En route to Tokyo, a plane flies into a storm and the pilot is forced to ditch the plane into the eye of a hurricane. The crew and passengers awake on a life boat and soon discover that they have been captured by an alien space probe.

The passengers captured are Jefferson Rome, Amanda Frank, Coberly (the pilot), and Dexter. They originally think that they're inside the eye of the hurricane and try to use the emergency radio. The four discover that they are not floating on the ocean, but are inside a foggy floor surface. The radio doesn't work. Once inside, the four are bathed in some sort of mist that emerges from a large circle atop a pedestal, which cleanses them and dries their clothing. Dexter is frozen within the light beam coming out of the same circle, but is rescued by the others before he is frozen completely. Dexter stays behind while the others begin to explore the inside of the probe.

Jefferson Rome and the others discover a room with an alien telemetry system. The probe is drawing up seawater. Jefferson Rome remembers the space probe Surveyor, used to study other nearby planets such as Venus, Mars and Jupiter. The three survivors themselves are being held captive in antiseptic chambers, where they are prey to some strange mutant microbes. Such a mutant microbe, larger than a person, attacks Dexter, and presumably consumes him, as the others are exploring the probe. Rome begins to surmise that the raft was being subjected to testing and they got in the way. Rome, Amanda Frank and Coberly discover the giant microbe, but it is zapped by the alien's freeze beam. It splits off a portion of itself to survive.

Jefferson Rome, looking at data in the Analog Room, begins to notice a pattern - that the probe moved from world to world, using some sort of space warping drive system. The microbe may have gotten inside. They see a screen transmitting symbols, and Rome begins attempts at communicating by altering the sequence of the alien symbols.

Meanwhile, the microbe tries to attack Coberly, but is held off by Jefferson Rome and Amanda Frank. The alien circle begins to transmit light beams in sequence. The probe then captures three of the humans in transparent tubes to sterilize them and protect them from the microbe. The probe then prepares its lift procedures. While Coberly goes to use the radio, Rome and Amanda attempt to communicate by figuring out the alien symbols. Outside the Analog Room, Coberly is enveloped in an alien mist and disappears. Jefferson Rome leaves the Analog Room to look for Coberly. He, too, disappears in the alien mist.

When communication fails, Amanda Frank simply starts to plead for mercy. She begins to beg for the aliens to understand their predicament. She panics and leaves the Analog Room to look for Rome and Coberly. The alien light beam begins to probe her and she is surrounded in the mist. Atop the alien probe surface deck, she is re-united with Jefferson Rome and Coberly. A rescue plane arrives and Coberly begins transmitting their coordinates. Aboard the rescue plane, Amanda Frank begins to think she did get through, though even Rome could not transmit their position. Outside, the alien probe lifts off and suddenly explodes. The aliens had understood them and broken down Earth's alphabet. Rome wonders would they be as wise if the probe was from their own world, to which Amanda responds by hoping we would be wise and kind enough.

''Garo'' focuses on the life of Kouga Saejima, who has assumed the title of Makai Knight to protect humanity against dark demonic manifestations called "Horrors". In his quest to destroy them, he encounters a young girl named Kaoru, whom he saves from a Horror, though he learns that she is stained with its demonic blood. As a rule, those that have been stained by the blood of a Horror must be killed, or else they will die painfully in approximately 100 days. Kouga spares Kaoru and tries to find a way to purify her before her remaining time expires. Thus, the series focuses on Kouga's developing relationship with Kaoru, and his responsibilities protecting humanity in accordance with the wishes of his father, the previous Garo. In the process, he encounters another Makai Knight named Rei Suzumura, who eventually becomes his ally. Later Kouga confronts his father's former disciple who is revealed to be the cause of a recent series of Horror attacks in preparation of a more sinister advent of the Horrors' originator, Messiah.

Based on a true story, the US Secret Service searches for a gang of counterfeiters, whose brilliant engraver Eugene Deane (Morris Ankrum) has secretly made his plates while in San Quentin prison on a life sentence, and had them smuggled out by a priest tricked into serving as a mule. The film starts as documentary-style section in which a male narrator explains the crucial role of paper currency in underpinning trade in the economy. Then the narrator explains how the US Treasury Department ensures that the value of this currency is safeguarded by using its intrepid Secret Service agents, who find fake bills in circulation and track down and arrest the counterfeiters who created them. This part of the film, which has a patriotic and jingoistic feel, shows newsreel-style stock footage of Treasury Department agents ("T-Men") and US soldiers fighting in the then-active Korean War.

When counterfeit $10 bills spread across the country, showing up at casinos and racetracks, the Treasury Department realizes that the bills are Deane's work. The officers set up surveillance on the counterfeit gang and find a travelling salesman who has been distributing the bills across the country, hoping to capture and interrogate him. However, a ruthless member of the counterfeiting gang (George Tobias) gets to the salesman first and kills him by throwing him out a window before he can talk and possibly lead the agents to the gang.

The Secret Service then puts undercover agent John Riggs (Don DeFore) on the case. Riggs poses as a thief who is interested in buying and selling counterfeit bills, to learn more about the gang and gather evidence. Riggs works the clues, which leads him to a Los Angeles hotel where the dead salesman lived. Riggs moves into the hotel as part of his undercover work, where he gets recruited by gang members. He also meets the beautiful hotel manager, Nora Craig (Andrea King).

While Riggs is romantically attracted to Craig, he also realizes that she may be connected to the counterfeiting gang. Riggs finds out that Craig is not only the manager of the hotel, but also the boss of the counterfeiting gang, commanding a crew of hardened felons. He finds out that her father is Deane, the old engraver in prison. The movie's climax arrives when the counterfeiters realize Riggs is a federal agent and threaten to kill him. As other federal agents and police invade the gang's lair, it ends up set on fire. The gang and officers have a pitched gun battle amidst cable car rail trestles and bridges, and Craig plunges to her death.

Seasons 1–6 (and live episodes)

When his Time and Space Travel Device is stolen by the evil mastermind Dr. Steve and his sock-shaped assistant Fidgert. Dr. Floyd, his young protégé Dr. Grant and their faithful robot companion C.H.I.P.S. must do what they can to get it back. Bent on achieving fame and fortune, Dr. Steve plans to race through history, stealing historical items and then returning to the future to sell them on eBay. Can Dr. Floyd and his crew thwart the evil machinations of Dr. Steve and Fidgert?

In almost every episode the cast visits a famous historical figure.

At the end of Season 6, Dr. Grant passed his "Protégé 101" test (with a score of 98%) and thus tested out of protégé classification (and therefore must leave Dr. Floyd); C.H.I.P.S.' parents are in dire trouble and C.H.I.P.S must help them without Dr. Floyd's help (because bringing humans to C.H.I.P.S.' planet is forbidden and would get C.H.I.P.S. into big trouble); and Dr. Steve returns the Time and Space Travel Device to Dr. Floyd (because Dr. Floyd has stopped him every time he has used it for personal gain.)

Season 7

At the start of Season 7, Dr. Steve (and later Dr. Floyd) go down to the Saddle River City Library to do some book browsing. The Librarian asks if there is some Doctor Convention in town, mainly because there have been so many doctors coming to the library. Dr. Floyd heads to the classical literature section placed in the basement of the Library. He finds Dr. Steve trying to find a book on 'the life and times of Berry Malaho'. Dr. Floyd then gives Dr. Steve a lesson on the Dewey Decimal System and then says he's in the wrong area as the classical literature is in the 800's. As Dr. Floyd shows him to the right section of the Library, they are stopped by three Doctors in different coats who are named collectively 'The Literati'. Their goal is to 'bring about the total destruction and complete annihilation of Dr. Floyd!' The Literati invented the Translitora which "looks somewhat like a laser cannon", but was built to destroy Dr. Floyd.

Dr. Steve however says that there can only be one person against Dr. Floyd- himself. Dr. Steve pushes the button on the Translitora, its effect grabbing both Dr. Floyd and Dr. Steve. In a flash Dr. Floyd and Dr. Steve both vanish. The Literati are thrilled that they have now gotten rid of Dr. Floyd. However, Dr. Floyd finds that he and Dr. Steve are now stuck in the stories of Classic literature with the remote control.

In every episode in Season 7, the cast visits a famous classical novel/book.

The final two episodes of Season 7 try to wrap up this Season by sending Dr. Grant and CHIPS back to Dr. Floyd's Lab, (with mini episodes only found on by members of the show, e.g. The Imagination Nations Rangers/Members and eventually getting Dr. Steve and Dr. Floyd out of Classical Literature. Eventually Fidgert steals the Time and Space Travel Device and Dr. Floyd, Dr. Grant and CHIPS are again trying to chase Dr. Steve and Fidgert.

Season 8

This season begins with Dr. Floyd and company fleeing from Dr. Steve throughout time and space, until Dr. Steve ultimately corners them. He then shoots Dr. Floyd with a mysterious weapon, causing Dr. Floyd to permanently disappear.

The rest of the season covers the events leading up to this season.

The story revolves around two kittens, "Hush" and "Brush," who attempt to create green paint through mixing their other paints. Their attempts lead to a variety of different hues—none of them green. The book's famous catch phrase is "Blue is blue, and red is red! They still need green!"

"The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar"

40-year-old Jessica Valdemar visits Steven Pike, her elderly husband's lawyer, with some paperwork for Mr. Pike's approval. Pike sees that Jessica's 65-year-old husband, Ernest Valdemar, who is dying from a terminal illness, is liquidating a number of his assets for cash and suspects Jessica of having undue influence on him. Pike talks to Ernest Valdemar over the phone, who confirms the decision. Pike reluctantly agrees to let Jessica have access to the money, but warns her that if anything were to happen to Valdemar within the next three weeks before the transfer of his estate over to Jessica is finalized, she will be investigated by the authorities.

Jessica returns home to Valdemar's mansion where she meets with Dr. Robert Hoffman. Hoffman and Jessica have been conspiring to cheat Ernest out of his estate by hypnotizing him and having him do what they wish from his deathbed. Robert wants to elope with Jessica after they acquire Ernest's $3 million assets. Later, Ernest dies while under hypnosis. Wanting to keep his death secret for the time being, Robert and Jessica hide his body in the basement freezer. During the night, Jessica hears moaning coming from the basement, but cannot wake up Robert, who has put himself under a hypnotic-induced slumber.

The next morning, Jessica and Robert hear the moaning from the basement. They open the freezer, and Valdemar's voice claims that his soul is alive and trapped in a dark void between the living and the dead. Valdemar tells them that he sees "others" looking at him. Jessica withdraws $300,000 from a bank and stores it in a safe, an action Robert sees. Valdemar's undead corpse tells Robert that the "others" are vengeful spirits that want to use him to enter our world. Valdemar tells Robert to wake him up from his hypnotic state. In a panic, Jessica shoots Valdemar's corpse and wants to bury the body and leave town with the money they have. While Robert heads outside to dig a hole to bury the body, Jessica goes back into the cellar only to find Valdemar's body walking towards her, saying that he is controlled by "the others". Robert returns inside and sees Jessica and Valdemar struggling on the balcony, where the undead walking cadaver shoots Jessica in the head and she falls off the balcony, dead.

Robert attempts to wake Valdemar from his hypnosis, but Valdemar tells Robert that it is too late, for without his body as a conduit, "the others" cannot return to their realm. "They're with you now!" exclaims Valdemar, who finally falls dead. Robert then steals all the cash that Jessica had stored in the safe and flees the house. Robert goes back to his apartment, where he puts himself under a hypnotic sleep. Shortly after, the ghostly "others" enter his apartment and kill him by shoving the hypnotic digital counter into his chest. The ghosts then form themselves into a mist and enter Robert's dead body.

Several days later, the police led by Detective Grogan arrive at Robert's apartment to answer complaints about a "strange smell" and constant moaning coming from the apartment. Grogan finds the apartment ransacked. The decomposed body of Robert, under the control of "the others", appears and attacks Grogan, while telling him that there is nobody to wake him up and that he is trapped forever.

"The Black Cat"

Crime scene photographer Rod Usher enters a building decorated with the abject remains of dismantled corpses. A naked woman lies bound to a table, sliced in two by a huge pendulum-like blade. Rod is frequently called upon the local authorities—led by Detective LeGrand—to document crime scenes in the area.

After arriving at his house, Rod works in his darkroom developing the photos when his work is interrupted by the appearance of a black cat, which has apparently been adopted by his live-in girlfriend Annabel. Annabel is a violinist who gives private lessons to local high school students who show up at the house after their school classes.

Over the next several days, an antipathy grows between Rod and the cat, a situation worsened by Annabel's excessive protection of it. Driven to distraction by the cat's apparent hatred of him, Rod eventually strangles it during a photo shoot he has set up, with the cat being the subject. Rod then uses the photos of him strangling the cat in his newest photography book, ''Metropolitan Horrors''. As Annabel begins to realize what has happened to her pet, the couple argues violently, and Rod has a nightmare in which he is executed by medieval persons for murdering the cat.

One day, when Annabel finally spots his book in a shop window, with the strangled cat on the front cover, she immediately makes plans to leave Rod. Meanwhile, Rod is drinking heavily at a local bar. He becomes unnerved when the barmaid, Eleonora, gives him a stray black cat, identical to Annabel's cat. Rod notices that the feline has an identical white marking on its chest. Rod brings the cat home and sets about to kill it again, but Annabel rescues it, prompting Rod to kill her with a meat cleaver. When his suspicious next-door neighbor and landlord, Mr. Pym, arrives at his door, Rod assures him that nothing is wrong.

Rod conceals Annabel's behind a wall in the house and invents a story to explain Annabel's disappearance to her music students, Betty and Christian, when they show up the next day for their violin lessons. Christian, who doubts Rod's story, confides in Mr. and Mrs. Pym about his suspicions that Rod might have killed Annabel. When a friend of Annabel's in New York keeps phoning the house to ask about her whereabouts, Rod disconnected the phone. When the black cat appears from behind the wall, Rod kills it with a saw and disposes of it in a dumpster.

The next day, Detective LeGrand arrives with his partner to question Rod about Annabel's whereabouts. After looking around the house, the detectives leave, but return when an mewing sound is heard though one of the walls. Rod is handcuffed and the fake wall he put up is torn down, revealing that the cat had given birth in Annabel's tomb and its offspring are now feasting on the remains of their mistress. Rod grabs a pick-axe from LeGrand's partner and kills both policemen. Rod tries to make his escape when his neighbors arrive at the front door after hearing the commotion. Rod attempts to climb out a second floor window by using a rope tied around a tree in his backyard. However, he gets tangled in the rope and slips, the rope tightening around his neck, hanging him.

Cover of ''Funky Koval'' #2, 1988.

The plot resolves around the figure of former military pilot and now space detective, Funky Koval, who with his friends and colleagues forms a private detective agency "Universs" and solves various cases in the futuristic world of the 2080s. His investigations range from corruption in the police and government, through fighting cultists and terrorists, investigating missing spaceships and illegal slave camps, to the mystery of the Drolls aliens, who have a much more advanced technology than the humans, and whose plans for the humanity - if any - remain a mystery.

When seven-year-old Julie's mother dies, she is sent to live with her Aunt Cordelia, an unmarried schoolteacher who lives in a large house several miles outside town. Her uncle Haskell lives in a converted carriage house behind the main house. Haskell is an alcoholic who, like his niece, aspires to be a writer (although he never produces a manuscript). Julie's brother Chris goes to boarding school, leaving her alone with Aunt Cordelia.

At first, grief-stricken Julie finds Aunt Cordelia stern and strict, but as she grows to young adulthood she comes to love her and to see her house as home. She becomes so attached to her that even when she has the chance to move back with her father, who remarries, she declines.

The story follows Julie from the age of seven to seventeen, from elementary school through her high-school graduation, and documents the ordinary events in a child's life: the cruelty of children, jealousy, schoolwork trouble, and first love. Julie also encounters problems in the lives of the adults around her, including alcoholism and mental illness (dementia).

Harold Crick is an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent and lives a solitary life of strictly scheduled routine. On the day he is assigned to audit an intentionally tax-delinquent baker named Ana Pascal, Harold begins hearing the voice of a woman narrating his life. When Harold's wristwatch stops working and he resets it using the time from a bystander, the voice narrates that this action will eventually result in Harold's death. Harold consults a psychiatrist who suggests he see a literary expert if he believes there is a narrator. Harold visits Jules Hilbert, a literature professor, who initially dismisses Harold. However, he recognizes omniscient narrative devices in what Harold claims the voice said, and is intrigued. He tries to help Harold identify the author and determine if his story is a comedy or tragedy.

As Harold audits Ana he develops an attraction to her, but when he obliviously rejects a gift of cookies because it could be considered a bribe, he takes it as a sign he is in a tragedy. Jules tells Harold to spend the day at home doing nothing, and Harold's living room is destroyed by a demolition crew that went to the wrong building. Jules takes such an improbable occurrence as proof that Harold is no longer in control of his own life, and advises he enjoy the time he has left, accepting whatever destiny the narrator has for him. Harold takes time off work, takes guitar lessons, moves in with his co-worker Dave, and starts dating Ana. Since she loves him, Harold re-evaluates his story as a comedy. While meeting with Jules, Harold sees a television interview with author Karen Eiffel and recognizes her voice as his narrator's. Jules, an admirer of Karen's work, says that all of her books are tragedies: the protagonist always dies. Karen has been struggling with writer's block on her next book because she cannot figure out how to kill Harold Crick, but has had a breakthrough and begun writing again.

Harold telephones Karen and stuns her when he accurately recounts her book to her. The two meet in person and she explains she has outlined the conclusion but not yet typed it in full. Her assistant, Penny, recommends Harold read the outline, but he cannot bring himself to do so, and gives it to Jules. Jules deems it Karen's masterpiece to which Harold's death is integral, and he consoles Harold that death is inevitable, but this death will hold a deeper meaning. Harold reads the outline and returns it to Karen, and tells her the death she has written for him is beautiful and he accepts it. Harold takes care of some errands and spends his last night with Ana. The next morning Harold goes about his routine again as Karen writes and narrates. She reveals that when Harold reset his wristwatch, the bystander's time was three minutes fast, so Harold has reached the bus stop early. A boy riding a bicycle falls in front of the bus; Harold runs into the street to save him, but is hit himself. However, Karen, traumatized by the idea that she unwittingly narrated real people to their deaths, cannot bring herself to finish the sentence declaring him dead.

Harold wakes up in a hospital, and learns that shrapnel from his wristwatch - which was destroyed in the collision - blocked his ulnar artery and saved him from bleeding to death. Karen meets Jules and offers him a revised ending. Jules finds the new ending weakens the book, and Karen replies the book was about a man who did not know he was going to die, but if Harold knew and accepted his fate, he is the kind of person who deserves to live. Karen's narration closes the film over a montage of Harold's newly invigorated life, ending on the ruined wristwatch that saved his life.

Two cowboys come to the aid of a rancher whose land is being threatened by an unscrupulous businessman.

The game's plot features characters and settings loosely based on the ''Digimon Data Squad'' anime series (known as ''Digimon Savers'' in Japan). The story sees player character transported to the Digital World, where he or she raises and befriends Digimon and fights an evil entity calling himself "Unknown-D".

The show focuses on twins Rachel and Theo Matheson. While on school summer holidays in Auckland, they are contacted by a man named Mr. Jones, who had met them briefly eight years earlier. This time, Mr. Jones reveals his true identity and mission. He is an alien—a member of the mysterious race called The People Who Understand and was sent from another world in a battle against another race of aliens. These latter creatures were a family of slimy, slug-like beasts who could take on human form. Led by the evil Mr. Wilberforce, the slug monsters were now bent on destroying Earth and only the twins' emerging psychic abilities could turn them back. The other major conflict presented by the series is that of Rachel and Theo's emerging abilities. Rachel accepted the truth of their abilities, while Theo was more of a cynic and often challenged Mr. Jones. The psychic abilities in the series increase in effectiveness as the individual grows in trust and acceptance of his or her abilities. In the final episode of the series, the twins are each required to throw a stone and focus their psychic energy into the stone to create a red and blue bridge-like construct that will defeat the Wilberforces. Because Theo's faith in his abilities and his belief in supernatural phenomena in general is lacking, his half of the bridge is insufficient to complete the construct. Mr. Jones uses the last of his life energy to complete the construct and defeat the Wilberforces, and can no longer be with Rachel and Theo as a result.

Episode guide

''Something the Lord Made'' tells the story of the 34-year partnership that begins in Depression Era Nashville in 1930 when Blalock (Alan Rickman) hires Thomas (Mos Def) as an assistant at his Vanderbilt University lab, expecting him to perform janitorial work. But Thomas' remarkable manual dexterity and intellectual acumen confound Blalock's expectations, and Thomas rapidly becomes indispensable as a research partner to Blalock in his forays into heart surgery.

The film traces the two men's work when they move in 1943 from Vanderbilt to Johns Hopkins, an institution where the only black employees are janitors and where Thomas must enter by the back door. Together, they attack the congenital heart defect of Tetralogy of Fallot, also known as Blue Baby Syndrome, and in so doing they open the field of heart surgery.

Helen Taussig (Mary Stuart Masterson), the pediatrician/cardiologist at Johns Hopkins, challenges Blalock to come up with a surgical solution for her Blue Babies. She needs a new for them to oxygenate their blood.

The duo is seen experimenting on stray dogs they got from the local dog pound, deliberately giving the dogs the heart defect and trying to solve it. The outcome looks good and they are excited to operate on a baby with the defect, but in a dream, Thomas sees the baby grown up and crying because she's dying. Thomas asks why she's dying in the dream and she says it's because she has a baby heart. Blalock interprets it as the fact that their sewing technique didn't work because the sutures didn't grow with the heart, and worked on a new version that would work.

The film dramatizes Blalock's and Thomas' fight to save the dying Blue Babies. Blalock praises Thomas' surgical skill as being "like something the Lord made", and insists that Thomas coach him through the first Blue Baby surgery over the protests of Hopkins administrators. Yet outside the lab, they are separated by the prevailing racism of the time. Blalock makes a mistake once by accidentally cutting an artery at the wrong place, but eventually, along with Thomas, succeeds. As word quickly spreads of their success, parents all over the country flock to the hospital with their sick children, hoping the surgery will cure them. Also doctors from around the world start attending Thomas's surgery in order to learn how to do the surgery themselves so they can treat their own patients. Thomas attends Blalock's parties as a bartender, moonlighting for extra income, and when Blalock is honored for the Blue Baby work at the segregated Belvedere Hotel, Thomas is not among the invited guests. Instead, he watches from behind a potted palm at the rear of the ballroom. From there, he listens to Blalock give credit to the other doctors who assisted in the work but make no mention of Thomas or his contributions. The next day, Thomas reveals that he saw the ceremony, and quits from his lab. However his heart is so with the work he left behind that he finds himself unhappy in other endeavors and decides to overlook Blalock's lack of acknowledgement and return to the lab.

In 1964, one day before Blalock dies, he sees Thomas, now a professional surgeon and trainer in the open heart surgery wing. After Blalock's death, Thomas continued his work at Johns Hopkins training surgeons. At the end of the film, in a formal ceremony in 1976, Hopkins recognized Thomas' work and awarded him an honorary doctorate. A portrait of Thomas was placed on the walls of Johns Hopkins next to Blalock's portrait, which had been hung there years earlier. and a brief montage shows 'DR. ALFRED BLALOCK 1899-1964' over Blalock's portrait, and 'DR. VIVIEN THOMAS: 1910-1985' over Thomas's.

The wife of prospective politician David Stratton (John Forsythe) is away in San Francisco, visiting relatives there. David comes home one night but not to an empty house—a young woman, Jody (Ann-Margret), is asleep in his daughter's bed.

Jody has just escaped from a juvenile detention home, where she stabbed a matron and started a fire. Though David is furious and wishes to call the police, Jody tells him a tale of woe and he is sympathetic. He buys her a dress, gives her some money and puts her on a bus. Soon after, David learns that Jody is a wanted fugitive who had been lying to him. He returns home to find Jody there. She refuses to leave and threatens to create a scandal if he forces her out. Worried about his political fortunes, David is forced to let her stay.

Jody invites three friends to the house, including two ruffians, Ron and Buck, who bully David into letting them throw a wild party in the house. The youths begin to fight until Ron suffers a deep cut in the arm with a razor. They drive across the Mexico border, taking David along. They deposit Ron with a local doctor and ditch Buck when the car is entangled in barbed wire.

Jody and David end up in a Tijuana motel. When Ron and Buck return, a chase occurs and their car crashes, killing them both. David, seriously injured, awakens in the hospital to find that just before she died, Jody had told the authorities that she had been in the car with Ron and Buck, meaning that David is in the clear.

The book chronicles the life of the gangster Jack 'Legs' Diamond. It is told from the perspective of Jack's lawyer, Marcus Gorman. Marcus becomes involved with "Legs" Diamond to add excitement to his otherwise boring life, and the best way to do this was by immortalizing a highly popular gangster. Through Gorman's eyes, Kennedy is able to elicit sympathy for the criminal, transposing this sympathy into the context of America during the 1920s and 30s: excess, collapse, destitution, and analysis of right and wrong, good and evil.

Dr. Shrinker (Jay Robinson) is a mad scientist who creates a shrinking ray that can miniaturize anything. Three teenagers — Brad Fulton (Ted Eccles), B.J. Masterson (Susan Lawrence) and her brother Gordie Masterson (Jeff MacKay) — crash land their airplane on an island. As they make their way to the only house on the island, they meet Dr. Shrinker and his assistant, Hugo (Billy Barty). Dr. Shrinker, in an effort to prove that his shrinking ray works, shrinks the three people down to tall. The remainder of the series was different efforts by the 'Shrinkies' to return to normal size, while Dr. Shrinker and Hugo want to catch the trio so that they will have physical proof that the ray works for whatever world power wants to buy it. Dr. Shrinker also implied that he would give the unnamed buyer the Shrinkies as a free bonus. However, in one episode, Dr. Shrinker's plan was to sell the shrinking ray to the highest bidder, and the second highest bidder would receive the Shrinkies.

Each episode was basically the same. As Dr. Shrinker himself said in one episode..."I chase the Shrinkies. I catch the Shrinkies. The Shrinkies escape. It's a vicious cycle, and it's driving me mad!"

The concept was very likely inspired by the 1940 film ''Dr. Cyclops'' in which a scientist working in the South American jungle uses his radiation experiments to shrink a group of fellow scientists to prevent them from discovering his secret work.

''Dr. Shrinker'' lasted only one season on ''The Krofft Supershow''. During the second season, it was dropped (as was the superhero segment ''Electra Woman and Dyna Girl''). One episode, "Slowly I Turn", is available on DVD with the Krofft Box Set. In 2005, Marty Krofft said that he and his brother would be recording commentary for a DVD release of ''Dr. Shrinker''.

The animation parodies a regular pharmaceutical television commercial, detailing the benefits the fictional drug ''Progenitorivox'' manufactured by fictional company SquabbMerlCo whose use is not described in detail. Instead, a large number of side effects are sung to an upbeat musical jingle, which emphasizes that the consumer should buy ''Progenitorivox''— even if the generic drug is half the cost— if only to be like a family on TV. The animation ends with a seemingly random disclaimer, also a parody of pharmaceutical or "drug" advertisements.

Texar and Burbank are bitter enemies, Burbank's northern view of slavery as an evil being an unpopular stance with Texar and the rest of the community, deep in the Confederate States of America. On top of this disagreement, though, Texar is angry at Burbank for past legal troubles Burbank has brought upon Texar, and, despite Texar inventing a perfect alibi that allows him to escape conviction, Texar feels the need for vengeance and eventually becomes a prominent and powerful member of the Jacksonville community. Using this newfound power, Texar turns the townsfolk against Burbank and leads a mob that destroys the Burbank plantation, known as Camdless Bay. Burbank's daughter Dy and caretaker Zermah are both kidnapped by a man claiming to be Texar and are purportedly taken to a place in the Everglades called Carneral Island. En route, and after enlisting the help of the United States Navy, they find a separate group searching for Texar in response to crimes that apparently happened in the same time as the ones at Camdless Bay but in a distant location. This opens up the realization that there is one real Texar and one who is not, and the search continues now, not only for Dy and Zermah, but for the answer to this mystery.

Mia Baran is a devout Catholic schoolteacher at a boys' school outside Pittsburgh where her husband, Guy, is schoolmaster. Guy is abusive to the weak Mia, a former nun who suffers from cardiomyopathy; his mistress, Nicole Horner, a fellow teacher at the school, is protective of Mia. When both women grow tired of his abuses, they collaborate to murder him in an apartment owned by a family friend of Nicole's. The women lure him there, and Mia drugs him before they successfully drown him in a bathtub. They wrap his body in a shower curtain and place it in a wicker box.

While en route to the school, Nicole crashes Guy's car in a pileup on the interstate, but the wicker box goes unnoticed by authorities. The women arrive at the school in the middle of the night, and dump Guy's corpse in the unkempt swimming pool on the property, staging his death as an accidental drowning. When his body fails to rise to the surface after several days, Nicole has the pool drained, but Guy's body is nowhere to be found. The women subsequently discover photos taken of them on the day of Guy's murder, and believe someone is blackmailing them.

After reading about the discovery of a John Doe in a nearby river, Mia goes to view the body at the sheriff's station, but finds it is not Guy. There, she attracts the attention of Shirley Vogel, a retired police officer-turned-private investigator who offers to look into Guy's disappearance. Nicole is resistant, and Shirley quickly becomes suspicious of the women. Their fears of a blackmailer are confirmed when Mia discovers the shower curtain used to conceal Guy's body hanging in her bathroom window.

Shirley confronts Mia with the accident report from Guy's car, and surmises that Guy was en route to see her in Pittsburgh on the day he disappeared. Mia grows increasingly paranoid, believing Guy is alive and stalking the women. This fear increases when two videographers filming an event at the school capture an image of Guy standing in one of the building's windows. Later, while investigating the school's basement, Shirley is attacked and knocked unconscious.

That night, Mia finds Guy floating in her bathtub, and witnesses him rise from the water. Terrified, she loses consciousness and collapses, apparently suffering a heart attack. Nicole arrives, and it is revealed that she and Guy had planned the series of events to scare Mia to the point of heart failure. Nicole laments, however, and tells Guy she had wanted to call it off. While overlooking Mia's body, Nicole realizes she is in fact not dead; when Guy realizes she is alive, he attacks both women, knocking Nicole unconscious.

Mia flees downstairs, and Guy tackles her to the ground in front of the pool and attempts to drown her. Nicole manages to stop him by driving a garden rake into his head, and he falls into the pool. As Nicole attempts to revive Mia, Guy pulls her into the pool and tries to drown her. Mia enters the pool, and together, both women successfully drown him. They exit the pool and are confronted by Shirley, who punches Mia in the face; willing to cover for the women, she explains it will help prove self-defense in Guy's murder. Mia walks away from the pool, distraught, and Shirley smokes a cigarette while watching Guy's body sink to the bottom.

Eileen and her boyfriend Woody are driving through the desert. When their car gets a flat tire, Woody goes to find a gas station. Their friends Becky, Jerry, and Molly are traveling in a different vehicle. They reach Eileen and all drive off to collect Woody.

Woody has found a gas station but it appears deserted. He enters the back room but becomes trapped by an unseen force. Various mannequins appear and cackle as objects fly off shelves at him until a metal pipe impales and kills him.

The others find a tourist trap but their vehicle mysteriously breaks down. Jerry tries to fix the car and the girls go skinny dipping. Mr. Slausen—the owner of the tourist trap—appears, holding a shotgun. He seems embittered by the decline of his tourist trap since the highway was moved away. The girls apologize for trespassing.

Slausen offers to help Jerry with the car, but insists the group go to his home with him to get his tools. There, they see the tourist trap: animated waxwork figures. Eileen is curious about a nearby house, but Slausen insists that the women should stay inside the museum. Slausen takes Jerry to fix their car. Eileen leaves to find a phone in the other house. There, she finds mannequins and a stranger wearing a grotesque mask appears behind her. Various items in the room move of their own accord and the scarf Eileen is wearing strangles her to death.

Slausen returns, saying that Jerry drove into town. When told that Eileen left, he goes to the house and finds Eileen has been turned into a mannequin. He returns and tells Molly and Becky he did not find Eileen. Frustrated, the women leave to search for her themselves. Becky enters the house and finds a mannequin resembling Eileen. She is attacked by the masked killer and multiple mannequins. She later wakes up tied in the basement with Jerry. Jerry says the killer is Slausen's brother Davey. Also held captive is Tina, another traveler, who is strapped to a table. She is killed by the masked man. Jerry frees himself and attacks the killer, but is overpowered.

Molly is pursued by the masked man. She meets Slausen, who drives her to the museum and gives her a gun while he goes inside. The masked man appears and Molly shoots, but the gun is loaded with blanks. The man removes the mask, revealing himself to be Slausen. Molly is soon captured and restrained to a bed.

Becky and Jerry escape from the basement but get separated. Slausen takes Becky back to the museum. There, she is killed by an Indian Chief figure who throws a knife at her, stabbing her in the back of the head. Back at the house, Jerry arrives to rescue Molly, but he has unknowingly turned into a mannequin. Slausen dances with the figure of his wife, and Molly sees that the wife has become animated. Traumatized, she kills Slausen with an axe.

The next morning, a now-insane Molly drives away with the mannequin versions of her friends.

Doctor Dré and Ed Lover are two bumbling barbers at a Harlem barbershop. Knowing full well that cutting hair is not their calling, their boss, friend, and mentor Nick (Jim Moody) tells the two maybe they should try out for the police academy. They refuse at first, but Nick threatens them with unemployment. Crazily enough, it works out for the two, and they are accepted on the New York City police force. Things seem to be going well for them, when tragedy suddenly strikes, and they lose Nick and the barbershop. Now enforcers of the law, the team decides to investigate the incident, which they believe to be a murder.

Ed and Dre find out through the streets that a crooked land developer named Demetrius (Richard Bright) might have had something to do with their friend's death, and proceed to attempt to dig up as much dirt on him as possible. This proves to be difficult, however, when they've got an angry Sergeant (Denis Leary), a moody detective (Rozwill Young), and a bunch of unwilling street hoods (Guru, Ice-T) to go through to get the information they need. Though there aren't any certain clues to be found, strange happenings are certainly going on, as the cops found out that Demetrius' company seems to be looking for oil rather than looking for property.

With their superiors not believing Ed and Dre's story and getting themselves in trouble, they end up being suspended. However, they get a lead to a warehouse where they find a lot of guns. They have enough evidence to arrest Demetrius, but Demetrius didn't kill Nick. It was revealed that Nick's friend, Lionel, who was working for Demetrius had murdered him because Nick refused to sell his shop. Ed and Dre have Lionel arrested.

Ed and Dre are offered their jobs back, but decided to quit, stating it's too violent for them. When they return to their old barbershop they discover oil coming from the floor. Soon after, they're back in business re-opening the place giving customers bad haircuts.

''Uncle Styopa'' begins with the description of a "gigantic" man Stepan (Styopa), nicknamed "Fire Tower" due to his height. The first part of the poem focuses on Styopa's struggles with his height, e.g. he cannot enjoy shooting galleries in amusement parks because he can easily touch the targets with his hand. He wears 45th size boots and always buys the trousers "of previously unheard width". He orders double portions for lunch, does not fit into a bed, and has to sit on the floor at the cinema. However Styopa is a kind person and "all children's best friend". He rescues a drowning boy and saves pigeons from a burning house by reaching for the attic and opening the window. Styopa decides that he has always wanted to serve the country, and joins the Navy. ''Uncle Styopa'' ends with his return on shore leave. He tells stories "about the war, about the bombings, about the big battleship ''Marat''" to the pioneers. Children change his nickname to "Lighthouse".

In ''Uncle Styopa The Militsioner'' Styopa, the former Starshina in the Navy, joins the Soviet militsiya, because he thinks that "it is important". He's respected by adults and children alike. He continues to help people: when a small boy loses his mother at the train station, Styopa lifts the child and he sees his mother in the crowd. When one of the traffic lights breaks down and this creates a traffic jam, the Road Traffic Control Department (ORUD) officer asks for Styopa's advice. Styopa reaches the light with his hand and fixes it. This earns him another nickname, "Traffic Light". He also earns the first prize in a speed skating competition, making the Militsiya proud.

In ''Uncle Styopa and Yegor'' Styopa's wife Manya gives birth to a son named Yegor. His birth weight is 8 kg. The poem follows his childhood as he makes first steps, goes to school. Yegor is not as tall as his father, but he is exceptionally strong. He is a model student who gets good marks at school, plays sports, "eats soft-boiled eggs for breakfast", and prevents arguments among classmates. As he gets older Yegor becomes famous due to his strength. At the age of 20 he wins the European Weightlifting competition and beats the European record by lifting 330 kg. He later wins the gold medal at the Olympic Games. His dream is, however, to "fly among the stars". In the end of the poem he goes through the astronaut training.

In ''Uncle Styopa The Veteran'' Styopa is a pensioner. He enjoys life, plays with children, and travels to France to see the Eiffel Tower. His granddaughter (Yegor's daughter) is born. Mikhalkov concludes the poem saying that logically Styopa "has to, unfortunately, pass away sooner or later", but "every reader knows" that the character will never get old and die.

Edgar Anscombe (Christopher Reeve) is an instructor at a US Army Air Corps flying school in 1918. While he is teaching a young pilot, the aircraft crashes during a landing attempt and bursts into flames. The student is killed, though Edgar survives.

Ten years later, Edgar is a Contract Air Mail pilot flying the rugged CAM-5 route between Elko, Nevada and Pasco, Washington. When asked to take a passenger, Edgar reluctantly agrees, revealing that the last time he had a passenger in his aircraft, it was the doomed trainee.

Tillie Hansen (Rosanna Arquette) is outspoken and rebellious. She makes it clear that she does not want to go to her aunt's house, but her father demands it. He uses his influence as banker for the airline to secure passage for her. Tillie annoys Edgar with her questions, and he acts coldly towards her.

During the stopover at Boise, Idaho, Edgar's pilot friend, Jerry Stiller (Scott Wilson) changes the oil lines on the engine, but neglects to inspect his work as a call has just come in for him. The tension between Edgar and Tillie continues to escalate, and when the flight resumes, Edgar decides to take a shortcut over the mountains, deviating from the normal route. However, the engine loses oil pressure and soon fails, causing Edgar to crash land on a remote ridge.

Tillie blames Edgar for stranding them, and Edgar calls Tillie a jinx. During the night, Tillie accidentally blows up the remains of the aircraft with a cigarette. Afterward, Edgar's anger subsides as he seems to accept the hopelessness of their situation.

The next day, Edgar goes out hunting and manages to shoot a rabbit with his pistol. However, while returning to camp he is attacked by a pack of wolves who steal the rabbit and badly injure his arm. Tillie manages to sew the wound shut and bandages his arm. Faced with the continued threat of the wolves, and since the remains of the aircraft have been destroyed, Edgar and Tillie decide to climb down the cliff to the canyon below.

During their descent, a search aircraft flies overhead. Edgar and Tillie jump on a ledge to try to signal the aircraft, but Tillie falls and breaks her leg. The two are forced to spend the night on the cliff face, and a mutual affection develops. The next day, Edgar carries Tillie to the canyon floor, where he makes a travois to haul her.

When Tillie spots some telephone lines, Edgar heads off to investigate, leaving Tillie his revolver. Meanwhile, one of the search pilots has determined the location of the crash, and flies toward the crash site. As Edgar returns to the clearing where he has left Tillie, he is again attacked by a wolf, within sight of Tillie. The rescuers fly overhead and spot Edgar, but are powerless to help. Tillie manages to crawl out of her travois and shoots the wolf, saving Edgar's life. They are rescued, with hints of a romantic relationship developing.

David Sinclair (Alan Boyce) seems to have everything. He is smart, talented, funny, and popular. He is best friends with Chris Townsend (Keanu Reeves), a quirky outsider. He seems to have it all together, yet as his personal academic expectations and those of his parents become overwhelming, he seemingly is keeping emotional problems a secret to himself.

At a party with his school friends along the coast, he takes a walk to the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean.

Chris, playful as ever, decides to sneak up on his friend, but when he emerges from behind a rock, David is not there. He has fallen to his death. Originally assumed to be a horrible accident, the situation changes when Chris receives a suicide note in the mail. Chris and David's girlfriend, Lauren (Jennifer Rubin), want to hold some type of memorial, but a reluctant school decides against it, leaving the kids to memorialize their friend in their own way.

In late 1960s Melbourne, Errol Wallace (Anthony Hopkins) is a financial business consultant whom we meet in the course of his being hired by the board of Durmack, an automotive component manufacturer, where he assesses a large work force redundancy and recommends major layoffs.

Balls, a moccasin factory located in the Melbourne suburb of Spotswood, is his next client. Mr. Ball (Alwyn Kurts), the owner of the company, is affable and treats his employees benevolently. Wallace on a factory tour finds the conditions wanting with shabbiness, old machinery and the workers lackadaisical.

A young worker at Balls, Carey (Ben Mendelsohn), who is finding his place in the world and life, is asked by Wallace to assist in his review, compiling worker condition and performance information. Carey is reluctant until he learns that Mr. Ball's daughter Cheryl (Rebecca Rigg), whom he fancies, is part of the review staff.

Wallace learns that there is an instigator in the midst, his colleague Jerry (John Walton), who leaks the Durmack report, inflating the quantity of sackings as a means to demoralise the union.

Kim Barry (Russell Crowe), a salesman at Balls who also has his sights set on the boss's daughter, shows his ruthlessness and ulterior motives when he comes to Wallace's home one night with a complete set of the company financial records that detail non-existent profit for years and reveal that Ball has been selling off company assets to keep the outfit afloat.

Wallace realises that whatever productivity improvements have been implemented are not enough to save the company even with an elimination of workers and yet that is his recommendation. Mr. Ball responds, "It’s not just about dollars and cents. It’s about dignity, treating people with respect".

Wallace's mind set starts to change when his car is vandalised and some Ball workers come to his aid, workers who then start to include him in their off-hours activities. Mr. Ball announces the work force redundancies and Wallace is clearly uncomfortable seeing them, knowing that it was his recommendation that sealed their fate.

The union at Durmack capitulates and management celebrates with a party during which Wallace becomes further disenchanted by what he sees as the rash sackings. He then realizes that Balls may have a competitive advantage that could potentially make the company profitabe. If Balls stop trying to compete on price on a few products, but instead have a very large product range, then all the perceived inefficiencies (old machinery, and a large number of highly skilled experienced workers), become opportunities for growth.

Carey realises he has feelings for his work mate and friend Wendy (Toni Collette) and together they climb up onto the roof of the factory and hold hands as they look out over Spotswood.

A military briefing film shows a hovering flying saucer resembling a domed yo-yo as the narrator (Peter Graves) describes how the military's "Project Visitor" has been tracking it and anticipates it will land in the central United States. After the briefing, Lt. Robertson reports to the base near the expected target where he berates his subordinates for their habit of using the monitoring equipment to spy on teenagers making out in the woods. One of the teens sees an object land nearby and tells his friends at a local bar, including Stan Kenyon. Stan and his girlfriend Susan Rogers later accidentally hit one of the multi-eyed, lumpy greyish-white aliens from the ship with his car, so they drive off to call the police. Out in the woods, they are forced to use the phone of a grumpy local codger who resents the "smoochers" who use his property as a lovers' lane, frequently threatening them with a shotgun.

Meanwhile, one of two drunken drifters new in town comes across the dead creature and decides to put it on exhibition as part of his latest get-rich-quick scheme. When he returns to the site after excitedly rushing home to tell his buddy Mike, other aliens arrive, scaring him and causing a deadly heart attack. When the police finally investigate, they assume that Stan has run over the drifter and arrest the young man, refusing to believe his crazy story.

Having overheard the bar conversation about the UFO, Lt. Robertson reports to his commander, who reluctantly authorizes a cordon around the saucer. They eventually accidentally blow up the spaceship and congratulate themselves for their effective defense, not realizing that the creatures were not in their craft and are still roaming the woods.

Easily escaping from the police, Stan and Susan meet up with the dead drifter's friend Mike and the three of them attempt to prove the alien danger to the community. Mike is cornered and attacked by the angry creatures, but Stan and Susan manage to flee and accidentally discover the monsters explode when exposed to bright light. Unfortunately, after the autopsy shows that the victim earlier died from an alcohol-induced heart attack and that Stan had not killed him, the police want nothing more to do with him and refuse to help. The teenagers then gather their friends together and drive out to the clearing where they left Mike. Surrounding the aliens with their cars, the teens use their headlights to evaporate the remaining creatures. Mike survives his attack, and Stan and Susan resume their interrupted plans to elope.

In ''House of M'' #7, the Scarlet Witch removes the powers of the overwhelming majority of the world's mutants in an event, eventually called "M-Day". As a reaction, the United States government forms a superhuman-monitoring Office of National Emergency (ONE), and sets up a team of human-piloted Sentinel robots (Sentinel Squad ONE) to monitor the Xavier Institute. ''X-Men: The 198'' revolves around the tension and conflicts of the 198 mutant refugees on the Xavier Institute grounds and the Sentinel Squad ONE. Tensions also rise between X-Men.

Just prior to the start of the game, a mysterious alien spaceship approaches the Earth to conduct an experiment which goes terribly wrong and causes the Earth to disappear into a wormhole trap. A scientific research team based on the Moon determines that the only way to bring the Earth and all its inhabitants back involves recreating this failed experiment. Unfortunately, the experimental apparatus, called the Centauri Drive, has been destroyed in this accident. Nonetheless, Moonbase scientists are able to salvage enough technology from the wrecked alien craft to construct their own rudimentary spaceship. A four-member scientific team commanded by the player is put together to find and obtain the parts necessary to rebuild the Centauri Drive and thereby save the Earth. This is the primary goal of the game.

The story begins in the Solar System, but the fictional setting encompasses over a hundred stars and their associated planets and civilizations in the surrounding galaxy. The game world divides the interstellar space surrounding the Sun into eight sectors characterized by particular alien civilizations possessing varying degrees of technological sophistication. Each of the eight sectors is associated with a particular subplot which must be solved in order to gain access to each of the eight pieces necessary to complete the construction of the Centauri Drive.

In the 23rd century, Earth is suffering the aftereffects of a nuclear war that destroyed 92 percent of humanity. Lingering radiation has caused the birth rate to fall to 1.4 percent, below replacement level, and the population continues to decline. A robotic labor force maintains a high standard of living for the survivors and the humanoids of the title are an advanced type of robot created to directly serve and otherwise work closely with human beings. These humanoids are built with artificial, ultra-logical personalities and they appear human except for their blue-gray "synthe-skin", metallic eyes and lack of hair. The humanoids periodically visit recharging stations they call "temples" where they also exchange all information acquired since their last visit with a central computer they call "the father-mother".

A human organization named The Order of Flesh and Blood is opposed to the humanoids, which the members disparagingly refer to as "clickers". The Order believes the humanoids are planning to take over the world and are a threat to the very survival of the human race. The Order does not stop at illegal violent actions, including bombings. At one meeting, its members are alarmed to learn of the existence of a humanoid which has been made externally indistinguishable from a human and which has killed a man. They demand that all existing humanoids be disassembled or downgraded to a strictly utilitarian machine-like form.

Scientist Dr. Raven (Doolittle) has developed a technique called a "thalamic transplant", which transfers the memories and personality of a recently deceased human into a robotic replica of that person. The human-humanoid hybrids that result awake from the process unaware of their own transformation, although their human personalities are shut off between 4 and 5 A.M., when they report back to the humanoids at the robot temple. As Dr. Raven describes the operation, "We draw off everything that makes a man peculiar to himself. His learning, his memory: these, inter-reacting, constitute his personality, his philosophy, capability and attitude. The human brain is merely the vault in which the man is stored." With the help of Dr. Raven, the humanoids are secretly replacing humans who recently died with these replicas.

One of the leaders of the Order of Flesh and Blood, Captain Kenneth Cragis (Megowan), meets Maxine, and although she is opposed to the Order they both fall in love. In the end they discover that they, too, are advanced humanoid replicas with the minds of deceased persons. Ironically, the "real" Maxine had died in a bomb attack which the Order intended to harm only robots. Dr. Raven, a once-human replica himself, explains to Cragis and Maxine that not only are they practically immortal in their new forms they can also be the first humanoids upgraded to the highest possible level: after a minor alteration, they will be able to procreate.

Finally, Dr. Raven breaks the fourth wall, looks directly into the camera and tells the viewer, "Of course, the operation was a success ... or ''you'' wouldn't be here."

Lyon Gaultier is in the French Foreign Legion stationed in Djibouti, East Africa. After his brother, who lives in Los Angeles, is set on fire during a drug deal gone bad, Lyon receives a letter from his sister-in-law Hélène begging him to come see his dying brother, who has been calling his name in agony. Lyon escapes the Legion in a daring breakout and sets off across the desert, until he reaches a dockyard on the coast, where he finds work aboard a tramp steamer headed for the United States. Lyon's Legion Commander, anticipating his destination, sends two of his own men to Los Angeles to bring Lyon back to meet court-martial.

Arriving in New York City with no money to cross the country to Los Angeles, Lyon is attracted to an illegal street fight being run by a tramp named Joshua Eldridge. He volunteers for the next fight and easily defeats his opponent. Impressed, Joshua takes Lyon to meet Cynthia Caldera, an unscrupulous organizer of underground fights for the rich elite. Cynthia agrees to sponsor Lyon, dubbing him "Lionheart" and setting him up in a no-holds-barred fight against Sonny, a fighter known for heavily taunting his opponents. Lyon defeats Sonny easily, then leaves with Joshua to find a phone booth to call Hélène, fending off an attack by a local street gang. Joshua calls in a favor from Cynthia, who gets them both across the States to Los Angeles.

By the time Lyon reaches the hospital, his brother has died. Though his murderers were apprehended, Hélène was left penniless, with a stack of unpaid medical bills and little daughter Nicole to look after. Lyon and Joshua track down Hélène's address, but as Lyon tries to speak to Hélène, she angrily rejects his offers for much needed financial help, admonishing Lyon for deserting his brother and unjustly blaming him for her late husband's involvement in the drug business.

Lyon decides to help Hélène and Nicole without their knowledge. Through Cynthia, he joins the local street fighting circuit and has the profits delivered to Hélène in the form of checks, with Joshua claiming that her husband subscribed to life insurance prior to his death. Lyon defeats a number of high-profile fighters, including a dirty-fighting Scotsman, a wrestler in a squash court, and a martial artist in a shallow swimming pool. Seeing as Lyon is not keeping his winnings and spurns her advances, Cynthia grows suspicious of Lyon and jealous towards Hélène and puts her assistant Russell on Lyon's trail. Similarly, the two Legionnaires sent after Lyon stake out Hélène's apartment and eventually try to capture Lyon: he is saved by Russell but suffers a broken rib. Hélène, who has witnessed the attack, learns the truth about the nonexistent insurance policy, whereupon she finally acknowledges Lyon as Nicole's uncle.

