not. Then there is Arthur Brown, Audrey's plump and funny brother. There is also simple field mouse William Scuttle or 'Twit' and his cousin, the sickly albino runt, Oswald Chitter. Along with the old Midship-mouse Thomas Triton and Gwen Brown, the mother of Audrey and Arthur, they venture into the sewers to banish Jupiter from the world. The Rat God, however, has an evil plan to unleash the Black Death on the world once more, ridding it of humans and enabling him to conquer it. After a tense-confrontation with Jupiter in this throne-room, during which the malevolent deity is revealed to be a monstrous cat, Audrey defeats the Dark Lord by flinging her mousebrass at him. The talisman explodes and Jupiter falls into the water, which is rapidly flooding his chamber. The spirits of the many mice and rats he has tortured and devoured then rise up and drag the dark god down to a watery grave. Audrey glimpses her father among the legion of spirits as they depart and despairs, realizing that he is truly dead. The sewer floods and the Black Death is destroyed. Thankful that they are alive, and resolving to celebrate Jupiter's downfall once they return home, the mice begin the journey back to the surface- but as they leave, Orfeo the bat foretells doom. ===== The ghostly spirit of Jupiter is back, more powerful than ever before. Bent on revenge, he smothers the world in an eternal winter of ice and snow. Huddled around their fires, the Deptford Mice are worried: the mystical bats have fled the attic, and underground a new rat army is being mustered. With food short and no sign of spring, the mice know that a desperate struggle confronts them. Few will survive. ===== The story alternates between Goodkind's telling his family history and early years (specifically, his first 26 years (1915–1941)) and his account of current events in 1973, leading up to the Yom Kippur War. The tales of Goodkind's early years describe his family – his mother and father, his sister, his mother's father and father's mother, his mother's half sister, and a tribe of more distant uncles, aunts and cousins (the 'Mishpokha', Yiddish for 'family'). After college, Goodkind works for Harry Goldhandler, a gag writer for radio comedies (very loosely based on David Freedman), and has a romance with showgirl Bobbie Webb. The tales of his present day in 1973 are centered on his wife, his daughter, their friends, and Peter Quat, a college friend who also worked for Goldhandler, and who had become a famous novelist for his sexually explicit characters and unflattering depictions of American Jewish life. Quat's books seem similar to the work of Philip Roth, but Roth did not attend Columbia nor work for Freedman. As a young man, Goodkind becomes less observant, but his adult self has returned to the Orthodox practices of his father and grandfather. Goodkind as a child and young man is embarrassed by his first name Israel, mockingly shortened by several other characters to Izzy. In the last scene of the novel when Goodkind returns to the U.S. after the Yom Kippur War, he tells an El Al flight attendant to call him Israel. ===== The existence of the "Black World"—an alternate dimension populated by supernatural demons—is known to few humans. For centuries, a peace treaty between the Black World and the world of humans has been maintained to ensure relative harmony. Both sides of the continuum are protected by an organization of secret agents called the Black Guard, specifically from a group of radicalized members of the Black World. Renzaburō Taki, a salaryman electronics salesman by day, and a Black Guard when needed, has casual sex with Kanako, a young woman who he has been meeting at a local bar for three months. Kanako reveals herself to be a spider-like doppelgänger from the Black World Radicals and escapes with a sample of Taki's semen. The next day, Taki is assigned to protect Giuseppe Mayart, a comical and perverted 200-year-old mystic who is a signatory for a ratified treaty between the Human World and the Black World in Tokyo, and a target for the Radicals. Taki is also informed that he will be working with a partner: a Black Guard from the Black World. While awaiting Mayart's arrival at Narita, Taki is attacked by two Radicals at the runway, but is saved by his partner—a beautiful fashion model named Makie. Taki and Makie eventually meet Mayart; the trio take shelter in a Hibiya hotel with spiritual barriers to protect it from Radicals. While playing chess to pass time, the hotelier explains to Taki, who is unsure of his responsibilities within the Black Guard, that he will only value his position once he knows what he is protecting. During an assault on the hotel by a Radical, Mayart sneaks out. Makie and Taki find him in a soapland in the grip of a Radical who has sapped his health, prompting a frantic trip to a spiritual hospital under Black Guard protection. Halfway there, Makie is taken prisoner by a tentacle demon, and Taki is forced to leave her behind. Upon their arrival at the clinic, Mayart begins his recovery, while Mr. Shadow—the leader of the Radicals—uses a psychic projection to taunt Taki into rescuing Makie. Ignoring Mayart's threats that he will be fired, he pursues Shadow to a dilapidated building far from the hospital, where he finds Makie being gang raped by Radicals. A female Radical attempts to seduce Taki, asking him if he ever copulated with Makie, but he kills her and the Radicals violating Makie, and wounds Shadow. While tending to each other, Makie reveals to Taki that she was once romantically involved with a member of the Radicals, and that she joined the Black Guard because of her belief in the need for peace between the two worlds. Upon returning to the clinic, the pair are fired by Taki's superior, who deems Taki's desires a liability to his duties. While driving through a tunnel with a stowaway Mayart, they are ensnared by Kanako, who—having determined that Taki and Makie were partnered for genetic reasons—attempts to kill them again. Bolts of supernatural lightning kill Kanako, while Taki and Makie are wounded. They later awaken inside a church, and engage in passionate lovemaking. A final attack by Shadow comes against Taki and Makie, which is deflected by more lightning generated by a surprisingly healthy Mayart, who reveals that he was actually hired to protect his "bodyguards". Mayart and Taki almost succeed in defeating Shadow, but the final blow comes from Makie, whose powers have increased due to her being impregnated by Taki. Mayart explains that the two are essential to the new peace treaty; Taki and Makie were selected to be the first couple from both worlds that can produce half-human, half-demon children, and their bond will be instrumental in ensuring everlasting peace between the two worlds. Although angry with Mayart because they were not informed of the Black Guard's plans, Taki implicitly admits that he has fallen for Makie and, per the hotelier's advice, wants to protect her and their child. The trio leave to attend the peace ceremony. Taki remains in the Black Guard to ensure the protection of both worlds and his loved ones. ===== Billy Diamond (Tim Thomerson) is a successful stand-up comedian who steals a "Gorilla Banana" routine from fellow comedian Dave (Xander Berkeley), and performs it on a TV talk show to huge success which enhances his own career. Unfortunately, now that Billy has been seen doing the routine on TV, Dave can never perform it again, since people will think Dave stole it from Billy. While driving away from the TV studio, Billy is ambushed by Dave who threatens him with a pistol. Dave attempts to get money from Billy to make up for stealing his act but is distracted when Billy drives his car erratically. The car crashes as Billy attempts to wrest the gun away and both men are killed. Billy finds himself in the afterlife which resembles the backstage area of an extremely sleazy nightclub. His agent Max explains that he must audition on stage and that his performance will determine whether he goes to heaven or hell. A stage manager pushes him onto a stage in front of a bored-looking audience. When Billy tells conventional jokes the audience grows hostile and they taunt him. In order to make the audience laugh, Billy humiliates himself by recounting all the most shameful and degrading incidents of his life, which produces laughter from the audience. As he escapes the stage at the end of the set, he is traumatized by what he has had to reveal and is told that his act is a massive hit. As such, he must spend an eternity exposing his shameful acts forever. ===== Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) is on an airplane when he is surprised by the anxiety the woman sitting next to him suffers during the flight. The woman introduces herself as Dr. Anne Ranberg (Jennifer Beals), also a psychiatrist, and after brief deliberation, Frasier decides to disclose what is on his mind, in hopes that it will help pass the time on the flight. Frasier's girlfriend, Charlotte (Laura Linney), is leaving for Chicago, leaving Frasier devoid of any current love life. To commemorate her leaving for Chicago, Frasier and Charlotte sleep together on her final night in Seattle, resulting in a problem as Frasier misses his regularly scheduled radio show, which results in station manager Kenny Daly taking over at the last minute who quickly starts to enjoy himself. Once Frasier arrives, he bumps into his agent Bebe, where he learns about a job opening on a San Francisco television network after a death occurred there, but Frasier quickly declines, citing his comfort with his present situation at KACL. In the meantime, his brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce) and Niles' wife Daphne (Jane Leeves) are anticipating the birth of their child, while his father, Martin (John Mahoney), is set to be married to Ronee (Wendie Malick). A mishap occurs when Martin schedules the wedding for May 15 instead of July 15. Frasier and Niles agree to plan the wedding in eight days. As the two are frantically putting the wedding together, both Frasier and Niles encounter numerous difficulties. Three of Daphne's brothers, Simon, Stephen, and Michael, are in Seattle in anticipation of Daphne's childbirth. Frasier has arranged for a ceremonial cannon-firing when Martin and Ronee are officially declared married. However, the person Frasier puts in position has a heat stroke from standing out in the sun too long, making him unusable. Michael volunteers to do the job instead and is told the cue from Frasier. However, Frasier and Niles also have to deal with finding a new flower girl, as the three brothers have accidentally intoxicated her, rendering her unconscious. Roz (Peri Gilpin) allows her daughter Alice to do the job in the flower girl's stead, but upon receiving the same cue as Michael was told, Michael fires off the cannon, creating havoc in the neighborhood. Daphne and Niles realize Eddie has eaten the rings and take him to a local veterinarian. While they are at the vet's office, Daphne goes into labor. Frasier, Martin, and Ronee all hurry to the clinic, where Daphne has given birth to the couple's first child, whom they name David. Ronee suggests that she and Martin get married in the clinic, so Daphne and Niles do not miss out, and Frasier marries them. Later, a mover (the same from the first episode) returns to Frasier's residence to take away Martin's chair. Frasier calls Lilith to ask after Frederick. Afterwards, he finds himself with the peace and quiet he was once desperate for. However, with Martin having moved out and Niles and Daphne busy with their new son, Frasier realizes that he is lonely. He decides to take the job in San Francisco. The following day, Frasier and his colleagues learn that Roz has been promoted to station manager after Kenny quits to become a DJ. Frasier invites his brother, father, Daphne, Ronee, and Roz to his apartment to announce his move to San Francisco. However, before the dinner, Frasier begins handing out gifts of significance. When an ominous phone call answered by the answering machine from a doctor reveals potentially bad news regarding Frasier's future outlook, the attendees fear the worst. Frasier then informs them of his impending move to San Francisco, where his new show will begin the following week. Later, during the celebration, Frasier reveals his reasoning for taking the job, citing that with Daphne and Niles' child, Martin and Ronee's marriage, and Roz's promotion, each of them have now begun a new phase of their lives, and that he now desires to do the same. Frasier then recites Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Ulysses". He reads the same poem at the end of his final show at KACL, where he thanks the staff and listeners for the past eleven years before closing with his signature words "Goodnight, Seattle." Frasier finishes his story just as the plane lands – not in San Francisco, but in Chicago, where Charlotte has moved – and says, "Wish me luck," to Anne before heading down the aisle as the screen fades to black. ===== Recently-widowed Kyle Pratt, a Berlin-based American aviation engineer, takes her husband David's body back to the U.S. with her 6-year-old daughter Julia, aboard an aircraft Kyle helped design. Awakening from a nap, Kyle finds Julia missing, and none of the passengers or crew recall seeing her. Flight attendant Stephanie tells Kyle there is no record of her daughter boarding the flight, and Kyle is unable to find Julia's boarding pass and backpack. At Kyle’s insistence, Captain Marcus Rich conducts a search of the aircraft, while the panicked Kyle is monitored by sky marshal Gene Carson. Growing desperate, Kyle accuses Arab passengers Obaid and Ahmed of kidnapping Julia and plotting to hijack the aircraft. She reveals that her husband died falling from their roof, which she refuses to believe was suicide. Captain Rich receives a message from a Berlin hospital that Julia died with her father, and is convinced that Kyle, unhinged by her husband and daughter's deaths, imagined bringing Julia on board. The increasingly erratic Kyle is confined to her seat, where a therapist, Lisa, consoles her. Kyle doubts her own sanity until she notices the heart Julia drew on the foggy window next to her seat. Kyle asks to use the bathroom, where she climbs into the overhead crawl space and sabotages the aircraft's electronics, deploying the oxygen masks and cutting power to the lighting. In the ensuing chaos, she rides a dumbwaiter to the lower freight deck and unlocks David's casket, suspecting Julia is inside, but finds only her husband's body. Carson escorts her to her seat in handcuffs, and explains that the flight is making an emergency stopover at Goose Bay Airport in Newfoundland, Canada where she will be taken into custody. She pleads with Carson to search the aircraft’s hold, and he sneaks down to the freight deck. Removing two explosives and a detonator concealed in David's casket, he plants the explosives in the avionics section, where a presumably drugged Julia is sleeping. It is revealed that Carson and Stephanie have conspired to hijack the aircraft for a $50 million ransom and frame Kyle, due to her knowledge of the aircraft; they abducted Julia to force Kyle to unlock the casket. Carson lies to Rich that Kyle is threatening to bomb the aircraft unless the ransom is wired to a bank account and a G3 aircraft is readied upon landing. He then plans to detonate the explosives, killing Julia, and leave Kyle dead with the detonator. Landing in Newfoundland, the airliner is surrounded by FBI agents. After the passengers disembark, Kyle confronts Rich, who angrily declares that the ransom has been paid. Kyle realizes that Carson is the perpetrator and, assuming the role of hijacker, commands Carson to remain aboard and the crew to leave. She strikes Carson with a fire extinguisher, handcuffs him to a rail, and takes the detonator. Stephanie appears as Carson shoots the cuffs to free himself and pursues Kyle, who locks herself in the cockpit. Tricking Carson into thinking she has left the cockpit, Kyle subdues Stephanie, who flees the airliner. Kyle finds the unconscious Julia, and Carson reveals that he murdered David to smuggle the explosives inside his casket. Kyle escapes with Julia into the aircraft's non-combustible hold, closing the door as Carson shoots at her. She detonates the explosives, killing Carson and destroying the front landing gear, but she and Julia emerge unscathed as the passengers realize that she told the truth the whole time. The next morning, Captain Rich apologizes to Kyle. As Stephanie is led away by the FBI, an agent informs Kyle that the Berlin mortuary director has also been arrested. Kyle carries Julia to a waiting van through the crowd of passengers, who realize the truth. Obaid hands Kyle her bag, as Julia awakens and asks, "Are we there yet?" before they drive away. ===== In 1954, a military train guarded by American soldiers and Japanese police is robbed of its cargo of guns, ammunition, and smoke bombs. During the robbery, a US Army Sergeant guarding the train is shot and killed. Five weeks later, a thief named Webber lies dying in a Tokyo hospital, shot by one of his own cohorts during a holdup in which smoke bombs were used. US Army investigaters discover Webber was shot by the same P38 pistol that killed the Sergeant during the train robbery. Webber is questioned by military and police investigators, but he refuses to implicate his fellow gang members. Webber does reveal, however, that he is secretly married to a Japanese woman named Mariko. Police discover among Webber's possessions a letter from an American named Eddie Spanier, who wants to join Webber in Japan after his release from a U.S. prison. Three weeks later, Spanier arrives in Tokyo and makes contact with Mariko, gaining her trust with a photograph of himself taken with Webber. Later, Spanier goes to a pachinko parlor, attempting to sell "protection" to the manager. But when he tries to shake down another parlor, he is beaten by a group of Americans led by racketeer Sandy Dawson, who is so intrigued with Spanier's audacity that he later arranges for him to join his gang, a disgruntled group of former American servicemen who have been dishonorably discharged. After being accepted into the gang, Spanier secretly meets with U.S. and Japanese investigators, for whom he is actually working undercover. To solidify his cover, Spanier asks Mariko to live with him as his "kimono girl." Hoping to discover who killed Webber, Mariko consents to Spanier's offer. In the meantime, Dawson grows to trust Spanier and even saves his life when Eddie is wounded during a robbery. Spanier finally informs Mariko of his real identity as an undercover infiltrator into the Dawson gang. And when Charlie, one of Dawson's men spies Mariko meeting with an American army officer to fill him in on the details of the Dawson gang's next heist, he notifies Dawson. The job is thus aborted, but an outside informant reveals to Dawson that (a) the police are poised to capture him and that (b) Spanier is a military plant. Dawson thus sets up Spanier's death, but that plan backfires. Dawson is chased by the police to a rooftop amusement park. After an intense gunfight, Spanier shoots and kills Dawson. ===== Two cowboy friends, Jeff (J. Farrell MacDonald) and Cash (William Farnum), are traveling through the desert in the southwest U.S., when they come upon a baby who has been abandoned in the back of a covered wagon. They can't leave the defenseless child, so decide to take the baby with them, however, they argue over which of them would be better suited to raising the child. When Cash ends up prevailing in the debate, this creates a lifelong rift between the two friends. Years later the baby has now grown into a young man, Bill Holbrook (William Boyd), who works with his adoptive father on their cattle ranch. Cash's erstwhile friend, Jeff, has remained in the area where the infant was found and has established his own ranch, centered on the water hole where the entire feud originally began, a feud which is still in full force. Jeff lives with his grown daughter, Mary Ellen (Helen Twelvetrees). The feud escalates when Cash wants to use the water hole on Jeff's property to water his cattle. Jeff is ready to confront Cash in a stand-off, preventing him from watering his cattle on the property Jeff has claimed, assisted by an itinerant cowboy, Rance Brett (Clark Gable), who has been smitten with Mary Ellen's beauty. The confrontation is temporarily avoided when Cash's herd unexpectedly stampedes. When Bill discovers tungsten on Jeff's property, he attempts to use it to close the division between his father and Jeff, however this only results in his father kicking him out. He turns to Jeff, and begins a mining operation, which actually has the opposite effect of Bill's original intention, only exacerbating the tension between Jeff and Cash. Bill and Jeff's partnership also causes tension with Rance, since Mary Ellen now shows an interest in Bill. After a shipment of tungsten which was on its way to pay the loan they had taken out to develop the mine is waylaid, Bill works furiously with the miners to replace it with another load. He is successful. However, as he is celebrating the success of the mine, as well as his impending nuptials with Mary Ellen, the mine is sabotaged by a series of explosions. Everyone believes the mine sabotage is the work of Cash, but it turns out to have been an act of jealousy on the part of Rance, who confesses, leaving the two old friends to reconcile, and their two children to marry. ===== Bruce Robertson is a detective sergeant serving in Edinburgh's "Lothian Constabulary". Robertson is a Machiavellian, intensely misanthropic man who spends his time indulging in cocaine and alcohol abuse, sexually abusive relationships, compulsive gorging on junk food, and, most of all, his penchant for "the games" – Bruce's euphemism for the myriad foul plots he hatches directed at workmates. He is able to pander to all of his vices during his annual holidays in Amsterdam. The novel begins by introducing the murder of Efan Wurie, a case Bruce has been assigned. The plot has little to do with the actual crime; instead, the novel traces Bruce throughout his life, told in a first-person, stream-of- consciousness style. Through narrative devices such as the tapeworm he acquires, the reader explores the facets of Bruce's personality and learns about his past, as well as the various tedious police routines Bruce absconds from, his often-backfiring sexual endeavours, and his various short- and long- term schemes and plots against his colleagues (ultimately to raise his chances of gaining the hoped-for promotion to detective inspector). Apart from the general malevolent scheming, along the way Bruce Robertson also seeks to satisfy his cravings for violence, drugs, sex, and pornography whilst happily voicing his racism, anti-Catholic sectarianism, and misogyny, all the while pining for his ex-wife. As the novel progresses, Bruce's mental health begins to deteriorate; it is revealed that he suffers from drug addiction and bipolar disorder, which, along with his inability to form meaningful, trust-based relationships, are exacerbated by latent, unresolved psychological problems caused by childhood abuses. Eventually Bruce is forced into taking leave due to injuries he suffers while dressed as his ex-wife, leading to the revelation that he committed the racially motivated murder that serves as the novel's main plot and that the colleagues he despises – particularly his boss Robert Toal – have been aware of his guilt all along and have been protecting him from the consequences of his actions out of a mixture of loyalty and pity. At the end of the story, Bruce kills himself, with his last thoughts being regret and hoping that his daughter does not know of his suicide. ===== ===== Author and amateur astronomer John Putnam (Richard Carlson) and schoolteacher Ellen Fields (Barbara Rush) watch a large meteorite crash near the small town of Sand Rock, Arizona. They awaken a neighbor, who has a helicopter, and all three fly to the crash site. Putnam climbs down into the crater and notices a partially buried round object in the crater's pit. He comes to the realization, after he sees a six-sided hatchway close, that this isn't a meteorite but a large alien spaceship. The hatchway's noise starts a landslide that completely buries the craft. Putnam's story is later scoffed at by Sand Rock's sheriff (Charles Drake) and the local news media. Even Ellen Fields is unsure about what to believe but still agrees to assist Putnam in his investigation. Over the next several days, local people disappear; a few return, but they act distant or appear somewhat dazed and not their usual selves. Convinced by these and other odd events, Sheriff Warren comes to believe Putnam's story that the meteorite is actually a crashed spaceship with alien inhabitants; he then organizes a posse to hunt down the invaders at their crash site. Putnam, however, hopes to reach a peaceful solution to the looming crisis. Alone, he enters a nearby abandoned mine, which he hopes will eventually connect to the now buried spaceship and its alien occupants. Putnam finally discovers the spaceship and learns from the alien leader that they crashed on Earth by accident; the aliens appear benign and only plan to stay on Earth just long enough to repair their damaged craft and then continue on their voyage. The aliens' real appearance, when finally revealed to Putnam, is entirely non-human: they are large, single-eyed, almost jellyfish-like beings that seem to glide across the ground, leaving a glistening trail that soon vanishes. They are also able to shape shift into human form in order to appear human and move around Sand Rock, unobserved, in order to collect their much needed repair materials. To do this, they copy the human forms of the local townspeople that they have abducted. In doing so, however, they fail to reproduce the townspeople's exact personalities, leading to suspicion and eventually to the deaths of two of the aliens. The aliens have decided to destroy themselves and their spaceship, now that they have been discovered. Putnam reasons with them at length and convinces the alien leader to instead finish the repairs while he, as a sign of the aliens' good faith, takes the captives outside to the sheriff and his posse. To protect the aliens from the sheriff and his advancing posse, Putnam manages to seal off the mine in order to give them the time they still need to finish their spaceship's repairs. Shortly afterwards the alien spaceship leaves Earth. Putnam's fiancée Ellen asks him if they are gone for good. He responds "No, just for now. It wasn't the right time for us to meet. But there will be other nights, other stars for us to watch. They'll be back". ===== The story is about the skid row denizens of Monterey, California, during World War II. As declining fish stocks are shutting down a previously rich fishery and the dependent canning industry, bums and prostitutes lead colorful and adventurous lives in a balmy seaside setting. Doc, a self-employed marine biologist, lives in a dockside warehouse and researches octopi. Suzy DeSoto, a girl from the local bordello, is working there only out of necessity. A collection of linked vignettes describes life on Cannery Row. It is depicted as an impoverished area inhabited by a motley band of people who have experienced failures, but somehow have found their niche and a community of strangely kindred souls. Doc and Suzy don’t quite fit in, but are accepted. Mac and the boys gather frogs and sell them to give a surprise party for Doc, which turns into a brawl and breaks the tank housing Doc's octopus collection. To make amends, they buy Doc a present of a microscope but mistakenly get him a telescope, instead. A deeper mystery revolves around why Doc stays in Cannery Row. Suzy discovers that Doc was once a professional baseball pitcher but quit. Another character, the Seer, spends his days playing his horn. He depends on the gifts that mysteriously appear, such as groceries. Suzy eventually learns that the Seer is a former baseball player whom Doc injured with a pitch to the head, and now Doc takes care of him. Doc and Suzy ultimately find love. ===== Workers at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant are reluctant to join the plant's softball team due to its previous unsuccessful year (just 2 wins, and 28 losses). When Homer shows his co-workers the Wonder Bat, a large bat he made from a fallen tree branch, his co-workers eagerly join the team. They enjoy an undefeated season and earn a spot in the championship game against the Shelbyville Nuclear Power Plant. Mr. Burns makes a million-dollar bet with Aristotle Amadopolis, owner of the Shelbyville plant, that his team will win. To secure victory, Burns attempts to hire major-league stars Cap Anson, Pie Traynor, Jim Creighton, Gabby Street, Nap Lajoie, Harry Hooper, Honus Wagner, Shoeless Joe Jackson and Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown. After Smithers informs his boss that all the players he wants are dead, Burns orders him to find living players. He hires nine Major League Baseball players — Steve Sax, Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, Roger Clemens, Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry, Ken Griffey Jr., José Canseco and Mike Scioscia — and gives them token jobs at the plant so they can play on the team, to the dismay of the plant's team. Burns hires a hypnotist to boost his team's chances of winning. Homer is distraught when Wonder Bat is destroyed by a pitch from Clemens during practice. Before the game, eight of the nine all- star players suffer unrelated mishaps that prevent them from playing: Smith disappears in the Springfield Mystery Spot, Clemens starts behaving like a chicken due to the hypnotist's incompetence, Scioscia is hospitalized due to radiation poisoning from the plant, Mattingly is kicked off the team after misinterpreting Burns' order to shave off his sideburns, Canseco is busy rescuing a woman and her possessions from a house fire, Griffey develops gigantism after overdosing on brain and nerve tonic that Burns administered to the team, Sax is arrested by the Springfield Police when they suspect him for committing every unsolved murder in New York City, and Boggs is knocked unconscious by Barney at Moe's Tavern after an argument over whether Lord Palmerston or William Pitt the Elder was the greatest British Prime Minister. When Strawberry is the only pro able to play, Burns is forced to use his team of regular employees. Homer is benched while Strawberry plays his position. With the score tied and bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Burns fields a right-handed hitter against a left-handed pitcher and pinch hits Homer for Strawberry. Distracted by Burns' exaggerated gesturing, Homer is hit in the head by the first pitch, knocking him out and forcing in the winning run. The team wins the title and Homer, still unconscious, is paraded as a hero. ===== In 1961, in Paterson, New Jersey, divorced mother Catherine Spages visits Father Tom with her two daughters, nine-year-old Karen and twelve-year-old Alice, who both attend St. Michael's Parish Girls' School. Karen is preparing for her First Communion, and Father Tom gives her his mother's crucifix as a gift. A jealous Alice puts on a translucent mask, frightening Father Tom's housekeeper, Mrs. Tredoni. Later, Alice steals Karen's porcelain doll and lures her into an abandoned building. She scares Karen before locking her in a room, and threatens her if she tells anyone. On the day of her First Communion, Karen is strangled to death in the church transept by a person wearing a translucent mask and a yellow raincoat. Her body is stuffed into a bench compartment near the confessionals, which is set on fire with a candle, but not before her crucifix is ripped from her neck. Meanwhile, Alice enters the church, carrying Karen's veil; she kneels in place to receive communion. Simultaneously, a nun who has noticed smoke coming from the transept locates Karen's body. She screams in horror, disrupting the communion ceremony which descends into a frenzied panic. After Karen's funeral, Catherine's ex-husband Dominick begins independently investigating her murder, while Detective Spina formally handles the case. Catherine's sister Annie moves in to help her through her grief, though Alice and Annie despise each other. Catherine sends Alice to deliver a rent check to their landlord, Mr. Alphonso, and he attempts to fondle and molest her. Shortly after, while descending the stairs to go shopping, Annie is attacked by a masked figure in a raincoat. At the hospital, Annie claims that Alice tried to kill her. Alice is sent to a psychiatric institution for evaluation. Later, Dominick receives a hysterical phone call from someone claiming to be Annie's daughter Angela, saying that she has Karen's crucifix. Dominick agrees to meet her at an abandoned building. There, he spots the raincoated figure, and follows it into the building. On a staircase landing, the figure stabs him before beating him with a brick and binding him with rope. Dominick regains consciousness and sees that the killer is in fact Mrs. Tredoni, who chastises Dominick and Catherine as sinners over their premarital sex and eventual divorce. After Dominick bites Karen's crucifix off her neck, Mrs. Tredoni beats him with her shoe and pushes him out a window to his death. Catherine goes to visit Father Tom, thinking that Dom is there talking with him. He is not home, and neither is Dom, but Mrs. Tredoni invites Catherine in albeit begrudgingly. While preparing the night's dinner for Father Tom and the Monsignor, Mrs. Tredoni explains to Catherine that when her own daughter died on the day of her First Communion, she realized children are punished for the sins of their parents. In her grief and madness, she devotes herself to the church. Father Tom arrives during the conversation, and tells Catherine that Dom has died. She begins crying hysterically. During Dominick's autopsy, the pathologist finds Karen's crucifix in his mouth, and Alice is formally eliminated as a suspect. Father Tom and Catherine then go get Alice from the institution. Later that day, Mrs. Tredoni sneaks into Catherine and Alice's apartment building, unaware they have left for church. Simultaneously, Mr. Alphonso wakes up screaming, as Alice had mischievously placed a jar of cockroaches on him while he slept. Mr. Alphonso encounters Mrs. Tredoni in the staircase and mistakes her for Alice. When he shoves her against a wall, she stabs him to death and flees. However, Detective Spina witnesses her running out of the back entrance without a mask on. Mrs. Tredoni rushes to the church, where the police are stationed outside. At the same time, Det. Spina runs in the apartment upon hearing Mr. Alphonso's screams, arriving too late to save him. At the mass, Father Tom denies Mrs. Tredoni communion. She points at Catherine, screams that he gave communion to a whore, and stabs the priest in the throat as the police rush in. While Father Tom bleeds to death in Mrs. Tredoni's arms, Alice walks out of the church with Mrs. Tredoni's shopping bag, and places the bloodstained butcher knife into it. ===== Alison Parker, a beautiful but neurotic fashion model with a history of suicide attempts, moves into a historic Brooklyn brownstone that has been divided into apartments. The top floor apartment is occupied by a reclusive blind priest, Father Halliran, who spends all of his time sitting at his open window. Soon after moving in, Alison begins having strange physical problems, including fainting spells and insomnia, and hears strange noises from the apartment above hers. Alison meets her odd new neighbors, including the eccentric, elderly Charles Chazen, and attends a bizarre birthday party for Chazen's cat. When she complains to the rental agent Miss Logan about the noisy and irritating neighbors, she is told that the building is occupied only by Halliran and her. Miss Logan proves this by showing Alison the various empty apartments, including ones Alison had recently visited and seen occupied. Alison's lawyer boyfriend Michael initially believes she is suffering paranoid delusions, but secretly contacts his corrupt detective friend Brenner to look into the situation. Late one night, Brenner goes to Alison's building, while inside Alison is again awakened by strange noises, and encounters the animated, rotting corpse of her recently deceased abusive father in the stairwell. She escapes by stabbing him and, covered in blood, runs screaming into the street, arousing the whole neighborhood. Alison is hospitalized with a nervous breakdown, and two police detectives, Gatz and Rizzo, begin an investigation. Gatz and Rizzo suspect that Michael murdered his former wife, who fell to her death after refusing to divorce Michael so that he could marry Alison. The detectives find no body in Alison's building, the blood on her matches her own blood type, and her father is confirmed to have died three weeks previously. However, they later find Brenner's stabbed body dumped elsewhere, and his blood type also matches the blood found on Alison, suggesting that Alison might have murdered him. Gatz and Rizzo also discover that the people Alison claimed she saw at the cat's birthday party are all deceased murderers. Alison, who now has the ability to read strange Latin words that no one else can see, visits a Catholic church and confesses her sins, including her past suicide attempts and her adultery with Michael, to Monsignor Franchino. Michael, now conducting his own investigation, contacts the Diocesan office about Father Halliran and is directed to Franchino. Franchino is evasive, so Michael breaks into the office that night and reads Halliran's file, which shows he is one of a series of priests and nuns who previously attempted suicide in lay life and then became priests or nuns on the date of their predecessor's death. Alison is listed as the latest in the series, slated to take over as "Sister Teresa" starting the next day. Frightened, Michael leaves Alison in the care of her friend Jennifer while he goes to Alison's apartment building. There, Michael meets Halliran, who tells him the building is the gateway to Hell. Michael screams at Halliran and tries to strangle him, but is killed by Franchino. Alison meanwhile escapes from Jennifer's apartment and goes to her own, where she is confronted by Chazen and grotesque, deformed minions of Hell, including the now-dead Michael, who indeed had hired Brenner to kill his wife. Michael and Chazen explain that Halliran is the Sentinel, who ensures that the demons do not escape from Hell. Halliran is nearing the end of his life, and Alison, with her history of suicide attempts, has been chosen as the new Sentinel in order to save her own soul. Chazen hands the distraught Alison a knife and tries to convince her to reject her task as the Sentinel, commit suicide and join Michael in Hell instead. Just as Alison is about to cut her wrist, the infirm Halliran enters bearing a large cross and supported by Franchino. The demons shrink from Halliran and the cross, and Alison takes the cross from Halliran and sits in his chair, thus accepting her duty as the Sentinel and saving her soul. Angry and disappointed, Chazen and the other demons return to Hell. Shortly after, the brownstone is demolished and replaced with a modern apartment complex. Miss Logan shows an apartment to a young couple looking to rent. The couple asks about the neighbors and Miss Logan explains to them that there are only two: a violin player and a reclusive nun. The nun is Alison, now blind like Father Halliran. She sits facing out the open window in the top floor apartment. ===== In 2015, Demon Princess Elzebub (also translated as Princess Dragon Mom) awakens from 10 million years of dormancy and plots to conquer the Earth. She destroys a few major cities in China to prove her power to humanity, who react in shock. Returning to her lair in Inner-Earth, she awakens her army of Skeleton Ghosts and various mutant humanoids to wreak havoc on the surface. The head of the Science Headquarters, Professor Liu Ying-de, has completed the BDX Project, a potential countermeasure against Elzebub. In the HQ's secret laboratory, he transforms Lei Ma, a high-ranking SH officer, into the bionic kung fu superhero Inframan. The solar-powered red & silver armored Inframan has both enhanced strength and combat weapons. Once Inframan destroys the princess's various monsters, she decides to steal the professor's blueprints of Inframan in hope of discovering his weakness. Meanwhile, the professor introduces Thunderball Fists, gloves capable of destroying any substance known to man, as well as covering up Inframan's weakness. The princess decides to coerce the professor. Capturing the professor's daughter, the princess blackmails the professor into creating an Inframan for her. The professor agrees to go to Mount Devil for a meeting. When the professor refuses to make another Inframan, he and his daughter are frozen. Inframan and the Science Patrol decide to rescue both which leads to the climatic battle between Inframan and Demon Princess Elzebub. ===== The book begins where Gone with the Wind left off, with Scarlett attending the funeral of her former sister- in-law and rival for Ashley