Cynthia arranges for Lyon to fight with Attila, an undefeated combatant whose style includes giving his opponents the illusion of a fighting chance, only to permanently disable them with callous finishing moves. Cynthia agrees to hand Lyon over to the Legionnaires after the fight. In order to skew the odds, she shows potential betters an altered tape of Attila which makes him look like a poor fighter, while she bets her entire fortune on Attila. Realizing Lyon is hurt, Joshua unsuccessfully tries to talk him out of the fight.

As the fight proceeds, Attila recognizes Lyon's rib wound and takes full advantage of it. When Attila appears to have won after repeatedly knocking down his opponent, Joshua begs Lyon to give up the fight and offers to split the winnings from his own bet against Lyon. This angers Lyon, who summons his remaining strength to defeat Attila with a series of kicks, knee blows and brutal punches. Lyon pummels Attila senseless but spares him, leaving Cynthia with a big debt and his family cared for with his own winning stake. The Legionaires capture Lyon, but with remorse listening to his niece's cry at the farewell to Lyon, they release him a couple of blocks away and wish him luck with his new life in America. The film ends with Lyon reunited with his family and Joshua.

A man is chased through the streets of Nice, France, ultimately resulting in his death. A cop, Alain Moreau, is brought by his partner Sebastien to the scene because the victim's face is identical to Alain's. Matches found in his pocket point towards a local hotel, where the proprietor mistakes Alain for "Mikhail Suverov" and gives him the phone message "Call Alex Bohemia." In Mikhail's room is a passport with the same birth date as Alain, and a plane ticket to New York. Alain's mother admits that Alain has a twin brother who she had to give up at birth because she was impoverished. Alain and Sebastian visit the office of the lawyer who adopted Mikhail. They find the room in flames and a large Russian man attacks Alain. Alain escapes with the adoption file, which reveals Mikhail was adopted by a Russian family who immigrated to America. Alain takes the passport and plane ticket to New York to investigate his brother's death and learn more about him.

In New York City, Alain discovers that Mikhail was a member of the Russian Mafia. When he mentions Alex Bohemia, he is referred to the Bohemia Club in Little Odessa. There a woman named Alex Bartlett mistakes him for Mikhail and gives him a key to a hotel room. Wary, Alain rents the room across the hall. When Alex comes to meet him later, he reveals that he is Mikhail's brother. Ivan (who saw Mikhail in the club) and his thugs arrive to kill Alain, believing he is Mikhail. Alain and Alex escape. Alex tells him Mikhail was her boyfriend and he had a plan to leave the Russian Mafia. They go to Mikhail's home, where Alain finds out Mikhail discovered his existence when he saw an article in the paper about his war exploits. After more Russians come to the house, Alain and Alex flee to her friend's cabin.

The next morning, two FBI agents come to the cabin. They say Mikhail kept evidence against the Russian Mafia that he intended to turn over to them, wanting to reform. They want him to pose as Mikhail to access his safe deposit box back in Nice. In actuality, they want to destroy the evidence because it implicates them in colluding with the Russian Mafia. Realizing that the FBI and not the Mafia knew Mikhail was dead, Alain deduces that it was FBI agents who killed Mikhail, and refuses to cooperate. After a fight, Alain handcuffs the agents together and leaves with Alex to visit Kirov, the leader of the Russian Mafia. When he finds them at a banya, Alain tells Kirov that Ivan has been trying to kill him, which enrages Kirov. After Kirov tells Alain the truth about the so-called evidence he has, Ivan sends the big Russian thug from the lawyer's office to kill Kirov and Alain. Kirov dies and Alain escapes in the scuffle; during the pursuit by Ivan, Alain is arrested by NYPD. The two corrupt FBI agents find Alex, bail Alain out of jail and use her to force Alain to access the deposit box.

Bank policy dictates that only Alain himself can access the safe deposit box, forcing the FBI agents to wait outside. In the box is the evidence, thousands in cash, a gun and a tape recording from Mikhail explaining how he decided to escape the mob life and reunite with his family. He instructs a banker to turn over the evidence to the US Embassy, and sets off the sprinkler system to make his escape. Ivan, waiting with Sebastien as his hostage, sends in the big Russian. The thug kills the banker and takes the evidence, but Alain catches up and kills him in the elevator. Outside, police officers block off Ivan's escape, giving Alain time to catch up, shoot out Ivan's tires, and rescue Sebastien; Ivan dies in the wreckage. Alain then chases the FBI agents into a meat locker where he shoots them both and rescues Alex. Mikhail's evidence of Mafia collusion with the FBI leads to several arrests. Alain takes Alex, with whom he is now romantically involved, to meet his mother so she can tell her about Mikhail.

''If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things'' eschews a traditional narrative structure, instead moving from one resident of an unnamed English street to another, describing their actions and inner world over the course of a single day, the last day of Summer in 1997. These characters are not named, and are described by an omniscient third person narrator. These sections are intercut with another character, a young woman who has recently discovered that she is pregnant, who narrates in the first person and whose story covers several days. She regularly refers ambiguously to a day in the past when something terrible happened, and it gradually becomes clear that the rest of the novel is set during this day.

Kong is a deaf-mute gunman, an assassin for hire who can neither hear nor see his gunshots or victims. He receives his guidance through Aom, a stripper in Bangkok, who rides on his back and gives him directions. Because of his disability, he was taunted by other children and grows up into an angry young man.

At a target range, he finds he has a knack for target shooting when he visualizes the faces of the boys that taunted him in the target. His deafness gives him an edge in shooting, as he does not react to the gunshots.

One day while cleaning up, a customer named Joe is at the shooting range with his girlfriend, Aom. Joe notices Kong watching them and he offers the pistol to Kong, who impresses Joe and Aom with his shooting. Joe agrees to be Kong's partner and teaches him how to shoot, while standing behind him. When Joe injures his gun hand in a battle, Kong is ready to take on more work.

Working for a mob boss, Kong is sent on a job to Hong Kong and when he returns to Bangkok, he catches a cold and needs medicine, so he stops at a pharmacy and meets Fon, a pretty pharmacist, who he eventually takes out a few times. This encounter changes Kong's perspective on life as he realizes that life can be meaningful, even for a deaf-mute assassin like him.

Aom has trouble with one of the mob boss' henchmen. She spurns him, but he rapes her. Enraged, Joe kills the henchman, which brings the mob's wrath down on Joe, which in turn leads to more revenge killing by Kong, and a final big shoot-out in a water bottle plant. Severely injured in the battle and cornered by the police, Kong puts his head next to the mob boss's and then shoots himself in the head, killing the two of them.

The storyline of ''One Piece Mansion'' revolves around a successful landlord called Polpo. At the start of the game, Polpo's little sister is kidnapped by the owner of a rival mansion, Chocola. It is the player's job to battle through levels meeting Chocola's objectives and to eventually free Polpo's little sister.

Count Christian von Meruh (Udo Kier) is a witch hunter and apprentice to Lord Cumberland (Herbert Lom) in early 18th-century Austria. He believes strongly in his mentor and his mission but loses faith when he catches Cumberland strangling a man to death for calling him impotent. Meruh begins to see for himself that the witch trials are a scam to rob people of their land, money, and other personal belongings of value and seduce beautiful women. Eventually, the townspeople revolt, and Cumberland escapes but Meruh is captured by the townspeople.

The film (which ''The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror'' calls "grotesquely sadistic" ) contains very strong simulations of graphic torture including a woman's tongue being ripped out of her head by tongue pincers, nuns being raped, nails to probe for the Devil's spot, whipping posts, fingers being cut off, racks and multitudes of vicious beatings.

The opening credits and voiceover make the exaggerated claim that over eight million people were condemned as witches and killed during the period in which the film is set. The scholarly consensus on the total number of executions for witchcraft ranges from 40,000–60,000 - see Witch trials in the early modern period

Setting

The game takes place in The Five Worlds: Lynlora, Ogmire, Zen'Jai, Stoneheath, and The Gorgoyle Realms.

Characters

The protagonist of ''Darkened Skye'' is Skye, a shepherd who wants to get more enjoyment out of life, and is voiced by Linda Larkin. Her companion is a sarcastic gargoyle named Draak, who decided to rage against the game's villain, the evil wizard Necroth, and is voiced by Robb Pruitt.

Story

Oscar Crease is hospitalized after a car injury. He had short-circuited the ignition of his car while standing in front of it, and the driverless car then drove over him. His stepsister Christina and her lawyer husband Harry Lutz visit him and bring him the legal opinion prepared by his father, a circuit judge, concerning the case of ''Szyrk v. the Village of Tatamount et al.'' This case concerns a situation where a dog got entrapped by a steel sculpture created by Mr. Szyrk. To free the dog a destructive procedure has to be performed on the sculpture, but the sculptor tries to prevent this and is granted a preliminary injunction by the judge.

Back at home in the Hamptons, Oscar is recovering. He is trying to build a legal case against the movie producer Constantine Kiester and his associates who he asserts have infringed upon his copyright of his unpublished play. Both the play and the movie describe an event during the Civil War, where Oscar's grandfather, later to be a judge on the Holmes court, hired two substitutes to fight for him, one for the South, the other for the North. At the battle of Antietam they meet, fight and kill each other.

Oscar engages a lawyer, Harold Basie, and reads pieces of his script to show him similarities, although he had not seen the movie. Basie takes the case, while the defendants happen to use Harry Lutz's legal firm to represent them. A deposition is taken and Oscar is examined. A settlement is offered, but he rejects it and proceeds with his suit. After losing the trial, he goes into the appeal process.

Oscar is cared for by his stepsister Christina and his girlfriend Lily and is visited by Trish and "Jerry," i.e., Jawaharlal Madhar Pai, the lawyer who had conducted the deposition. Jerry and Oscar discuss his play at length. In the appeal process, Oscar wins his case against the movie makers, and believes he will get millions. His father, a judge, had helped by writing a legal brief. He dies before Oscar can thank him, and his clerk visits Oscar.

When Christina's husband dies in a car accident she expects to be the beneficiary of his life insurance, but his legal firm had made itself the beneficiary of his insurance. Oscar learns that "creative accounting" of the very successful movie results in a loss, so he will not see any money. The inheritance of Oscar's and Christina's father is burdened with expenses so that, in the end, they can just keep the house. Oscar becomes more and more childish.

In 1776, a mulatto sailor (Milton Reid) is marooned on an island after assaulting the wife of pirate captain Nathaniel Clegg.

By 1792, Clegg has supposedly been captured by the Royal Navy and hanged. His resting place is the coastal village of Dymchurch on the Romney Marsh. The surrounding countryside is home to the "Marsh Phantoms": figures on horseback who ride by night and bring terror to the village.

Captain Collier (Patrick Allen) and his band of sailors arrive in Dymchurch to investigate reports that the locals are involved in the smuggling of alcohol, from France. They are accompanied by the mulatto, mute after his tongue was cut out sixteen years earlier, whom Collier saved from death and now keeps as a slave. As Collier's men ransack an ale house run by Rash (Martin Benson) and his ward Imogène (Yvonne Romain), the mulatto uncovers a hidden cellar. Ostensibly a varnish store, this is connected by a secret passageway to the home of coffin-maker Jeremiah Mipps (Michael Ripper), which serves as the smugglers' headquarters. The smugglers are led by the village parson Dr Blyss (Peter Cushing), whom the mulatto inexplicably attacks before being subdued by the sailors.

That night, the smugglers succeed in transporting a consignment to a nearby windmill for onward shipment, although squire's son Harry (Oliver Reed), Imogène's secret fiancé, is wounded when he is shot in the arm by the pursuing Collier. Back at the ale house, Rash kills one of the sailors to prevent the smuggling operation from being exposed. This frees the mulatto, who leaves for the churchyard to break open Clegg's grave. Collier, who spent years chasing Clegg, becomes suspicious of Blyss when the mulatto later makes a second attempt on the parson's life.

At Blyss's house, Rash finds Clegg's last will and testament. Learning that Imogène is Clegg's daughter, he attempts to take advantage of her compromised situation to rape her, but she escapes and flees to Blyss’s home. There, Blyss and Harry both tell her they were already aware of her relationship to Clegg. After consoling Imogène, Harry confronts Rash but is arrested by Collier when the captain notices the young man's bandaged arm. Harry is led away to Collier's ship as a hostage but escapes when the Marsh Phantoms appear, distracting the sailors. The Phantoms, who are actually villagers in disguise, take Harry and Imogène to the church, where they are hurriedly married by Blyss before leaving to start their life together.

Collier arrives at the church and announces that Clegg's grave is empty. He then tears off Blyss's collar to reveal the rope burns from an unsuccessful hanging, exposing the parson as Clegg. Clegg declares that his executioner spared his life and that he wished only to help the inhabitants of Dymchurch live comfortably. A struggle breaks out between the villagers and the sailors, enabling Clegg to flee with Mipps via the secret passageway. However, on emerging at the coffin-maker's house they run into the mulatto, who has murdered Rash and fatally impales Clegg with a spear before being shot dead by Mipps. In the film's closing scene, the villagers look on and Collier and the sailors salute as Mipps sorrowfully places Clegg's body in the open grave.

Luis was 12 when he met Julia. She was staying at the hotel with her family while on holiday, and when the two met, the connection was instant. They spent the summer together, laughing, playing and wishing it would never end. When it was finally time for Julia to return to her native New Zealand, the two made a promise to meet back at the fountain the same time every year. Each year Luis waited, but no Julia.

Now 10 years later, Luis finally decides it's time to put destiny to the test. Dragging along his best friend Eduardo, they board a plane to New Zealand determined to find Julia and win her back.

Five short radio episodes involve Nick Danger's attempt to find out what has happened to his missing left shoe. The plot thickens as he quickly discovers that everyone's left shoe is missing. Each episode begins with a traditional old-time radio style introduction by an announcer with an organ in the background and each show also includes a commercial parody (including commercials for "Ma Rainey's wholesome moleskin cookies" and "Gerald Ford commemorative cheese flags"). Besides Nick Danger himself, some of the other regular Nick Danger characters appear, including Lt. Bradshaw, Nancy, and Rocky Rococo.

In a small Quebec community at the end of the 19th century, due to her father's financial hardships, Donalda Laloge (Vanasse) is forced to marry the village miser (also the mayor), Séraphin Poudrier (Lebeau), and to leave behind the young man that she truly loves. Her beloved, Alexis (Roy Dupuis), returns from working at the lumber camps, unaware of these events.

Donalda is extremely unhappy living with Séraphin, as his miserly lifestyle is often at the expense of her personal well-being. This includes refusing to father children, and severely rationing meals. Donalda becomes very sick with a pneumonia-like illness. Alexis returns home meanwhile, and his realizing of the situation sparks tension among the villagers. Donalda dies from the disease shortly after his arrival. During Donalda's funeral, Séraphin realizes his home is on fire. He panics and runs into the blaze, succumbing to the flames as he attempts to save his wealth. Alexis pulls him out of the burning house. The villagers pry open Séraphin's hands, which are revealed to have been clutching coins.

British women Martha Evans (Maureen O'Hara) and her daughter Hilary (Juliet Mills) sail to the United States, in 1884, with Hereford stock, pursuing the dream of Martha's husband, who died accidentally on board, to bring Hereford cattle to the West. They're now left with Hilary's bull, a result of years of European breeding, named Vindicator. Vindicator exhibits all the gentility of breeding, including an odd willingness to follow Hilary merely at the whistle of "God Save the Queen".

At auction, Vindicator results in a bidding war and is ultimately won by Charles Ellsworth (David Brian), who has come to purchase stock for his partner the wealthy Texas rancher Alexander Bowen (Brian Keith). Sam ‘Bulldog’ Burnett (James Stewart), a local wrangler renowned for being able to take down bulls, is hired to transport the bull to Bowen's ranch. Ellsworth has bought the bull primarily to woo Martha, and when she is confronted by him when trying to claim her payment for the bull she decides to ensure Vindicator's delivery by accompanying him en route.

Daughter Hilary tells Martha Evans about a conversation she overheard between Burnett and two men working for competing rancher John Taylor (Alan Caillou). Burnett has made a deal with Taylor to steal the bull. Hilary doesn't yet know that Burnett has made the deal mostly to ensure another wrangler (Ben Johnson) double crossed by Taylor would receive some money to take care of himself after an injury. One of Taylor's men, Deke Simons (Jack Elam), gets into a fight with Burnett in the saloon over terms. Evans, witnessing the brawl, comes to trust Burnett. Despite Burnett's objections, he ultimately accepts responsibility for the Evans women through the train ride to Dodge City and the following wagon trail.

One night while Evans and Burnett have finished brewing coffee over the campfire, a gunshot knocks the coffee pot out of Burnett's hand. Burnett believes this is a signal from Taylor's men. Just before dawn, Hilary catches Burnett saddling up and suspects he is about to hand over the bull. He denies her accusations, waking her mother to prove he was innocent. Once again, Evans gives Burnett the benefit of the doubt.

Taylor's men find a barbed wire fence that has been cut through to make way for Evans' wagon. They conclude that Burnett must have double-crossed them. Simons, determined to catch up with Burnett, shoots his companion and rides on after the wagon.

In a canyon, Burnett runs into Jamie Bowen (Don Galloway), Alexander's son, who has appropriated a herd of his father's longhorn cattle as payment for his work and is running away to start his own ranch. Simons catches up and shoots a cowhand, setting off a stampede. Jamie tries to escape, but falls in the path of the charging cattle and is trampled.

Battered and unconscious, Jamie is carried by Burnett back to the wagon. Simons is there holding Evans and her daughter hostage, demanding the money that Burnett was paid by Taylor for the bull. Simons also demands Evans' money, but while distracted, Burnett is able to take his rifle. Simons mounts and gallops away. Burnett follows. After the horses collide, Simons falls onto a rock and is killed.

Burnett returns with the money, but Martha berates him for his dishonesty and the trouble he has caused. After a few days of traveling with Bowen's son in tow, they reach their destination, his father's ranch.

At the ranch they're introduced to Jamie's father, Bowen, a Scotsman turned cattle rancher at a fort also populated by local families of Mexican heritage. While Hilary nurses Jamie back to health, Martha begins teaching the local children in school. Though Bowen and Burnett insist the Evans women should leave for the East again before they're snowed in, they refuse until Jamie is well and they've taught the men to properly care for Vindicator.

Bowen continues to insist that Hereford cattle can't make it through the tough conditions on the range and thus make them a bad match. Martha and Hilary insist, and slowly, Burnett is coming over to their side. Martha, upon witnessing the wildness of the longhorn cattle, realizes that until Vindicator proves himself, they'll never have the men on their side. Hilary races back to the fort, and releases Vindicator into the wild.

With Vindicator now in the wild to fend for himself and Jamie on the mend, the Evans women announce it is time for them to go, but Jamie insists he's in love with Hilary, who returns the proclamation and Martha, upon seeing them, realizes she needs to stay as well. This suits both Bowen, who's realized he's in love with Martha, and Burnett, who's known he loved Martha since they met.

It is a particularly brutal winter and Burnett insists on finding Vindicator and bringing him back to shelter. Through repeated outings, he can't find the bull and while he's away, Bowen cleans himself up, begins serving tea and showing Martha his gentlemanly side in an attempt to woo her.

Burnett is reported missing and the men finally find him, almost frozen. Bowen insists that he can have any calves that may have resulted from Vindicator, but surely the bull is now dead. Burnett refuses to give up hope, even though Hilary and Martha have come to accept this as truth.

When the spring finally arrives, Burnett begins searching for Vindicator again, hoping for calves and begins building a new kind of farm, where the animals are treated better and Herefords can not only subsist, but thrive. He finally discovers Vindicator, long dead under a snowdrift. He still insists that calves may be coming.

Martha, out of reluctance for anything else, agrees to marry Bowen, but only after there is no chance of calves from Vindicator. In one of the last scenes, Burnett finally finds a cross-Hereford calf, and brings him back to the fort. Bowen and Burnett fight over Martha, and Burnett declares his love for Martha, and Bowen steps aside.

At the end, we're shown an entire field of Herefords, with Martha and Burnett musing that they're glad they kept a "few LongHorn, to remember the way it used to be". Hilary and Jamie approach, now married, and Hilary whistles in the hopes that one of the cattle will respond, and claims, "sometimes, I see a glimmer of him in one of them".

Aaron, a wealthy amateur scholar, hires sexagenarian private investigator Howard, whom he meets at a chess club in Chicago to which they both belong, to investigate the gods Baal, Ashtoroth and Moloch, that were worshipped for centuries in Israel during a period of antiquity when the God of Abraham had fallen into disfavor. As Aaron says to Howard while proposing the task, referring to story of Exodus of the Old Testament:

Although Howard initially turns down the case, thinking Aaron is either crazy or a fool, Aaron is dogged, and increases his offer of reward until Howard eventually relents. However, Howard only agrees to work on the problem for one month to test whether any inroads can be made into the peculiar case.

It is indeed a problem — how to even begin investigating a trail that is ''centuries cold''. Howard turns to a psychic for help, who using a Tarot card reading, sets Howard on a path which leads him to a young boy named Tim from Indiana, in whom the gods have taken an interest. Tim's father, who was in the midst of a mid-life crisis, has recently disappeared. Howard helps Tim in his quest to locate and determine what has become of his father. In their quest they are dogged by supernatural events that are eventually revealed as the workings of the gods who may be "false," but who are, nevertheless, real.

In Brooklyn, Larry Daley's unstable work history makes his ex-wife, Erica, consider him a bad example to their ten-year-old son, Nick. Larry worries that Nick admires Erica's boyfriend Don more than him. To improve his financial stability, Larry applies for a job as night security guard at the Museum of Natural History. Retiring guard Cecil Fredericks hires Larry, despite his unpromising résumé. The museum, facing declining attendance and revenue, is replacing Cecil and his two colleagues, Gus and Reginald, with only one guard. Cecil gives Larry an instruction manual on museum security and warns him not to let anything "in... or out".

On his first night, Larry discovers that after sunset, the exhibits come to life, including a playful ''Tyrannosaurus'' skeleton nicknamed "Rexy"; a mischievous stuffed capuchin monkey named Dexter; various African animals; rival miniature civilizations portraying the Old West, Ancient Rome, and Ancient Maya; an Easter Island Moai obsessed with chewing gum; wax models of various historical figures, including the violent Attila the Hun; an army of American Civil War soldiers, and four pyromaniacal Neanderthals. There is also Sacagawea, who, unlike the other exhibits, is encased in glass. A mounted Teddy Roosevelt rescues Larry from miniature leaders Jedediah and Octavius, who are attacking him. Teddy explains that ever since an ancient Egyptian artifact — the Golden Tablet of Pharaoh Ahkmenrah — was brought to the museum in 1952, the exhibits have come to life each night. If any exhibit figure is outside the museum at sunrise, they turn to dust. As Teddy helps Larry restore order, Larry learns that Teddy loves Sacagawea but is too shy to speak to her through the glass.

The next morning, Cecil, Reginald, and Gus return to check on Larry, but Larry says he is quitting. When Nick and Don stop by the museum to congratulate Larry on his new job, Larry decides to stay for his son's sake. To help him with the job, Cecil advises reading up on history.

That night, Larry better controls the exhibits, but the four Neanderthals set their display on fire while Dexter steals Larry's keys. As Larry extinguishes the fire, Dexter unlocks a window. One of the Neanderthals sees a trash bin fire on the street below and leaps out the window. Larry, frustrated with everything going awry, once again decides to quit. As he walks out, the Christopher Columbus statue gestures to where the Neanderthal escaped. Larry runs outside just as the rising sun disintegrates the Neanderthal into dust. Later that morning, museum director Dr. McPhee fires Larry over the damaged Neanderthal exhibit, though Larry convinces him to reconsider. Larry meets Rebecca Huntman, an attractive museum guide and historian. When he offers to introduce her to Sacagawea to help with her doctoral research, Rebecca believes Larry is mocking her.

One night, Larry brings Nick to the museum to show him the exhibits, but nothing comes to life. They discover Cecil, Gus, and Reginald stealing the tablet and other valuable artifacts. They have disabled the tablet to prevent the exhibits from interfering. Like the exhibits, the guards receive enhanced vitality from the tablet and intend to frame Larry for the thefts. Larry has Nick reactivate the tablet, then tells him to run and hide. After a chase, Cecil locks up Nick and Larry in the Egyptian room and steals back the tablet. Larry releases Ahkmenrah's mummy from his sarcophagus. The pharaoh then helps Larry and Nick escape. When the three find the other exhibits fighting each other, Larry convinces them to unite to catch the guards and recover the tablet.

The Civil War soldiers, Neanderthals, and Christopher Columbus capture Gus and Reginald. Cecil escapes in a stagecoach and is about to run over Sacagawea. Teddy pushes her aside but he is run over and sliced in half. Larry, Nick, Ahkmenrah, Jed, Octavius, Rexy, and Attila pursue Cecil to Central Park, where they stop him and regain the tablet. Sacagawea repairs Teddy with warm wax. Rebecca arrives and sees the exhibits returning to the museum before sunrise and realizes the truth. The next day, McPhee fires Larry after news reports about strange events happening around the museum — such as cave paintings in the museum's subway station, dinosaur tracks in Central Park, and cavemen sightings. However, when the publicity significantly increases the museum's attendance, McPhee rehires Larry. That night, Larry, Nick, and the exhibits celebrate.

During the end credits, Cecil, Gus and Reginald are seen working as the museum janitors as punishment for their crimes.

The film tells the story of the deity Susanoo (as a cute boy), whose mother, Izanami, has died. He is deeply hurt by the loss of his mother but his father, Izanagi, tells him that his mother is now in heaven. Despite Izanagi's warnings, Susanoo eventually sets off to find her.

Along with his companions, Akahana (a little talking rabbit) and Titanbō (a strong but friendly giant from the Land of Fire), Susanoo overcomes all obstacles in his long voyage. He eventually comes to the Izumo Province, where he meets Princess Kushinada, a little girl whom he becomes friends with (he also thinks that she is so beautiful that she looks like his mother). Kushinada's family tells Susanoo that their other seven daughters were sacrificed to the fearsome eight-headed serpent, the Yamata no Orochi. Susanoo is so infatuated with Kushinada that he decides to help her family protect her and slay the Orochi once and for all and he, Akahana, and Bō prepare for the showdown.

The story is set in a not too distant future, in which Earth has been overrun by a horrifying technovirus. Mechanical parasites, mistakenly created in an attempt to advance technology, attach themselves to human spinal cords and turn their hosts into cyborgs, called ''GM''. The Original GM were created by Gaia, a program designed by humans to regulate nature. Gaia malfunctioned and started creating their own GM. Currently, Gaia is repairing parts of it that were damaged, and once this is done, it will attempt to destroy the Earth.

Desperate to rid themselves of this technological terror, the remaining human survivors try to band together and learn to defend themselves against these android enemies.

Carol is an artificial being that was created specifically to save mankind. Unfortunately, in her youth she suffered greatly at the hands of the very humans she sought to save, and lost sight of her mission. Only through the kindness of one human girl named Shiori was Carol able to find her focus and a reason to save the world; for Shiori's sake.

The two reunite years later, as Carol saves Shiori from her friend Elena, who was tragically infected with the parasitic virus. Although Shiori doesn't remember Carol at first, Carol remembers Shiori and stops at nothing to protect her and express her love for her. Though Shiori is uncomfortable and embarrassed with Carol at first, she quickly grows to return her feelings. However, the two soon find out that their deep love isn't just a small matter between the two of them; it'll be a big factor in saving the entire world.

The book opens with a prologue addressed directly to "The Reader", informing the reader of the fictional basis of the novel. The novel presents as a case file of Dr. Philip Outerbridge and attempts to "falsely" emphasize the fictional basis of the novel.

The novel takes place in the middle of an unnamed war. The novel focuses on George Smith, an American soldier, transferred to the military psychiatric clinic, where Outerbridge works. Smith was brought to the clinic due to a confrontation with a superior officer. Smith was labeled psychotic and told to recount his story in the third person.

Smith's autobiography takes up about half of the book, describing his childhood as the son of the town drunk. Smith is imprisoned for shoplifting, and eventually joins the army as a means of escaping an uncomfortable situation with his lover, Anna.

The rest of the book consists of documents relating to Outerbridge's treatment of Smith, therapy sessions and correspondence between Outerbridge and his superior, the increasingly impatient Colonel Williams. By using information gained in his treatment to fill in the gaps in the narrative, Outerbridge deduces Smith to be a non-supernatural vampire who feels compelled to drink blood at times of emotional crisis.

The novel ends with an explanation of various potential and unrealized outcomes.

The mysterious Don Del Oro ("Lord of Gold"), an idol of the Yaqui, emerges and attacks the gold trade of the Republic of Mexico, intent on becoming Emperor. A man named Francisco is put in charge of a fighting legion to combat the Yaqui tribe and protect the gold; he is attacked by men working for Don Del Oro. Francisco's partner recognizes Zorro as the hidalgo Don Diego Vega. Francisco asks Diego, as Zorro, to take over the fighting legion and defeat Don Del Oro.

In dealing with genetic memory, Pavlou has drawn on both the nature of lineage, and the nature of self. Several characters all stem from the same source, and so as their memories become unlocked during the course of the novel, they each identify with being the same person at a distant point in history. The question of identity then becomes fundamental to the plot. If each character shares the same memories are they a reincarnation of that original person, or merely an echo?

The novel is further complicated in that it is told backwards, using a Police procedural as the structure of the novel, memories are unlocked in the form of flashbacks, each flashback delving further and further back in time over the course of 3000 years.

Told in alternating first person and third person, the novel is divided into a prologue and seven "books", the seven trials of Cyclades.

The opening page begins with the first 27 lines of the Human Genome. Thereafter the prologue lays out the death of Cyclades during the Trojan War, and makes it clear that his death is merely the beginning of the journey. Told in first person, Cyclades, a Greek warrior, is mortally wounded. A Sybil forces him to have sex to continue his line, whereupon he dies for the first time in the book.

Book One, shifts to third person and jumps to the year 2004. In New York City Detective James North has been called to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to deal with a mentally unstable man who has run amok amid the exhibits.

Ostensibly set in the near future, the film tells the life story of an elderly man named Thomas Van Hasebroeck (who has dubbed himself Toto, after a childhood fantasy), looking back on his ordinary, apparently uneventful life in a complex mosaic of flashbacks, interspersed with fantasies about how events might have turned out differently. It is not always possible to tell the difference between embellished or manufactured memories and fantasies, as Thomas is a very unreliable narrator, but some scenes (such as the narrative thread that features Toto as a secret agent) are definitely fantasized.

Thomas firmly believes his life to have been "stolen" from him by Alfred Kant, born at the same time as Thomas, who Thomas believes was inadvertently switched with himself as a baby (characteristically, the film remains ambiguous as to whether this substitution ever actually happened, with Thomas' only substantiation being his apparent vivid memory of the day he was born). Thomas' jealousy of Alfred has overshadowed all his life, often with tragic consequences for his loved ones, and he is plotting revenge. Throughout most of the film, his intended revenge takes the shape of a plot to kill Alfred, but in the end Thomas finds a more creative and surprising way to "take back" his life.

The film tells the story of the ghosts of two children who are cursed to remain forever on a Cape Cod beach and in a 19th-century era lighthouse. After 100 years, they meet two children visiting the beach and take them to the lighthouse, hoping to turn them into ghosts like them.

The book relates the outdoor adventures and play of two families of children. These involve sailing, camping, fishing, exploration and piracy. The Walker children (John, Susan, Titty and Roger) are staying at a farm near a lake in the Lake District of England, during the school holidays. They sail a borrowed dinghy named ''Swallow'' and meet the Blackett children (Nancy and Peggy), who sail a dinghy named ''Amazon''. The Walkers camp on an island (which they name "Wildcat Island") in the lake, while the Blacketts live in their mainland house nearby. When the children meet, they agree to join forces against a common enemy – the Blacketts' uncle Jim Turner whom they call "Captain Flint" (after the parrot in ''Treasure Island''). Turner, normally an ally of his nieces, has withdrawn from their company to write his memoirs, and has become decidedly unfriendly. Furthermore, when the Blacketts let off a firework on his houseboat roof, it is the Walkers who get the blame. He refuses even to listen when they try to pass on a warning to him about actual real-life burglars in the area.

To determine who should be the overall leader in their campaign against Captain Flint, the Blacketts and the Walkers have a contest to see which can capture the others' boat. As part of their strategy, the Walkers make a dangerous crossing of the lake by night, and John is later cautioned by his mother for this reckless act. The Walkers nevertheless win the contest – thanks to Titty who seizes the ''Amazon'' when the Blacketts secretly come to Wild Cat Island in hopes of capturing the Swallow. During the same night Titty hears suspicious voices coming from a different island – Cormorant Island – and in the morning it transpires that Turner's houseboat has been burgled, and his locked sea-chest stolen. Turner again blames the Walkers, but is finally convinced that he was mistaken and penitently reconciles with all the children, also feeling that he was wrong to distance himself from his nieces' adventures all summer. The Swallows, Amazons, and Turner join forces to investigate Cormorant Island, but they cannot find Turner's missing trunk.

The following day, there is a mock battle between Turner and the children, after which Turner is tried for his "crimes" (grouchy attitude, neglectful behavior, etc.) and forced to walk the plank on his own houseboat. They agree at the post-battle feast that on the final day of their holidays, Titty and Roger will go back to Cormorant Island while the others go fishing. Titty finds the trunk, which contains the memoirs on which Turner had been working, and is rewarded with the overjoyed Turner's green parrot for a pet.

James Turner appears in some ways to be modelled on Ransome himself. The story, set in August 1929, includes a good deal of everyday Lakeland life from the farmers to charcoal burners working in the woods; corned beef, which the children fancifully refer to as pemmican, and ginger beer and lemonade, which they call grog, appear as regular food stuff for the campers; island life also allows for occasional references to the story of Robinson Crusoe.

Chandler, dressed up for his and Monica's ten-month anniversary, picks up some pizzas that delivery girl Caitlin has brought for the group, but Ross mistakes his friend's natural jokes for flirting, which Chandler denies. Phoebe points out that the real reason Ross is mad is because he finds Caitlin attractive, and Ross takes the opportunity to flirt with her when he finds a missing vegetarian pizza for Phoebe. Ross makes inappropriate comments to Caitlin and saddened by his effort, he orders another pizza and practices flirting with Phoebe. Caitlin arrives with the pizza, but Ross screws up the flirting again, ending up talking to her about gas and methane. He scares her so much that she pays for the pizza herself and flees the apartment. Out of pity for Ross, Rachel catches up with Caitlin and tries to talk her into going out with Ross. Rachel returns to the apartment and gives Ross Caitlin's phone number.

Meanwhile, Joey introduces everyone to his Italian grandmother, who is deeply intent on seeing her grandson debut on ''Law & Order''. As she does not speak a word of English, they find it difficult to communicate with her, except for Phoebe, who manages to offer her a glass of water in Italian. The TV show starts, but Joey finds out that he has been cut out of it. Desperate not to shock his grandmother, he records a crude clip of himself on tape at his apartment in a crime scene where he holds his duck hostage. But the clip is good enough for Nonni – until the tape continues rolling, showing Chandler sing "Space Oddity" in front of the camera.

Monica, getting dressed for the big anniversary date, asks Phoebe to return the earrings that Chandler bought her, which Phoebe borrowed some time ago. It turns out, however, that Phoebe lent the same earrings to Rachel, who has lost one of them. Phoebe tells her how the earrings are Monica's, which makes Rachel flip out because she is not allowed to borrow Monica's stuff as she ends up losing it. Fearing that Monica will kill her if she finds out, Phoebe takes the blame instead of Rachel, but Monica is understanding with her. Rachel steps in and explains everything to Monica, who immediately loses it with Rachel. Monica ends up wearing another pair of earrings, which luckily for her, Chandler doesn't notice. Monica and Chandler leave for dinner, and Chandler thanks Ross for the earrings he picked up for Monica.

The protagonist is referred to in the story as Kochan, which is the diminutive of the author's real name: Kimitake. Being raised during Japan's era of right-wing militarism and Imperialism, he struggles from a very early age to fit into society. Like Mishima, Kochan was born with a less-than-ideal body in terms of physical fitness and robustness, and throughout the first half of the book (which generally details Kochan's childhood) struggles intensely to fit into Japanese society. A weak homosexual, Kochan is kept away from boys his own age as he is raised, and is thus not exposed to the norm. His isolation likely led to his future fascinations and fantasies of death, violence, and same-sex intercourse. In this way of thinking, some have posited that Mishima is similar.

Kochan is homosexual, and in the context of Imperial Japan he struggles to keep it to himself. In the early portion of the novel, Kochan does not yet openly admit that he is attracted to men, but indeed professes that he admires masculinity and strength while having no interest in women. This includes an admiration for Roman sculptures and statues of men in dynamic physical positions. Some have argued that the admiration of masculinity is autobiographical of Mishima, himself having worked hard through a naturally weak body to become a superbly fit body builder and male model.

In the first chapter of the book, Kochan recalls a memory of a picture book from when he was four years old. Even at that young age, Kochan approached a single picture of a heroic-looking European knight on horseback almost as pornography, gazing at it longingly and hiding it away, embarrassed, when others come to see what he is doing. When his nurse tells him that the knight is actually Joan of Arc, Kochan, wanting the knight to be a paragon of manliness, is immediately and forever put off by the picture, annoyed that a woman would dress in man's clothing.

The word 'mask' comes from how Kochan develops his own false personality that he uses to present himself to the world. Early on, as he develops a fascination with his friend Omi's body during puberty, he believes that everybody around him is also hiding their true feelings from each other, everybody participating in a 'reluctant masquerade'. As he grows up, he tries to fall in love with a girl named Sonoko, but is continuously tormented by his latent homosexual urges, and is unable to ever truly love her.

The plot of ''Murphy'' follows an eponymous "seedy solipsist" who lives in a soon-to-be-condemned apartment in West Brompton. The novel opens with the protagonist having tied himself naked to a rocking chair in his apartment, rocking back and forth in the dark. This seems to be a habit for Murphy, who in carrying out the ritual attempts to enter a near-if-not-totally-nonexistent state of being (possibly something akin to sensory deprivation), which he finds pleasurable.

Murphy's "meditation" is juxtaposed with conversations he has with his friend and mentor Neary, an eccentric from Cork who has the ability to stop his heart—an ability or condition which Neary calls the "Apmonia" (a play on the Greek word for "harmony"), sometimes referred to as "Isonomy" or the "Attunement". The book states that this is a "mediation between... extremes" of heart attack and heart failure, allowing Neary to enter a state of survivable cardiac arrest at will. An early conversation between Neary and Murphy is spurred by some type of revelation Neary receives during one of these routine heart-stopping sessions, and the two are prompted to discuss their respective romantic lives. Murphy admits that "there is a Miss Counihan," though their relationship is unclear.

Murphy's "meditation" is further interrupted by a call from his current lover, Celia Kelly, who became a prostitute following the deaths of her parents at a young age. Murphy had proposed to Celia shortly after meeting her, but they have so far been unable to wed due to both their lack of money: "Celia spent every penny she earned and Murphy earned no pennies" and Murphy's conflicted feelings: "The part of him that he hated craved for Celia, the part that he loved shrivelled up at the thought of her." Celia finds Murphy in his flat still tied naked to the rocking chair, which he has somehow overturned. She rushes to assist him, noticing a large pink birthmark on his right buttock for the first time. She urges him to find a job, finally telling him that if he doesn't, she will leave him. Murphy reluctantly agrees to try.

Murphy begins work as a nurse at the Magdalen Mental Mercyseat in north London, finding the insanity of the patients an appealing alternative to conscious existence.

Murphy, gone to ground in London lodgings and then in the hospital, is pursued by a ragtag troupe of eccentrics from his own country, each with their own often-conflicting motivations. Neary, a practitioner of eastern mysticism, seeks Murphy as a love rival and then as compatible friend in the absence of all others. Miss Counihan's attachment to Murphy is romantic. Among Wylie's motivations, Miss Counihan is perhaps the strongest. And Cooper, Neary's simpleton servant and fixer, joins the trail for money, alcohol, and to serve his master.

After the mission from ''Supercop'', Inspector Yang participates in neutralizing a terrorist incident during which she narrowly survives, and is awarded the Highest Distinction for the mission. Her boyfriend Chang, a war veteran who works as a security guard and bravely helped Yang in her mission, is frustrated that Yang gets a mere medal for risking her life. Growing disillusioned with the prospects in Mainland China, the ambitious Chang leaves for Hong Kong, promising to one day come back a millionaire and marry Yang.

Some time later, the Hong Kong police encounters a heavily armed gang of highly trained robbers. Suspecting them to be ex-militaries from the Mainland, the police asked for assistance from the Chinese Public Security. Yang is dispatched to Hong Kong to provide intelligence sharing, working with Inspector Lee, who has an awkward crush on Yang.

Yang helps Lee track down the robbers' safehouse. Although the robbers have rigged explosives in the building to ambush the police, Chang, who leads the gang, hesitates after seeing Yang, resulting in one of their member being killed and another arrested. In order to free the arrested man, who is a demolition specialist crucial to an upcoming heist, Chang contacts Yang and rekindles their relationship, and manages to stage a successful breakout. Yang suspects Chang's part in the crime, but cannot bring herself to accuse Chang. She is then ordered to return to Mainland, although she convinces Lee to let her stay on the case.

The robbers then perform a daring heist on the Central Bank, masterminded by Roger Davidson, the designer of the Bank's vault security. After successfully breaking into the vault, Davidson double-crosses Chang's gang. Chang survives the betrayal and chases down Davidson's crew in an underwater subway tunnel, killing Davidson's men and mortally wounding Davidson. Yang, who has infiltrated the bank during the heist, arrives and confronts Chang, trying to convince him to surrender. When Chang is distracted by Yang, the dying Davidson detonates a bomb, causing the tunnel to flood. Knowing his injury will only hinder their survival, Chang pushes Yang and Lee past the lock gate, sacrificing his own life for the person he loved.

Ryan Flynn (Ryan Kelley) is a young boy who, traumatized by the death of his father, has not spoken aloud or exercised his imagination since. While on a walk with a friend, Ryan falls from a bridge and apparently drowns. He finds himself in a parallel universe called the ''Dust Factory'', which houses all humans who are on the verge of death, but have yet to die. The Dust Factory's topography is immense, encompassing lakes, forests, mountains, and a wide field covered by dry grass. In the center of the Dust Factory is a circus pavilion whose Ringmaster is a figure of some authority and dread. Each person dwelling in the Dust Factory must enter the circus pavilion and make a leap (a literal ''leap of faith'') across the arena into the arms of a trapeze artist to proceed into death or return to life. The latter decision occurs when a participant falls into the arena during the leap, leaving behind a pile of dust which marks the passage, gives the realm its name, and when disturbed allows the one doing so to enter a hidden chamber where they play a game of the individual's choosing against the Ringmaster. In the Factory, Ryan regains his voice and is reunited with his grandfather (Armin Mueller-Stahl), whose Alzheimer's disease has (in his real life) prevented him from communicating with his family. The grandfather, who is apparently knowledgeable about the inner workings of the Dust Factory, advises and tells him stories. The stories he tells, which outwardly appear to convey no obvious meaning, contain hidden parables that Ryan must solve. The theme of belief and hope ''versus'' cynicism or despair surfaces in relation to one of these.

Throughout the main body of the plot, Ryan spends a single endless day exploring the Dust Factory under weather conditions that are always favorable to wandering through the environments and marveling at natural beauty. He is guided by his grandfather and accompanied by a girl of his own age called Melanie Lewis (Hayden Panettiere), who has been in the Dust Factory for years, lacks any memory of her previous life, and lives under the illusion that the climate is of perpetual winter, despite the appearance to Ryan and the viewer of interminable summer. Melanie and Ryan, under the eye of Ryan's grandfather, become intimate friends. Their time is passed in an emotional atmosphere of joy and discovery, mitigated only by the influence of the mysterious Ringmaster, who interferes several times with their activity, and by Melanie's conflict with Ryan's grandfather, who wishes Ryan to ''make the leap'' across the arena and thereby contradicts Melanie's desire that all things remain as they are forever. Matters gradually reach a climax, after which Ryan's grandfather ''makes the leap'' and dies. Subsequently, against Melanie's wishes (who does not want to be left alone in the Dust Factory), Ryan makes the leap himself, but falls into the pile of dust and is sent back to life. Melanie then defies her own delusion of continual winter and makes the decision to determine her own fate.

Having returned to life, Ryan resurfaces from beneath the water and is rescued by his friend. Although he no longer has any conscious memory of the Dust Factory, it seems to be present in his subconscious, as implied by the facts that he has regained his voice, and a general feeling of joy in life. He subsequently encounters Melanie, who in real life has recovered from a cerebral aneurysm. Although neither Ryan or Melanie has any conscious memory of the other, they appear to subconsciously recognize each other.

A mute Frank Mansfield is locked inside a trailer preparing his best cock for an upcoming fight. He slices the chicken's beak slightly so that it looks cracked in order to obtain higher betting odds in the upcoming fight. He bets his trailer, his girlfriend, and the remainder of his money with fellow cocker Jack. Mansfield loses the fight because of the cracked beak.

Frank visits his home town, his family farm, and his long-time fiancée, Mary Elizabeth. Mary Elizabeth has long grown tired of Mansfield's cockfighter ways and asks him to settle down with her. Frank decides in favor of cockfighting, leaves Mary Elizabeth, sells the family farm for money to reinvest in chickens, and starts a partnership with Omar Baradinsky. The partnership takes them all the way to the cockfighting championships.

On an off-world asteroid, a red line wipes the sky as headquarters explodes. Hostile alien forces have invaded the vital subterranean mining colony. Workers are trapped in crevices and chasms, helpless against the clouds of radioactive dust swirling toward them. An experimental attack fighter is the only weapon powerful enough to repel the alien attack. A lone pilot has been charged with the task of defeating the aliens and rescuing the trapped miners.Sub-Terrania Instruction Manual. Zyrinx. Sega 1994

It's a "typical day" in Dogpatch, U. S. A., a hillbilly town where Abner Yokum lives with his parents. Mammy Yokum insists on giving Abner his daily dose of "Yokumberry tonic", although he is fully-grown. He has a crush on Daisy Mae Scragg (although he resists marrying her) and she on him; Abner's rival for her affections is the World's Dirtiest Rassler, Earthquake McGoon.

Sadie Hawkins Day is approaching. On this day the "girls chase the men and marries whomstever [sic] they catches," as Senator Jack S. Phogbound puts it. However, the citizens of Dogpatch find out that their town has been declared the most unnecessary place in the country—and will be the target of an atom bomb, since the nuclear testing site near Las Vegas is allegedly spoiling things for the wealthy gamblers there.

Dogpatch people at first are pleased about leaving. They change their minds when Mammy Yokum points out some of the horrible, awful customs they'll have to adapt to, like regular bathing and (worst of all) going to work for a living. Now anxious to remain, the Dogpatchers try to muster something necessary about their town to save it. The government scientist in charge of the bomb testing, Dr. Rasmussen T. Finsdale, rejects all of their suggestions. However, Mammy brings forth her "Yokumberry Tonic", the substance that has made Abner the handsome, muscular, strapping specimen that he is. The only tree in the whole world that grows Yokumberries exists in the Yokums' front yard. Thus, the town of Dogpatch will become "indispensable" to the outside world.

Meanwhile, a greedy business magnate named General Bullmoose covets the tonic as well, since he could market it (as "Yoka-Cola," he tells Abner) and uses his wiles to get the tonic dishonestly. This involves Appassionata von Climax, the general's mistress. He cooks up a scheme to get Ms. von Climax to marry Li'l Abner, after which Abner would be killed and von Climax would become owner of the tonic, "by community property" , and turn it over to Bullmoose.

He orders von Climax to enter the race on Sadie Hawkins Day. She catches Li'l Abner (with help from Evil Eye Fleegle) and Daisy Mae ends up heartbroken. But then Daisy, Mammy, Pappy and Marryin' Sam discover (through Mammy's "Conjurin' Power") what General Bullmoose is up to; Daisy promises to marry McGoon if he helps them to save Abner's life. McGoon agrees, and rounds up practically everyone in Dogpatch to go to Washington on the rescue mission.

McGoon and the other Dogpatchers disrupt the society party at which Abner is supposed to drink a toast as a prelude to suffering the whammy—and the whammy-giver, Evil Eye Fleegle, says it won't work unless the subject has drunk liquor. So Bullmoose calls for a champagne toast. Fleegle strikes with his 'Truth Whammy' but McGoon deflects the whammy with a silver platter—and the whammy hits Bullmoose, who confesses his scheme.

Yokumberry Tonic is a failure: although it made the subjects healthy and muscular, they don't care about romance...to their wives' chagrin. (This also explains why Abner has resisted marrying Daisy for so long.) Back at Dogpatch — with the tonic rejected, the bombing is on again — the wedding of McGoon and Daisy Mae is on; Romeo Scragg and his kin are armed to keep Marryin' Sam from stalling. Daisy Mae has a plan of her own—she shows McGoon the rest of her Scragg relatives (including "Priceless and Liceless" Scragg, and the "Bar Harbor Scraggs," who've been "barred from every harbor in the country") and he backs out.

Dr. Finsdale orders the wedding stopped in order to evacuate. Pappy Yokum and some of the other Dogpatchers start to pull down an equestrian statue of Jubilation T. Cornpone (the town's founder) from a tall pedestal, claiming they won't leave without it. A stone tablet falls, and it turns out to carry an inscription ordered by Abraham Lincoln, who has declared the city of Dogpatch a "National Shrine" because of Cornpone's incompetence as a Confederate General. Abner points out "You can't bomb a national shrine" and Finsdale relents, cancelling the bombing and leaving Abner and Daisy free to marry.

The movie opens with a scene that fans know all too well: Ryoko and Ayeka begin to fight over chores, and Tenchi runs into the forest after they demand he makes a choice between the two of them. He stumbles upon a huge tree covered in strange flowers, and suddenly vanishes without a trace.

Tenchi has a strange dream of floating through nothingness while surrounded by the flowers he saw before, and wakes up to find himself a completely different person. He's several years older, has long hair, and lives with a beautiful young woman named Haruna. Tenchi shrugs off his old life as a dream and enters a new one with Haruna.