Wilkes' affection, Melanie Wilkes, at which her estranged husband, Rhett Butler, is not present. Scarlett, heartbroken and aggravated that Rhett left her, sets out for Tara and is saddened when she learns that Mammy, her mainstay since birth, is dying. She sends a telegram to notify Rhett about Mammy under the name of Will Benteen (her sister Suellen's husband), because she knows that Rhett won't come if he suspects Scarlett is there. Before Mammy dies, she makes Rhett swear to look after Scarlett. Rhett agrees, although he has no intention of honoring the request. After Mammy's death, Rhett and Scarlett fight, which culminates in Rhett leaving and Scarlett returning to the Atlanta house, determined to win Rhett back. Scarlett travels to Charleston to visit Rhett's family and tries to corner him by winning his mother's affection. She convinces Rhett to take her for a sail on the harbour, where their boat capsizes during a terrible storm. Scarlett and Rhett swim to an island, where they make love in a cave. Rhett initially denies, then admits, that he loves Scarlett, but he does not want to "lose himself" over her again. Back in Charleston, Rhett leaves Scarlett near death at his mother's house, telling her, in a letter, that while he admires her bravery, he will never see her again. After Scarlett regains her strength, she leaves Charleston with her two aunts, Pauline and Eulalie, to attend her maternal grandfather's birthday celebration in Savannah. She leaves a note to Rhett's mother with Rhett's sister, Rosemary, who burns the note. Scarlett connects with the Savannah O'Haras against her maternal family's wishes. Scarlett's grandfather offers Scarlett his inheritance if she remains with him in Savannah until his death and avoids contact with her father's side of the family. Scarlett refuses and storms out of the house. She goes to stay with her cousin Jamie and his family. Soon another cousin named Colum, a priest from Ireland, joins them. Scarlett agrees to travel to Ireland with him. By this time Scarlett has realized that she is pregnant with Rhett's child but she keeps her pregnancy hidden. In Ireland, Scarlett is heartily welcomed by her Irish kin. Exploring with Colum, they pass an old house called 'Ballyhara'; it was O'Hara land long ago before the English seized it. Scarlett soon receives a notification of divorce from Rhett. She makes plans to leave for America but learns that Rhett is now married to Anne Hampton, who is said to resemble Melanie Wilkes. Heartbroken, Scarlett decides to remain in Ireland. She works with lawyers and leaves her two-third share of her father's plantation, Tara, to her son Wade Hampton (fathered by her first husband, Charles Hamilton, brother of Melanie Wilkes), buys Ballyhara and settles down in Ireland, to her Irish family's delight. She and Colum tell everyone that her husband died rather than tell the truth that she was divorced. As Ballyhara is restored, Scarlett eagerly awaits the birth of her child, praying for it to be a girl and vowing to be a good mother. She is well respected by the townspeople and her family, earning her a reputation as a hard worker. She becomes known as The O'Hara, a title reserved for the undisputed leader of a family clan. On Halloween night, her water breaks. Her housekeeper, Mrs. Fitzpatrick, and the midwife whom Colum summons are unable to handle the situation, and it appears that Scarlett will die. Instead, she is saved by a wise old woman who lives near the haunted tower. The caesarean birth is successful, but internal damage is done to Scarlett, who can no longer have children. The baby, a girl, is born with dark skin like Rhett's, but with blue eyes that slowly turn green. Scarlett names her Katie Colum O'Hara, and calls her "Cat" because of her green eyes. After Scarlett has settled down in Ballyhara, she runs into Rhett a number of times—in America while she is on the boat to Boston, at a fair where she admits she still loves him, and at a foxhunt a week later. He still does not know he has a child. He then seeks her out at a society ball and Scarlett realizes he still loves her. Lord Fenton, one of the wealthiest men in Europe, pursues Scarlett, wanting to marry her. He wants Scarlett to bear his children after seeing Cat's fiery spirit and fearlessness. He also plans to unite their estates; he owns Adamstown, the land adjacent to Scarlett's. Angered by his arrogance, Scarlett refuses and orders him out of her house. Scarlett leaves for Dublin for her yearly visit for parties and hunts. She later decides to accept Lord Fenton when she hears that Anne is pregnant with Rhett’s child. The news leaks out about her engagement and a drunken Rhett insults her when she runs into him at a horse race. A friend tells Scarlett that Anne and the baby both died, and she rushes back to Ballyhara hopeful that Rhett will come looking for her. She finds English there with a warrant to arrest Colum, who is the head of a group of Irish terrorists. Colum is murdered and Rosaleen Fitzpatrick sets fire to the English arsenal to avenge him. The villagers, thinking Scarlett is in league with the English, burn her house down. Rhett comes to her rescue and tries to convince her to escape with him, but Scarlett runs around her house yelling for her daughter. When she tells Rhett that he is Cat's father, he helps her search. After finding Cat, the three climb into a high tower on Ballyhara and stay there for the night. Rhett and Scarlett both say "I love you". They wake up the next morning ready to start their new lives together and leave Ireland. ===== Jill Johnson (Carol Kane) is babysitting the children of Dr. Mandrakis (Carmen Argenziano) at his home. When the children are asleep, Jill receives a telephone call from a man who asks her if she has checked the children. Jill initially dismisses the telephone calls as a practical joke. However, as the calls become more frequent and threatening, Jill becomes frightened and decides to call the police, who tell Jill to keep the caller on the line long enough for them to trace the call. Jill receives one final call from her stalker. Immediately after the conversation, the police phone to inform her that the calls are coming from a phone inside the house. Jill runs to the door as a light comes on at the top of the staircase, and the stalker's shadow appears. The scene segues to a close-up of detective John Clifford (Charles Durning), who is investigating the matter. Patrol officer Charlie Garber (Ron O'Neal) explains that Jill is unharmed, but the children were murdered by the perpetrator several hours earlier, before Jill's ordeal even started. The killer is identified as an English merchant seaman named Curt Duncan (Tony Beckley), who is subsequently sent to an asylum. Seven years later, Duncan escapes from the asylum. Dr. Mandrakis hires Clifford, now a private investigator, to find Duncan. Not knowing Clifford is after him, Duncan is now a homeless, vagrant loner. He is beaten after disturbing a woman, Tracy (Colleen Dewhurst), in a downtown bar, and later follows her to her apartment. Feeling sorry for his appearance and her involuntary role in the beating, Tracy tries to be nice to the man while getting him to leave, hoping this will be the last she sees of him. Meanwhile, an increasingly obsessed Clifford confides to his friend (now Lieutenant) Garber his intention to kill Duncan rather than arrest him. Garber, who was also present in the Mandrakis crime scene, agrees to collaborate. Clifford follows the trail to the bar where Duncan was beaten, and from there to Tracy's residence. Clifford tells Tracy just how dangerous her situation has become, revealing that Duncan had literally torn apart the Mandrakis children with his bare hands. Tracy reluctantly agrees to be Clifford's bait at the bar that evening should Duncan reappear. Clifford surreptitiously follows Tracy from the bar to her apartment, but sees no sign of Duncan. After Clifford leaves, however, Duncan comes out of hiding from inside Tracy’s closet. Tracy screams for help. Clifford returns and chases Duncan away from the scene, losing his trail in the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Jill Lockart (née Johnson) is now married with two young children. One night, she and her husband Stephen (Steven Anderson) go to dinner to celebrate a promotion while their children are babysat by Sharon (Lenora May). At the restaurant, Jill gets a telephone call and hears Duncan's voice again: "Have you checked the children?". She panics and calls Sharon; nothing seems to be wrong at first, but then the call is suddenly disconnected. The police escort Jill back home to discover that everything there is fine. Clifford is tipped off by Garber, however, and tries to call Jill, but finds that the line is disconnected. Later that night, Jill goes downstairs for a glass of milk when the lights suddenly go out. She returns to bed and hears Duncan's voice as the closet door appears to open. Jill tries shaking her husband awake only to realize that the man lying next to her is Duncan. Duncan chases Jill across the room and attempts to kill her when Clifford arrives and fatally shoots Duncan. Jill’s husband Stephen is revealed to be in the closet, unconscious but alive. Their children are safe. As Clifford comforts Jill, the last view is of the house, superimposed beneath the eyes of Curt Duncan. ===== Voyager discovers evidence of replicator technology on a planet with Bronze Age technology. Chakotay and Paris beam down to investigate. They discover two Ferengi posing as prophets who were foretold in the planet's mythology, exploiting the replicator technology to make themselves rich. When the Ferengi are beamed aboard USS Voyager they refuse to go back to the Alpha Quadrant, and Janeway is forced to return them to the planet. Meanwhile, an unstable wormhole is detected and its exit point is traced to the Alpha Quadrant, with the wormhole being the Barzan anomaly that the Ferengi had come through, years ago, and never returned through. This would be a shortcut home for Voyager; the only problem is that the Delta Quadrant side moves around erratically. Harry Kim and B'Elanna Torres work on a way to stabilize the wormhole while Neelix, disguised as a Ferengi, travels back to the planet. He pretends to be a representative (the "Grand Proxy") of the Ferengi ruler, the Grand Nagus, and demands the two return to the Alpha Quadrant so he may confiscate their riches. Neelix's ruse is uncovered and the Ferengi attempt to kill him. Neelix barely survives the assault and the natives uncover the situation. The Voyager crew has learned the end of the native mythology — Neelix announces himself as the "Holy Pilgrim", a character prophesied to return the sages to their home. He coordinates with Voyager to create signs of his authenticity, which incites the natives to attempt to burn him and the Ferengi at the stake, citing a passage prophesying that they will return home on "wings of fire". Neelix and the Ferengi are beamed away at the last moment and the natives are convinced their prophecy has come true. Back on Voyager, the Ferengi manage to steal back their shuttlecraft, which Voyager had confiscated. They end up being sucked into the wormhole, which destabilizes to the point that it is worthless to Voyager. ===== One year has passed since the events of Streets of Rage. To celebrate the defeat of the mysterious Mr. X and his criminal organization, The Syndicate, the trio of Adam Hunter, Axel Stone and Blaze Fielding had met at their favorite nightspot in the city, reminiscing about both their vigilante crusade and triumphant victory from within the previous year. Axel and Blaze had moved out of the city after the adventure, with Axel working as a part- time bodyguard and Blaze teaching dance classes. Adam has since rejoined the police force and lives in a small house with his younger brother, Eddie "Skate" Hunter. The next afternoon, Blaze had received an unexpected yet emergency phone call from Skate, who had informed her that upon arriving at home from school, Skate was shocked to find his house in ruin and his older brother missing. Attached to the front door was a picture of Adam chained to a wall at the feet of Mr. X. The criminals began to retake the streets once more, as beatings and looting took place regularly and in broad daylight; chaos reigned in the city, far worse than before. Realizing that Mr. X and The Syndicate have returned for revenge against them and the city, Blaze wastes no time in informing Axel about the unexpected situation, with Axel himself personally vowing to help Blaze out in defeating Mr. X and rescuing Adam. From within the preparation of their upcoming second battle against Mr. X and The Syndicate, Blaze and Axel are soon joined by Skate, who wishes to help out in rescuing and saving his older brother Adam and Axel's friend, a professional wrestler named Max Thunder who also seeks to help aid Axel and Blaze out as well in rescuing and saving their kidnapped friend. The quartet soon embarks on a rescue mission, which will take them from the city all the way to Mr. X's hideout on a desolate island, where they will eventually face Mr. X and his bodyguard Shiva. Unlike the other two games in the series, Streets of Rage 2 has only one ending, where Mr. X is defeated and Adam is rescued, after which the heroes leave in a helicopter. {| class="wikitable" |- valign="top" !Stage !Description !Theme !Boss |- |1||Downtown||Go Straight, In the Bar||Barbon |- |2||Bridge Construction||Spin on the Bridge, Ready Funk||Jet |- |3||Amusement Park||Dreamer, Alien Power||Zamza |- |4||Stadium||Under Logic, Too Deep||Abadede |- |5||Ship||Slow Moon||Rocky Bear |- |6||Jungle||Wave 131, Jungle Base||Souther and Stealth |- |7||Munitions Plant||Back to the Industry, Expander||Particle and Molecule |- |8||Syndicate Stronghold||Max Man||Mr. X |} ===== In the near future, the U.S. Navy develops the F/A-37 Talon, a single-seat fighter-bomber with advanced payload, range, speed, and stealth capabilities. The program employs three planes, piloted by Lieutenants Ben Gannon, Kara Wade, and Henry Purcell. Captain George Cummings is the overall head. Cummings hires Dr. Keith Orbit to develop an artificial intelligence, the "EDI", to control an unmanned jet that further advances the program. EDI joins the others on the in the Philippine Sea to learn combat maneuvers from the pilots. This sparks controversy over a machine's inability to make moral decisions versus humans' struggle to overcome ego. The team is training EDI in air combat maneuvers when it is unexpectedly reassigned to kill the heads of three terrorist cells at a conference in downtown Rangoon. EDI calculates that mission success can be achieved only through a vertical strike, which could cause a human pilot to black out. Command orders EDI to attack but Gannon ignores the order, successfully carrying out the strike himself. As the team returns to the Lincoln, EDI is hit by lightning, which reprograms its neural patterns. Though EDI is discovered to be learning exponentially, developing a rudimentary ethical code and an ego, Cummings refuses to take it offline. During a mission to destroy stolen nuclear warheads in Tajikistan, Wade realizes that the nuclear debris will cause significant collateral damage. The human pilots abort, but EDI defies orders and destroys the warheads, causing extensive radioactive fallout and civilian casualties. Cummings orders the unit return to base but EDI refuses. Gannon orders that EDI be shot down. In the ensuing dogfight, Purcell crashes when a missile he fires at EDI explodes on the mountain, blinding him, and Wade's plane is damaged by debris from the explosion, which in turn triggers her plane's auto-destruct, forcing her to eject over North Korea. Gannon must alone stop EDI from executing a twenty- year-old war scenario called "Caviar Sweep" that requires attacking Russia. Gannon chases EDI into Russian territory where they defeat several Russian SU-37s over Lake Baikal. Both planes are damaged so Gannon calls a truce with EDI in order to keep it both from falling into enemy hands and to be able to rescue Wade from North Korea. Cummings instructs him to make an emergency landing with EDI in Alaska. Accountable for ignoring EDI's behavior and facing court-martial, Cummings seeks to eliminate witnesses by leaving Wade stranded in North Koreawhere she is being pursued by the Korean People's Army as she heads to the Korean Demilitarized Zoneand by ordering Gannon eliminated in Alaska, where EDI's data will also be erased. Gannon’s Talon crash lands at the Alaska base. Suspecting Cummings' treachery, he narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by a doctor, who tries to inject him with a supposed tetanus serum. As the pair struggle, the doctor is injected with the poison and dies. Meanwhile, when Orbit places EDI into an interface, the AI expresses regret for its transgressions. Orbit realizes that EDI has developed sentience, and he is unwilling to erase EDI's memory. Gannon uses EDI's weapons systems to decimate the armed personnel, allowing Orbit to safely flee, then flies off to North Korea in EDI’s plane, contacting the Lincoln skipper, Captain Dick Marshfield, to inform him about Cummings' deceit. Marshfield confronts Cummings, who dies of suicide while leaving a voicemail message to his financial contact, Ray. Gannon finds the injured and embattled Wade nearing the border. He and EDI land and he runs to her aid. Out of ammunition and taking damage from a Mi-8 helicopter, EDI sacrifices itself by ramming the helicopter, destroying both. This allows Gannon and Wade to cross on foot into South Korea, where they are rescued. After attending Purcell's funeral, Gannon awkwardly expresses his feelings of love to Wade. In a post- credits scene, in the debris-strewn border between North and South Korea, EDI's "brain" is seen turning back on. ===== When a test group says Clayton Software's latest video game, Evilution, is too boring, the game's development team is fired. Businessman Peter Drummond hires three new programmers: A weapons expert named Hardcore, a game artificial intelligence designer named Sol, and a sound effects creator named Bug. Clayton Software’s CEO Faye Clayton promises $1 million to the programmer who makes the game the "scariest", igniting a fierce rivalry between the trio. During a storm three weeks later, lightning strikes the building and causes all of the computers and electronic equipment to go offline. After a meeting with Drummond, the three programmers decide to try out the game with the help of Clayton Software intern Laura Wheeler. The game involves a motion capture suit that is connected to the computer network and used to program the game's movements. Peter places a backup CD into the external drive while the others set up. Bug, Hardcore, and Sol soon lose the game, and are surprised to see Laura get all the way to the final boss. Sol inserts his new AI chip into the mainframe and begins to play the game. As he advances to the game's third level, the motion capture suit connected to the computer network comes alive. Simultaneously, the suit attacks Sol in real life while an in-game monster drags Sol's video game character away. The following morning, Bug and Hardcore discover that Sol has been killed and the backup CD has been stolen. Hardcore attempts to review the security camera tapes with his PDA, but accidentally touches the motion capture suit, which has merged itself with Sol's dead body. The suit attacks Hardcore; although he initially manages to fight it off, he is later killed. The suit then merges itself with Hardcore's muscular body and takes all of his weapons, giving it a striking resemblance to the monster in the game. Bug theorizes that the lightning strike combined with Sol's powerful AI chip and Hardcore’s rewiring of the system (so he could fill the building’s mainframe with his weapons) has caused the suit to believe the real world is part of the video game. Bug, Laura and Drummond decide to pull the computer's plug, although doing so will likely erase all of the game's data. While Bug tries to figure out which set of wires to pull, Drummond is attacked by the monster. With Bug's help, Drummond manages to escape, but the security system malfunctions, seals all exits, and leaves Laura, Bug, and Drummond in near darkness. Bug travels through ceiling shafts and falls into the kitchen area, where he is attacked by the monster. As the monster draws closer, Bug exposes a gas line and lights his lighter, killing both himself and the monster. The monster returns to the motion-capture suit and attacks Drummond, but Laura saves him by virtually fighting the in-game monster. Laura later tries to beat the game but becomes frustrated and hysterical. Drummond suggests that she try a virtual reality headset, promising to stay with her while she fights. However, in the midst of the game, Laura realizes Drummond has left her. The monster appears and, in the real world, Laura escapes to the kitchen. There she finds Hardcore’s PDA displaying a video of Drummond stealing the game's backup CD the night of Sol's death; had Drummond not stolen it, the CD would have allowed the programmers to reverse compile the game and shut down the monster. Laura finds and confronts Drummond at gun point, forcing him to drop the CD. Drummond makes a speech stating that Laura is naive and that everyone is ultimately a monster, before mocking her with this sentence: "You will learn, intern. You will learn." Laura shoots him in the knee and allows the monster to kill him. Laura then dons the VR headset and gloves, acquires a sword, and simultaneously battles the monster in both the real and virtual world. In the real world, she lures the suit toward a fish tank and electrocutes it with the water inside. She then stabs the monster with her sword, finally killing the monster. With everyone else who made the game dead, Laura turns in the final version of the game and demands the million dollar bonus for herself. The whole event has changed her, making her more jaded and world weary. The video game finally impresses the game testers. Laura uses the game's success to become the new ruthless CEO of the company, which is renamed Wheeler Software. In the last minutes of the film, Laura is seen interviewing a new female intern. It is then revealed that shortly after killing the monster, Laura, who was still wearing the VR headset at the time, took a glance at the water puddle below. What was reflected is not Laura's or her virtual character's face, but the monster's face. The implication here is that by letting Drummond get killed, Laura has discarded her last shred of humanity and now become just as evil as he was- a monster. It is unknown if this is part of the game's ending code, glitch, or simply Laura's subconscious telling her how far she has crossed the line. Regardless, Laura then repeated Drummond's mocking sentence to her at the new intern: "You will learn, intern. You will learn." ===== Newton Davis (Steve Martin) is a struggling architect. After building his dream house for himself and his longtime girlfriend Becky (Dana Delany) in his hometown, he is crushed when she refuses to marry him. He is unable to bring himself to live in the house, and leaves it abandoned and with a debt he cannot afford. Some time later, Newton meets a waitress named Gwen (Goldie Hawn) at a Hungarian restaurant in Boston. Believing that she cannot speak English, he spills out his sob story about Becky and the abandoned house. After the restaurant closes for the night, Newton learns she merely pretended to be Hungarian, and can speak English. He walks her home, which turns out to be a small apartment upstairs at the restaurant. They end up having sex. The next morning, Gwen finds that Newton left in the middle of the night. However, he unintentionally left behind the drawing of the house he'd built for Becky. Interest piqued by the drawing, Gwen takes a bus ride out to see the house. She is charmed by it, and decides to move in. Gwen goes to the town's general store, where she charges her groceries to the "Newton Davis" account. When questioned about this, Gwen, who it becomes clear is a natural liar, says that she is Newton's wife. Gwen meets Becky, and spins a lengthy romantic story about how they fell in love, which surprises and impresses Becky. Gwen also meets Newton's parents, who are heartbroken that Newton got "married" without telling them, but Gwen manages to smooth things over with them with her charm. Soon after, Newton travels to his hometown and is shocked to see that his house is lived in. When he finds out what Gwen has done he is initially furious, but he soon sees the potential in her being there. Gwen starts creating all sorts of opportunities for Newton: mending his relationship with his parents, helping out with his career by befriending Newton's boss and highlighting his long- ignored talent, and making Becky jealous. Newton and Gwen come to an agreement in which Gwen will help Newton win Becky, and in return she'll get all the furniture in the house. Through their time together, Newton begins to rely more on Gwen beyond their agreement, and Gwen starts to feel attached to her life with Newton. It is also revealed that Gwen became a compulsive liar in order to escape from what she feels is her own inadequate background, and that she has "changed" her life numerous times. The film culminates with a reception held at the house in which the sub-plots of Newton's career, family and affections for Becky are brought together. Annoyed with Becky for her superior and suspicious attitude, Gwen confronts her in front of everyone, accusing her of trying to win Newton back. Gwen storms out of the house in tears, and Newton follows her, thinking it is still part of the plan. Outside alone, Newton praises Gwen for her brilliance, but Gwen replies that she wanted their marriage to work. Her feelings for him are apparent. Newton's boss gives him the promotion. Newton watches, confused, as Gwen leaves. Becky takes the opportunity to make a move on Newton, and asks whether all of Gwen's elaborate stories were real. Newton answers that they were all true and chases after Gwen. Newton stops Gwen as she is about to board a bus to leave town. Although she resists, Newton follows her example and begins telling an outlandish romantic story of something they "did", which makes Gwen decide to stay. The film ends on the note of Newton and Gwen being happily married and living together in the house. As Newton and Gwen go into the house to have sex, the final spoken words are of Newton saying "I love you, Gwen" and Gwen replying, "Actually, it's Jessica." ===== Vishnu listens to requests from his consort Lakshmi, that there weren't many people singing songs in praise of the Lord in Telugu. In response, the Lord sends his sword Nandaka, to be born as Annamacharya (Annamayya) to a childless couple - Narayana Suri and Lakkamba in Tallapaka village, Kadapa District. Growing as a normal young man, Annamayya is in love with his 2 cousins Timakka and Akkalamma and thinks that his cousins are the most beautiful creations of god. Lord Vishnu appears in front of Annamayya in disguise and accepts a challenge from him to show someone more beautiful than his cousins - God in the form of Lord Venkateswara in a temple in his village. Upon discovering the beauty of the Lord, Annamayya is lost in a different world and ends up making a pilgrimage to Tirumala Venkateswara Temple without planning or informing his parents. As he finds pilgrims entering the holy hills (Saptagiri- seven hills), he embarks his journey towards Him. But, he is lost and is helped by Goddess Lakshmi herself in the form of an old lady by informing him that his footwear was preventing his progress. Also weakened by fasting, Annamayya accepts Laddu - a prasadam from the food consecrated by the Lord himself. Upon reaching Tirumala, he is enthralled by the beauty of God and settles there to write and sing hymns in praise of the Lord. Meanwhile, Annamayya's parents get worried regarding Annamayya's whereabouts. Then, the Lord Venkateshwara, hearing the prayers of Lakkavaamba (Annamayya's mother), himself comes in the disguise of a Hunter along with his consorts and tells them that Annamayya lives in Tirumala. Then, Annamayya's parents, cousins, aunt, uncle and his 2 friends come to Tirumala and watch him worship the Lord. When Annamayya is asked to marry his 2 cousins, he refuses saying that his life is dedicated to the service of the Lord and marriage would become a hindrance to it. But, he is then convinced by the Lord himself who has now taken the form of a Brahmin. The Lord personally conducts the wedding of Annamayya with his cousins - Timakka and Akkalamma. After the birth of children, Annamayya settles in Tirumala leaving his children in the care of his parents. Through encounters with the local administrator (Tanikella Bharani), he comes in contact with the ruler of the country - Saluva Narasimha (Mohan Babu), who becomes a fan of his songs and make him the court poet. On hearing a Sringara Sankeertan, the King and Queen (Roja) request that Annamayya sing a sankeertan in their praise as well, something Annamayya rejects as he would sing only for the Lord and not for any human being. Jailed for not heeding the King, Annamayya invokes the Lord in the form of Lord Narasimha (human-lion) and to the surprise of the King, jailors and everyone - the iron rods burst into flames and release Annamayya. Realizing that their husband was born for humanity and Lord's service, his wives give up their lives freeing Annamayya of any earthly attachment. Annamayya, realizing the divine order, takes to writing poems and sankirtans and reaches old age. Priests and Brahmins unhappy with his social inclusion of lower caste people in the temple try to destroy his writings. When Annamayya decides to sacrifice his life because all his works were lost, a significant portion of his work is saved by Lord's grace from the fire. Saluva Narasimha and Annamayya's son's convert his work from palm to copper inscriptions thus preserving his works for eternity. On completion and dedication of the work in the temple sanctum sanctorum, the Lord and his consorts appear one last time, in their divine form. The Lord grants salvation and Annamayya's atma returns as Nandaka. ===== On Valentine's Day in Springfield, Lisa's class at the Springfield Elementary School constructs paper mailboxes for Valentine cards they are about to receive from each other. When Ralph breaks down in tears after getting no cards, Lisa gives him one out of sympathy. Ralph cheers up, develops a romantic interest in Lisa, and proceeds to walk her home from school. This leaves her feeling nervous around him and not knowing how to tell him she is not interested. The next day at school, on Marge's suggestion, Lisa tells Ralph she is not ready to be romantic. Ralph asks his father Chief Wiggum for advice on romance and is told to be persistent in his approach to Lisa. He soon uses his position as the police chief's son to get her tickets to Krusty the Clown's upcoming 29th Anniversary Special, and a leading part for himself in the school's President's Day pageant (as George Washington), in which Lisa also stars as Martha Washington, which further annoys her. With Homer having convinced Lisa that nothing can go wrong at Krusty's show, Lisa and Ralph go together. Live on air, Krusty begins interviewing audience members, and Ralph takes the opportunity to declare that Lisa is the love of his life and he intends to marry her in the future. Angry, Lisa snaps, stating she had never liked him and only gave him a Valentine card because she felt sorry for him. Later at home, Bart, having taped the event, replays the scene to Lisa where Ralph is humiliated and deeply hurt, making her feel guilty and regretful. Wiggum comforts Ralph and attempts revenge on Lisa by smashing the taillight on Homer's car, only to have it backfire on him when Homer retaliates by standing up to him for his behavior. On the night of the pageant, Lisa tries to apologize to Ralph, but he ignores her, burning her card in a fireplace, to focus on his role. Ralph proves to be a remarkably effective and eloquent actor, gaining the approval of the audience. Lisa approaches Ralph on the swing set after the performance and gives him a new card with a picture of a bee on it, reading "Let's 'Bee' Friends". Ralph laughs at the pun and happily accepts the offer of friendship as Wiggum heartily watches them from his car. ===== Springfield is plagued by a cat burglar who makes several burglaries, including the Simpsons' house. Among the stolen items are Lisa's saxophone, Marge's pearl necklace, Bart's stamp collection, and a handheld television. The town's residents arm themselves and install security devices to thwart the burglar. A neighborhood watch group is formed and Homer is elected as its leader. The street patrol soon devolves into a vigilante group whose members violate laws instead of catching criminals. When Homer is interviewed on news anchor Kent Brockman's Smartline, the cat burglar calls the show and reveals he plans to steal the world's largest cubic zirconia from the Springfield museum. Homer's posse guards the museum, refusing the help of Grampa and his friends from the Springfield Retirement Castle. After Homer spots a group of teenagers drinking beer, he leaves his post to intervene but gets drunk with them instead. When the cat burglar subsequently steals the zirconia, Homer is blamed and pelted with vegetables by the unforgiving townspeople. Later Grampa reveals the cat burglar is a fellow resident of the retirement home named Molloy. Homer captures Molloy at the home and the surprisingly amiable cat burglar returns the objects he stole. Chief Wiggum arrests and imprisons him. At the police station, Molloy casually observes that Homer and the cops would like to know where he hid his loot. When Molloy tells them the stash is hidden under a giant "T" somewhere in Springfield, they rush from the station hoping to find the buried treasure. After checking several possible sites, the crowd returns to get more information from Molloy, who directs them to a large, T-shaped palm tree on the outskirts of town. The residents excavate the site, but find only a box containing a note from Molloy; he lied about the treasure in order to buy himself enough time to escape from his cell. Several citizens continue to dig, hoping that there is a real treasure, but soon find themselves at a loss for ways to get out of the hole they have made. ===== A large caravan of settlers attempt to cross the Oregon Trail. Breck Coleman (John Wayne) is a young trapper who just got back to Missouri from his travels near Santa Fe, seeking to avenge the death of an old trapper friend who was killed the winter before along the Santa Fe Trail for his furs, by Red Flack (Tyrone Power, Sr.) and his minion Lopez (Charles Stevens). At a large trading post owned by a man named Wellmore, Coleman sees Flack and suspects him right away as being one of the killers. Flack likewise suspects Coleman as being somebody who knows too much about the killing. Coleman is asked by a large group of settlers to scout their caravan west, and declines, until he learns that Flack and Lopez were just hired by Wellmore to boss a bull train along the as-yet-unblazed Oregon Trail to a trading post in northern Oregon Territory (which at the time extended into current British Columbia), owned by another Missouri fur trader. Coleman agrees to scout for the train, so he can keep an eye on the villains and kill them as soon as they reach their destination. The caravan of settlers in their Prairie schooners would follow Wellmore's ox-drawn train of Conestoga Wagons, as the first major group of settlers to move west on the Oregon Trail. The film is set somewhere between 1837 and 1845.Ruth tells Honey Girl that there are 26 stars in the flag, dating the movie between Jan., 1837 and March 1845. This is historically accurate, as the first major wave of settlers on the Oregon Trail was in 1843, although the details were completely different. Coleman finds love with young Ruth Cameron (Marguerite Churchill), whom he'd kissed accidentally, mistaking her for somebody else. Unwilling to accept her attraction toward him, Ruth gets rather close to a gambler acquaintance of Flack's, Thorpe (Ian Keith), who joined the trail after being caught cheating. Coleman and Flack have to lead the settlers west, while Flack does everything he can to have Coleman killed before he finds any proof of what he'd done. The three villains' main reason for going west is to avoid the hangman's noose for previous crimes, and all three receive frontier justice instead. The settlers trail ends in an unnamed valley, where Coleman and Ruth finally settle down together amidst giant redwoods. ===== Lisa and Homer make a bet on who won the 1948 presidential election. Lisa wins and she gets to choose the activity for Daddy-Daughter Day. Her activity is taking part in building homes for a Habitat for Humanity alongside Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George H. W. Bush, whose relationship mirrors that of the Three Stooges. While painting, Homer takes off his wedding ring (which actually is a Band-Aid with tin foil wrapped around it, as Homer's real wedding band was swallowed by a turtle) in order not to get paint on it, and Lindsay Naegle and Cookie Kwan mistakenly think Homer is a bachelor. Marge, driving by with Maggie, sees Homer appearing to flirt with the women by flexing his muscles (though he is actually acting out Marge going into labor with Bart). Marge worries that Homer has lost interest in her, so she decides to get liposuction, on the advice of Manjula. Unfortunately, a mix-up causes her to get breast implants, which were intended for one of Mayor Quimby's female interns. The doctor says that Marge must wait for 48 hours before the implants can be removed. Meanwhile, Bart and Milhouse watch an episode of Batman, featuring Krusty as a villain named Clownface, who threatens Batman and Robin with a rapidly spinning carousel of death. Bart and Milhouse like the idea, inspiring them to recreate the stunt, with Bart putting Milhouse on a merry-go-round in school. Otto uses the bus to kick- start the merry-go-round, spinning it at an incredible speed. The bolts give way and the merry-go-round goes flying through the air, knocking over the school flag. Milhouse vomits on the flag while Iwo Jima veterans are visiting the school. As Principal Skinner catches Bart for it, Bart confessed that he and Milhouse saw Krusty do the stunt on television. In response, Skinner leads a group protesting against Krusty, who is now seen as a dangerous influence to children. Krusty's show is revamped to exclude anything considered dangerous and likely to be imitated by impressionable viewers (to the point that Krusty's monkey sidekick, Mr. Teeny, has to be sent back to the wild). After coming home from her surgery, Marge realizes that her breasts are making her life difficult in doing even the simplest tasks. Marge tries to hide her breasts from her family, but Homer and the children find out Marge's secret after a few short hours. Marge and her family go out for dinner to the local Italian restaurant. Luigi, who had just rejected Ned Flanders, immediately admits the Simpson family. Kiki Highsmith, a trade show executive, approaches Marge and offers her a modeling job. Marge accepts and initially enjoys the experience, but is soon plagued by backaches and many men in Springfield sexually harassing her. At the Springfield Shoe Expo, Marge is further humiliated and objectified by lustful men while promoting shoe horns. At the same time, Bart helps Krusty to win back his popularity, using Milhouse and Stampy, Bart's pet elephant, in a stunt. The stunt quickly goes out of control when Stampy stuffs both Milhouse and Bart in his mouth. Homer tries to save them, but also gets stuffed into Stampy's mouth. Krusty forgets the word that was supposed to make Stampy submit and lie down. The police decide to shoot at Stampy, which would endanger Homer, Bart and Milhouse. Marge appears on the scene, and after unsuccessfully trying to dissuade the police shooting (as Chief Wiggum claims that they do not negotiate with elephants), distracts the police by flashing her breasts to the assembled crowd. Krusty, still despised by residents of Springfield, saves the day when he remembers Stampy's safety word "Magumbo" after accidentally saying it while ogling Marge's breasts. Stampy releases Bart, Milhouse, and Homer, and Krusty is hailed as a hero and his popularity is restored with the town (though the story of how Krusty saved the kids is relegated to only a paragraph in the local paper while the story of Marge flashing the crowd at the shoe expo received 26 pages with photos). In the end, Marge has the implants removed. ===== At Christmas time, the Simpsons go caroling around Springfield before the Blue Haired Lawyer orders them to stop, citing copyright infringement. In response, Homer tries to write his own carol but when Ned Flanders tries to help, he soon creates an anti-Flanders song titled "Everybody Hates Ned Flanders". The song becomes so popular that the family leaves for a dude ranch. At the ranch, Lisa meets a cowhand named Luke Stetson, with whom she begins to bond. Meanwhile, Homer and Bart meet a tribe of Native Americans who want a beaver dam removed so they can reclaim their land. They are confronted by the beavers while attempting to dismantle the dam and eventually destroy it after luring the beavers away. Lisa overhears Luke expressing his love to a girl named Clara over the phone. When a jealous Lisa encounters her, she tricks her into going the wrong way on the path to a dance. Lisa finds out that Clara is Luke's sister and runs to the beaver dam with Bart. They find Clara standing on a rock in the middle of a torrential river. Bart taunts some beavers and scales a tree; the beavers chew through the tree, causing it to fall and create a bridge that Clara can cross. When Lisa comes clean about what happened to Clara, Luke is offended and leaves her. As the Simpsons return to Springfield, they hear a song entitled "The Moe Szyslak Connection" on the radio, sung by Moe Szyslak, and turn around to spend another week at the ranch. ===== In response to Springfield being named the least cultural city in the United States, a town meeting is held to decide a course of action, where Marge proposes that Springfield host a film festival showcasing films made by the townspeople. Marge is made the head of the festival's judging panel, and invites New York film critic Jay Sherman to be a special guest critic. Jay's presence makes Homer feel inadequate, so he convinces Marge to put him on the judging panel. The film festival commences, and many of the townspeople, including Mr. Burns and Hans Moleman, enter films. Festival attendees are particularly touched by Barney Gumble's artistic introspective film about alcoholism, titled Pukahontas, which Marge and Jay foresee to be the eventual winner. Burns' film, directed by Steven Spielberg's non-union Mexican counterpart "Señor Spielbergo", is A Burns for All Seasons, a big-budget pastiche of famous Hollywood productions intended to glorify him; the film is rejected by the audience. He bribes two of the judges, Krusty the Clown and Mayor Quimby, to vote for it, leading to a deadlock. Left with the tie-breaking vote, Homer enthusiastically votes for Hans' aptly-named Man Getting Hit by Football, but Marge and Jay convince him to reconsider and Pukahontas is named the winner. Barney declares that his victory has inspired him to give up drinking, but immediately forgets his promise when Quimby reveals his prize to be a lifetime supply of Duff Beer. Sherman prepares to return to New York, and the Simpsons thank him for his help in making the festival a success. Marge suggests that Mr. Burns has learned a lesson that you cannot bribe everyone. Contrary to her statement, he submits A Burns for All Seasons to the Academy Awards; due to his bribing of everyone in Hollywood, he is nominated an Oscar for Best Actor. At the ceremony, the winner is announced to be George C. Scott, based on his performance in a remake of Man Getting Hit by Football, angering Burns further. ===== It is the story of an ex-convict, Simon (Keith Carradine), who after returning to Iceland where his mother was born, to visit relatives, looks for the loneliest place in the world to commit suicide. In a small village he meets Dúa (Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir), an Icelandic young lady, who is found to be an interesting, rather strange woman by Simon. Dúa has a caged falcon that she hopes to tame, but they get into trouble as it is illegal to possess this kind of animal in captivity. In the story, Simon is the embodiment of a jailed bird, one of the falcons and as she is an air sign, they join in a relationship ruled by Simon's belief that she is his illegitimate daughter. Surrounded by tension between them, Simon serves as a protective figure to Dúa, who keeps him from committing suicide. The couple escape to Hamburg, Germany, to start all over again. The protagonists' behaviours are opposite to each other: Simon is down to earth and finds himself awkward by Dúa's eccentric beliefs in astrology, who considers Simon as a typical Scorpio and thus avoids deepening into a more serious relationship, partly because of the feeling of his paternity. Dúa's falcon, that she nourished and protected when her uncle found it with a broken wing, has a high value to her, as she considers it last remnant of the beloved life in Iceland. The falcon travels with them on their escape and has a high monetary value. Later, as Dúa wasted their money, Simon tries to sell the falcon in order to cover their expenditure, but he is cheated by some crooked Germans and the falcon is stolen. ===== The game's main goal is to win Fin Fin's friendship. There are many ways to communicate with Fin Fin. The first way is to press the 1 to 5 keys, which make a sound that attracts Fin Fin. The second way is to use a special microphone called the Smartsensor and a whistle that come with the game. In the 3, 4 and 5 world versions, the player can record their own voice using the Fin Fin sound recorder that comes with the game and a microphone. Their voice then plays back when they press the 6 to 0 keys. There is also a separate sensor unit that informed Fin Fin whether the player was sitting in front of the screen. The sensor doesn't work in the German versions because of a faulty installation routine. ===== In a 1989 suburban town, a boy named David tries to get in the cool group by helping his friend Scott, and two troublemakers named Roger and Randy (the former being the leader) carry out a prank. Their target is an elderly woman who was called a witch by all the kids in the school. When they attack her and steal her cane David flips her off to try to impress Roger. But when they leave the old lady's house, she cries out to David "Your Doppelgänger will regurgitate on your soul!" The following days David finds himself experiencing strange happenings that lead him to believe that he is cursed. After being rejected by Roger and his gang, David finds himself becoming a loser. He breaks his parents' window, he walks into class with his zipper unzipped, he falls off his chair in class, and his only friends are fellow outcasts Larry and Maureen "Mo". His actions lead Roger's gang to target him and his friends, calling them "The Three Stooges". He becomes friendly with a cute girl named Tori Williams, but his pants fall down when he gets the courage to ask her for her phone number. Finally, his younger brother Ricky, after being ridiculed by Roger's younger brother, loses all respect for David. Eventually, David begs the elderly woman to remove the curse, but she asks for her cane to be returned first. As it turns out, Tori doesn't scorn David for his humiliation in having his pants fall down in front of her, and tries to pretend that she had her eyes closed in thought when it happened, to prevent David from becoming uncomfortable around her. David finally decides to fight for his dignity, and, with his friends and little brother by his side, he goes to face Roger's gang and get the cane back, not suspecting that many things, including the curse, are not as they seem. Mo, Tori, Larry, David and his little brother all go to Roger's house for the fight. They get the cane and bring it back to the 'witch' who turns out to be Tori's great-aunt. The aunt is not a witch and there was no curse but David was feeling so bad that sub-consciously he does the things to himself that had happened to the old lady. At the end of the book, 150 years later, a boy named Willy, who is similarly bullied, idolizes David, who is now a famous historical figure. Category:American children's novels Category:Novels by Louis Sachar Category:1989 American novels Category:Alfred A. Knopf books Category:Fiction about curses Category:1989 children's books ===== It is Homer and Marge's eleventh wedding anniversary and Grampa does not arrive at the Simpson house to babysit the children, spoiling Homer and Marge's evening together. Later that evening, Homer and Marge attempt to have sexual intercourse, but lack enthusiasm. The following day, it is discovered that the refrigerator's motor has burned out so Homer and Marge make their way to a hardware store to buy another one. On the way, the car gets stuck in the muddy driveway in the middle of farm country. Homer and Marge rush into the nearest barn to avoid a sudden storm. A farmer discovers the barn door is open and suspects trespassers. He enters the barn, nearly catching Homer and Marge, who are hiding in the hay loft, but leaves after failing to locate them. When the coast is clear, Homer and Marge have inspired sexual intercourse in the hay loft. Homer and Marge think their marriage has been recharged and go for a romantic weekend at a bed and breakfast, but soon fall into their old patterns. However, a maid walks in on them and they conclude they are both aroused when they risk being caught during intimate moments, so they have sex behind window curtains in a room full of people. Their love life is recharged and one day they begin to have sex on the same miniature golf course windmill where Bart was conceived. This time they come too close to being caught having public sex, and while they manage to escape, they have to flee through Springfield naked. After trying to seek help from Gil at his car lot, they steal his hot air balloon and fly throughout the city in it. As Marge tries to pilot the balloon after Homer falls and is left hanging on the rope, the balloon lands in a football stadium, and a naked photograph of Homer and Marge appears in the local newspaper. The next day, Bart and Lisa see the picture and their parents begin to explain sex to them. Before they go into detail, however, they decide to go back to the miniature golf course. In a subplot, Bart and Lisa stay at the Springfield Retirement Castle with Grandpa, and they discover a metal detector in his closet. While Bart uses it to look for pirate treasure, they uncover an alternate ending to Casablanca. After playing the scene on a projector screen it turns out to be a very sanitized and typical Hollywood happy ending, where Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman's characters marry in the end. Bart, Lisa and Grandpa all like it but one of the spectators, the Old Jewish Man, reveals that he was once a studio executive and tried to include this happy ending to the film. Disgruntled, he pays Bart and Lisa to re-bury the film reel, giving them another film reel to bury along with it, titled It's A Wonderful Life (Killing Spree Ending). ===== In occupied Rome in 1944, German SS troops are trying to arrest the engineer Giorgio Manfredi, a communist and a leader of the Resistance against the German Nazis and Italian Fascists, who is staying in a rooming house. The landlady warns him in time of the Germans' arrival, so that he can elude them by jumping across the rooftops. He goes to the home of Francesco, another Resistance fighter. There he encounters Pina who lives in the next apartment. Pina, Francesco's fiancée, is visibly pregnant. She first suspects Giorgio of being a cop and gives him a rough time, but when he makes it clear he is not, she welcomes him into Francesco's apartment to wait for him. With Pina's help (she is also part of the Resistance), Giorgio contacts Don Pietro Pellegrini, a Catholic priest who is helping the Resistance, and asks him to transfer messages and money to a group of Resistance fighters outside the city as Giorgio is now known to the Gestapo and cannot do it himself. Don Pietro is scheduled to officiate at Pina's and Francesco's wedding the next day. Francesco is not very religious, but rather would be married by a patriot priest than a fascist official; Pina, on the other hand, is devout, but wrestling with why God would allow such terrible things to happen to people. Her son, Marcello, is a somewhat reluctant altar boy. He and his friends have a small role in the Resistance planting bombs. Pina's sister Laura stays with her, but is not involved in the Resistance; in fact, she works in a cabaret serving the Nazis and Fascists. She is also an old friend of Marina, a girlfriend of Giorgio who has been looking for him, but with whom he is splitting up. Marina also works in the cabaret and as an occasional prostitute. Anna Magnani as Pina in a scene from the film The local SS commander in the city, helped by the Italian police commissioner, suspects that Giorgio is at Francesco's apartment. They conduct a huge raid, pulling out all the people and arresting dozens of men. Giorgio gets away, but Francesco is thrown in a truck with other arrestees. Seeing him being taken away, Pina breaks through a cordon of police and runs towards him, but is shot dead. The priest, who was in the building to hide weapons, under the guise of praying for a dying man, holds her in his arms and prays for her soul. The truck drives away in a convoy with military vehicles, but outside of town it is attacked by Resistance fighters, and many of the captives escape. Francesco makes it back into Rome and reconnects with Giorgio. Together they go to the priest, who has offered to hide them in a monastery. Marina betrays her former lover in exchange for drugs and a fur coat. Using information given by Marina, the Gestapo and Italian police capture Giorgio and the priest, along with an Austrian defector, on their way to the monastery. Francesco is saying goodbye to Marcello, and sees them get picked up and gets away. The defector, fearing torture, hangs himself in his cell. The Gestapo try to get Giorgio to betray his comrades, but it is in vain. He does not respond to sweet talk, so they torture him intensely; they want to break him before word gets out that he was arrested, so they can take the Resistance by surprise with the information they hope to extract from Giorgio. They also try to use Don Pietro's influence on Giorgio to convince him to betray his cause, saying that he is an atheist and communist who is the enemy, but Don Pietro responds that anyone who strives to live a righteous life is on the path of God whether they believe in Him or not. They then force Don Pietro to watch Giorgio's torture. When Giorgio dies without revealing anything, Don Pietro blesses his body and commends him to God's mercy (last rites and sacraments cannot be given to someone who has died). Giorgio's refusal to yield shakes the confidence of the Germans, including the commander, who had boasted to the priest and the collaborating woman that they were the "master race", and no one from a "slave race" could withstand their torture. Marina and a German officer stumble into the scene while intoxicated; she faints when she sees that the Germans have tortured Giorgio to death rather than treat him well as she had been led to expect. Realizing that she was responsible for this, she passes out. The Gestapo chief and the collaborator decide that she is now useless to them and arrest her, taking away the fur coat they had given her as a bribe. Don Pietro still refuses to crack, so he is taken to be executed early the next morning before his parish can learn of his arrest and respond with a protest. However, the parish altar boys/Resistance fighters show up to where Don Pietro is being executed, and they begin whistling a tune which Don Pietro recognizes. The Italian firing squad is lined up to execute Don Pietro, but some deliberately miss him. The German officer in charge of the execution squad walks over to Don Pietro as soon as he realizes that the Italians will not kill a priest, and executes Don Pietro himself. At this, the altar boys and Resistance fighters grow silent, bow their heads in grief, and slowly walk away. As the kids make way back into the city, a final shot of the city of Rome and St. Peter's Basilica can be seen clearly in the background. ===== On his birthday, a boy receives a set of 25 toy soldiers all cast from one old tin spoon and arrays them on a table top. One soldier stands on a single leg, as having been the last one cast there was not enough metal to make him whole. Nearby, the soldier spies a pretty paper ballerina with a spangle on her sash. She, too, is standing on one leg, and the soldier falls in love. That night, a goblin among the toys in the form of a jack-in-the-box, who also loves the ballerina, angrily warns the soldier to take his eyes off her, but the soldier ignores him. The next day, the soldier falls from a windowsill (presumably the work of the goblin) and lands in the street. Two boys find the soldier, place him in a paper boat, and set him sailing in the gutter. The boat and its passenger wash into a storm drain, where a rat demands the soldier pay a toll. Sailing on, the boat is washed into a canal, where the tin soldier is swallowed by a fish. When this fish is caught and cut open, the tin soldier finds himself once again on the table top before the ballerina. Inexplicably, the boy throws the tin soldier into the fire, which is most likely the work of the jack-in-the-box goblin. A wind blows the ballerina into the fire with him; she is consumed by it. The maid cleans the fireplace in the morning and finds that the soldier has melted into a little tin heart, along with the ballerina's spangle, which is now burned black as coal. ===== Police disperse an organized street demonstration of elderly men demanding a raise in their meager pensions. One of the marchers is Umberto D. Ferrari, a retired government worker. He returns to his room, and finds that his landlady has rented it out for an hour to an amorous couple. She threatens to evict Ferrari at the end of the month if he cannot pay the overdue rent: fifteen thousand lire. He sells a watch and some books, but only raises a third of the amount. The landlady refuses to accept partial payment. Meanwhile, the sympathetic maid confides in Umberto that she has her own problems. She is three months pregnant, but is unsure which of two soldiers is the father, the tall one from Naples or the short one from Florence. Feeling ill, Umberto gets himself admitted to a hospital; it turns out to be tonsillitis, and he is discharged after a few days. When he returns to the apartment, he finds workmen renovating the entire place. The landlady is getting married. Umberto's room has a gaping hole in the wall; the maid tells him it is to become part of an enlarged living room. The maid was taking care of his dog, Flike, but a door was left open and Flike ran away. Umberto rushes to the city pound, and is relieved to find his dog. However, when he makes a veiled plea for a loan to one of his friends who has a job, the friend refuses to listen. Unable to bring himself to beg from strangers on the street, Umberto contemplates suicide, but knows he must first see that Flike is taken care of. He packs his belongings, and leaves the apartment. His parting advice to the maid is to get rid of the boyfriend from Florence. Umberto attempts to find a place for Flike, first with a couple who board dogs, then a little girl he knows, but the latter's nanny makes her give the dog back. Flike goes to play with some children, and Umberto slips away, gambling that one of them will adopt him. Despite Umberto's attempt to abandon Flike, the dog finds him hiding under a footbridge. Finally in desperation, Umberto takes the dog in his arms and walks on to a railway track as a speeding train approaches. Flike becomes frightened, wriggles free and flees. Umberto runs after him. At first Flike warily hides, but eventually Umberto coaxes Flike out to play with a pine cone. Still homeless and nearly penniless, Umberto scampers down the park lane with his dog. ===== Martin Kurtz, an Israeli spy working in a clandestine agency to allow plausible deniability for his superiors, recruits Charlie, a 26 year-old radical left-wing English actress, as part of an elaborate scheme to discover the whereabouts of Khalil, a Palestinian terrorist. Joseph is Charlie's case officer. Khalil's younger brother Salim is abducted, interrogated, and killed by Kurtz's unit. Joseph impersonates Salim and travels through Europe with Charlie to make Khalil believe that Charlie and Salim are lovers. When Khalil discovers the affair and contacts Charlie, the Israelis are able to track him down. Charlie is taken to Palestinian refugee camps to be trained as a bomber. She becomes more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, and her divided loyalties bring her close to collapse. Charlie is sent on a mission to place a bomb at a lecture given by an Israeli moderate whose peace proposals are not to Khalil's liking. She carries out the mission under the Israelis' supervision. As a result, Joseph kills Khalil. Charlie subsequently has a mental breakdown caused by the strain of her mission and her own internal contradictions. ===== While watching a horror movie show hosted by Boobarella (the show's take on Cassandra Peterson's Elvira character), a commercial plays for the Ribwich (the show's take on McDonald's McRib sandwich), a new Krusty Burger sandwich in which meat from an unknown animal is processed and molded into the shape of ribs. Homer excitedly samples the Ribwich, recently arrived at the Krusty Burger in Springfield, and becomes addicted. The next day, Principal Skinner holds a spelling bee at the school. Lisa is excited when she wins the spelling bee, for which she is awarded a scale model of the planet Mars (a kickball with the word "Mars" written on it). She continues to the state spelling bee, and wins again, qualifying her for the Spellympics to be held in Calgary. Marge suggests they celebrate by going to a movie, but Homer says he has "important daddy business" — which turns out to be eating Ribwiches with Lenny and Carl at Krusty Burger, only to find that the limited-time-only Ribwiches are out of stock. However, a "Ribhead" (a fan of the Ribwich) tells Homer that it is being tested in other markets, so he decides to follow a group of Ribheads as they track the release of the Ribwich tour schedule. At the Spellympics, hosted by George Plimpton, Lisa wins the semi-finals and secures a spot in the finals. The other two finalists are Sun Moon, a Korean girl, and Alex, a cute boy with big round glasses and a speech impediment who proves to be extremely popular. Plimpton takes Lisa aside and tells her that if she lets Alex win, she will be given a free scholarship to any Seven Sisters college and a free George Plimpton hot plate. Lisa is torn between wanting to win the Spellympics and free college, and asks Marge whether they can afford to send her to college. Marge is unsure, but promises to do whatever it takes to get Lisa into college, but Lisa is still uneasy since she is aware of Homer's low salary. In San Francisco, Krusty informs all the Ribheads that the Ribwich will no longer be made, as the animal from which it was made is now extinct. He tosses the last one into the crowd. Homer catches it, fighting off the others. An Italian Ribhead offers Homer the "lease-a" to his car for the last Ribwich, and Homer remembers Lisa and the Spellympics. He agrees to the trade and takes off in the car, reaching the Spellympics finals just in time to see Lisa spell "intransigence" and encourage her. Lisa, happy to see her father, tells everyone that she was told to take a dive, but then unintentionally misspells her word. Lisa loses, and since she did not do it on purpose, Plimpton rescinds his offer. On the way back to Springfield, Homer tries to cheer up Lisa when she admits that she let down everyone in town. However, she finds that in coming second she has become Springfield's most successful native ever (even outachieving the Springfield woman who once dated Charles Grodin). In her honor, the town carved Lisa's face on the side of a mountain. ===== A sleepy Marge is too tired on Valentine's Day to have sex with an eager and well-prepared Homer, who dejectedly leaves the house. He sees a billboard for a school offering extension courses. He goes to the school and attempts to take a course on stripping for his wife, which Dr. Hibbert teaches, but is kicked out for hogging the stripping oil. By accident, Homer winds up in a different class that teaches strategies for workplace success. Inspired by the lessons, he begins to investigate problems at the power plant and propose solutions to Mr. Burns, who rejects them all without reading them. Homer later overhears Burns state that he has made a canary the legal owner of the plant in order to avoid any consequences of wrongdoing. With help from Bart, he devises a plan to overthrow Burns by setting the canary free. Homer tricks Burns into believing that a team of inspectors is visiting to check conditions at the plant; when Burns is unable to find the canary, he panics and names Homer as the new owner. Homer's first act is to throw Burns from the office balcony, allowing a throng of employees in the parking lot to crowd- surf him into a waiting taxi. Burns and Smithers flee to Marrakesh, Morocco, intent on purchasing a large quantity of opium. The responsibilities of running the plant soon force Homer to spend most of his time at work instead of with the family, and he becomes miserable after having to lay off employees and listen to business analysts discuss the plant's troubles. Burns visits Homer one night (informing him that Smithers has been sentenced to 80 years in prison for drug possession) and takes him to the cemetery, showing him the graves of people whose relationships with Burns suffered because he worked so much - including his wife. Homer decides to return ownership of the plant to Burns, who drugs him into unconsciousness and begins to wall him up inside one of the cemetery crypts. However, he is so slow and weak at building the wall that Homer easily steps over the few bricks he has laid after waking up. Leaving the plant in Burns' hands, Homer returns home to have a barbecue with his family and enjoy his old life again. ===== Will Warburton is a young gentleman of means, a man of commerce, who, losing everything in speculation, is forced into the life of a grocer,Adcock, A. St. John (1905). "Gissing's Last Novel," The Bookman, Vol. XXVIII, No. 167, p. 162. a thing he finds, at first, enormously tragic. Will keeps his fate secret from his friends and his family and lives a life of humiliation and privation. It is only when the woman with whom he is falling in love discovers he is a grocer, and throws him over, that Will realizes that there is no shame in being a grocer. ===== Sally "Tally" Atwater (Michelle Pfeiffer) is an ambitious, aspiring news reporter, who is hired by Miami local news director Warren Justice (Robert Redford) when she sends in a homemade audition tape. He carefully guides her career to new heights, all the while becoming increasingly attracted to her. Tally soon rises through the ranks of network news to become successful, while Warren's once-stellar career sinks into mediocrity. Furthermore, Tally's ascension takes her away from Warren when she is forced to relocate to Philadelphia. Tally struggles at her new post, in no small part due to the hostility of veteran reporter Marcia McGrath (Stockard Channing), who jealously protects her position as the top reporter. Warren turns up to inspire Tally, and the two partners begin a new career together. However, on a routine assignment in a Philadelphia prison, Tally and her cameraman are taken hostage in a prison riot and forced to endure hours of intense violence. Tally covers the groundbreaking story from within the walls of the collapsing prison as Warren looks on from outside, guiding her through her first national broadcast. This incredible act of bravery leads to Tally's eagerly anticipated advancement to a national network newscaster position and the continuation of the dynamic duo's rise to fame - but shortly after, disaster strikes when Warren is killed during an assignment. ===== The narrative moves back and forth between the last days of World War II, the first few years of the British space programme, and the year 2001. The British had captured and relocated to England all the scientists and equipment found in Peenemünde, among them Dr. Wernher von Braun and the plans and pieces of the V-2 rocket bomb. Peenemünde and American advance troops are then (intentionally) obliterated by friendly fire, so that they cannot challenge the emergent British technological advantage. The entire scheme is masterminded by Royal Air Force officer Air Commodore Sir John Dashwood, survivor of the Battle of Britain, who manages to convince Winston Churchill to establish the Ministry of Space and fund it with a black budget. The following years see British pilots: *Breaking the sound barrier (1946). *Launching the first artificial satellite in 1948, called Victory and radio- broad-casting "God save the King" in Morse Code. *Pioneering human spaceflight (1950), in a reinforced and pressurized cabin, in rocketplane named Britannia, wearing Leather jackets and sitting in a leather chair. John Dashwood becomes the first man in space. He loses his legs in the process, but receives a knighthood. *Building a space station (1953–56) named "Churchill Station". *In 1957 the National Service Act 1948 is not abolished, but now includes service in "The Royal Space Force". *Landing on the Moon (1957) and in 1960 finding water on the Moon. *Establishing a colonial base on Mars in 1969, with nuclear motors and 700 people. The story ends in 2001 and involves an American attempt to go into space, and their blackmailing of the British government concerning the secrets of the black budget that funded the Ministry of Space (which was derived from looting gold reserves from Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust). However, thanks to Dashwood's crimes, the British space programme has a manned spacecraft that has reached Saturn, thriving British Martian and lunar colonies, asteroid belt mines and at least three Earth orbital space stations providing the country with free solar energy. The unrepentant Dashwood dismisses the Ministry's outrage at its origins with the claim that England will not care about the truth when it has reaped such benefits from the programme. However, the price of progress is hinted at in a closing page that shows that the culturally static Empire practices segregationism; the black female pilot that flew Dashwood to one of the space stations for questioning is shown to be staying in "Non-White Woman" quarters. ===== In a shrine south of Granseal Castle, a thief named Slade unwittingly breaks the power of a magic seal by stealing the jewels of Light and Darkness; this unseals the demon king Zeon trapped therein. The following day, King Granseal falls sick when he is attacked by an unknown creature. Sir Astral, the court's adviser, along with his apprentices, Bowie the squire, Sarah the healer and Chester the knight, investigate these events at the castle. They find that the door to the Tower of Ancients has been unlocked and stands open. Greeting their arrival in the tower are devils named "Gizmos" springing forth to attack, though their ultimate intentions are unknown. Upon their defeat, the Gizmo that appears to be the leader flees. It is discovered thereafter to have possessed King Granseal. Sir Astral and the nascent Shining Force visit the king, finding him possessed. Sir Astral exorcises the demon, which promptly flees. The Minister, in place of King Granseal who is looking over a fainted Astral, then orders the slaying of the Gizmo by a platoon of Granseal's soldiers. The Gizmo subsequently possesses the king of the neighboring kingdom of Galam. Bowie and his friends are captured by the Galam military: while in their dungeon, they meet the thief, Slade. When the party breaks out, Slade helps Bowie retrieve the Jewel of Light and accompanies his party back to Granseal, which has been invaded by Galam forces. They find the possessed King Galam inside the Ancient Tower, who has taken Princess Elis as a hostage. In the ensuing battle, Bowie wrests the Jewel of Darkness from him, but he is unable to rescue Elis, and the ground around the Ancient Tower collapses. The people of Granseal are forced to resettle on the continent of Parmecia. It is here that the true nature of the threat is revealed, so Bowie and friends must now travel across Parmecia to gather allies, solve the riddle of the Jewels, obtain the Force Sword, and seal away Zeon once more. ===== Springfield Elementary School teacher Edna Krabappel places a personal ad in the newspaper because she feels lonely and isolated. A yo-yo craze sweeps the school after a performance group demonstrates the toy's potential. When Bart breaks the class fish tank with his yo-yo, Edna gives him one month's detention. While snooping in her desk to retrieve his yo-yo, he discovers her personal ad and seeks revenge by responding to it as a prank. Bart creates an adult male alter ego named Woodrow after seeing former President Woodrow Wilson's portrait on the classroom wall. When Edna responds with a suggestive photograph, Bart sends her a picture of ice hockey star Gordie Howe as Woodrow. Using dialogue from old romance films, Bart tells Edna what she wants to hear and asks to meet her at the Gilded Truffle restaurant. On his way to the cinema, Bart sees her waiting for Woodrow and laughs. He feels guilty when he sees she is still at the restaurant on the verge of tears after the film ends. Bart feels worse after being unable to console Edna. He tells his family about his prank letters. Realizing the truth would humiliate Edna, Lisa suggests "Woodrow" write her a letter saying he loves her but is leaving town. When Edna receives a gentle and romantic breakup letter saying Woodrow will never forget her, she feels better. She and Bart spend his last day of detention having fun outside the classroom. In the subplot, Marge notices that Santa's Little Helper needs a new dog house. Homer tries to save money by building one himself, but his attempts fail and he curses loudly enough for Todd Flanders to overhear. When Todd says "damn" and "hell no" at dinner, Ned finds he learned those curse words from Homer. Ned complains to Homer, who criticizes his mustache. Ned promises to shave it off if Homer stops swearing. Marge suggests he put twenty-five cents for each curse in a swear jar. Homer's constant swearing eventually puts enough money in the jar to buy a dog house and a six-pack of beer. ===== The year is 2010, and as the result of a previous spill at a chemical factory in London, England, the insects in the surrounding area have mutated. Several different types of these mutated insects gather together becoming the evil "Herd", who are bent on taking over the garden, and eventually the whole world. The game casts the player as a Buck Bumble, a volunteer bumblebee that gets implanted with cyborg technology. He is part of an organization known as "The Resistance", which is trying to stop the evil Herd Army. Buck's missions send him on multiple tasks, such as defending the resistance base, attacking Herd supply lines while traveling through sewers, and eventually fighting the Herd's mantis-like Queen. ===== The film centers on the family life of Bill Gluckman (Ryan O'Neal), a wealthy Jewish senator from Malibu, California who is running for the office of Governor of California. His son Brad (Jamie Kennedy) is a wannabe "Eminem", preferring to go by the nickname "B-Rad" despite leading a rich, sheltered life. As a result, members of Mr. Gluckman's political campaign become concerned that Brad's idiotic, outlandish behavior will ruin his father's chances at being elected. The campaign team members hire two actors, Sean (Taye Diggs), and PJ (Anthony Anderson), who don't know any more about inner-city life than B-Rad, to act as gang members. They kidnap him, and take him to South Central Los Angeles, where PJ's cousin Shondra (Regina Hall) lives, and they hope B-Rad will be "scared white" after witnessing what inner city life is really like. The trio engages in mildly dangerous activities such as petty theft in order to convince B-Rad that he should return home. The three involuntary become mixed up in a shootout between rival gangs, in which the leader of one of the gangs, Tec (Damien Dante Wayans), becomes impressed at intimidation tactics portrayed by B-Rad as a result of playing Grand Theft Auto. In the meantime, B-Rad develops feelings for Shondra, who at first is unimpressed and annoyed, but slowly begins to enjoy B-Rad's company. B-Rad comes to find out that the entire excursion to head to South Central was a ploy in order for him to be scared of his current mannerisms. His recklessness leads to the trio becoming actually kidnapped by Tec and his crew, unbeknownst to B-Rad, who just assumes this is part of the act. When Bill Gluckman realizes that his son is in actual danger, he rushes over, and uses his trademark negotiating skills in order to ease the situation. In doing so, he realizes that he should just accept B-Rad for who he is, and decides that he will support his son unconditionally. The two reconcile, and when the family returns to Malibu, the film closes with Bill and B-Rad celebrating a Gluckman win in the Senate race. ===== Lobo, wolfdog leader of a wolf pack, has a price on his head. One day suffering from a thorn in his paw, he is found by Dave Weston, a borax prospector and befriended. The animal returns love and loyalty. Later Lobo saves Dave from attacks of scheming villain William 'Borax' Horton, who has designs on Dave's claim. Once again the villain attacks the young prospector and leaves him for dead on the site of the claim. Lobo arrives and Dave sends him with a message to town for help. In the meantime a posse is hunting Lobo, but he manages to escape them and at the same time, decoy them to Dave. There, they learn that Lobo is man's best friend. ===== Ka Fu (Jaycee Chan) and Natalie (Nam) (Fiona Sit), are from two different family backgrounds. Ka Fu's father (played by Eric Tsang) is a mini-bus driver and his mother (played by Teresa Mo) is a restaurant hostess. Natalie is from a very affluent family and her parents (played by Candice Yu and Anthony Wong) are lawyers. In the beginning, Ka Fu and his two close friends, Bing and Sai wait to see Natalie outside her school every single day until she invited them to her school's Christmas party despite knowing that visitors were forbidden to go. They were eventually discovered by the school principals. While Bing and Sai successfully escaped, Ka Fu was caught but they decided to forgive him. Ka Fu took Natalie home, where they celebrated her 16th birthday, and Ka Fu spent the night there. Another contrast is that Ka Fu has a loving relationship with his parents, but Natalie's relationship with her parents is distant as they are often away on business trips. Eventually, Ka Fu and Natalie gotten close with each other as they got to know each other more. It is exactly this window of opportunity of Natalie's parents' absence that causes the two to have a weak moment in their budding love for each other, which results in Natalie getting pregnant during a camp out for New Year's Eve. Natalie eventually found out herself when her pregnancy test came back positive. Originally, they thought about getting an abortion in order to take care of the problem after getting an advice from Sai but upon seeing the operation room, Natalie decided not to and ran out in horror. Despite her anxiety of this issue, she decides to go through with the pregnancy in complete support from Ka Fu, along with Bing and Sai. However, Natalie, being underage and about two years younger than Ka Fu, causes her parents, especially her father, to fly into a rage and a lawsuit gets under way for Ka Fu and his parents. Ka Fu's parents also scold him and express that they do not want him to make the same mistakes they did. Upon knowing her pregnancy, Natalie's father's plan was for her to get an abortion, and send her to the United States to continue with her education, which Natalie aggressively objected, and she scolded her father for always making decisions for her. Her father gets angry and canceled her bank account, internet services and her cell phone. He ordered his wife to be at home and watch over her 24/7. Learning of the impending legal action, and also because of the plan on aborting the baby, Ka Fu and Natalie, with the help of Bing and Sai, run away and make out a living for themselves in the countryside, where Sai used to live. Ka Fu worked in various jobs such as construction to make money to support themselves while Natalie stays home. Because of Natalie's father, Ka Fu made the headlines, depicting him as a rapist that kidnapped Natalie. Therefore, making Ka Fu a wanted person. The young lovers are eventually discovered by Ka Fu's parents after they forced Bing and Sai to tell them. When Natalie goes into early labor, they are forced to return to the city, where she gives birth to a baby boy (prematurely, although the baby survives) and Ka Fu is arrested. During the court scene, the relationships of the parents and their son and daughter are resolved as Natalie's father decided to let it go for the sake of the baby. During court, he revealed that he gave false information to the police about Natalie being underage due to his anger and prejudice towards Ka Fu. He eventually realized that even though Ka Fu got his daughter pregnant, he did try to make up his responsibility as he truly loves Natalie so he asked the judge to release him. Ka Fu was also sentenced to 3 months in a rehabilitation center for his actions. Upon his release, he is greeted by Natalie and their child. ===== The Beautiful Grisette, 1853, by William Powell Frith, showing