The film jumps ahead six months. Tenchi's family and friends have been searching in vain for him, and the stress is building. His father Nobuyuki has filed a missing-person report, Mihoshi and Kiyone have infiltrated the Science Academy to look for clues, Sasami has returned to Jurai, and Ryoko and Ayeka have moved to Tokyo to continue the search.

Ayeka and Ryoko have become shadows of their former selves: depressed, brooding, and sometimes angry. To pay for their food and lodgings, they've become waitresses at a small diner during the day, and every spare moment is spent showing Tenchi's picture to passersby, looking for some glimmer of hope.

After a chance encounter with Tenchi and Haruna, the girls report back to Washu, who realizes that Tenchi has been drawn into a parallel world very close to ours. A plan to find and bring him back is set into motion.

Meanwhile, Tenchi is beginning to get severe headaches, which for some reason coincide with his fleeting memories of his real life. Haruna becomes very upset when he starts to subconsciously draw crude pictures of Ryoko. To comfort her, Tenchi takes her out to buy engagement rings for one another, and stops for dinner at Ryoko and Ayeka's restaurant. When Ryoko tries to address them, there is no response, and her attempts to touch Tenchi pass right through him, making his headache worse. Tenchi and Haruna fade away to nothingness, leaving Ayeka and Ryoko confused and upset.

Washu and Katsuhito have an encounter in the wilderness, and the old shrine master admits he knows what's happening. Haruna was the name of the woman he left Jurai with, but she died on the way to Earth. The huge tree that Tenchi encountered before he vanished grew from the spot that Haruna's body was buried. Katsuhito explains that her soul must have been very lonely, and drew Tenchi into another world to recapture the love she had lost (due to Tenchi's resemblance to Katsuhito/Yosho at that age). With this new information, Washu finalizes her plan.

With the power of the trees Katsuhito planted over the years, Washu creates a doorway into Haruna's world, and Ryoko and Ayeka enter. Confronting Haruna and Tenchi, they try to bring him back, but his altered memories confuse him, and Tenchi sternly rebukes the two. With her power over the parallel world, Haruna banishes them back to our Earth. Devastated by Tenchi's rejection, Ryoko begins to cry.

Haruna has been draining Tenchi's Jurai Power to keep her world stable, and he begins to feel the effects. The world begins to fade away when Tenchi remembers more about his past, and Haruna cannot hide discrepancies of the "perfect world" from him (such as a maxed-out bank account despite her meager earnings and his lack of a job). Her method of restarting the day (and Tenchi's memories) after something goes wrong stops working just as Katsuhito confronts his past and slashes into Haruna's tree with his lightsword, channeling his essence into her soul.

Haruna recognizes her true love Yosho, and remembers why she took Tenchi away in the first place: as a substitute for Yosho. Yosho and Haruna leave together, Katsuhito reappearing in front of the ruined tree, and Tenchi finally remembers who he is. Without Haruna's presence, her world begins to vanish, and Tenchi has no way of escaping.

Washu can only send one person to rescue Tenchi, and Ayeka tells Ryoko to go. After a bit of relieved banter, Ryoko lifts Tenchi into the sky to teleport them back to the real world, and he looks back down on his false life, "ready to leave it behind". A shot of Haruna's table shows the rings they purchased together, left behind by both individuals as they leave the charade she kept up for so long.

The movie closes as we examine the Masaki household returning to normal life. Tenchi has become young again, his hair short and spiky as it was. Though he does not remember his experiences in the parallel world, he has taken up drawing like his older alter ego, because he likes the way it makes him feel. Just before the credits roll, Tenchi and Ryoko enjoy a quiet moment together as the wind shakes the trees, mirroring a scene involving Tenchi's parents in ''Tenchi Muyo in Love''.

As the film begins, a brown bird in flight becomes infatuated with a blue bird, and they begin to mate in midair. After passing through a cloud they fall into a nosedive, eventually striking a satellite dish on top of a house belonging to Mr. Grant Boyer- Grant is then struck by a beam of mysterious energy. Soon afterword- and now married to a woman named Keri- a strange power begins to manifest itself in Grant which seems to wildly affect the state of reality, people and objects based on his whims, daydreams, and imagination. This frightens his wife Keri while they try to make love, and they both soon travel to her parents' house to have dinner while discussing this problem with her mother. Her parents express that they did approve of her Keri's marriage to Grant, and at dinner Grant's powers are inflicted upon Keri's mother and father through insects and musical instrumentation while Grant initiates a dance with his confused wife.

We are then introduced to a broadcasting company called Smilecorp, which is in desperate need of higher ratings. Lead by a power-hungry man named Larson P. Giles, he proceeds to demonstrate his militant cruelty upon his television show pitchmen through the use of his sadistic underling: Col. Ferguson. Back at Grant's home he witnesses his next-door neighbor Bud Sweeny cutting his lawn, and proceeds to assist the grass by anthropomorphizing it- the grass then attempts to eliminate Bud with his own mower, though he is saved by Grant who transforms the mower into a large, friendly caterpillar. While Grant stands perplexed by what he both did and witnessed, Bud runs into his house to call the popular Jackie Jason Variety Show and inform them of Grant's amazing powers. Meanwhile, Keri Boyer lies crying and wondering about her husband, though when Grant tries to comfort her about the lasting nature of their love Keri becomes overweight with wrinkles temporarily and to her great terror. After making up, they proceed to make love- though Keri grows increasingly frustrated with Grant's inability to control his wild powers, affecting her for the duration of the scene.

Grant later readies for an appearance on the Jackie Jason Show, sharing a dressing room with a once legendary yet now washed-up comic named Solly Jim; Grant confides to Solly that his wife Keri may leave him due to his bizarre condition and the commotion it has caused. Solly goes on first but does quite badly with his act; it is then shown that a boil-like bump on the back of Grant's neck is the source of his chaotic abilities. After saving Solly's act the comedian gives Grant his business card and address, offering his future services in gratitude for his aid, though as Grant walks onto the set an attendant covers his boil with a bandage which prevents his powers from being used. After struggling for a time, the bandage falls off causing an immense amount of power to manifest from Grant which partially destroys the studio. This event both boosts the Jackie Jason Show's ratings greatly as well as catching the attention of Smilecorp and its leader Larson P. Giles. Larson commands his Col. Ferguson to bring Grant Boyer back to him alive, much to the Colonel's detriment.

Back at home Grant's wife Keri has shut herself away from him to think her life through; it is at this moment that Col. Fergsuon arrives with Smilecorp tanks and infantry to capture him. Meanwhile, Larson has deduced through observation and x-rays of Grant that a strange beam of light- reflected by the bent satellite dish on top of his house and various other objects on his property- had created the boil on the back of his neck when the two birds struck it at the start of the film. Larson seeks to harness and control this power, though Grant manages to elude the Smilecorp captors with both his powers and with the help of the friendly caterpillar from earlier. Colonel Ferguson meanwhile deals with his failure and the new reptilian transformation that Grant enacted upon him to aid in his escape.

While Keri goes home to her parent's house with Col. Ferguson in pursuit, Grant seeks refuge at comedian Solly Jim's home to ask for help. However, Solly Jim betrays him and informs the Colonel of his location, though at her parent's house Keri hears of her husband's plight and tricks the Colonel into revealing to her Grant's location. His soldiers pursue her, but she manages to escape in pursuit of helping Grant. Back at Smilecorp, Solly demands that Larson P. Giles reward him for capturing Grant, but he ends up in a stand off between Larson, Ferguson, and Smiles (a Smilecorp TV mascot). Solly tricks them all and gains the upper hand, removing Grant's boil with the intention of implanting the brain fragment (a powerful extension of Grant's lobe) into his own neck to become the greatest comic alive. The boil seems to reject him, though, and splits him in half causing his death. Ferguson then takes the lobe for himself, implanting it into his neck to restore his human form and grant his body untold military power. The lobe soon rejects and kills him as well, though Keri Boyer tricks Larson disguised as a nurse and flees with both the boil and her husband.

Crashing out of a window with Grant in a wheelchair and under machinegun fire, Keri fashions a parachute in order to land safely below while confessing her true feelings to him. When the parachute is damaged, the friendly caterpillar (now a butterfly) saves them from falling while dropping them safely into a red convertible. After Grant and Keri defeat several more Smilecorp forces, Larson unleashes a massive and powerful new tank to finish them off. Once again, though, the butterfly comes to Grant's aid and drops a crazed soldier on top of the tank's turret- this causes the tank to destroy the Smilecorp building (which in turn topples onto the tank, destroying it) which allows Grant and Keri to escape.

Just when all seems well, Larson and Smiley end up landing (from the explosion at Smilecorp) in Grant's car demanding the lobe once again at gunpoint. The car proceeds to crash, but Larson and Smiley succeed in retrieving the lobe from Keri, installing into his neck. Larson's face then appears on every TV screen across the entire world, having gotten complete control of global communications. A complication arises though as Larson's head swells into a balloon, lifting both he and mascot Smiley high into the air- just as the two love birds from earlier fly by and pierce Larson's swollen head, causing him to explode violently. After that, a dog walks by and consumes the boil from the ground; this grants it the ability to create massive bones from the sky for its own enjoyment. Keri and Grant- now a rekindled Mr. and Mrs. Boyer- go home to make love once again; however Keri, in the end, begins to exhibit signs that she may have gained some powers from Grant after spending so much time with him.

In 2050, British housewife Gertrude Noah wins a cookery competition, and is awarded a tour of ''Britannia Seven'', the UK's new Space Exploration Vehicle. The craft is accidentally sent blasting off into space with a crew consisting only of Mrs Noah, proton physicist Carstairs, neutron physicist Fanshaw, lightbulb-changer Garstang, and BBC reporter Clive Cuncliffe. The series then centres on efforts to bring them back to Earth. The programme ''Far and Wide'' (a parody of ''Nationwide'') features frequent updates read by Gorden Kaye. These reports present a reality in which Britain is the most successful nation on Earth, providing aid to countries like Germany and the United States.

Batman is an established vigilante in Gotham City. Captain Gordon is Police Commissioner, and through an appearance on a talk show, explains that Batman is working with the Gotham Police Department. During the interview, the host reflects on the anniversary of the final sighting of Gotham's first vigilante, the Reaper.

Leslie Thompkins, who helped raise Bruce Wayne after his parents were murdered, introduces him to Rachel Caspian, a charity worker and aspiring nun. The two develop a romantic relationship. Rachel's father, Judson Caspian, is the original Reaper, driven to fight criminals after the death of his wife at the hands of one. After observing that crime is still rampant in Gotham, the retired vigilante returns to his Reaper costume and foils several crimes through the use of lethal force.

The Reaper's activities soon draw the attention of Batman, and the two fight. The Reaper's experience and weaponry (including his use of guns) prove too much for Batman, who is left bloodied, broken, and forced to flee before he is killed. Returning to Wayne Manor, Wayne admits that his skills in unarmed combat are not enough, and that perhaps the only way to confront a killer like the Reaper is by using a firearm -- something he has never done. Wayne retrieves the gun that killed his parents, which he has secretly kept as a reminder of his promise to fight crime. He prepares for the coming re-match.

Batman's vendetta against the Reaper leads to a falling out with Gordon, whom Batman nearly wounds to prevent him from arresting someone he considers his personal prey. Gordon misinterprets this action as Batman following in the Reaper's murderous footsteps and soon deploys his forces against both Batman and the Reaper.

As the Reaper lays waste to Gotham's underworld, several crime lords discuss the situation. Batman interrupts the meeting and proposes they join forces against the Reaper. The crime lords agree, but only if Batman cooperates with their handpicked agent. That individual is Joe Chill, the man who shot Thomas and Martha Wayne. Batman schemes to take Chill's life once the Reaper is disposed of, while he also lays the groundwork for his life after Batman by asking Rachel to marry him. She accepts. Secretly, the bosses instruct Chill to murder Batman once the Reaper is dealt with.

During a battle with the Reaper, the bosses are killed, and Batman's true plan is revealed to Commissioner Gordon. The Reaper is presumed dead, and Batman takes an unconscious Chill to one of his safe houses, and then to the site of the murder of the Waynes. There he reveals his identity and threatens him with the gun. Chill questions whether Batman has the nerve to pull the trigger, but before he has a chance, the Reaper re-emerges and shoots Chill himself. Now aware of Batman's identity, the Reaper beckons him to a final confrontation in the frameworks of the unfinished building housing the Wayne Foundation. Batman and the Reaper fight to a standstill, and Batman, gaining the upper hand, discovers the Reaper is Judson before he falls to his death.

Realizing that the way of the gun is not for him, Batman places Chill's gun in the cornerstone of the building, to be sealed away for good when construction is completed.

Bruce returns to Rachel, who is distraught over the news that her father was the Reaper. She produces her nun's habit from the closet and calls off the engagement, choosing to atone for her father's sins by devoting herself to the church. Bruce returns to prowling Gotham's streets in his role as Batman.

Travel agent Paul Barnell (Robin Williams) finds a body in a dumpster that, unbeknownst to him, was left there by Mafia hitmen. Heavily in debt and attempting to find a cure for his wife Margaret's (Holly Hunter) apparent Tourette syndrome, he stages a disfiguring animal attack with the body in order to cash in his missing brother's life-insurance policy, for which a corpse is required.

Local police are convinced, but promotion-hungry insurance agent Ted Waters (Giovanni Ribisi) is not. The hitmen who dumped the body are also in search of the corpse for proof to collect their payment. They take Margaret hostage to ensure that they will get the body. Meanwhile, Ted is having problems with his girlfriend, Tiffany (Alison Lohman), who he neglects as he works his way up in his firm.

Paul's missing brother Raymond (Woody Harrelson) returns home, beats him up, and demands a portion of the insurance money. By suggesting that Ted assaulted him, Paul speeds up the delivery of the million dollar insurance payment. He has the body exhumed and agrees to exchange it and a portion of the money for Margaret. Fearing that Raymond will attempt to kill Margaret to keep her quiet, Paul considers killing his brother in his sleep, but cannot bring himself to do so.

The next morning Paul leaves his brother asleep and meets the hit-men for the exchange. Raymond is angered at his brother's deception and arrives as well, and is told by the insurance agent, who has finally pieced together what has happened, about his million dollar policy. Raymond then pulls out a pistol and shoots Margaret in the back as she flees. He is in turn shot in the stomach by one of the hit-men (Tim Nelson). Paul finds Margaret alive; he had hidden the insurance money in her jacket, and it stopped the bullet. The brothers say goodbye as Raymond dies. Paul tells Ted that he only committed fraud out of love for his wife, which appeals to Ted's renewed feelings for Tiffany; touched, he lets them go. Using the money, Paul takes Margaret on a tropical vacation.

Elizabeth Bates is the main character of the story. She has two young children and is pregnant with a third. She is waiting for her husband Walter, a coal miner, to come home. She thinks that he has gone straight to the pub after work and she feels angry. It turns out to be something completely different. In the end, she's come to realize that they really never did know each other.

The book centers on two different kinds of shapeshifters: the avians and the serpiente. The avians have birds for second forms and their royal line consists of golden hawks. Their leader is the Tuuli Thea, or queen. The queen's pair bond is called her Alistair. Avian culture is uptight and strict, and it centers on, "avian reserve," the ability to keep complete control of one's emotions at all times. Avians do not lose their temper and they do not cry, no matter what the situation. The serpiente have the second form of a snake. Their royal line is the Cobriana, cobra shapeshifters descended from Kiesha, and their king is called the Diente. Their queen is the Naga. Serpiente wear sensual outfits and are free with their emotions, even in situations where some control might be appropriate. They are passionate and sometimes violent, the complete opposite of the avians. The two groups have been at war beyond living memory, so that nobody even remembers how the fighting started. The reason behind the war starting is given in ''Falcondance''. All they know is that they hate each other and they will keep fighting until one of them is destroyed. Danica Shardae and her second form as pictured on the cover of ''Hawksong''. The book takes place in roughly 705 BCE and is the romantic story of Danica Shardae, the heir to the Tuuli Thea. The novel opens with Danica walking the latest bloody battlefield and her discovery of the fallen Gregory Cobriana, who is the younger brother of the current Arami (Prince, soon to be Diente/King), Zane Cobriana. Despite her guards' warnings, Danica stays by Gregory's side, holding him, and singing the Hawksong, a lullaby, until the young prince passes.

After Zane learns what Danica did for his brother, he sends his sister to the avians: the serpiente want peace. After a trip to the wise tiger shapeshifters, the Mistari, Zane and Danica secretly agree to marry despite their families' objections over the Mistari idea as well as their own hesitations. Danica has feelings for Andreios (Rei), her best friend, a crow and the leader of the Royal Flight and the highest commander in the avian army. Zane also has a relationship with the head of his palace guard, a white viper named Adelina. But over the course of the novel Zane and Danica grow fond of each other and eventually fall in love, but not before Adelina joins up with Karl, a member of the Royal Flight, to end the union between Zane and Danica. Adelina accidentally kills Zane's mother while attempting to assassinate Danica, who is critically wounded. However, she survives while Zane stays at her side. Their love continues from Zane's view, in Snakecharm.

In ''Reborn!'' a boy, Tsunayoshi "Tsuna" Sawada, is chosen to become the tenth boss of the Vongola Family, as he is the great-great-great grandson of the first Vongola boss—who moved to Japan from Italy. Timoteo, the Vongola IX—the current head of the family—, sends Reborn, an infant hitman from Italy, to train the reluctant Tsuna. Reborn's chief teaching method is the , which causes a person to be "reborn" with a stronger self to execute his dying wish. The clumsy, underachieving Tsuna becomes stronger, more confident and willing, making him a suitable Vongola family boss despite his continued reluctance. He makes several friends, including his love interest Kyoko Sasagawa.

Tsuna gets out of many scrapes on his way to becoming the Vongola boss, fighting escaped Mafia convicts posing as Kokuyo Junior High School students. The Varia, the Vongola assassin squad, want their boss, Xanxus, to be the Vongola boss and initiate a competition with Tsuna. To defeat the Varia, Reborn recruits Tsuna's schoolmates as Vongola guardians: Hayato Gokudera, an explosives expert who wants to be Tsuna's right-hand man; Takeshi Yamamoto, an athlete who likes baseball and cluelessly thinks of the Mafia as a game; Ryohei Sasagawa, captain of the school boxing club and Kyoko's older brother, and head prefect Kyoya Hibari. Lambo, a weak infant hitman who wants to kill Reborn; and Chrome Dokuro, a girl with links to the criminal Mukuro Rokudo, also join them.

After defeating the Varia, Tsuna and his friends are transported to the future to face the Millefiore family, who are killing the Vongolas. They discover that the Arcobaleno, the seven strongest infants, are dead except for Lal Mirch. When Tsuna and the Vongola guardians fight the Millefiore, they learn that Shoichi Irie, a comrade of Tsuna's future self, sent them to the future because the future Tsuna said they were the only ones able to defeat Millefiore leader Byakuran. Byakuran, who has obtained knowledge from parallel worlds, wants to obtain all the Mafia rings to become omniscient.

Tsuna and his group defeat Byakuran and return to the present, where they learn that he is to be installed as Vongola X. The ceremony is disrupted by the Simon Family, who have sworn revenge on the Vongola founding father for allegedly betraying the first Simon boss. Tsuna confronts the Simon Family on a secluded island; the Vindice, a group of former Arcobaleno who protect the laws of the mafia, are involved in the fight and imprison the losers. After several battles it is learned that Demon Spade, the first generation Vongola Mist Guardian, was manipulating Simon, using the conflict to control Mukuro Rokudo and remake the Vongola in his image. The combined strength of Tsuna and Simon's leader, Enma Kozato, defeats him.

After Tsuna reconciles with Simon, Reborn and the other Arcobaleno compete among themselves to remove their curse. Each Arcobaleno chooses a representative to fight for them and the winner will be able to undo the curse. The Vindice enter the competition, informing Reborn and Tsuna that the tournament is a front for the selection of a new Arcobaleno; the previous Arcobaleno die or become Vindice. Tsuna joins the remaining teams to defeat Bermuda, a former Arcobaleno, and the Vindice. On the final day of the Representative Battle of the Rainbow, Tsuna defeats Bermuda and his team. Checker Face, who inflicted the Arcobaleno Curse of the Rainbow, reveals his true identity as Kawahira, administrator of the humankind's ultimate power, Tri-ni-set. Finding another way to keep the Tri-ni-set safe, Kawahira agrees to entrust it to future generations and remove the curse.

After the Arcobaleno battle, Tsuna refuses to become the tenth head of the Vongola Family and Reborn leaves. A week after his departure, Tsuna realizes that he is still his no-good self; nothing has changed. Reborn returns to train Tsuna as Neo-Vongola Primo, similar to Vongola Decimo; Tsuna remembers that he now has friends he can rely on and has been changed by his experiences, thanks to his tutor and partner Reborn.

Aerlith is a planet of rocks and wilderness orbiting a distant bright star known as Skene which appears as "an actinic point" in the daytime. The sky is described as being black rather than blue. The planet's rotation is slow, taking several days. It is so slow that dawn and dusk are accompanied by storms that follow the boundary between day and night around the planet. The night has an effect on the "Dragons" of the title, making them more vicious and unmanageable. This means that all movement of the armies must take place during daylight.

Humans live in valleys where the soil is good. Occasionally they make war on each other across the hills, passes and fells between their valley homes. Their technology is limited to steel and gunpowder. They also use semi-precious stones for decoration.

From time to time, often after many years, a spaceship appears and abducts as many humans as can be caught. The settlements are also bombarded, ensuring that humanity will not rise above its present technological level. During one such raid, a charismatic leader named Kergan Banbeck captures a group of the alien raiders, who are accompanied by their human servants. Without their masters, the humans go mad and destroy the ship. The aliens, many-limbed lizard-like creatures known as "grephs", become prisoners of the humans they came to kidnap.

Many years later, Kergan's descendant, Joaz Banbeck, is troubled by two things. He believes the grephs will return soon, and his neighbor, Ervis Carcolo of the ironically named Happy Valley, is forever plotting against him. The captive grephs have been bred over the years into fighting creatures known as dragons, ranging from the man-sized "Termagant" to the gigantic "Jugger". As each new variety has been bred over the years, the fortunes of war have shifted between the Banbecks and the Carcolos. Now there is an uneasy peace.

There is a third group of humans, the "Sacerdotes", mysterious ascetics who walk naked in all weathers. They are characterized by very long hair, pale complexions, and the golden torc each wears around the neck. Only males are seen. They trade for what they need and seem to possess advanced technologies. They believe that they are beyond human, calling the rest of humankind "Utter Men", who will eventually disappear and leave the universe to them.

Joaz Banbeck tries without success to convince Ervis Carcolo and the Sacerdotes of the need to prepare for the next visit by the grephs. Ervis Carcolo, far from cooperating, attacks Banbeck Vale, only to have his army routed by Joaz's ingenious tactics.

Joaz is able to confine a Sacerdote and ask him questions, only to have the man apparently die. Taking his torc and making a wig from the man's hair, Joaz attempts to examine the Sacerdotes' cave home. They are definitely working on something big. Returning home, he is confronted by the Sacerdote he had thought dead, who demands the return of his torc and walks silently away.

Subsequently, Joaz has a dream in which he talks to the sacerdote leader and tries to persuade him to help. The leader, known as the Demie, refuses, claiming that to involve himself in the affairs of Utter Men is to destroy the detachment necessary to their lifestyle. Joaz suspects they are building a spaceship.

Ervis Carcolo attacks again. Once again, Joaz defeats him, but at that moment, the grephs reappear. Happy Valley is destroyed and Banbeck Vale is obviously next.

Besides the power of the ship itself, the grephs have humans whom they have bred, just as the men of Aerlith have bred their dragons. The "Heavy Trooper" is physically equal to the Termagant, and a "Giant" matches the monstrous Jugger. Some of the humans have been bred to track people by smell, and still others are used like horses, like their dragon counterparts, the Spiders.

The grephs attack, tentatively at first. Their troops are astonished by the dragons who so resemble their masters. The fighting is bloody and Joaz moves his people into caves and tunnels for safety. The grephs decide simply to bombard the Vale since they cannot take the people. Joaz has anticipated this, and lures them to a spot where he believes the sacerdotes' workshops are located.

Carcolo, almost with his last remaining energy and backed by his now demoralized troops, assaults the ship from an unguarded quarter. Joaz coincidentally decides on a similar tactic, and is amazed to find Carcolo already inside. Together they free many people, but cannot gain control of the ship. The destruction of the Vale seems inevitable, until Joaz's scheme pays off. The Sacerdote cavern is blown open, and the Sacerdotes are forced to use the engine of their spaceship to project a beam of energy at the alien ship, disabling it. Joaz and his troops complete the rout and capture the ship. However, the Sacerdote ship is destroyed.

The Demie is driven out of his detachment by what Joaz has forced him to do. He upbraids Joaz for causing the destruction of the work of centuries just to save himself. Joaz refuses to apologize, and when Carcolo, now a prisoner, absurdly continues to assert his claim to the ship, Joaz has him executed.

At the end, Joaz surveys the ruins of his home. He picks up a small round object, a semi-precious stone carved to be a globe of Eden or Tempe or even Earth, the mythical home of humans. He plans to find the other worlds where humans live, if he can repair the alien ship. For now, he must rebuild the homes of his people. He tosses the globe back on the rockpile and walks away.

Martin Harvey is a middle-aged office worker who lives in Chicago with his wife, Katherine, 16-year-old daughter, Caroline, and 11-year-old son, Ben. When he learns his recently deceased uncle has bequeathed him a 60-foot yacht once owned by Clark Gable, he decides to take his family to the island of St. Pomme de Terre ("Saint Potato") to retrieve it so he can sell it. Katherine resists the idea, but agrees after Caroline announces she has just become engaged.

When the Harveys arrive at the island, they discover that the yacht, ''Wanderer'', is in terrible condition. Upon hearing this, the yacht broker cancels his plan to send an experienced captain to help them sail it to Miami, and instead hires a local sailor, Captain Ron Rico, a one-eyed man with a very laid back attitude, and Navy veteran who claims to have piloted USS ''Saratoga''. He launches immediately when he sees the car he arrived in roll off the dock and sink. Its owner arrives at the dock and shoots at him.

Captain Ron takes Ben's money in a game of Monopoly, giving him beer to drink and charging him for it later, but shows loyalty to Martin, who he refers to as "Boss". Martin, who doesn't like him, calls him "Moron" in his diary, and believes that he doesn't know what he's doing.

The Harveys decide to stop off in the Caribbean, but learn that Captain Ron doesn't know how to navigate. While on a random island, Martin decides to go on a nature hike, but runs into guerrillas led by General Armando. Captain Ron bargains for Martin's freedom by giving them a lift to the next island, and receiving some firearms in return to fight off pirates. This angers Martin, as he declares there will be no firearms on his yacht and tosses them overboard, before realizing that without them, he is going to have to give the guerrillas a lift.

In the yacht's cabin, Katherine shows Martin the initials of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard marked on the bedpost. They are so excited that they share their feelings and have passionate sex.

When they arrive at their next destination, at a non-USA "San Juan", Martin and Katherine are arrested for smuggling the guerrillas. Caroline and Ben party with the locals and Captain Ron, which ends with Caroline getting a tattoo, Ben breaking his glasses, and Captain Ron losing his glass eye. Martin and Katherine are released from jail, but forced to leave that night. Martin decides to leave Captain Ron behind and they encounter pirates who steal the yacht, and are stuck floating in a raft.

They land in Cuba and discover the yacht there. The pirates find them, but with the help of Captain Ron, they are able to escape with the yacht. Captain Ron learns that they underrate Martin, and he decides to play hurt, forcing Martin to take control of the escape. Using the skills that Captain Ron taught them, they are able to get the sails up after the engine breaks from lack of oil to distance themselves from the pirates. The United States Coast Guard, responding to a distress call from Ron, arrives and stops the pirates, creating a safe passage to Miami.

They arrive in Miami and part ways with Captain Ron. As they sail to their destination, they decide to turn the yacht around and keep it. In the final scene, Captain Ron appears to have cleaned up his appearance and has quickly taken on a new role as a captain for a wealthy couple and their small motorboat. Notably he is no longer wearing an eye patch.

Amakuni Saruno is a 15-year-old student of Junishi High School. As a teenage boy, he desperately tries to find a girlfriend. Being fed up with seeing all the girls fall in love with high school athletes, he decides to join a sports-club himself. He starts looking around at the different sports clubs with the guidance of his friend, Kengo Sawamatsu. They go to check out the weight lifting club (of which there is only one member, a large, frighteningly buff guy), only for Saruno to see a girl that he assumes to be the manager of the club and show off for her. After sufficiently hurting himself, he helps the girl, Nagi Torii, carry some weights off somewhere and while talking to her finds out that she is actually a manager for the baseball club, not the weight lifting club. Saruno decides to join the baseball club so he can win the heart of Torii.

In joining the club, Saruno finds himself to be very weak compared to other tryouts, surpassing others only in hitting ball. He barely manages to get into last test phase, 5-innings training. He, with other low-ranked entrees, has to survive 5-innings against team composed of high-ranked entrees. In this game, he met Chounosuke Nezu (pitcher), Mei Inukai (pitcher), Pino Tomaru (second), Aoi Shiba (shortstop), Shinji Tatsuragawa (catcher), that forms core of baseball team. In process, Saruno's team manages to pass the test with Saruno breaking the Muranaka record, hitting the school clock. After the entry test, Saruno again finds himself underpowered against seniors of Junishi baseball club. Regular players of Junishi shows their own strengths, which makes them regular. Two weeks after intense training, the team sets out to Izu, to find more intense training awaits. It is also selection test for regular team players.

The story is told by Albert N. Wilmarth, an instructor of literature at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts. When local newspapers report strange things seen floating in rivers during a historic Vermont flood, Wilmarth becomes embroiled in a controversy regarding the reality and significance of the sightings. He sides with the skeptics, blaming old legends about monsters living in uninhabited hills that abduct people venturing too close to their territory.

He receives a letter from Henry Wentworth Akeley, a man living in an isolated farmhouse near Townshend, Vermont, who claims to have proof that will convince Wilmarth he must stop questioning the creatures' existence. The two exchange letters that include an account of the extraterrestrial race chanting with human agents in worship of several beings, including Cthulhu and Nyarlathotep, the latter of whom "shall put on the semblance of men, the waxen mask and the robe that hides".

The agents intercept Akeley's messages and harass his farmhouse nightly. They exchange gunfire and many of Akeley's guard dogs are killed, as are several of the agents. Later, Akeley reports having killed members of the extraterrestrial race, describing them as bleeding a sickly greenish fluid. Although Akeley expresses more in his letters, he abruptly has a change of heart. He writes that he has met with the extraterrestrial beings and has learned that they are peaceful. Furthermore, they have taught him of marvels beyond all imagination. He urges Wilmarth to pay him a visit and to bring along the letters and photographic evidence that he had sent him. Wilmarth reluctantly consents.

Wilmarth arrives to find Akeley in a pitiful physical condition, immobilized in a chair in darkness. Akeley tells Wilmarth about the extraterrestrial race and the wonders they have revealed to him. He also says that the beings can surgically extract a human brain and place it into a canister wherein it can live indefinitely and withstand the rigors of outer space travel and shows proof to Wilmarth. Akeley says he has agreed to undertake such a journey and points to a cylinder bearing his name. Wilmarth also listens to a brain in a cylinder as it speaks, by way of attached devices, of the positive aspects of the journey and why Wilmarth should join it in the trip to Yuggoth, the beings' outpost in our solar system (later revealed to be Pluto). During these conversations, Wilmarth feels a vague sense of unease, especially from Akeley's odd manner of buzzing whispering.

During the night, a sleepless Wilmarth overhears a disturbing conversation with several voices, some of which are distinctly bizarre. Once all is silent, he creeps downstairs to investigate. He finds that Akeley is no longer present, but the robe he was wearing is discarded in the chair. Upon a closer look, he makes a horrifying discovery amid the folds of the robe which sends him fleeing the farmhouse by stealing Akeley's car. When the authorities investigate the next day, they find nothing but a bullet-riddled house. Akeley has disappeared along with all the physical evidence of the extraterrestrial presence. As the story concludes, Wilmarth discloses the discovery from which he fled in terror: Akeley's discarded face and hands. These were utilized by something inhuman to disguise itself as a man. He now believes with a dreadful certainty that the cylinder in that dark room with that whispering creature already contained the brain of Henry Wentworth Akeley.

Xavier Quinn is the chief of police in Jamaica. When Donald Pater, the millionaire owner of a luxury resort hotel, is found murdered, everyone assumes that the culprit is Maubee, a petty crook who also is Quinn's best friend. Quinn doesn't believe it and clashes with the island's inept Governor Chalk and his arrogant political fixer Thomas Elgin. Quinn's worries over the murder exacerbate his troubles at home; he is estranged from his wife, Lola, and rarely has time to see his son.

Maubee eludes the police at every turn. Quinn questions a witness, who says that Maubee had a (rare) US$10,000 bill. Trying to track down Maubee, Quinn questions Ubu Pearl, the local witch and aunt of Maubee's girlfriend, Isola.

Chalk introduces Quinn to Fred Miller, an affable American said to represent Pater's company.

Pater had been found floating in a hot tub, decapitated. Against Chalk's instructions, Quinn has the body autopsied and finds that Pater died of a venomous snake bite and was already dead when his head was cut off. Quinn arrests Jose Patina, who claims to be on vacation, but has also been questioning people about Maubee's whereabouts.

After Patina is bailed out of jail, he confers with Miller in a seedy hotel. Miller tells him the "operation" is over, then kills Patina. Miller goes to Ubu Pearl and demands to know where Maubee is. When she refuses, he burns down her house, with her inside.

Quinn discovers that Pater, a close associate of the President of the United States, brought stacks of $10,000 bills to the island to be picked up by Patina. The President wants to fund an anti-Communist revolution in Latin America, but Congress would not support this. The President acts illegally, using the C.I.A. to deliver discontinued currency that is still good but will not be missed from its storage at the US Department of the Treasury. The murder messed up the plan, so the C.I.A. has sent Miller to retrieve the money and "plug up the holes."

Quinn tracks Maubee down at their childhood playground in an ancient ruin. Maubee explains that Pater impregnated Isola when she was a maid at his hotel. When Ubu Pearl demanded that Pater support the child, Pater fired Isola. Ubu Pearl instructed Isola to go to the hotel and leave a snake in Pater's room. Maubee sped to the hotel and arrived just as Pater was dying from the snakebite. He cut Pater's head off, put his body into the tub to attempt to conceal the cause of death, and grabbed the sack of money.

Miller appears and holds the pair at gunpoint. Maubee hands over the money and Miller departs in a helicopter. Enraged, Maubee grabs onto the helicopter as it lifts off over the ocean. Miller shoots at Maubee and Quinn watches helplessly as his friend's body falls into the ocean. A snake hidden in the sack of money slithers out and fatally bites the helicopter pilot. Miller struggles to regain control, but the chopper crashes into the old ruins and explodes.

Grieved at the loss of his friend, Quinn returns home and reconciles with his wife. As he walks on the beach with his son, the camera pans down to show a line of barefoot prints emerging from the water, leading to a rock with a $10,000 bill sitting on it.

In 1979, during the height of The Troubles, Black British paratrooper Reuben James (Washington) is attacked by IRA militants while leaving a pub in Northern Ireland. His life is saved by a fellow soldier and Londoner, Tony (Dorian Healy), who goes by the nickname Fish. In a flash forward to 1982, Reuben and Fish and are doing a tour in the Falklands War, along with another soldier from London, Bob Harper (Sean Chapman).

In 1988, Reuben leaves the army and returns to his old neighbourhood in the East End of London. Almost immediately, he is harassed by police officers, including the overtly racist Challoner (Craig Fairbrass) and Kilcoyne (George Baker). Walking around his housing estate, Reuben quickly realizes the poverty and malaise he joined the army to escape hasn't changed. His childhood friend Lynford (Geff Francis) is still selling stolen goods and running other small-time hustles. Another longtime friend, Colin (Bruce Payne) is now the local kingpin, selling drugs in large quantities and bribing police. Fish, who lost his leg in the Falklands, is a degenerate gambler who cheats on his pregnant Irish wife, Debbie (Stella Gonet). Bob has joined the police force. Colin offers to make Reuben a part of his drug dealing operation, but Reuben declines.

Fish and Reuben attempt to go to a nightclub to celebrate Reuben's return to civilian life, but are turned away by the bouncer. The two get into a fight with nightclub security and spend the night drinking at Fish's flat instead. When Reuben comes home, he finds his flat being burgled by two local children, Oscar and Hayley. Reuben threatens Oscar until he points out Hayley's flat. Hayley's mother, Stacey (Amanda Redman), answers the door and denies that her daughter lives there. Reuben barges into the flat and begins to search it, looking for both Hayley and his belongings. Stacey threatens him with a kitchen knife to get him to leave. On his way out, Hayley comes home wearing Reuben's paratrooper beret and he takes it back. Later, Stacey finds Reuben's campaign medals from the Falklands and comes to his door to return them.

Reuben begins to look for a civilian job using his old army connections but none of them will return his calls. Frustrated, he goes to a local pub where Lynford is shooting pool. Challoner and Kilcoyne enter the pub and begin aggressively questioning Lynford about his whereabouts during a robbery. Lynford says he was with Reuben. Reuben lies and confirms his story. Kilcoyne decides to take Reuben at his word.

Reuben runs into Colin who takes him to see the legitimate business he's bought, a health club. Once again, Colin asks Reuben to join him, but Reuben still refuses.

Bob and Fish come to Reuben's flat. Fish is flush from a big gambling win. Fish shows Reuben two airline tickets to Paris and says that he is taking Reuben on a trip, in part to thank him for covering an earlier debt with Bob. The three go to a party on the estate. At the party, Lynford thanks Reuben for backing him up with the police. Reuben once again encounters Stacey, the two dance, and Reuben walks her home. On the way home, they're subjected to racist insults from a group of police officers. When they finally reach her door, Stacey kisses Reuben on the cheek. He returns to the party but finds it being raided by the police, including Kilcoyne and Challoner. He watches several of his friends, including Lynford, getting arrested, but Bob tells him not to get involved.

The next morning, Reuben and Fish are at Reuben's flat. Reuben gets a phone call saying that Debbie has given birth early. Reuben takes Fish to the hospital, and Fish gives him both tickets to Paris, saying he won't be able to go now.

Reuben takes Stacey and Hayley to a funfair, where he asks Stacey to go with him to Paris. She agrees until she sees Reuben playing a shooting game. She becomes upset and storms off. He catches up with her and she explains that Hayley's father was a gangster who kept guns in the house, including in Hayley's crib. Reuben comforts her and tells her he was done with guns when he left the army. On the ride home Stacey offers to get Reuben a job with her, driving a minicab.

When they get back to the estate, there's a commotion going on. Three people bump into them, running away. Reuben recognizes one of them as Lynford. He sees the source of the commotion: someone has thrown a brick through a police car windshield from above, killing well-liked local constable Harry. Reuben realizes Lynford was responsible. Kilcoyne threatens the gathered crowd and picks out Reuben, asking him if he saw anything, which he denies.

While preparing for the trip to Paris, Reuben applies for a new passport and is rejected. He finds out that since he was born in St. Lucia, a change in British nationality law has effectively stripped him of his citizenship in spite of the fact he has lived almost his entire life in London.

Disillusioned and angry, Reuben finally agrees to work as muscle for Colin. On his way to meet Colin with a gun tucked into his waistband, he runs into Stacey. When she hugs him, she discovers the gun and leaves, furious. Colin and Reuben go to make an exchange with another drug dealer, Sadiq (Jimmi Harkishin), in a public bathroom. As they leave after completing the deal, the police rush in and arrest Sadiq. Colin tells Reuben that he set Sadiq up. When they get back to the estate, Reuben gives Colin back his gun and quits.

Reuben goes Fish's flat and discovers Fish distraught, holding a rifle. He says Debbie has left him and taken the children to Ireland. Reuben gives him some money from the deal with Colin and tells him to go after her. Reuben comes home to find Kilcoyne in his flat. Kilcoyne tells Reuben he knows about the deal with Colin and Sadiq, and threatens to send him to jail unless Reuben tells him who killed Harry. Reuben reluctantly gives up Lynford.

Wanting to leave the increasingly hopeless situation on the estate behind, Reuben gets a St. Lucian passport and a ticket to St. Lucia. Walking home, he comes across Lynford and a mob of other locals with bats, knives, Molotov cocktails, and a gun, preparing for a confrontation with the police. Lynford and Reuben argue, and Reuben leaves to get ready to go to St. Lucia.

Lynford walks across the estate and the police chase him. From a walkway, someone drops a Molotov cocktail onto a squad car, starting a riot.

With his bag packed for St. Lucia, Reuben runs into Fish in the elevator. He tells Fish of his plans and the two joke and banter. When the door opens, they find Lynford hiding from police on the ground floor. Lynford points his gun at Reuben and accuses Reuben of giving him up to the police, but Fish tackles him. Kilcoyne and Challoner rush through the door. Fish stands up and Challoner panics and shoots him, killing him. Overcome with grief, Reuben goes to Fish's flat to retrieve Fish's rifle. In the chaos of the riot, he shoots and kills Challoner. As he walks the estate holding the rifle, we see Reuben in the sights of a police sniper. The sniper is revealed to be Bob. A voice off-screen orders Bob to take the shot. As a single gunshot rings out, the screen goes black.

Hoskins plays police sergeant Jack Moony, a racist bigoted cop; and Washington plays Napoleon Stone, an irresistible persuader and ambulance-chasing lawyer who Moony hates. The feelings are mutual. Stone goes on to date Moony's ex-girlfriend which stirs up the pot between the two. Moony's years of bad habits, such as overeating, smoking, and drinking, finally catch up with him, risking his health and life. At the same time, Stone is killed in an apparent car accident. After suffering a heart attack, Moony wakes up to find out that his new heart was once Stone's, and the dead lawyer's ghost has become his constant companion. Stone takes on the role of a manifested ghost that needs answers to why he was shot and who committed it. He seeks to haunt Moony to help him in this quest because of the relationship they once had that will now continue. Now, Moony will have to solve Stone's murder.

In 1983, rookie Los Angeles police officer and law student Nick Styles (Denzel Washington) meets Alice (Victoria Dillard), and drifts away from childhood friend Odessa (Ice-T), who has become a drug dealer in South Central Los Angeles. Styles and his partner Larry Doyle (Kevin Pollak) patrol a carnival, where they encounter hitman Earl Talbot Blake (John Lithgow) and his accomplice Kim (Josh Evans). Styles is forced into an armed standoff when Blake takes a hostage after killing several drug dealers. After stripping his equipment and uniform off, Styles uses a gun hidden in his athletic supporter, shooting Blake in the knee and subduing him. The incident is caught on camera by an amateur videographer and televised, making Styles a hero. He and Doyle are promoted to Detective, while Blake and Kim are sent to prison.

Eight years later in 1991, Styles has become an Assistant District Attorney and is married to Alice with two daughters. Behind bars, Blake allies himself with the Aryan Brotherhood to plot an escape and take revenge against Styles. Kim is paroled and assists in Blake's escape. Blake and the AB members stage a violent and deadly prison escape during a parole hearing, which only Blake and the AB leader survive. Afterwards, Blake murders the AB gang leader and burns his corpse; however, while in prison, he had swapped their dental records, in order to fake his own death and ensure authorities would believe that Blake had died in the fire.

Styles finds Odessa, now a major drug dealer in the neighborhood, and pleads with him to halt dealing to children. Blake and Kim kill a city councilman who works with Styles, dressing his body in drag, planting child pornography in his briefcase and staging his death to look like a suicide, framing Styles for embezzling city funds. Blake and Kim abduct Styles outside his home and hold him hostage in an empty swimming pool for several days. They regularly inject Styles with heroin and cocaine while engaging in arm wrestling. Blake hires a prostitute (Linda Dona) to have sex with Styles. She ignores the weakened Styles' objections and rapes him as Blake records the incident on video. After Blake and Kim deposit an unconscious Styles on the steps of City Hall, Alice overhears Styles' superiors telling him he has tested positive for gonorrhea, and believes he is cheating on her.

Styles witnesses a video of Blake entering his daughters' room with a hatchet. Styles heads to the park where his family are watching a circus act, and holds a black-clad figure he believes to be Blake at gunpoint; the figure turns out to be a clown, making Styles seem unstable. Blake releases the recording of Styles' rape, making it appear as if Styles is soliciting prostitutes. District Attorney Priscilla Brimleigh (Lindsay Wagner) suspends Styles.

Determined to prove his innocence, Styles and Doyle beat information out of one of Blake's former AB allies. In an alley, Blake fatally shoots Doyle and plants Styles' fingerprints on the gun.

Desperate, Styles contacts Odessa for help, bringing his family to the housing project Odessa uses as a drug lab. On the roof, Styles raves to the street below, apparently suicidal; this draws out Blake, who wants Styles to live a long, miserable life. Styles fakes his own death by escaping an explosion in the building.

Odessa's gang abducts Kim, and Odessa sends a message to Blake that Styles is alive and intends to find him, challenging him to come to the Watts Towers. Blake finds Kim tied to the scaffolding and kills him. On the towers, Blake and Styles fight until Odessa applies electricity to the metal tower, electrocuting Blake. Styles pulls Blake off the tower and as he falls, impales himself on a spike. Styles reunites with his family and calls out to Odessa one last time, inviting him to basketball. Television news crews broadcast the dramatic turn of events, declaring Styles innocent. When a newscaster (Mary Ellen Trainor) asks Styles for comment, he turns off the news camera.

A meteor strikes a houseboat in the swamps near a southern town populated by Yankees with fake accents. The people on the houseboat become zombies who feed on the alligators in the swamp. Once they run out of alligators, they start going for the citizens. A local scientist tries to figure out what's happening to people once they start disappearing.

John Brown lives in Riverton, Ohio, with his niece Penny and her pet beagle Brain. Dreaming of becoming a police officer, John works as a security guard for the Bradford robotics laboratory. Artemus Bradford and his daughter Brenda are designing a lifelike robotic foot as part of the Gadget Program, designed to add android officers to the Riverton Police Department. Sanford Scolex, a tycoon, steals the foot to build an army of androids from its technology, assassinating Artemus in the process. John chases after Scolex's limousine in his hatchback, but both vehicles crash. John is left for dead by getting blown up in his car by Scolex's Dynamite stick disguised as a cigar, but a bowling ball launched by the blast from the destroyed car lands in the limo and crushes Scolex's left hand. Scolex receives a mechanical claw from his associate Kramer, taking on the alias “Claw.”

Brenda decides to make John, who nearly died from the intensely heavy-injuries from the fiery car explosion, the first test subject for the Gadget Program. John is transformed into a crimefighting cyborg, with the alias of “Inspector Gadget,” who is powered by a control chip. John is given an orientation from Brenda, which goes horribly awry, and he is also given a lesson from a guru. The lesson ends in failure, however, when John accidentally emasculates the guru. He is helped by the Gadgetmobile, a robotic car with a chatty AI, and one day, despite initially struggling to use his new gadgets, Gadget manages to stop two criminals who were trying to rob a car.

At a charity ball, Scolex approaches Brenda, having known her at Harvard, inviting her to work for him in her own laboratory. Brenda accepts, unaware that Scolex plans to steal her technological ideas and designs. Unimpressed with Gadget, police chief Quimby assigns him to menial assignments rather than investigate Artemus’ murder. Upset at not being taken seriously, Gadget investigates on his own, finding a piece of scrap metal which he later connects to Scolex, with help from Penny.

Claw uses Brenda's research to build his own android, “Robo-Gadget,” sending him out on a rampage across Riverton to frame the real Gadget. Gadget himself infiltrates Claw's lab to recover the foot, but is caught and deactivated when Claw breaks his chip. Claw's minion Sykes dumps Gadget in a junkyard, then is tasked to dispose of the foot. Brenda encounters her own robotic doppelganger, Robo-Brenda, who confirms Claw stole the foot and murdered her father. Brenda, Penny, Brain, and the Gadgetmobile track Gadget to a junkyard. A kiss from Brenda awakens Gadget, proving his will can control his new body, regardless of whether the chip is needed or not.

After dropping Penny and Brain off at home, Gadget and Brenda chase Claw and Robo-Gadget's limo. Gadget and Robo-Gadget fall off the roof and duel on a bridge, until Gadget removes the latter's head, tossing it into the river, though Robo-Gadget's body runs off. Brenda crashes the Gadgetmobile into Claw's limo, but is taken prisoner. Claw tries to escape in a helicopter, but Gadget appears using his helicopter hat to intercept. Claw destroys it, and Gadget is stuck hanging from the landing skis. Gadget deconstructs a pen that is in his finger (one of his gadgets) and launches the metal ink chamber, sending it bouncing around and making it hit the button on Claw's claw, causing it to clamp shut and break the joystick of the helicopter and send the helicopter out of control. Brenda leaps out of the helicopter onto Gadget's back, but they fall down the side of Scolex's skyscraper, using a parasol to land safely. Claw parachutes down, but lands in the Gadgetmobile and is captured by it. The police arrive to arrest Gadget, but Penny appears with a repentant and reformed Sykes, who confesses his boss's crimes to the police. Saluted and acknowledged by Quimby as an actual member of the police force, Gadget departs with Brenda and Penny, as Claw vows revenge as he is taken away by the cops. Gadget begins a relationship with Brenda.

Artistic and withdrawn Dawn Cottrell (Kimberlee Peterson) is bullied by the popular clique in school and unable to assert any control over her life at home. Dawn's father Russell (Robert Wisden) pressures her to do well in school in order to earn a scholarship, as he can't afford to send her to college. Her self-centered mother, Joyce (Sean Young), is dissatisfied both with her husband's passivity and lack of attention and the disrespect Dawn's younger brother shows her.

Dawn has no real friends at school and her older boyfriend Craig, a 19 year old musician, has no interest in her beyond how she can satisfy him physically. Using math problems as an excuse to get advice from her father about Craig's lack of communication, Russell is unable to handle any sort of emotional intimacy. Joyce, on the other hand, is incapable of discussing anything without making herself the focus.

Chosen to design the winter carnival theme, Dawn is mocked for her theme choices. The popular girls victimize and act maliciously towards her, pressuring her to create a "perfect" event. After a series of humiliations in front of an oblivious Joyce and unable to express extreme emotions outwardly, Dawn resorts to self-injury; the physical pain acts as a release from her emotional pain. Her actions are discovered by Lorraine, another social outsider in the high school with whom she can relate. A teacher observes blood on Dawn's blouse from her cut wrist, and the principal calls her parents to the school.