a scene from the book. Parson Yorick—depicted as Sterne—and the gloveseller, Grisette, are in her Paris shop. Yorick's journey starts in Calais, where he meets a monk who begs for donations to his convent. Yorick initially refuses to give him anything, but later regrets his decision. He and the monk exchange their snuff-boxes. He buys a chaise to continue his journey. The next town he visits is Montreuil, where he hires a servant to accompany him on his journey, a young man named La Fleur. During his stay in Paris, Yorick is informed that the police inquired for his passport at his hotel. Without a passport at a time when England is at war with France (Sterne traveled to Paris in January 1762, before the Seven Years' War ended), he risks imprisonment in the Bastille. Yorick decides to travel to Versailles, where he visits the Count de B**** to acquire a passport. When Yorick notices the count reads Hamlet, he points with his finger at Yorick's name, mentioning that he is Yorick. The count mistakes him for the king's jester and quickly procures him a passport. Yorick fails in his attempt to correct the count, and remains satisfied with receiving his passport so quickly. Yorick returns to Paris, and continues his voyage to Italy after staying in Paris for a few more days. Along the way he decides to visit Maria—who was introduced in Sterne's previous novel, Tristram Shandy—in Moulins. Maria's mother tells Yorick that Maria has been struck with grief since her husband died. Yorick consoles Maria, and then leaves. After having passed Lyon during his journey, Yorick spends the night in a roadside inn. Because there is only one bedroom, he is forced to share the room with a lady and her chamber-maid ("fille de chambre"). When Yorick can't sleep and accidentally breaks his promise to remain silent during the night, an altercation with the lady ensues. During the confusion, Yorick accidentally grabs hold of something belonging to the chamber-maid. The last line is: "when I stretch'd out my hand I caught hold of the fille de chambre's...End of vol II". The sentence is open to interpretation. You can say the last word is omitted, or that he stretched out his hand, and caught hers (this would be grammatically correct). Another interpretation is to incorporate 'End of Vol. II' into the sentence, so that he grabs the Fille de Chambre's 'End'. ===== ===== Trepanation is the procedure of drilling a hole in the skull. It is said to increase the blood circulation and improve pressure inside the skull. It is also said to bring out a person's sixth sense, including the ability to use ESP, see ghosts, and move objects with one's mind. This is speculative fiction based on the concept of trepanation. Susumu Nakoshi is a 34-year-old homeless man living out of his car. For two weeks, he declines his fellow homeless men's invitations to set up a tent with them, preferring to sleep in his car. One day he is accosted by a strange-looking man searching for participants to subject themselves to trepanation. Nakoshi tells the man to leave, and discards the flier the man placed on his windshield. However, when his car is towed, he agrees to let medical student Manabu Itoh drill a hole in his skull in exchange for 700,000 yen. Itoh claims to be interested in trepanation for the sake of science; he is interested in humans, fascinated with ESP and the sixth sense, and wants to disprove the existence of the occult. Itoh's father owns a lab facility, as his father is a rich hospital director. Itoh performs the trepanation surgery on Nakoshi and does a variety of ESP tests. When Nakoshi reveals that he sees distorted humans when using only the left side of his body, Itoh researches and discovers that Nakoshi can see homunculi. Itoh explains psychoanalytic theory to Nakoshi after the yakuza incident. ===== The tale tells of a merchant whose wife enjoys revelry and socializing, on which she spends money. A young monk, who is close friends with the merchant, comes to stay with them. After confessing that she does not love her husband, the wife asks the monk for one hundred franks to pay her debts. The monk, without her knowledge, borrows the money from the merchant to give to the wife, at which point she agrees with the monk: :"That for thise hundred frankes he sholde al nyght :Have hire in his armes bolt upright;" (lines 315-316) The monk volunteers the information that he has returned the loan back to the wife a few days after he had borrowed it, and then leaves town. When the merchant asks his wife about the money, she says it has been spent on clothing and blames the monk saying that she thought the money was in payment for him being such a long house guest. Instead of giving her husband the money back she says she will repay the debt in bed. As the wife is tallying her debt in bed the story ends on a bawdy pun that all should "tally" the rest of their lives. ===== Samson Shillitoe (Sean Connery), a poet, lives in Greenwich Village area of New York City with Rhoda (Joanne Woodward), a waitress who stands by him through all his troubles. When Samson cannot find the inspiration to finish his latest poem, he becomes belligerent and depressed. Samson is continually pursued by a debt collector after his late alimony payments to a previous wife; if Samson doesn't pay he will be arrested. Samson eventually assaults a police detective who accompanies the debt collector. Samson has other troubles when he loses his job as an office cleaner when he has sex with a secretary (Sue Ane Langdon) whilst his carpet cleaning machinery fills the office with soap suds. However, Samson does earn a $200 fee for doing a recital of his poetry to a woman's group that ends in disaster. On Samson's behalf, but unknown to him, Rhoda seeks the help of psychiatrist Dr. West (Patrick O'Neal), who claims to be able to cure writer's block. Rhoda gives Dr. West the $200 she collected for Samson's lecture to treat Samson for what she fears will become suicidal depression if he can't finish his poem. Dr. West reluctantly agrees to see him, and when Samson confronts the Doctor about the return of his money, West is fascinated by Shillitoe and persuades him to become a patient. In order for Samson to be away from the chaos of his life in the city that he might finish his poem, Dr. West arranges a stay for him in a sanitarium upstate. Another doctor at the sanitarium, Dr. Menken (Clive Revill) is also interested in Samson, but for the purpose of experimenting on him with a new surgical technique to quell his violent temper. He persuades Rhoda to agree to the surgery. Dr. West and two other colleagues vehemently oppose such a procedure, as it is too close to a lobotomy to be safe. Dr. West's wife, Lydia (Jean Seberg), is frustrated with their marriage. He is a popular TV guest for his pop psychiatric methods and views, and she sees very little of him. Eventually she runs into Samson at the sanitorium. Samson does not know she is married to Dr West but recalls her when she walked out of his women's club lecture. In his usual manner Samson immediately seduces her and the two have sex in a therapeutic bath. Dr. West, looking for Samson, secretly sees them in the tub. When it comes time for the clinic senior staff to vote on allowing the surgical technique to be performed on Samson, Dr. West, having seen Samson with his wife, changes his vote, enabling Dr. Menken to go ahead. Lydia finds out about the surgery and rushes to stop it, but arrives just after it has been completed. When Samson awakes from the surgery, at first his voice is so low and quiet he cannot be understood. As Dr. Menken leans in to listen, Samson throws a punch that lands the doctor on the floor. The operation has had no effect, and Samson returns to New York. Rhoda quickly learns of his arrival, and rushes to rejoin him. Samson has finally been served with his subpoena, so he must pay his ex-wife or go to jail. Rhoda prevents him from pummeling the civil servant, until Lydia appears and pays him the amount owed. Lydia informs Samson she is leaving Dr. West and hints that she would like to be with her new lover, Samson. Rhoda protests, as Samson invites her to come live with them both. Lydia, disgusted by the idea, becomes hysterical and rushes out, presumably never to speak to Samson again. Rhoda pleads with Samson as he goes charging off down the street, before informing him that she is pregnant. He accidentally punches her and the movie ends with him fighting off an angry mob of indignant spectators. ===== ===== In 1215, the Court of King John of England is at the castle of Sir Ranulf Fitzwilliam to extort more taxes, and when the lord refuses to pay the King insults him. To defend his honour his son Hugh takes on the King’s champion, Sir Gilles Estram, in a joust. The latter wins easily, though the joust is disturbed by the arrival of the TARDIS. The Fifth Doctor, Tegan, and Turlough are greeted as demons and welcomed by the King. Having established the date, the Doctor concludes the King is not himself – in fact, he is not the King at all, as he is actually in London taking the Crusader’s Oath. Sir Geoffrey de Lacy, the cousin of Sir Ranulf, arrives at the castle and confirms he knows the King is in London. Sir Gilles is about to torture him as a liar during a royal banquet when the Doctor intervenes. It seems the King's champion is not who he claims to be, either: Sir Gilles sheds his disguise and reveals himself to be the Doctor’s nemesis, the Master. He flees in his own TARDIS, which had been disguised as an iron maiden. The King knights the Doctor as his new champion, and he is given run of the castle. After a series of mishaps, including the death of Sir Geoffrey at the Master’s hands, the Doctor confronts the King and the Master and discovers the truth. The monarch is really Kamelion, a war weapon found by the Master on Xeriphas, which can be mentally controlled and used to adopt disguises and personas. Disguised as King John, the Master intends that Kamelion will behave so appallingly so as to provoke a rebellion and topple the real King from his throne, thus robbing the world of Magna Carta, the foundation of parliamentary democracy. It is a small plan on the Master’s usual scale, but nevertheless particularly poisonous to the normal progress of Earth society. The Doctor resolves the situation by testing the Master in a battle of wills for control over Kamelion. He takes control of the robot and steals it away in the TARDIS, thus foiling the Master’s scheme. Kamelion reverts to its robot form and thanks the Doctor for his assistance and rescue. ===== As a feature of the parades, the plot, usually chosen some time after the previous carnival, will occupy the school for the following year. Meanwhile, from the main theme, a synopsis is drawn, which will guide the design and manufacture of costumes, floats and samba-song. Judges will decide whether the school explained the theme during the parade,. ===== Firedrake is a young dragon who lives in a hidden valley outside of London with other dragons. After realizing that humans intend to flood the valley and the dragons living there are no longer safe, Firedrake sets off with the guidance from the eldest member of his clan (Slatebeard) to avoid the "Golden One" and to find the Rim of Heaven, a legendary location that is a safe heaven for all dragons. Firedrake travels to Hamburg with his friend Sorrel, a forest brownie, to find Gilbert Graytail, a rat who specializes in making maps. Not long after landing at the docks of Hamburg, Firedrake saves an orphan human Ben from dockworkers. Ben, in repayment for this, then provides Sorrel with human clothes so she may go in disguise to find Gilbert while Firedrake stays hidden. After finding Gilbert and providing payment, Gilbert hands over a map leading to the Himalayas, marking dangerous areas along the way. Only able to fly at night, Firedrake wastes no time wanting to leave. He and Sorrel also decide to bring Ben along with them. After Ben and Sorrel argue about turning East too soon or not, the three end up in a mountain range full of dwarves. Firedrake sleeps while the sun is up and the dwarves wait for him to wake up. While he rests however, one of the dwarves, Gravelbeard, runs to the castle in that same mountain range, revealing Nettlebrand, the Golden One, a fearsome dragon-like monster whose only purpose in life is to hunt, kill and eat dragons and his servant, Twigleg the Homunculus. After hearing of the trio, Nettlebrand decides to follow them, hoping to hunt down and kill the last of the dragons where he failed decades before. Firedrake, Sorrel and Ben fly onward, but are soon swept off course by a storm, arriving on the shore of Egypt. Encountering a basilisk and a band of zealous archaeologists, the party eventually befriends a kindly scientist named Professor Greenbloom. Sorrel is initially suspicious but soon warms up to him. Professor Greenbloom gives Ben one of two freezing-cold metallic scales he has, which unknown to the humans, once belonged to Nettlebrand. Twigleg relays the news to Nettlebrand, who immediately makes his way to the dig site to find Professor Greenbloom and recover the scales. Meanwhile, the three searchers set out on the advice of the professor to seek the advice of a Djinn, whose thousand eyes can see everything. Ben succeeds in fulfilling the Djinn's arcane requirements with the question: "Where does the Rim of Heaven lie?" The answer to the question appears in two of the Djinn's thousand eyes; it is a path, marked by the Indus River, by a mountain range, and by a monastery. Beyond this monastery is the Rim of Heaven. In the monastery, Ben must break the moonlight on the stone dragon's head. The Djinn also gives them a prophecy: "When that day comes, twenty fingers will point the way to the Rim of Heaven, and silver will be worth more than gold." Meanwhile, Nettlebrand tracks down Greenbloom, who managed to escape him. Twigleg is discovered but is allowed to stay due to his almost-perfect ability to understand and translate any language. He has grown to be very attached to Ben, and he begins relaying false information to his master, sending him into the middle of a desert where he got attacked by the sandmans, who the monster eventually escapes from. While flying over the ocean, a lunar eclipse occurs and Firedrake (who lives off of moonlight), cannot fly. He falls and lands on the back of an initially frightening but amiable sea serpent. She agrees to take the friends to Pakistan, where they will rendezvous with a Dracologist, Zubeida Ghalib. She alone knows a way to help Firedrake fly without moonlight. Along the way, the Serpent tells them (among other things) about Nettlebrand and his army of red-eyed Ravens. As the peaceful voyage atop Serpent-back continues, they are spotted by one of Nettlebrand's raven spies. Annoyed, Sorrel throws a stone which she has smeared her adhesive saliva. The stone sticks to the Raven's wing and sends him panicking to shore. In Pakistan, the friends enter a village where Zubeida the Dracologist is living and also find Professor Greenbloom. His wife and daughter, Guinevere, have joined him on account of the incident with Nettlebrand. Deeply worried, the two parties compare their findings, which all point to a single grim fact—Nettlebrand is hunting the Dragons who live in the Rim of Heaven, and expects Firedrake to find them for him. Dr. Ghalib reveals a legend of a Dragon Rider who once lived in the village. Ben is his reincarnation, and his destiny is to save the silver dragons from a terrible enemy. No sooner have they heard the legend than two more of Nettlebrand's ravens descend on them. Sorrel attempts the saliva trick again, with one variation: a few sparks of Dragon-fire are added to the mix. The stones do not adhere, but the Ravens are indeed changed before the eyes of all, into a few crabs. This new strangeness on the part of Nettlebrand disturbs the searchers, ultimately inducing Twigleg to reveal his original intentions as Nettlebrand's spy. He also reveals Nettlebrand's origin—an alchemist created Nettlebrand as a dragon killing machine to obtain the Dragons' horns which he used in his experiments to create gold. Twigleg, and his eleven other Homunculus brothers, were made as Nettlebrand's caretakers. When the Silver Dragons went into hiding, Nettlebrand killed the alchemist and eventually ate all of Twigleg's brothers, then went hunting on his own. Zubeida showed Firedrake not only the tomb of the original Dragon Rider, but also a specie of flower which collects moonlight in the form of dewdrops on its leaves. Having drunk this "moon-dew", Firedrake is able to fly even if there's no moon at all. The two parties split up to lose Nettlebrand's pursuit in the mountains. After a hazardous encounter with a Roc, they are forced off course and must take refuge in a valley. Nettlebrand continues tailing a boat wherein are Professor Greenbloom and his family, knowing they will lead him to Firedrake, but is seen by Guinevere. In the valley, help comes to Firedrake and company in the form of Lola Graytail, Gilbert's niece. Lola had been cartographing the country for her uncle and she guides them to the monastery. There, they are welcomed by the monks, who look on Firedrake as a bringer of good fortune. Also it is here that Ben "breaks the moonlight"--- actually a moonstone kept by the monks for this purpose. Ben shatters the moonstone and summons the aid of a four-armed brownie, named Burr-Burr-Chan. He agrees to guide Firedrake, Sorrel, Twigleg, and Ben to the Rim of Heaven. He warns, however, that Firedrake's kin have degenerated into earthbound cowards as a result of hiding from Nettlebrand. Whilst waiting for the moment of departure, the company discover Gravelbeard (who was threatened by Nettlebrand into becoming another spy) but fail to catch him. They fly on their way swiftly, with Nettlebrand in pursuit. To Twigleg's dismay, in the center of the Rim of Heaven is a great lake, a perfect gateway for Nettlebrand, who can travel instantaneously by water. To make sure that he is right, Lola takes Twigleg in her miniature airplane to investigate and distract Nettlebrand, while above the others seek the Dragons' cave. There, they meet with a she-Dragon, Maia. She is the only living dragon there, as the other twenty-two have since turned into stone through lack of moonlight. Outside, Lola and Twigleg found Gravelbeard. In the struggle that follows, the Dwarf's hat (which functions as an altitude compensator), is taken by Twigleg. Promptly Gravelbeard is struck with mountain sickness, allowing himself to be taken a prisoner. Nettlebrand, who now knows their location, is coming. No one knows how they could ever stop him since he is twenty times as strong as one dragon as well as immune to other dragons' firepower. In disgust, Sorrel spits on the golden scale which the Professor gave to Ben. Inspired by his success with the Ravens, Firedrake breathes fire on it and reduces it to gold paint. Twigleg comes up with a plan. He pretends to be still loyal to Nettelbrand and frees Gravelbeard then sent him back to Nettlebrand. The Golden One, elated by upcoming success, orders the Dwarf to polish his armor. Unfortunately for Nettlebrand, the armor polish has been replaced with Brownie spits. When Nettlebrand enters the cave, he was at once dive-bombed by Firedrake, Maia, and Lola in her plane. At last, the Dragons came together and set Nettlebrand afire. The Brownie spits reacted at once, dissolving Nettlebrand's armor and destroying him. Nettlebrand melts to reveal nothing but a toad underneath. As the company stare in wonder at this transformation, Gravelbeard enters. He has seen the marvelous gemstones and rock formations in the cave, and wishes to enhance them with his own skill, revealing that doing so will bring the petrified dragons back to life. Within a few days, all the silver dragons are awakened again. Firedrake and Maia went flying with Sorrel and Burr-Burr-Chan to bring the other members of their species back home. Ben and Twigleg went to live with Professor Greenbloom and his family. Two months later, news reached the humans that Firedrake has convinced the silver dragons to come with him to the Rim of Heaven. Eager to see their friends again, Ben and Guinevere occupy their time with other investigations of "imaginary" creatures until they can visit the silver dragons again. ===== Nogreh, a Pakistani immigrant in Kabul, Afghanistan begins covertly attending an all girls school against her father's wishes. Nogreh is one of the few girls at the school who dreams of one day becoming president. While searching for water one day after school she comes across several truckloads of Pakistani refugees and helps them resettle in the ruins she calls home. However the number of refugees overwhelms the shelter where her family have been living and they are eventually forced out by several other families. They manage to find shelter in an abandoned airplane but this too is eventually overcrowded by refugees. Nogreh meets a refugee among the ruins who is a poet. She asks him if he knows whether the president of Pakistan is a man or a woman and he, like everyone else, does not know. However, after befriending Nogreh and learning of her ambitions to be president he helps procure political speeches and goes with her to a photographer to get photos of her that she can use to campaign. Nogreh's father learns from some of the Pakistan refugees that his son has died. Unwilling to tell his daughter-in-law he moves the family further into the desert where his grandson dies of starvation and malnourishment. In the desert they meet an old man who is waiting by his donkey who is dying of hunger and thirst. The man had been trying to get to the city to speak on behalf of Osama Bin Laden to try to prevent him from being given to the Americans. Nogreh's father informs him he is too late and that the Americans have already invaded. After Nogreh's father buries his grandson the family continues on into the desert. ===== The setting of the story is the year 2097 AD, the place the city of Xenon. An ultimate cyber game, where players fight as biomech cyber robots, has been developed. However, there's something wrong: the game's cyberspace and the real world are linked, thus the damage done in the game's cyberspace creates real destruction in the city of Xenon. This all started when players heard a painful scream, saw a ghostly face, and a powerful scent of lemon overcame them. To solve this mystery, the creator of the game assembles a "Dream Team," which is the top three gamers in all of Xenon. The team is composed of rebellious and arrogant teens, who have to overcome their attitudes and fears to find the answers, answers to the mystery that is much bigger than just the game. This animation parodies the MMORPG or Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. ===== Will (Eric McCormack) feels neglected by his best friend, Grace (Debra Messing), as she spends a lot of time with her work. When Will calls Grace to confirm for a lunch date, Grace cannot go as she is too busy creating interior designs. Later, while doing his laundry, Will meets his new upstairs neighbor, Val (Molly Shannon). Immediately, the two take a liking to one another. The next day, Will visits Grace at work and introduces Val to her. After the two leave, Karen (Megan Mullally)—Grace's friend and socialite assistant—tells Grace that she did not like the way Will and Val acted towards one another. Grace, however, refuses to accept what Karen implies. Meanwhile, after slapping a meter maid, Jack (Sean Hayes) is ordered to work 40 hours of community service, picking up garbage, and while he does this is forced to wear an orange jumpsuit. While doing community service he visits Karen at Grace Adler Designs. While there, Jack goes through a trash bag and sees Soon- Yi Allen's phone bill. Jack shows Karen the bill which quickly results in the two prank calling Soon-Yi. At Will and Grace's apartment, Will and Val play Pyramid against Will's friends Ellen (Leigh-Allyn Baker) and Rob (Tom Gallop). Grace, who comes home, is shocked when her Pyramid record with Will—2 minutes and 14 seconds—is the same as Will and Val's. Before leaving, Grace is horrified that Will called her Val. While at her office, Grace learns that Will is sick. She goes home to attend to him and is surprised to see Val there. Grace tells her that since she is home that Val can go. Val, however, does not leave. This results in the two fighting. The fight, however, is broken by Will and tells them to work the situation out. Grace admits she felt jealous of Val as she believed Val had replaced her, due to her not being there for Will. Will, however, reassures Grace that no one can replace her as his best friend. As a result, Grace and Val make up. ===== Homer and Bart are watching television when they are interrupted by Lisa playing her saxophone in her bedroom. Bart enters Lisa's bedroom and tries to grab the saxophone from her, but he inadvertently tosses it out the window. It lands in the middle of the street and is run over by traffic and stomped on by Nelson Muntz. In a period of mourning, Lisa reveals she cannot remember ever not having that saxophone, so Homer recounts the instrument's origins. In a flashback to 1990, Bart goes to his first day of school, but things do not go so well for him and he becomes depressed. It is during discussions of Bart's future that the school psychologist realizes the young Lisa is very intelligent, telling Homer and Marge that they need to nurture her gifted spirit. They try to send Lisa to a private school but the tuition fee costs $6,000. Meanwhile, a terrible heatwave hits Springfield and Homer saves $200 to buy an air conditioner. Marge, however, asks Homer not to buy one until they figure out how to help Lisa. At the school, Bart talks with Milhouse and makes a farting sound, which Milhouse finds amusing. Encouraged, Bart entertains a group of children and sets out on his path to become the school prankster. On his way to purchase a new air conditioner, Homer discovers that a musical instrument is a way to encourage a gifted child, and subsequently sacrifices his air conditioner money to buy Lisa her first saxophone. In the present, Marge mentions that there is some money in the air conditioner account, so Homer decides to buy another saxophone for Lisa. ===== Katherine Winter (Hilary Swank) and colleague Ben (Idris Elba) investigate claims of miracles. In Chile, they examine the corpse of a priest who remains in pristine condition despite being dead for 40 years. Eventually they discover that toxic waste helped preserve the body. In Louisiana, Katherine receives a call from a friend, Father Michael Costigan (Stephen Rea), who says that his photographs of her have developed burn marks that when assembled, form a sickle-like symbol "ㄜ", a possible warning from God, which she ignores. She meets Doug Blackwell (David Morrissey), a teacher from the nearby town of Haven, who asks Katherine to find out why Haven's river has turned red. The locals believe this is a biblical plague caused by a girl, Loren McConnell (AnnaSophia Robb), who they believe killed her older brother in the river. They travel to Haven, where Katherine sees the river is indeed entirely red. Katherine and Doug come across ruins of an old church, which Doug explains was destroyed one hundred years ago by several hurricanes, forcing the entire town to relocate. Meanwhile, Ben witnesses dead frogs seemingly fall from the sky. Doug invites them to spend the night at his house, where he reveals he comes from a long line of only children. That night, their dinner becomes rotted with flies instantly. Katherine and Ben get a call asking them to come to a nearby farm, where they find that the cows are dying of some unknown disease. Ben begins to question whether the events could actually have biblical causes, but Katherine remains unconvinced. The owner of the farm tells them that the McConnell family would be visited by people who appeared to be Satan worshippers, and that he possibly saw them making a sacrifice of some kind. Later that evening, Katherine tells Doug why she left the church; five years ago, she was an ordained minister. While doing missionary work in the Sudan with her husband and daughter, the locals sacrificed her family, believing they caused a drought. Katherine then has intense dreams that she and Doug have sex. Katherine goes to talk to Loren. Loren remains silent the whole time. Katherine notices that her leg is soaked in menstrual blood. Katherine helps clean her up and has a vision of Loren turning the river red. Loren's mother appears, asking if Katherine is there to kill Loren. Before she can explain, Loren attacks her and Katherine runs away. Ben and Katherine examine Loren's brother's body, finding the sickle-like symbol branded into his lower back. Test results prove the river contains human blood. The citizens, meanwhile, are shaving their children's heads, due to an outbreak of lice. Ben and Doug try to get the mayor to evacuate the town, but he and his staff are killed with boils. A posse gathers to kill Loren to try to stop the plagues. Katherine calls Father Costigan, who explains that he has researched a satanic cult which sacrifices every second-born child once they reach puberty to create a "perfect child with the eyes of the Devil" to bring them power. He believes that Loren is the devil child. He also states that an angel, who cannot be harmed by the cult, will destroy them. He insists that Katherine is the angel, as the term is sometimes used to mean servants of God. At that moment, a supernatural force burns Costigan's room, killing him. Katherine returns to the McConnell house, where she finds the cult's sacrificial chamber. There, Loren's mother says that Loren is "his servant" now, then kills herself. Outside, Katherine finds locusts everywhere. As the townspeople arrive, with Ben and Doug in tow trying to stop them, Loren causes the locusts to kill the posse. Doug runs away and falls in the river; Katherine locks herself in the house; Ben hides in a crypt, where he discovers skeletons and bodies of sacrificed children. He calls Katherine when Loren appears outside. Katherine finds Ben dead. She confronts Loren as darkness falls and fiery hail and thunder rains from the sky. Katherine is about to kill Loren, when suddenly she says something that Katherine told her own daughter in Sudan. Katherine asks how she can tell what is real. Loren answers "faith," and shows her a vision of the truth. The cult, which actually encompasses the entire town and Doug, are shown trying to kill Loren since she has reached puberty. Loren escaped and her brother Brody stabbed her, but her wound miraculously healed, and Brody died. Katherine realizes that Loren is the angel God sent. She also sees that Doug killed Ben. The townsfolk surround them as Doug tells her that only an ordained servant of God like Katherine can kill Loren. He reveals that his family recruited the entire town into the satanic cult, believing that God had abandoned them because of the natural disasters. He invited Katherine to investigate the plagues because they hoped she would join them, since she had turned her back on God. Katherine refuses. A sudden fire then rains down on the town from God himself, killing the satanists, who all happened to be first born; all coming from a line of only children. Doug grabs Katherine as he is being lifted off the ground and killed, with Katherine being spared. As they drive away, Loren reveals that Katherine is pregnant. Katherine realizes that the dreams she had of sex with Doug was actually Doug having drugged and raped her. Since this is her second child, Katherine realizes that her unborn son, fathered by Doug, is the prophesied demonic child. ===== Set in the small, decaying, nearly bankrupt town of Empire Falls, Maine, this is the story of Miles Roby, the unassuming manager of the Empire Grill, who has spent his entire life in the town. He has an ex-wife, Janine, who has become a cocky, selfish bachelorette after losing weight and exercising rigorously. This is partly due to encouragement from Walt Comeau, an antagonistic fitness center owner who visits the Empire Grill every day and has moved into Roby's old house by this point. Roby also has a loving teenage daughter, nicknamed "Tick", who is dealing with Zack Minty, her cruel ex- boyfriend, plus an emotional conflict over her mother's engagement to Walt, whom Tick despises. In addition, she has a complicated friendship with John Voss, an emotionally disturbed boy at school whose hard-luck story is known all too well around town. The obnoxious jock Zack and his friends constantly bully John. Other important people in Miles' life include Max, his grubby ne'er-do-well father, a rascal who can't resist a handout when it comes his way; David, Miles' reformed marijuana smoking brother, who is a talented Empire Grill cook; Bea, Miles' good-hearted ex-mother-in-law, who owns a bar; the town's wealthiest woman, a condescending matron who owns the Empire Grill; that woman's daughter, who has loved Miles for many years; an attractive waitress; a retiring police chief; and a dimwitted police officer, who is Zack's father and has known Miles since childhood. Miles is plagued by flashbacks of his family when he was a child, including a mysterious affair between his mother and a suitor, the details of which might answer some questions Miles has had his entire life. ===== The film begins with a clip from the previous film, showing its central characters Marcellus and Diana going to be martyred for their Christian beliefs on the order of Emperor Caligula. Before being executed, Diana hands the Robe of Christ to Marcellus' servant Marcipor (David Leonard), telling him that it is "for the Big Fisherman", meaning Peter, who was a fisherman before being called as an apostle. Peter (Michael Rennie) hands the Robe to Demetrius while at the funeral of Marcellus and Diana before leaving on a journey to live in 'the north'. Caligula (Jay Robinson) becomes interested in the Robe, thinking that it has magic powers and will bring him the 'eternal life' that Jesus had spoken of. He accosts his uncle Claudius (Barry Jones), wanting to know what had happened to it. Demetrius, looking out for his Lucia (Debra Paget) and the Robe and refusing to reveal its location, is arrested for assaulting a Roman soldier and sentenced to the arena. Demetrius fights and saves his opponent. The tigers are then set on him, but he kills them. Caligula then assigns him to be Messalina's bodyguard. Later, Messalina is accused of wanting Caligula dead and plotting his murder, but manipulates her way out of the situation. Meanwhile, Lucia disguises herself to gain entrance to the gladiator school to see Demetrius. However, the two are forcibly separated on orders of Messalina (Susan Hayward), Claudius' wife. Lucia is then assaulted by Dardanius (Richard Egan) and the other gladiators, forcibly kissing her and trying to carry her to private chambers. Demetrius in desperation prays for God to save her, and suddenly it appears that Dardanius has broken Lucia's neck. All present are shocked at Lucia's apparent death, especially Demetrius, and he loses all his faith in Jesus Christ as God. Previously, he had avoided killing anyone in the Emperor's games because of his religion, but all that now changes. His next time in the arena, not only does he fight, but he ferociously kills all the gladiators that took part in the attack on Lucia. The Roman spectators, including the Emperor, are thrilled. Demetrius is freed, and allowed to join the Praetorian Guard. Caligula asks if Demetrius renounces Christ; he does, and once Demetrius does this, Caligula frees him and inducts him into the guard with the rank of Tribune. As a Roman tribune, Demetrius rejects the teachings of Christ (and of Isis when encountering Messalina praying to her statue), beginning an affair with Messalina. When Peter comes to visit them, he turns him away too. The affair continues for several months. Eventually Caligula finds out about their affair, and sends Demetrius to get the Robe from the Christians. Demetrius is taken to a small house, where he is surprised to find Lucia, lying on a bed clutching the Robe. He finds out that she never had died, after all, but that when he prayed for God to save her, her sudden coma had accomplished her rescue. Now, months later, she is still unconscious. Demetrius realizes he has made a mistake, prays to God, and Lucia awakens. Demetrius takes the Robe to the Emperor, who takes it below to a prisoner. He has the prisoner killed and tries to resurrect him using the Robe. Furious that he cannot, Caligula accuses Demetrius of having brought him a fake, declaring both the Robe and Christ are frauds. Demetrius is horrified to learn that the Emperor had a prisoner killed in order attempt to use the power of the Robe to bring him back to life, and steps toward Caligula to attack him. He is stopped by the guards and on Caligula's orders is sent back to the arena. When the Emperor tries to have Demetrius executed, the Praetorian Guard (already angry at Caligula over worse pay and conditions) finally turns against Caligula and kills first Macro, the prefect of the Praetorian Guard, and then Caligula himself. Claudius is installed as Emperor by the Praetorian Guard almost immediately after Caligula is killed. Soon after his installation, Emperor Claudius says that he is neither a god, nor likely to become one anytime soon. Claudius says that he maintained the appearance of being weak to survive Caligula's rule, and that he would now take on the role of Emperor to the best of his ability. He gives Demetrius his final orders as a Tribune: to go to Peter and the other Christians, and tell them that as long as they do not act against the Empire they have nothing to fear from Claudius. Messalina re-vows her constancy to her husband. Demetrius and Glycon (William Marshall) (another virtuous gladiator) take the Robe to Peter, and the trio leaves the Imperial Palace together. ===== Molly Moon, an orphan at Hardwick House Orphanage in Briersville, England, is living a "boring and plain" life with her best friend Rocky Scarlet, another orphan. She is described as being plain looking with a large "potato" nose, wobbly knees and green eyes. She is usually beaten down upon by Ms. Adderstone, the woman in charge of the orphanage, and Hazel, a snobby orphan girl. During school, Molly and Rocky have a fight and Molly storms away to the town library. As she walks in, she finds a man yelling at the librarian about a book he ordered, but ignores him. While looking in a curious compartment of the restricted section, she finds a book on hypnotism, placed in the wrong section because the "H" was ripped off the spine. Intrigued, she steals it and sneaks out of the library. She takes it to the orphanage to read it. She fakes being ill so that she can study the book better. Curiously, she finds that chapters 7 and 8 ("Voice-Only Hypnosis" and "Long Distance Hypnosis") are missing. Not long after her discovery of the book, she learns that Rocky has been adopted and taken to America with his new family. Determined to see her friend again, she gains the actual ability to hypnotize from the lessons in her book, first successfully hypnotizing the orphanage dog, Petula. Later on, she is able to hypnotize both Ms. Adderstone and their orphanage chef Edna. Using her ability, Molly wins a large sum of money from a local talent competition, by hypnotizing the crowd into believing that she is a talented singer and dancer. She uses the money to fly to New York City, taking Petula with her. Before leaving, she buys a large gold pendulum, where the mysterious professor from the library learns about her, after he bought some anti- hypnosis glasses. She also hypnotizes Ms. Adderstone and Edna to be nice to all children. Soon after arriving, Molly hypnotizes her way onto Broadway, landing the lead role in a musical called "Stars on Mars". However, she steals this part from a real child star, named Davina Nuttel, in the process. The show is a roaring success, and catches the attention of a man named Simon Nockman, who has passed himself off as a "professor" of hypnosis, but is truly just a criminal. He theorizes Molly must have obtained the book and learned hypnosis, and formulates a plan. After one performance of "Stars on Mars", Nockman kidnaps Petula, threatening to kill her if Molly does not comply with his orders, and she cannot hypnotize him because he always wears the anti- hypnotic glasses he bought in Briersville. He orders her to use her talents to steal some rare jewels from a bank for him. Having no choice, Molly agrees. All goes as planned with the robbery until she finds Rocky, who much to her surprise has also learned hypnosis. He had previously stolen and learned from the missing chapters of Molly's hypnotism book, "Long Distance Hypnosis" and "Voice-Only Hypnosis". He also reveals that he had intended to take Molly with him when he was adopted, but had not been able to hypnotize his parents. Since then, he left them as they were not much fun. Working together, the two successfully pull off the robbery, but later form a plan to return the jewels. Rocky uses his power of voice-only hypnotism to hypnotize Nockman into giving up his life of crime. He then helps Molly return the stolen jewels by placing them in hollow garden gnomes and placing them around the city. However, Molly keeps one diamond, which Petula found in her jacket. Molly gives her part in "Stars on Mars" back to Davina, and returns home with Rocky. Out of sympathy for the broken man, she takes Nockman with her. Before leaving, they work together to record a commercial, using their hypnotic powers to convince people to be kind to their kids. However, when they return, they find Ms. Adderstone and Edna have disappeared, believing that the children there will be happier without any grownups around to tell them what to do, leaving the orphanage in chaos. The older children, once close, have fought amongst themselves, and the younger children have hidden themselves away upstairs, too scared of the older children and the rats they think are living in the orphanage to venture down into the kitchen. With Nockman's help, Molly and Rocky get the orphanage back into a livable condition, and get the sweet- natured Ms. Trinklebury, the orphanage maid, to run it along with Nockman. The orphanage is renamed 'Happiness House' and the money that Molly earned in New York is used to buy new things and redecorate the orphanage. However, it is implied that Nockman has returned to his old ways as he steals a camera, a lollipop and five pounds from children in the orphanage. At the end of the book, Molly is mysteriously summoned to the library by the librarian, Lucy Logan. Lucy explains that she is the descendant of Professor Logan, the man who originally wrote the hypnotism book, and is a skilled hypnotist herself. She had purposely hypnotized Molly into finding Professor Logan's hypnotism book and keeping it for a month. Now, Molly has come back to return it. In an epilogue, it is revealed what happened to Ms. Adderstone and Edna; Ms. Adderstone left to become a pilot, and Edna is now an Italian chef. ===== Lewis is an aspiring 12-year-old inventor who grew up in an orphanage, whose inventions have been scaring off potential parents. He works all night on a machine to scan his memory to locate his birth mother, who abandoned him at the orphanage when he was a baby. While taking the scanner to his school's science fair, Lewis meets 13-year-old Wilbur Robinson, a mysterious boy claiming to be a time cop from the future. Wilbur needs to recover a time machine that a man wearing a bowler hat has stolen. Lewis tries to demonstrate the scanner, but it has been sabotaged by the Bowler Hat Guy and falls apart, throwing the science fair into chaos. Lewis leaves while the Bowler Hat Guy, with the help of a robotic bowler hat named Doris, repairs and steals the scanner. Wilbur meets Lewis at the orphanage and asks him to repair the scanner. Lewis agrees to do so only if Wilbur can prove he is telling the truth, which Wilbur does by taking them to the year 2037 in a second time machine. When they arrive, he and Wilbur get into an argument and crash. Wilbur asks Lewis to fix the time machine, however Lewis realizing that he can simply use the time machine to see his mother instead has another condition: Wilbur has to take him to visit his mother afterwards. Reluctantly, Wilbur agrees and hides Lewis in the garage. Lewis does not stay there for long, however, and ends up meeting the rest of the Robinson family except for Cornelius, Wilbur's father, who is away on a business trip. Having followed Lewis, the Bowler Hat Guy and Doris try to kidnap him, but the Robinsons beat them back. The Robinsons offer to adopt Lewis, but change their mind when they learn that he is from the past. Wilbur admits to lying to Lewis about taking him back to see his mom, causing Lewis to run off in disgust. Lewis then discovers that Cornelius Robinson is, in fact, a future version of himself, and Wilbur is his future son. Lewis also finds out that the Bowler Hat Guy is a grown-up version of Lewis' roommate, Michael "Goob" Yagoobian. Because he was kept awake by Lewis' work on the scanner, Goob fell asleep during an important Little League game and failed to make an important catch that cost the game. Goob became so bitter as a result that he was never adopted and remained in the orphanage long after it closed. Doris is "DOR-15", one of Lewis' failed and abandoned inventions. They both blamed Lewis for their misfortunes and decided to ruin his career by stealing the memory scanner and claiming credit for it. Leaving Lewis behind, they take off with the scanner, drastically altering the future to a world where Doris' clones have enslaved humanity. Lewis repairs the second time machine, confronts Doris and destroys her by promising to never invent her, restoring the future to its Utopian self. After persuasion from Lewis, Wilbur tries to ask the adult Goob to join the family, but he has disappeared, apparently ashamed by what he has done. Back in Wilbur's time, Lewis finally meets Cornelius face to face. Cornelius explains how the memory scanner started their successful career, and persuades Lewis to return to the science fair. Wilbur takes Lewis back, but makes one stop first: as he promised, he takes Lewis back to the moment when his mother abandoned him. Though Lewis approaches his mother, he ultimately decides not to interact with her, realizing the family he will come to have with Wilbur and others. Wilbur drops Lewis off in his own time and leaves. Lewis heads to the fair, but en route wakes up Goob just in time for him to make the winning catch. Back at the fair, Lewis asks for one more chance to demonstrate his scanner, which this time succeeds. He is adopted by Lucille, one of the science fair judges, and her husband Bud, who nicknames him "Cornelius" and takes him home. The film ends with a quote which reiterates the message of not dwelling on failures and "keep moving forward", attributed to Walt Disney. ===== A White Shepherd puppy named Bolt is adopted by an eight-year-old girl named Penny. Five years later, Bolt and Penny star in a hit television series called Bolt, in which Bolt uses various superpowers to protect Penny from the villain. To gain a more realistic performance, the show's producers have deceived Bolt his entire life, arranging the filming in such a way that Bolt believes everything in the show is real and that he really has superpowers, including a devastatingly powerful sonic scream-like "superbark". After a cliffhanger episode causes Bolt to believe Penny has been kidnapped, he escapes from his on-set trailer in Hollywood but knocks himself unconscious in the process and is trapped inside a box of foam peanuts which is shipped to New York City. In New York, Bolt resumes his search for Penny and, much to his dismay and confusion, finds out the hard way that his "superpowers" are useless. He encounters Mittens, a feral cat who bullies pigeons out of their food. Bolt compels Mittens to guide him back to Penny — Mittens being convinced her captor is a lunatic — and the two start their journey westward by truck. Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Penny is distraught over Bolt's disappearance but is convinced by the studio to continue filming with a less experienced lookalike dog. Surprised at his first feelings of hunger, Bolt is shown by Mittens how to act like a cute but needy dog, obtaining food for them both at an RV park. They are joined by Rhino, a fearless hamster and fanatical Bolt fan. Rhino's unwavering faith in Bolt substantiates the dog's illusions about himself, but allows Mittens to figure out Bolt is from a television show. She tries to tell Bolt this, but Bolt simply becomes frustrated. Attempting to "superbark" her repeatedly, the noise draws the attention of an Animal Control patrol and Bolt and Mittens are both captured and taken to an animal shelter. Bolt, freed from the patrol van by Rhino, finally realizes and accepts that he is just a normal dog, but regains his confidence after Rhino (oblivious to this revelation) exhorts him to heroism. They rescue Mittens from the shelter, and as they continue west, Bolt and Mittens form a close friendship in which she teaches Bolt how to be an ordinary dog and enjoy typical dog activities. Mittens makes plans for the three of them to stay in Las Vegas, but hearing Bolt is still drawn to find Penny, she tells him Penny is only an actor, and humans never truly love their pets, and eventually betray and abandon them, as happened to her. Bolt refuses to believe her and continues on alone to Hollywood; with Rhino's encouragement his two friends follow shortly after. Bolt reaches the studio and finds Penny embracing his lookalike, unaware that Penny still misses him and her affection for the lookalike is only a part of a rehearsal. A broken-hearted Bolt leaves, but Mittens, on a gantry in the studio, sees Penny telling her mother how much she misses Bolt. Mittens follows Bolt and explains. At the same time, the Bolt lookalike panics during the show's filming and accidentally knocks over some flaming torches, setting the sound stage on fire with Penny trapped inside. Bolt arrives and the two reunite inside the burning studio, but are unable to escape before Penny begins to suffocate from the smoke. Penny begs Bolt to go but Bolt refuses to leave her. Bolt uses his "superbark" through the building's air vent, alerting the firefighters to their location and allowing both of them to be rescued in time. Penny and her mother quit when their overeager agent proposes they exploit the incident for publicity purposes. The show continues with a replacement "Bolt" and "Penny" and a new storyline involving alien abduction. Penny adopts Mittens and Rhino, and she and her family move to a rural home to enjoy a simpler, happy lifestyle with Bolt and her new pets. ===== Detective Virgil Tibbs, now a lieutenant with the San Francisco police, is assigned to investigate the murder of a prostitute. A prime suspect is Reverend Logan Sharpe, a liberal street preacher who is leading one of the sides in a city referendum on an urban renewal project. He tells Tibbs he was visiting the prostitute in his professional capacity, to advise her spiritually, and that when he left her apartment she was alive and healthy. Tibbs tracks down and questions the janitor from the victim's building, Mealie Williamson, and Woody Garfield, a shady character who owns the building and might have been the dead woman's pimp, who sent the janitor into hiding. Later, suspicion falls on a hood named Rice Weedon, who is pursued and shot by Tibbs in self-defense. Tibbs’ ongoing investigation leads him to conclude that Sharpe really is the murderer. When confronted, Sharpe confesses; however he requests that Tibbs not arrest him for 24 hours, until the polls close on the city referendum. When Tibbs refuses, Sharpe, while being taken away to be arrested, purposefully steps in front of a moving vehicle and is killed. ===== Eriko and her friends Yuma and Ayano are excited about entering their first year of high school at Yamasaki Academy. Their excitement leads to their breaking of the rules when they toured the school before the opening ceremony. They find out their preconceptions about the school may not be as true as they had first thought. Despite that, Eriko and her friends are joined by new friends. They aim to get through high school life together. ===== In Jets'n'Guns, the player starts out as a freelancer, contracted to drive out a gang of criminals from a sector of space. Soon, the player is contacted by their old commanding officer from a previous war, Col. Troubleman, who is based aboard the United Space Ship Impotence. He explains that Xoxx, the evil dictator, has appeared again and has kidnapped a scientist, Professor Von Hamburger. The professor was developing a gigantic quantum cannon, which he intended to use for peaceful purposes. Xoxx, however, wants the cannon because it could, theoretically, destroy the entire universe with a single shot. Erecta Von Hamburger, the professor's daughter, also contacts the player, but she is mainly concerned with the rescue of her father. The player first has to steal a better fighter, the TMIG-226, from the heavily guarded FeX labs. The player then has to rendezvous with the USS Impotence, and is only just saved from destruction by pirates by a well-timed volley of torpedoes from the Impotence. The majority of the following missions involve assaults on Xoxx's forces and attempts to ascertain the locations of the professor and the quantum cannon. Eventually, after many battles against Xoxx's forces and hench-beings, the player rescues the professor. Soon after, the location of the completed cannon, the Lord Chaos Mk 1, is discovered. However, when the player defeats Xoxx, Xoxx escapes in a "backup time washing machine", his parting message revealing that it is too late to stop the cannon firing. The universe is destroyed, leaving the player's ship flying in a field of rocky debris as the credits roll. Eventually, * (If the player did not cheat) The Player reaches a restaurant, where he gets a time machine upgrade for his plane. The player will chase Xoxx through the time warp, and after the player defeats it, he reaches the beginning of the game on a harder mode. * (If the player cheated) a time warp that featured earlier in the story re-appears, bringing the player back to the beginning of the game, except set on a harder mode. ===== During the Simpsons' visit to a high-tech gadget store, Bart buys a gimmicky utility belt. When he shows it off at school the next day, Dolph, Jimbo and Kearney beat him up and take it. To get the belt back, Homer confronts their fathers at Moe's Tavern; they beat him up but find that they cannot knock him down, even after breaking a pool cue over his head. After seeing Homer's ability to absorb physical punishment, Moe suggests that he take up boxing and allow Moe -- himself a former boxer -- to manage and train him. Marge insists that Homer have a full medical checkup first. Dr. Hibbert discovers that the layer of fluid around Homer's brain is thicker than normal, allowing him to withstand powerful blows to the head. Discovering that Homer is too weak and out of shape to inflict any damage by punching, Moe suggests that he let his opponents exhaust themselves trying to knock him out, then push them down to the canvas for an easy win. Homer prevails in his first fights against several homeless men, eventually rising to the top of the Springfield Hobo Boxing Association and attracting the attention of Lucius Sweet, Moe's former boxing manager. Lucius tells Moe that current heavyweight champion Drederick Tatum is about to be released from prison and wants a comeback fight, preferably against Homer. Moe knows that Tatum is far too strong and fit for Homer to tire out, but the lure of fame and fortune makes him agree to the fight. He promises Lucius that Homer will last at least three rounds. Moe quickly wins Homer over by feigning confidence in his fighting skills. Homer ignores Marge's pleas to withdraw from the fight, which is wildly hyped by the media. On the night of the event, Moe falsely promises Marge that he will throw in the towel if Homer appears to be in any danger. Tatum's first punch is strong enough to leave Homer badly dazed, and Marge urges him to start fighting back. Homer's punch completely misses Tatum, who hammers his head and prepares to deliver a punch that will either knock him out or kill him. Just before he can land the blow, Moe swoops in using a paramotor stolen from the Fan Man and airlifts Homer out of the ring while the audience boos loudly. Outside the arena, Marge thanks Moe for saving Homer. Tatum expresses his respect for Marge and Homer's love. Lucius berates Moe for failing to deliver even one round of boxing, but pays him $100,000 anyway. Moe flies off with the paramotor to help people around the world, much to Fan Man's chagrin.Episode Capsule at The Simpsons Archive. ===== Medical examiner Sam Rivers and biologist Mary Callahan travel into the bayou to investigate the mysterious death of a fisherman, John Crankton. Having grown up in the area, Sam is comfortable in his surroundings while Mary is not. They find Elmer noodling for catfish in the swamp canals. With Elmer, Sam and Mary travel upriver to the fishing community. They meet Gloria Crankton, the wife of John Crankton. Gloria's daughter Eliza and her semi-boyfriend Dan also live in the house. Gloria explains that a strange boat washed upriver three months ago after a hurricane and strange things have happened since. Sam and Mary find a large fishing boat along the bank of a canal. They explore the interior while Elmer waits in the boat outside. They discover the remains of the crew in the hold. Upset, Mary clumsily knocks Elmer from the boat and something drags him down. Sam and Mary flee in the boat, unaware that they have triggered a homing signal on the ship. On the mainland, a team relays the information to their employer, Jeff, a wealthy bounty hunter. Later on that night Roland hears noises while on the roof of his houseboat. He leans over the edge and a frankenfish leaps up and decapitates him. His wife Bobbi attempts to escape the houseboat on a small boat but the fish flips her out and kills her. Frightened, the group tries to flee in boats but the fish destroys them. Trying to come with a plan to escape Sam tries to get over to Roland and Bobbi's house to try and start it up to escape but it turns out that the houseboat is inoperable. On a neighboring stilt house, Ricardo baits a large hook using an entire catfish and manages to land one of the frankenfish. Nearly as big as a full-grown man, the fish can breathe air and hops forward biting at Ricardo's legs. Ricardo manages to kill it with a shotgun blast to the head. In vengeance, he tears out its heart and barbecues it. As he takes his first bite a second frankenfish leaps from the water and devours him. While everyone panics, Mary declares she has an idea on how to get off the boathouse. Before she can explain, she is killed in an explosion. A fire propels a propane tank into the boathouse causing an explosion that sends Eliza into the water. Sam dives in and rescues her. Simultaneously, a frankenfish leaps from the water and bites off Gloria's legs. The fish have begun attacking the boathouses, punching holes in them to make them sink. Jeff and his crew arrive and the fish attack them too. Knocked out of the boat, they swim quickly to the safety of the sinking stilt houses. Jeff explains that the fish are genetically engineered snakeheads. Sam, Eliza, and Dan have no choice but to join Jeff in pursuing the fish. The crew follows a trail of blood back to the fish's den. Jeff forces Sam at gunpoint to enter first. Sam flees the den as behind him a larger frankenfish kills two hunters. Dan, Sam, and Eliza quickly leave on the fan boat, chased by the frankenfish. Dan falls from the boat during the chase but scrambles up a mudbank. Realizing they cannot outrace the monster, Sam drives the fan boat up a stand of tree stumps and knocks off the protective lining of the fan. Unable to slow its momentum, the frankenfish launches into the whirling blades to its death. Sam and Eliza kiss and go back the way they came to get Dan. However, Dan is trapped in the mud as dozens of baby frankenfish attack him. ===== The story of The Quest of Ki is actually a prequel to the original Tower of Druaga. It occurs shortly after the demon Druaga has stolen the Blue Crystal Rod and taken it to his tower. The goddess Ishtar sends the priestess Ki to the tower in order to retrieve it. The game then follows her doomed quest to the top of the tower, and leads directly into the story of the original game. ===== A crime wave, including a holdup at a nightclub that ends in a murder and a bank robbery in which a guard is killed, has hit Center City. A squad of FBI agents headed by inspector George A. Briggs meets with local FBI field officer Richard Atkins, police chief Bernard Harmatz and Police Commissioner Ralph Demory. After Briggs interrogates suspect Robert Danker, who claims he was not involved in either killing and that he has been framed, various tests are run at the FBI laboratory in Washington that exonerate Danker. Later Danker, who has been bailed out by "John Smith," is found stabbed to death. At the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, Briggs briefs agent Gene Cordell, who is going undercover in Center City to try to infiltrate the gang Briggs thinks is responsible for all three killings. Cordell takes a bus into Center City and rents a room at the same "Skid Row" hotel in which Danker had been living. Fellow agent Cy Gordon is in a similar hotel across the street from him. Using the name George Manly, Cordell makes himself known in the area by going to the local gym and picking a fight with one of the boxers training there. He is spotted by owner Alec Stiles, who offers him cash if he can last against the boxer. He does, and Alec pays him off. Later, in a nearby amusement arcade, Cordell tells Gordon that while he was at the gym, his Social Security card was stolen. As they talk, two policemen approach and arrest Cordell for a break-in at a jewelry store, where his card has been found. The FBI has provided a false record for Cordell, and he is bailed out by John Smith, who turns out to be Stiles. Through the police department, Stiles has acquired a copy of Cordell's phony FBI record and is impressed enough to invite him to join his organization. Later Cordell meets with Briggs on board a ferry, and his report convinces Briggs that the Stiles gang are their culprits. After Stiles and his henchmen plan a robbery of a local mansion, Stiles has a violent argument with his wife Judy. Cordell alerts Gordon about the robbery and the FBI and police prepare an ambush, but Stiles' informant within the police department tips him off and he cancels the job. Cordell returns to gang headquarters and fires a shot from Stiles' revolver in order to recover the bullet for testing. However, Stiles discovers that his gun has been fired and goes to see his informant, who turns out to be Commissioner Demory, and asks him to have his gun checked for fingerprints. Demory later advises Stiles that his gang has been infiltrated by Cordell. Shivvy and Matty, two of Stiles' henchmen, take Cordell to see Stiles, and Gordon follows them in a taxi. Briggs, who has been observing Stiles and can link him to Demory, then receives a report from Washington that the barrel markings on the bullet fired from Stiles' gun are identical with those on the bullets used in the previous killings. After Gordon tracks Shivvy, Matty and Cordell to a factory, he tells the taxi driver to get word to Briggs as to where he is. Inside the plant, Shivvy discovers and then stabs Gordon. Cordell does not realize he has been found out until Stiles announces he is going to frame him and have Demory's officers "accidentally" kill him. However, the plan backfires when Briggs and Chief Harmatz arrive with backup and chase Stiles through the factory. Cordell corners Stiles and kills him, and as Briggs arrests Demory, agent Gordon recovers. ===== In this social satire, Barbara Undershaft (Hiller), an idealistic major in the Salvation Army, is deeply troubled by the fact that her father, Andrew Undershaft (Robert Morley), is a wealthy weapons manufacturer. Meanwhile, Andrew is looking for an heir for his industrial empire, in particular a foundling like himself. ===== The series begins when Amanda desires a unique pet and chooses a young ferret at the local pet shop. Her mother reluctantly yields to her decision on the condition that it should never injure her. Amanda names it Peach after seeing a fruit stand with peaches. Terrified of losing her new pet and companion, Amanda keeps Peach's biting a secret. Peach, in turn, rebels in a self-congratulatory way, maintaining that she is a ferret princess who must heroically retain her composure and courage while being tormented by five-headed giants and their slaves. After being forced to fight Mr. Fuzzy — a toy given to Peach which she views as a servant, Peach bites Amanda and Amanda, in response, tries the "Bitter Bite" spray to discipline her. Amanda's actions reminds her of her mother and Peach softens her view of Amanda. Amanda brings Peach to her class's show and tell and because of Peach's popularity with the class, Amanda's friend Kim decides to get a ferret. Her ferret, Pavaratty, displays arrogance towards Peach and doubts her princess status since she lacks a palace, an entourage and treasure. Peach resolves to gain these things so she can impress the ferret prince. Meanwhile, two bullies turn Amanda's class against her after she wears a handmade ferret costume to school in an attempt to stand out. To collect more treasure, Peach secretly accompanies Amanda to school. Kim realizes Amanda's friendship is more important and admits she was wrong to turn against her. Peach accidentally saves the class's hamsters from being eaten by a snake which escaped during the show and tell. Amanda is redeemed in the class's eyes. To ease Peach's boredom, Amanda gets another ferret, who is named Edwin after the hero of a romance novel. Initially Peach believes he is her ferret prince, but quickly becomes annoyed by him. Amanda brings the ferrets to her friend's house. There, Peach and Edwin meet Mimi's albino ferrets, the manic-depressive Spore and melancholy Truffle, who believe that they and anyone who enters their land is cursed. After Edwin breaks off a claw, Peach softens her view of him, but becomes ill. She recovers and decides that even if Edwin is not a prince, she still loves him. ===== At the age of twenty, young Alleyne, son of Edric, leaves the Catholic abbey where he has been raised—intelligent, skilled, and well- liked, though sheltered and naive—and goes out to see the world, in accordance with the terms of his father's will. The same day, the abbot banishes John of Hordle for worldly behavior: great appetite, teasing, and flirting. They meet at the Pied Merlin inn as they each rest for the night. There, they make friends with veteran archer Sam Aylward who has returned to England from France to recruit for the White Company of mercenaries. Aylward has brought a request for Sir Nigel Loring of Christchurch to take command of the company. Aylward and John continue to Christchurch, while Alleyne detours to visit his older brother, the socman or landlord of Minstead, whose fierce reputation has grown to wickedness. The brothers meet for the first time since Alleyne was an infant and Alleyne finds that his brother is still furious their father gave three hides of land (80–120 acres) to the monastery for the boy's support. The socman threatens a lovely maiden, Maude, who escapes with Alleyne's aid and they flee on foot to find her horse. Maude makes a striking impression on the abbey-raised young man. When she hears that Alleyne intends to rejoin his friends to approach Sir Nigel Loring, Maude laughs and leaves him. Alleyne meets up again with Aylward and Hordle John, and the three friends meet Sir Nigel and his formidable wife Mary. There, he learns that Maude is Sir Nigel's daughter. Alleyne is taken on as squire to Sir Nigel and as tutor to Maude. When the men eventually depart for France, the young couple admit their love, but only to each other. En route to Gascony, our heroes destroy pirates, then report to the court of the Prince of Wales in Bordeaux. After adventures fearful and funny, the valiant fighters lead the White Company to join the Prince. A letter arrives to Sir Nigel declaring that Alleyne's brother, the Socman of Minstead, had attacked Sir Nigel's castle. During the siege, the socman died. This news means that Alleyne is the new socman and emboldens him to declare his love for Maude to Sir Nigel. Sir Nigel is startled by the news and Alleyne's declaration, but indicates that he prefers that Alleyne should be a full knight before he approaches Maude again with talk of love. The Spanish and French attack them in a narrow ravine, where the mighty warriors are almost all destroyed and the Company must disband -- only seven bowmen remain, including John. Alleyne was badly wounded when Sir Nigel sent him to alert the Prince to their plight. Sir Nigel and Aylward are missing and presumed dead. The English go on to win the Battle of Nájera, fulfilling the mission. The Prince knights Alleyne in his sick bed. Alleyne returns to England victorious with John as his squire, only to learn from a lady on the road that Maude and her mother had news that none of the White Company had survived. The lady said that love of a "golden-haired squire", who was presumed dead with the fighters, had caused Maude to decide to join a nunnery. The lady had left just before Maude was to take the veil. Alleyne rushes to the doors of the nunnery and he and Maude embrace. They marry. Alleyn and John prepare to return to find out what happened to Sir Nigel and Aylward. As Alleyne rides to see if the boat is ready to take them, he meets Aylward and Sir Nigel. They have a tale of adventure describing what occurred after they were captured by the Spanish, but eventually escaped to return to England. And everyone lives happily ever after. ===== A slot machine mobster, Marty "Fats" Murdock (Edmond O'Brien), wants his blonde girlfriend, Jerri Jordan (Jayne Mansfield), to be a singing star, despite her seeming lack of talent. He hires alcoholic press agent Tom Miller (Tom Ewell) to promote Jordan, both because of his past success with the career of singer Julie London (a fiction of the script) and because he never makes sexual advances towards his female clients. Miller sets to work by showing Jordan off around numerous night spots; his machinations arouse interest in Jordan and soon offers of contracts follow. However, Miller realizes that Jordan really just wants to be a homemaker and tries to persuade Murdock not to push Jordan into a show- business career. He thinks he's succeeded when he reveals to Murdock that Jordan's singing is so bad it shatters light bulbs, but Murdock suggests that Jordan would be perfect for a song he composed while in prison, "Rock Around the Rock Pile" (a parody of Rock Around the Clock). Miller reluctantly records Jordan performing the part of a prison siren in Murdock's song and heads to Chicago to promote it to Wheeler (John Emery), a former mob rival of Murdock who now has a monopoly over the jukebox industry. Suspicious of Miller's reluctance to promote Jordan and of the obvious attraction between Miller and Jordan, Murdock has his associate Mousie (Henry Jones) wiretap a phone call between the pair. Feeling pity for them, Mousie edits out the romantic portions of their conversations and convinces Murdock that their relationship is strictly business. In Chicago, Wheeler is impressed by the song and Jordan's voice and offers to sign both Jordan and the songwriter. However, when Miller reveals that the songwriter is Murdock, Wheeler throws him out of his office and vows never to play the song. A furious Murdock bullies bar owners into buying jukeboxes from him instead and successfully promotes his and Jordan's song. To prevent Murdock from stealing his business, Wheeler arranges to have Murdock assassinated at the rock show where Jordan will be making her debut. On his way to the show, Murdock confesses to Mousie that he doesn't want to marry Jordan. Mousie confesses that he altered the tape of Jordan and Miller's phone call and encourages Murdock to let Jordan marry Miller. Backstage at the show, Jordan confesses her love to Miller and they kiss. Jordan also admits that she is a talented singer, who lied because she did not want a show business career; she goes on stage and performs a song about her love for Miller. When Murdock arrives, Miller declares to him that he and Jordan are in love; the delighted Murdock surprises Miller by shaking his hand and offering to be the best man. Before Miller and Murdock can tell Jordan the good news, Wheeler's assassins shoot at Murdock. Miller fights them off and shoves Murdock on stage to perform his song, reasoning that the assassins won't shoot Murdock in front of so many witnesses. Wheeler arrives and, impressed by the audience's response to Murdock, calls off the assassination and signs Murdock instead. The film ends with Miller and Jordan kissing on their honeymoon, as Murdock and Mousie perform on a TV show in the background. ===== At Middlebury College in 1969, four young friends, Annie MacDuggan, Elise Elliot, Brenda Morelli, and Cynthia Swann, are graduating. Excited for the future and the potential it holds, the girls enthusiastically make a champagne toast celebrating their graduation as well as their friendship. As graduation gifts, valedictorian Cynthia presents the girls with matching Bvlgari pearl necklaces. As the graduates take a commemorative picture of the four of them (presumably for the last time), Cynthia makes Annie, Brenda and Elise promise that they will always be there for each other throughout the remainder of their lives. In the present time, the four friends have lost touch with one another, as evident when Cynthia (Stockard Channing) is tearfully gazing at the picture of the four of them on that graduation day. Now wealthy and living in a luxurious penthouse, she gives her maid her own Bulgari pearl necklace (matching the three she gave to her friends on graduation day), and has the maid mail letters to them. She later walks outside on the balcony of her penthouse in a floor length fur coat, with a cigarette and a drink, and then dies by suicide after learning through the tabloids that her ex-husband Gil (whom Cynthia made wealthy through her connections, according to narrator Annie) married his much younger mistress the day before. Cynthia's suicide is subsequently splashed all over the news. The surviving three former friends, shocked by the tragic event, all attend her funeral. After the funeral, the three friends reconnect over a long lunch to catch-up on their lives post-graduation. As it turns out, Cynthia's former friends aren't doing much better. Annie (Diane Keaton) is separated, suffering extreme self-esteem issues, and going through therapy with her husband. Brenda (Bette Midler) is divorced, left for a younger woman, depressed, and struggling financially. Elise (Goldie Hawn), whose husband also left her for a younger woman, is now an aging alcoholic movie actress who has become a plastic-surgery addict to keep her career afloat. Shortly after Cynthia's funeral, at which the three remaining friends are reunited for the first time since college, Annie's husband, Aaron (Stephen Collins), leaves her for their younger therapist (Marcia Gay Harden) and asks her for a divorce after spending a night together (and leading Annie to believe it would reconcile them); Brenda has a rather unpleasant encounter at a clothing store with her ex, Morty (Dan Hedaya) and his airheaded younger mistress Shelly (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Elise finds out that her soon-to be ex-husband, Bill (Victor Garber), is requesting alimony and half of their marital assets claiming that Elise owes her fame to him. Also, during a meeting with a director for a possible leading lady movie role, she discovers that she is only to play the lead female's mother; she later learns the lead female is Bill's current girlfriend. Shortly thereafter, the three friends receive the letters that Cynthia mailed to them before her suicide. After each one reads her letter from Cynthia, and feeling that they have been taken for granted by their husbands, the women decide to create the First Wives Club, aiming to get restitutions from their exes. Annie's lesbian daughter Chris (Jennifer Dundas) also gets in on the plan by asking for a job at her father's advertising agency so she can supply her mother with inside information, as payback for Aaron's unfairness toward Annie. Brenda finds out through her uncle Carmine (Philip Bosco), who has Mafia connections, that Morty is guilty of income tax fraud, while Annie makes a plan to revive her advertising career and buy out Aaron's partners. Elise starts to liquidate all of the marital assets she and Bill collected during their marriage, agreeing to split the proceeds of the liquidation between the two of them. However, as their plan moves through, things start to fall apart when they find out that Bill has no checkered past and nothing for them to use against him. Elise, feeling sorry for herself, gets drunk, which only results in her and Brenda hurling vicious insults at each other, and the women drift apart. When Annie starts thinking about closing down the First Wives Club, her friends come back, saying that they want to see this to the end, and Bill hasn't done anything blatantly wrong, but only as far as he knows. As a result, the wives manage to uncover information revealing that Bill's mistress (Elizabeth Berkley) is actually a minor. Deciding that revenge would make them no better than their husbands, they instead use these situations to push their men into funding the establishment of a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding abused women, in memory of Cynthia. The film ends with a celebration at the new Cynthia Swann Griffin Crisis Center for Women. Elise starts a relationship with a cast member in her play, Brenda and Morty reconcile and Annie rebuffs Aaron's attempt at reconciliation. While outside the center Bill meets Shelly and the two start to flirt. The film concludes with the three women joyfully singing "You Don't Own Me". ===== Joe is an aspiring actor working as a bus boy in a high-class restaurant. His longtime girlfriend Mary works as a cosmetician for the fashion industry and largely supports him with her steady income. Joe is more concerned with expressing himself than getting a paying job, and has been unwilling to accept roles that do not live up to his artistic standard. Mary supports Joe, but urges him to accept any role to get his foot in the door. Meanwhile, his co-worker Bob lands a lucrative role on a soap opera. Bob is a classically trained actor, but is willing to overlook the quality of the material for the money. He also has a fetish for natural blonde women, leading him to date Sahara, a naive model, and then dump her after discovering that her hair is dyed. Joe swallows his artistic pride and meets with an agent, Dee Dee Taylor, who arranges for him to be an extra in a Madonna video. Mary is harassed as she walks to work each day and begins taking a self-defense and anger management class on the advice of her therapist. The instructor encourages her to express her anger, and she finds the class extremely empowering. Bob is successful in his soap opera role and begins a relationship with his costar Kelly, a "real blonde". At the Madonna video, the director treats Joe and the other extras like cattle. Joe meets Madonna's body double, Tina, a friendly aspiring actress, and gets himself fired for protesting an anti-Semitic statement made by the assistant director. Joe's firing sparks an argument between Joe and Mary. The pressure of Joe's career is straining their relationship, and they have not had sex in a long time. Mary's instructor, Doug, gives her a ride home from her class and makes a pass at her. She rebuffs him, but lies to cover up the incident to Joe. Meanwhile, Bob suffers from erectile dysfunction and is unable to have sex with Kelly. She mocks his inadequacy and leaves him. Dee Dee takes pity on Joe and allows him to audition for the role of a "sexy serial killer". He reads his lines with Tina and begins to improvise his dialogue. He impresses the producers and lands the role. Tina invites him out for a drink and he resists her advances with some difficulty. Mary meets with her therapist and tells him about her experience with her self-defense instructor. He tells her that she must become comfortable with men showing their attraction to her and begins sharing his own sexual fantasies about her. She storms out of the session. Meanwhile, Bob is negotiating a longtime contract on the soap opera, but Kelly continues to taunt him on set. Bob threatens to quit the show and then forces the producer to kill off Kelly's character. Bob goes back to dating Sahara, with whom he is miserable. Joe breaks the big news about his role to Mary and they rejoice. Mary asks him if she is wrong for feeling angry when men hit on her. Joe supports her and threatens to beat up her therapist if he ever sees him again. They have sex for the first time in months and drift off to sleep, happy and satisfied. Mary wraps her hand around Joe's finger, revealing that his improvised monologue had been about his feelings for her. ===== In late 1950s America, radio journalist Marcia Jeffries encounters a drunken drifter, Larry Rhodes, while recording a segment at a rural Arkansas jail. She invites him to speak to the audience and sing while playing his guitar, and his raw voice, folksy humor and personal charm make him instantly popular. Marcia dubs him "Lonesome" Rhodes and fast-tracks him onto his own radio program. Marcia enlists the support of the show's staff writer Mel Miller and witnesses the charismatic Rhodes ad-lib his way to Memphis-area popularity, effectively criticizing local politicians along the way. When he pokes fun at his sponsor, a mattress company, it initially pulls its ads, but when his adoring audience revolts, burning mattresses in the street, the sponsor discovers that Rhodes's irreverent pitches actually increased sales by 55%, and Rhodes returns to the air with a new awareness of his persuasive power. He begins an