Humiliated after being told Dawn has other injuries and that this cannot happen again on school grounds without action being taken, Joyce once again refocuses the situation on herself by insisting Dawn's actions aren't a reflection of her parenting, while Russell's sole concern is whether the incident will be on Dawn's record when she applies to college. Joyce further humiliates Dawn by forcing her to unwrap her bandage in front of her father and brother; demanding that she explain what motivates her.

Lorraine introduces Dawn to her psychiatrist, Dr. Parella (Rhea Perlman) who tells Dawn she understands the feeling of control cutting gives her, and that she can contact her any time. Declaring she can deal with Dawn's cutting better than any stranger, Joyce removes all the knives from the kitchen as a punishment for Dawn's lack of control and cuts up her supper for her, which encourages her brother's contemptuous treatment of her . These new strains leave Dawn even more unable to cope. When Craig drops her after he discovers a series of fresh cuts on her legs, Lorraine explains to a stunned Dawn that Craig won't be telling anyone at school because he won't want it known he had anything to do with her. After trying and failing to open up to Dr. Parella, in a burst of honesty Dawn tells her father no one likes her and she has no friends, but Russell's response is to tell her she's being ridiculous, and that she'll blossom in college. This leads Dawn to burn herself so seriously with the car cigarette lighter that her parents take her to the emergency room.

Realizing there is no alternative for Dawn, her parents agree to allow her to begin counselling with Dr. Parella, who addresses her inability to express emotional pain through verbal channels. Joyce, despairing that Dawn will cut too deep one day, shares with her that when she was a child, her younger sister was hit by a car while in her care. When Dawn is moved, Joyce ruins the moment by declaring that she will never again be blamed for a similar loss. When Dawn is mocked the next day in school for cutting herself, she discovers that Joyce has deliberately told a parent of one of Dawn's classmates about her cutting, in the mistaken notion that peer pressure will force her to stop. She then threatens to have Dawn institutionalized if she can't stop.

Triggered by the news that her friend Lorraine has been brutally beaten by her mother's boyfriend, and by Joyce's refusal to listen to her and take her to the hospital where she is in a coma, Dawn sneaks out to Craig's loft, where his bandmates have sex with her; the next morning she brutally slashes her body and ends up in the hospital in restraints. Joyce, tired of being blamed for her daughter's condition, decides it would be better for her to simply leave. Dawn, feeling abandoned by the only person she has left, finally confronts Joyce and tells her she always makes every situation about her own well-being, and yells at her to leave. When Dr. Parella comes to visit her in the hospital afterwards, Dawn breaks down into tears, admitting that her mother's departure didn't feel as bad as she thought it would. Dr. Parella points out that if Dawn is crying, she's not cutting.

After being released, Dawn goes to visit Lorraine, who is still in the hospital recovering. Dawn tells Lorraine about her mother leaving, and shows her the photos of the winter carnival sets. Lorraine then tells Dawn that it's too good for the popular kids at their school, and they needed to enjoy their fleeting popularity while they can, but their own time is just beginning.

Recently-divorced Los Angeles advice columnist Julie Caffret begins attending group therapy sessions led by the widowed Dr. Pieter Fales, a German psychologist. The sessions are held in Pieter's spacious house, which he shares with his teenage daughter, Alison. Members of the group include Gilbert, a lonely handyman who works in Julie's apartment building; Pat, a Wellesley College graduate employed as a stripper, and with whom Pieter carries on a secret sexual relationship; and Rosemary Boyle, a spinster.

After one of the sessions, one of the female members of the therapy group is stalked by an unseen motorist while riding a bicycle on a country dirt road, and is chased into an abandoned house, where she is brutally stabbed to death with a pair of scissors. A short time later, a teenage couple having sex in the garage of the abandoned house find the woman's dead body. Meanwhile, Julie is disturbed after she begins receiving a number of anonymous cut-and-paste notes threatening murder and assault. Finding little help from authorities, Julie ponders responding to the anonymous letter writer in her advice column. Doug, her ex-husband with whom she works with at the newspaper, warns her against this, fearing it will only lead to further harassment.

Late one night after leaving the strip club, Pat is stalked by the unseen motorist, who chases her through an alleyway. She attempts to flee, but is cornered by the assailant, who stabs her to death. Julie grows close to Pieter, and is invited by him to his house for a formal dinner. However, the meal goes awry when Alison, dressed in her deceased mother's clothing, rages at her father for inviting Julie there on the anniversary of her mother's death.

Later, Doug witnesses Julie and Pieter engaging in sex when he peers through the window of her apartment. The next day, Rosemary, while relaxing in her hot tub, is stalked by the killer, who slashes her to death with scissors. In his office, Pieter discovers a paper clipping lying on the floor, and begins to suspect Alison may be the one sending Julie the threatening letters. He confronts her, and asks if she is responsible for the deaths of his patients. Alison vehemently denies any involvement and, despondent, locks herself in the garage and turns on her car, attempting suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning. However, she decides against it, and backs the car through the garage door before speeding away.

Julie publishes her office phone number in her advice column, hoping for a call from the killer that police can trace. Doug, though initially reluctant to the idea, agrees to help Julie and listen in on any phone calls. Julie receives a call from Alison, who asks if she can come speak with her. Alison arrives and confronts Julie and Doug, threatening them with a pistol. Moments later, Pieter calls the office, and rushes there when Julie says Alison's name. Pieter arrives and finds the office in disarray, but nobody in sight. Doug, brandishing Alison's pistol, begins to shoot at Pieter as he stalks him through the office—it is reveled that Doug is in fact the killer, motivated by Julie's sharing of details regarding the deterioration of their marriage, and what he perceives as a slight against his character.

Police and investigators descend on the office building as Doug threatens Pieter with a pistol, while Julie and Alison, who were kidnapped by Doug and bound-and-gagged in a supply room, manage to free themselves. Pieter and Doug engage in a violent fight, which Julie and Alison stumble upon. As Doug gains control of Pieter, Alison stabs him to death with a pair of scissors, saving her father's life. Seconds later, police burst into the office, as Pieter, Julie, and Alison embrace.

Virginia "Ginny" Wainwright is a pretty and popular high school senior at Crawford Academy, a member of the school's "Top Ten," an elite clique of the most privileged and popular students. Each night, the group meets at the Silent Woman Tavern, a local pub. One night en route to the tavern, Bernadette O'Hara is attacked in her car by an unseen assailant. She struggles and plays dead to catch the killer off-guard before running to get help. She then runs into an unseen individual whom she is familiar with and begs for help, but the person slashes her neck with a straight razor.

The Top Ten becomes concerned when Bernadette fails to arrive at the pub. Upon leaving, the group sees the nearby drawbridge raising and decide to play a game of chicken. Ginny is pushed into a car by Ann Thomason, and each of the group attempt to cross the bridge as it raises; the car Ginny is in barely clears the bridge, crashing as it meets the other side. Distraught, Ginny runs home, stopping at her mother's grave in an adjacent cemetery. At her home, Etienne, a Top Ten member, breaks into Ginny's room and steals her underwear.

Bernadette fails to show up at school the following day. Ginny, who is plagued by repressed memories, visits her on-call psychiatrist, Dr. Faraday, with whom she previously underwent an experimental brain tissue restoration procedure after surviving a harrowing accident at the drawbridge. As Ginny attempts to resume her normal life, her fellow Top Ten members are murdered in vicious and violent ways: Etienne is strangled when his scarf gets thrown into the spokes of his motorcycle, and Greg's neck is crushed in his room while lifting weights. Ann and Ginny go to Alfred's house as he has been acting odd lately and discovers he is an elaborate prosthetic make up artist with a creepy replica of Bernadette's head

One night, Alfred, a Top Ten member who is infatuated with Ginny, follows her to her mother's grave. In retaliation, she stabs him with a pair of garden shears. On the weekend of Ginny's 18th birthday, her father leaves for a business trip. After a school dance, Ginny invites Steve to her house and prepares shish kebabs. While the two are drinking wine and smoking marijuana, Ginny begins to feed Steve with the kebab, but violently shoves the skewer down his throat.

Ann arrives at Ginny's house the following morning and finds Ginny taking a shower. In the shower, Ginny has a flashback of her mother's death: Her mother, a newly-inducted socialite, invites the Top Ten to Ginny's birthday celebration four years earlier and is concerned when no guests have arrived. After questioned by her mother, Ginny tearfully mentions the group are attending a party Ann is having instead. Humiliated, her mother drives drunk to the Thomasons' house with Ginny, where she is denied entry by Mr. Thomason's gatekeeper. Enraged and upset, she attempts to drive across a raising drawbridge, causing their car to fall into the water. Pinned beneath the steering wheel, Ginny's mother drowns. Ginny, however, manages to swim to safety.

Paranoid that she may be murdering her friends during blackout episodes, Ginny visits Dr. Faraday. When she confronts him over the procedure she underwent, he is evasive, and she murders him with a fireplace poker. Mr. Wainright returns home during a thunderstorm for Ginny's birthday and finds a pool of blood in the foyer. He flees hysterically, and finds one of Ginny's friends, Amelia, standing in the yard in what seems to be a state of shock, clutching a wrapped gift. In the cemetery, he discovers his late wife's grave to have been robbed, with Dr. Faraday's corpse lying in it.

Mr. Wainright notices a light on inside the family's guest cottage. Inside, he finds the bodies of each member of the Top Ten seated at a table alongside his dead wife's corpse. He then sees Ginny enter the room with a birthday cake, singing "Happy Birthday" to herself, seeming to have lost her mind. Feeling he has failed his daughter with her treatment, Ginny suddenly slashes her father's throat. He dies, failing to notice another girl is seated at the table with her head down. Ginny then goes toward the girl, who also appears to be Ginny. As the girl comes to the Ginny we have seen throughout the film, she begins to raise her voice saying she did it all for her, as she ruined her last party. Suddenly the two Ginnys struggle and the other girl is revealed as Ann, who has disguised herself as Ginny with an elaborate latex mask probably made by Alfred. Ann removes the mask, ranting and raving over her father's affair with Ginny's mother and how it destroyed her family. Ann reveals that she and Ginny are half-sisters and it's all her fault. Ginny manages to wrestle the knife from Ann and stabs her to death. As she stands over Ann's corpse holding the bloodied knife, a police officer enters the cottage and says, "What have you done?"

One night at a party, Brandon Sinclair uses his Ouija board with his ex-girlfriend Linda Brewster to contact the spirit of David, whom he communicated with before. Her boyfriend, Jim Morar, insults David, which provokes him to slash the tires of Brandon's car. The next day, Linda uses Brandon's board that was left behind to contact David, who informs her where her lost engagement ring is. At the construction site where Jim works, his friend Lloyd is killed by fallen drywall. When Jim is questioned by Lieutenant Dewhurst at Lloyd's funeral, Linda contacts David about the accident, but he says that he did not cause it.

Linda begins to fall under progressive entrapment, where the spirit terrorizes the user enough to weaken them in order to possess them. Brandon brings over psychic medium Zarabeth Crawford to contact David through a séance, and to exorcise him if necessary. After the spirit leaves, a suspicious Zarabeth returns home to research the occurrence, but her throat is slashed before she is thrown through a window, landing on a sundial. The next morning, Brandon hears about her death and suspects that David killed her.

As Brandon leaves to seek information, Jim witnesses Linda violently thrown against the wall, rendering her unconscious. After she is brought to a hospital, Jim teams with Brandon to conduct research on David. At the lake where he died, they use another board to learn that a different spirit, Carlos Malfeitor, was terrorizing Linda all along. Jim is suddenly knocked out by barrels, and Brandon is killed by Malfeitor with a hatchet. Upon regaining consciousness, Jim grieves over Brandon's body. That night, he reads that Malfeitor was an axe murderer shot by police in his home in 1930—the same residence he and Linda live in.

After Linda releases herself from the hospital, she is attacked by Malfeitor. The next day, Jim finds their home in disarray, before a possessed Linda attacks him. Dewhurst enters to accuse Jim of the murders, but Linda strikes him with a fire poker. Jim takes his revolver, where Linda tells him that he is the "portal", taunting him into committing suicide. He shoots the board before he is pushed through a window and lands on a car. After the events, Jim and Linda resume their lives and marry each other. Their landlady, Mrs. Moses, finds the board and wonders if it still works. The board is thrown into a box, where its planchette moves to the word "yes" by itself.

Karel Horák (Jan Hartl) and Božena Horáková (Veronika Žilková) are a childless couple and for medical reasons are doomed to remain so. While on vacation with their neighbors at a house in the country, Karel decides to buy the house at the suggestion of his neighbor. When he is fixing up the house, he digs up a tree stump that looks vaguely like a baby. He spends the rest of the evening cleaning it up and then presents it to his wife. She names the stump Otík and starts to treat it like a real baby. She then works out a plan to fake her pregnancy and becoming more and more impatient she speeds up the process and 'gives birth' one month early.

Otík comes alive and has an insatiable appetite. Alžbětka (Kristina Adamcová), the neighbor's daughter, has been suspicious all along, and when she reads the fairy tale about Otesánek, the truth becomes clear to her. Meanwhile, little Otík has been just eating and growing. At one point he eats some of Božena's hair, and another day she returns home to find that Otík has eaten their cat. Karel and his wife are at odds with Karel pushing for killing the thing and Božena defending it as their child. The baby later consumes a postal worker (Gustav Vondráček) and then a social worker (Jitka Smutná).

The resulting deaths lead Karel to tie up and lock Otík away in the basement of their apartment building, leaving Otík to starve. Alžbětka secretly takes over as prime caretaker. She tries to keep Otík fed with normal human food, but, when her mother stops her, she is forced to drawing straws (matches in this case) to choose a person to feed to Otík. The chosen victim is an old man and pedophile, Mr. Žlábek (Zdeněk Kozák) who has been stalking her recently. Deciding she cannot take the stalking anymore, Alžbětka lures Mr. Žlábek to the basement where he gets entangled by Otik's vines and devoured. Karel himself later becomes a victim when he comes into the basement with a chainsaw but on seeing Otík he hesitates and calls him "son" before dropping the chainsaw. Afterwards, Božena goes into the basement and is heard screaming; having become a victim herself. In the end, Otík disobeys Alžbětka despite repeated warnings and eats all of Mrs. Správcová's (Dagmar Stříbrná) cabbage patch, prompting the old woman to take charge.

Ending

In the fairy tale upon which the movie is based, the old woman kills Otesánek by splitting his stomach open with a hoe; however, the film ends with her descending the stairs, Alžbětka reciting the end of the fairy tale tearfully; the audience is not allowed to witness the deed.

The film is about the two teenage boys, Pelle and Proffen, that try to help Pelle's girlfriend, Lena, who has a drug problem. She is only 15 years old, and they initially meet at a snackbar in downtown Oslo. She has been abused by a social worker at a home for troubled teens. While they try to help Lena she runs away, they get beat up and watch people overdose at the central train station in Oslo.

The film deals with issues like drugs, troubled teens and their parents, child pornography. It's also about Pelle and Proffen's families and their different backgrounds. Pelle's parents are former hippies and very liberal, but Proffen's parents are old and conservative.

Space is explored not by short-sighted governments but by the Earth Company, a private corporation which becomes enormously wealthy and powerful as a result. Nine star systems are found to lack planets suitable for colonization, so space stations are built in orbit instead, stepping stones for further exploration. Then, Pell's World is found to be not only habitable, but already populated by the gentle, sentient (if technologically backward) Hisa. Pell Station is built. The planet is nicknamed "Downbelow" by the stationers, who also start to call their home "Downbelow Station".

When Earth's out-of-touch policies cause it to begin losing control of its more distant stations and worlds, it builds a fleet of fifty military carriers, the Earth Company Fleet, to enforce its will. This leads to the prolonged Company War with the breakaway Union, based at Cyteen, another habitable world. Caught in between are the stationers and the merchanters who crew the freighters that maintain interstellar trade.

Set in the final days of the war, ''Downbelow Station'' opens with Earth Company Captain Signy Mallory and her warship, ''Norway'', escorting a ragtag fleet fleeing from Russell's and Mariner Stations to Pell. Similar convoys arrive from other stations destroyed or lost to Union, leading to an enormous crisis. The flood of unexpected refugees strains station resources. Angelo Konstantin, Stationmaster of Pell, and his two sons, Damon and Emilio, struggle to cope with the situation. Fearing Union infiltrators and saboteurs, Pell dumps all the refugees in a Quarantine Zone, causing massive dislocations of Pell's own citizens.

While conferring with Pell's administrators, Mallory encounters a delegation from the Earth Company, led by Segust Ayres, Second Secretary of Earth's Security Council. Offended by her brusque, arrogant manner, Ayres declines her offer of transportation to the front and charters a freighter instead. Unbeknownst to Mallory, Ayres' mission is to open peace negotiations with Union.

Mallory also drops off a Union prisoner of war, Josh Talley, whom she had rescued from a brutal interrogation by panicked security forces at Russell's. However, on the voyage to Pell, her sexual exploitation of him had been only marginally less abusive. Faced with indefinite confinement on Pell, Talley requests Adjustment, the wiping of much of his memory, in return for his freedom. When questioned by Damon Konstantin, he requests Adjustment to escape the indefinite imprisonment, so Konstantin reluctantly gives his permission. Upon later review of his file, Damon learns that Talley had already undergone the treatment once before at Russell's. Still feeling guilty for agreeing, he and his wife Elene Quen befriend the post-Adjustment Talley, an act of kindness that will have monumental, unforeseen consequences.

Jon Lukas, Angelo Konstantin's brother-in-law and only rival for power, is worried about the course of the war. The Fleet has received little or no support from an indifferent Earth and is gradually losing a war of attrition. He secretly contacts Union, offering to hand Pell over. Union responds by smuggling in a secret agent named Jessad.

Meanwhile, the last ten surviving Company Fleet ships under the command of Conrad Mazian gather for the most critical operation of the war. All of Mazian's recent strategic maneuvers and raids have been leading up to this point. If they can take out Viking Station in one coordinated strike before their enemy's growing numerical superiority can overwhelm them, there would be a wide, barren region between Earth and Union space, one which would make further conflict vastly more costly for Union.

Seb Azov, the Union military commander, has no choice but to gather his forces at Viking to await Mazian's anticipated attack. However, he has an ace up his sleeve. He has pressured Ayres into recording a message ordering Mazian to break off while peace is being negotiated. When Mazian strikes, Ayres' broadcast order does indeed force him to abort and the Fleet retreats to Pell in confusion.

Mazian meets with his captains and gives them the choice of accepting a peace treaty that essentially concedes victory to Union as per Ayres' broadcast or rebelling against Earth and continuing to fight that is his preference. They all remain loyal to their leader. One of Mazian's first acts is to place Pell under martial law.

The Fleet is now forced to defend Downbelow Station, its only reliable base and supply source. Union forces attack and destroy two ships out on patrol. While Union suffers casualties as well, it can replace its losses, unlike Mazian. Counting one carrier lost earlier in the debacle at Viking, he has just seven ships left.

Under cover of the panic on the station caused by the battle in space, Lukas makes his move, killing and supplanting his hated rival, Angelo Konstantin. To escape rioting refugees, Elene Quen is forced to board ''Finity's End'', one of the most respected merchanter ships. The freighters flee the battle zone, but Quen convinces most of them to band together, for safety and to maximize their leverage whatever happens. Damon survives his uncle's assassination attempt and links up with Talley. Together, they manage to hide from Lukas; in fact, Talley discovers he is surprisingly good at it.

Eventually, they are contacted by Jessad, and Talley finds out why. He and Jessad are the same kind: ''azi'', artificially bred and, in Jessad and Talley's case, trained especially for espionage and sabotage. They are discovered by Fleet marines; Jessad is killed, while Konstantin and Talley are captured and taken to Mallory.

She receives orders from Mazian to quietly dispose of Konstantin. Lukas does the Fleet's bidding with far fewer scruples, so Konstantin is superfluous, even dangerous. Mazian is preparing to disable and abandon Downbelow Station. He has another goal in mind: to take over Earth itself in a surprise coup d'etat. The wrecking of Pell would create a firebreak with Union, playing the role he had originally intended for Viking.

Mallory has different ideas. Mazian has gone too far for her to stomach. She abruptly undocks from Pell and deserts. Mallory finds the Union forces and persuades Azov to unleash them against her former comrades. Talley is instrumental in convincing Azov of Mallory's truthfulness.

Mazian cannot afford a costly fight, so the Fleet sets off for Earth prematurely. Azov needs to pursue him, but is unwilling to leave ''Norway'' intact behind him. The tense standoff is broken by a timely arrival; Quen returns with the united merchanter fleet and claims Pell for the newborn Merchanter's Alliance, with ''Norway'' as its militia. Without the authority to deal with this new development and unwilling to fight the merchanters, Azov leaves to deal with Mazian.

The end of the Company War is at last in sight, much to the relief of the Konstantins, the merchanters, and the residents of Downbelow Station.

After she caught him cheating on her on a public toilet, Axel (played by Til Schweiger) has just been dumped by his girlfriend Doro (Katja Riemann), and needs to find a new place to live. He meets Walter a.k.a. Waltraud (Rufus Beck), a transvestite who participated in a heterosexual men's group to provide a gay man's perspective. Walter talks Axel into joining him and some friends at a gay party afterwards, and tries to convince Axel to move in with him. At the party, Axel decides instead to move in with Walter's best friend, Norbert (Joachim Król), whose boyfriend has just left him. Later, at Axel and Doro's apartment, Norbert tries to seduce Axel while they browse old photos. Just when Norbert has shed all his clothes, Doro shows up at the door, and Axel hastily hides Norbert. Doro explains to Axel that she's expecting his child and wants to give their relationship a second chance. She is not amused to discover a naked man in the wardrobe, but Axel manages to convince her that nothing has happened. Excited about fatherhood and eager to return to Doro, Axel forgets about his new friendship with Norbert.

But soon Axel discovers a downside to the pregnancy: he finds that he is extremely adverse to having sex with a pregnant woman, due to an irrational fear of hurting the child. Despite his engagement to her, he decides to stray when he encounters Elke, a former girlfriend. They are trying to find a place to have sex when Axel bumps into Norbert again. At first Norbert is angry with him for having left without a word, but Axel claims it's only because Doro was upset. Axel convinces Norbert to lend his apartment for the tryst with Elke. A few days later at Norbert's apartment, Elke gives Axel a mind-altering drug, and leaves him sitting naked on a table. Meanwhile, Doro has learned that Axel went to Norbert's apartment, and she thinks that Axel is going to have sex with Norbert. She confronts Norbert at his apartment and upon entering, she sees Axel naked and unable to speak and starts to go into labor. In the bathroom Norbert finds Elke and Norbert's not-so-gay boyfriend playing in the tub. As Norbert drives her to the hospital, he attempts to explain everything on the way. Doro forgives Norbert and they become friends, but her relationship with Axel is in question.

Cyberia

Dave Lister – the last surviving human in the universe – wakes in a transport ship taking him to prison colony Cyberia, the worst place in the universe, having been found guilty of serious crimes against the GELF state and sentenced to the worst imprisonment imaginable, having been hindered by his inability to comprehend the over-complicated legal system of the GELF – and his choice of clothing, including a tie depicting a naked woman in birthing stirrups. After his welcome by the foul and grotesque Snugiraffe, the prison commandant, he is implanted and introduced into the cyber network of Cyberia where he will be forced to live out his life in a hellish dream world of his own creation. Naturally he spends a great deal of time considering where it all went wrong...

Time Fork

Dave Lister awakes out of Deep Sleep on the transport ship ''Starbug'', disoriented and confused after living the last thirty six years in a backward universe. The mechanoid Kryten welcomes him back; he has been in stasis for twenty years and, not unnaturally, is suffering a spot of amnesia. He meets the rest of the crew, Kristine Kochanski, the Cat, and Rimmer. Kochanski is so happy to see him that she takes him straight to her quarters to make love. Despite still having no memory of her, Lister is caught up in the moment and happily obliges. Rimmer, meanwhile, has been able to procure a solidgram body from a derelict ship for himself allowing him to touch, eat and be three-dimensional again. Rimmer enjoys the new feelings, and spends hours looking at his restored body in a mirror.

On their way through the 'Omni-Zone' – the pathway between the seven parallel realities – back to their home ship ''Red Dwarf'', the crew are surprised to come across a derelict space craft that is the exact duplicate of ''Starbug''. Searching the ship, the crew find the duplicate Cat's disembodied head, Kryten's murdered body with his hand missing and Rimmer's destroyed light bee. They then find the duplicate Kochanski who has been viciously attacked and is barely alive. She makes Lister promise to find his duplicate self before she succumbs to her terrible injuries.

The crew soon find themselves on a GELF populated planet where the duplicate Lister was likely to have headed. Arriving, the crew find that the GELF tribe are sterile and sperm is a highly valued commodity. Of course, Lister and Cat have a 'secret store' and the crew start trading for much needed supplies. Meanwhile, Kryten finds himself in the middle of a huge protest asking the magistrate what happened to the duplicate Lister after learning he was arrested here. The magistrate explains that the duplicate Lister destroyed property and murdered several people including the magistrate. Kryten is confused, as the magistrate is clearly not dead only to learn that mystics predict crimes and the persons involved are arrested before they happen. Kryten suddenly understands what the protest is about and tells the others. Now knowing the duplicate Lister has committed no crime, Lister resolves to find him.

''In what is assumed to be a flash-back, Lister arrives in his cyber-hell... and is confused to find himself in what appears to be paradise. He is in a beautiful holiday home, wonderful food and drink are provided and Lister's original fear that his testicles had been detached is untrue. Lister begins to assume that 'hell' is having all his desires catered for leaving him wanting for nothing. Just as he begins settling in, he finds that there's been a mix-up and he's actually in the cyber-hell meant for a hologram named Capote who is allergic to wine and hates the architecture as it reminds him of his ex-wife. Lister is moved to his correct hell, a dank and squalid room where everything is filthy, the alarm clock never stops buzzing and the food is disgusting. Lister admits that he's slept in worse before, and begins his sentence.''

The crew are sent to another GELF tribe, the Kinatawowi, to get equipment they need in order to break the duplicate Lister out of Cyberia. Unfortunately, the Kinatawowi aren't sterile which causes offence when Lister and Cat offer their sperm as payment. Eventually, a deal is made; the crew will get a bunch of ramshackle droids and a virus that destroys electricity in return for Lister marrying the chief's daughter. Unfortunately, the bride wants to consummate the union immediately and the crew quickly make a run for it while the GELF promise revenge.

On Cyberia, the attempt to break the duplicate Lister out begins. Although it is mostly successful, the virus causes the prison's artificial gravity to fail. Lister is caught in the floating lake water and drowns, only to be revived by his duplicate self. The two begin their escape from the prison's forces however something doesn't sit right with Lister. His duplicate, after retrieving his belongings, enjoys the fight to an alarming degree and when the two make their getaway in a vehicle the duplicate turns around when he learns that they will outrun them in order to get in some more killing making Lister realise the whole venture has been misguided.

Later, as the two Listers sit around a campfire, the duplicate pulls out the hand of the duplicate Kryten holding a piece of paper from his belongings. Lister realises with horror that the duplicate Lister killed the rest of his crew and manages to knock him out and bind him with rope. However, as ''Starbug'' approaches the evil Lister throws himself into the campfire to escape his bonds and attacks. Soon, ''Starbug'' has left with the wrong Lister while the other is left buried on the planet.

The Rage

''An Earth long ago, in a universe far away. The Earth World President, John Milhous Nixon has learned that thermonuclear tests conducted too close to the surface of the sun have fatally weakened the star's structure, thus causing an eventual decay that will see the entire solar system die in four hundred thousand years – which will be very bad for the economy, and Nixon's re-election prospects. The only hope is to move the human race to another world in another galaxy; and to that end, a genome has been created that will rewrite DNA and thus turn an inhospitable, barren world into a world where the human race can live. A mission has been organised by Dr. Michael Longman (and his clones, Dr. Longman and Dr. Longman), including numerous GELFs to assist in the process and Michael McGruder, a heroic star soldier who has accepted this mission in the hopes that he may be able to find and contact his father, the long-lost hero of an ill-fated mining ship, revived to be that ship's hologram... Arnold J. Rimmer.''

The real Lister, having been rescued from his makeshift grave, is trapped in Cyberia charged with orchestrating the break-out (it is made clear that it was in fact he, and not the alternate Lister, who was the subject of the "Cyberia" section and that the 'flash-back' in "Time Fork" was actually a flash-forward). Having survived his alternate self's assault and attempted murder, he is now trapped in the soul-destroying hell of his own creation, where all the places and people remind him not only of the worst places in his life, but of everything he's lost, stolen by his alternative self – his girlfriend, his ship, his life. After five months of this hell, trapped in a grungy dystopian city surrounded by prostitutes that look like Kochanski, soul-sapping advertisements about his parentless upbringing, endless showings of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the cinema and – perhaps worst of all – encyclopedia salesmen, he is brought out of Cyberia and given an offer; to be part of an experimental terraforming and recolonisation program. The inmates bodies will be used to terraform an inhospitable planet into a comfortable environment. All of the inmates on Cyberia are innocent, as only people without any malice or rage are able to be used for this hence people being wrongly arrested on the GELF colony (not knowing that the alternate Lister was actually guilty of murder when he was incarcerated there as they were charging him on smuggling cases where they knew he was innocent). Unable to stand being imprisoned in his personal hell, Lister agrees.

Meanwhile, the crew of Starbug have found that the piece of paper in the duplicate Kryten's hand contained coordinates to a ship where important scientific research has been conducted. As it is a long trip to the ship, the ''Mayflower'', the crew are placed into stasis for the journey. Kryten awakes early, in order to prepare the crew, and notices several disconcerting differences in Lister's medical records. They've got the wrong Lister. And to make matters worse, in his checking of the alternate Starbug's crew records, a cursory examination of the alternative Lister's file reveals that, following a traumatic and abusive upbringing at the hands of his manic-depressive foster mother (as opposed to the kinder, but poorer, foster parents of the proper Lister) had developed into a ruthless, sociopathic criminal.

Before he can digest the alarming news, Kryten is startled by the evil Lister who has also awoken early. Just as he attempts to take out Kryten, a GELF ship sent by Lister's bride attacks. Boarding, the GELF demand what is theirs and the evil Lister tells Kryten to just give them what they want, something which Kryten is more than happy to do. The evil Lister realises too late that this means him, and he is dragged out of the airlock. As Kryten muses on this lucky turn of events he realises that Starbug is on fire. The rest of the crew wake just as Starbug plunges into the lava bed of the planet they were heading for. Before Starbug can burn up, it then ends up in an ocean created by the ''Mayflower''. With Starbug damaged, the crew board the ''Mayflower'' and find several hundred vials of diverse viruses including positive ones that bestow luck on the infected for a time. Kochanski, after infecting herself for a short while, manages to find more luck virus as well as other vials that will come in handy. Kryten, meanwhile, finds a DNA machine and turns himself human.

As part of his agreement in volunteering for the terraforming program, Lister is granted the use of a symbi-morph named Reketrebn to fulfil his desires with her shapeshifting and telepathic abilities. Reketrebn is defective, however, and intends to save herself for her boyfriend. Lister isn't interested in using her for romantic purposes and asks her to turn into Kryten so he can get information out of him- Reketrebn essentially manifesting as Kryten to give Lister confirmation of his own theories based on information he has subconsciously processed and deduced, such as subconsciously overhearing a conversation about symbi-morphs in a bar and subconsciously deducing that Rimmer was Kochanski's lover in this reality rather than his evil self- before having her turn into him so she can feel the pain he feels from losing Kochanski to his evil self. After this, Reketrebn agrees to help Lister, but their attempt to escape results in them arriving on the same ship that would have taken them to the terraforming project, save that they are now in the control cabin rather than the stasis chambers.

On the planet, Lister meets Michael McGruder who was kept in deep sleep aboard the ''Mayflower''. McGruder tells Lister that he wants to meet his hero, Rimmer, who is also his father. Thinking he will never see Rimmer again, Lister doesn't correct him. He then learns of a powerful force known as 'The Rage' created by the feelings of fury from the wrongly convicted inmates. To prevent it from killing everyone, the inmates form a circle and The Rage will move between them before choosing one person to inhabit for a few seconds, killing them. Lister joins the circle, and for the time he is consumed with The Rage all his dark feelings are brought to the fore and Lister begs it to consume him. However, it chooses another and kills him before leaving.

Kryten initially revels in his humanity, but quickly grows disenchanted with the experience and decides to turn back. Doing so is easier said than done as Longman, having used the DNA machine too many times leaving him barely human, has stolen the mechanoid data. Thanks to the luck virus, Kochanski defeats Longman and Kryten is restored to his regular form. The crew then use the luck virus to find the coordinates of the planet where Lister is and head there.

Reaching the planet, Lister is reunited with the rest of the crew and McGruder finally meets his father but is devastated when told he is hardly a hero but a maintenance technician. ''Starbug'' loses power once it lands, and the planet will soon be passing through the Omni-Zone into another universe where it will be allowed to thrive. Rimmer walks through a cave when he finds Michael being attacked by the evil Lister. His confusion about how the evil Lister made it there despite being removed by the Kinatowowi is put on hold, when suddenly the radiation gun the evil Lister possesses drops close to him. However Rimmer can't pluck up the courage to grab it, and the evil Lister throws imprisons him in the hold aboard ''Starbug'' with Kryten, who found the dead bodies of the four Kinatowowi who boarded earlier (the evil Lister had never left the ship, having killed his escorts before going into hiding to heal from the wounds they inflicted on him). The evil Lister emerges from the ship and locates the rest of the crew demanding the solar-powered escape pod to allow him to leave the planet. As well as this, he shoots Lister in the genitals with the radiation gun rendering him sterile. Meanwhile, The Rage is approaching again.

Aboard ''Starbug'', Kryten comes up with a plan to escape the ship using Rimmer's light bee. Although Rimmer is hesitant due to the chance the bee could be destroyed, he talks himself round and agrees to take the risk. The gambit works, and the two escape the ship. The Rage is near, however the crew come up with a plan to kill The Rage by infecting it with the same virus that was used to break into Cyberia. Kryten plans to infect it by throwing himself into The Rage, despite the fact that he won't come back. However the evil Lister attacks again, but Rimmer bravely comes forward to defend his shipmates wearing a jet-pack. McGruder is proud to see his father acting with courage, and Rimmer starts to enjoy himself feeling his neuroses slipping away. Unfortunately, this comes to a premature end when the evil Lister shoots Rimmer's light bee causing Rimmer to deactivate and the heavily damaged bee falls to the ground.

The Rage is nearly upon everyone, and there's no time left to infect it with the virus. Everyone forms the circle required to prevent The Rage from killing everyone, however Lister warns that one of them will still die. The evil Lister doesn't intend for it to be him, and infects himself with the luck virus. The Rage hits, and everyone begs for it to possess them. However, thanks to the positive virus, the evil Lister is the one who is 'lucky' enough to get his wish to have The Rage consume him. He takes on the full force of the entity, which finally kills him leaving only his bones behind.

Even though The Rage has passed, it must still be destroyed before the planet passes through the Omni-Zone. Suddenly Rimmer's light bee, hovering using the last of its power, uses morse code to communicate with the crew and offer to take the virus and infect The Rage with it. After saying a final goodbye to his son, who now knows that while Rimmer may not have been the hero he was raised to believe in he is still a man to be proud of, the light bee flies into The Rage and infects it with the virus stopping its destruction and allowing the souls of the inmates who created it to rest in peace.

The planet starts to pass through the Omni-Zone, and the remaining crew take shelter in the caves for three weeks as the planet is pounded by storms. Emerging, everyone finds a pleasant, hospitable world growing, waiting for them. As Kryten, Cat, McGruder and Reketrebn leave to search for Rimmer's light bee in order to give him a funeral, Lister and Kochanski stare over the world. Lister sadly comments that this would be the ideal place to raise a family and help to restart the human race – a dream now impossible thanks to his alternate self. Kochanski tells him that all hope shouldn't be lost, as he could still father children if he's very lucky... and Kochanski still has some of the luck virus. Taking it, Lister and Kochanski head into the grass and get to work.

During winter, the twelve girls are preparing to walk outside as always: at half-past nine in two straight lines. Before they head out on their daily outing, they soon find out that their instructor Miss Clavel (Stevie Vallance) is sick with a bad fever. Dr. Cohn tells her to stay in bed until she fully recovers, and then tells the girls to give her warmth and love while she recovers. Suddenly, the girls are interrupted by Pepito (Michael Heyward) who was playing his violin next door; he promises Madeline (Andrea Libman) that he'll stop playing until Miss Clavel feels better again. That night while getting ready for bed, the children lament Miss Clavel's sickness. They reminisce about the good times that they've had with each of their families as well as their own periods of illness. Madeline also tells her friends about the good times that she's had with her own family. She shows them a special gold necklace with animal printings that her mother had given her; unfortunately, since both of her parents died many years ago, she has no other family members to return to. Saddened by Madeline's story, the girls express their condolences and reunite in an outpouring of grief, but they are soon comforted by Miss Clavel, awoken by the commotion. She comforts the girls by reminding them that they all love and look out for each other, and that they are all are just as much a family as anybody else.

Sometime later, Madeline receives a mysterious letter in the mail from her long-lost Uncle Horst (Jason Alexander) from Vienna, Austria, who is planning on a visit. He arrives at the school later that week where is invited for a gala; attendees include the girls, Lord Cucuface (French Tickner), and Pepito's family. Uncle Horst then announces that he has been designated Madeline's new legal guardian and shows the court papers to Miss Clavel. Horst plans on taking her to his hometown, Vienna, to attend a fine finishing school and obtain a master’s degree. He plans on leaving the following day via the Orient Express. Madeline, Pepito, and her classmates react with shock, elation, and sorrow. The children put on a musical to display their talents to Uncle Horst; however, this does not impress him enough, and he decides to take Madeline with him the next day.

When Uncle Horst leaves with his niece the next morning, he takes Madeline on the Paris Métro instead of the Orient Express. Their destination is a distant and unfamiliar slum that's ravaged with poverty and crime. Presuming that she is being kidnapped for trafficking purposes, Madeline throws beads of her mother's treasured necklace to make a trail to where she is taken to; however, she keeps one of the beads with a lion on it as a memento. It is then revealed that Uncle Horst is not related to Madeline at all, but rather a failed actor named Henri who serves as a henchman for Madame LaCroque (Lauren Bacall), the head of a slavery mafia and the owner of a bobbin lace shop/factory. Henri takes Madeline to the lace shop's basement, which is full of kidnapped orphan girls who are slaves to make laces to sell. One of the girls, Fifi, befriends Madeline. It is then revealed that Madame LaCroque forged Madeline's court custody papers in order to steal her family inheritance while she is trapped in the factory.

Shortly after Madeline left, Miss Clavel, the girls, and Pepito tried to stop her and Horst so that Pepito could give her his Halloween parting gift: a shrunken head from Brazil. They arrive at the train station only to learn that the two had taken the Métro rather than the Orient Express. They also find Genevieve the dog abandoned at the station. Fearing the worst, Miss Clavel summons the police to find Madeline.

At the lace shop, the child workers endure enormous amounts of emotional and physical abuse at the hands of LaCroque; an example is when Fifi's whooping cough turns one of the laces yellow. As a punishment, LaCroque decides to have her make only black lace in the dark, which could potentially render her blind. Madeline defends Fifi and the other children in the process, but LaCroque retaliates and punishes Madeline for her backtalk by throwing her into a prison cell.

After breaking off a loose brick, Madeline tells the girls that they should escape from the factory. Fifi discourages this, explaining that she tried once but was caught in the process, and consequently LaCroque cut off her once-long hair to make lace, making her look like a boy. When Madeline asks how LaCroque's cruelty originated, Fifi explains through a flashback sequence that LaCroque was once a famous cabaret dancer who experienced a performance disaster by accidentally ripping her dress. Totally humiliated, she stopped performing altogether and sold all of her long blond hair to make lace. She and Henri then formed a slavery duo, gained legal custody of all of the orphan girls, and repossessed them for child labor.

Through following the trail of Madeline's necklace beads, Madeline's classmates along with Pepito, Genevieve, and the police, find their way to the factory. Back at the lace store, a customer tells LaCroque that she wants red lace, which gives her the idea to shave off Madeline's hair. LaCroque then orders Henri to sell off Madeline’s belongings. As the girls attempt to flee through a high window, LaCroque ambushes them, cutting off a few locks of Madeline's hair in the process, and prepares to torture her and the other orphans by deciding to give all of them haircuts only to make laces.

Back at the factory, Pepito uses his shrunken skull head to knock off LaCroque's wig (revealing her bald head) and then frighten her to the ground. Meanwhile, Miss Clavel and the police search around the slum for Henri; he is finally detected walking through the streets, carrying Madeline’s briefcase to be later sold. After pursuit, Henri agrees to lead them to the lace factory in exchange for reducing his prison sentence. Madeline and the lace shop slaves are able to knock down LaCroque and trap her in endless rolls of lace just as the eleven little girls and Pepito forge a path toward the factory and as the cops arrive with Henri and Miss Clavel. After a final negotiation with LaCroque, she pleads innocent and tells the law enforcement that Henri planned her apprehension. Henri, hearing this, makes one last attempt to escape, only to be kicked by LaCroque for treason, tripped by Pepito's spool trick, and tangled up by the girls. Finally, the law enforcement rewards Miss Clavel and the girls with a large fine of francs for the capture of both crime lords.

The eleven school girls return to Madeline her mother's beads. At odds with the jubilant mood, the factory girls have nowhere to go. Much later, Madeline (wearing her mother’s repaired necklace as a symbol of solidarity), uses the reward money to open up an orphanage for those who were once LaCroque and Henri’s subservient puppets. Fifi, (now healthy and with fully-grown hair thanks to Dr. Cohn), thanks Madeline for sacrificing all the money for her and her friends. Miss Clavel appreciates Madeline’s selflessness, courage and empathy to end misery in the city and making it a safer place. Fifi and Madeline decide that as sister schools, they could visit sometime. As the girls from both orphanages learn that they are a whole family, all of Paris rejoices.

Ebenezer was born in the late nineteenth century, and dies in the early 1960s. He lived his whole life in the Vale. He never married, despite a few flings with local girls, and a tempestuous relationship with Liza Queripel of Pleinmont. He only left the island once, to travel to Jersey to watch the Muratti. For most of his life he was a grower and fisherman, although he also served in the North regiment of the Royal Guernsey Militia (though not outside the island) and did some jobbing work for the States of Guernsey in the latter part of his life. Guernsey is a microcosm of the world as Dublin is to James Joyce and Wessex is to Hardy. After a life fraught with difficulties and full of moving episodes, Ebenezer is ready to die happy, bequeathing his pot of gold and autobiography ("The Book of Ebenezer Le Page") to the young artist he befriends, after an incident in which the latter smashed his greenhouse.

Set in the new town of Moonlea, a fictionalised version of Merthyr Tydfil, it is told from the viewpoint of a travelling harpist, Alan Hugh Leigh, who is looking for his friend, the singer John Simon Adams. But his friend has become a populist leader among the ironworkers, who are involved in a bitter industrial conflict.

Rachel Trezise describes it as "an emblematic account of the 1831 Merthyr Rising".

The ''Leviathan'' is the largest ship ever built—a mile long, half a mile tall and taking ten years to build. Designed by architect Ashbless—who is aboard and part of the governing cabal—and launched in 1928 with some 28,000 onboard, her maiden voyage was to New York. At some unspecified point of the journey, it disappeared and has spent the last twenty years lost in an endless and lifeless ocean.

Detective Lament is summoned to the officers' club, where the cabal ask him to look into several murders—hushed up as suicides—that have occurred in the First Class section. Initially Lament is loath to become involved, as he believes the First Class hold everybody in contempt, however Captain McLean persuades him to investigate.

Lament has barely begun his investigation before it is curtailed and ship's security arrest a member of staff who was caught stealing supplies—food being in short order—believing him to be the murderer. The steward insists that "Stokers"—ship-board mythical bogymen are in fact real and responsible for the deaths, but before Lament can question him further security execute him. Disgusted, Lament returns to his deck and regrets his involvement.

Later McLean approaches Lament and again asks for his help, suspecting that the steward was correct and unnatural forces are at work—the engine room has been off limits for 5 years and, despite having lights, heat and power, "the ''Leviathan'' should have run out of fuel decades ago". Lament again takes up his investigation and ventures into the Steerage decks, where, after a violent encounter, he is rescued by Sky Baker, a "Mace"—one of the self-appointed security for the Steerage decks.

Sky confirms Lament's theory about the Stokers, and the two venture down to the engine room. Ambushed by a horde of Stokers, they are taken to the "engine" itself—an oubliette containing the Demon Hastur. Hastur explains that Ashbless is in fact eight hundred years old, initially one of the Knights Hospitaller during the Crusades, but entered a devil's bargain: Ashbless owns Hastur's soul, and is immortal so long as he has it. Should Ashbless give up or lose Hastur's soul (represented by a talisman stylised as an eye—a symbol seen throughout the ship), Hastur would be free to exact revenge upon Ashbless' soul. Hastur claims that despite being a demon, he only wishes to be released from Ashbless' control—should Lament help him, in return he will restore ''Leviathan'' and all onboard to New York.

Sky distrusts Hastur, but Lament disagrees, and confronts Ashbless who confirms everything Hastur has said. During a struggle, Ashbless is shot several times, but shows that he is indeed immortal with no reaction other than annoyance to his wounds. Ashbless disarms and shoots Lament, but during the struggle, Lament breaks Ashbless' chain containing Hastur's talisman, and Hastur is released from the engine room, taking Ashbless' soul in revenge for hundreds of years of torture.

Hastur keeps his word, and after healing Lament removes ''Leviathan'' from the alien world and drops it almost on top of New York, where it crashes into the docks, dwarfing the city outline.

During Christmas at a family home, in silhouette against the wall of a living room, one figure stabs another to death. A bloody knife falls to the floor at a child's feet. Twenty years later in Turin, Professor Giordani chairs a parapsychology conference featuring psychic medium Helga Ulmann. Helga is suddenly overwhelmed by the "twisted, perverted, murderous" thoughts of someone in the audience and claims hearing a child's song. She believes she can identify the person she sensed; an unseen figure suddenly leaves the theater.

Later that night, a black-gloved figure invades Helga's apartment and attacks her with a meat cleaver. Jazz musician Marcus Daly sees the murder from the window as he passes by, and rushes to her apartment, finding her mutilated corpse. After the police arrive, Marcus thinks one of the apartment's paintings has disappeared, but he cannot pinpoint what exactly is missing.

The media identifies Marcus as the eyewitness and shows reporter Gianna Brezzi's photo of him. The next morning, after arguing with Gianna about women's liberation, Marcus visits Carlo's home to check on him but only finds Carlo's eccentric mother Martha, who seems interested in Marcus. In Marcus's house, someone plays a recording of a child's song outside his door; Marcus manages to lock the door before the person can enter, but he hears the gruff whisper, "I'll kill you sooner or later." Marcus tells Giordani, whom he met at Helga's funeral, about the encounter. Giordani, noting that Helga also heard a child's song, recalls a book of modern folklore describing a local haunted house where a child's song is sometimes heard. Feeling guilty for taking his photo, Gianna begins helping Marcus.

Marcus reads the folklore book and finds a photo of the house in it. He rips out the picture, planning to learn more from the book's author. However, the killer has been watching Marcus and attacks the author before drowning her in scalding water. Using the photo, Marcus finds and investigates the huge abandoned house. Under sheetrock he uncovers a disturbing mural: a child holding a bloody knife over a dead body. He leaves for the night before the full image of the mural is revealed. Meanwhile, Giordani, who has been assisting Marcus's investigation, visits the scene of the author's murder and uses steam to find a clue written on the mirror. However, later the killer distracts him with a mechanized doll, before murdering him.

Marcus finds a walled-off room in the abandoned house. In the middle of the dusty floor sits a desiccated corpse. Someone knocks Marcus unconscious as he backs away in horror. He awakens outside the house, which is burning. Gianna appears, explaining that she got his message about investigating the house and arrived in time to save him. As Marcus and Gianna wait at the caretaker's house for the police, Marcus notices that the caretaker's daughter has drawn a picture identical to the hidden mural he found in the house. She tells him she saw the picture in the archives of the local school.

Marcus and Gianna immediately go to the school. Marcus finds the drawing in a schoolboy's record. When Gianna leaves to call the police, someone stabs her. Marcus corners the attacker–it is Carlo, who as a kid drew the disturbing pictures. The police arrive, and Carlo flees into the dark street where a garbage truck hits him and drags him down the street. When the truck stops, an oncoming car runs over Carlo's head.

At the hospital, Marcus learns that Gianna has survived. Remembering that the night Helga died he met Carlo utterly intoxicated and coming from a very different direction than the scene of the killing, Marcus reinvestigates the apartment crime scene. There, he has an epiphany: the night of Helga's murder it was not a missing painting he saw when he entered the apartment, but rather a reflection of the killer, framed in a mirror. As Marcus realizes he saw Martha, Carlo's mother, she appears behind him with a meat cleaver. Martha explains that she murdered her husband in front of the young Carlo as a child's song played, then walled off the room containing his body. Carlo, scarred psychologically, tried to repress the memory of the homicide compulsively drawing it and later taking up alcohol: he attacked Marcus and Gianna to protect his murderous mother from their investigation.

Martha attacks Marcus and wounds him with the cleaver. After Martha's necklace tangles in the bars of the building's elevator, Marcus sends the elevator down, decapitating Martha.

At Asashi High, a run-down high school for boys, Kujo, Aoki, Yukio, Yoshimura, and Ota are a gang of school friends lost in apathy and dissatisfaction. They are aware their future offers limited options. Even most teachers have already written them off as a lost cause.

Kujo's gang is part of the school's illegal society, which is controlled through a rooftop game as a test of courage: the Clapping Game. Whoever wins the game gets to be the society's leader, and rules all gangs throughout Asahi High. No teacher can stand up to this society.

After a round of the Clapping Game, Kujo wins the leadership role, which excites his best friend Aoki, who wants Kujo to dominate the school through the use of casual violence. However, Kujo passively resists doing this.

Aoki eventually realizes his best friend only took part in the Clapping Game to pass the time, and that Kujo never wanted to be the school's leader. Devastated, he challenges Kujo for his leadership, and loses.

As Aoki becomes disillusioned, alienated and hostile toward Kujo, friends around them slowly fall apart, bringing their school to a series of mini violent climaxes.