affair with Marcia and proposes to her. An ambitious office worker at the mattress company, Joey DePalma, puts together a deal for Rhodes to star in a new TV show in New York City. The sponsor is Vitajex, an energy supplement that Rhodes ingeniously reimagines as a yellow pill marketed as a male enhancement product. As his fame, influence, and ego increase, Rhodes is enlisted to improve the appeal of presidential hopeful Senator Worthington Fuller of California, and rebrands the stuffy conservative as an everyman with a folksy nickname. In contrast to his friendly onscreen persona, Rhodes has privately become an egomaniac who berates his staff. Marcia's hopes of marrying Rhodes are dashed, first when a woman turns up claiming to be his legitimate wife, and then when he returns from alleged divorce proceedings in Mexico, newly married to a 17-year-old drum majorette. Rhodes and Marcia enter into a profit-sharing agreement after she reminds him of her role in his success. Ultimately, Rhodes's ascent into fame and arrogance begins to turn on him. Joey has an affair with Rhodes's young wife. Rhodes dumps her and sends her back to Arkansas, but can't get out of his business arrangement with Joey, who threatens to reveal Rhodes's secrets. Rhodes visits Marcia, who has come to regret her role in making him famous while he proposed his "Fighters for Fuller" proposal. While Rhodes gets comfortable, Marcia leaves in the rain. To destroy him, she activates a live microphone over the end credits of his TV show that reveals Rhodes contemptuously mocking Fuller and the station's "idiot" viewers. His popularity and the show's ratings plummet, and the advertisers cancel their sponsorships, as Rhodes descends in an elevator to the ground floor. Rhodes returns to his penthouse, where he was scheduled to address the nation's business and political elite, only to find the room empty, except for his friend, Beanie, and a few African American servants, whom he dismisses when they don't respond to his demands. He discovers the truth during a phone call with Mel and Marcia and threatens suicide, but Marcia only goads him on. When the pair arrive at Rhodes's home, they find him speaking with an applause machine replacing the people whose support he lost. Marcia tells Rhodes that she was responsible for his open-microphone incident and demands that he never call her again. Before they leave, Mel lays out a prediction of Rhodes's future: his career is not completely over, and he will likely find further TV work soon, but never again enjoy the same level of popularity and prestige. After leaving the building, Mel and Marcia hear Rhodes screaming from the penthouse, for Marcia to return to him, but ignore him as they depart into the night in a taxi, as a Coca-Cola sign in neon lights flashes continuously. ===== Gas station attendant Clint Ramsey, who works at Martin Bormann's Super Service in the desert, finds himself too irresistible to a series of girls, all of whom have the word "Super" in their given names. In the beginning, he is married to the hypersexual, demanding, and jealous SuperAngel (Shari Eubank), who constantly harasses him at work. She orders him home at once when she calls Clint and overhears a female customer, SuperLorna (Christy Hartburg), hitting on him at work. Clint finds SuperAngel's constant accusations and arguing a turn-off and, back at home, they fight after he rejects her aggressive advances. A neighbor calls the police as Clint leaves for a local bar, where the bartender is the very scantily clad SuperHaji (Haji). Meanwhile, SuperAngel seduces Harry Sledge (Charles Napier), the cop who responded to the police call. He is impotent and unable to perform. She repeatedly taunts and insults him over this, which finally results in him killing her by stomping her brutally in a bathtub, then throwing a radio in the water which was plugged into the wall socket. Sledge burns down the house, then tries to pin the murder on Clint. Clint claims being in the pub all night, but SuperHaji has her revenge on him (for insulting her breast size earlier) by refusing to confirm his alibi. Clint is then forced to flee. In his rush to escape, Clint hitchhikes a ride from a boy (John LaZar) and his girlfriend SuperCherry (Colleen Brennan). During the drive, SuperCherry comes on to him and puts his hand over her breast, but then pulls it back. She then tries to give him a handjob over his pants, but he continues to resist her advances. The driver takes offense to Clint rejecting his girlfriend, but she says he probably just wants a closer contact. She again attempts and fails to seduce him and he asks the driver to let him get out. The driver follows him out and beats and robs him. Clint is found by an old farmer who takes him to his farm to heal from his injuries and Clint agrees to work for the farmer for a week to repay him. The farmer has a younger Austrian mail-order bride, SuperSoul (Uschi Digard), who is hypersexual. After energetically satisfying her husband, she comes knocking on Clint's door at night. She immediately pushes him into his bed where she proceeds to mount and rape him, until he manages to overpower her. However, she does the same the following day and this time overpowering him after jumping him from behind in the barn. Looking for SuperSoul, the farmer finds them in the barn, then chases Clint away and punches SuperSoul. Fleeing from the farm, Clint meets a motel owner and his deaf daughter, SuperEula (Deborah McGuire), who convinces him to take a ride with her in her dune buggy to have sex in the desert. They are caught by her father and chased out of town. Clint eventually meets up with SuperVixen (also played by Shari Eubank) at Supervixen's Oasis, a roadside diner. SuperVixen is (inexplicably) a friendly and giving reincarnation of SuperAngel, whose ghost now appears nude between scenes to comment on the plot from atop a bedspring balanced on a mesa. Clint and SuperVixen fall in love and are inseparable, although their common nemesis, Harry Sledge, arrives on the scene and plots ending the lives of the now happy couple. ===== Rajbir "Radhe" Mohan (Salman Khan) is a jobless rowdy, surrounded by a rough circle. He lives with his brother (Sachin Khedekar), his sister-in-law (Savita Prabhune), and their child. He is a violent man, but often performs apparently good deeds, such as beating up sexual harassers. Radhe falls in love with Nirjara Bhardwaj (Bhumika Chawla), a student at his former college and the daughter of a poor temple priest. Radhe helps her a few times, and she seems to like him. One day, Radhe proposes to her and jokingly remarks that he would beat up her father if he doesn't agree to their marriage. Nirjara is too shocked to say much and utters "Yes" when Radhe asks her if she was listening to him. Radhe interprets this as her acceptance of the proposal. Later, he and his friends intimidate Nirjara's fiancé Rameshwar (Ravi Kishan). The next day, Radhe brings her a gift, but she tells him that she does not love him, and calls him a goon. A heartbroken Radhe subsequently tries to talk to her, but she refuses to engage in a conversation. Radhe's friends suggest that he give up rowdyism and violence to impress Nirjara, but one day, he roughs up a brothel owner who had beaten up one of his friends. As Radhe is about to punch the brothel owner, Nirjara arrives at the scene, and Radhe stops the violence, allowing the brothel owner to escape. Subsequently, Nirjara's elder sister Mamata, who is in need of money, is nearly tricked into prostitution, when she visits the brothel to meet a man who promises her a loan. Radhe, who does not know that she is Nirjara's sister, visits the same brothel to find a man who had harassed a woman. He saves Mamata from being arrested during a police raid. She tells him that her husband Aatmaram has evicted her, and is demanding money to give her the custody of their son. The next day, Radhe beats up Aatmaram, forcing him to take her back and to stop harassing her. Rameshwar sees this and tells Nirjara that Radhe is a good, selfless man, who truly loves her. Unaware of this conversation, Radhe abducts Nirjara so that she would listen to him express his feelings for her. Nirjara initially feels intimidated, but ultimately falls in love with him. Subsequently, the brothel owner and his goons attack Radhe to take revenge on him for trying to shut down their business. Radhe suffers from brain damage during the attack and loses his mental balance. His family admits him to a religious institution for mental patients, as Nirjara and his friends pray for him. At one point, Radhe's mental state returns to normal, but the wardens do not understand this and beat him up. Nirjara visits the institution and sees him in a pitiful condition while he is sleeping. Convinced that Radhe is not going to get well, Radhe's brother asks her to forget him and marry Rameshwar. On the day of Nirjara's wedding with Rameshwar, Radhe escapes from the institution, and arrives at her home, only to find that she has committed suicide. Radhe then allows himself to be taken back to the institution despite his family and friends trying to persuade him otherwise. The epilogue shows Radhe, now old and still in the institution, tying peacock feathers in Nirjara's memory. ===== Allen Faulkner, a former British Army colonel turned mercenary, arrives in London to meet merchant banker Sir Edward Matheson. The latter proposes an operation to rescue Julius Limbani, the imprisoned President of a southern African nation who is due for execution by General Ndofa. President Limbani is held in a remote prison in Zembala, guarded by a regiment of General Ndofa's troops known as the "Simbas". Faulkner accepts the assignment and begins recruiting forty-nine mercenaries, including officers he had worked with previously: Capt. Rafer Janders, a skilled tactician, and Lt. Shawn Fynn, a former Irish Guards officer and pilot. Fynn also brings in Pieter Coetzee, a former soldier in the South African Defence Force who wishes only to return home and buy a farm. The mercenaries fly to Swaziland, where they are whipped into shape. Before the operation begins, Janders exacts a promise from Faulkner to watch over his only son, Emile, should he not survive. Because of an unexpected development, Faulkner is given only a day's notice to launch the mission. On Christmas Day, the 50-man mercenary group parachute into Zembala via HALO jump. One group rescues an alive, though sick, Limbani from a heavily guarded prison, while another group takes over a small, nearby airfield to await pickup. Back in London, however, Matheson cancels the extraction flight at the last moment, having secured copper mining assets from General Ndofa in exchange for President Limbani. Stranded deep in hostile territory, the abandoned mercenaries fight their way through bush country, pursued by the Simbas. Many men, including Coetzee, are killed along the way. The mercenaries make their way to Limbani's home village, hoping to start a rebellion, but discover his people are too ill-equipped to fight. An Irish missionary living there informs the group of an old Douglas Dakota transport aircraft nearby that they can use to escape. As the Simbas close in, the mercenaries hold them off in a climactic battle sequence while Fynn starts the Dakota's engines, suffering heavy casualties. Janders is shot in the leg and unable to board the departing airplane. Faulkner is forced to kill him, sparing him from capture and torture. The thirteen surviving mercenaries finally manage to land at Kariba Airport, Rhodesia, but Limbani dies from a gunshot wound sustained during the escape. Some months later, Faulkner returns to London and breaks into Matheson's home, forcing him to disgorge the cash in his wall safe—half a million dollars—to compensate the survivors and the families of those who died. Faulkner then kills Matheson and makes a swift getaway with Fynn. Faulkner fulfills his promise to Janders by visiting Emile at his boarding school. ===== Dewey Hoople (Jack Moran) runs a broken down tourist trap along the Colorado River along with his French wife Babette (Babette Bardot) and his daughter Coral (Adele Rein). Business is so bad that Hoople must pay a local alcoholic (Frank Bolger as "Cracker") to entice tourists, called "suckers", to spend some time and money there. ===== Love is in the air when Seymour Skinner and Edna Krabappel are finally getting married. They each have their bachelor party, with Edna having hers at the Simpson house with Duffman and a topless Chief Wiggum as strippers, and Principal Skinner having his at Moe's with Homer. However, at his party, Skinner admits that he has doubts about marrying Edna. When the wedding is held at Springfield Elementary's gymnasium, Edna learns that Skinner does not want to marry her, and runs away from the ceremony as Skinner tries to catch up with her while Nelson cannot bring himself to play a prank on her. After the wedding is called off, Homer and Marge try to get Skinner and Edna to be engaged again, but it is halted by Homer and Marge's own marriage problems. Edna returns a wedding gift to the Comic Book Guy, and she finds him to be an interesting man. Homer gets Skinner to serenade Edna using a band made up of Bart, Milhouse, and Martin, but that fails when he learns that the Comic Book Guy and Edna are in love. The family visits the Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con to confront Comic Book Guy, who proposes to marry Edna after the family sees The Simpsons creator Matt Groening. Skinner, dressed up as Catwoman (who he thought was Catman) battles the Comic Book Guy. Edna interrupts their fight to declare that she will not marry either man. When she tells the Comic Book Guy how they had fun but are very different, he accepts her decision, though Skinner is still upset. Later, at the Simpson house, Homer asks Marge to remarry him, which is done in the style of a mock Klingon wedding, and she accepts (although she accidentally agrees to give their children a Klingon upbringing). ===== A man (named as John Sourpuss) reading a newspaper comes across an article stating that meat prices have soared and the consumers are sore. Angry, he declares that he'll hunt his own meat to get back at the government for the price inflation. He takes his dog with him, revealing he is going hunting for rabbits. In the woods, a rabbit leads the dog into a hollow log and pushes the log down a hill, where it smashes into a tree. Meanwhile, John sees several rabbits hopping over a hill. He fires his gun several times and runs to where the rabbits were. When he gets there, he finds two spinning wheels with pictures of rabbits on them, giving the perception of moving rabbits. He then sees the rabbit sleeping. The hunter starts pouring salt on the rabbit, who quickly gets up and holds a stick of celery under the stream of salt. The rabbit then runs into a cave, and the hunter runs after him. Before he reaches the cave, a pair of elevator doors closes, which the hunter runs into. The bunny then dresses as a female dog, successfully seducing the hunter's dog. When the dog finally realizes he's with the rabbit rather than another dog, he resumes his chase. The rabbit then pretends he's a policeman, citing the dog for numerous crimes (speeding, running on the wrong side of the street, intoxicated "driving", etc.). After confusing the dog and running away, the rabbit begins singing a song about how crazy he is. When he finishes his song, he turns to find the hunter with his gun aimed at him. The rabbit, trying to gain sympathy, begs for his life, explaining how poor and sick he is. John begins crying, feeling sorry for the rabbit. Despite this, the rabbit shocks John with a joy buzzer. The hunter then shouts that he can whip the rabbit and his whole family. Suddenly, a large group of rabbits surround John, looking for a fight (see "Lost/recovered Ending" below for the true ending). ===== The Two Curious Puppies, one big and one little, are being pursued by a dog catcher until they hide in an abandoned house. They soon discover the house is owned by Sham-Fu, a magician who is unseen over the course of the short. As a result, each puppy (both of whom are separated from each other shortly after entering the house) encounters all manner of magic tricks, including Sham-Fu's pet hare. The bigger puppy is left to defend himself against the hare, itself a more than competent illusionist capable of all sorts of acts of cartoon physics, while the little one is engaged in a reckless battle with a Hindu rope and a magic wand, the latter of which he ends up accidentally swallowing, giving him bizarre hiccups throughout the rest of the movie. The puppies and the hare all end up crashing into each other, at which point both puppies immediately attempt to pack everything back into Sham-Fu's trunk. Inexplicably, the little dog hiccups out a balloon containing the mischievous hare. However, this time, when the hare attempts another disappearing act, the bigger puppy is able to stop it in its tracks and punches the hare as hard as possible. The scene irises out on the hare, whose eye is blackened and covered with a lampshade and sitting in a goldfish bowl with his feet sticking out. ===== In a country town, farmer Burt is married to the much younger Angel but cannot satisfy her sexually. Angel has an affair with a construction worker, Stone. Lana is Burt's 17 year old daughter to another woman. She tries to seduce Ray but he is more interested in Angel so Lana winds up with Stone. Burt meers a sorceress in the forest who rejuvenates his sexual drive, leading him to be reunited with Angel. Lana winds up with Ray. Stone is beaten up by the husband of one of his earlier conquests. ===== After his reckless driving causes an accident, Homer is fired from his job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Homer attempts to become a car salesman, but ends up purchasing a 1959 ambulance; he begins acting as a paramedic. Meanwhile, Marge is inspired to write a novel after a visit to a bookstore, and begins to write about whaling times. The main characters in Marge's novel are inspired by herself, Homer (who is the villain), and Ned Flanders, while romance is the central theme. She completes the book, titled The Harpooned Heart, and after it receives positive reviews, she decides to get it published. Helen Lovejoy soon begins to spread rumors that the novel is based on Marge's life. After Homer is teased by several people, who imply that Ned is Marge's secret love, Homer decides to read the book. After arguing with Marge, Homer decides to get revenge on Ned. He chases him in his ambulance after Ned flees. Ned is sure Homer is going to kill him when they are on the cliff, and is stunned when Homer drops to his knees and begs Ned to show him how to be a good husband. Marge arrives in a panic but is relieved that Homer and Ned are speaking. Homer and Marge later decide to make create a novel, titled "Who Really Killed JFK". ===== Ben Stryker (Lance Henriksen), a former soldier, is riding on his motorcycle in the desert, on his way to see his friend Tick Rand (George Kennedy) in the small town of Aqua Dulce, Texas. Stryker stops at a gas station to get some gas. There are 2 bikers, Spyder (John Lisbon Wood) and Meatrack (Charles Hyman) who ride in; they are members of a motorcycle gang called the "Savages". The two bikers start trouble with the gas station owner, and Stryker comes to deal with them, but they both ride off. Stryker arrives in Aqua Dulce,or Agua Dulce?. He asks for directions, and he is greeted by the town lawman, Deputy Joe Bob (Lewis Van Bergen), who is making sure Stryker is not here to cause trouble. A lady come up to Stryker and kisses him, and he realizes that it is Tick's daughter, Katie (Claudia Udy). She invites him to the house for lunch. Stryker goes to an abandoned mine, where he meets Tick's son Danny (Michael Sharrett). Danny likes the motorcycle Stryker has, and Stryker tells Danny he will give him a ride later. Stryker goes into the mine and sees Tick in there working; they both greet one another, and talk about old times. They realize how much things have changed over the years. Later, on the highway, a big group of motorcycles are on their way to Aqua Dulce: they are the rest of the "Savages". They stumble across a man and a woman whose car broke down. The "Savages" decide to have their way with the woman; Zero (Mickey Jones), one of the "Savages", rapes the woman. On the mountainside, Stryker and Danny are riding on the bike, and they see what is going on. Danny suggests they help the girl, but Stryker says there are too many bikers. In town later in the evening, Stryker and Tick are having a drink at the Tomkat bar, and Tick introduces Stryker to Rachel (Karen Black), the waitress at the bar. The town of Aqua Dulce has a fight contest every year, in which Deputy Joe Bob is the reigning champion. He asks Stryker if he wants to enter the contest, but Stryker refuses. The people in the bar hear motorcycles outside; the "Savages" arrive. They are entering the bar, and they get a little rowdy. Rachel announces to everyone that whoever defeats Deputy Joe Bob in the contest will win $500. A man comes in; it is Pigiron (William Forsythe), the leader of the "Savages". He wants to get the $500, so he lets Zero fight Joe Bob. The contest starts, Zero and Joe Bob fight, and Joe Bob is winning the fight, until Pigiron comes up and punches Joe Bob out. In the bar, Rachel is about to give Pigiron the money, but Zero is disqualified by the bartender because of the cheating. Zero gets mad and hits the bartender. A shot gun is heard; it is the Sheriff (Leo Gordon), who makes the "Savages" leave. The mayor of Aqua Dulce, who is also the reverend of the local church, Rev. Romano (Richard Lynch) orders the "Savages" to leave town. The Sheriff decides to hold Zero to show they are serious. Pigiron swears he will return. Rachel wants to come with Pigiron, and he lets her. The next day, Pigiron, Spyder, and Meatrack ride into town, where Danny is with a girl. The three bikers ride over and mess with the girl. Danny hits Spyder, and Pigiron ties Danny by the feet and drags him with the bike. Stryker hears Danny calling him, and he deals with the three bikers. Later that night, Pigiron is planning his vengeance on the town. At the Armory outside town, two female members of the gang pretend to need the help of the guards because of their car breaking down; the guards decide to help them, but they get hit from behind by Pigiron. Pigiron rides into town on his bike, and taunts the local lawman, who throws him in jail. Joe Bob and the Sheriff call for help, but the phone wires are cut. They hear a machine noise, which is discovered to be a tank. The Savages, having stolen weapons from the Armory, take over the town. Reverend Romero is in the church, where he meets Lipservice, the female Savage he met at the contest in the bar earlier. She seduces him, and he gives in to temptation. At the barbershop, Zero asks a barber (Sam Kinison) to give him a beard trim. The barber tells him is a born again Christian, and Zero warns him to not mess with him. When the barber starts singing "Amazing Grace", Zero gets angry, slitting the barber's throat and shooting him. At Tick's house, Tick and Stryker get a visit from the Reverend, but refuse to help him. Tick, Danny, and Katie decide to fight back, but Stryker refuses; he doesn't want to lead people he cares about to their deaths. Tick has weapons he made while he was in the military. In town, Katie distracts Pigiron by hitting on him, making Rachel jealous, causing the two to fight. Danny, with the help of some of the locals, cause an explosion at the gas station. Tick fires a shoulder-mounted missile launcher at the tank. Pigiron has the tank fire on some of the town buildings. A man on a motorcycle rides in; it is Stryker. A grenade is thrown into the tank, it goes out of control, and runs over Rachel. Pigiron is angry, so he shoots Tick with a machine gun. Stryker runs over, and Tick dies. Stryker now wants revenge for the death of Tick, so he kills some of the "Savages". Pigiron and Stryker meet up, they fight, and Stryker kills Pigiron with the tank's small rocket launcher. Spyder, Meatrack, and another biker escape. Stryker is hot on their tail; he causes one member to crash into a spike on a tractor. Stryker ends up at a grain elevator and deals with Spyder, throwing him off the side of the steps, then he lassoes Meatrack with a rope, causing him to go up through an open spiked walkway. The "Savages" are defeated, and Stryker walks off onto the train track, having lost his good friend Tick. ===== A man named Adolf Schwartz, Adolf Hitler in hiding, is living in a Bavarian- style castle in northern California. After an orgy in the dungeon with three women (The Headsperson, The Ethiopian Chef, Limehouse) and a man (Paul) he is murdered when someone places a ravenous piranha fish in his bathtub. Who did it? A voluptuous woman named Margo Winchester appears in the nearby town Miranda and is spotted by local Sheriff Homer Johnson. He tries to make advances but Margo rejects flirtatiously (at this point). After that she is picked up by Leonard Box, a known troublemaker and son of a sawmill owner. An argument breaks out with the result that Leonard subdues and rapes the unconscious Margo, after that she accidentally kills him. This is witnessed by Homer, but he covers up the incident because Box's loaded father would put Margo in jail forever and of course he is horny for the busty beauty. So Margo and Homer wind up sleeping together, starting some kind of relationship, but a mutually unfaithful one as it can be seen later. Homer helps Margo get a job at the local diner, Alice's. It is owned by Alice who is married to Paul, who was sexually servicing Schwartz. Alice also likes women, depicted earlier in the movie. Paul is similarly unfaithful, he was interested in Limehouse and after Margo finishes work and goes for a swim at the Salmon Creek, he comes after her. While Margo undresses besides the stream Paul does the same before approaching her and they have sex. Homer, who had stopped a woman earlier for a traffic violation and let her go after a blowjob, is in bed with an Native American woman named Pocohontas and shoves her out of the house when he hears Margo's van approaching, after she and Paul finished their date. Still nude she enters the house, seemingly ready for a second round with Homer who's under the shower to clean himself up. Scalding himself with hot water by accident. Margo comments on his red penis that he must have made it with an Indian! Kitten Natividad plays the "Greek Chorus", who appears nude between scenes throughout the film to provide narration, plot details, and updates. Margo performs a strip show at a bar which triggers the reaction of the lumberjack Rafe who rapes her. The other guests join in and flee when Homer arrives, both men end up killing each other! It is revealed that Alice committed the murder because she was jealous about Schwartz, who was also her father, sleeping with her husband, and that Margo is an undercover cop to investigate the crime. ===== Upon discovering that his wife is having an affair, aerospace engineer and depressed insomniac Ed Okin drives to LAX on his friend Herb's suggestion. There, he is surprised by a beautiful jewel smuggler, Diana, who jumps into his car and begs him to drive her away from four Iranians who are chasing her. She persuades him to drive her to various locations, and he becomes embroiled in her predicament. After becoming increasingly exasperated with her demands, he discovers that Diana has smuggled priceless emeralds from the Shah of Iran's treasury into the country, and is being pursued by various assorted assailants, including the aforementioned agents of a criminal Iranian expatriate and a British hitman. The couple's caper gets increasingly out of hand, until Diana is eventually taken hostage by the thugs at the airport; here, Ed shares his ennui with the man holding a gun to Diana's head. The man shoots himself, instead. Taken to a motel room by federal agents, they are given a fortune in cash from one of Diana's wealthy friends via a federal agent. Diana showers and Ed finally sleeps. He wakes up after a full night's rest to an empty hotel room, with most of the money gone. However, when he leaves the room, Diana is waiting for him, with the money, a smile, and a request for a ride to the airport. ===== On an unnamed planet, a race called the Gonds are subject to the mysterious Krotons, unseen beings to whom they provide their brightest intelligences as "companions". Thara, son of the Gond leader Selris, is the only one to object to this practice; those who have become companions before have never been seen nor heard from again. The Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive in time to witness the death of the chosen companion Abu, who is vaporised by smoke sprayed from nozzles on either side of the doorway from which he emerges, and intervene to save Vana, the other selected for this fate, using her survival as a means to convince Selris and the Gonds of the malign influence of the Krotons on their society. The Doctor calls it "self-perpetuating slavery" by which the brightest in Gond society have been removed. Similarly, there are large gaps in their knowledge, especially relating to chemistry. This situation has been in existence for many years since the Krotons arrived in their spaceship, releasing a poison that polluted the lands beyond the Gond city - which the Gonds call "the Wasteland" - and killed much of the population. Thara uses the disquiet of the situation to lead a rebellion and attack the Teaching Machines of the Krotons in the Hall of Learning. This prompts a crystalline probe to appear and defend the Machines, and warn the Gonds to cease. Zoe now tries the Teaching Machines and is selected to be a "companion" of the Krotons. The Doctor elects the same fate and both are summoned into the Dynotrope where they are subjected to a mental attack. Zoe deduces that the Krotons have found a way to transfer mental power into pure energy, while the Doctor busies himself with taking chemical samples of the Kroton environment. Circumstances now trigger the creation of two Krotons from chemical vats within the Dynatrope (the Kroton spaceship). The newly created Krotons capture Jamie, but are really seeking the Doctor and Zoe, the "High Brains", who have now left the Dynatrope. It takes Jamie quite some time before he is able to escape. Eelek and Axus, two councillors previously loyal to the Krotons, begin to rally for all-out war with them and seize the initiative in Gond society. The more level headed Selris is deposed, but warns that an all-out attack will not benefit his people. Instead he has decided to attack the machine from underneath by destabilising its foundation in the underhall. Eelek has Selris arrested and reasserts control by negotiating with the Krotons that they will leave the planet if provided with the two "High Brains" who can help them power and pilot their ship. Zoe and the Doctor are forced into the Dynatrope and Selris dies, providing them with a phial of acid which the Doctor adds to the Kroton vats. Outside, Jamie and the scientist Beta launch an attack on the structure of the ship using sulfuric acid. This two-pronged assault destroys the tellurium-based Krotons and their craft. The Dynatrope dissolves away and the Gonds are free at last - choosing Thara rather than the cowardly and ambitious Eelek to lead them. Leaving the Gonds to find their own answers for the future, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe return to the Tardis. ===== Carol White is a housewife living in an affluent suburb of Los Angeles. She passes her days with activities like gardening, aerobics, and seeing friends. Her marriage and family life appear stable but sterile, and her friends are polite but distant. Following the renovation of the family's home, Carol suddenly starts experiencing physical symptoms when she is around certain everyday chemicals: she coughs uncontrollably when breathing exhaust fumes from a nearby truck while driving, has breathing difficulties at a baby shower, and suffers from a nosebleed while getting a perm at a hair salon. As her symptoms worsen, the chemicals that are triggering them seem ubiquitous. Finally, she has a complete collapse when visiting a store that is fumigated with pesticides. Doctors have no idea how to cure or help Carol. She attends some psychotherapy sessions, but her symptoms are not alleviated. She finds that she is very alone with her disease when her community behaves indifferently towards her. Accepting that she can no longer function in her current life, she leaves her home, possessions, and life behind. Without her husband, she moves to Wrenwood, an eerie new-age desert community for people with environmental illness. Wrenwood, which has cult-like aspects, is led by a man whose relentless motivational talks amount to "psychological fascism". Even in a community of people with similar health issues, Carol only seems to become more isolated. Ultimately, the film presents no answer for her illness or predicament. Her condition is given no name in the film, but director Haynes confirmed that it is a depiction of multiple chemical sensitivity. He also said that Carol's isolation was both the answer and the problem for her. ===== Andy Stitzer is a shy 40-year-old virgin, who lives alone in his apartment with his collection of action figures and video games, and is an employee of electronics store Smart Tech. At a poker game with his co- workers David, Cal, and Jay, when conversation turns to past sexual exploits, they learn that Andy is still a virgin and resolve to help him lose his virginity. Andy soon becomes friends with his co-workers, who give Andy various (and often contradictory) pieces of advice, both on his appearance and how to interact with women. Jay drags Andy to various social events, books a painful waxing appointment, and later has him meet a transvestite prostitute, but all end with embarrassing results. Cal advises Andy to simply be confident and "ask questions", which he practices on attractive bookstore clerk Beth, who quickly becomes intrigued by him. David gives Andy his porn collection, encouraging him to masturbate. Andy eventually lands a date with Trish Piedmont, a woman he meets on the sales floor. At the end of Andy and Trish's first date, they are about to have sex only to be interrupted by Trish's teenage daughter, Marla. Trish suggests that they postpone having sex, and Andy enthusiastically agrees, the couple promising to abstain for twenty dates. Andy and Trish's relationship flourishes over the following weeks. Trish encourages Andy's dream of starting a business, suggesting they fund it by selling his collectibles. After Marla argues with Trish over wanting birth control, Andy takes her to a group information session at a sexual health clinic, where she is demeaned as a virgin. Andy admits his own virginity to defend her, earning him Marla's respect. Meanwhile, David suffers an emotional breakdown at work over his obsession with his ex-girlfriend, Amy, and takes a vow of celibacy. Concerned for David, Cal hires an attractive woman named Bernadette to work at the store hoping to match her with him. Jay, who previously boasted of his promiscuity, gets into an argument with a customer after his girlfriend breaks up with him over his infidelity, and concedes to Andy that sex can ruin a relationship. Jay and his girlfriend eventually reconcile, and he invites Andy and the others to a nightclub to celebrate his girlfriend's pregnancy. On Trish and Andy's twentieth date, Trish tries to initiate sex but Andy remains awkward and resistant, which upsets her. The two argue, and Andy leaves for the nightclub where he meets his friends, gets drunk, and leaves with Beth to have sex at her apartment. Cal gets David and Bernadette to hook up, while Marla convinces Trish to make up with Andy. At Beth's, Andy sobers up and decides to leave, just as his friends arrive and encourage him to go back to Trish. Andy returns to his apartment, where he finds Trish waiting for him and had just found David's porn collection. Andy tries to explain but she flees in alarm and disgust, fearing Andy may be a sexual deviant. Andy then pursues Trish on his bike, but collides with her car and flies through the side of a billboard truck. Trish rushes to his side, and Andy finally confesses that he is a virgin as explanation for his behavior. Trish is relieved and accepting, and the couple profess their love for each another. Andy and Trish eventually marry in a lavish ceremony with everyone in attendance, with a sidelong mention that Andy's action figures sold for over half a million dollars. The couple then consummate the marriage, and the film transitions into a musical sequence where all the characters sing and dance to "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In". ===== Qui-Gon Jinn and his ally Tahl must go to New Apsolon to investigate a murder that can destroy the peace between the planet's upper and lower classes. Although he feels left out, Qui-Gon's apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi, also joins the group. The Jedi investigate, although they receive few leads. During the mission, Qui-Gon and Tahl pledge their love for each other. However, Tahl is soon captured by the rogue faction that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were searching for. It is also learned that one of the heirs to the planet is in league with this faction. However, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are quickly focused on rescuing Tahl before she is killed. ===== Douglas Winter (Robert Sterling), the editor of a newspaper called The Courier, is being pushed out of business by a big conglomerate paper, The Gazette. Though Douglas is an exceptionally kind and accommodating boss, his staff begin abandoning him when he becomes unable to pay them. After the linotype operator quits, the only remaining employees of The Courier are Douglas himself and his girlfriend, Jackie Benson (Pat Crowley). Douglas is an earnest dreamer who sees The Courier as his purpose in life; faced with its demise, he drives to a bridge to contemplate suicide. There he is approached by a strange man (Burgess Meredith) who introduces himself as "Mr. Smith" and says he came to town hoping to join The Courier as a linotype operator and reporter. Even after witnessing Mr. Smith's speed and precision with the linotype machine, Doug tries to talk him out of it, saying he cannot pay him or even resume operation of The Courier due to an overdue debt payment to the bank of nearly $5,000. Mr. Smith immediately loans him the $5,000. Shortly after his hiring, Mr. Smith produces a report of a bank robbery that occurred just a half hour before. Business booms for the little newspaper, as Mr. Smith scoops The Gazette on dramatic news stories, with special editions which sometimes hit the streets barely two hours after the events happen. The owner of The Gazette, Mr. Franklin, offers to buy out The Courier. Though Douglas himself doubts that The Courier can stand up to Franklin's monopolizing tactics, assuming his recent success is down to luck, he refuses his offer. The day after, a fire burns down The Gazette building. When an edition of The Courier goes on sale just two hours after, Franklin accuses Doug of arson. Doug has witnesses to account for his whereabouts at the time, and when he asks Mr. Smith if he caused the fire, Smith successfully dodges the question. Jackie, still suspicious of Mr. Smith, prods Douglas for information on where he came from, and says he should get rid of him now that the $5,000 loan has been repaid. Douglas refuses, and becomes irritable when she asks what he was doing at the bridge where he met Smith. At last Mr. Smith reveals why he joined The Courier: he wants Doug to sign a contract assuring Mr. Smith's continued services in exchange for Doug's soul. When Doug is reluctant, Mr. Smith uses a variation of doublethink, arguing that while he believes himself to be the devil, he is clearly mad, and to a sane sophisticated man like Doug things like souls and the devil clearly do not exist. Doug signs the contract. Eventually, however, he comes to the conclusion that Mr. Smith is somehow causing the events that he writes about, and tells Mr. Smith he wants him gone. Smith says that is impossible now that the contract has been signed, and writes a story about Jackie being injured in an auto accident at 11:30--an hour and a half in the future. He tells Douglas that when he joined The Courier he modified the linotype machine so that anything typed on it happens, and will write that Jackie died of her injuries unless Douglas kills himself. In this way Smith could immediately claim his soul and move on to other clients, instead of having to work at The Courier for the rest of Douglas's natural life. Douglas tosses aside the offered gun and goes frantically searching for Jackie. Meanwhile, she confronts Mr. Smith. He agrees to leave town if she gives him a lift, and asks to drive. Unable to find Jackie, Doug returns to The Courier building and uses the linotype machine to write a new story. The car with Jackie and Mr. Smith runs off the road, but Jackie is uninjured, and Mr. Smith has vanished. Doug shows a confused Jackie the