Pilots Philo and George are about to land a plane, only for Philo to accidentally knock out his contact lenses, causing the plane to malfunction and crash into a skyscraper. The destruction is then revealed to be a simulator and the duo was taking an exam in pilot school, causing the two to be attrited for unsatisfactory performance. Unemployed and out of options, they enroll in Weidermeyer Academy, one of the top stewardess schools in the country. George and Philo get put in a group full of misfits, including a lady wrestler whose fiancé got cold feet, a frumpy overweight girl, an ex-prostitute whose probation officer arranged for her to enroll in Weidermeyer as part of a work-release program, a gay man, and an extremely clumsy woman. The group has standard classes about emergencies, etiquette, and antiterrorism, which they work through. Also as part of a test is a full-sized replica of an airplane with people to wait on, and some difficult people are selected such as a bratty little kid, a group of middle aged drunks, and surly ex-NFL player who refuses George's orders not to smoke. The group starts to gel together, with George learning to start applying himself to a career and Philo finding common ground with the "jinx girl" due to his similar eye problems.

However, by happenstance, the group gains the ire of the school dean, a matronly martinet who believes all stewardesses to be attractive "flying waitresses", not tough, nerdy, chubby, promiscuous, and ''certainly'' not stewards like George and Philo. As she fails to wash them out, she resorts to her secondary plan as she is responsible for jobs. When everyone graduates, stewardesses are given jobs with reputable airlines such as Delta, Pan Am, or TWA, while this entire group has been detailed to Stromboli Air. The group is introduced to their owner, Mr. Stromboli, a kindly immigrant whose airline is on the verge of chapter 11 bankruptcy unless his final flight can prove reputable. The group agrees to work together to make it a profitable flight. Still not content, the school dean has gotten herself assigned to be purser, saying she will oversee them and if Stromboli goes bankrupt, they are doomed to unemployment. The flight is a mixture of ordinary businessmen and a blind people's convention, which starts to run into trouble when an unexpected rain squall hits and a "mad bomber" (in an ironic sense) calmly and quietly sets his plan into motion, drugging the drink of the man sitting next to him with a powerful hallucinogenic, then taking advantage of the turmoil to plant the bomb under a passenger's seat, sneak a gas pellet into the captain's cabin to knock out the pilot, then to the cargo hold to jump out into the sky.

Things go from bad to worse as one of the blind men, in an attempt to find the restroom, accidentally lets himself into the captain's cabin and hits the instrument panel with his white cane.

The plane is brought under control by Philo with the help of autopilot, but as his contacts were stepped on and broken earlier, he cannot see well at all. He directs staff to look for missing passengers and they discover the mad bomber is no longer on the plane. Philo correctly suspects he planted a bomb and jumped out of the cargo door, so directs the team to look for it.

Kelly discovers the bomb and presents it to the team. The back of the plane is evacuated, then George and Jolean try to disable it before running away when realizing it will detonate. It explodes, blowing a hole in fuselage, causing Jolean to be sucked back. The width of her backside was sufficient to plug the hole perfectly and the plane remains in flight.

Back in the cockpit, Philo is given binoculars which he turns around the other way and can see the instruments perfectly, allowing him to land the plane.

The film ends with a court case where the fate of the stewardesses and airline are on trial.

The undercover evaluator onboard turned out to be the passenger beside the mad bomber who was drugged and received a blow job from Sugar Dubois to calm him down. He states that it was the best flight of his life and the case is dismissed resulting in celebrations all round.

The story takes place in an alternate steampunk version of the British Empire (Neo-Britannia). The Empire has collapsed and every supernatural being has somehow been physically manifested. The various deities and sprites pass their time eating their subjects, squabbling and fighting amongst themselves in hopes of achieving monotheism.

They are fought by a single relic of the NeoBritannia Empire, Harry Kipling. A parody of a traditional Imperial man, he wears a solar topee, uses an elephant gun and drinks earl-grey tea. He lives as a zombie, dedicating his undead existence to the complete eradication of gods - "Proactive Atheism".

In this he's aided by Neesha, a bewildered refugee from a war-torn planet, and Klux, a powerful but unintelligent engine of destruction. Kipling discovered he is the pawn of an unnamed god who is presumably more powerful than those he's seen before and probably the one who brought him back.

The story appears to take place in an alternate version of North America in the present or near-future. Following the collapse of social order in cities, the newly orphaned teenager Michael is put aboard a refugee train and sent to work on a small-town farm. Conditions are difficult because the countryside is covered with "darklines", a type of wire that absorbs light, making the environment dull and gloomy and seemingly draining all the townsfolk of vitality and joy. The darklines have been erected in an attempt to prevent the encroachment of a strange "brightness" which the townsfolk claim will cause anyone who enters it to go blind and mad and eventually die.

Wearing protective gear and dark goggles, the townspeople show Michael the brightness; he risks taking off his goggles for a brief peek and is surprised to see what looks like a naked boy of about his own age, dancing in the light. He guesses that the boy must be his predecessor Doey, who ran off into the brightness and was believed dead. Michael learns that Doey was not the only one, and begins to suspect that the brightness may not be as deadly as the locals believe. His suspicions are strengthened when Doey, still naked and glowing with brilliant colors, briefly dances into the darkness to taunt and invite Michael when no one else is watching.

Doey's joyful attitude and his androgynous beauty stir feelings in Michael that he does not fully understand, and he is torn between remaining in the gloom of his familiar world or taking his chances in the light. Seeing his change of attitude the townsfolk guess that Michael has been touched by the brightness, and decide to use him as bait in a trap. Their plan is to leave Michael in an old house on the border of the brightness and activate a new darkline to trap anyone who comes for him. Instead the brightness overtakes the house. Under its influence Michael feels all of the joy and vitality he has never been able to experience in the dark. Putting aside his inhibitions and clothing he joins Doey and the others who have left the darkness behind forever. Doey has sabotaged the local darklines, and invites Michael to join him in bringing them all down. According to Doey all of the dark-dwellers will eventually have to choose, either to join the brightness-dwellers or to die.

A young bride is murdered on her wedding day by the man she rejected for her current fiancé Len Gamble, a detective. Several years later on Long Island, a young bride-to-be named Marie is stabbed to death in a movie theater while her friend Ruthie sits beside her. The killer, Ray Carlton, disappears into the night.

The next morning, Ray arrives at Staten Island, where he witnesses university student Amy Jensen from a distance. Amy is preparing for her wedding. She sees off her fiancé, Phil, and his friends on their way out of town for a bachelor party before the wedding. After attending a ballet class with her friends Nancy and Joyce, the three run into their philosophy professor Carl, with whom Joyce is having an affair. Amy leaves to go to a dress fitting, stopping to get ice cream on the way, where she notices a man following her. Outside the ice cream shop, she is startled by Marvin, her ex-boyfriend, who is on a break from his job at the local morgue.

Amy stops by the local dress shop for her fitting. Unbeknownst to her, as she leaves, the dressmaker is stabbed to death by Ray with a pair of scissors. Later that night, Nancy and Joyce surprise Amy at her home with a small bachelorette party. Her parents are gone for the weekend, leaving Amy in charge of her kid sister, Diane. Joyce leaves the party for Carl's house, where the two begin to have sex until the power inexplicably goes out. Carl goes to check on the electrical box. When he returns, he is stabbed to death by the killer with a kitchen knife after finding Joyce's lifeless body in the bed.

The following morning, Marvin arrives at Amy's house and insinuates that he wants to rekindle their relationship, and Amy expresses second thoughts over her marriage to Phil. While in the kitchen, Amy sees the mysterious man standing in her yard and becomes frightened. She invites Marvin to come to a local amusement park with her, Nancy, and Diane, but he declines as he has a shift at the morgue that night. Meanwhile, the police find the dressmaker's body at the shop. Detectives Frank Daley and Len Gamble arrive to investigate. Later, Amy and Nancy meet a student named Elliot while jogging through a forest trail. They later attend the amusement park with him, where he questions Amy's claims of a man following her. While riding a dark ride with her sister, Amy sees Ray inside the ride and confides in Nancy at her house that night. Amy briefly leaves to take her sister to a birthday party, leaving Nancy alone at the house. After taking a shower, Nancy puts on a record and lies down in the living room to smoke a joint. Moments later, she has her throat slashed by Ray.

Amy returns and is attacked by Ray after discovering Nancy's severed head in the fish tank. She rushes outside to her car and struggles to drive with Ray on the roof. She crashes the car in a wooded area and runs to the nearby morgue, where she finds Marvin and phones the police. Ray enters the morgue, and Detective Gamble arrives as well. Ray chases Amy through a tunnel system in the morgue's basement. When confronted by Detective Gamble, Ray stabs him in the heart after he gets shot in his left shoulder. Nevertheless, Ray continues to pursue Amy. Amy manages to trap the wounded Ray inside a storage closet and escapes from the basement with Marvin. The two flee outside as the police arrive and enter the morgue.

Later, Marvin and Amy are to be married, implying that she cut off her marriage to Phil. As Amy sits in front of a mirror in her wedding dress, an unseen person enters the room. She stands, approaches the individual and says "Phil, what are you doing here?" before screaming in horror.

An agent of the United States CIA is arrested in Morocco on drug-smuggling charges. The person behind the smuggling operation is CIA deputy director Burton Cooper, who hopes the resulting scandal will lead to the resignation of CIA Director Ross, and Cooper's promotion to Director. Ross is aware of Cooper's complicity, but when questioned by a special Senate committee about the arrest, Ross tells the committee that he has not reviewed all of the facts of the case. The committee orders a full inquiry and gives Ross 48 hours to present with the proper answers.

Ross devises a plan for Cooper's downfall. Knowing his house has been bugged for sound by Cooper, he purposely leaks a rumor that a man will be arriving at the airport who will clear him of the scandal, and orders his assistant to pick him up. Cooper, desperate to find out who the mystery man is, sends his own agents to follow Ross's lackey, Brown. Brown goes to the airport with instructions to pick someone at random from the crowd, leading Cooper and his team on a wild goose chase.

Brown spots a man wearing mismatched shoes descending an escalator and picks him as their random target. The man is concert violinist Richard Drew, whose percussionist friend Morris played a trick on him by hiding one of each pair of his shoes. This has forced Richard to wear one business shoe and one red sneaker on his flight home. Cooper takes the bait and starts tracking Richard.

Richard is completely oblivious to the intelligence operations centered on him, consumed by his own personal problems. He had a fling with Morris' flutist wife Paula, who plays in the same symphony orchestra with Richard and Morris. It was brought on by Morris' immaturity and obsession with playing practical jokes on people, Richard being one of them. After eluding them at the airport, Richard is bumped into by Maddy, one of Cooper's operatives, who steals his wallet.

After damaging his tooth with a bag of gag peanuts given to him by Morris, Richard heads home to prepare for a visit to the dentist. While talking on the phone with Morris, Cooper (who has tapped his phone) hears that they are to meet with the Senators. Cooper thinks it is an inquiry with the Senate, but it turns out to be the name of the orchestral softball team for which Richard and Morris play.

While Richard heads to the dentist, Cooper sends his agents out to continue their surveillance, first by having Maddy lead a team to search his apartment for any information and bug it for sound, and then by having other agents intercept him at his dentist's office, believing his tooth has microfilm inside.

They learn Richard has traveled the world, including several communist countries. Cooper thinks this is the perfect cover for a spy and starts digging deeper. Soon, they suspect his sheet music is actually a code, and use Department of Defense computers to decipher it. Hoping to learn more, he sends Maddy to seduce Richard and find out what he knows. While Richard is playing a violin composition he wrote for her, Maddy actually falls for him. Meanwhile, Morris catches glimpses of the operations of Cooper's agents, leading him to believe he may be going mad.

Ross, meanwhile, simply sits back and watches the antics unfold. Brown is concerned that Richard (the innocent man that he selected at random) may end up being killed as a result of Ross's plan to draw out Cooper; but Ross is only concerned about his career and dismisses Brown's guilty conscience. When one attempt after another fails to yield any usable information, Cooper orders Richard killed and eventually attempts to kill him himself. Richard remains completely oblivious to the plot until Maddy decides to thwart Cooper, and testifies in front of the Senate about the plot. Cooper is arrested, while Ross is demoted and Brown becomes Director of the CIA. Morris is committed to a mental institution, and Paula severs her romantic interest in Richard, believing that Morris needs her. Maddy agrees to testify against Cooper in exchange for her freedom, after which she is reunited with Richard.

''Love Is All There Is'' is a modern retelling of the ''Romeo and Juliet'' story, and it is set in the Bronx.

The Capomezzos, Bronx-born Sicilians, own a local catering business. They develop a bitter rivalry with the pretentious Malacicis, recent immigrants from Florence and owners of a fine Italian restaurant.

The Capomezzos' son, Rosario, falls in love with the Malacicis' daughter, Gina, after she replaces the star of the neighborhood church's staging of ''Romeo and Juliet''. The rivalry intensifies after Rosario deflowers Gina after a fight with her parents.

The movie was made in a few locations in New York: it was filmed at Greentree Country Club in New Rochelle, and many scenes were shot in City Island, Bronx.

Lawrence Bourne III (Tom Hanks), is a spoiled rich kid who just graduated from Yale Class of 1962 with a $28,000 gambling debt. After his father, Lawrence Bourne Jr. (George Plimpton), refuses to pay his debt, he escapes his angry creditors by trading places with his college roommate Kent (Xander Berkeley), jumping on a Peace Corps flight to Thailand. On the plane, he meets Washington State graduate Tom Tuttle from Tacoma (John Candy) and the beautiful, down-to-earth Beth Wexler (Rita Wilson), the latter rejecting his advances once realizing why he's really there.

In Thailand, they are assigned by John Reynolds (Tim Thomerson) to build a bridge for the local villagers. On day one, Tuttle gets into an argument with the villagers over what wood to use; the only one who speaks English is At Toon (Gedde Watanabe).

Tuttle then gets captured by communist forces who brainwash him into doing their bidding, while Reynolds makes passes at Beth. Lawrence befriends At Toon, teaching him and several other villagers various gambling card games, but they are met by the powerful drug lord Chung Mee (Ernest Harada), who forces them to finish the bridge quickly.

Lawrence eventually wins Beth over but she is captured by Reynolds, who is working with Chung Mee. They rescue Beth, who urges them to destroy the bridge; Lawrence reluctantly agrees after professing his love for her. They get the villagers on board with the plan and get Tuttle back to reality, plotting to leave dynamite in the center of the bridge so that the entire structure collapses. Their plan works fine until Lawrence is confronted by Reynolds, who threatens to kill him. Lawrence distracts Reynolds long enough to enact the plan, jumping into the river as the bridge explodes. Beth saves Lawrence by performing CPR, and they kiss once Lawrence wakes.

Some time later, Lawrence and Beth are married in the Thai village. Lawrence writes to his parents saying he finally did something right for the right reasons.

Darryl Witherspoon (Marlon Wayans) is an economics student at Stratford University, who does not have the advantages of his wealthy nemesis, Scott Thorpe (David Spade), or his best friend Tim LaFlour (Matthew Lillard), straight edge punk rocker who has a hockey scholarship. Darryl is so broke he donates four pints of blood in one day (playing a different character each time) and four vials of sperm in one day. Darryl's big break comes when he enters a competition, where the winner gets a high-paying Wall Street job. But when Scott enters the competition, it seems Darryl's break has gone down the drain. He takes on a high-paying experiment to test a drug that enhances the five senses. Darryl uses it to his advantage and he impresses the competition's supervisor, Mr. Tyson (Rip Torn) and he even joins the hockey team as a goalie. But after taking an extra dose one night, he experiences side effects. The experiment's supervisor, Dr. Thomas Wheedon (Brad Dourif), tells Darryl only four of his senses will work at a time until the drug leaves his body.

As Darryl struggles, Tim thinks that his friend is on heroin and gets worried about him. Darryl's luck then starts going down the drain as he loses the hockey game because his sense of sight is lost. He also mistakenly confesses love to his girlfriend's father who he thinks is his girlfriend as his sense of sight is lost. Her father turns out to be Mr. Tyson. He also acts very clumsily (because of the loss of the ability to feel) during the basketball game he is invited to see with a client who needs to be impressed in order for Darryl to score some points with the Smythe-Bates guys. Luckily, the client thinks Darryl is just funny and signs a contract with the company.

As the story progresses, Darryl asks his friend Tim to help him study for the next day's interview. At that exact moment, Scott studies for the test with the aid of his rich father's employees. Scott is shown to answer a question correctly but he does not know the reason behind it, he ignores the question. The next day, the drug leaves Darryl's system and now all his five senses operate normally. During the interview, it comes down to Darryl and Scott, Scott is asked the same question he was asked last night, he answers it correctly, but when asked the reason, he does not know, Darryl steps in, gives the correct reason and scores the position of junior analyst at Smythe-Bates. But in his speech, he confesses that he cheated by taking an experimental drug. A meeting is called to decide his fate and Mr. Tyson tells him that he himself started out in the mail room and Darryl should too, if he serves one year duty in the mail room, he will score the position of junior analyst. The story skips a year and Darryl is shown to ask his mom to move into a deluxe apartment. The movie ends with Darryl entering the Smythe-Bates building on his first day, with a familiar-looking doorman (Sherman Hemsley).

In New York City, a series of murders begin. In Washington, a plot conceived at the highest levels of American government is at work to bring the nation of Japan to its knees. In Tokyo, a power struggle is nearing its final stages for control of the Black Blade Society, an ostensibly political cabal whose motives may encompass far more than politics.

After many searches, Major Natalia "Nat" Kerensky decides to base their testing operations in Dante City on the Planet Dante, using the blackmarketeers as a cover. One evening, as Foster and the MechWarrior (player) are returning to their workshop, mysterious craft enter the Dante airspace and a Stiletto BattleMech lands on the ground and starts searching for them. They successfully evade the Stiletto and make it back to the workshop, where Nat instructs the player use a new powered armor suit called the BattleArmor to stop the invaders. After this, hundreds of dropships enter Dante's atmosphere. Mysteriously, one of these dropships is shot down by the others. After fighting to the crash site, a strange new MechWarrior by the name of Alera emerges, a space pirate with a jumpship named the "Jezebel". Later, the MechWarrior escapes an enemy port, and steals an enemy tank from 3 soldiers in an attempt to infiltrate the enemy. An allied APC then comes out and follows the MechWarrior on his way. The tank must go through two scans to advance the level, but the "Passenger Scan" warns the enemies that it is a trick, and the MechWarrior and his allies must escape the port with a tank.

After several confrontations with the enemy, it is discovered that the aggressors seek to access the Lostech blueprints and prototypes stored in the data cores to create an unstoppable army of mechanised soldiers to obtain dominance over the Inner Sphere, starting with mass-producing the Ragnarok Prototype model that discovered in the first game.

During the final mission, the MechWarrior with the aid of his allies uses the BattleArmor to destroy a half-complete giant BattleMech that uses all five of the data cores.

After vanquishing the Wicked Queen, Queen Snow White and her husband King Charming are now the rulers of the land. They have a young daughter, also named Snow White for her snow-white hair. The royal family decides to host a Christmas winter sports festival. One of the participants is Grunyon, a bumbling dwarf and a friend of the young Snow White. Snow White says her Christmas wish is to build a playhouse for all the children and suggests remodeling the deserted castle on a mountaintop nearby that belonged to Snow White's evil stepmother.

However, a large ice block melts, freeing the Wicked Queen, who has been encased within it ever since her defeat. Returning to her castle, she finds her Magic Mirror still in place and conjures a magical ice storm that freezes the entire kingdom into an ice age, just barely missing princess Snow White who is told by her mother to find the Seven Dwarfs, immediately before her parents are transformed into ice statues. Grunyon, who was also spared being frozen, leads Snow White into the forest to escape the storm. After finding their way into the Warm Valley, they accidentally wander upon a giant garden and two giants appear (Finicky and Corny) who mistake them for bugs and try to squash them. Snow White starts crying, and Grunyon scolds the giants who apologize and introduce themselves through song, along with five other giants (Thinker, Hicker, Tiny, Weeper, and Brawny). Turns out they are cousins of the Seven Dwarfs. After hearing their story, they take pity on Snow White and Grunyon, and allow them to stay in their cottage.

After the Wicked Queen discovers the young Snow White is still alive and also more beautiful than her, she first turns herself into a giant rat to attack her, but is foiled when one of the giants shoos her away upon his return home. She then melts all the ice on the mountains to form a flood, which Brawny saves Snow White from. The giants decide to leave Snow White at home and post Hicker as a guard. The Queen turns two vultures into wyvern-like creatures to distract Hicker, then disguises herself as a giant old woman and tricks Snow White into smelling the scent of a poisoned flower that puts her to sleep, just as she had tricked Snow White's mother with the poisoned apple. However, Hicker's hiccups are loud and the other giants hear them and get back to the cottage.

Seeing Snow White apparently dead, they run off to attack the Queen's castle, seeking revenge. There, she tries to stop them by casting lightning bolts, but Brawny is too tough for it. She then summons seven demons to fight the giants, but Hicker begins hiccuping which causes an earthquake and the castle collapses. The Magic Mirror, revealed as the source of the Queen's power, is shattered and the demons vanish as she herself evaporates into nothingness. With the Wicked Queen's final demise, the curse she has placed over the kingdom is broken, causing the land to thaw and the ice statues to revert to people.

Grunyon and the Giants bring Snow White home to her parents in a rose-filled coffin. They kiss Snow White's cheeks and she awakens, and everyone rejoices. Brawny also tells that he and the other giants built a castle for the children while Snow White was asleep.

Americans Helen and Paul Curtis and their daughters, Jan and Ellie, move into a manor in rural England. Mrs. Aylwood, the owner of the residence who now lives in the guest house next door, notices that Jan bears a striking resemblance to her daughter, Karen, who disappeared inside an abandoned chapel in the woods thirty years earlier.

Jan senses something unusual about the property almost immediately, and begins to see strange blue lights in the woods, triangles, and glowing objects. On one occasion, she sees the apparition of a blindfolded girl in a mirror in front of her. Shortly after the family settles in, Ellie goes to buy a puppy she inexplicably names "Nerak". After seeing the reflection of the name "Nerak" (Karen spelled backwards), Jan is told about the mystery of Mrs. Aylwood's missing daughter by Mike Fleming, the teenage son of a local woman, Mary.

One afternoon, Nerak runs into woods, and Ellie chases after him. Jan, realizing her sister has disappeared from the yard, goes into the woods to find her, eventually locating her at a pond. In the water, she sees a blue circle of light, and is blinded by a flash, causing her to fall in; she nearly drowns, but Mrs. Aylwood saves her. Mrs. Aylwood brings Jan and Ellie to her home, and recounts the night her daughter disappeared.

Later, Mike discovers that his mother, Mary, was with Karen when she disappeared, but she evades his questions. Meanwhile, Jan attempts to get information from John Keller, a reclusive aristocrat who was also there that night, but he refuses to speak to her. On her way home, Jan cuts through the woods, where she encounters a local hermit, Tom Colley, who tells Jan he was also present at Karen's disappearance. He claims that during a seance-like initiation ceremony on the night of a lunar eclipse, Karen vanished when lightning struck the church bell tower.

Jan decides to recreate the ceremony during the upcoming solar eclipse, hoping it will bring Karen back. She gathers Mary, Tom, and John at the abandoned chapel, and they attempt to repeat the ceremony. Meanwhile, Ellie, while watching the eclipse from the front yard, suddenly goes into a trance-like state, apparently possessed, and enters the woods. At the chapel, the ceremony is interrupted by a powerful wind that shatters the windows, and Ellie appears. In a voice that is not her own, she explains that an accidental switch took place thirty years ago, in which Karen traded places with an alien presence from an alternate dimension; thus, the Watcher has been haunting the woods since, while Karen has remained suspended in time.

The Watcher leaves Ellie's body, manifesting as a pillar of light, fueled by the "circle of friendship". It engulfs Jan and lifts her into the air, but Mike intercedes and pulls her away before the Watcher disappears. Simultaneously, the eclipse ends, and Karen, still the same age as when she disappeared, reappears – still blindfolded. She removes the blindfold just as Mrs. Aylwood enters the chapel.

In a Manhattan studio, Emanuelle shoots a nude photo shoot. Janet, one of her models, tells her about her relationship with Tony, a philosopher, and complains that nothing ever happens but talk. In her car, Emanuelle gets hijacked by Tony, who puts a gun against her head and says he will kill her because of her sexual immorality, the root of all the evils of the present. Emanuelle finds out about his sexual childhood trauma, argues for the cleanliness of sex, and starts to perform fellatio on him. Panic-stricken, Tony runs away.

In their apartment, Emanuelle's boyfriend Bill plays with Tony's gun while she prepares to leave for a meeting. Craving sex, he playfully threatens to demonstrate his love by committing suicide, putting the gun against his head, and gets Emanuelle to postpone and have sex with him.

Planning to investigate billionaire Van Darren, Emanuelle visits a downtown boxing gymnasium to meet Joe, a former fighter turned trainer after being replaced as Van Darren's bodyguard by “Charlie”. Van Darren's harem consists of twelve zodiacal women, the only current opening being for a Virgo. Joe provides her with false papers.

At Van Darren's villa, Emanuelle is received by “Charlie”, whom she seduces and has sex with. At the pool, she joins two of the women for a lesbian underwater game. Investigating the stables, she finds a weapons stash labelled “horse shoes”. Guest at Van Darren's is Alfredo Elvize, the Duke of Elba, who in contrast to his host has an unusually monogamous attitude. In the evening, everyone secretly watches one of the women giving a hand job to Pedro, her favorite horse. Alone with Van Darren, Emanuelle ridicules him for his power- and money-centered approach to sex. In the game room, she then beats him at poker dice, ridiculing him again, in front of everyone. She secretly leaves in Elvize's car and is invited to his Venetian palazzo.

Arriving at the palazzo, Emanuelle witnesses a marital crisis: The duke catches his wife with another man, and in turn sleeps with Emanuelle. When his wife joins them, Emanuelle leaves, thereby happily reuniting the couple. When Bill arrives for a two-hour stay, the couple have sex in a palazzo during a rehearsal of the Spring concerto. At a party in the duke's palazzo, Emanuelle learns of a Caribbean island resort which offers beautiful men to sex-starved women. She also discovers the duke's hidden stash of real and forged paintings. With a pop out cake, the party turns into an orgy, and Emanuelle takes pictures. The next day, she leaves with the gondolier who brought her, telling him he is the purest memory she will have of Venice.

Back at the Manhattan studio, Janet tells her that sex is all that Tony thinks of now. Alone again, Emanuelle has phone sex with Bill.

Emanuelle poses as a client to infiltrate the Caribbean island resort. She takes pictures of the various couples and their sexual role plays, among them Tarzan and Zorro. One of the women watches an 8 mm snuff film during sex, which shocks Emanuelle. Her cover is blown when one of the male sex workers recognizes her from one of her journals. She escapes by seducing, drugging and raping the resort's lesbian director Diana Smith and getting into the cab of the chauffeur with whom she came. They have sex in the car.

Back in New York and on the trail of the snuff film, her editor points her to a former agent, who in turn gives her the name of a US senator. After observing the senator and his family in Washington, Emanuelle “accidentally” soils his jacket at a restaurant. Taking her for a walk past government buildings, the senator presents himself as a conservative patriot and invites her to his studio. When he puts on a pornographic film, Emanuelle pretends being bored. The senator then drugs her drink and puts on the snuff film. While watching, Emanuelle goes into a drug trip in which she travels with the senator to South America and witnesses the torture and rape with her own eyes. In the morning, she promises the senator to visit him again.

Back at the newspaper, Emanuelle is uncertain if what she saw was real until her editor shows her her pictures which he developed. Emanuelle now sees it as the scoop of the century but her editor tells her he has received orders from the top not to publish them. Although he promises to do so the first chance he gets, Emanuelle shouts at him in front of everyone and announces to take a break from her job indefinitely.

On vacation in an island paradise together with Bill, Emanuelle gets caught by a native tribe and is to become the local chieftain's twelfth wife. Bill confesses he has sold her for a shell necklace and some local beer. After the ceremony, a US film crew suddenly appears out of nowhere. The tribe are used as actors. Not wanting to take part in a film, Bill and Emanuelle elope, running along the beach in the sunset.

The Rider arrives on his advanced motorcycle with its artificial intelligence computer Einstein. He crashes but manages to pass through the "wall of illusion" and is found and brought back to health by the Enlightened Elders. They have chosen him to lead their fight against the evil Omega, an Orwellian state run by the evil Prossor. The Elders are allied with the resistance movement, the Outsiders. The Rider first helps Nastasia and the other Outsiders by rescuing McWayne, Nastasia's father and leader of the Outsiders. While the Rider and McWayne successfully escape, Nastasia is captured and subjected to brainwashing by Prossor.

The Rider gains acceptance from various Marginals (amazons, martial artists, truckers, punks, soldiers, Omega defectors) by winning in the ritual brawl which determines who is the strongest. The Rider and the Outsiders launch their final attack on Prossor's regime, but are intercepted by the Omegas and a giant armored truck, called Megaweapon. As the rebels destroy the Omega patrols with their cars (Ford Taunus TCs), helicopters and tankers, the Rider manages to destroy the Megaweapon by short circuiting it, but not before his speedcycle is crushed under the truck's wheels. The Rider and McWayne storm Prossor's headquarters where they face the dictator and a brainwashed Nastasia. She wounds the Rider, but when ordered to kill her father, she rebels, turning on Prossor and shooting him instead. The Omega has been overthrown, and the Outsiders and Marginals celebrate, as the Rider prepares to move on with his repaired speedcycle.

In a twist, it is revealed that the man Nastasia shot was actually a cyborg clone and the real Prossor is still alive. He flies away with an unnamed traitor of the New Way (Fred Williamson), plotting revenge against the "animals" that defeated him.

The game can be played with two starting-points. The Campaign game starts in the beginning of year 348 AC, with the Highlord controlling Neraka only, and the Whitestone Alliance has not even formed yet. The Whitestone player will need to build it up from scratch.

The Scenario game starts in year 349 AC, with each side having possession of a few countries, and the Whitestone player will start the game ''in medias res'', during the height of the war. In particular, one of the Whitestone countries, elven Silvanesti, will be besieged by a swarm of dragon and enemy troops.

The book narrates the adventures of Huma Dragonbane, a Knight of the Crown, his meeting with Kaz the Minotaur, the discovering of the dragonlances, and the defeat of Takhisis during the Third Dragon Wars.

Huma and the rest of his unit patrol through a desolate village. Huma's commander, Rennard, orders the investigation of the nearby woods due to a rumor of goblin activity. During the ensuing confrontation Huma is separated from his unit. While searching for his comrades he comes across goblins tormenting a captive, the minotaur Kaz. After saving Kaz, Huma strikes up an unlikely friendship with the minotaur and later with a silver dragon before being reunited with the Knights.

Once back at headquarters, they encounter a battle between the forces of Paladine and the forces of Takhisis. Huma is struck in the battle and loses consciousness. He awakens in an infirmary being tended by a woman who introduces herself as Gwyneth. Huma is appointed captain of the watch, and encounters his old friend, Magius, a powerful magic user.

Magius tells Huma to trust him, but has to leave while Huma returns to the knights' encampment. The knights are engulfed in a battle with the forces of Takhisis and Huma and Kaz are thrown into a magical darkness. Magius leads Huma and Kaz through the battle to his Citadel, but later prevents them from leaving. Magius tells Huma that he is a renegade mage that took the test in the Tower of High Sorcery.

The Citadel is discovered by Galan Dracos and comes under attack by the forces of Takhisis. Magius tells Huma that a mountain represented by a tapestry in the Citadel is important and that Huma should journey into Ergoth toward this mountain. Huma and Kaz flee the Citadel.

Huma and Kaz are separated. Huma fights off dreadwolves and warriors and becomes lost in the forests of Ergoth. He is helped by an Ergothian commander who brings him to the Ergothian camp. The Ergothians tell Huma that the lands around Ergoth have been ravaged by the plague. While the camp is traveling Huma comes upon a ruins of a town and is captured by servants of Morgion. The Ergothians rescue Huma who then encounters Magius, and the two escape into the night.

Magius and Huma come across the knight Bouron who is attached to an outpost of the Knights of Solamnia. Bouron and his commander Taggin welcome Huma. Taggin captures Kaz and puts him on trial. Taggin releases Kaz to Huma and allows Huma to continue on his journey to the mountains accompanied by a retinue of knights.

Magius, Kaz and Huma traverse the paths in the mountains and Huma is separated from the others. Huma is led to a temple built into the side of the mountain and encounters Gwyneth. Gwyneth tells Huma that he will face challenges before he can claim the prize that he has come for. Huma enters the mountain and faces Wyrmfather, an ancient, serpentine dragon. Huma hides in Wyrmfather's treasure room, discovering an evil magical sword called the Sword of Tears. Huma kills Wyrmfather with the Sword of Tears and is teleported through a magical mirror in the treasure room to Solamnia.

Huma returns to Vingaard Keep to find that the head of the Knights, Grand Master Trake, has died. Huma is to attend a meeting that will determine whether Bennett, Trake's nephew, or Lord Oswald, the High Warrior and Huma's mentor, will become the next Grand Master. During the meeting Rennard tells everyone that Oswald has become mysteriously ill. At night Huma discovers the guards near Lord Oswald have been put into a magical sleep, then encounters Rennard dressed as a servant of Morgion, trying to poison Lord Oswald. Huma and Rennard fight, but Rennard escapes. Lord Oswald thanks Huma for his help and sends him back to the mountains of Ergoth. Huma encounters Rennard inciting villagers to violence. The two fight until Rennard is mortally wounded. Huma is then teleported back to Wyrmfather's treasure room.

Huma finds the Sword of Tears, lying among the treasure. He takes it with him and looks for an exit from the mountain. Huma encounters Gilean, a grey-clad mystic, who tells him to leave the sword behind. Huma struggles for control as the sword tries to dominate his mind; he eventually prevails, discarding the sword. Huma is granted access to the workshop of Duncan Ironweaver.

Duncan tells Huma that he is the creator of the Dragonlance and allows him to pass into a room where Huma has a vision of the knightly, benevolent god Paladine, on a platinum dragon. Paladine hands Huma the Dragonlance.

Huma exits the chamber and finds Gwyneth, who tells him that Kaz and Magius are nearby. Huma finds Kaz and Magius and with the help of a silver dragon that Gwyneth sent for, they are able to prepare the lances for transport to Vingaard Keep.

En route to Vingaard the group is attacked by Crynus and Char. Huma and the silver dragon kill Char, and Crynus is defeated with the help of Kaz and the silver dragon. Warriors of Takhisis attempt to steal the lances, but are prevented from doing so by Kaz. Magius is captured and taken back to Galan Dracos.

Huma rejoins the knights to find that there are many Dragonlances already there. He finds Duncan Ironweaver, who tells him he had many. Many good dragons show up and are fitted with the new lances, and go into battle against the evil dragons of Takhisis.

A Boston couple, Gail and Tom Hartman are having marital problems, mostly due to Tom, an architect, spending so much time working. Gail, a history teacher and former river guide, is taking their son, Roarke on a rafting trip down the Salmon River in Idaho, along with their dog, Maggie. Their daughter, Willa is staying behind with Gail's parents in Idaho. Tom, who had remained in Boston, unexpectedly joins them at the last minute. As they are setting off, they meet three other rafters, Wade, Terry, and Frank, who appear to be friendly.

The Hartmans catch up with the trio during a day break, and notice that Frank is no longer with Wade and Terry. They explain that he hiked out after an argument. Unfortunately, he was their guide, and Wade and Terry lack any rafting experience. Gail offers to guide them down the rest of the river. Before getting back on the water, Maggie wanders off and becomes curious about something in the brush farther up the canyon. Tom fetches her before she uncovers it, and they return to the raft.

After a day's rafting, they make camp for the night, but Tom continues working on his architectural project, disappointing Roarke, who feels neglected. They are joined by Wade and Terry, who help celebrate Roarke's birthday that night. After Wade begins acting suspiciously, Gail agrees with Tom that they should part ways with him and Terry. Their plans are upended when Wade and Terry shove off first with Roarke aboard their raft. Wade, showing off to Roarke, reveals they have a gun. During a rest stop, Gail and Tom attempt to take off with Roarke before Wade and Terry notice. That fails, and Wade pulls the gun on Tom. As they struggle, Maggie runs off into the bushes. Gail then realizes that Wade and Terry committed a recently reported robbery and have killed Frank.

The Hartmans are forced down the river at gunpoint before setting up camp for the night. During the night, Tom tries and fails to wrestle the gun away from Terry. Tom runs into the river with Wade chasing him, but he escapes. Wade lies, telling Gail and Roarke that Tom is dead. The next day they run into Johnny, who knows that Gail intends to run the Gauntlet, and warns her not to try. Wade shoots him and throws his body into the rapids.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Tom, who finds Maggie, is racing on foot along the canyon rim to get ahead of the raft. After a harrowing ride, the group makes it through the Gauntlet. Tom reappears, and flips the raft. As he struggles with Terry, Gail is able to get the gun. She shoots and kills Wade while Tom subdues Terry. A helicopter with rangers aboard arrives, and they arrest Terry. Gail and Tom share a kiss by the rapids. The film ends with the Hartmans in embrace.

A school massacre leaves seven students and the shooters parents dead and one student named Deanna Cartwright (Christensen) seriously injured. The shooter himself is dead, shot by police during the confrontation after the actual shooting, and the only witness (and possible suspect) is Alicia Browning (Philipps), a gothic student who is now under the attention of the detective in charge of the case, Det. Martin Van Zandt (Garber).

The school principal asks Alicia to visit Deanna in the hospital. Right away, their differences are evident. Alicia is an outsider from a single-parent family who shuns the society that similarly shuns her, while Deanna is from a wealthy family, gets good grades and is popular with her classmates.

At first, Deanna seems upbeat and cheerful, but soon it becomes apparent that beneath this exterior are psychological scars left behind by the incident. Alicia starts to empathize with her, as she herself is battling her own demons as well, including a previous suicide attempt. Through these similar emotional bonds, the two form an unlikely friendship as they both try to cope with their separate psychological problems.

The film opens on Hector "Heck" (Matthew Goode) and Rachel's (Piper Perabo) wedding day in North London, England which Rachel's overbearing mother, Tess, (Celia Imrie), is in charge of planning. Rachel's father Ned (Anthony Head) and her younger sister Henrietta, nicknamed "H" (Boo Jackson), are supportive. Flower shop owner Luce (Lena Headey) and Henrietta are chatting with Hector and Cooper "Coop" (Darren Boyd). Henrietta takes an immediate liking to her, and she asks if Luce can sit by her during the wedding. Rachel arrives with her father and the ceremony begins. During the ceremony, as Rachel walks down the aisle, she makes eye contact with Luce and does a double-take. At the reception afterwards, Luce introduces herself to Rachel, who is blocking her attempts to get a drink, admitting that her wedding ring fell in the punch, and the two fish it out before going their own ways.

Some time later, Rachel goes to Luce's shop and invites her and Hector to dinner, with Rachel planning to set Luce up with Coop. Luce confides to Heck that she's a lesbian and is bemused as Coop attempts to seduce her. During the meal, Luce espouses her belief in love at first sight, while Rachel counters that it takes time to find the right person. Later on that night, Rachel and Luce share a moment together on the balcony as it rains.

The next day while grocery shopping, Hector and Rachel run into Luce and a female friend, Edie (Eva Birthistle). Hector then tells Rachel that Luce is gay. Hector inquires as to the relationship of Luce and Edie, but they assure Rachel and him that nothing is going on. Edie says Luce "loves another."

Hector sets Luce and Rachel up to spend some time together as friends despite Rachel attempting to avoid Luce. The two spend an evening together, visiting a football match and an arcade. At the end of the night, Luce walks Rachel back to her flat. Rachel leans forward to kiss Luce but withdraws at the last moment and goes inside her home.

Rachel continues to resist her growing attraction to Luce. Unable to deny what she is feeling, Rachel eventually confronts Luce directly at her flower shop. The two discuss the state of their relationship in a back room, concealed from any potential customers. She tells Luce that a romance between them cannot happen, turns to leave, and returns seconds later to kiss Luce. Their foreplay gets interrupted by Hector, who has stopped by to pick up flowers for Rachel, feeling guilty about the distance growing between them. Later, Rachel and Luce agree that they cannot betray Hector. Hector quits his job and when he returns home drunk, she confesses all to him as he sleeps, but does not say who her love is. Hector, who was feigning sleep, calls Coop for support. Coop confronts Luce after deducing that she is the one Rachel loves. Luce decides that being near Rachel without being with her is too hard. She makes plans to go on an extended trip out of the country, leaving care of her shop to her mother.

Days later, while Rachel and Hector are celebrating her birthday, Rachel finds out about Luce's trip, and Hector realizes who Rachel is in love with. Wanting Rachel to be happy, he leaves. Rachel confesses to her parents that she is in love with a woman, and she tracks down Luce. Rachel gets stuck in traffic and tries to call Luce, who ignores her. However, Rachel realizes Luce is in the same traffic jam when she hears the same man on a bicycle singing "Happy Together" and comments, "I've heard that song before." Rachel proceeds to climb on the roof of her car. She then uses the lessons Luce taught her at the football match about how to yell loudly to call to her. The two women reunite and kiss each other in the middle of a crowded London street.

During the end credits, we see the characters some time later. Heck is on a plane, all set to write his travel book, when he discovers a young woman with whom he has instant chemistry (Angel Coulby) will be sitting next to him for the long flight. The scenes continue with H and her young boyfriend playing at a playground, Coop holding a baby, and Luce and Rachel enjoying each other's company.

Irene Morrison (Vera Farmiga), a working class mother of two boys, lives in Upstate New York and works as a supermarket cashier. She also harbors a cocaine addiction. Her eldest son, Ben (Jasper Daniels), whose birthday is approaching, asks Irene to buy a snake for him; she suggests Lego instead. On the night of Halloween, Irene takes her kids trick-or-treating and, at one of the houses they visit, she meets Bob (Hugh Dillon), a nurse.

Later that night, her husband Steve (Clint Jordan) arrives home with a toilet, announcing he's going to build them a second bathroom. In bed, Steve tries to initiate sex, but Irene says she doesn't feel very sexy. She changes the subject back to decorating their bathroom. The next day, Irene takes the kids to a reptile store to buy a snake, but finds that they don't have enough money for one. While her boys wait in the car, Irene visits her dealer, asking him for another fix, but he refuses since she hasn't been paying for the last couple of weeks.

At work, Irene contemplates taking money from the cash register. She then goes back to her dealer with Ben's birthday check from her mother-in-law, but the dealer refuses to take it. Afterwards, Irene checks herself into a drug rehabilitation center. At a meeting about cravings, she meets fellow addict Lucy (Caridad de la Luz), and befriends her. While at the facility, Irene again encounters Bob. Before she leaves, Bob visits with a book that helped him during his quitting phase, and offers her his support.

At Irene's first Narcotics Anonymous meeting, a man celebrates one year of abstinence. In the following weeks, Irene finds it difficult to stay clean when her friends use drugs around her recreationally. One day at work, she is called into the manager's office. She admits her past drug use and is subsequently fired. Lucy suggests they start a cleaning business in order to gain money, to which Irene agrees. On the way to her next NA meeting, Irene offers to give Bob a ride. However, in the car, she instigates an affair with him. Bob then takes her to a snake breeder so she can purchase one for Ben. Later on, the two become intimate, but Bob excuses himself to the bathroom. Irene then walks in to find him shooting up. Furious at his hypocrisy, she argues with him but ends up using his drugs.

Irene and Steve attempt to play a sexual game with one another while using coke, but Irene soon stops it. After taking drugs in Bob's car one night, the two are pulled over by the police. They are both arrested and detained when an officer finds a drug burner on the dashboard and a half-ounce of heroin. A lawyer briefs Irene on her best sentencing option: if she pleads guilty, she must commit to 50 individual counselling sessions, 100 group counselling sessions, and 250 NA meetings a year; he informs her that if she screws up, she'll be sentenced to several years incarceration in a state prison. When she arrives home, she admits her affair to Steve, who tells her to move out.

Lucy gives her a place to crash, although she's angry with Irene for flaking out on a job. Irene eventually finds herself a house and gets some custody of her kids. After another of Irene's Narcotics meetings, Bob shows up to apologize for getting her caught up in his mess and subsequently avoiding her calls. Irene forgives him and he begins to stay at her house. Meanwhile, Bob is using, but intends to start going to support meetings again. His dealer tries to persuade him to sell some pills, but he refuses. Irene realizes he's been getting high by combining his prescribed methadone and other drugs, and as a result could endanger her kids; she confronts him and silently asks him to leave.

Drayton "Dray" Jackson (Bill Bellamy), who works as an A&R representative for Def Jam Recordings, is a playboy with only one goal in life: to have sex with as many women as possible. He dreams that he gets caught cheating on his girlfriend, Lisa, (Lark Voorhies) only to wake up from the dream to remind him not to get caught. The women he sleeps with are all a secret from Lisa, who comes over to his house for a bit to see him, before heading off for work. Dray's sister, Jenny, (Natalie Desselle) also comes by his house to remind him about the cookout. Dray becomes fascinated with Jenny's friend Katrina (Mari Morrow), and invites her to a party his friend is hosting; she tells him that she is busy.

Jenny cannot stand Dray's way of treating women. As soon as Dray leaves, she and Katrina snoop around and find Dray's mobile black book of his women. Jenny plans to set Dray up at the party in a hostile environment, hoping that Dray, if he gets caught, will reform his ways. After Jenny and Katrina call the women and receive their numbers, they both leave.

Dray makes his daily rounds of sex with his women, including his three main ones: Robin (Beverly Johnson), a married woman, Amber (Amber Smith), a sexy thespian, and Sherri (Stacii Jae Johnson), a freaky dominatrix. Afterwards, Dray goes to the cookout briefly before continuing on to the party. When he sees all of his women there, including Jenny and Katrina, he understands that he has been set up by them. He figures out a way get all of his women out of the party, without them noticing about each other and confrontation about Dray. He then heads to Jenny and Katrina to explain that when a player is put in a hostile environment, a player doesn't reform: he adapts to the situation. Dray leaves to go home and wait for Lisa to come see him after a long day at work.

While Dray is waiting for Lisa, Katrina shows up at the last minute to apologize. However, she has become fascinated with Dray and has been fantasizing about him. Before leaving, she makes a move on Dray and they have sex, apparently fulfilling her fantasy. Lisa returns, but Katrina is able to leave without her noticing. However as Lisa changes into her nightwear, she sees a dress, bra, and heels with smears of lipstick spelling out: "Busted, Adapt." Realizing that Katrina has set him up, Dray knows that he finally got caught.

Filmed on a zero-dollar budget, the movies are a pastiche of 1960s blaxploitation films. RuPaul stars as Starbooty, a crime fighting federal agent who disposes of villains while getting entangled in romantic liaisons. At the time, RuPaul was still participating in a type of drag known as genderfuck; as such his appearance generally is of a man with feminine makeup and clothes, but no padding or taping to make the body look female.

Outside the canon of the actual films, a sketch on RuPaul's VH1 talk show continued the storyline of the character of Starbooty with a preview for an alleged new film called "Starbooty in: Take That You Honky Bitch".

Cheep was an infant bird who fell from his nest, prior to learning to fly (the theme tune, "If only Cheep could fly", ensured that Cheep's difficulties in learning to fly became a recurring joke throughout the series). He befriends Orm, a worm who inhabits a subterranean home. Their acquaintances include Snail and Mouse, all friends and foes have a single-word, noun name. Their notable foes include Rat and Crow, who often scheme to consume the pair.

Laurie Robinson (Didi Conn) is a young woman who earns a living by performing in commercials and hosting a children's show on public television, but she would rather concentrate on songwriting and singing than doing comedy with her small-time comedian father Si (Joe Silver). One night, Laurie goes to a restaurant where she meets a young film director, Chris Nolan (Michael Zaslow); she drives him back to his apartment and they spend the night together. The next morning, Laurie confesses to Chris that she is engaged and has to be at her wedding rehearsal. He asks if the previous night was just a final fling before marriage, and she says she cannot see him anymore.

Laurie later meets with her fiancé, Ken Rothenberg (Stephen Nathan), and attends a recording session where she records her song, then sings background vocals and directs the musicians during overdubs. From there, she goes to the wedding rehearsal where Si has arranged an elaborate setup with an old friend who owns the Wedding Palace. The next day, Laurie auditions for a film that needs a singing voice for the leading lady. The director, she discovers, is Chris, who is as surprised as she is. Chris asks to see the songs in her portfolio. Laurie's voice and the orchestra's performance of her song "You Light Up My Life" impresses everyone, and Chris asks her if she would be interested in auditioning for the lead in his movie.

Later, Chris sings "You Light Up My Life" for Laurie at his piano, giving it a more subdued treatment, then takes her for a walk along the beach. Laurie visits her best friend Annie (Melanie Mayron) to confess that she loves Chris, and adds that she may have the lead in his film. Meanwhile, when Laurie meets with Ken to call off the wedding, Chris auditions another girl for his movie and tells her she has the part, then gives his assistant the job of calling Laurie with the bad news. When Laurie asks why Chris did not call himself, the assistant explains that Chris has been in meetings all afternoon, and when she calls Chris's office, the receptionist tells her he is probably at home because he does not have any meetings. Laurie arrives at Chris's apartment as he and his new leading lady are leaving for dinner with friends. He apologizes and tells her she is special enough to get other roles.

Later that night, when Laurie and Si perform at the ''Family Komedy Hour'', her routine falls flat, tears flood her eyes and she walks off. In the dressing room, Laurie tells Si she hates the act because she is not funny, all she wants to do is sing and that Columbia Records is interested in her. She gives Si a cassette tape of her songs and tells him he has to let go of her, because she needs to depend on herself; she is going to New York City alone. They hug and kiss goodbye, and Laurie drives away. Sometime later, Laurie's song "You Light Up My Life" climbs the music charts and reaches number one.

Some years after his dangerous ride down the steep mountain to capture the Brumby herd and regain the colt, Jim Craig, now with a large herd of mountain-bred horses of his own, returns to take up with his girl, Jessica Harrison. She is still smitten with him, but opposition from her father remains as resolute as ever. Further, she also has a rich would-be suitor, Alistair Patton (son of the banker from whom Harrison is seeking a large loan), endeavouring to court her. Before he returns from Harrison's property to his home, Jim meets an army officer seeking quality horses for the remount service on a regular basis.

As he realizes Jessica's affections remain for Jim, and that she doesn't "give a damn" about him, Patton jealously and maliciously recruits a gang to steal Jim's horses. Jim gives chase and in so doing again rides his horse down the steep mountainside. Patton shoots at him; the horse is killed and Jim is injured but manages to recover and resume the pursuit. Jim had earlier let the wild stallion which led the Brumbies loose into the wild again; in a twist of fate, the stallion shows itself from the wild at this crucial moment, and Jim finally trains the horse that has been the enigma of the entire district for decades. As Jim breaks him in and learns to ride him, they become friends, and together they catch up to Patton and his gang.

Jessica's father has also relented during this time, and he eventually joins with Jim and his friends to hunt down Patton and his gang. Jim Craig gets and wins his man-on-man duel with Patton, and Harrison gives his final approval for Jessica and Jim to marry.

Moist von Lipwig is bored with his job as the Postmaster General of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office, which is running smoothly without any challenges, so the Patrician tries to persuade him to take over the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork and the Royal Mint. Moist, though bored, is content with his new lifestyle, and refuses. However, when the current chairwoman, Topsy Lavish, dies, she leaves 50% of the shares in the bank to her dog, Mr Fusspot (who already owns one share of the bank, giving him a majority and making him chairman), and she leaves the dog to Moist. She also made sure that the Assassins' Guild would fulfill a contract on Moist if anything unnatural happens to the dog or he does not do as her last will commands.

With no alternatives, Moist takes over the bank and finds out that people do not trust banks much, that the production of money runs slowly and at a loss, and that people now use stamps as currency rather than coins. His various ambitious changes include making money that is not backed by gold but by the city itself. Unfortunately, neither the chief cashier (Mr. Bent, who is rumoured to be a vampire but is actually something much worse, a clown) nor the Lavish family are too happy with him and try to dispose of him. Cosmo Lavish tries to go one step further — he attempts to replace Vetinari by taking on his identity — with little success; to this end, he tasks his secretary Heretofore (who he frequents calls 'Drumknot', Vetinari's secretary) with acquiring Vetinari's personal effects (many of them, in fact, being counterfeits, with Heretofore having pocketed most of the expenses he 'required' to obtain them). However all the while, the reappearance of Cribbins, a character from von Lipwig's past, adds more pressure to his unfortunate scenario.

Moist's fiancée, Adora Belle Dearheart, is working with the Golem Trust in the meantime to uncover golems from the ancient civilization of Um. She succeeds in bringing them to the city, and to everyone's surprise the "four golden golems" turn out to be "four thousand golems" (due to a translation error) and so the city is at risk of being at war with other cities who might find an army of 4000 golems threatening. Moist discovers the secret to controlling the golems, and manages to order them to bury themselves outside the city (except for a few to power clacks towers and golem horses for the mail coaches) and then decides that these extremely valuable golems are a much better foundation for the new currency than gold and thus introduces the golem-based currency. Eventually, an anonymous clacks message goes out to the leaders of other cities that contains the secret to controlling the golems (the wearing of a golden suit), thus making them unsuitable for use in warfare (as anyone could wear a shiny robe and countermand any orders).

After it is discovered that the bank's vaults do not in fact contain gold, Moist is arrested for embezzlement and a public inquiry is held. Whilst Moist pre-emptively reveals his past as a fraudster to undermine Cribbins's plans to blackmail him, Cosmo's sister Pucci unwittingly reveals that the Lavish family sold off all of the bank's gold reserves years earlier, exonerating Moist. Cosmo, having been driven insane by an infection caused by 'Vetinari's' ill-fitting stygium signet ring, disrupts the inquiry by claiming that he is the real Vetinari. Moist manages to save Cosmo's life by exposing the ring to direct sunlight, which removes and cauterises his gangrenous finger.

At the end of the novel, Lord Vetinari considers the advancing age of the current Chief Tax Collector, and suggests that upon his retirement a new name to take on the vacancy might present itself. Cosmo, meanwhile, has been confined to the Havelock Vetinari Wing of the Lady Sybil Free Hospital, whose patients are all deluded into believing that they are Lord Vetinari (including himself).

The series takes place principally in the castle and province of Southmarch. Prominent sub-plots cover connected events to the south and north of Southmarch, respectively in the land of Xis and the Qar (faerie) lands beyond the impassable Shadowline. The action centers on the troubled Eddon family, the rulers of Southmarch, which is the nearest human province to the Shadowline and was formerly held by the Qar prior to their expulsion by the advancing humans.

The novel begins with the king, Olin Eddon, imprisoned in a foreign land. His eldest son Kendrick is struggling to rule in his place, while his younger twins, Barrick and Briony, struggle with their adolescent emotions. The male twin, Barrick, is particularly troubled by depression and nightmares, incited by his private knowledge of a mysterious family curse. When Kendrick is assassinated, Briony shoulders the burden of ruling in her father's absence, while Barrick slips further into maudlin self-obsession.

An army of Qar cross the Shadowline to invade Southmarch, and in the climactic battle of the first book Barrick is lost in the land of the Qar. Briony narrowly escapes death when the throne is usurped by her cousin. While Barrick travels in the Shadowlands, Briony travels around her own lands incognito, seeking allies.

Incidents in the second book elucidate that the three main religions – those of the Qar, the northern humans, and the Xixian humans – are based on a violent feud within a pantheon of gods. The three contemporary religions, though seemingly unrelated, each stem from a different perspective on the Godswar, which ended in the victory of three brothers.

The Godswar began when one of the gods married a goddess of the competing faction, prompting her father and brothers to go to war to reclaim her. It is suggested in the course of the second novel that in fact she eloped, and her father, disapproving of her choice, fought to abduct her from her beloved. Long after the end of the Godswar, a child of the losing faction staged an attack on those who won, sending them to sleep; this allowed the rise of mortal civilizations.

As Barrick travels in the lands of Qar he uncovers more of their beliefs, including that they hold both knowledge and power descended directly from their patron god, via a supernatural gift called the Fireflower.

Qar culture is revealed to center around a ruling family who are descended from one of the gods and who pass the Fireflower down through their generations. This family practices incestuous marriage, with each generation producing exactly one male and one female child. In order to preserve the Fireflower, which sustains the Qar, each generation of this family must present itself on reaching adulthood to the last remnant of a god still in the world who is trapped and barely alive in a cave deep below Southmarch Castle.

Barrick learns that unbeknownst to the contemporary Eddons, this arrangement was discreetly tolerated by the dwarf-like Funderlings until one of the Eddon ancestors met and desired the Qar princess on her pilgrimage. They married under disputed circumstances. She is remembered by the humans as a queen of Southmarch, but her Qar ancestry is forgotten.

She was, therefore, unable to marry and procreate with her brother. This broke the chain connecting the Qar to the slumbering god and began their long period of decline. Their siege of Southmarch is intended to regain control of the castle and the slumbering god beneath, in the hope of restoring their race.

On the southern continent, the powerful but insane Autarch of Xis also desires the power of the gods beneath Southmarch castle, whose existence he has deduced from ancient texts. In order to access that power he requires someone descended from a god and therefore has procured the imprisonment of King Olin Eddon. He is revealed to be behind much of the turmoil in Southmarch.

At the climax of the series, in the third and fourth novels, several factions compete for possession of Southmarch castle, and the deep caves beneath. The Autarch, who has launched a rapid marine invasion of the province; the Qar, who have tired of their siege and attempted to storm the castle; the usurper, holding the castle with his own designs on the slumbering god; and two forces loyal to the Eddons, one a large army recruited by Briony advancing on the castle to lift the siege, another consisting mainly of Funderlings holding their caves beneath the castle, initially unaware of what sleeps further below.

An eventual alliance between the Qar and the Eddon loyalists drives out the usurper but fails to prevent the Autarch from gaining access to the cave of the slumbering gods. One of the gods is woken, but easily transcends the Autarch's control. The alliance of loyalists and Qar eventually succeeds in defeating the god.

Briony Eddon is restored to her throne. Her brother Barrick, who like all Eddons is descended from the Qar royal line and had accepted the Fireflower into himself during his time with the Qar, hopes that he can restore the line his ancestor broke and allow the Qar to survive.

Book I (published 1970)

The book tells the adventures of Caecilius, a banker, and Metella, his wife, in Pompeii from the reign of Tiberius to that of Vespasian. Sometimes the book deviates to talk about Caecilius' two slaves, their cook Grumio, and Clemens, and their frequent humorous mishaps. The book also discusses Metella (Caecilius' wife) and her slave, Melissa. The book ends when Mount Vesuvius erupts, and Caecilius, Cerberus, Melissa, and Metella are killed in Pompeii. However, the book leaves the reader wondering whether Caecilius' son, Quintus, survives, as he indeed does, along with the slave, Clemens. Cerberus is Caecilius' guard dog; he sits by his master as the volcano erupts. Grumio's fate is left ambiguous. The beginning of the book is very simple, but each stage develops more complicated grammar and vocabulary. This book introduces the nominative, dative, and accusative cases and different verb tenses including the present, perfect and imperfect.

Book II (published 1971)

The second book is set in Roman Britain near Fishbourne Roman Palace under Agricola, where Quintus meets Salvius and King Cogidubnus, who are historical figures. The book starts by introducing a new family, a Roman aristocrat, Salvius, who is a successful lawyer and senator in Rome. His family includes his wife, Rufilla, and many slaves, some of whom are Britons, others foreign. In the second half of the book, Quintus tells King Cogidubnus about his journey to Alexandria, where he met Barbillus, a friend of his father. Barbillus later dies of a wound during a hunting trip, and tells Quintus to find his son Rufus, who lives in Britain, thus explaining the reason for Quintus' visit.

Book III (published 1972)

The third book picks up in the Roman province of Britain, in the city of Aquae Sulis (Bath) in particular. Cogidubnus falls ill and goes to the baths at Aquae Sulis, and Salvius, seeing his chance, hatches a plot with the baths' owner, Lucius Marcius Memor, to kill him. Quintus foils the plan, much to Salvius' dismay. He also finds Barbillus' son Rufus and gives him a message. When Cogidubnus eventually dies in captivity, Salvius writes a false will for him. A continuous narrative throughout the book also includes Modestus and Strythio, two bumbling Romans in the military.

Book IV (published 1973)

In the fourth textbook, the setting moves to Rome, a few years after the events in Britain. Quintus is absent, and the main characters are Salvius, his ally Haterius, and several other Roman aristocrats, as well as some ordinary citizens. Salvius coordinates the death of Paris, a famous pantomime actor, and exiles Domitia, the emperor's wife, whose affair with Paris was exposed.

Book V

The book is set in Rome, after Agricola has successfully conquered Scotland. Various acquaintances of the emperor, including Glabrio, an advisor to the emperor, are introduced, as well as the emperor himself. Glabrio accuses Salvius of the forgery of Cogidubnus' will, while Domitia accuses him of plotting her exile. Quintus is present at Salvius' trial. Salvius is convicted and sentenced to five years of exile. In the remaining chapters, the writings of several poets and historical figures replace the narrative.

American editions

To suit the American format, books III and IV were combined.

In 1926, while practising a new trick, Houdini has a near-death experience, awakening the mysterious Sleepers. Meanwhile, Lovecraft is visited by a talking raven, and a séance that Sir Arthur is attending is attacked by a strange force that possesses the medium. Sir Arthur travels to New York City to speak to Houdini, where they are attacked by Tcho-Tchos, summoned by The Sleepers' human minions (The Hidden Masters of the World: The Illuminated Ones).

While Houdini and Lovecraft travel back into the spiritual plane, Fort and Sir Arthur must protect their bodies from the assembling dark forces. However, there is also a traitor in their midst, and one of their number will die.

Wayne Rogers plays a determined but not wholly ethical private detective, Jake Axminster, who looks out for himself—and somewhat less aggressively for his clients—amid the corruption of Los Angeles, California, in the mid-1930s. He is aided in his investigative efforts by two friends: his ditzy blonde secretary, Marsha Finch (Elaine Joyce), who also runs a call-girl business on the side, and attorney Michael Brimm (Philip Sterling). Brimm is called upon frequently to defend Axminster from charges (mostly trumped-up) leveled against him by Lieutenant Murray Quint (Clifton James), a fat, cigar-chomping, and thoroughly crooked member of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Axminster drives a 1934 ragtop Studebaker and keeps his office in downtown L.A.’s historic Bradbury Building, phone number OXford-8704. (Brimm’s office is located just across the hall.) For his services, Axminster charges $25 a day plus expenses. Although Brimm describes him as “Mr. Play-It-Safe,” Axminster regularly places himself in danger by helping friends and annoying the police with his questions. His efforts frequently result in his being beaten up. So often does Quint order his thrashing, that Axminster has taken to having nude photographs shot of himself in order to prove later on how aggressive the cops were in their interrogations.

The detective drinks coffee addictively. When one client asks him whether his habit keeps him up, Axminster responds, “No, but it helps.” He appears to be constantly in debt, and he’s not above borrowing money from friends and even from his bootblack, Lester (Timmie Rogers). Axminster “gripes in general about the cost of staying alive. ‘All the angels left this burg about 20 years ago,’ is his succinct summation of the 1930s ...”

Part 1

While in the Amazon rainforest, Professor George Challenger shoots an animal he believes to be a pterosaur. Returning to England, Challenger crashes a lecture at the Natural History Museum held by his rival, Professor Leo Summerlee. Challenger proposes an expedition to discover the home of the pterosaur, but is dismissed by the science community. However, hunter Lord John Roxton, and ''Daily Gazette'' columnist Edward Malone both volunteer to join and finance the expedition. A skeptical Summerlee also joins.

On the voyage to South America, Challenger reveals a map created by a Portuguese man named Father Luis Mendoz leading to a remote Brazilian plateau where he encountered dinosaurs during a previous expedition. They travel to a Christian mission in the Amazon, meeting Agnes Clooney and her uncle Reverend Theo Kerr, who condemns Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Roxton immediately takes a liking to Agnes' unladylike behaviour and flirts with her. Agnes volunteers to join the expedition as a translator. However, in the jungle, the expedition's porters flee out of superstition, but Kerr arrives, repeatedly trying to convince the bull-headed Challenger to turn back.

They reach the edge of the plateau and find a cave concealing a pathway to the plateau but discover a blockage. They later find a gorge leading straight to the plateau, using a tree as a substitute bridge. However, when all but Kerr make it across, he suddenly knocks the tree into the gorge and leaves Challenger and the others stranded. Venturing in the plateau's jungle, they find several species of dinosaur, a flock of pterosaurs, and a strange species of aggressive, carnivorous ape men. Malone finds a lake which he names after his fiancé Gladys. Malone and Agnes are chased by an Allosaurus, but evade it when it falls into a manmade trap.

Part 2

Escaping the trap, Edward and Agnes find Roxton at the lake, learning the apes kidnapped Challenger and Summerlee. Warriors from an indigenous tribe appear, aiding them in rescuing the professors, along with Achille, the son of their own chieftain. The ape men are taken captive by the tribe.

Arriving at the village, the tribe are revealed to be surviving members of Mendoz's expedition and mistake Challenger for Mendoz, who taught them Christianity. The chief shows the other end of the cave and reveals it was blocked by a man who visited the tribe, trapping them within the plateau. Roxton falls in love with the chief's daughter Maree, a woman who is quite similar to him, and they eventually marry.

Some time later, the ape men cry out after having to bury one of their children, attracting the attention of two Allosaurs who rampage on the tribe. In the mayhem, the chief is killed, as well as several other tribe members, but Malone and Roxton successfully slay the dinosaurs. At the same time, Summerlee reopens the cave using explosives, allowing the explorers to flee the village when Achille condemns them. Roxton is stabbed by one of the ape men, but buys time for the others to leave. Roxton seemingly succumbs to his wounds and is mourned by the villagers.

Challenger, Summerlee, Malone, and Agnes return to the Amazon but encounter a crazed Kerr and realise he sealed the cave to prevent anyone from finding it, believing it to be forged by Satan because of the ape-men. When Kerr produces a revolver, Summerlee wrestles him for it, only for Kerr to be shot and killed by accident. The expedition porters later find the survivors. Returning to London, Malone discovers Gladys has become engaged to another man, however he is glad, as he realises that he has developed feelings for Agnes. At Challenger's press event, he unveils a juvenile Pteranodon he picked up as an egg. However, the excited crowd scare the Pteranodon out of a window. Malone and Summerlee convince Challenger to pretend the whole expedition was a lie to protect the plateau's inhabitants from destruction, sacrificing his reputation and success for the safety of the Dinosaurs and the villagers. Summerlee stays with his family, Challenger sets off to find Atlantis, while Malone and Agnes admit their love for each other, and Malone decides to pursue a career as a novelist. In a final scene, Roxton is revealed to be alive and living with Maree and the villagers in peace.

It's 1899 and as the end of the century draws near a strange killer lurks on the streets of New York. However, only famed anomalist Charles Fort's careful analysis of his news clippings reveals the pattern and further investigation revels some strange findings. At the same time he is monitoring some strange shooting stars, ably assisted by H.P. (a young H. P. Lovecraft) which leads to his encounter with an alien. Falsely accused of the murders, he has to team up with the extraterrestrial and find the real killer.

In 1944, Major Baldwin (James Stewart) is ordered to blow up an airfield. Headquarters in Kunming orders him to then use his pre-war engineering expertise to delay the advancing Japanese forces as much as possible while retreating, but General Loomis (Alan Baxter) gives him the option to just return to base. Baldwin makes the riskier choice to have his first command. Loomis is reluctant to let him, because of his inexperience as a commander, but relents.

Baldwin has at his command Sergeant Michaelson (Harry Morgan), Prince (Mike Kellin), Lewis (Eddie Firestone), Miller (Rudy Bond), Collins (Glenn Corbett), the demolition team's translator, and two other soldiers, a Jeep and four trucks. On the road, Baldwin finds out from Chinese commander Colonel Li (Leo Chen) that the Japanese wish to capture a munitions dump away. Li wants Baldwin to blow up the munitions, but Baldwin does not want to go that far out of his way. Li assigns Colonel Kwan (Frank Silvera) to the team, but before they can embark, Madame Sue-Mei Hung (Lisa Lu), the American-educated widow of a general, joins them, with Baldwin gradually becoming attracted to her.

Baldwin blows up a bridge and pushes a truck over a cliff to keep on pace, trying to reach the munitions dump before the Japanese. Sue-Mei and Baldwin are at odds over his cavalier treatment of the Chinese when he resorts to blowing up a mountain road, leaving thousands of local Chinese refugees trapped. After stopping at a village because Miller is ill, Collins tries to give out the surplus food the team has brought, but is trampled to death by starving villagers. Baldwin is furious and resolute in trying to complete his mission, finally successful in blowing up the munitions storage, but when one of his trucks is stolen by Chinese bandits, Miller and Lewis are also killed. Baldwin exacts revenge by rolling a gas barrel into the bandits' outpost and setting the village on fire. Baldwin asks Sue-Mei to understand why he had to act that way, but there is no reconciliation between them as the gulf of two divergent cultures is too great and she leaves him. Although recognizing that his retribution was fundamentally excessive and brutal, Baldwin radios his report to headquarters, and is praised for fulfilling his mission.

Charlie and Itchy live in San Francisco and act as guardian angels. In each episode, they are given an assignment by Annabelle, and while they always try to do the right thing, they inevitably keep ending up thrust into the middle of awkward situations. Charlie's duplicitous enemy Carface and his sidekick, Killer – returning from the first film – also appeared in the series, as did Charlie's friends: the dog, Sasha; the dog-angel, Annabelle; and the human kid, David. Finally, the series also featured three new characters: Bess, an award-winning, pure-bred show dog and Itchy's girlfriend; Lance, a by-the-book Doberman Pinscher, whom Charlie is jealous of for his heroic acts; and Belladonna, Annabelle's demonic cousin. The series makes several changes to the second film, which led many fans to consider the series as non-canon. For example, Charlie and Sasha were shown as being a couple at the end of the second film, but in the series, they only seem to be friends. Also, Itchy decides to stay in Heaven, but he is alive in the series. It is explained later why he is on Earth instead.

In 1963 Pittsburgh, Rocky Holzcek is a cantankerous 77-year-old Polish-American baker who insists, despite relatives' protests, upon adopting his young grandson Michael when the boy's parents pass away. The other family members are unwilling to take in Michael and say that Rocky is too old, but he insists that "Family takes care of family!" The two live in Rocky's apartment and often play cards. Rocky has a habit of taking a long time to arrange his hand, and this drives Michael crazy. Twenty years later, Michael is a medical intern in Columbus who's forced to take in his still-spry grandfather when the old man is evicted from his apartment building. At a college history class, Rocky explains that the "S" in Harry S Truman's name actually did stand for something, despite what the professor says, because it was a Russian name. Although the crusty, outspoken Rocky gets along with his Chinese college roommates, they play cards together, still with Rocky taking his dear sweet time to arrange his hand, he is less enthused about his grandson's girlfriend, Beth.

Eventually, Michael and Beth marry and head to Pittsburgh where Michael begins his medical residency, while Rocky continues working as a baker. An illness forces Rocky to move back to Pittsburgh with his grandson and his wife, and Rocky warms up to Beth. They play cards, and it seems Beth takes even longer to arrange her hand than Rocky! Seven years pass, and Rocky lives with Michael and Beth and their two children, as Michael has built himself a prominent medical career. However, when Beth is killed in an automobile accident, the old man once again comes to support his grandson in his time of need. Beth's mother wants to take the children, and Michael - initially - agrees. Rocky again lectures Michael on his motto: "Family takes care of family." Michael decides he can't give up the children, and echoes Rocky when he tells Beth's mother "End of discussion!" She backs off and Michael and Rocky take the kids home. At the end of the film, Rocky is in a hospital room, and Michael and the kids come to him to celebrate his 107th birthday. Seeing his EKG growing weak, Michael sends the kids out of the room, and tries to be upbeat for Rocky's sake. He picks up a newspaper and talks about Rocky looking for a new job. Running through the want ads, he pauses after reading one for a Chinese bakery! Turning to Rocky, he asks, "You know anything about this?" A reference to his old college roommates. Rocky smiles, but grows weaker, and Michael finally tells him it's okay, he can go now. Rocky quietly passes away knowing that his grandson is well, and that he has provided all the care that he could for him.

Jewel Mae "Cookie" Orcutt, an elderly dowager in Holly Springs, Mississippi, lives alone in a large house and is helped out daily by Willis Richland, her African American handyman and closest friend. After acting strangely, she commits suicide with one of her late husband Buck's pistols. Her pretentious niece, Camille, who directs local church theater productions, stops by later that day to borrow a glass fruit bowl, accompanied by her witless and submissive younger sister, Cora, with whom she lives. Camille finds Cookie's body in the bedroom and drops the bowl, shattering it and inadvertently cutting herself. Believing that "suicide is a disgrace", Camille eats Cookie's suicide note and attempts to stage her death to look like a robbery-murder. She removes a prized diamond and ruby necklace from Cookie's neck and throws the pistol in the garden (observed doing so by Ronnie, a young boy who lives next door). Camille coaches Cora to say that Cookie was murdered, and summons Sheriff Lester Boyle to the scene.

Meanwhile Cora's estranged and wayward daughter (and Cookie's grandniece), Emma, returns to town after having moved away following several supposed criminal offenses. Jason, an inept sheriff's deputy investigating Cookie's death, has long been romantically pursuing Emma. Willis is the primary suspect because his fingerprints appear on the gun she used to kill herself, but this is only because he had cleaned her guns the night before at her request. He is detained on suspicion of murder. The same night, Jason encounters Camille and Cora moving into Cookie's house, despite it being an active crime scene, and calls backup to escort them off the property. Cora is shocked to find that Willis is the suspect, Emma openly protests it, and Camille feigns surprise.

Emma visits Willis at the police station, where Boyle and a local attorney, Jack Palmer—both fishing buddies of Willis's—casually play ''Scrabble'' with him in his unlocked cell. Willis tells an anecdote about Cookie's prized diamond and ruby necklace, explaining that Buck once had the necklace appraised only to discover its jewels were fake, a fact he never disclosed to Cookie. Otis Tucker, a detective from a larger jurisdiction, arrives that night and begins questioning locals. Protesting Willis's detainment, Emma refuses to leave the police station until he is freed. She and Jason also frequently sneak away to have sex in empty offices at the station.

The next day, Easter Sunday, Emma arranges a holiday meal for Willis and herself in his cell. Meanwhile, Cora and Camille return to Cookie's home and begin cleaning her bloodied bedding and removing the crime scene tape, assuming they are to inherit the house. They are interrupted by Jack, who arrives to look for Cookie's will in a kitchen cookie jar, which Cora locates for him to Camille's frustration. At the station, Ronnie's father brings him in to recount seeing Camille throw the pistol in the garden; moreover, Camille's rare AB negative blood is recovered from the crime scene, excluding Willis as a suspect.

That night, Camille and Cora prepare to debut their production of ''Salome'' at the local church, in which Cora, Jason and Jack star. After police match the blood type to Camille, they descend upon the church as Cora is enticingly performing the play's Dance of the Seven Veils sequence. Cora is left free of her sister's influence when Camille is arrested and taken to the station, where Willis is prepared to be freed. Jack arrives to disclose Cookie's will, which bequeaths her entire estate to Willis, who is Buck's nephew; this was never disclosed to Camille or Emma, who never suspected it because of Willis's race. Emma is delighted to learn that she and Willis are cousins, but shocked when medical records show that Camille, not Cora, is her biological mother, conceived from an affair she had with Cora's late husband when they all lived together. Cora had given a transfusion of blood to save Camille and afterward covered for Camille's illegitimate child.

Tucker interrogates Camille the following morning. She recounts how she staged Cookie's suicide to look like a murder for the sake of "family pride." Cora, who has ignored phone calls at her house, arrives at the station, and Camille expects she will corroborate her story, but Cora confidently insists that Cookie did not commit suicide, sticking resolutely to the story Camille concocted. Camille is charged with Cookie's murder. Half-delirious, she reenacts the Dance of the Seven Veils in her cell before throwing herself down on her bunk and sobbing in despair. Meanwhile, Willis and Emma go fishing with Boyle and Jack, before Emma excuses herself for another tryst with Jason.

Sergio, a wealthy bourgeois aspiring writer, decides to stay in Cuba even though his wife and friends flee to Miami. Sergio looks back over the changes in Cuba, from the Cuban Revolution to the missile crisis, the effect of living in what he calls an underdeveloped country, and his relations with his girlfriends Elena and Hanna. ''Memories of Underdevelopment'' is a complex character study of alienation during the turmoil of social changes. The film is told in a highly subjective point of view through a fragmented narrative that resembles the way memories function. Throughout the film, Sergio narrates the action, and at times is used as a tool to present bits of political information about the climate in Cuba at the time. In several instances, real-life documentary footage of protests and political events are incorporated into the film and played over Sergio’s narration to expose the audience to the reality of the Revolution. The timeframe of the film is somewhat ambiguous, but it appears to take place over a few months.

When the Simpsons' plans for a nice family outing at the Frying Dutchman turn into a dining disaster due to an uncooperative octopus armed with knives, the family tries to salvage the night by telling three nautically themed stories.

Mayflower Madman

In Lisa's story, Bart, Lisa and a widowed Marge board the ''Mayflower'' to head for the new world. Homer, fleeing from the police, boards the ship and hides in a barrel. Homer is immediately attracted to Marge, however, Moe (who killed Marge's previous husband), schemes to marry her, and is instantly jealous of their friendship. Moe takes Homer down to the storage room to play a drinking game, taking a drink whenever a wave hits the boat. Homer and the rest of the crew get drunk, and Moe claims that Homer is responsible, leading Captain "Flandish" (Flanders) and Reverend Lovejoy to place him in a stock.

A storm approaches, and Flandish is knocked unconscious. Homer volunteers to take his place, claiming that he steers better when he is drunk, and leads them safely out of the storm. Homer and Marge get together, and the members of the Mayflower meet the Wampanoag tribe and join them for the first Thanksgiving feast. However, Flandish bemuses the tribe by revealing that the Mayflower intend to take their land and wipe them out.

The Whine-Bar Sea

In Bart's story, based on a comic book he had read, the Bounty sets sail from England in 1789, commanded by Captain Bligh (Seymour Skinner). During the first 718 days of the voyage, Bligh severely mistreats his crew, not giving them water and discarding their mail. Willie warns him of a mutiny if he continues, but Bligh ignores him. They arrive in Tahiti, where Homer and Marge are the rulers of the island, and the crew have a wonderful time until it is time to leave.

Bligh continues to abuse the crew, leading First Mate Bart Christian, to begin a mutiny, sending Bligh and Willie off in a lifeboat. Willie berates Bligh for not listening to him in the first place, but this only angers Bligh to abuse Willie, who furiously turns on him and sends him off the lifeboat on a sea turtle, who drowns him after he begins to abuse the sea turtle. Bart, as the new Captain of the Bounty, orders the crews to set sail for Tahiti, but after throwing away the ship's helm, they end up in Antarctica.

Watership D'ohn (aka, The Neptune Adventure)

Later on in the night the family realize that the sea captain is not coming with their food (with Bart begrudgedly pointing out that he is playing basketball with his waiters). Homer tells the final story as a parody of the 1972 film ''The Poseidon Adventure'', taking place on the luxury liner S.S. ''Neptune'' on New Year's Eve during the 1970s. At midnight, Captain Burns fails to notice a massive freak wave, which hits the bridge, capsizing the ship and killing most of the passengers (including Edna Krabappel, Otto Mann, Krusty the clown, Alice Glick, and Apu). Led by Selma, survivors Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Lenny, Carl, Comic Book Guy, Old Jewish Man and his wife, and Sideshow Mel ignore Purser Wiggum's advice to stay put in the ballroom and decide to climb up the decks to the engine room. While climbing up through the smokestack, Lenny panics and falls to his death.

Comic Book Guy swims through a flooded deck to help the others get to the engine room, but he has a heart attack and drowns face down in the deck. The group makes it to the engine room, but Sideshow Mel's hair is set on fire by a blowtorch from the rescue team, and he faints in shock. The rest of the group makes it off the ship, at which point they encounter the walking skeletons of the ''Bounty'' crew who are still trying to get back to Tahiti.

Lisa decides to bring the family to the museum to see a weaving exhibit for her summer vacation, but they soon discover that it has been replaced by a "History of Weapons" exhibit. Faced with an incredibly long line, Homer notices Ned Flanders and his sons at the front of the line and cuts in front of them. Everyone else starts taking advantage of Ned’s kindness as well until the Flanders family is stuck at the end. At the end of the day, they are still waiting, and are denied entry, as it is closing time for the weapons exhibit. They decide to check out the human evolution exhibit next door. Ned is outraged to hear that humans actually evolved from apes and that the creation account in the Genesis is therefore a myth. Covering his sons' eyes, he forcefully drags them out of the exhibit.

Ned meets up with the church council to suggest promotion of creationism. The next day, he and Reverend Lovejoy blackmail Principal Skinner into introducing creationism in the school. Lisa is perturbed by this, and at a town meeting asks everyone to make a choice between creationism and Darwinism, as there is only one truth. The townspeople vote for creationism, much to her chagrin, and the act of teaching or learning Darwinism and evolution is made illegal. Lisa therefore decides to start holding secret classes for people interested in evolution. However, just as the first lesson is about to begin, she is arrested by Chief Wiggum. She asks why she is being arrested when there are far worse crimes out there, and embarrassed he tells her they only have enough manpower to enforce the last three laws passed, even stating that this is the worst law system there is (meanwhile Snake is seen at the KwiK-E-mart randomly shooting at people saying you live, you die, while the cops do nothing about it showing just how horrible they are at their jobs). Lisa is brought to trial, which is dubbed ''Lisa Simpson v. God''. Representing her is Clarice Drummond, an ACLU lawyer, while on Ned's side is Wallace Brady, an overweight, southern lawyer. The trial does not go smoothly for Lisa, as Professor Frink gives ambiguous answers regarding God's existence, while a creationist says that evolution cannot be real, as there is no proof of a "missing link" (depicted in a picture as a savage hominid, holding a rock over his head).

With Lisa now facing a long jail sentence, her mother decides to help her out. Marge begins reading Charles Darwin's ''On the Origin of Species'', which is incorrectly called ''The Origin of Species'', and becomes addicted to it. When the trial resumes, Marge tells Lisa that she now knows a way that she can help her. While Ned is being cross-examined by Drummond, she gives Homer a beer. Homer, ecstatic at getting the beer, tries to open it unsuccessfully. The more he tries, the more primitive he gets, hooting and banging the beer on the bench, disrupting the trial. Ned loses his temper and tells Homer to stop behaving like a monkey. Drummond then asks Ned to compare the picture of the "missing link" and Homer shaking the beer over his head, and asks if he truly believes Homer cannot be related to apes. Ned cannot and concedes victory to Lisa. After the trial, Lisa goes up to Ned and tells him that while she fully respects his religious beliefs, she just does not think it is proper for the church to dominate the school in the same way that he and Reverend Lovejoy do not want scientists taking over the church. Ned finally agrees with this, so he offers to take Lisa and his sons out for ice cream.

To earn money, Bart and his friends Milhouse and Nelson go around the neighborhood spray-painting people's addresses on their curbs and making them pay for the unsolicited service. This works on Moe and Ned Flanders, but when Homer does not pay them, they leave with only the first two digits painted. The following day, a mail carrier brings Homer and Marge the wrong mail after reading their curb. Homer receives steaks and an invitation to a wedding, while Marge gets a letter claiming that she has won a contest, with the prize being a maid cleaning her house for a day. Fearing that she will be judged for having a dirty house, Marge cleans until it is spotless, except for a small stain on the kitchen floor. She combines all of her different cleaners, but passes out from the fumes and hits her head on a stool.

Marge wakes up in the hospital and is told that she has amnesia, and does not remember her family. When she returns home, the environment quickly jogs her memory of her children, in addition to Flanders and Milhouse. Homer is still a stranger to her due to her mind blocking out an unpleasant memory. Homer tries to remind Marge who he is, but she is disturbed and disgusted instead and forces him out of the house.

Patty and Selma take Marge to a speed dating event, and she meets a man who shares her interests. When Marge tells him that she has amnesia and three kids, he immediately leaves. Homer scolds the man for leaving her, saying that she is the most beautiful woman he will ever meet. Marge tells Homer that even though she may not remember him, he knows the most wonderful things about her. As they drive back home, Homer mentions beer, and she suddenly remembers him through his alcoholic tendencies.

The series is similar to the book, and focuses on the adventures of a newspaper proofreader who through years of secret practice has gained James Bond-like skills in many forms of physical combat, shooting, and in activities as diverse as rock climbing and scuba diving. The proofreader, Hiram Holliday (Cox), was revealed to be muscular when stripped.

The starting gimmick of the series was that Holliday had inserted a comma in a news story which saved the publisher a small fortune in a trial. The grateful publisher rewarded Holliday with a trip around the world, which set the scene for him to solve crimes and thwart foreign spies in every port of call he visited. The series was hampered by a low budget which did not permit convincing recreations of the different exotic foreign locations featured in each episode.

Other cast members included actor Ainslie Pryor as Holliday's reporter sidekick, Joel Smith, and Sebastian Cabot as a criminal mastermind he repeatedly encountered. There were a number of directors, including George Cahan and William Hole, and a number of writers, including Philip Rapp and Richard Powell. Rapp also served as producer.

In the royal palace, Cinderella's mice friends Gus and Jaq head to a chamber where the Fairy Godmother is reading the story of Cinderella to the other mice. Much to their disappointment, Gus and Jaq arrive just as she has finished the story. With her help, the mice set off to make a new book to narrate what happens after the Happily Ever After, by stringing three segments of stories together into one narrative.

In the first segment, Cinderella and Prince Charming return from their Honeymoon, and Cinderella reunites with her mice friends and her dog Bruno. She is later put in charge of the palace banquets and parties while the King and Prince Charming are away. However, Cinderella is dissatisfied with the emphasis on tradition, and decides to organize the upcoming party her own way. Although he initially seems to be shocked at Cinderella's changes, the King ends up satisfied with the party.

In the second segment, Jaq thinks he is too small to help Cinderella in the palace as he did in the first movie. The Fairy Godmother turns him into a human, named "Sir Hugh," so he can help out. However, this does not stop Pom Pom, the palace's cat, from chasing Jaq around. After an incident with an elephant at a fair, he learns to be happy with himself.

In the last segment, Anastasia, one of Cinderella's stepsisters, falls in love with a baker named Lathyn, of whom her mother Lady Tremaine and older sister Drizella disapprove. Cinderella, unbeknownst to anyone else, arrives and secretly watches as Lady Tremaine berates Anastasia, thus leading her to help Anastasia in getting ready for the ball together. Later at the ball, Anastasia thanks Cinderella for helping her. Lucifer also has an encounter with Pom Pom, the castle's cat, with whom he falls in love.

The mice finish their book, and the movie ends as they gather in front of the fire with Cinderella, who begins to read their story.

On a mountain in medieval Italy, an old woman meets a red-cloaked figure shuffling Tarot cards. The figure gives the woman a white rose, which then turns red and dappled with blood.

Prince Prospero, a Satanist, visits the village over which he holds dominion, and is angrily confronted by two poor and starving villagers, Gino and Ludovico. Upon discovering the old woman who encountered the red figure, infected with a deadly plague known as the Red Death, Prospero orders the village burned. He abducts Gino and Ludovico, as well as Gino's lover and Ludovico's daughter Francesca, and then sends out invitations to his castle to the local nobility.

At the castle, Francesca is finely dressed and tutored in etiquette by Prospero's jealous consort, Juliana, and the gathered nobility are entertained by a pair of dwarf dancers, Esmeralda and Hop-Toad. When Esmeralda accidentally knocks over a goblet of wine, one of Prospero's guests, Alfredo, strikes her. Juliana expresses her wish to Prospero to be initiated into his Satanic cult, and that night Francesca is terrified to discover Juliana and Prospero lying in a hypnotic state in Prospero's Black Room.

Gino and Ludovico are being held prisoner within Prospero's castle, with the castle guards teaching them armed combat so that they can fight to the death against one another as entertainment for the nobility, which they refuse to do. Juliana performs a ritual in the Black Room, pledging her soul to Satan. She gives Francesca the key to Ludovico and Gino's cell and tells her to leave. During their escape, Gino and Ludovico fight and kill three guards but are then recaptured by Prospero, who points out to Francesca how her father and Gino have sinned.

At a feast, Prospero summons Gino and Ludovico. He has them each choose daggers to cut themselves with. One of the daggers is coated with poison; when Ludovico attempts to stab Prospero with it, Prospero kills him with his sword. He then casts Gino out of the castle to be killed by the Red Death. In the woods, Gino encounters the red-cloaked figure, who presents him with a Tarot card which he says represents "Mankind". In the Black Room, Juliana undergoes her final initiation ceremony, drinking from a chalice and suffering hallucinations of figures who stab at her as she lies on an altar. Awakening from her dream, Juliana proudly declares herself the wife of Satan, but hears Prospero's voice telling her "There is more". She wanders out through the different-coloured rooms and is attacked and killed by a falcon. As the nobles gather about her body, Prospero comments that Juliana is now married to Satan.

The remaining villagers come to Prospero's castle, intending to beg him for sanctuary. Prospero hears the villagers' plea and orders them to go away. When they tell him that unless he helps them they will die, he orders his soldiers to shoot down the villagers with crossbow bolts, deliberately sparing only one small girl.

Meanwhile, Hop-Toad, enraged by Alfredo's striking of Esmeralda, persuades Alfredo to wear an ape costume to Prospero's masked ball, where Prospero has instructed that no one is to wear red. In the guise of the ape's trainer, Hop-Toad humiliates Alfredo in front of the assembled guests by tying him to a lowered chandelier and raising him above the crowd. He soaks Alfredo with brandy and fatally sets him on fire before fleeing. Outside the castle walls, Gino returns to rescue Francesca and again encounters the red-cloaked figure. The figure tells him not to enter the castle and promises that he will send Francesca out to him soon.

During the ball, Prospero notices the entry of the mysterious, red-cloaked figure. He and Francesca follow the figure through the coloured rooms into the Black Room, where Prospero believes the figure to be an ambassador of Satan. He asks to see the figure's face, but the figure does not show it. The ball becomes a ''danse macabre'' as the figure causes all of the nobles to die of the Red Death – and their corpses dance. Prospero asks for Francesca to be spared and given the same high status in Hell as he believes he himself will receive. The figure sends Francesca outside, and she sadly kisses Prospero before leaving.

The red-cloaked figure then reveals that he is not a servant of Satan, proclaiming that "Death has no master". Prospero rips off the figure's red mask to reveal his own blood-spattered face beneath. The figure is the Red Death personified. Prospero attempts to flee through the now-infected crowd, but his red-cloaked self is always in front of him. The Red Death finally corners Prospero in the Black Room and, after noting that Prospero's soul "has been dead for a long time", kills him.

The Red Death is seen playing with his Tarot cards with the girl who had escaped the massacre of the remaining villagers. Other similarly cloaked figures then gather around him, each wearing a different colour: white, yellow, orange, blue, violet, and black. They discuss among themselves the numbers of people each of them had "claimed" that night. When asked of his work, the Red Death notes that only six are left: Francesca, Gino, Hop-Toad, Esmeralda, the little girl, and an old man from a nearby village. The Red Death declares "Sic transit gloria mundi" (Latin for "Thus passes the glory of the world") and the cloaked figures process into the night. Over the procession are Poe's words: "And darkness and decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all".

Following the events of the first game, Tak has now been stuck in a dream for 16 days. Jibolba and Lok ponder how they can wake him up. In reality, Tak is stuck in the Dream World, and is sent by the Dream Juju to fight the Dream Guardian, take The Staff of Dreams, and save the princess. After Tak refuses, he is told that if he does not do this, he will be stuck in the dream forever. As he fights through the Dream World, he escapes through a Rift. When going through the rift, Tak wakes up, and Jibolba and Tak go find Jibolba's brother, JB. Lok wants to go, but Jibolba tells Lok to go fetch his magic sandals. Jibolba turns into a Flea for easy hauling, and they set off.

When Tak and Jibolba reach a dead end, they summon the Belly Juju to get a raft. Belly Juju uses a barrel that Tak got for him, and throws Tak in it, and throws the barrel down river. Lok is once again left behind, and when Belly Juju chokes, Lok has to save him. As Tak and Jibolba go down the fast current, they fall down a huge waterfall, and Tak is knocked out. He wakes up in the Dream World, once again being led by the Dream Juju. Once he makes it to the end, he again enters the real world through a rift. Once in the real world, Tak and Jibolba set off, again. When they reach a bridge, they have to wait for Woodies to pass, but when they do, Lok blows up the bridge, and the Woodies attack. When Tak saves Lok, he summons Mind-Reader Juju. He tells Tak that with three magic stones, he can make Bolas to get across the gap. When Tak does this, he is knocked out by Woodies, again entering the Dream World.

Tak then uses the Bolas to get through the Dream World. For the third time, he gets back to his world using a rift. When he awakes, he is in the holding area in the Gloomleaf Arena, where Woodies train, with Caged Juju. After an argument, Caged Juju finds Lok, and uses a lift key to get up. When up, Lok is hauled off by Woodies, and Tak fights through waves of Woodies. After four rounds, he uses a Woodie Catapult to escape, flying into the Gloomleaf Swamp. When half-way through the swamp, he sees Dead Juju being harassed by Woodies, who steal his Tiki. Tak follows the Woodies to the rafters of the Arena, where Tak steals the Tiki from the Woodie King. He is then chased down river by Woodies, and when he falls down a waterfall, he grabs to a ledge with Dead Juju. When he returns the Tiki, Lok suddenly falls down the waterfall, and the four head off together.

When outside Skyrock Crater, they can see JB's Planetarium. They all stop to smell the flowers, which make them all fall asleep. Tak uses a Woodie Catapult to cause destruction in the Dream World, finally making it to the Tower where the Dream Guardian is at. But, he goes through a rift, and is told that his next sleep will put him in the tower. He and Jibolba wake up, leaving Lok and Dead Juju. Tak and Jibolba go through the Crater, and make it to the Planetarium. But inside, the area is overrun by Power Parasites, and after a long fight, JB is saved. JB tells them that he has never heard of a Dream Juju. So, JB sends Tak into sleep. Tak then enters the tower, and has a long battle with the Dream Guardian. After the battle, Tak gets The Staff of Dreams. The princess appears, and is revealed to be Pins and Needles, and the Dream Juju reveals to be Tlaloc, still in Sheep form. Pins, Needles, and Tak all struggle for the Staff, and Needles gets one half, The Staff of Nightmares, and Tak gets the other, the Dream Shaker. This power causes all to enter the real world, and Pins, Needles, and Tlaloc escape. Tak then begins a chase of them, not watching where he is going, and gets knocked out.

When he wakes up, Tak is in the Moon Juju Interlude, and the Moon Juju was before him. She tells him to choose one of four Spirit Animals. Before she tells Tak the best one, she disappears. Tak chooses, which wakes him up, with new powers.

Tak meets the Giant Misunderstanding and needed help with the rift. The Giant thinks he wants to talk to Rick. Tak repeats the Rick question to the juju to unlock the rift. When he says goodbye, the Giant sings a song.

During the chase, Flora and Fauna grant Tak the ability to become 4 animals.

Tak is tired when he comes to the Dream Fortress. He battles Pins and Needles and gets the other half of the staff. Lok mistakenly gives the half to Tlaloc. Tak battles Tlaloc's army of sheep. After defeating all of the sheep, Tak attacks Tlaloc, knocking him over a ledge and killing him. Jibolba, Dead Juju, and Lok congratulate Tak on his victory and remind him they need to return the staff. Lok questions the appearance of an arm behind Tak which pulls him through a rift and back into the Dream Realm. The arm turns out to belong to Tlaloc who, after being killed in the real world, is now a nightmare creature and has his old body again. He uses the Staff of Nightmare to turn into a monster resembling the Dream Guardian. Tak does the same with his staff to fight Tlaloc. After the battle, the Dream Guardian appears asking for the staff back. Tak apologized to the Dream Guardian who opens a rift to return Tak to the real world. Back in the real world, Jibolba, Lok, and Dead Juju congratulate Tak again before Tlaloc appears again realizing he can never defeat Tak. He decides to instead kill his friends to eliminate Tak's will to fight. Tak manages to save his friends and defeat Tlaloc a third time. Tak is then waken up by Jibolba and Lok telling him the whole thing was a dream. The three walk off while being spied on by a sheep from Tlaloc's army.

The series tells the story of Lolle (played by Felicitas Woll) who, after finishing school, follows her boyfriend, Tom, from Malente to Berlin. Once there, she discovers that Tom has been cheating on her with another girl. Rather than move back home, Lolle decides to stay in Berlin with her cousin, Sven (played by Jan Sosniok), his best friends Hart (Matthias Klimsa) and Rosalie (Sandra Borgmann). At the end of season one Lolle and Sven fall in love with each other, even though they are second cousins. Their grandparents were siblings, as is revealed in the first episode when Daniel, Sven's son, asks Lolle how she is related to him.

Before getting into a relationship with Lolle, Sven instead decides to go back to his former wife, Silvia, because of Daniel. Season one also follows Lolle's relationship with the ex-girlfriend, Rosalie, of Tom's new girlfriend. At the end of season one, Rosalie, an actress, leaves Germany to go to the USA and pursue a new life.

At the beginning of season two Lolle, desperate after losing Sven to Silvia and Rosalie's departure to the USA, she finds a new friend with Rosalie's former girlfriend, Sara (Rhea Harder). At first Lolle wants to convince Sven to love her, but he seems to be undecided and is unsure of what he should do. She then meets Alex, an art student, and they become a couple. Sven separates from Silvia once more, however, and is now free to be with Lolle, but she replies that she should stay with Alex. At the end of season two, she realizes that she loves Sven too, and attempts being with both Sven and Alex. Hart also begins to acknowledge his love for Sarah, and after a series of problems, they get together.

Frank Abernathy is the curator of the natural history museum in Blackwater, Louisiana. He is a widower who doesn't seem to have time for his daughter, Jack. Frank's father, Simon, is a B-movie enthusiast who believes in extraterrestrials and shows his favorite movies at the local theater. The city loses its electrical power just as Simon, Jack and her boyfriend Squirrelly exit the theater. They watch an object streaking through the sky and crashing into the museum. Thought to be a meteorite, they later find out it is a craft containing an alien lifeform. Trying to adapt to the Earth's atmosphere, it latches on to the first organism it finds - the museum's most notable exhibit, a frozen Wooly mammoth.

A security guard witnesses the revival of the prehistoric elephant, which kills the guard. With the creature on the loose, two government agents, Powers and Whitaker, track Frank down. While the agents and Frank try to figure out what happened and what to do, the mammoth heads into the forest, where it kills anyone it comes across. The beast's path soon brings it to a huge party attended by Jack and Squirrelly.

They survive the attack and meet up with Frank and the agents. The mammoth suddenly appears and kills Agent Whitaker while Agent Powers, Frank, Jack and Squirrelly escape. While the mammoth continues its rampage around the town, the government is preparing to detonate a nuclear bomb on the alien-possessed elephant. The group must find a way to take the creature down without destroying their town.

After devising a plan to stop the mammoth, Frank, Powers, Jack and Squirrelly are joined by Simon and town sheriff Marion Morrison at the local factory to encase the creature in ice, just like it was before. While en route, Squirrelly is killed by the mammoth, but the plan moves forward at full speed. The mammoth arrives at the factory, and is doused in molten steel. It then slaughters Sheriff Morrison, off screen. They figure out that liquid nitrogen is the only way to stop the mammoth once and for all. The mammoth is lured into the liquid nitrogen trap. Frank, Jack, and Powers, among other survivors, escape as Simon sacrifices himself to pull the release valve and smash the controls, forcing the liquid nitrogen to spray out and freeze both Simon and the mammoth.

The movie ends as Simon's frozen body is put in government hands, and the refrozen mammoth is put back out as an exhibit.

As far back as Sandra Larson (Parker) can remember, she has been fascinated by death. As a child, she dances with the corpses of animals at night, rubbing them on her body, before giving them a funeral. She performs this dance in front of her only friend, a girl named Carol (Jessie Winter Mudie), who ends their friendship soon afterward.

In college, Sandra studies biology, carefully dissecting the bodies of small animals, trying to avoid disfiguring them. She gets a job at a funeral home to be closer to dead bodies. The funeral home's janitor Jan (James Timmons) believes, like Sandra, that dead bodies still have a soul in them. While driving the hearse with a body in a coffin in the back through a car wash, Sandra looks at the body and finds a shining light, believing that body's soul is alive somewhere.