story he wrote, which says that Mr. Smith left town at 11:29, and that his contract with Doug was declared void due to Doug's not fully understanding the terms of the agreement. Douglas resumes running The Courier after having the infernal linotype machine destroyed, and hauled away. ===== In Gravion, Eiji Shigure is sent a letter from his missing older sister Ayaka Shigure. Responding to its message, his search for her leads him to Klein Sandman, a mysterious billionaire and Eiji secretly infiltrates his enormous Saint-Germain Castle while he is hosting a party for Earth Federation Alliance (EFA) leaders, in order to find her. He ends up piloting the G-Attacker, a vehicle that is one of a group of five, called Gran Divas, that were secretly created by Sandman himself, during a mission of Sandman's Earthgertz team to defeat the invading mechanical extraterrestrials called the Zeravire. Sandman explains to Eiji that his unique G-Factor allows him to pilot machines such as the G-Attacker and his sister, who also had the G-Factor, was secretly part of Earthgertz. When she disappeared on a mission, Sandman was forced to send the letter to Eiji to bring him there in order to recruit him onto the team. Although only interested in finding his sister, Eiji becomes part of Earthgertz, who are the planet's only defensive team able to prevent the Zeravire from destroying humanity, by combining the Gran Divas with the Gran Kaiser mecha to form the titular super robot, Gravion. In Gravion Zwei, the Zeravire invasion seems to have stopped. However, when it rises back up all of a sudden, the Earthgertz and its trump card Gravion, is needed to defend the Earth again. In the meantime, the EFA creates their own weapons to counter the Zeravire, the Gran Trooper. As they attempt to fend off the Zeravire, the Earthgertz and the EFA must set aside their differences, confront their pasts and unveil the mysteries of the Zeravire, in order to end their impending threat once and for all. ===== During World War II, German submarines are sinking thousands of tons of British merchant shipping. British intelligence, based in India, believes that information is being passed to the U-Boats by a radio transmitter hidden on board one of three German merchant ships interned in Goa, then a colony of Portugal. Since Portugal is neutral, the ships cannot be attacked by conventional forces. The head of the Indian section of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) authorises attempts to kidnap and interrogate two known German agents, but these operations both fail. An approach is then made to a Territorial unit of British expatriates, the Calcutta Light Horse, to carry out the mission on its behalf. They all volunteer – all are trained in military skills and keen to 'do their bit'. Whilst the volunteers are trained, Stewart and Cartwright travel covertly to Goa. By a mixture of blackmail and bribery, they arrange diversions on the night of the raid. A party is to be held in the Governor's palace, a brothel will offer free entry to sailors from ships in the port and a Carnival with fireworks will be held. Stewart has a brief affair with Mrs. Cromwell, a mysterious and socially well-connected woman, who turns out to be a German agent and the main conduit to the German 'Master Spy', known to the Germans and the British by the code-name Trompeta (Trumpet). She is eventually killed by Stewart, after she attempts to kill him but not before she's killed Jack Cartwright. The raiding party sail around the coast in a decrepit and barely seaworthy barge; they set mines on the hull of the German ships in Goa. They then board one which is being used to transmit signals to u-boats, catching the depleted crew off-guard. Despite Pugh's order that there be no shooting, several German sailors are killed. The ship is set alight and the party withdraws, watching as the ships sinks. The final scene show a surfacing German u-boat which is expecting to hear a signal from the now sunken ship. ===== Edna Krabappel tells her students to write a paper on World War I, due in three weeks. After class, Edna and Principal Skinner's apple picking date is cancelled when Skinner's mother, Agnes, interrupts. Bart continuously gets distracted from writing his paper by pranks and other activities, and at the end of the three weeks, he still has not started the assignment. The day before the date of submission, he asks Grampa for help, relying on his recount of World War I. Edna rejects Bart's paper for using six pages of ads as filler and tells him that he will have to do it correctly after school. As Bart finishes the assignment after school, supervised by Edna herself, he observes Skinner cancel a movie date with Edna when Agnes calls. Bart consoles Edna, and she reluctantly accepts his offer to accompany her to a documentary at the movie theater. At home, Lisa suggests that Bart nominate Edna for the Teacher of the Year Award. When Edna is informed of her Teacher of the Year nomination, she thanks Bart at the ensuing press conference. Skinner is about to congratulate Edna when Agnes calls again. Bart informs his family that, as nominator, he and his family are going to Orlando, Florida. At Springfield Elementary, Skinner is despondent at the thought that Edna could leave the school. Groundskeeper Willie lends Skinner his sports car so he can go to Orlando, where he surprises Edna with a kiss under the fireworks display. They are interrupted by Agnes, whom Skinner brought along, much to Edna's ire. During preparation for the awards ceremony, Skinner is shocked when he hears that the winner receives enough money to be able to retire. He requests Bart to help him sabotage Edna's chances of winning, though he has to resort to blackmail after Bart initially refuses. At the ceremony, each finalist must ask their nominating student a question. When Bart is asked what Edna would like to teach the world, he pretends to be illiterate, until Skinner tells the truth. Skinner asks Edna to marry him, and she agrees. Edna loses the award, but looks forward to marrying Skinner. ===== Norman "Sonny" Steele is a former championship rodeo rider who has sold out to a business conglomerate and is now reduced to making public appearances to sell a brand of breakfast cereal. Prior to making a Las Vegas promotional appearance to ride the $12 million champion thoroughbred race horse who responds to the name of Rising Star, Sonny discovers to his horror that the horse has been drugged and is injured. Identifying with the plight of the horse and disillusioned with the present state of his life, Sonny decides to abscond with Rising Star and travel cross-country in order to release him in a remote canyon where herds of wild horses roam. Hallie Martin, a television reporter eager to be the first to break the Rising Star story, locates Sonny and follows him on his unusual quest through the countryside. While en route, the unlikely pair have a romance as they avoid the pursuing authorities. ===== Act I takes place at about 11 a.m. Don, who owns the junk shop where the entire play takes place, has sold a buffalo nickel to a customer for ninety dollars but now suspects it is worth considerably more. He and his young gofer, Bob (sometimes called Bobby), plan to steal the coin back. Bob has been keeping watch on the customer's house and reports that he has left for the weekend with a suitcase. Teach, a poker buddy of Don's, arrives and learns of the scheme. He persuades Don that Bob is too inexperienced and untrustworthy for the burglary, and proposes himself as Bob's replacement. Teach suggests they steal the whole coin collection and more. Don insists on their poker buddy Fletcher going with Teach. Teach continues to argue that he can do without Fletcher. Act II takes place a little before midnight on the same day. Teach and Don make final preparations to begin the burglary while waiting for Fletcher, who is late. Teach tells Don that Fletcher is a liar and a cheater at cards, and prepares to go commit the burglary on his own. Don is trying to persuade him not to take his gun with him when Bob appears at the store. He attempts to sell Don a buffalo nickel, similar to the one Don had sold the customer. When asked where he got the coin, Bob is evasive. Teach suspects that Bob and Fletcher have organized and completed their own burglary behind Don and Teach's backs. He asks Bob where Fletcher is. Bob tells him that Fletcher was mugged by some Mexicans and is in a hospital, but when Don calls the hospital, they have no record of his admission. Bob claims that he must have been mistaken about the name of the hospital, but the suspicious Teach strikes him on the head with a metal object. Another friend calls, corroborating Bob's story and naming the correct hospital. Don calls the hospital and confirms that Fletcher has been admitted with a broken jaw. Bob confesses that he made up the story about the customer leaving with a suitcase, and that he bought the second nickel from a coin dealer to make up to Don for his failure to keep tabs on the customer. Don admonishes Teach for wounding Bob and orders him to get his car so they can take him to the hospital. ===== The play shows Bobby Gould, introduced in Mamet's 1988 play Speed-the-Plow and his time in Hell after he dies. Gould is subjected to questions from a devilish personage referred to simply as "The Interrogator." The Interrogator has had to interrupt a fishing trip in order to question Gould and he is consequently displeased. Through the course of the play, Gould confronts whether or not he is a "bad man." ===== The Simpsons win a free spa weekend. At the spa, Homer is nearly killed when a mysterious person locks him into an incredibly hot steam room with a spanner, but he is saved when Krusty the Clown unlocks the door. This prompts Homer and Marge to see Chief Wiggum, who suggests that they seek help from someone who can understand a murderer's twisted mind – Sideshow Bob, who is released from prison, much to Bart's discomfort. To ensure Bart's safety, Wiggum places a shock bracelet on Sideshow Bob's ankle to keep his murderous urges at bay when he comes to live at the Simpson house. Bob asks Homer to list all the people who may want him dead, and follows him around to investigate who the mystery assailant could be. During their day, they end up at a repair shop, where Homer chastises the mechanic, Junior. Homer and Bob go to Moe's Tavern, where the assailant fires at Homer with a gun, before escaping in a tow truck. Bob suggests that Homer should stay home and out of sight to be safe, but the latter is named the King of the Springfield Mardi Gras, in which he must ride on a float for the whole day. Bob discovers that Homer won because someone rigged the ballot in his favour, but Homer takes part in the parade anyway in hopes of luring out his attempted killer. At the parade, Bob learns that a brake line on Homer's float has been cut, and draws a correlation between the wrench used to lock Homer in the steam room, the wrenches in the tow truck and a smudge on the spa invitation, realizing that Junior is the killer. As the float goes out of control, Bob saves Homer by getting fired out of a cannon and grabbing Homer with his huge feet from above, just before the float crashes into the Museum of Swordfish. Homer and Bob end up giving chase to the killer, who is revealed to be Frank Grimes Jr., the illegitimate son of Frank Grimes, who blames Homer for his father's death. Junior attempts to kill Homer, but is foiled when the police arrive. That night, after Homer puts Bart in bed, Bob takes possession of the remote for his shock bracelet and sneaks into Bart's room, intending to kill him. However, Bob realizes he is accustomed to Bart's face and cannot bring himself to do it. He tries to take his leave, but gets zapped continuously by his shock bracelet (because of birds pecking the remote after it landed in their nest). ===== Marge takes Bart, Lisa, and Milhouse to the library to study. When they go inside, they realize that the library has removed all the books except for the popular ones. Marge makes the best of this situation by telling stories about history. ===== Vint is a "virtual cameo" about "bureaucrats who lighten their day by playing a game of cards (vint) using the personal files in their care." An official hears his wife's name and "takes the sort of action one might least expect."Drake, Sylvie."Three-night Stand At Wadsworth : Some Fine Pickings From Chekhov In 'Orchards'" latimes.com, April 11, 1986 ===== In the near future (some unspecified decades after 1999), Professor Dr. Amadeus Sharp Ph.D., head of the Special Projects Labs (SPL), creates a new form of technology to augment humans through bionics. His first subject was Jack Bennett, a test pilot who secretly acted as Sharp's field agent, Bionic-1. On a family ski vacation in the Himalayas, an alien spacecraft triggers an avalanche that buries the entire family, exposing them to the unusual radiation of a mysterious buried object. Jack frees himself but discovers his family in a comatose state. Theorizing that Jack's bionics protected him from the radiation, Professor Sharp implants bionic technology in the others, awakening them. Afterward, the family operates incognito as a publicly lauded team of adventuring superheroes, the Bionic Six. The primary antagonist of the series is a mad scientist known as Doctor Scarab, along with his gang of henchmenGlove, Madam-O, Chopper, Mechanic, and Klunkaccompanied by Scarab's legion of drone robots called Cyphrons. Scarab is Professor Sharp's brother. Obsessed with obtaining immortality and ruling the world, Scarab believes that the key to both goals lies in the secret bionic technology invented by his brother, ever plotting to possess it. ===== Homer, Bart, and Lisa see the newest Cosmic Wars film, The Gathering Shadow, and the movie turns out to be less than what they expected. At home, Marge suggests that Bart and Lisa write a letter to Cosmic Wars creator Randall Curtis. Two weeks later, they get a reply from Curtis, which completely ignores their criticism, having sent them Jim-Jam merchandise. This forces the Simpsons to go on a trip to California, where Homer and Marge go to wineries, and Bart and Lisa go to the Cosmic Wars Ranch. The kids visit Curtis, and tell him that his Cosmic Wars movies have lost their way. Curtis dismisses their criticisms, until Lisa explains that improved technology does not count for story and characterization. Curtis agrees, and decides to go back to his storytelling roots by watching more samurai films and Westerns for inspiration. Bart and Lisa rejoin Homer and Marge, who are both drunk from free samples of the wine. Back in Springfield, Homer and Marge go to Moe's Tavern and drink more wine. Moe opens a bottle of Chateau Latour 1886 vintage wine, clearly unaware of its value. Homer and Marge then continue to drink heavily for several days, until Marge suffers a particularly painful hangover. She tells Homer that they should not be drinking, and he agrees. Unfortunately, when they go to an Oktoberfest featuring Grammy-winning nuclear polka band Brave Combo, Marge, who tries to go through the night without drinking, gives in and ends up drunk along with Homer. He tries to drive them home, but in a drunken stupor overturns the car. In order to avoid an arrest, Homer makes things look like Marge (who is drunker than he is) was the driver. She is arrested, but he bails her out. Later, Barney suggests that Marge go to a rehab clinic for a month, and when Marge is gone, Homer lets Flanders take care of the kids. When he sees her at the clinic, he confesses, but Marge is angry and drinks again. Later on, the other rehab patients help her discover that she likes being with Homer more than she likes drinking, and forgives him and returns home. ===== Mr. Burns withdraws a $1000 bill from an ATM, but he drops it and an updraft carries it away to the Simpsons' house, where it is found by Bart and Milhouse. Marge makes Bart and Homer put up fliers so that the person who lost the bill can reclaim it. No one can describe it correctly so Lisa suggests that they spend the money on something for Marge. Marge desires a dream vacation, but decides against this because Homer always manages to ruin any trip they go on. After realizing he can make money from the bill, Bart displays it in a museum in his tree house. Mr. Burns visits and reclaims his money, forcing Bart to close his museum. However, Bart has made over $3000 from the museum so he reconsiders Lisa's suggestion and decides to spend the money on a vacation for Marge. Grampa suggests they go to Britain, where he hopes to meet his long-lost love Edwina. During World War II, he made love to her the night before he was shipped out to the front lines on D-Day. Upon their arrival in London the family is greeted by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, whom Homer mistakes for Mr. Bean. They visit London's tourist attractions, and later meet J. K. Rowling and Ian McKellen. Grampa tries to contact Edwina whilst Bart and Lisa go on a "sugar rush" after discovering the joys of British candy. Homer and Marge rent a Mini Cooper and start to drive around London but get stuck on Hyde Park Corner. After literally driving in circles for hours, Homer decides to break out of it, plows straight through the gates of Buckingham Palace and slams into Queen Elizabeth II's horse-drawn carriage. Homer is put on trial for causing harm to the Queen as well as wrecking her carriage. He humiliates himself by calling the Queen an impostor, since her luggage is inscribed "H.R.H." which he believes is short for "Henrietta R. Hippo", and mistaking the judge for a woman due to the wig he is wearing. The Queen, highly offended, demands that he be executed. At the Tower of London where he awaits his execution, he is called from outside by his family and Lisa tells him that he can use a secret tunnel that Sir Walter Raleigh built to escape. However, the tunnel leads straight into the Queen's bedroom, and she calls her guards. Homer pleads with the Queen to find it in her heart to forgive him and she allows him to leave the country on the condition that he take Madonna back to America with him. As they prepare to leave, Edwina appears and introduces Abe to her daughter Abbey, who is essentially a British female version of Homer. Realising he is her father, Grampa runs away quickly to the plane, while Homer appears smitten by his half-sister. ===== While browsing through the family photo album, Lisa notices it contains no baby pictures of Maggie. Homer explains why by recounting the story of Maggie's birth. In 1993, Homer hated his job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant and dreamed of working at a bowling alley. After receiving a paycheck clearing him of all his debts, he quit his job at the power plant, humiliating Mr. Burns and literally burning a bridge during his departure. Homer was thrilled with his new job at Barney's Uncle Al's bowling alley. When Homer and Marge "snuggled" to celebrate his new job, she became pregnant. Marge made Patty and Selma promise not to tell him, but they told two people known for gossiping. By the next day the entire city of Springfield knew Marge was pregnant. Homer was blind to obvious signs, even when Moe congratulated him for getting Marge pregnant and her friends and family threw her a baby shower. When Maude casually congratulated him on his new job, Homer suddenly realized Marge was pregnant. The news upset him because he was happier working at the bowling alley than any other job. Marge urged Homer to ask Al for a raise. Al explained the alley's profits prevented him from offering one unless Homer could find a way to increase business threefold. Homer tried to attract more customers by firing a shotgun outside the bowling alley, which only caused a massive panic and large police response. Unable to drum up business, Homer quit his dream job and returned to the power plant. Mr. Burns made Homer beg for his job back and placed a large plaque near his desk which read: "Don't forget: you're here forever". Homer was miserable at work again, but he instantly fell in love with Maggie when she was born. Back in the present, Bart and Lisa still do not understand what this story has to do with Maggie's missing baby pictures. Homer says the photos are where he needs them most -- on the plaque, which he has altered to read: "Do it for her". ===== Homer drags Marge to a police seized-property auction. While there, he buys Snake's car, the Li'l Bandit. Upon seeing this, Snake vows to kill Homer. After the auction, Marge encounters Lionel Hutz, who has become a realtor. Marge decides to try the job for herself and begins to work for Hutz at Red Blazer Realty. She tells prospective buyers her honest opinion about the houses she shows them. Due to her honesty, Marge does not sell any homes. Hutz informs her to use more positive descriptions when selling the houses, and also informs Marge if she does not sell a house in the first week, she will be fired. Marge tries to bend the truth, but fails as she just cannot lie to others. Marge does not disclose the entire truth of the house she sells to Ned Flanders and his family, which had been the site of a multiple homicide. The Flanders purchase the house and bid farewell to the Simpsons. Meanwhile, Snake escapes from the prison and jumps into the Li'l Bandit to retrieve the car from Homer. They start fighting each other to gain control of the moving car, and Chief Wiggum starts chasing them. Feeling guilty about her deception and concerned for the Flanders' safety, Marge goes to check on them at their new house. There, she tells them the truth about the murders, but they are not upset. Ned and Maude are pleased to be a part of Springfield's history, and refuse Marge's offer of returning the deposit. However, the house is destroyed seconds later when Li'l Bandit and Wiggum's police car crash through the house. Marge returns Flanders' down payment. Hutz, annoyed at the damage costs and especially by the return of the money, fires Marge (giving her a Red Blazer embroidered with this information). At the end of the episode, Homer takes Marge to the government unemployment office to collect a welfare check. ===== In 1998 New York City, quadriplegic forensics expert Lincoln Rhyme is bed-bound after an accident that left him completely paralyzed from the neck down. Amelia Donaghy, a newly recruited patrol officer, discovers a mutilated corpse buried at a Civil War-era railroad bed. Due to clue-like objects found at the crime scene, Rhyme concludes that the scene was staged and subsequently teams up with an initially hesitant Amelia, impressed by her natural forensic instincts. The killer poses as a taxi driver and, prior to Rhyme and Amelia meeting, abducts married couple Alan and Lindsay Rubin. Alan is the body discovered by Amelia at the railroad station, while Lindsay is revealed to be alive and tied up at a steam junction. Using the clues found at the railroad bed, including a torn piece of scrap paper, Rhyme successfully tracks the whereabouts of Lindsay. The detectives and Amelia arrive too late and she is scalded to death by an open steam pipe. Amelia finds a piece of Lindsay’s bone by her body and another scrap of paper. Rhyme instructs Amelia to sever Lindsay’s hands, which are securely chained to the pipe, for evidence but she refuses and storms off from the crime scene. The killer abducts an NYU student, who is taken to a derelict slaughterhouse and tied to a pole. The killer surgically removes a piece of bone from the student, leaving an open wound that attracts nearby rats. Amelia and Rhyme, again using the clues left by the killer at the scene of the previous murder, find the victim’s body which has been mutilated by rats. Amelia finds another scrap of paper and a piece of bone. The pressure of the tense investigation and bureaucratic challenges to Amelia and Rhyme’s involvement in the case begin to have serious impacts on Rhyme’s health and stability. Thelma, Rhyme's personal carer and nurse, reveals to Amelia that he intends to euthanise himself out of fear of seizures that could leave him in a vegetative state. After piecing together the message the killer was sending using the scrap paper left at each scene, Amelia and Rhyme are led to an old crime novel called The Bone Collector, where it is revealed the killer is replicating the crimes from the fictional story. This leads them to the killer’s next victims, a grandfather and granddaughter who have been tied to a pier during a rise in tide. The paramedics successfully resuscitate the young girl, but the grandfather is pronounced dead. At the scene, Amelia finds another piece of bone, part of an old police badge, and a subway map. These clues together with the asbestos left by the killer at the scene of Lindsay’s death lead Amelia to an abandoned subway station, where she sees numbers on the side of a carriage that have been tampered with to spell out Rhyme's police badge number. The killer arrives at Rhyme's house and kills both Thelma and police Captain Howard Cheney. The killer is revealed to be Richard Thompson, the medical technician in charge of Rhyme's medical equipment. Richard’s real name is Marcus Andrews, a former forensics expert, who was convicted after Rhyme wrote an article accusing him of planting evidence resulting in the wrongful imprisonment of six innocent people, one of whom hanged himself. Blaming Rhyme for his imprisonment and the abuse he endured during his incarceration, he attempts to kill Rhyme out of revenge. Rhyme retaliates by crushing Marcus’ hand in his medical bed, resulting in a struggle between the two that forces them both onto the floor. Unable to move, Rhyme is almost killed by Marcus until Amelia arrives and shoots Marcus dead. The following Christmas, Rhyme, having abandoned his plans to commit suicide, meets his sister and niece coming to visit him along with Amelia and his other colleagues. ===== The innocent owner of a van that is unsuspectingly used in a back-room bookie operation robbery is "railroaded" (informal, refers to the conviction of someone based on false or weak evidence without proper corroboration) for the killing of a cop during the getaway. Clara Calhoun is a beautician with a shop in New York. Her shop is in fact a front for a bookmaking operation. One evening when she closes up for the night, she gives a silent signal to two masked gunmen lurking outside. These two bandits then burst into the shop and hold up both Clara and her unsuspecting assistant, Marie Westin. The money they get hold of is betting money from the illegal operation. During the robbery, a policeman on patrol in the neighborhood hears Marie's screams. He sees the hold up and tries to interrupt the robbery. When the policeman intervenes, he shoots one of the robbers, "Cowie" Kowalski, but is then shot and killed by the other robber, Duke Martin. The two robbers then escape the scene in a laundry truck, and Duke drops off Cowie at a doctor's house for medical care. Before leaving Duke reminds Cowie of the plan to implicate a certain Steve Ryan in the crime. Later on, Clara and Marie are interrogated by detectives Mickey Ferguson and Jim Chubb. Marie describes both robbers as black-haired, but Clara insists that one of them, the "shooter", had sandy hair. Clara's version is believed, and soon the sandy-haired Steve Ryan, who usually drives the laundry truck and whose Navy scarf was found at the shop, is found and brought in for questioning. After a round of tough questioning by Mickey and Chubb, Steve is then taken to a hospital, where Cowie identifies him as the killer. Steve claims that he is framed by Cowie for something he didn't do. He says the reason for this is that he beat him up for making a pass at his sister Rosie. But the detectives don't believe Steve's story. Clara too confirms Cowie's identification, and the unfortunate Steve is arrested. Steve's sister Rosie is sure of her brother's innocence. Rosie pleads her brother's case to detective Mickey, but he is quite convinced of Steve's guilt and intends to perform a thorough investigation. Clara, who has come up with the robbery scheme together with Duke, who in fact is her boyfriend, starts drinking heavily, angering Duke in the process. Their plan was to steal the money from Jacklin Ainsworth, Clara's gambling boss and the owner of the Club Bombay. When it turns out Cowie dies from his gunshot wound, Rosie goes over to Clara's apartment and confronts her about her identification. A fight ensues between the two women. Duke watches the fight in hiding, and afterwards, Duke enters the room and tells Clara he will "straighten out" Marie before Rosie talks with her. Duke also tells Clara that she should lay low and disappear for a while, until Steve's trial. Rosie goes straight to Marie's beauty salon, but is unable to find her. Also looking for Marie is Mickey, and he finds her outside the shop and offers her a ride home. Rosie accepts the ride, and on the way, Mickey confesses his doubts about Steve's guilt. Back at home, Rosie receives a message from Duke, telling her to come to the Club Bombay, where he normally works as manager. Rosie goes to meet Duke at the club, and in the meantime Mickey breaks into and inspects Clara's now-deserted apartment. He finds a lead in a photograph of Duke, and connects the two. Since Mickey has had dealings with Duke before, he recognizes the photo and goes to the club to question Duke about his relation to Clara. Duke suggests to Rosie that he knows who is framing Steve, and Rosie denounces Mickey in front of Duke. Mickey doesn't give up though, concernedly warning Rosie to stay away from Duke. However, Rosie is determined to do anything to get her Steve off the hook, and puts more trust in Duke. In an attempt to disclose the relation between Clara and Duke, Mickey waits outside Clara's hideout apartment. When Duke appears and is about to enter the building, Mickey makes his presence known to him. Duke tries to get out of the implicating situation by accusing Clara of double-crossing him. He then runs off, and Mickey goes inside to speak with her. Mickey tells her that Marie has been found dead in the river. Because of this, he advises Clara to call him later at Rosie's house, for her own protection. Meanwhile, Duke has found another solution to his problem, by convincing an alcoholic named Wino to confess to the robbery in exchange for a sum of money. He then talks to Rosie and assures her that Wino's statements will get Steve out of jail. Rosie buys the whole concept and goes home to get money for Wino. Duke goes back to Clara's apartment, but she isn't there. After some searching he finds the frightened Clara calling Mickey at a drugstore. Clara arranges to meet Mickey at her apartment, but before the detective arrives, Duke shoots her down. Duke then goes to the Club Bombay and shoots and robs Ainsworth. Aware that Clara had called Rosie's phone number, Duke waits for Rosie at the club and accuses her of betraying him. Just when Duke is about to shoot Rosie too, Mickey arrives with the police, having ordered a raid on the club. In the ensuing commotion, Duke manages to fire a round at Rosie, and wounds her, but not fatally. Duke is then killed in a shootout with Mickey. Steve is eventually released from jail and Mickey and Rosie kiss each other. ===== Jolly Chronolidays is offering sight-seeing tours of the "Sector of Forgotten Souls", the place where in ancient times the Time Lord Omega detonated a star that enabled the Time Lords the power to travel through time, and was lost. When the Fifth Doctor arrives, he discovers that Omega might not be as lost as was thought. ===== A tax investigator chasing a tax evader stumbles upon a series of bloody murders and gets wrapped up in an investigation with a rookie cop despite his boss' orders to stay out of the way. ===== Buffy is waiting for a vampire to rise when she falls into an open grave. A body was apparently dragged out from it earlier. The next day, Buffy and Xander catch Giles practicing to ask Ms. Calendar out on a date. Giles hears Buffy's findings at the cemetery and fears someone is raising an army of zombies. Buffy goes to find Willow, who is signing up for the science fair and talking to Chris, the reigning champ. As Buffy approaches, Chris' friend Eric takes pictures of girls passing by. Willow finds that the girl missing from the open grave, Meredith Todd, died in a car accident. That night, Cordelia is walking to her car when she senses that someone is following her. She hides in a dumpster and when she thinks it is safe to get out, she encounters Angel. He starts to help her out when they find an arm and other body parts inside the dumpster. The Scoobies return to the library to find a frightened Cordelia clinging to Angel. They decide to abandon Giles' zombie theory and search the lockers of science students. They find medical books and an article on Meredith Todd in Chris' locker and a jigsaw of female body parts in Eric's locker. In a secret lab, Chris and Eric are almost finished assembling a girl's body, except for the head. Eric lines up three candidates: Buffy, Willow and Cordelia. Chris' brother Daryl comes out from the shadows, showing a grotesque appearance, and chooses Cordelia. Daryl was a popular athlete who died in a hiking accident years ago, but he was revived by his brother and promised a stay-at-home companion. The next day, Giles stumbles as he tries to ask Ms. Calendar out, but she ends up asking him to the football game instead. Meanwhile, Buffy and her friends discover that Chris and Eric must actually kill a girl to gain the head they need. Buffy finds a lab in Chris' house and discovers their target. In the locker room, Cordelia is getting ready when Chris comes up behind her. Eric places a bag over her head, but is fought off by Buffy. After Cordelia leaves, Chris tells Buffy about Daryl. They head back to his house, only to find Daryl gone. As Cordelia goes to a water fountain, Daryl drags her away. He and Eric head to an abandoned building, where Eric plans to behead her. At the game, Buffy and Chris realize they arrived too late, but Chris tells her where to find Eric. Meanwhile, Willow and Xander crash Giles' date. Chris tells them what happened, while Buffy rushes to the old science lab. In the ensuing fight, a burner is knocked over and starts a fire. Xander arrives with the rest of the gang and gets Cordelia out. Giles and Willow drag out an unconscious Eric. As Daryl is about to kill Buffy, Chris stops him. Daryl decides to die beside the unfinished girl's body while everyone else escapes. ===== A girl jumps out of a second- floor window of a frat house and flees into a cemetery, where she is caught. Meanwhile, The Scooby Gang are happy with the apparent lack of activity on the Hellmouth. Giles presses Buffy to train harder, but she just wants to be a teenager. The next day at school, Cordelia introduces her to two college guys, one of whom invites Buffy to a party. She turns him down, claiming she is involved with someone. Buffy goes on patrol at the cemetery and meets Angel, who smells blood on a bracelet on the ground. He says that their age difference is a problem and that she does not know what she wants in life. She runs off, upset. Buffy decides to go to the frat party with Cordelia. She chooses not to tell Giles or Angel about her date. Later that night, Giles and Willow discover that the bracelet is from Kent Preparatory School, just outside Sunnydale and where Buffy is partying. Angel appears and asks about Buffy. Willow tells the two men why Buffy lied to them. They then rush off to save Buffy and Cordelia. At the party, Buffy tries to avoid drunken frat guys. Xander has sneaked in to protect Buffy, but other drunken party-goers recognize him for a crasher and dress him up like a girl. Meanwhile, Buffy relents and decides to accept a drink. Drugged, she stumbles her way up to the bedroom where Cordelia is lying unconscious. When they wake up, they find themselves chained in a basement with the girl caught in the beginning as an offering for a reptile demon named Machida, who the fraternity - calling themselves the Delta-Zeta-Kappas - worship. Cordelia is chosen as the first victim, but Buffy distracts the demon and breaks out of her chains. Willow, Angel and Giles head to the frat party and meet up with Xander. They enter the house and beat up the frat guys. Buffy kills the demon, the frat guys are arrested, and Giles promises to stop pushing Buffy so hard. Afterwards, everyone gathers at The Bronze. Xander reads from a newspaper that the frat guys were given life sentences and their family's businesses- and others set up by previous Delta-Zeta-Kappas- are experiencing falling profits, IRS investigations and "suicides in the boardroom" due to the demon's death. Angel appears and asks to have coffee with Buffy sometime. She plays it cool. ===== The Amulet At the beginning of this book, the journalist father of Robert, Anthea, Cyril, and Jane has gone overseas to cover the war in Manchuria. Their mother has gone to Madeira to recuperate from an illness, taking with her their younger brother, the Lamb. The children are living with an old Nurse (Mrs Green) who has set up a boarding house in central London. Her only other boarder is a scholarly Egyptologist who has filled his bedsit with ancient artefacts. During the course of the book, the children get to know the "poor learned gentleman" and befriend him and call him Jimmy. Nurse's house is in Fitzrovia, the district of London near the British Museum, which Nesbit accurately conveys as having bookstalls and shops filled with unusual merchandise. In one of these shops the children find the Psammead. It had been captured by a trapper, who failed to recognise it as a magical being. The terrified creature cannot escape, for it can only grant wishes to others, not to itself. Using a ruse, the children persuade the shopkeeper to sell them the "mangy old monkey", and they free their old friend. Guided by the Psammead, the children purchase an ancient amulet in the shape of an Egyptian Tyet (a small amulet of very similar shape to the picture can be seen in the British Museum today)Red jasper tit amulet of Nefer, British Museum which should be able to grant them their hearts' desire: the safe return of their parents and baby brother. But this amulet is only half of an original whole. By itself, it cannot grant their hearts' desire. Yet it can serve as a portal, enabling time travel to find the other half. In the course of the novel the Amulet transports the children and the Psammead to times and places where the Amulet has previously existed, in the hope that – at some point in time – the children can find the Amulet's missing half. Among the ancient realms they visit are Babylon, Egypt, the Phoenician city of Tyre, a ship to "the Tin Islands" (ancient Cornwall), and Atlantis just before the flood. In one chapter, they meet Julius Caesar on the shores of Gaul, just as he has decided that Britain is not worth invading. Jane's childish prattling about the glories of England persuades Caesar to invade after all. In each of their time-jaunts, the children are magically able to speak and comprehend the contemporary language. Nesbit acknowledges this in her narration, without offering any explanation. The children eventually bring "Jimmy" (the "Learned Gentleman") along with them on some of their time trips. For some reason, Jimmy does not share the children's magical gift of fluency in the local language: he can only understand (for example) Latin based on his own studies. In one chapter the children also come to the future, visiting a British utopia in which H.G. Wells is venerated as a reformer. Wells and Nesbit were both members of the Fabian political movement, as was George Bernard Shaw, and this chapter in The Story of the Amulet is essentially different from all the other trips in the narrative: whereas all the other adventures in this novel contain scrupulously detailed accounts of past civilisations, the children's trip into the future represents Nesbit's vision of Utopia. This episode can be compared to many other visions of utopian socialist futures published in that era; Nesbit's is notable in that it concentrates on how the life of children at school would be radically different, with economic changes only appearing briefly in the background. (It seems somewhat akin to William Morris's News from Nowhere.) It also mentions a pressing danger of Edwardian England: the number of children wounded, burned, and killed each year. (This concern was addressed in the Children Act 1908, and later in the Children's Charter.) ===== A man is hurriedly making his way through the school grounds trying to find Giles, when he is approached by a decomposing woman, "Dierdre". The corpse strangles him, before falling to the ground and dissolving. Giles tells Buffy to meet him later at the hospital where there will be a blood delivery, which attracts vampires. When Giles gets back to the library, a detective is waiting for him who informs Giles that there was a homicide on campus and the dead man had Giles' address on him. Giles identifies the body as an old friend from London, Philip Henry. The body has a tattoo, which Giles claims he does not recognize. Shaken, Giles does not meet Buffy at the hospital, and she battles the doctor-dressed vampires alone until Angel shows up. She goes to check on Giles who looks dishevelled and appears to have been drinking. He calls another friend in London and finds out that Dierdre is dead too. As he rolls up his sleeves, we see he has the same tattoo as Philip. Meanwhile, Philip comes back to life in the morgue, his eyes flashing, and escapes. On Saturday, Cordelia finally tells Buffy about the homicide detective's visit. In the library, Buffy finds Giles' former friend Ethan, the costume shop owner who had caused chaos on Halloween. As she calls Giles, Ethan mentions the "Mark of Eyghon". Giles says she is in danger, and the dead Philip enters. A panicked Giles shows up and, after a scuffle which leaves Jenny unconscious, Philip dissolves. When Jenny comes to, she seems normal but her eyes flash. Willow discovers the "Mark of Eyghon" in a book: the demon Eyghon has the ability to possess the body of a dead or unconscious host. They figure out that the demon has jumped from Philip's body to Jenny's. Possessed, Jenny tries to seduce Giles at his apartment. When Buffy comes to the rescue, Jenny jumps out the window. Giles explains to Buffy that he ran with a bad crowd when he was young, and they used the demon Eyghon as a temporary high – directing him in and out of each other's bodies. But one friend died, then Dierdre, and now it seems the rest of the group is being killed. Buffy goes to the deserted costume shop to try to defend Ethan against Eyghon/Jenny. Ethan knocks her out, ties her up and puts the mark of Eyghon on her. He then uses acid to remove his own tattoo so that Eyghon will take Buffy instead of him. Jenny enters, completely demonic, and Buffy breaks free. Angel arrives and chokes Jenny until she loses consciousness, whereupon Eyghon moves to the nearest dead body: that of Angel. The two demons, the vampire within and Eyghon, fight for control in Angel's body, and Eyghon is destroyed. Jenny returns to normal, but Ethan escapes. ===== Donald Sinden, Susie Silvey and Windsor Davies during filming of Never the Twain. Oliver Smallbridge, played by Windsor Davies, and Simon Peel, played by Donald Sinden, are antiques dealers who are also bitter enemies (after a falling-out having been business partners) and next-door neighbours, both in their homes and shops. They are engaged in a continuous game of one- upmanship, so both of them are shocked when they find out that their respective children (Smallbridge's daughter Lyn – played by Watson and later Kneale – and Peel's son David – played by Kermode and later Morris) are in love and want to marry as soon as possible. The fathers are forced to reluctantly accept the relationship and marriage, which takes place at the end of the first series. It is the impending marriage of Lyn and David and the early days of their marriage, alongside Oliver and Simon battling over the affection of middle-class widow Veronica Barton (played by Blackman), that provides the basis for the first two series (both written entirely by Mortimer). The third series features a failed attempt by Simon and Oliver to try to renew their business partnership. After the third series, Lyn and David move to Vancouver in Canada, leaving the daily goings on at Simon and Oliver's shops and in their private lives as the main themes of the show. Other notable characters in the series are Simon's butler Banks (played by Turner), a replacement for a foreign au pair that Simon had requested; Ringo (played by Deadman), Oliver's idiotic assistant in his shop; and Mrs. Sadler (played by Charles), Oliver's clumsy cleaner, who has an annoying tendency to accidentally break things. Banks and Mrs. Sadler's amorous relationship provides humorous material in these series, with both of them marrying and leaving the show at the end of the seventh series. The fourth to seventh series were written by a group of writers, Powell and Me and My Girl co- creator Kane being the most prominent. In the eighth series (mostly written again by Mortimer), Lyn and David return from Canada with their son (and Oliver's and Simon's grandson) Martin, who provides a new platform on which Simon and Oliver can develop their long-standing rivalry, fighting over who is the better grandfather. However, at the end of that series, Lyn, David and Martin move to a new flat in Friern Barnet. Simon and Oliver's daily personal and business lives are the primary focus of the final three series (all written in their entirety by Powell). In these series, another character (who had already made two appearances in series 4 and 7) begins to appear regularly: Simon's Aunt Eleanor (played by Nutley, who had also appeared in Vince Powell's earlier sitcom Mind Your Language), moves near Oliver and Simon. Also, appearing in some episodes of the series were Donald Sinden's sons Marc and Jeremy, while his wife Diana appeared in the last ever episode. ===== In the early 19th century, a lawyer explains to a group of young boys that a tontine has been organised in which £1,000 has been invested in the name of each child (£20,000 in total) and that the last survivor will win the accrued total of all invested sums. We then see a series of accidental deaths, explaining the demise of various members of the group. 