Mr. Wallis apprentices Sandra in embalming. She starts studying mortuary science, where she meets a medical student named Matt (Peter Outerbridge) who also must study corpses for his major. Matt and Sandra begin to date, and Matt is intrigued by Sandra's death fascination. Occasionally they spend nights together in Matt's basement apartment, but Sandra always leaves for late night visits to the mortuary to celebrate the dead bodies of young men with dance ceremonies which escalate into necrophilia.

Matt becomes distraught when he discovers that he is competing with dead bodies. He tries unsuccessfully to get Sandra to talk about her necrophilia, so he starts visiting her at the funeral home, which upsets her. Matt has to go to an extreme to win Sandra's heart, as she struggles with choosing between the living or the dead, with tragic results.

Seattle PD Detective Quentin Conners and his partner Jason York are implicated in the death of a hostage taken by a carjacker named John Curtis. After a fellow police officer, Callo, testifies against them, Conners is suspended, and York is fired. In reality, York tried to shoot Curtis, but accidentally killed the hostage. Curtis in turn fired back, and Conners killed him in self-defense.

Some time later, Lorenz and four other criminals take hostages in a bank. Lorenz has only one demand, to negotiate with Conners. Conners is reinstated but put under the surveillance of a new partner, the recently-graduated Shane Dekker. Conners is given control of the negotiations, and after a bank teller is shot, he orders a SWAT unit to cut the building's power and go in. During an explosion, the criminals flee during the ensuing panic and chaos.

Dekker and Conners learn more about each other at a local diner, slowly building a friendship, but Dekker disapproves of Conners' "cowboy cop" methods. Dekker explains that during negotiations, Lorenz was making many cryptic references to chaos theory. As they leave to examine new evidence, Conners puts a ten dollar bill on the table for his share of the bill. Dekker swaps the ten for a twenty of his own. A TV camera caught a shot of one of the criminals, who is arrested together with his girlfriend at her home, where banknotes are found with a scent used to mark evidence collected by the police. The banknote serial numbers did not come from that day's robbery, but had been placed in police storage and signed out two weeks earlier by Callo. He is found shot dead in his home, together with incriminating evidence linking him to the heist.

When reviewing video footage from the bank, Dekker notices one corner of the bank is deliberately shielded from view. In that corner, they find the bank regional manager's computer. Fingerprints on the keyboard reveal the identity of a hacker that Conners himself had arrested, but whose conviction was overturned after the shooting on the bridge. Conners and Dekker want to question the hacker, but he is shot dead by Lorenz, and a gunfight ensues, during which Lorenz manages to escape. Dekker questions the hospitalized bank robber identified in the news footage and finally breaks him when he casually explains the impact of a massive overdose of morphine while slowly injecting something into the suspect's drip. An amazed Conners watches and later calls him a hypocrite. Dekker responds by explaining he only injected more saline solution.

The suspect reveals Lorenz is Scott Curtis, the brother of John shot earlier, and Conners leads a stakeout at an address where all the gang are to meet that night; Scott's house. Forced to go before Scott arrives, a shootout results in both suspects' deaths, and a bomb blows up the building while Conners is inside. Dekker is devastated but realizes that Callo's signature requesting material from the evidence storage was forged by the evidence custody officer, who reveals that Scott is actually York. In a flashback, York stands on the bridge and fires the first shot, killing the hostage in the opening sequence. Tracking Lorenz/York's mobile phone, Dekker surprises York at a diner, and York takes a woman hostage in a reversal of the standoff on the bridge. Dekker chases and eventually kills York.

When Dekker pays for his coffee at the diner, he discovers the banknote Conners used to pay for lunch with is also scented, which means Conners was also involved in taking the money from police evidence. Dekker finds a copy of James Gleick's ''Chaos: Making a New Science'' in Conners' house, showing he had faked an earlier ignorance of the mathematics. On a hunch, Dekker looks for airplane tickets booked in Gleick's name and runs to the airport.

During a mobile call between the now disguised Conners and the searching Dekker at the busy airport, flashbacks reveal how the seemingly unconnected events in the film form a pattern, just as predicted in chaos theory. Conners reveals that he placed his badge on the corpse of one of York's henchmen before the explosion. Conners and York recruited a group of ex-convicts from their past. Callo was framed for being a dirty cop. Conners ends the call, walks casually to a private jet, and takes off while sipping champagne.

At a corporation's base on the Neptunian moon Triton, mercenaries are setting up a defense perimeter to try to hold off an unstoppable cyborg warrior. The company's CEO E.J. Saggs and chief scientist Dr. Nabel seal themselves inside the control room. The cyborg destroys the soldiers' tank and then attacks a helicopter, which crashes into the control room. The soldiers are killed one by one, until Nabel finally deactivates the cyborg with a remote control. The remaining corporate employees discover that the cyborg was created by Nabel for the company. Saggs takes the remote and reactivates the cyborg, ordering it to kill Nabel.

Meanwhile, John Canyon, one of the last independent "space truckers", drops off his cargo of square pigs at a "truck stop" space station, but becomes embroiled in a brawl with the trucking company head, Keller, who is sucked out into space. He and his two passengers—Cindy, a waitress who has promised to marry him in exchange for a ride to Earth to see her mother, and Mike, an up-and-coming trucker working for the company—take on a deal to transport alleged sex dolls to Earth. Chased by police investigating Keller's death, John takes his rig into the "scum zone", a region controlled by pirates. The rig takes damage, leaving them adrift; they are soon captured by the pirate ship ''Regalia'', commanded by the company-hating Captain Macanudo. Cindy agrees to have sex with him if he would take the cargo and let them go.

The captain is revealed to be Nabel, who rebuilt his grievously injured body and went into piracy as revenge against Saggs for betraying him. The cargo that John's rig is carrying is in fact a full supply of the cyborg warriors Nabel designed and built for Saggs' company. One of the cyborgs activates, kills most of the crew, and severely damages the ship. John, Cindy and Mike take their rig and escape as the ''Regalia'' explodes. As they make their way back to Earth, John and Mike find a mortally wounded Macanudo in the hold, who reveals the true nature of the cargo to them. John releases Cindy from any obligation of marrying him, and tells her and Mike to take the escape pod while he releases the cargo in the atmosphere, where it will burn up on re-entry. Cindy and Mike land safely, but the rig is unable to return to space and explodes in the sky; however, John is able to safely escape before the explosion.

John, Cindy and Mike go to the hospital to see Cindy's mother, who became sick twenty years earlier and was frozen until a cure was found; John is smitten with her at first sight. Meanwhile, Saggs—now President of Earth after the government was privatized—visits John, Cindy and Mike in the hospital, where he offers John a new rig and gives the trio a suitcase full of money to keep them quiet about his cyborg invasion plan. John agrees to the deal, but Mike angrily throws the suitcase out the window. Below, Saggs re-enters his presidential limousine; having planted a bomb in the suitcase, he triggers the detonator just as the suitcase lands on his limousine's roof, killing him. With Saggs dead and Earth safe, Mike, Cindy, John and Cindy's mother blast off in their brand new rig.

Set in the fictional Wasaychigan Hill reserve in Northern Ontario, ''Dry Lips'' is a companion piece to Highway's earlier play ''The Rez Sisters''. ''The Rez Sisters'' focused on seven women from the community; ''Dry Lips'', whose original working title was ''The Rez Brothers'', is about seven men. It is written in a mix of English, Cree, and Ojibway. It tells the story of life on the Wasaychigan Hill Indian Reserve and the men on the reserve as well.

The men talk about their plans; Big Joey wants to get a radio show, Zachary wants to open a bakery while Pierre St. Pierre got a new job as a referee for the women's hockey games. Nanabush is a trickster; she can change shape and gender, enact the men's phobias and fantasies about women and also shows the misogynistic attitudes of the men in the play. Each character has their own story within the bigger picture.

The play's original cast included Gary Farmer, Billy Merasty and Graham Greene. Highway's brother René and musician Carlos del Junco were also involved in the production .

In 2010, Highway also staged ''Paasteewitoon Kaapooskaysing Tageespichit'', a Cree language version of the play .

The poem begins with lyrical argument to introduce the work. In it, the narrator introduces the idea that the poem could be either a dream or a vision, and is unsure of which. The poem is divided into three scenes before its final fragmentation.

The poem's first scene opens with the poet narrator stumbling on a post-Edenic feast scene. This scene is reminiscent of the "sensory delight" mentioned in his previous work, ''Sleep and Poetry'', or of the "happy happy joy" experienced in ''Ode on a Grecian Urn''. After enjoying the sensory delight, he is compelled to partake of a "cool vessel of transparent juice" that causes him to fall into a deep sleep.

Upon awakening, the poet narrator finds himself before a temple, with the gates to the East (the same direction as the gates of Eden) shut. He is challenged by a mysterious figure, Moneta, to climb upon stairs, which he experiences a painful death that is reminiscent of Apollo's pain when "dying into life" in ''Hyperion''. Upon climbing, the poet narrator must overcome the desire to avoid suffering and dwell in spiritual pleasure in order to transcend the mistakes of false poets. Once the poet narrator makes it up the steps, he is questioned thoroughly by Moneta on the nature of poetry, on visions, and what one must do with their life, which reflects the second part of ''Sleep and Poetry'', where the narrator has to condemn the false poets in each.

Once the poet has passed the test, Moneta allows the poet to witness a vision of the Titans and of Hyperion. This scene ends with the image of Hyperion rising, which leads to the beginning of the previous fragment, ''Hyperion''.

Nicholas Quinn, a former Treasury official, is the new chairman of an investment bank called Kendrick Maple, a company that is in need of modernising. The managing director is long-standing employee Bruce Morton and he is outraged by Quinn's attempt to modernise. Between them is young, high-flyer Greg Hayden, who often acts as a mediator.

Detective Cathy Palmer (Ellen Barkin) is on the trail of an elusive serial killer. (This is very much like "Sea of Love" another movie with Ellen Barkin.) During her investigation she meets Vickie Kittrie (Peta Wilson), who belongs to an exclusive club of women who engage in secret sessions of bondage and S&M. Matters become even more complicated when Palmer finds herself attracted to Kittrie, leading to a brief lesbian encounter. Palmer soon learns that each victim belonged to this club of prominent, sexually experimental women. In order to catch the killer, Catherine must trust Vickie to guide her through the dangerous and illicit underground. One of the strange things that happens in this movie is when Mary (Karen Young, from "Jaws the Revenge" and "The Sopranos") ties down her doctor (Julian Sands) after he dresses up like her mother. He tells her to act out her aggression by pretending he's her mother. She bites his nearly nude body in several places and takes out a knife.

The film depicts several months in the life of the Nolans, an Irish American family living in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1912. The film covers a much shorter timespan than the book, which ranges from before Francie is born until after she turns 16. The film focuses on the time when Francie is around 13 years old.

Katie Nolan is a hard-working housewife who scrubs the floors of her tenement building and collects rags for sale to a scrap fabric dealer in order to provide for her family. She's married to Johnny Nolan, a happy-go-lucky, charming man who means well, but dreams his way through life, rather than find steady employment. He is also an alcoholic. On the rare occasions he finds work as a singing waiter, everything he earns usually ends up in his drinking, much to Katie's despair. The couple have two children: 13-year-old Francie, who idolizes her father; and 12-year-old Neeley. Tense and frustrated, Katie is often sharper with the children than she means to be, while Johnny is gentle, generous, and indulgent, especially with Francie.

Katie's sister, Sissy, is a sassy, free-spirited woman who has recently married for the third time. Katie learns this from gossipy insurance agent Mr. Barker when he comes by to collect the Nolans' weekly premium. Scandalized and embarrassed, Katie cuts off her relationship with Sissy, which makes the children, who love their unconventional aunt, unhappy. Francie is also worried that the building's landlord has cut too many branches off the tree in the tenement's courtyard, which Francie and her father call the Tree of Heaven, and that it may die. But when she points this out to Johnny, he explains the cutting back is necessary and the tree will grow again.

In the meantime, a police officer new to the neighborhood, Officer McShane, encounters Sissy and the children one afternoon. When he meets Katie, he is enchanted. A few days later, however, he learns Johnny (drunk after an argument with his wife) is Katie's husband, and is devastated to realize Katie is married.

The children's grandmother Rommely often tells them about her immigration to the United States, and how important education is in life. While Neeley isn't interested in books and school, Francie is a bright child who is always reading, thinking about what she reads and observes, and eager to learn. One Sunday, Francie persuades her father to go for a walk and shows him a nicer school in a nearby neighborhood which she'd like to attend. She helps her father write a letter to the principal requesting a transfer, and is accepted.

Meanwhile, Katie moves the family into a smaller, cheaper apartment on the top floor, angering her husband who thinks she is being stingy. In fact, Katie is pregnant and worried how they will support another child. Sissy also becomes pregnant, and she and Katie reconcile shortly before Christmas. The families celebrate a happy, poignant Christmas together, with the children bringing home a discarded tree, and later that night, Katie tells Johnny she is pregnant. She suggests that Francie drop out of school to work. Since Johnny understands how much being in school means to his daughter, he feels desperate to find a job. Despite the fact that it's snowing hard, Johnny goes out determined to find work but fails to return.

A week later, Officer McShane comes to the apartment to deliver the bad news that Johnny died of pneumonia while looking for work. Francie blames her mother for her father's death, but the births of Sissy's and Katie's babies help ease tensions in the household. To provide financial help, a sympathetic tavern owner, Mr. McGarrity, gives Francie and Neeley after-school jobs.

During Katie's labor, at home because they cannot afford the hospital birth Sissy had, Francie is her mother's greatest help and comfort. Katie asks Francie to read some of her creative writing essays, and confides how much she misses Johnny. The shared experience brings mother and daughter closer. When the baby is born, a little girl, Katie names her Annie Laurie, after the song Johnny once sang to them.

The following June, both children graduate from their respective schools on the same day. Katie attends Neeley's graduation, while Sissy goes to Francie's. Using money Johnny gave her for safekeeping back in December, Sissy gives Francie a bouquet of flowers from her father, along with a congratulatory card that Johnny wrote himself. Francie, who has bottled up her grief for many months, finally breaks down.

After the graduation ceremonies, the family reunites at the ice cream shop to celebrate. While there, some boys who know Neeley come by their table. One teenager in particular is very interested in Francie, and asks her to a movie the next day, her first date.

When the Nolans return home, they find Officer McShane babysitting Annie Laurie together with Sissy's husband and his baby. McShane has been waiting to propose to Katie, who accepts. McShane also asks to adopt Annie Laurie and give her his last name. Francie and Neeley think Annie Laurie's life with McShane as a father will be much easier, but not nearly as much fun.

The film ends as Francie sees the courtyard tree begin to grow again, just as her father said it would.

In the year 3000 Earth has become a toxic dump ravaged by careless humans, leaving an uninhabitable, polluted wasteland. The powerful alien space pirates Gulfer, led by the evil Queen ZZ Badnusty, plan to harvest the pollution to create weapons of mass destruction. The United Star Cluster of Leezaluth sent a warning to Earth about their plans, stating that if they could not stop them, Leezaluth would be forced to supernova Earth's sun to avoid war with Gulfer; but if humans succeeded, Leezaluth would use their technology to restore Earth to its former beauty.

Legendary space hero Dan Dare (Diaz in the Japanese original), a young but brave and very skilled ace pilot from Earth was chosen to be the pilot of a new starfighter to combat Gulfer. The ship is armed with a powerful experimental weapon from Leezaluth called the TOZ System, which would be operated by Alexis, an alien princess from Leezaluth and Dan's lover.

The film is set around the time when many Europeans had changed their religion from paganism to Christianity. The film is split into three parts, and comprises the story of Siegfried from childhood to his death.

'''''Part 1'''''

The film opens with a young Siegfried awakening in the middle of an invasion of his parents' castle by Saxons. The castle is soon overrun and all are slain except for Siegfried, whose mother has sent him down the river. In the morning he has lost his memory and is picked up by a blacksmith, Eyvind, who raises him under the name Eric.

Twelve years later, Brunhild, the Queen of Iceland (still a pagan like Eyvind and Eric) follows her adviser's runes that lead her to where Eric lives. The runes foretell that a star will fall from the sky and from its smoke a man will appear who will defeat her. Brunhild initially has doubts as no one has ever beaten her in a fight before. That night a meteor, a described announcement to a war between the gods called Ragnarök, hits the earth near the smithy and despite Eyvind's warning, Eric goes to investigate. In the middle of the crater there are two rocks of a strange kind of metal. Wearing a cloak over her face, Brunhild arrives and Eric, believing she is a Saxon, attacks her. After a short battle he defeats her, and they instantly fall in love with each other, seeing their gathering as the will of the gods. After making love, Eric promises to go to Iceland to meet Brunhild and they fall asleep. In the morning Eric wakes up alone after Brunhild has taken one of the rocks and left. Eric convinces Eyvind to let him go with him to Burgund (the kingdom of the Burgundians) and on their way down the river they see a town in flames.

Once in Burgund the hawk Arminius, belonging to King Gunther's brother Giselher, lands on Eric's arm and there is a brief fight between Eric and some of the townspeople. Afterwards Eyvind presents his swords to Gunther, who reveals that the dragon Fafnir has awakened and is responsible for the burnt village. King Gunther and his best men, including army chief Hagen, leave to slay the dragon; Giselher befriends Eric and says that his sister Kriemhild is wanted by every man in the kingdom but she doesn't want any of them. Eyvind leaves Eric to use the rock from the meteor to make a sword.

Gunther returns injured with Hagen; all the other knights have been killed. Eric promises to Kriemhild that Gunther and his men will be avenged. He enters Fafnir's lair and, after a fierce battle, manages to slay the dragon while receiving only a scratch on his arm. Seeing that Fafnir's blood has healed his scratch, Eric bathes in the blood, rendering his skin invulnerable (save for a single spot where an errant leaf had fallen upon his upper back, leaving that one spot untouched by the blood).

'''''Part 2'''''

Eric explores the cave and finds a vast hall filled with treasure. He finds a ring, the Ring of the Nibelung, and is then confronted by ghosts of immortal twilight beings, the Nibelungs. They warn him that taking any of their will bring a curse down on him, but he does not listen and takes the ring and promises to come back for the rest. Outside he is attacked by an ex-Nibelung who lost his immortality for trying to take all the treasure, who happens to be Hagen's father Alberich. Eric soon defeats Alberich and takes his Tarnhelm, an item that lets him take the shape of anyone else. The Nibelungs tell Siegfried again to return the treasure, and when Siegfried offers to return half to them they say it will not be sufficient. Eric returns to Burgund with Fafnir's head and shows it to the people; Gunther proclaims he is a hero, which makes Hagen jealous.

That night, Eric dances and spends the evening with Kriemhild, who wears a mask during the party, and tells her he is already in love with another woman (Brunhild). Meanwhile, the entire dragon's hoard is moved to the Burgund treasury and fills it near to overflowing. The Saxons suddenly decide to invade Burgund to take the gold and Eric rides with the army to confront the twin Saxon kings, the men who slew his father. During a short fight Eric remembers who he is, then he declares the kingdom to be split between himself and King Gunther. He sadly remembers his father's death, giving the two Saxons the choice to leave, but they attack again and are slain.

It is also at this point that Eyvind (who tells Eric that he suspected his origin from the beginning) passes away from old age and Siegfried gives him a proper pagan funeral in his honor. A raven send by Brunhild lands on his arm, and Eric delivers her the message that he is actually Siegfried of Xanten, that he had found his real place and identity, and that he will visit her soon, planning to make her his wife as soon as possible, but warning it may take a little longer because he desires to take his treasure to Xanten for her. Having overheard Eric and Kriemhild at the party, Hagen asks his father to make a potion that Kriemhild gives Eric, causing him to fall in love with her and forget Brunhild. A raven who would deliver this news to Brunhild is then shot down by Hagen.

'''''Part 3'''''

Siegfried, having forgotten about Brunhild, asks to marry Kriemhild, but Hagen reminds Gunther that he must marry before any of his siblings. Gunther reveals he is pining for Brunhild, but he is not the best fighter and she challenges all her suitors to single combat and no-one has beaten her yet. Gunther promises Siegfried that he may marry Kriemhild if he uses the Tarnhelm to look like Gunther and defeat Brunhild; Siegfried accepts this offer. On the ship to Iceland Giselher has stowed away and after support from Siegfried, Gunther lets him accompany them to Iceland. Once they arrive Brunhild is immensely happy that Siegfried has returned to her but is shocked to see that he doesn't recognize her or is challenging her. Siegfried simply presents King Gunther to her, and explains he is the one who came here to ask her hand in marriage. Gunther his then challenged to single combat with double bladed axes on the condition that if he loses it will cost him his life. He agrees partially because it will be Siegfried fighting, not him.

The fight starts and unbeknown to everyone else Giselher sees the two Gunthers and becomes suspicious but tells no one. Brunhild loses the fight after the two fall off a waterfall and Siegfried saves her. She reluctantly and sadly returns to Burgund, where she is devastated to find that Siegfried had found Kriemhild for lover. She then marries Gunther next to Siegfried and Kriemhild, who are also marrying on the same day. Brunhild confronts Siegfried who (due to effects of the potion) claims he never loved her. Brunhild ardently refuses to believe him and tries to find reasons that would explain his actions, but Siegfried once again denies caring for her, and Brunhild declares she will not know joy until she forgets how much she loved him, or until he remembers. She is deeply hurt and upset and she takes her anger out by challenging Siegfried to combat, which he purposely loses to take away any thoughts that it was him who defeated Brunhild. During their wedding night, Brunhild overpowers Gunther, after revealing that the power she possess comes from her pageant belt, and pointing out her doubts in the way Gunther defeated her back in Iceland. Nearly accusing him to have cheated his victory, she leaves him tied up for the night, greatly convinced she had been deceived. Gunther requests Siegfried use the Tarnhelm again to get the belt away from Brunhild, which he does after hesitation. He overpowers Brunhild, who is surprised to see that Gunther once again found his strength. She then offers herself to Siegfried as Gunther, who is briefly conflicted perhaps remembering of his old feelings towards Brunhild, but nonetheless retrieves himself from the room to get rid of the belt he has taken from her.

The real Gunther shortly returns to the room at his place and is spotted by Giselher, who again sees two Gunthers and tells his girlfriend Lena what he saw in Iceland. Siegfried returns to his bedroom to see Kriemhild waiting for him: she convinces him to explain what has happened and he does, breaking his vow of secrecy towards Gunther. The next day outside the church Kriemhild is stopped because she cannot enter before Brunhild. Brunhild arrives quickly afterwards and Kriemhild reveals to her that it was Siegfried who defeated her both in Iceland and in her bedroom, thereby publicly confronting and insulting Brunhild. She proves her claims by showing Brunhild her former belt around her waist. This drives Brunhild over the edge.

Hagen kills Alberich after not returning the Tarnhelm to him and then serves of council to Gunther after the incident at the church. Hagen points out the betrayal of Siegfried on his vow and his threatening power that could well plot the downfall of Gunther knowing Siegfried also had a claim to the throne, being married to the king's sister Kriemhild. He tells Gunther that the people will not forget the way Siegfried had substituted for him both in Iceland and in the privacy of his room; he convinces Gunther that they may go as far as to believe that any son of Gunther is a bastard son of Siegfried. Gunther decides to send Siegfried back to Xanten and out of Burgundy, but is then stopped by Brunhild, who establishes that the punishment is far too light, and describing herself as disgraced and fooled, she asks for Siegfried's death to Gunther. He refuses at first, given his relationship with Siegfried, but reluctantly accepts because Brunhild threatens to kill herself if the punishment is not carried out. Gunther is disillusioned but Hagen plans on Siegfried's death the next day during the hunt as a simple accident. Siegfried confronts Kriemhild who breaks down after thinking about all she has done, Siegfried assures her that everything is all right, and that they are leaving to live in Xanten the next day after the hunt. The men leave for the hunt, where Gunther and Hagen plot to cause Siegfried's death, but for a long time they are unable to. Kriemhild confronts Brunhild again and returns her belt; Brunhild reveals that her troubled state of mind is because of Siegfried forgetting about their love. Kriemhild, realizing that Siegfried's previous love was in fact Brunhild, is devastated with guilt and confesses the use of the potion given to her by Hagen.

Brunhild realizes that it was not Siegfried's fault that he forgot her, and that she has just sentenced him to death. On the hunt Hagen kills Siegfried by throwing a javelin through his weak spot (which Hagen found out about by eavesdropping while Siegfried and Gunther were going through a blood brother ritual). Siegfried remembers his love for Brunhild and says her name before death seizes him. His body is found by Giselher before they must go back to Burgund and it is wept over by Kriemhild. Gunther claims it was a Saxon ambush but she accuses him of murder by envy and guilt. She throws the Nibelung's ring onto the ground (Siegfried gave it to her as engagement ring) and Gunther and Hagen fight over it to Gunther's death. Giselher then tries to kill Hagen but is easily overpowered. A vengeful Brunhild arrives and furiously kills the men who allied themselves with Hagen using the belt that Kriemhild returned to her earlier. Brunhild defeats and beheads Hagen and disappears.

'''''Epilogue'''''

Kriemhild places the ring on Siegfried's hand as they give him a pagan funeral. Giselher wishes the Pagan gods would live again on his death but Lena tells him that the Pagan gods die with him. When the boat has burst into flames, Brunhild appears from below Siegfried's altar and kills herself with his sword. She collapses on top of Siegfried's body and the boat sinks into the river, where the treasure hoard is shown having been thrown into.

The Heian period (9th–12th centuries) was a time when human beings and various supernatural beings still coexisted with each other, the latter occasionally causing trouble to humans. Practitioners of the art of ''onmyōdō'', the ''onmyōji'', were held to be able to control and subdue these malevolent entities and other paranormal phenomena, and were thus held in high regard, being employed by the imperial court.

In Heian-kyō, nobleman Minamoto no Hiromasa meets court ''onmyōji'' Abe no Seimei, a mysterious man about whom many rumors have been told. On a dare by some courtiers, Seimei demonstrates his exceptional skills in ''onmyōdō'' by killing a butterfly without touching it (i.e. casting a spell on a leaf which then flies and cuts through it).

Hiromasa later visits Seimei at his home, where he sees Seimei's ''shikigami'' in human form, one of whom was Mitsumushi, the butterfly he had killed (and subsequently revived) earlier. Seimei joins Hiromasa in inspecting a mysterious gourd growing from a pine tree in Lord Kaneie's house; Seimei reveals the gourd to have been caused by a curse cast by a former lover of Kaneie who committed suicide.

One night, Hiromasa impresses an unseen lady on an oxcart with his flute playing. Unbeknownst to him, this woman is Sukehime, Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Motokata's daughter and one of the current emperor's wives, who is worried that she is losing the emperor's favor as another wife, Lady Tōko, the daughter of Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Morosuke, had just given birth to a baby boy, who is to be the heir to the throne.

Meanwhile, the head ''onmyōji'' of the imperial Bureau of ''Onmyō'', Dōson, is secretly plotting to overthrow the emperor by trying to awaken the vengeful spirit of Prince Sawara, who had died 150 years ago. Wrongfully accused of treason by his brother, the Emperor Kanmu, Sawara committed suicide, but not before swearing eternal vengeance on the Son of Heaven (i.e. the emperor). When Dōson curses the emperor's newborn son, Prince Atsuhira, to be possessed by an evil spirit, Seimei combats his spells and drives the demon away with the help of Hiromasa and the immortal Lady Aone, who was ordered by Kanmu to guard the burial mound where Prince Sawara's spirit is sealed away.

Hiromasa once again meets Sukehime (again unseen by Hiromasa) on the oxcart. He confesses his feelings for Sukehime, who he calls 'Lady of the Full Moon' (望月の君 ''Mochizuki no kimi''), but Sukehime, who still loves the emperor, rejects his advances.

Both Seimei and Aone are put under arrest by Motokata and accused of cursing the infant prince. They are saved in the nick of time by Morosuke, who points out it is unlawful to kill a court ''onmyōji'' without imperial permission. Dōson, who is implied to be behind the allegation, enchants one of the imperial police to attack the two; Aone is severely wounded, but proves to be unharmed due to her immortality.

Taking advantage of Sukehime's jealousy against Tōko, Dōson uses his powers to turn her into a ''namanari'' (a woman halfway to becoming an ''oni'') that harasses both Tōko and the newborn Atsuhira. Seimei uses ''onmyōdō'' to transform straw effigies into the likenesses of the Emperor and the infant prince. Sukehime arrives and assaults the effigies, thinking them to be the real emperor and Atsuhira. The emperor, moved by a ''waka'' poem she recites (the same poem Hiromasa hears the lady on the oxcart recite earlier), speaks out loudly, breaking Seimei's spell. Hiromasa, recognizing Sukehime to be his 'Lady of the Full Moon', steps in to accost her.

Sukehime briefly comes back to her senses when Seimei removes a paper talisman attached to her back, but Dōson doubles his efforts, and she completely transforms into an ''oni''. When Hiromasa sacrifices himself by allowing her to bite on his arm, Sukehime comes back to her senses once more and kills herself with Hiromasa's ''tachi''. In her final moments, Sukehime - now a human once more - begs to hear Hiromasa's flute one last time.

Seimei shoots an arrow with the paper talisman towards the sky, ordering the curse to go back to its sender. The arrow, now on fire, lands in Dōson's secret lair, burning it to the ground. Dōson, swearing vengeance on Seimei, finally releases the spirit of Prince Sawara from its confinement in the burial mound. Sawara's ghost enters Dōson's body and summons a horde of vengeful spirits to attack Heian-kyō. Aone reveals to Seimei that he and Hiromasa are foretold by the stars to become the two protectors of the city: one cannot survive without the other. She, Seimei and Mitsumushi then go off in search of Hiromasa.

Dōson makes his way to the imperial palace. Hiromasa tries to stop him in his tracks, but he is no match for his superhuman abilities; he is mortally wounded when Dōson throws back an arrow Hiromasa shot towards him. Seimei and Aone find him, but it is too late. Aone suggests that Seimei resurrect Hiromasa by performing the rite of Taizan-fukun, the Chinese god of the dead (泰山府君祭 ''Taizan-fukun no matsuri''), offering to sacrifice her immortality and life to do so.

Hiromasa, brought back to life by the ritual, and Seimei go to face Dōson. Aone's spirit, speaking through Hiromasa's body, convinces Sawara to give up his hatred. While Sawara at first refuses to do so, he is finally moved by the prospect of being with Aone - who was the prince's lover during his lifetime - forever; he then passes peacefully with Aone into the afterlife. Although now without Sawara's spirit to empower him, Dōson resumes the fight. Seimei, using his wits, traps Dōson within a magical barrier. Finally admitting defeat, Dōson slashes his throat with the sword from Sawara's burial mound.

At the end of the movie, Seimei and Hiromasa drink sake together in Seimei's house. Hiromasa teases Seimei for crying when he died and reflects on what Seimei said to him earlier: that the human heart can turn one into a demon or a buddha. Seimei tells Hiromasa that he is a 'very good man'; Hiromasa answers, "So are you." The two share a laugh together.

Jackie York (Wendy Crewson) is a famous novelist with a secret, she is suffering from writer's block and is unable to write her much-anticipated novel. After being used and then dumped by a wannabe movie director, Jackie can't get back to work. So Jackie concocts a mess of lies to cover up her loneliness and to protect her secret. Jackie then meets a man named Patrick McKeating (Joe Cobden), a writer who opens her up to new possibilities. However, Patrick is nearly 20 years younger than Jackie. Jackie gets a lesson in true love and must decide what really matters in life.

Eight years after the events of the previous film, ten-year-old Adam wants to go to baseball camp. However, his interest in sports seems almost alien to Wayne, although Diane is more understanding. Wayne has started his own lab, Szalinski Labs, with his brother, Gordon. One day, they receive tickets to witness a shuttle landing, but Diane reminds him over the phone that he needs to watch Adam and his cousins, Jenny and Mitch, while she and Gordon's wife Patti go on vacation. She also reminds him to get rid of a Tiki Man sculpture they keep in the house that she sees as an eyesore, though he considers it a good luck charm.

After Diane and Patti leave, Wayne and Gordon have activities planned that bore the kids. Wayne sends them to the store, but reveals to Gordon that it is a ruse to get rid of them long enough so that he can use his shrinking machine in order to shrink the Tiki Man without Diane's knowledge, and spare any accidents with the kids. However, after carelessly not turning it off immediately after they succeed, Wayne and Gordon are shrunk when a billiard ball left on it falls onto the activating button, just as they are in front of it searching for the Tiki Man. Meanwhile, Patti realizes she forgot to leave Mitch's medicine for his potassium deficiency, and they head back. Hoping to catch Wayne and Gordon by surprise, they sneak up to the attic only to be shrunk when another billiard ball falls onto the activating button. Shortly after, the kids return home, and after hearing Wayne's previous message about the launch, assume they are alone for the evening. Jenny makes plans to have her friends come over. Upstairs, the adults make use of a fishing rod to lower themselves down into Adam's room. To attempt to get to the floor, they use his Hot Wheels race track, but they overshoot their target and fall down the laundry chute ending up in a clean load that is delivered back upstairs by Adam and Mitch. They tumble out of the laundry basket when it is overturned, and discover Adam and Mitch reading a ''Sports Illustrated Kids'' magazine, revealing to Wayne that Adam's interest is not in science as he hoped. The four suddenly encounter a cockroach, but manage to defeat it by luring it into a bug trap.

Seeing Mitch struggling, Patti realizes that they need to get him his medicine soon, or he could pass out. He ignores his weaknesses, though, and goes downstairs. The adults witness the arrival of Jenny's friends and decide to use a bubble machine in order to get downstairs. Diane and Patti land safely, but Wayne and Gordon fall into a bowl of onion dip and are nearly devoured by the girls.

In the kitchen, when Patti and Diane resolve to find a way up the counter in order to find Mitch's medicine and push it into view, they encounter a daddy long-legs with its leg caught in a spider web, and Diane quietly talks to it as Patti tries to cut the web with a nail file. Diane realizes her own insecurities about being small as she relates to it, which she had earlier tried to kill, and realizes how hard it is to be that size. After it's freed, Patti and Diane realize they can cling to its silk as it climbs up onto the counter. Meanwhile, Wayne and Gordon decide to rewire the stereo to work as a microphone. A group of boys begin to crash the party, including Jenny's crush, Ricky King. He takes her into the kitchen, where he steals a kiss from her, but she spurns him for not asking permission first, thus earning Patti's respect. Angered, he returns to his friends and they begin to wreak havoc in the living room. Mitch, severely weakened, enters the kitchen and discovers Patti and Diane on the counter before fainting, partially from his failure to take his medicine, and partially from the shock of seeing his miniature mother and aunt. Adam and Jenny discover him, and thinking quickly, Adam gets potassium-rich bananas to give to him, and he begins to recover, weakly saying he had seen his mother. In the living room, Adam stands up to Ricky before Wayne rewires the stereo so that Gordon can talk and amplify his voice. With this, he pretends to be the voice of God and orders Ricky and his friends to leave, leading Adam, Mitch, and Jenny to realize what has happened to them.

In the attic, the kids discuss the benefits of leaving their parents shrunk briefly before deciding they love them more than that, so they unshrink them to give them a chance to re-evaluate their parenting methods. Patti confides her trust in Jenny for how she stood up to Ricky and took care of Mitch, while Wayne tells Adam that he can have an interest in sports, and agrees to sign him up for baseball camp. Diane tells Wayne he can keep the Tiki Man, and won't sweat the "small" stuff anymore, while he decides to relinquish his presidency of Szalinski Labs to Gordon and return to inventing. In the end, life is back to normal again. Adam returns home from baseball camp, and Wayne has developed a new respect for baseball, and the Tiki Man has been moved into the backyard and enlarged to twice the height of the house.

Part I

While the ''Enterprise'' is docked at Deep Space Nine, providing assistance in repairing the Bajoran aqueducts, Worf is approached by an Yridian information broker, Jaglom Shrek (James Cromwell), who claims that Worf's father was not killed at Khitomer, but is instead alive at a Romulan prison camp. Since Mogh's capture would dishonor Worf and his own son, Worf is reluctant to believe the alien's claim but it upsets him. However, following an accident, Data has a dream-like experience that involves his creator and Data approaches Worf to ask about a time Worf himself had a hallucination during a Klingon ritual. Worf realizes that it is important to learn the truth about his father.

Data continues to pursue the meaning behind his dream. Geordi and Dr. Julian Bashir (DS9's Chief Medical Officer) reluctantly recreate the experiment that caused the dream (a dangerous venture that could damage Data permanently). Data has the same experience, which continues on to a conversation between Data and Dr. Noonien Soong, his creator. Soong encourages Data to continue dreaming. Awake, Data comes to the conclusion that Dr. Soong pre-programmed the ability to dream in anticipation of activating it himself. The energy charge from the experiment simply activated this feature. Data then plans to henceforth spend a brief period each day experiencing these dreams.

Worf suspects the information about his father to be a trick and forces the reluctant Yridian to take him to the prison camp himself. Because of the danger involved, Worf makes the final leg of the journey alone on foot, where he finds the Klingons moving about freely with Romulans. He corners one of the Klingons, who informs him that his father fell in battle at Khitomer as he thought, meaning that Worf's family honor is intact. When Worf offers to free the Klingon prisoners, they insist on staying. Since he is aware of the camp's existence and location, they insist that he must also stay. Two armed Romulans show up to prevent Worf from leaving.

Part II

Part two deals entirely with Worf at the Romulan prison compound. Worf is puzzled by the Klingons' lack of desire to escape, but the elders explain that it is not a prison in the conventional sense: they have chosen to stay, since returning would be a great dishonor to their families, who have assumed the warriors died in battle. Worf is not allowed to leave, however, to keep the compound's secret. He discovers, to his disgust, that some Romulans and Klingons have even inter-married and had hybrid children.

Worf inspires the young Klingons, who were born in the compound and know nothing of their heritage, to be curious. He teaches them Klingon myths, martial arts, hunting, and other elements of their culture. Eventually the head Romulan, Tokath, offers Worf a choice: to live among them according to their rules, or to be executed. Worf chooses death, which is honorable in its defiance. The next morning, at Worf's execution, the young Klingons he has inspired suddenly decide to stand and die with him. Unwilling to kill them all, Tokath allows Worf and the young Klingons to leave. A Romulan warbird delivers them to the Enterprise, which had been searching for Worf since his disappearance from DS9.

Prior to taking a covert mission, Riker is rehearsing for a theater play "Frame of Mind" for the ''Enterprise''. The play involves Riker's character confined to a mental asylum, and involves a soliloquy regarding the nature of being sane. During practice for the mission, he is accidentally injured by Lt. Worf on the side of his head, and while Dr. Crusher heals the wound, Riker still experiences some pain there. Riker performs the play for the crew, and receives a standing ovation, except for one officer in the center of the crowd who frowns at the performance. Riker takes a bow, but when he straightens, he finds the audience gone, himself trapped in a cell similar to the set for the play. An alien humanoid doctor iterates "I see we still have much work to do", a line from the play, before locking Riker in the cell.

Later, Riker is taken to the asylum cafeteria, reminded that he is there because he killed a man. Riker becomes agitated by this news, and the doctors inject him with more drugs, knocking him out. Riker finds himself back on the ''Enterprise'', but this is a figment of his imagination: after seeing one of the alien doctors several times, he flees to his quarters only to find himself back in the asylum cell. The doctors, attempting to quench Riker's hallucinations about the ''Enterprise'', use a procedure that produces holographic projections of the ''Enterprise'' that Riker is forced to reject to gain the confidence of his doctor.

The next day while in the cafeteria, Riker refuses to talk with what he believes is a hallucination of Dr. Crusher, warning him that they are planning on rescuing him. That night, Worf and Data appear and free Riker, overwhelming the guards and returning him to the ''Enterprise''. Riker, still defiant that the ''Enterprise'' is not real, complains of pain in his head, the same wound from before. Dr. Crusher cures it but it returns immediately, leading Riker to believe that this is another hallucination. He proves this to himself by firing a phaser at himself; the scene shatters, and he finds himself back in the asylum cell under the watchful eye of the doctors. He realizes he is still holding a phaser, though the doctors claim that it is a knife. When the head pain strikes again, Riker dismisses this scene as reality, and sets the phaser to overload, which would take half the facility with it. When it goes off, he finds himself on the stage of his play, the crowd giving a standing ovation. Riker refuses to accept this as real, and pounds on the wall of the set, shattering that reality.

Riker recovers consciousness to find himself on an operating table, a device inserted into his head where he has been experiencing pain. Riker frees himself from the table, renders an alien doctor unconscious, and recovers his communication badge on a nearby table, requesting an immediate beam-out. Riker shortly finds himself back safely aboard the ''Enterprise''. As Dr. Crusher tends to his wounds, he learns that he was captured on the covert mission he was on, and the aliens were scanning his brain to discover strategic information about the Federation. The strange experiences he saw were a result of his own subconscious fighting against the probe. After recovering, Riker returns to the set of the play one last time to dismantle it.

An unnamed detective arrives to investigate a mysterious death at Carmody University. Louella-Marie Busch and Susan Morey were known as the "library twins" due to their similar appearance and work at the science reference library. Busch is dead after drinking tea laced with potassium cyanide. The detective proves, with a professor's help, that it was the survivor, Morey, who prepared the tea by showing that she did not know the name of the one person who inquired at the reference desk while the tea was being prepared, a furrier named Ernest Beilstein. Professor Rodney alleges that Morey could not possibly have forgotten this due to the coincidence of his sharing a name with Beilstein's Handbook of Organic Chemistry, a sixty volume encyclopedia of chemical compounds and reactions.

Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) visits Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) in her quarters, complaining of "tennis elbow". Crusher breaks the news that she is no longer a doctor on the ''Enterprise'' and will be facing a court martial. She tells Guinan the whole story.

A Ferengi scientist, Dr. Reyga (Peter Slutsker), has created a metaphasic shielding technique, but racial profiling and his unorthodox methods have left most scientists in the field ignoring his work. Dr. Crusher decided to play the role of a "scientific diplomat" and invite other scientists versed in the field to come to the ''Enterprise'' and view a demonstration of the doctor's prototype. As they are all skeptical, they decide that someone other than the Ferengi should pilot the shuttle outfitted with the shielding. Jo'Bril (James Horan), a Takaran, volunteers.

At the test flight, they all watch from the bridge as Jo'Bril enters the star. Everything seems to be going as planned until suddenly Jo'Bril becomes short of breath, and barely pilots the shuttle out of the star before dying. Everyone considers Reyga a failure, but he cannot accept that something went wrong. No one can find any trouble with the shuttlecraft. Also, Dr. Crusher cannot determine the cause of Jo'Bril's death. In fact, she cannot understand his physiology at all, especially why his cells seem to be decaying at such a slow rate. However, he is judged dead. Reyga pleads with the other scientists to allow him a second test. Dr. Crusher reluctantly refuses, but he seems determined to prove himself. A few hours later, he is found dead due to a plasma discharge. It is judged a suicide by Security Chief Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn), but Crusher intuitively knows it was neither a suicide nor an accident.

Dr. Crusher discusses how unusual this seems with Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). She is determined to perform an autopsy, but the captain informs her that it is out of the question, as the family insists the body not be desecrated before they can perform the Ferengi death ritual. Frustrated, Dr. Crusher decides to perform an investigation. She confronts Christopher (John S. Ragin) and T'Pan (Joan Stuart Morris), and Christopher becomes incensed. Eventually, he mentions that Kurak (Tricia O'Neil) and Reyga had a fiery argument. Dr. Crusher then confronts the Klingon scientist, much to her own peril. As she determines Kurak also did not murder Reyga, she finds herself stumped and her confidence faltering. Knowing she will be disobeying a direct order, she performs an autopsy on Reyga, and finds nothing. She informs Picard who is forced to relieve her of duty.

In the present, Guinan encourages her to continue her investigation, as she has nothing left to lose. Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) warns her not to do anything "foolish". Despite this, Crusher takes Dr. Reyga's shuttle into the star herself. Picard urges her to come back, but to no avail. In the shuttle, Jo'Bril emerges alive. He reveals his species can fake death. He also plans to fake the destruction of the shuttle and take it back to his homeworld. He plans to profit from the new shielding, turning it into a weapon. Jo'Bril attacks Crusher, but she fights back and is forced to completely vaporize him.

She returns the ship, relieved to have vindicated Reyga, and unafraid of any court martial, she replicates a tennis racket for Guinan so she would never get tennis elbow again – but Guinan admits she has never played tennis; she was merely trying to figure out what was wrong with Crusher.

The Federation starship ''Enterprise'' is sent to the inhospitable planet Nervala IV to retrieve data from a Federation research base that was abandoned about eight years earlier due to the onset of a disruption field that prevented transporter use. Commander Riker is chosen to lead the team, having been part of the rescue team that helped evacuate the base; Riker notes that during that mission he was the last person beamed out to the ''Potemkin'', where he was serving.

Using a break in the disruption field, the away team beams down and discovers a man who looks exactly like Riker. He says that he is Riker, and has been living alone on the base for eight years ever since the ''Potemkin'' was unable to transport him back aboard, under the assumption the ''Potemkin'' crew presumed him lost. He is a Starfleet Lieutenant, Senior Grade. This was Commander Riker's rank before he was promoted as a result of this mission.

Returning to the ''Enterprise'', Dr. Crusher determines that this person is truly a second Riker; Chief Engineer La Forge postulates that years before, while Riker was beamed off the planet, the ''Potemkin'' had split the transporter beam to cut through the distortions, but one beam was reflected back to the base, so that Riker materialized in both places.

Cdr. Riker suggests that Lt. Riker join them on a second attempt to recover the data. At the base, their personality styles conflict, and the attempt ends in failure when Lt. Riker refuses to follow Cdr. Riker's orders. Lt. Cdr. Data postulates that the two men are resentful towards each other due to the loss of their sense of uniqueness. Lt. Worf suggests another reason: each one sees in the other something of himself he does not like.

While helping plan a third attempt to recover the data, Lt. Riker tries to learn about what he has missed, and attempts to rekindle his previous relationship with Ship's Counselor Deanna Troi. Troi has come to accept that her relationship with Riker is no longer a romantic one, and is initially hesitant, but then considers it a second chance. They enjoy their time together; and Lt. Riker suggests leaving the ''Enterprise'' together for a new posting. Troi tells him she will have to think about it.

For their third attempt, Captain Picard selects Lt. Riker's plan over Cdr. Riker's, leaving Cdr. Riker further upset. The plan to get the data is successful, but on the way out a walkway collapses, putting Lt. Riker in mortal danger. Rescuing him would also put Cdr. Riker in peril, and Lt. Riker tells him not to risk it. But Cdr. Riker saves his double, and both return to the ''Enterprise''.

The two Rikers reconcile their differences; Lt. Riker states that he has been given a new assignment on another ship, and plans to take on his middle name "Thomas" to distinguish himself from William. As a parting gift, Cdr. Riker gives his double his treasured trombone, noting that it belongs equally to him. Troi also tells Lt. Riker that she will be staying on the ''Enterprise'', but thanks him for the time they had.

The ''Enterprise'' welcomes two Iyaaran ambassadors, Loquel and Byleth, who are visiting the ship as part of a "cultural exchange" that will also send Picard to their planet. Before Picard departs, he assigns Troi to act as Loquel's liaison and asks Riker to do the same for Byleth. But Byleth has other ideas, and instead demands that Worf serve as his shipboard guide. Soon afterward, Picard departs for the Iyaaran homeworld with Voval, the Iyaaran shuttle pilot, who is gruff and uncommunicative. Their awkward silence is disrupted by a malfunction aboard their ship. Crashing on an unknown planet, Voval receives a concussion, but Picard is seemingly unhurt. He decides to seek help outside, but falls to the ground trying to traverse the planet's stormy surface. While he lies unconscious, someone silently drags him away.

Picard awakens on the distant planet in a small, dimly-lit cargo cabin. He is approached by a solemn, attractive human woman who informs him that Voval did not survive the crash. Picard learns that the woman's name is Anna and that she is the sole survivor of a Terellian cargo freighter crash that occurred seven years before. After Anna tells him that he has three broken ribs, he sends her to retrieve the shuttlecraft's com panel to send a distress signal.

Back on the ''Enterprise'', Troi has introduced Loquel to dessert, and Loquel is so intrigued that even the next morning he is drinking sweet juice. Worf has had about all he can take of his abrasive, demanding guest. Riker decides that the tension might be eased by a "friendly" game of poker. The game is anything but "friendly," and Worf realizes that Byleth is stealing chips. Before long, Worf loses control and, despite Riker's insistence that he calm down, attacks his guest. But instead of getting angry, Byleth is pleased. He expresses admiration for Worf's display of anger and politely excuses himself to document the experience, leaving everyone confused (with the exception of Loquel, who is still reveling in his dessert).

Meanwhile, Anna brings the transmitter module back to her cargo ship, and admits to Picard she accidentally destroyed it, using a phaser blast to removing it at the first place. Picard is then shocked when Anna suddenly kisses him and tells him she loves him. Picard becomes enraged at Anna when he realizes that his ribs are not really broken, and the woman, who continues to beg for his love, is actually holding him captive. He angrily alerts Anna to his discovery, at which point she becomes distraught over failing to gain his affection and rushes out the door, breaking off her necklace and locking Picard inside. Voval comes and opens the door, and talks to Picard.

Voval explains that he only appeared to be dead because, when Iyaarans are injured, their metabolic rates slow down in order to promote healing. He and Picard set off in search of Anna, eventually separating. Picard finds her at the edge of a cliff, threatening to commit suicide if he does not tell her he loves her. When he notices that Anna is again wearing her necklace and that Voval has again disappeared, Picard senses that something strange is going on and tells Anna to go ahead and jump. At that moment, she transforms herself back into Voval, who explains that he is not really a pilot, but an Iyaaran ambassador. He staged the crash in order to study the emotion of love, non-existent on the Iyaaran homeworld, by using Picard as a subject. Similarly, Loquel and Byleth were sent to experience pleasure and antagonism, respectively. Picard is taken aback at first, but upon returning to the ''Enterprise'', acknowledges the experiments of the three ambassadors as being productive.

Upon their departure, Worf and Byleth inform Riker of their marathon eleven-hour session in the holodeck doing battle exercises, which has enabled Byleth to explore the concept of "antagonism" in a less destructive manner. Loquel offers a sampling of Iyaaran nourishment to Troi as a token of his appreciation, but apologizes that it is not as delicious as the dessert he has enjoyed while in Troi's company. Troi accepts the food, stating that the volume of dessert they have consumed has surpassed even her threshold, and she will be quite content to eat something bland.

February, 1964: Ed Sullivan prepares the ushers for the Beatles' debut performance on his television show, which broadcasts from CBS Studio 50 in New York.