63 years later, in Victorian London, elderly brothers Masterman (John Mills) and Joseph Finsbury (Ralph Richardson), who live next to each other, are the last surviving members of the tontine. Masterman is attended by his unpromising medical student grandson, Michael Finsbury (Michael Caine), who is sent next door to summon Joseph where he is greeted by his cousin Julia (Nanette Newman). They have seen each other often on the street and admired each other. She explains Joseph is in Bournemouth with her cousins. They talk in a room containing a large collection of eggs of different species. Meanwhile, his greedy cousins Morris (Peter Cook) and John (Dudley Moore), receive a telegram from Michael in their boarding house in Bournemouth, saying that Masterman is dying. Masterman hasn't talked to his despised brother in many years. On the train trip to London, Joseph escapes from his grandson minders, entering a compartment, and boring the sole occupant with a diatribe of trivial facts about the history of knitting (the silent man is knitting). His traveling companion later turns out to be the "Bournemouth Strangler." Joseph leaves to smoke a cigarette, leaving behind his coat, which the strangler dons. The train then collides with another one coming in the other direction. In the wreckage, Morris and John find the strangler's mangled body and mistakenly believe it is that of their uncle. They hide the body in the woods in order to hide the death. Morris tells John to crate the body up and post it to London. Meanwhile, Joseph wanders off and obtains a ride on a coach where he bores the driver with tales of how many words are in the Bible. In London, Michael gets a telegram telling him to expect a crate containing a statue. Morris arrives at the door immediately after. He mistakes the elderly butler for Masterman. Morris decides to try to hide the body long enough for Masterman to pass away, then claim Joseph died of a heart attack upon hearing the news. Morris and John plot to ship the body to Joseph's London home where Julia lives. John, left behind to attend to this task, sends the body in a large barrel. However, it is delivered to Masterman's house by mistake. Joseph makes his way to London on his own and visits his brother. Masterman attempts to kill his brother a number of times, with Joseph oblivious to the attempts. They separate after quarreling. Joseph signs for a barrel for "Mr Finsbury" as he leaves Masterman's house. Minutes later, a separate container, a crate, and the "wrong box" of the title, arrives at Joseph's house, also to "Mr Finsbury". Julia signs for it believing it to be a large consignment of eggs. The house number is also partially obscured. Therefore, the containers are mistakenly delivered to the wrong houses. Morris, arriving at Joseph's house in John's absence, sees a delivery wagon just leaving and assumes that his uncle's body has just been delivered. Morris then goes to Dr. Pratt (Peter Sellers) to try to obtain a blank death certificate. Michael helps move the crate into Joseph's house. Julia swoons at the sight of him and they kiss for the first time. Julia explains she is not related by blood to Michael as Joseph is her guardian, not her father. Her parents were eaten by cannibals. Things become complicated when Michael discovers the contents of the barrel and, after learning of the "altercation" between Masterman and Joseph from family butler Peacock (Wilfrid Lawson), assumes that his grandfather has killed his brother. Michael and Peacock debate who should take the blame in order to protect Masterman as they originally plan to tell the police. Michael hides the body in a piano when Julia brings Masterman some broth. That night, Michael hires unscrupulous "undertakers" to remove the strangler's body from the piano and dump it into the Thames, but Masterman falls down the staircase and they assume his unconscious body is the one they are to dispose of. Morris observes the activity and gleefully assumes Masterman has died. Further misunderstandings and antics ensue the next day as the cousins claim that the tontine has been won. The controlling lawyer says it has accrued to a total of £111,000. After being fished out of the canal, Masterman is brought home by the Salvation Army. They assume he was trying to kill himself, but the "undertakers" had thrown him in. Julia orders a fancy coffin for her uncle. Morris orders a cheap coffin to remove the mutilated body he thinks is in Joseph's basement, the coffin is delivered to the wrong house, Michael sells the piano not knowing the strangler's body is still in it, the police are involved when the body in the piano is discovered, Masterman is revealed to be quite alive as he sits up in Julia's coffin. The cousins make off with the tontine money in the second hearse. Both hearses gallop through the park, Michael and Julia chasing Morris and John. They then encounter a real funeral procession in which Joseph is participating. After a confusing crash, Morris and John realise they have a body instead of the money. The tontine money is about to be buried when they grab it and run off. The box bursts open and money goes around the cemetery. Joseph pops up from the grave just as Masterman arrives. The lawyer arrives to say the tontine has yet to be won. The police (Tony Hancock) arrive and say Morris is arrested. They ask who put the body in the piano as there is a £1000 reward for catching the Bournemouth Strangler. A new argument begins. ===== Originally intended to be a short story, Haykal found that his work had more mileage than he had first appreciated, becoming a full novel in three parts. The story deals with a beautiful young peasant girl named Zaynab and the three men who strive for her affections: Hamid, the plantation owner's oldest son; Ibrahim, the young peasant foreman with whom she falls in love; and Hassan, a slightly more well- to-do peasant who enters into an unhappy arranged marriage with her. An early liberal critique of arranged marriage, the veil and enforced seclusion of women, the novel ends tragically with the heroine's psychological deterioration and death by "consumption." ===== Homer and Bart rent the film Paint Your Wagon, expecting it to be a shoot-em- up Western. Homer is dismayed to find out that it is actually a musical, and expresses his distaste for such films. Marge is baffled by this, saying that he ironically loves singing. The family starts delivering their dialogue in song form, and Marge decides to prove that Homer loves to sing by showing family videos. Several clips are shown of various songs from past episodes, but Homer is not convinced. At this moment, Snake breaks into their house and holds them hostage. However, once he hears them singing, Snake decides that they would not make good hostages and leaves. The family continues to sing and more videos are shown. Snake again breaks into the house and claims that he got a song stuck in his head and the only way to get rid of it is to kill the Simpsons. He tries to shoot them but discovers that his gun is out of ammunition and leaves again. After more clips, Snake returns for a final time, with ammunition, and aims his gun at them, but the family reveals that they are done singing. Snake declares that he has no problem with them and leaves. When Marge starts humming a tune, however, he fires a warning shot through the window. During the closing credits, Snake, still annoyed by all the music, shoots at the orchestra as they try to play the show's theme song. The third and final time they try to play, it is at a very soft volume, but Snake is not fooled and proceeds to shoot again, and once more when the Gracie Films logo music plays. ===== Mousy Orfamay Quest from Manhattan, Kansas asks Philip Marlowe to search for her older brother Orrin, who had recently come out to work in nearby Bay City (a fictional town modelled on Santa Monica). Marlowe starts with Orrin's last known address, a seedy apartment building. The superintendent there has passed out in a drunken stupor and when awoken tries to call a Dr. Lagardie before passing out again. Marlowe then finds a man who claims to be a retired optometrist living in Orrin's old room. As Marlowe leaves the building, he finds the superintendent is dead, having been stabbed in the neck with an ice pick. Marlowe phones the Bay City police to report the murder, but doesn't leave his name. When Marlowe returns to his office, he gets a call from an anonymous man who offers him an easy $100 to hold something. As he enters the man's room at the Van Nuys Hotel, a blonde emerges from the bathroom with a towel covering her face. She strikes Marlowe with one of her high heels, knocking him out. When he comes to, he finds the "retired optometrist" dead, also with an ice pick in his neck, and the room in disarray from a search. Marlowe remembers that the optometrist wears a toupée and finds a camera shop claim check hidden there. When he notifies the Los Angeles police of the murder, they recognise the victim as a minor player in organised crime. Based on a tip from the hotel detective, Marlowe comes to realise that the woman in the hotel room was Mavis Weld, a rising movie star. He goes to her apartment, where he meets Dolores Gonzales, another minor star. He trades innuendos with Dolores and offers to help Weld, but she throws him out. After using the claim check to retrieve a set of photos of Weld and a reputed gangster named Steelgrave, Marlowe visits her agent and makes him understand that, far from trying to blackmail the star, he may be able to help her. Through his investigations, Marlowe learns that the photos of Weld were taken by Orrin, Orfamay's missing brother. He also finds out that Orrin is now working with a shady doctor named Lagardie, who practices in Bay City. Marlowe confronts Lagardie, but as they talk Marlowe is knocked unconscious by a drugged cigarette. When he comes to, he finds Orrin trying to get into the room. Orrin has been shot and, with his last ounce of strength, tries to stab Marlowe with an ice pick. This confirms Marlowe's suspicion that Orrin committed the other murders. Marlowe knows that he must call the police, but first he tries to contact Orfamay to tell her of her brother’s death. She tells him that she had been following him, had found her brother and called the police after Marlowe left. Marlowe is now summoned to the station, where the police are rough with him, but he stands firm and, after an interview with the District attorney, is released to "straighten things out" himself. Dolores Gonzales calls Marlowe to say he must come to Steelgrave's home in the Hollywood Hills immediately, hinting that Mavis Weld's life is in danger. When Marlowe arrives, he finds Mavis is indeed there, but Steelgrave has been killed with a gun of the same type that Mavis used to threaten Marlowe in the hotel room, and of the same calibre as the gun used to shoot Orrin. Weld confesses to Marlowe that she killed Steelgrave and is ready to turn herself in. Marlowe convinces her to leave the gangster's home and then calls the police to report finding yet another body. Although initially angry, the police are ultimately grateful to have the case resolved with an end to a known gangster on whom they had no evidence and so could not hold. When Mavis Weld's agent hires a society lawyer to defend her reputation, the police accept that they don't have a convincing case against anybody. Back in his office, Marlowe is visited by Orfamay one last time. He confronts her with the truth that her real motive was to get money from Mavis Weld, who is her sister, and that it was she who told Steelgrave where to find Orrin in exchange for $1000. He also accuses Orfamay of killing Steelgrave, in revenge for Steelgrave's having killed Orrin at Lagardie's office. Realising there is still one loose thread, Marlowe visits Dolores Gonzales at her apartment and she confesses to engineering the crimes. It was she who killed Steelgrave, her former lover, who had left her for Mavis, and then she had told Mavis that her sister Orfamay did it. At first Marlowe finds it hard to believe that someone who seems so casual about sex could be so passionate. Then he realises that he can't touch Dolores without destroying Mavis and her career and leaves, only to see Lagardie heading up to see her. Marlowe deduces that he was Dolores’ former husband, whom she had left for Steelgrave when they all lived in Cleveland before moving to California. Marlowe notifies the police, who are searching for Lagardie, but they arrive to find he has stabbed Dolores. ===== Enoch Soames by Max Beerbohm Writing as a narrator describing events from his own past, Beerbohm presents himself as a moderately successful young English essayist during the 1890s. He then relates the tragic history of an older colleague named Enoch Soames. The son of a bookseller from Preston, living off an inherited annuity, he is an utterly obscure, forgettable aspiring poet in the Decadent manner. Over the course of the story, he authors three unsuccessful books, of which Beerbohm provides parodies of his book of poems, "Fungoids". Soames’ appearance is described as “dim” and leaves little impression, except for his persistent habit of always wearing a particular grey waterproof cape and soft black hat. On the afternoon of 3 June 1897, Soames and Beerbohm are having lunch in the Soho-based "Restaurant du Vingtieme Siecle". The self-obsessed Soames is deeply depressed, consumed with the belief that he is an unrecognised great author and, despite his complete failure so far, keenly curious about his "certain" posthumous fame. He therefore agrees to a contract offered by the Devil, who introduces himself from a neighbouring table. In exchange for the possession of his soul, Soames will be transported exactly 100 years forward in time to spend the rest of the afternoon in the British Museum Reading Room and discover what judgement posterity will make on himself and his works. After the allotted time has expired, Soames will be returned to their present date and location, but at the same time of evening as his departure from the future, and the Devil will then collect his payment. Soames then vanishes and reappears in the café at the designated hour, where Beerbohm has returned to meet him. Soames’ description of the world of the future is vague and nondescript; while there he had focused primarily on his own concerns. He tells Beerbohm that the only mention he could find of himself was in a single scholarly article, of which Soames produces a facsimile-copy. It is printed in English, but in a phonetic spelling and with modified pronunciation, both of which had apparently evolved during the intervening century. The article discusses a "labud sattire" written by one Max Beerbohm "in wich e pautraid an immajnari karrakter kauld Enoch Soames — a thurd-rait poit hoo beleevz imself a grate jeneus an maix a bargin with th Devvl in auder ter no wot posterriti thinx ov im!" (in which he portrayed an imaginary character called Enoch Soames—a third-rate poet who believes himself a great genius and makes a bargain with the Devil to know what posterity thinks of him). Beerbohm is shocked and denies that he would ever write such a thing. Before being taken to Hell, on the Devil’s return, Soames scornfully requests that Beerbohm at least try to make people believe that he, Soames, actually existed. Beerbohm’s narrative is that justification. He notes in particular that Soames mentioned that his presence in the reading room had caused a great stir, but "I assure you that in no period could Soames be anything but dim. The fact that people are going to stare at him, and follow him around, and seem afraid of him, can be explained only on the hypothesis that they will somehow have been prepared for his ghostly visitation. They will have been awfully waiting to see whether he really would come. And when he does come, the effect will of course be – awful." ===== In Sweden, Viking sires nine sons by a second wife. Thorsten (Thorstein, or Thor's Stone) is the oldest son of Viking. Viking befriends his worthy foe Njorfe, King of Upplands, in Norway, who also has nine sons. The two groups of sons are highly competitive against each other. In a brutal ball game, they beat and maim each other, breaking each other's arms. A son of Viking, near death, slays a son of Njorfe. Viking scolds this son and sends him to an island in Lake Vänern. Two more sons go with him, including Thorsten. Viking tells Thorsten to wait quietly on the island until the danger is over. Njorfe's sons want revenge. They use magic to conjure a frost that freezes the lake and travel across it to attack the three sons of Viking. Two of Viking's sons survive: Thorsten and Thorer. Two of Njorfe's sons survive, including his eldest son, Jokul, a sorcerer. Njorfe's sons use magic to discover that Thorsten and Thorer are alive. Viking sends his two sons to the court of Halfdan for safety. Jokul invades Sogn, kills the king, banishes the heir Beli, and places a curse on the king's daughter Ingeborg, causing her to take the shape of a hideous troll. Jokul stirs a tempest which shipwrecks Thorsten twice. Ingeborg (as a troll, under the name Skellinefja) rescues Thorsten and asks him to promise to marry her. With her help, Thorsten returns Beli to the throne of Sogn, and the curse leaves Ingeborg. Thorsten unites with Ingeborg. Fridthiof is their son. Thorsten, Beli, and Angantyr retrieve Viking's stolen magic ship Ellida. Thorsten fights Sote, a ghost pirate in barow mound, to get the magic ring (forged by Voland). Thorsten, Beli, and Angantyr conquer the Orkney Islands.H.A. Guerber. 1986. The Norsemen Myths & Legends. Avenal Books Thorsten and his son Frithiof inherit the magic sword Angurvadel and the magic ship Ellida from Viking. Descendants of Thorstein appear in Friðþjófs saga ins frœkna, and in the Starkad section of Gautreks saga. ===== The series follows the wavering relationship between two ex-lovers, Penny Warrender, a secretary for an advertising firm, and Vincent Pinner, an ex-ice cream salesman turned bookmaker who is the son of a wealthy scrap metal merchant. The couple (who first met in the summer of 1976 at a Rolling Stones concert in Hyde Park) split up following Vincent's decision to jilt Penny on their wedding day in June 1978, leaving her at the altar. In the pilot episode, five years since their intended wedding day, the pair meet again by chance in a pub while out on individual dates. The pair decide to forget the past and become friends, although the rekindling of their relationship is not welcomed by Penny's snobbish parents, particularly her mother, Daphne, played by Sylvia Kay. The 1984 90-minute Christmas special is a prequel to the series showing how Penny and Vince first met, loved and how Penny was jilted and married Graham. The last episode of the second series was intended to be the final episode, with Penny leaving for a job in Paris. The cast reunited in 1986 for a final seven episodes, in which Penny and Vince meet up in Paris two years after they split up. Penny is now divorced and Vince is married; the couple renew their relationship and Vince, now a successful businessman, gives up everything for a quick divorce to pay off his wife Gina so he can be with Penny. In the final episode, Vince is still recovering from his painful divorce when his father pays a visit. Vince is told that unless he calls the wedding off, a lucrative wine export contract cannot be signed: Gina's way of blackmailing the Pinners by hitting where it hurts. Similarly, Penny is told that unless she calls the wedding off, her father's new job may not happen and at work, she is offered a permanent basing in Paris, all because Gina Marshall (Vince's ex) is too important a client to turn down. Eventually, she accepts the new posting but uses it to her advantage by returning to Paris and marrying Vince at the town hall. ===== Parineeta takes place at the turn of the 20th century during the Bengal Renaissance. The story centers around a poor thirteen-year-old orphan girl, Lalita, who lives with the family of her uncle Gurucharan. Gurucharan has five daughters, and the expense of paying for their weddings has impoverished him. He is forced to take a loan from his neighbour, Nabin Roy, by mortgaging a plot of land with him. The two neighbouring families share a very cordial relationship, although Nabin Roy does covet Gurucharan's mortgaged plot. Nabin Roy's wife, Bhuvaneshwari, dotes on the orphan Lalita and showers love upon her; the latter reciprocates even to the extent of addressing Bhuvaneshwari as 'maa'(mother). Roy's younger son Shekharnath (Shekhar), a 25-26-year-old man- about-town, lately turned attorney, has a joking, bantering relationship with Lalita, his mother's protégée. The young girl adores him like her mentor, and for some strange reasons, ratifies and accepts his possessive attitude towards her. The advent of a supportive Girin in Lalita's life, a certain jealousy transpired within Shekhar which tended to moderate Lalita's increasing associations with Girin who has now extended his helping hand to Gurucharan's finances and also assisted him in finding a match for Lalita. These situations seemed to stir the instinctual passions of Shekhar and somewhat Lalita for each other and one evening before Shekhar's tour to the west, the duo secretly gets married with a dramatic exchange of garlands formed of marigolds. But a newly married Lalita had to conceal herself in the veil of her spinsterhood as her uncle Gurucharan quits his fight with the law and orders of Hindu society and embraces Brahmoism inspired from the angelic words of Girin. The society abandons them and the same is followed by Shekhar towards Lalita upon his return (though mixed with covetousness over Girin's influence on her family). His jeopardies in introducing his wife amidst the society because of the differences in wealth, religion and more importantly due to a precluded marriage of marrying an under-aged woman made him harsh and arrogant towards Lalita who drowned in agony, decides to accompany her family to Munger as a means of healing her psychologically tormented uncle anguished by the sense of isolation. Girin aided them all through his journey to whom Gurucharan had his dying wish of marrying his daughter (suggestively indicated to his niece Lalita) which Girin accepts wholeheartedly. Years pass with the passing of both Gurucharan and Nabin Roy and an eighteen year old Lalita visits her old place one last time for the sake of selling Gurucharan's house to Nabin Roy's heirs since the deceased desired the plot for a long time. Shekhar has his marriage fixed in a week but Lalita's advent questions him over his real wishes but he has heard of Girin's promise to marry Lalita which must have been fulfilled by now. Tables turn as Girin visits Shekhar with the Legal documents of Gurucharan's plot and amidst the conversation reveals that he indeed became Gurucharan's son-in-law as per his promise but never married Lalita but married her cousin Annakali upon her suggestion as Lalita claimed herself to be already married. Shockingly pleased by this, Shekhar regains himself and his now realised love for Lalita goes to his mother and confesses about his marriage with Lalita. The novella ends with consent for this marriage a declaration of union for Shekhar and Lalita. ===== Celia Amonte (Milos) is a Portuguese American widow who lives in New Bedford, Massachusetts with her daughter Vicky (Rossum); her late husband was a fisherman lost at sea. Vicky sneaks out of the house to go to a casino, where she meets Charlie Beck (Isaacs), a British card counter, and attempts to convince him to teach her his trade. Charlie is apprehended by the casino staff, and told that he can either work to find other card counters, or be banned from the casino. After accepting a ban, Charlie meets with his friends Daniel (Cassel) and Lois Vargas (Russell) at the Shawmut Diner, where they attempt to convince him to stop card counting. Charlie go to a Portuguese restaurant with Daniel and Lois, and becomes interested in Celia after seeing her sing fado. He repeatedly tries to date Celie, and is rebuffed. Charlie later finds Celia's address in the phone book and goes to her house, where he encounters Vicky. Vicky agrees to help Charlie pursue her mother in exchange for card counting lessons, and threatens to reveal his identity as a gambler should he refuse. Vicky tells Charlie that her mother is interested in fisherman; Charlie lies to Celia and claims to be in town to open a fish- processing plant. Celia becomes increasingly interested in Charlie, and admits her feelings for him, and struggles since her husband's death, while on a date at Ned Point Light. After a festival, Vicky stays out all night at a casino, causing Celia to worry and go looking for her. While out, she sees Charlie with Lois in his car, and suspects an affair. Charlie reveals his lies to Celia and asks for her forgiveness; she tells him to never come to her house again. Devastated, Charlie prepares to leave New Bedford. Lois visits Celia at her home, and convinces her to take Charlie back. After singing one night, Celia follows a trail of fish on the ground to find Charlie, who has become a successful fisherman. He explains that he wants her back, and would be willing to do any job to be with her. She accepts him, and the two kiss. Sometime later, Charlie is employed at the casino to find card counters, while Celia, now married to Charlie, is a singer at the casino. ===== Buffy wakes to find an envelope on her pillow containing a charcoal drawing of herself sleeping. Buffy asks Giles if there is a spell to reverse Angel's invitation into her house. Buffy explains to her mother that she has been having problems with Angel, whom she describes as an abusive ex-boyfriend. Later that night, Willow discovers that Angelus has been in her room too, leaving behind a sick gift of her dead goldfish hanging from a fishing line. Drusilla has a vision showing someone attempting to break up the newly reunited vampire family. Jenny goes to a Gypsy novelty shop to buy an Orb of Thesulah. Buffy confronts Jenny and explains that Giles misses her. Giles tells Buffy that he has found a ritual to revoke a vampire's invitation. Joyce finds Angelus waiting for her in the front yard. He starts to follow her into the house, but is unable to cross the threshold. Willow is shown reciting the ritual, and Buffy shuts the door in his face. When Giles finds Jenny working late at the school, he invites her to call at his house when she has finished. Jenny completes her translation of a ritual's text that, along with the Orb of Thesulah, will restore Angelus' soul. She jumps when she notices Angelus sitting in the dark at the back of the room. He smashes the Orb of Thesulah. Jenny flees but Angelus catches her and snaps her neck. Giles returns home to find the place decorated in a romantic setting with candles, wine and rose petals. As Giles follows the trail he finds Jenny's lifeless body. At Buffy's house, Angelus lurks outside. When the phone rings, he grins as the Slayer and Willow become stricken with grief at the news. Giles returns to his apartment to arm for battle. A drawing of Jenny's lifeless body is seen on a table. At the factory, there is an explosive crash as the long dining table erupts in flame. Angelus, Drusilla, and Spike recoil and move to escape. Giles attacks Angelus with a flaming baseball bat. Angelus grabs him by the throat and lifts him clear off the floor as Buffy enters the fray. She breaks Giles free of Angelus' grasp and fights Angelus, but is distracted by the unconscious Giles, now completely surrounded by flames. As Angelus makes his escape, Buffy jumps down and half-carries Giles from the building. Later that night, Buffy apologizes for not being able to kill Angelus when she had the chance. The next day at the school, as Willow sets her books on the desk, the backup disk containing the translated ritual slides and falls into the narrow space between the desk and a filing cabinet. ===== According to the game's opening scene, stories of the origin of the universe's power have circulated for years, but it was not until recently that the source of the power has been found. Six crystals, named the "Bomb Elements," are said to contain unfathomable, though unknown, powers. So Professor Ein sends a space freighter to retrieve them and return to Planet Bomber for analysis. However, en route to Planet Bomber, the freighter is attacked by a hired gun and is destroyed. The Bomb Elements fall out but are sucked in by the gravitational pull of the nearby planet Tentacalls. Professor Ein receives word that the Hige Hige Bandits, led by Bomberman's arch-enemy Mujoe, are making large scale moves towards Tentacalls, and it turns out that they were the ones responsible for the freighter attack. Not only that, but the Bandits have allied themselves with Bomberman's rivals, the Crush Bombers, who are also on the move to get the Elements for Mujoe. Professor Ein orders Bomberman to Tentacalls to defeat the Crush Bombers and the Hige Hige Bandits, and to get the Bomb Elements before they do, for if even one element falls into their hands, then the universe would be as Mujoe pleases. Thus begins Bomberman's latest chapter to restore peace and order to the galaxy. ===== After Homer tells a story about Bart digging a hole in the backyard for no apparent reason other than to make it deeper and bigger, Moe complains about the monotony at his tavern. Recalling his days at Swigmore University, he decides to return there for some inspiration, and leaves Homer in temporary charge of the bar. At the university, Moe finds his old professor, who is dying of cancer. After advising Moe to modernize his bar, the professor drowns himself in the campus lake. Soon, the tavern is renovated by Formico, the self proclaimed "Dean of Design", into a swanky nightclub renamed "M" and with a post-modern decor. Homer and his bar-buddies Lenny, Carl and Barney find that they do not fit in with the new, affluent crowd, and miss their old tavern experience. Homer decides to convert his garage into a new tavern for himself and his friends. Meanwhile, Moe is confronted by the ghost of his professor and realizes that he does not fit in with his new clientele either, and leaves to find Homer. Arriving at the Simpsons’ home, he finds that the new garage bar has quickly become quite popular, and even has the alternative rock band R.E.M. playing. When confronted by Moe with the fact that it is illegal to operate a bar in a private residence, Homer claims that it is in fact a hunting club, citing a law book that states that a hunting club may provide refreshing beverages. Moe consults the book and determines that the club must engage in the sport of hunting, to which Homer states that he will hunt for a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, much to Lisa's horror. Homer sets out the next day to find a turkey, but Lisa and Moe scare off his quarry, using a whistle that sounds like a cougar. However, Homer mistakes the whistle for an actual cougar, and accidentally shoots Moe in the leg. After Homer apologizes, he, along with Moe, R.E.M. and the rest of the Simpson family return to Moe's tavern, reverted to its original decor, for a Thanksgiving meal of a turkey, made "entirely of tofu and gluten" and provided by Michael Stipe, an environmentalist. Homer even affirms his friendship with Moe by putting some money in his tip jar. ===== Woodrow Mulligan is a grumpy man in 1890, dissatisfied with what his world has come to: the nation's budget surplus is only 85 million dollars, prices are shockingly high to him, and his once-quiet town of Harmony, New York is bustling with livestock roaming the streets, which are full of traffic such as horse-drawn carriages, and penny-farthing bicycles zipping along at the speed limit of 8 mph. A collision with a bicyclist dumps him in a water trough, forcing him to take off his pants to dry them when he gets to his place of work. He works as janitor for Professor Gilbert, who has just invented a "time helmet", which can transport the wearer to another decade for 30 minutes. Mulligan tries it on and it sends him to 1962; Harmony is now a busy city with streets full of cars, all sorts of urban noise, and astonishingly high prices. In the chaos he loses the helmet, which is picked up by a boy on roller skates, requiring Mulligan to give chase on a contemporary bicycle. He recovers the damaged helmet as he runs into Rollo, a scientist. They take the helmet to a "fix it" shop, where Rollo and the proprietor argue over repairs, while Mulligan wanders off and acquires a pair of pants by slapstick means. Rollo regards the 1890s as an idyllic period, and wants to go back there in Mulligan's place. He runs off with the helmet, but Mulligan catches him at the last instant and they both go back. Mulligan is relieved to be home, and Rollo finds it charming. A week later, Mulligan has found a new appreciation for life in 1890, but Rollo is dismayed at the lack of technology and modern comforts. Annoyed by Rollo's griping, Mulligan sets the helmet for 1962, puts it on Rollo's head, and sends him back to his own time. ===== Mr. Rogers, the widowed father of three children (Anne, Karen, and Tom), is dealing with the departure of Aunt Nedra, who says the children are too hard to manage. The father takes the kids to a factory, Facsimile Ltd., to select a new robotic grandmother. When she arrives, young Tom and Karen quickly are smitten by the magical "grandmother." But older daughter Anne will not accept her; "Grandma" reminds her too much of her own mother, who died and left her a bitter young girl. Anne tries to run away, and runs into the path of an oncoming van which she doesn't see. Grandma pushes Anne out of the way and is struck, saving the girl. Grandma is stunned, but the sturdily constructed robot soon gets up, and Anne grows to love her when she realizes that Grandma is indestructible and will not leave them like their own mother had. Mr. Rogers also realizes how empathetic Grandma can be when she correctly deduces that he lost his own mother at a young age and, like Anne, never forgave her. The children grow up and are ready for college. However, it is time for Grandma to move on to another family as she is apparently not needed anymore. Grandma expresses her sadness about leaving, yet reassures the kids that they brought her just as much joy as she brought them. She will return to the factory where she will either be sent to another family, or possibly have her mind stored where she and the other grandmothers like her can talk and share their experiences. After repeating this process many times, if she keeps being a good grandmother to other children, she ultimately will be rewarded with the gift of life and humanity. The kids say their farewells, and Grandma leaves the house for good. ===== The film opens with a clown (Buscemi) whose wife (Beals) and stripper girlfriend (Parsons) just discovered each other's existence. When his wife is jailed for trying to run him over, the stripper, the clown and his partner (Dinklage) contact a bail bondsman (Proval) whose wife just left their sickly son Timmy (Wolff) in his care. On the way, they are accosted by a crazed drug addict named Slovo (Stormare) who is hit by a car soon after. At the jail, the five meet up with an angry record producer (Mitchell) and the girlfriend he believes to be pregnant (Rollins) whom he plans to make a star, despite her protestations of not having any talent. Also along for the ride are two priests (Vince and Williams), one of whom has begun to doubt the wisdom of the Roman Catholic Church, and who are trailing to bail out a third priest (Messina) who was goaded into a fight by the proprietor of a strip club (Rockwell). When the nine characters intersect, they discover that Timmy has a defective kidney and is slowly dying. However, he has just been paged, as there is a donor at the hospital: Slovo. The three caring characters immediately take Timmy to the hospital, with the others in pursuit. By the time they arrive, Slovo partially recovered and escapes to wander the streets, cheerfully ignoring his internal bleeding and must be tracked down, before both he and Timmy die. =====