In Maplewood, New Jersey, Rosie and Pam visit the local record shop. Janis, a folk music devotee whose dad owns the shop, detests the Beatles. Grace wants to rent a limousine so they can pull up to the Beatles' hotel and get exclusive photos of the band. The girls recruit Larry DuBois, a shy teen whose father has access to limos. They leave for New York City and are joined en route by the brash and streetwise Tony who, like Janis, also hates the Beatles, preferring American pop music instead. At daybreak on the morning of February 9, the six teenagers arrive in New York. When they pull up at the hotel, which is already surrounded by screaming teenagers, Grace, Rosie and Pam sneak inside, and Tony and Janis remain in the limo while Larry pulls around to the side of the hotel.

Once inside the hotel, Grace and Rosie sneak into a service elevator, while Pam, who initially is not interested in seeing the Beatles, hides in a basement storage closet during which time she sees the group leaving the hotel to rehearse in the theater. Grace gets off on the 11th floor, but Rosie goes up to the Beatles' rooms on the 12th floor; she is briefly caught but escapes and runs into Richard Klaus, a fellow Beatles fan who is hiding out in another room. They are both soon caught and tossed from the hotel, after which the two quarrel and go their separate ways. To avoid being caught, Pam hides in a food cart which is taken to the Beatles’ room. When she finds their clothes and instruments she revels in a moment of quiet euphoria. When the Beatles return to the room, Pam hides under John’s bed.

Grace is caught and thrown out of the hotel, so she goes to the theater, where a guard tells her that for fifty dollars he can let her in backstage. Larry asks Grace to the Valentine’s Day dance at school, but Grace, her mind fixated on getting the pictures, ignores him. To get the money, she decides to take the place of a prostitute who has a John waiting at the hotel. Once in his room, Grace hides and takes photos of the John with the hooker in an attempt to blackmail him for the money. He attacks her, but Larry, who has been getting progressively tipsy in the hotel bar, appears just in time to knock out the John and rescue Grace.

In front of the hotel, Janis befriends Peter, a boy with a Beatles hairstyle who is determined to see the show. He tells Janis that his dad has three tickets to get in, but refuses to give them to Peter unless he gets a haircut. Realizing that the Beatles themselves are providing the type of social cause that she believes in, Janis recruits Tony to steal Peter's dad’s wallet. Tony carries out the plan and gets the tickets, one each for Peter, Janis and Tony. While Janis wants simply to help Peter see the show and be himself, Tony secretly decides he's going to find a way to stop the TV broadcast.

Throughout the film, Rosie tries to win tickets from a radio disc jockey giving them out as prizes if listeners can correctly answer trivia questions about the Beatles. After several failed attempts, Rosie makes it to a phone, calls in with the right answer, and finally wins two tickets. Pam gets caught, but she is treated kindly by the Beatles' staff and even interviewed by the press. Eddie, her fiancé, arrives to pick her up, but now realizing that she's not ready to get married, she leaves him behind and runs to the theater, using the ticket that the Beatles' road manager Neil Aspinall gave her to see the show.

Richard and Rosie get to the show, running into Pam in front of the theater. Right before the Beatles go onstage, Tony grabs a fire axe from a doorway and goes to the roof of the theater and climbs the TV transmitter to sabotage the broadcast. Janis follows and tries to stop him, but Tony is dead set in his plan until lightning from a gathering storm strikes and knocks Tony from the transmitter. Larry parks the limo in the alley behind the theater and Grace makes her way to the back door, but when a policeman catches him and prepares to arrest him for improper parking and driving without a license. Grace runs back and uses the $50 to bribe the cop into letting Larry go. Now without the money to get backstage, Grace is temporarily disconsolate, but soon accepts Larry's offer to go to the dance.

While leaving the theater, the Beatles take a wrong turn and end up in Larry’s limo. As a mob of fans approaches, Larry drives off with the Beatles still in the back seat, and Grace gets to snap her photos.

Eric Seaver is a young man that was abused as a child. He has since grown up to become a serial killer with a steady job as a medical transcriptionist, transcribing autopsy reports, and a fiancé. As Eric's killings become more frequent, his stable life is threatened and his rage begins to take over any sanity he had left.

Four young ''Enterprise'' ensigns find their friendship strained during personnel evaluations. Two of the friends, Sam Lavelle and the Bajoran Sito Jaxa, discover that they are being considered for the same job. Joined by their friend Ben, a civilian who works as a waiter, they learn that promotions seem to be already decided on for their other two friends, Nurse Ogawa and Vulcan engineer Taurik.

Worf soon detects an escape pod inside Cardassian space, which is off limits to the ''Enterprise'', and Geordi and Taurik work to transport the passenger on board amidst a cloak of secrecy. Taurik burns the hull of a shuttlecraft with phaser fire on Geordi's instructions, and deduces that the goal is to make the craft appear as if it sustained damage while fleeing an attack.

Impressed by Ogawa's performance, Beverly Crusher decides to recommend her for promotion. She orders Ogawa not to reveal what she is about to see in Sickbay, and Dr. Crusher takes her to where an injured Cardassian has been brought on board.

Captain Picard chastises Sito for her role in a Starfleet Academy scandal. She leaves the meeting exasperated, as Picard has left her without the opportunity to defend herself. A pair of poker games take place, one involving the senior officers and another the junior officers, with Ben shuttling from one to the other. During the senior game, Commander Riker and Worf differ on whether Lavelle or Sito should be promoted, with Riker noting that Lavelle seems overly eager to please. Considerations of promotions are interrupted by a baffling secret mission that all but Lavelle are involved in. Left out of the loop, Lavelle becomes convinced that this is a sign that he will not be promoted.

After teaching a martial arts class, Worf tells Sito to stay and take a test for admission to his advanced course. He blindfolds her and engages her in a one-on-one fight. Sito is powerless to stop Worf's attacks, adding insult to her already bruised self-esteem, but finally stands up to him, saying that the test is unfair. Worf admits that getting her to stand up for herself when she is being judged unfairly is what he intended all along. She uses her newfound confidence to confront Picard about his earlier interrogation. To Sito's surprise, Picard admits that its purpose was to assess both her personal growth and her potential readiness for a dangerous secret mission. He also states that he had specifically asked for her assignment to the ship so she would be given a fair chance. Sito is to pose as a captive of Joret Dal, the injured Cardassian brought to Sickbay. Joret is actually a Federation operative who has just delivered vital information to Starfleet and must now return to Cardassia. The plan is for Joret and Sito to enter Cardassian space in the "stolen" shuttlecraft damaged by Taurik, and for Joret to send Sito back over the border in an escape pod. Acknowledging the risks, Sito accepts the mission and leaves to prepare.

When Sito's escape pod fails to arrive at the prearranged rendezvous point after 32 hours, Picard orders a probe to be launched into Cardassian space, despite being warned that doing so could be considered a treaty violation. The probe detects scattered debris that appears to be the remnants of a Starfleet shuttle escape pod. The ''Enterprise'' later intercepts Cardassian communications which report that a Bajoran prisoner overpowered her Cardassian captor and attempted to leave Cardassian space in an escape pod, which was then destroyed, leaving no survivors.

Captain Picard announces Sito's death over the ship's general address. Lavelle receives the promotion, but he and his friends, as well as the senior crew, are downhearted. Even the emotionally distant Worf has been affected by the loss they all feel. They comfort each other, and Worf joins them as the episode concludes.

Alan and Wendy Barnet are stuck in a marital rut and decide to answer an ad they find in a Swinging magazine. The couple meets with Jack and Louise Bauer at the Zebra Lounge. The Bauers are a pair of experienced swingers who help the Barnets fulfill their sexual fantasies. However, Alan and Wendy soon realize that the Bauers are not who they seem to be.

A classroom of children on the ''Enterprise''-D including Data are making clay sculptures under the supervision of Deanna Troi when a mysterious-looking rogue comet is discovered that is determined to have been en route from a distant star system for eighty-seven million years. The crew initiates a sensor scan of it, triggering a flash of light onboard and a distortion within the comet's inner core. Sensors are reconfigured for a low intensity sweep which will last thirty-nine hours. Eighteen hours later, Data creates a clay mask with a compass symbol identical to that seen on an artifact found in Troi's quarters and on Eric Burton's computer terminal, raising suspicions. It is discovered that the comet has been using the ''Enterprise'' scans as a carrier wave to send information back to the ship; this has caused icons (alien-looking ideographic symbols like Mayan glyphs) which Data is somehow able to read to appear on the ship's computer and the creation of artifacts throughout the ship by the replicator systems. The crew use a phaser beam to remove the outer shell of the comet nucleus and find that an "incredible, huge, Mayan-esque, geometric piece of technology" was at the inner core of the former comet nucleus. Data believes that the object is an informational archive and is confined to his quarters when he starts to exhibit what is described as the equivalent of multiple personalities, initially assuming the personality of the mischievous Ihat, but soon manifesting others, such as a sacrificial victim, a frightened boy, and a tired elderly man, each of which has an identifying ceremonial neckplate. Though initially the ''Enterprise'' continues to scan the Archive, hoping to determine how to reverse or stop the changes, bit by bit, the ship is being transformed, so the crew decide to attempt to destroy the Archive, only to be impeded by the changes. The Archive activates a tractor beam, overriding ship control systems. While Geordi searches for the Archive's transformation program, Captain Picard determines that they need to understand the meanings of the artifacts, and talks to the various personalities that Data exhibits to learn more.

Through Ihat, Picard learns that a queen called Masaka is waking, and that the only one that can talk to her is one called Korgano, a masculine figure. Ihat states that Masaka will only appear once Masaka's temple (the Queen's temple) has been built. The elder, another of the personalities exhibited by Data who is believed to be Masaka's father, provides Picard with the full version of the temple symbol, an icon that is used to create that temple. Inside the temple, they find the Masaka sun image paired with a horn symbol, which Picard guesses may be Korgano's moon symbol. Data puts on the mask he had created from clay with Masaka's sun symbol on it and escapes from his quarters, arriving at Masaka's temple, where he, now manifesting Masaka, sits down upon the throne. Masaka refuses to communicate with the merely mortal Picard. Desperate, Picard has Geordi input Korgano's moon symbol into the Archive's transformation program, which produces a silver mask with Korgano's moon symbol on its forehead. Picard decides to wear the Korgano mask in order to pose as Korgano and confront the Masaka personality. In the character of Korgano, Picard convinces Masaka to sleep so that she and Korgano can continue their "hunt" another day. With the Masaka personality asleep, all the changes aboard the ''Enterprise'' are reverted, and Data finds himself back to normal. Geordi manages to disable the archive's transformation program. Picard comments that Data has, briefly, contained personalities encompassing the inhabitants of an entire civilization, and as such he has had an experience that "transcends the human condition."

Although each game in the collections feature different characters and stories, they take place in the Algol planetary system, specifically on the planets Palma, Motavia, and Dezolis. In the four games, there exists a Dark Force, a common antagonist that threatens the solar system. The games also make small references to each other, such as the idolation of Alis in ''Phantasy Star IV''.

Lieutenant Daniel Kwan kills himself by jumping into the plasma discharge in one of the warp nacelle tubes aboard the ''Enterprise,'' the only oddity being his comments about "they were laughing at me" and "I know what I have to do", before jumping. Captain Picard assigns Worf and Deanna Troi to investigate the death. Kwan's personal logs and quarters reveal no traces of depression; in fact, he appeared to be happy to spend the next few days with his girlfriend, Ensign Calloway, and only had a slight but normal dislike for his superior Lieutenant Nara.

They talk to Nara at the nacelle but find that she had nothing against Kwan. Troi stands at the platform overlooking the plasma discharge and is suddenly awash with emotions, disorienting her. Dr. Crusher determines that her empathic senses were overloaded and suggests rest. Troi and Worf discuss that she may have been affected by an empathic "echo" left by Kwan, who also had weak empathic abilities. They return to the nacelle, where Troi experiences a series of visions: that of a woman backing away in fright from a red-haired man; equipment from Utopia Planitia, the starbase where the ''Enterprise'' was constructed; and later the same woman kissing another man in a closet. Worf breaks her out of these visions, and they determine that they were from events eight years ago during the ''Enterprise'' construction. Troi is able to recognize the red-haired man as Lieutenant Walter Pierce, who is currently serving aboard the ship; Pierce had been Kwan's superior at Utopia Planitia as well. They speak to Pierce, but he claims to have no knowledge. After they leave him, Troi admits to Worf that she could not read Pierce, and believes him to also be partially empathic. As they prepare to retire for the night, Troi and Worf fall into a deep kiss, and spend the night together.

The next day, Dr. Crusher provides Troi with a neural inhibitor to block Troi's empathic sense to allow her to safely visit the nacelle. Worf is indifferent to Troi and instead provides her with Calloway to help. Troi, with Data and La Forge, examine the plasma conduit that Kwan was working before his death, and Troi is overcome with the same visions despite the inhibitor. She asserts there is something hidden in the conduit; La Forge discovers a human skeleton, what's left of a woman's body, embedded in the ship, identified as Ensign Marla Finn, the woman from Troi's visions. Troi finds that Finn disappeared at Utopia Planitia before Kwan's arrival, and comes to suspect Pierce of killing her, believing the visions being from his point of view. She convinces Worf to arrest Pierce, but finds Worf taking more of an interest in Calloway. Troi returns to her quarters and is surprised when Pierce arrives; fearing for her life, Troi tries to contact Worf but discovers he is in Calloway's quarters. She races there, and is shocked to find them embraced, and they turn to laugh at her. In a fit, she picks up a phaser and kills Worf. Shocked by her action, she stumbles out of Calloway's quarters, to find Pierce there; he tells her "you know what to do". Troi agrees and races to the nacelle tube and prepares to jump into the plasma like Kwan did before, but she is stopped by a very-much alive Worf.

Troi is broken out of her vision, and learns that it has only been a few seconds since she first arrived at the nacelle. Reviewing records show that Pierce, Finn, and the other man from her vision were all killed at Utopia Planitia from a plasma discharge, likely as a result of Pierce seeing another woman after being romantically involved with Finn. She suspects Pierce was empathic, as she and Kwan had experienced the psychic residue from his death that still remains in the plasma conduit. With the case solved, Worf asks Troi about being surprised to see him after stopping her from jumping. She replies that she had seen him killed in her hallucination. When Worf inquires about who killed him, Troi coyly replies "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

A hit woman is contracted to perform one final job before she leaves her life of cold-blooded killing behind forever. She is now faced with the challenge of dealing with carrying out the contract she accepted and her own moral values.

The ''Enterprise'' is en route to a briefing concerning the current situation along the border of the Cardassian-Federation demilitarized zone. Meanwhile, newly promoted Lieutenant Ro Laren arrives in Ten-Forward to attend a welcome back party after recently graduating from Starfleet Advanced Tactical Training class.

The ''Enterprise'' responds to a distress call from a Cardassian warship under attack by the Maquis, a paramilitary organization of Federation citizens who have taken up arms against the Cardassians. The ''Enterprise'' uses a spread of photon torpedoes detonated between the Cardassian and Maquis ships, causing them to break off their attack and withdraw. Later the ''Enterprise'' has its rendezvous with Vice Admiral Alynna Nechayev's ''Excelsior''-class ship and she expresses Starfleet's concern about the Maquis, who are jeopardizing the Federation-Cardassian peace treaty. She advises Picard that Starfleet has decided to infiltrate the Maquis using Ro Laren.

Ro finds her way to a bar where she is contacted by members of the Maquis. After verifying her cover story, they quickly accept her into their ranks. She forms a bond with Macias, whom Ro obviously sees as a father figure. Alarmed by this news that the Cardassians are arming their citizens with biogenic weapons, the Maquis plan a preemptive strike, however, Macias points out they are critically short of medical supplies. Ro offers to steal the needed supplies from the ''Enterprise'', which she manages with some covert help from the crew.

Returning to the ''Enterprise'' for a debriefing, Ro tells Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) of the Maquis strategy and Picard plots to manipulate the militants' paranoia in order to set a trap for them, hopefully eliminating, or at least crippling, their organization. Although Ro is troubled by this, she returns to the planet and is able to convince the Maquis leadership to plan an attack on the convoy supposedly carrying the components for the biogenic weapon, so the Federation fleet can attack from a nearby nebula. However, disguised Cardassian militiamen attack the community which the Maquis cell is part of, and Macias is killed. As he dies, he tells Ro his death is not important since other Maquis like her will step forward to carry on the fight in his place.

Shortly thereafter a very unsettled Ro meets with Picard because she's having second thoughts about the mission, asking him to call it off, saying that the Maquis cell she belongs to isn't all that militant and may not even rise to the bait of the decoy convoy. Picard decides to send the ship's First officer Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), back to the Maquis with her to keep an eye on her and assure nothing interferes with the mission.

The day for the operation against the convoy arrives and as the Maquis fighters close in on it, Ro decides she can't go through with the operation. She fires a low intensity particle beam into the nebula, exposing the Federation attack force, and the Maquis ships break off their attack, frustrating the Starfleet plan. With great regret, Ro asks Riker to apologize on her behalf to Picard. Riker bids her a heartfelt farewell, and Ro is beamed aboard a Maquis vessel. Back on the ''Enterprise'', Riker files his report with Picard in the captain's ready room, adding that Ro seemed very sure of her decision, seeming that her only regret was that she had let Picard down. Riker leaves as the episode ends on Picard's expressionless face, as he contemplates Ro's betrayal.

Act 1

("Footloose/On any Sunday") Ren McCormack, an ordinary city teenager, is in a dance club in Chicago, dancing off his stresses bored of his long and arduous eight-hour work day. But this is his last visit; he tells his friends that due to financial pressures brought on by his father's abandonment, he and his mother Ethel are moving to a small town in the middle of nowhere named Bomont (much to the chagrin of his friends, who gripe, "Bomont?! Where the hell is Bomont?!"), where his aunt and uncle have offered them a place to stay. Once there, Ren and Ethel attend church and get their first glimpse of the minister Shaw Moore, a conservative minister who is a big authority figure in the town. After a long sermon lambasting the evils of "rock and roll" music and its "endless chant of pornography", Moore's daughter Ariel runs off to a gas station to meet her "trailer trash" boyfriend Chuck Cranston, along with his buddies Travis and Lyle. Chuck and Ariel are only together for the sex ("The Girl Gets Around"). While they embrace, Moore shows up and catches Chuck with his hands around his daughter, much to his displeasure.

The next day, Ren shows up for school and Willard Hewitt, a slow-witted cowboy with a bad attitude and a strong loyalty to his mother, decides to beat him up but Ren goes along with it and doesn't mind. So, they become friends. Ren tells Willard about the dancing he used to do in Chicago ("I Can't Stand Still"). Willard tries to stop him from dancing in the middle of the school, but Ren ignores him and puts on a show in front of the school principal, who angrily explains that dancing is illegal in the town of Bomont. Willard defends Ren, saying that he is new in town and does not know the rules. After the principal leaves, Rusty, who is madly in love with Willard, tells him how brave he is to have stood up to the principal on Ren's behalf. Rusty and her friends, Wendy Jo and Urleen, then explain to a bemused Ren that dancing is illegal after Moore passed a law forbidding dancing after a horrifying car accident involving four kids returning from a dance. They then warn him to lie low unless he wants to get into even more trouble than he already is. ("Somebody's Eyes").

Ariel returns home to a disgruntled Shaw, who stubbornly ignores her despite her repeated attempts to engage conversation with him. Exasperated, she leaves the room in a huff, leaving Moore and Vi, his wife, alone to bicker over her. Shaw expresses his concern over Ariel's relationship with Chuck Cranston, but when Vi attempts to assure him their fling will soon cool down, he silences her and storms off to finish writing his sermon. Ethel, fed up with the groundless suspicion that Ren is forced to suffer as the "new kid", commiserates alongside Vi. They are joined by Ariel, and lament how no one ever listens to them, everyone being so set in their own ways that they are seldom allowed to get a word in edgewise ("Learning to be Silent").

After school that day, several of the students go to the Burger Blast, a burger restaurant. Ariel, Rusty and their friends are doing homework at a table while Willard talks to Ren, who is dressed up in a waiter's uniform and roller skates, as he has just been hired to work at the restaurant. When Ren takes Ariel's order, she flirts with him. Willard warns Ren that Chuck Cranston would not be happy if Ren were to become involved with Ariel. Ren then proceeds to question Willard about his relationship with Rusty, to which Willard proclaims that he thinks she is very good-looking, but is confused by her non-stop talking. Ariel is talking with her friends about how she wants to find a decent guy ("Holding Out for a Hero"). Chuck shows up in a fury and starts to yell at Ariel. Ren and Willard come to her defense, but it's Betty Blast, the restaurant owner, who breaks up the fight.

After Ren gets off work, Ariel takes him to her secret place beneath the train tracks where she discusses her hatred of Bomont. Unbeknownst to them, Chuck witnesses the pair together.

Afterwards, Ren walks her home, catching Moore and Vi by surprise, as they had believed that Ariel was at home in her room all the while. On top of Shaw's displeasure at his daughter's disobedience, a nervous Ren unintentionally insults him in an attempt to ease his worries, making the situation more awkward and causing all of Shaw's friends (who were over playing a game of bridge) to dash off. An irritated Shaw then sternly orders Ariel to cease her visits with him, but Ariel retaliates, claiming that he is doing no more than make her feel like a prisoner. After a fed up daughter and wife storm off in a rage, Shaw begins to feel a pang of guilt, pondering whether or not he is being fair with his daughter while considering the problematic task of being both a preacher and a father ("Heaven Help Me").

At school the next day, Ren shows up late to gym class with Ariel and Willard and explains to the teacher that he was jumped by Chuck, but the teacher won't listen. Ren laments that the citizens of Bomont are so "wound up", muttering that at least in Chicago, he had the clubs to turn to in times of stress. After a quip by Willard suggesting that they "should take the coach dancing", Ren realizes that throwing a dance would be the perfect way to alleviate the teenagers' pressures, while at the same time making a statement to Moore and the town council. Willard tells Ren that he is insane, but Ren won't listen and reveals his plan to all of the students, eventually winning them over. Word catches on to Moore, who, as the one responsible for banning it to begin with, is determined to do anything within his power to ensure that it does not happen ("I'm Free/Heaven Helps The Man").

Act 2

Ren, Ariel, Willard and Rusty are in a town neighboring Bomont, where there is a big dance hall, complete with a country band ("Still Rocking"). Rusty repeatedly attempts to dance with Willard, but he weasels his way out, dragging Ren off to the bar to get drinks. There, he explains to Ren that he doesn't know how to dance. Rusty overhears them, as do several cowboys, who begin to mock Willard. Rusty comes to his defense, saying that he might not be perfect, but she loves him anyway ("Let's Hear it for the Boy"). During Rusty's song, Ren tries to teach Willard to dance, who after much initial stumbling and apprehension whips off an amazing dance combination, much to Rusty's surprise.

Chuck Cranston then shows up at the Moores' home. When he tells them that Ariel is not where they think she is, Vi and Shaw becomes very worried. Chuck leaves, and shortly after Ariel then shows up pretending she was at her friend's house studying, but her parents reveal that they know she wasn't there. After an argument between Shaw and Ariel, Vi intervenes. Vi then tries to console him while telling him that his reprimanding is not all that logical ("Can You Find it in Your Heart?").

Meanwhile, Ren, Willard and their friends are trying to find a way to present their idea to the town council. Ren goes over his speech ("Dancing Is Not A Crime") but his friends aren't too sure about it. Ren is extremely discouraged and considers forgetting the whole idea. Willard gives Ren some advice that his beloved mother told him and explains that he can't give up ("Mama Says - You can't back down/Mama Says - You can't back down - Reprise"). Just as Ren's confidence has built up, Ariel shows up with a black eye and tells Ren that Chuck beat her up. Ariel tells everyone to leave her alone, but Ren comforts Ariel instead. The two go out to the train station Ariel took Ren to in Act 1. Ariel reveals that her brother was in the car accident that led to the dancing ban. She gives Ren a Bible marked with various passages he can use for his motion. It is then they both realize they've fallen in love with each other ("Almost Paradise").

At the town council meeting, Ren stands up and explains to the council, including the principal, coach, his aunt & uncle, and Moore, that dancing is written about in the Bible and should not be illegal. Ren is favorably supported, but the members don't listen and the motion is dismissed.

After the meeting, Ethel explains that Shaw had those votes locked no matter what, and she suggests that Ren go talk to him face to face. Ren goes to the pastor's house and explains to him that he should not take his anguish about his son's death out on the entire town. They argue, but when Ren points out that they're both dealing with loss — Moore's loss of his son, Ren's loss of his father — they realize a common bond. Ren leaves, but struck by Ren's insight, Moore struggles with what to do. Ariel tells him that she believes him and reminds him about his sermon in the morning. She leaves, but Shaw is still struggling. (Heaven Help Me Reprise)

At the next service, Shaw tells the whole congregation that he is going to allow the teenagers to hold a dance. They are overjoyed. Ren asks Ariel to the dance and Willard invites Rusty, telling her that he is even willing to dance with her. After the crowd leaves, Vi and Shaw are left alone, where Shaw tells Vi how much he loves her and how he has made many mistakes in the past ("Can You Find it in Your Heart? Reprise"). In the end, Shaw, his wife, and all the rest of the townsfolk attend the huge dance to celebrate the abolishment of banning dancing in their hometown except for Chuck, who soon shows up to take revenge on Ren for selling out the town, only to be subdued and chased away by Willard and Rusty for showing up uninvited to this celebration ("Footloose (Finale)").

The story of Power Pete revolves around the title character, Power Pete, who is an action figure residing in a toy store. After the store closes, all of the toys come to life and chaos ensues. A group of plush rabbits escape from their bin and scatter throughout the store, helpless against the hordes of the more dangerous toys. The only one able to save them is the most popular toy in the store, the action figure Power Pete. Power Pete begins a crusade to try to find and save the rabbits. The other toys in the store, whose sales have been eclipsed by those of Power Pete, are less than happy to see the action figure and spend the game trying to hinder his efforts. Power Pete is aided however by the variety of weapon accessories designed for the Power Pete model that are found throughout the store.

As a second Middle Eastern war drives the world economy toward another crisis, Japan decides to invade Indonesia in search of a new source of oil. Forces are being deployed, and secret alliances are being made. Meanwhile, urban violence explodes onto the streets of Tokyo, and Hae-sung, the leader of a Zainichi Korean teenage mob, gets caught on camera by an NHK reporter as he murders a Yakuza boss.

Political tensions reach the boiling point as the exposure of Korean concentration camps in Indonesia leads Korea to enter the war. Alliances between neighboring countries are forged as the world readies itself for a massive clash. In the midst of the chaos, Hae-sung must hide from the police and the Yakuza, both of whom want to find and execute him.

The ramifications of Korea's war against Japan are felt closer to home as Korean citizens living in Japan are branded as "outsiders". The tragedy of Auschwitz repeats itself as these people are forced to wear identifying armbands, are ostracized by the Japanese populace and forced into Korean ghettos. The segregation takes a turn for the worse as Koreans are herded onto trains and sent to war camps. All the while, Japanese and Korean armed forces wage all-out war against each other on land, sea and air.

The lucky ones, like Yusung and Uhmji, lose their jobs but are allowed to return home to the Oh family residence. With the fugitive Hae-Sung now in police custody, the Yakuza look to his family for revenge.

The concept of the film is explained in a voiceover wondering what it would be like if one of the old Rex O'Herlihan films were to be made today. At that point, the scene shifts from black and white to color and the soundtrack changes from mono to surround sound.

As a consequence of this paradigm shift, Rex O'Herlihan, a "singing cowboy", is the only character aware of the plot outline. He explains that he "knows the future" inasmuch as "these Western towns are all the same" and that it's his "karma" to "ride into a town, help the good guys, who are usually poor for some reason, against the bad guys, who are usually rich for some reason, and ride out again." Rex's knowledge is also connected to the unspecified "root" vegetables he digs up and eats.

On his high-stepping horse Wildfire, Rex rides into the town of Oakwood Estates, walks into a saloon and meets Peter, the Town Drunk. In exchange for a free drink, Peter explains the background: the town, and especially the sheep herders ("nice enough, but they smell God-awful"), are being terrorized by the cattle ranchers, headed by Colonel Ticonderoga. Also there is Miss Tracy, the traditional ‘prostitute with a heart of gold’. A local sheriff is "a corrupt old coward who takes his orders from the Colonel."

Blackie, the foreman at Rancho Ticonderoga, swaggers into the bar with two of his henchmen and shoots one of the sheep-herders, then the town’s real-estate agent. Miss Tracy objects, and when she is verbally abused by one of Blackie's henchmen, Rex intervenes. Blackie draws on Rex after he threatens to "shoot in the hand" anyone drawing on him – and duly delivers on that threat. The disabled Blackie orders his two henchmen to kill Rex, but in firing hurriedly, they shoot Blackie in the back instead. Rex then shoots both in the hand and orders them to remove Blackie's corpse.

Peter exchanges his drunk suit for a sidekick outfit, catches up with Rex and is reluctantly accepted. (Rex has sworn off sidekicks as they keep dying.) At the singing cowboy's campsite, Peter finds not one but two women there eager to get to know Rex a little better, Miss Tracy and the Colonel's daughter.

The Colonel goes for help to the boss of the railroad men – who wear dusters. "We should stick together. Look what we have in common: we're both rich, we're both power-mad, and we're both Colonels — that's got to count for something!" But Rex outwits the Bad Guys because he knows their every move before they do. Then the Colonels import "Wrangler" Bob Barber, apparently another Good Guy. Bob discomposes Rex in their first meeting by attacking Rex's claim to be the "most good Good Guy" and pointing out that a Good Guy has to be "a confident heterosexual". "I thought it was just a heterosexual", Rex objects. "No, it's a confident heterosexual", responds Bob.

Rex backs down from the shootout. On his way out of town, while preparing to change roles to that of a sidekick, Rex explains to Peter that he rides into town, kisses the girls and rides out again. "That's all: I just kiss 'em. I mean, this is the 1880s. You gotta date and date and date and date and sometimes marry 'em before they…you know."

Bob reports that Rex is finished as a Good Guy. Nevertheless, the Colonels, over Bob's objection, arrange for Peter to be bushwhacked. This rouses Rex to round up the sheep herders and face down Bob and the rancher/railroad combine. Bob is revealed as not a Good Guy at all because, after all, he is a lawyer. Rex shoots him.

Colonel Ticonderoga makes the peace. He apologizes to Rex and throws a party at Rancho Ticonderoga, after which Rex and Peter (who survived because Rex had him wear a bulletproof vest) ride off together into the sunset.

''2099: World of Tomorrow'' brings together many cancelled titles and therefore contains many concurrent plot lines. The overarching storyline takes place in the Savage Land, Latveria, and the Alchemax Ares Colony on Mars. Prior to the start of the title, the polar ice caps have melted, due to a small planetoid entering the atmosphere, which is revealed to be the Phalanx collective. This floods the world, killing 90% of the world's population and driving the last remnants of humanity to higher ground or on large armadas of skiffs drifting in the waters.

As the story begins, Twilight, December and Metalsmith of X-Nation along with Father Jennifer and Ben Grimm crash land on Mars, sent on a mission to Ares Colony to see if it would be feasible to evacuate the remaining Earth population to Mars. Ben is captured before the others awake, a plot hole that is left unresolved before the series is cancelled. The others make it to Ares colony and find that the few remaining native Martians, known to them as Takers, have been constantly stealing their equipment and members of the expedition team. Twilight is abducted by the Takers, but finds out they have been trying to terraform Mars. It is revealed that centuries prior the Phalanx turned Mars into a wasteland and killed the majority of the Takers. Twilight and Metalsmith help them revive the rest of their race from suspended animation and together take off in a spaceship toward the Phalanx planetoid orbiting Earth.

Meanwhile, a large group of humans and mutants have relocated to Humanity's Last Refuge in the Savage Land, including many of the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man and the other members of X-Nation. Bloodhawk, Willow, La Lunatica, Jade Ryuteki, Drew Hodge and Mr. Winn form an exploration team to venture beneath the surface of the Savage Land. There they find an ancient alien craft, nearly being killed by its self-destruct mechanism.

Reed Richards works tirelessly to create the mechanical systems needed for the Refuge to function, all the while working on a large database to store the bulk of humanity's knowledge. He finishes the database, a semi-sentient robot named Franklin, and leaves with Sue and Johnny to return to their own time.

Spider-Man rescues a man from the water who has been infected by the transmode virus. He sets out to find where he came from, unknowingly carrying Uproar and Wulff, who had heard the infected man mention "Wild Boys", the gang that Wulff used to run with. Their ship is destroyed and they are separated. Uproar and Wulff are taken prisoner by Vulture, the leader of the wild boys. Wulff is reverted to a were-wolf form, and together they escape, but soon go their separate ways.

Spider-Man washes up on the shores of Latveria where he is saved by his former lover Xina Kwan. Xina is helping Doom experiment on people with the transmode virus, attempting to find a way to defeat the Phalanx. At the same time, Doom puts up a front, claiming to aid Magus, the Phalanx emissary, in finding the Scout, a Phalanx sleeper that carries the code to assimilate all of Earth. Magus sees through this and reveals that he has known the Scout's location all along. In the Savage Land, Winn reveals himself to be a Phalanx member and captures Nostromo, the Phalanx Scout. He returns to Latveria with Nostromo where he is uplinked to the planetoid and the assimilation begins.

The stories all converge as the Phalanx begins its assault. Twilight, Smith and the Takers crash their ship into the planetoid, where they begin battling the Phalanx forces. Doom initiates a subroutine in Nostromo that he had cultivated, knowing of the scout program since the Phalanx invasion of the 20th century. This code disconnects Nostromo and severs the connection to the collective. As Spider-Man escapes with Nostromo, Doom gives his life to destroy Magus and the other Phalanx forces in Latveria. Meanwhile, Franklin uplinks to the collective and asks them their purpose. When they respond that they plan to destroy the human race he labels them as "evil" and sets the planetoid to self-destruct, killing the Takers, Twilight and Smith as well.

With the Phalanx threat avoided, the survivors in the Savage Land begin to build the first living quarters. Spider-Man leaves Latveria to find his missing brother. Doom's will names Nostromo the heir to his throne in Latveria. The book ends after 8 issues.

One last sub-plot begins, but is never resolved. Mlle. Strange, the new sorceress supreme ventures below the surface of the Savage Land where she battles Garokk the petrified man. Garokk transferred his petrified composition to Strange and was again flesh and blood, claiming the title of Sorcerer supreme. What becomes of them is never explained.

After this the Earth-928 imprint of 2099 was concluded by the ''2099: Manifest Destiny'' one-shot in March 1998.

Dr. Sharon Golban finds an ancient skeleton in Jerusalem in a rich man's tomb. Coloration of the wrist and ankle bones indicates the cause of death was crucifixion. Several artifacts, including a gold coin bearing the marks of Pontius Pilate and a jar dating to 32 AD, date the tomb to the year Jesus died. Faint markings on the skull consistent with thorns, the absence of broken leg bones, occupational markers suggesting the deceased was a carpenter, and a nick on the ribs from a pointed object lead authorities to suspect that these could be the bones of Jesus. The different reactions of politicians, clerics, religious extremists—some prepared to use terror to gain their ends—to the religious, cultural and political implications of the find, make life difficult and dangerous for the investigators as they seek to unearth the truth.

Father Matt Gutierrez is assigned by the Vatican to investigate the case and to protect the Christian faith. He sets out to prove that the bones are not those of Jesus, but as there is more and more evidence to support the claim, his faith begins to waver. Troubled by the case, he turns to Father Lavelle who commits suicide because he cannot reconcile the scientific evidence with his faith. This event causes Father Gutierrez to turn from his faith, but he comes back to it in the end when it is revealed that the body is in fact not Jesus's body but one of his followers who died in a similar way during the First Jewish–Roman War.. He also comes to understand that it is the power of the Catholic Church that he is protecting and not the faith, and decides to resign from his priesthood.

Will Freeman lives a carefree lifestyle without any responsibility or commitments, thanks to royalties left to him by his father's successful Christmas song. Will joins the Single Parents Alone Together (SPAT) community group under the pretense that he is the father to an imaginary child, but instead aims to meet single mothers. Will meets Suzie who he is attracted to but also meets Marcus, the socially awkward son of one of Suzie's friends unexpectedly on a planned play-date. When Will and Suzie take Marcus home, they find Marcus' mother Fiona (who suffers bouts of depression) has attempted suicide and rush to get her to the hospital in time.

Marcus soon discovers that Will's imaginary son does not exist, and uses it as leverage by blackmailing Will to go out with his mother as he wants to ensure Fiona doesn't get depressed again. Though Will shows no interest in Fiona, he begins to bond with Marcus and ultimately matures as an adult as a result. Will helps Marcus to establish confidence, but this plan soon backfires, and Marcus accidentally reveals that Will is not a parent. Fiona confronts Will and demands an explanation. Will retorts that he is only building confidence in the boy because he is routinely humiliated and bullied at school. Though Will promises to cease further contact with Marcus, Fiona recognizes that Will's genuine interest in her son is good for both of them.

Will joins Marcus and Fiona for Christmas, giving Marcus a Mystikal album as well as a portable CD player. During an exchange with Suzie who knows by now of Will's earlier deception, Marcus stands up for Will, and in turn, also stands up to Fiona's confrontational methods. Will defuses the situation, citing an earlier incident where Marcus accidentally killed a duck with his mother's cottage loaf. Marcus invites Will to Christmas dinner, and Will genuinely enjoys his day with Marcus' family. As Marcus develops his first crush at school (Ellie), Will also meets Rachel, who he hits it off with, and for the first time in his dating life, he begins to develop a serious interest in a woman. When Rachel begins to lose interest in Will as he describes his lifestyle, he brings up Marcus, and she responds as she is a single mother and believes Marcus is Will's son. Will fails to correct her, and asks Marcus to pose as his son for a while. Marcus eventually encourages Will to tell the truth, but when Will does so and admits the truth to Rachel, it does not have the effect Will had expected, and the relationship ends.

Fiona's depression returns, and Marcus goes to Will for help. Will, however, is still upset over his break-up and lashes out at Marcus. He soon finds his previous life of self-dependence unfulfilling, missing the company Marcus provided. Will decides to reconcile with Marcus and talks to Fiona about her depression, but then finds out from her that Marcus is due to perform at a school talent show that night, which would ultimately result in him being humiliated for the rest of his school life. As expected, Marcus' performance is greeted with brutal mockery, but Will joins in with a guitar, ultimately saving him from total humiliation.

By the next Christmas, Will and Rachel reconcile, with Will having abandoned his previous lifestyle permanently. Will invites one of his Amnesty International colleagues to set him up with Fiona, and Marcus and Ellie remain good friends.

Much like the manga and anime it is based on, Monkey D. Luffy wants to take Gol D. Roger's place to become King of the Pirates. Together with his crew namely, Roronoa Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, and Nico Robin are on a quest to search for the great treasure and also to fulfill their own dreams. The story is based on the East Blue saga up to the Foxy's Return arc.

Using the help of a hacker friend, Joanna and Deborah try to break into the online records of Wingate Clinic, but are met with failure as it was a very well-protected system. They then decide to get the inside information by first getting in posing as prospective employees. They use Social Security Numbers of recently deceased women to forge their identity and get employed in the clinic. Joanna (under the alias of Prudence Heatherly) gets work as a word processing employee while Deborah (under the alias of Georgina Marks) gets a job of a lab assistant.

In order to get access to the high-security data, they steal the Access Card of Wingate Clinic's owner, Spencer Wingate, by giving him an overdose of liquor. Using the Access Card, they gain (un)authorized entry into the Server Room, from where the records are managed. Unfortunately for them, as all movements into the Server Room, as well as the changes made in the file system, are logged, their identity gets revealed. In parallel, they find out that while Joanna was subjected to organ theft, the Clinic illegally performs ovary culture (on stem cells) on all the stolen eggs as well as uses many workers as surrogate mothers.

From here starts the chase where the Wingate Clinic's officers try to kill the women while they try to save their lives and bring Wingate's ill-deeds to the knowledge of the world.

The novel has an open ending, leaving the readers to guess what happens to the villains in the end.

For the first seven chapters, ''Queen of the Martian Catacombs'' and ''The Secret of Sinharat'' are almost word-for-word identical; the differences are inconsequential to the plot. In Chapter 1, a brief paragraph is inserted to situate the reader in the Solar System and to excuse the presence of non-Terran humans on planets like Mars through the concept of a prehistoric "seeding"—not mentioned elsewhere in Brackett's novels. In Chapter 5, an explicit reference to the events of Brackett's story "The Beast-Jewel of Mars" (''Planet Stories'', Winter 1948) has been cut, perhaps on the assumption that readers of the novel would not know or be interested in the earlier story. The Arabic word "khamsin" is consistently replaced by "storm wind", perhaps on the grounds that readers might not be familiar with the word (or mistake it for a Martian technical term). * Chapter 1: Eric John Stark, fleeing from Venus where he has been running guns to native opponents of a Terro-Venusian mining concern (mining and mineral extraction companies recur as villains in Brackett's stories), has come to Mars to fight as a mercenary in a private war in the Martian Drylands on behalf of Delgaun, lord of the Martian city of Valkis. He is finally pinned down by agents of Earth Police Control. Their leader, Simon Ashton, offers him a deal: lifting of his sentence, if he agrees to act as a spy on Delgaun, whom Ashton claims is plotting a major war together with a barbarian leader called Kynon, of the Dryland tribe of Shun; a war that Ashton says will be disastrous for the drylanders. Stark agrees to go to Valkis as Ashton's agent, and return to report to him in the Martian city of Tarak. * Chapter 2: Stark enters Valkis late at night and sees the drylanders gathering there. He meets Delgaun and several other mercenaries that Delgaun has hired. One of them is Luhar, an old enemy of Stark from Venus. They challenge each other, but Delgaun separates them. At dawn, Kynon of Shun enters Valkis. * Chapter 3: Delgaun, Stark and the mercenaries go to see Kynon. In the public square of Valkis, Kynon demonstrates a technology which he claims to have recovered from the lost secrets of the Ramas, an ancient race of Martians who had acquired a form of immortality. Kynon, using two crystal circlets and a glowing rod, appears to transfer the consciousness of an old Martian man into a young Terran boy. The old man collapses and dies. Kynon returns with Delgaun and the others to the council room in the palace. * Chapter 4: Stark accuses Kynon of an elaborate charade in which the boy was coached in his part and the old man was killed by poison. Kynon admits it, but justifies it as a necessity for uniting the drylanders against the City-States of the Dryland Borders, who are depriving them of water resources. Together with the men of Valkis and the other Low-canal cities, they will conquer the City-States and become fully independent of Terra. Stark goes to his quarters and sleeps through the day. At dusk he goes to the council-room, and finds Delgaun there with Kynon's female companion, Berild. Delgaun asks Stark to bring back one of Kynon's trusted captains, Freka, who is indulging in "a certain vice"; he needs to be back before Kynon sets out at midnight for his desert headquarters. On his way, Stark is stopped by Fianna, Berild's serving girl, who warns him that he is going into a trap set by Delgaun. Stark accepts the warning, but continues anyway. * Chapter 5: Stark comes to Kala's, a broken-down dive in a mostly uninhabited part of Valkis. He finds Freka there, indulging in ''shanga'', a radiation-induced temporary atavistic regression to a bestial state. Stark realizes that an empty room near Freka probably contains the trap set for him. When he is refused entrance to the room, he leaves Kala's and waits outside. He is followed by Luhar, who had been waiting in the empty room for a chance to attack Stark. Stark jumps Luhar; the fighting goes back into Kala's, where the ''shanga'' addicts and Kala herself become involved. Stark knocks Freka out, is stabbed by Luhar, knocks Luhar out, and returns with Freka to Delgaun's palace. Delgaun is surprised and angry; Berild is pleased. * Chapter 6: At midnight, Kynon leaves Valkis with the drylanders and mercenaries. Kynon orders Stark and Luhar to remain apart from each other. Delgaun remains behind. Luhar and Freka confer. The caravan proceeds across the desert for three days, and on the fourth day they are hit by a sandstorm. * Chapter 7: Luhar and Freka take advantage of the storm to jump Stark and leave him for dead. He finds himself together with Berild. When the storm blows out, they are lost in the desert. They proceed on foot. After four days, running out of water, they come to a wilderness of rocks.

From chapter 8 on the two versions diverge.

''Queen of the Martian Catacombs''

• Chapter 8: Stark and Berild are dying of thirst. Berild leads Stark three miles out of their way to a ruined monastery. She miraculously discovers a long-buried well. After they have drunk and slept, Stark suggests to Berild that she is actually a surviving immortal Rama, and knew the location of the well from memory. Berild dismisses the accusation. They stay in the ruins two days, and then leave.
• Chapter 9: Stark and Berild arrive at Sinharat, the old city of the Ramas, where Kynon has made his headquarters. They find Kynon's army and his mercenaries camped in the desert outside the city. Stark enters Sinharat looking for Luhar, and fatally attacks him when he finds him. Delgaun is also mysteriously there. Kynon arrests Stark and places him in a subterranean cell in Sinharat under Freka's guard. Before Freka can kill Stark, Fianna appears and shoots him. Stark disposes of Freka in a pit in the catacombs. Fianna explains that Delgaun and Berild are both Ramas, and that while Kynon wants empire, Delgaun and Berild want to control Mars—without Kynon—through their mercenary outlander clients.
• Chapter 10: Stark and Fianna proceed to a crypt below Sinharat where Berild is waiting. Kynon is there with her, but drugged and under Berild's hypnotic control. Berild offers to become Stark's lover and to make him a Rama, by exchanging his mind with Kynon's, and disposing of Delgaun after the war. Stark agrees, and Berild produces the real crowns of the Ramas, and puts them on Stark's and Kynon's heads.
• Chapter 11: Stark awakes to find himself in Kynon's body. His own body is still there, alive but with Kynon's mind still under hypnosis. Berild locks Kynon, in Stark's body, in a small cell. Stark-as-Kynon goes with Berild to address the armies assembled at Sinharat from a high ledge in the city. Delgaun is there. Instead of leading them to war, Stark reveals the charade of the false Rama crowns. Berild stabs Stark in the back. Stark reveals Berild's treachery to Delgaun. Delgaun throws Berild from the ledge and attempts to unseat Stark from his steed and flee. Stark, though wounded, grasps Delgaun and throttles him, while Delgaun stabs him repeatedly. Stark kills Delgaun and loses consciousness. Fianna runs to him.
• Chapter 12: Stark awakes and finds himself with Fianna. He is back in the crypt below Sinharat, in his own body. Kynon is next to him, dead. Fianna reveals that she is also a Rama, unknown to Berild and Delgaun. She expresses remorse for her past evil and destroys the rod and crowns of the Ramas. Stark and Fianna leave together and find Sinharat deserted. Fianna decides to stay in Sinharat for a while before she decides what to do. Stark departs for Tarak to meet Simon Ashton.

''The Secret of Sinharat''

• Chapter 8: Stark and Berild are dying of thirst. Berild leads Stark three miles out of their way to an old ruin, where they both collapse. At night, Stark wakes to see Berild tracing her steps to the site of a long-buried well. They uncover it together, drink, and sleep. The next night, Stark suggests to Berild that she must be a witch to have discovered the well. Berild explains that she knew the secret of the well's location from her father, who had crossed the desert in this place years ago. Stark accepts her explanation, but is privately unconvinced. They stay in the ruins two days, and then leave.
• Chapter 9: Stark and Berild arrive at Sinharat at dawn and find Kynon's caravan encamped outside. The Dryland armies have not yet arrived, but only Kynon and his mercenaries are in the city itself, which the drylanders regard as taboo. Stark and Berild enter Sinharat looking for Luhar, but Kynon prevents Stark and Luhar from fighting. Berild kills Luhar with a knife. Kynon does not punish Berild, but warns Stark not to fight with Freka, who has gone back to the desert, and condemns the infighting that threatens his plans. Berild lies to Kynon about how she and Stark reached Sinharat, pretending that they had more water than they did. Kynon dismisses Berild and Stark.
• Chapter 10: Stark awakes at dusk and finds Fianna there. She warns him that his life is in danger from Delgaun, when he arrives. Stark refuses to flee. Fianna leads Stark to a chamber where Berild is waiting. She warns him against Delgaun, and expresses her resentment at Kynon. Drums beat announcing the late arrival of Delgaun and his allies to Sinharat, and Stark and Berild part. As Stark leaves, he meets Fianna, who hints that Berild may be a Rama.
• Chapter 11: Kynon unveils the banner of the Ramas before the massed armies of the Drylands and the Low-canals in front of Sinharat. Stark confronts Delgaun as a fellow-follower of Kynon, and forces Delgaun to accept him as comrade-in-arms. Later, in council, Delgaun backs down before Kynon, and they proceed to plot the conquest of the City-States. Kynon warns his confederates not to reveal that they do not really have the secret of the Ramas. Days pass. Freka returns from Shun with more fighters, but Kynon keeps him and Stark from fighting. Later, Stark goes into Sinharat and finds Berild reading an ancient wall-inscription in an unknown language. Stark follows her as she goes to a high window.
• Chapter 12: Stark accuses Berild of being a Rama. Berild dismisses his statement with smooth explanations, but Stark does not accept them. Stark deduces that Delgaun must also be a Rama. Berild leaves suddenly. Stark goes later, and is attacked by Freka who is under the influence of ''shanga''. As they are fighting, Kynon and his fighters discover them. Stark is accused of murdering Freka, and the Shunni demand his blood. Stark is knocked out as he tries to blurt out the truth of Kynon's charade. He awakes in an underground cell, guarded by a Shunni warrior. (This portion of the expansion is a rewrite of the middle of Chapter 9 of ''Catacombs''.)
• Chapter 13: Fianna appears, shoots the Shunni, and frees Stark. Fianna reveals that she, Berild, and Delgaun are all surviving Ramas, though she is dependent upon them for the Sending-on of Minds. She leads him into the catacombs, where Stark disposes of the guard's body in a pit and takes his sword. Fianna describes Delgaun and Berild's plans for empire, and explains that they intend to dispose of Kynon by putting Delgaun's mind into Kynon's body. She asks Stark to help her prevent it, and leads him to Berild's chamber. There they find Kynon in bonds, and Berild preparing the real crowns of the Ramas for the Sending-on of Minds.
• Chapter 14: Stark enters, attacks Delgaun and kills him with the sword. Berild drops the crowns and draws a knife. Fianna frees Kynon, who throttles Berild as she slashes him. Stark tells the wounded Kynon to stop the march of the Drylanders. He and Fianna help Kynon out to the open stairway that leads up to Sinharat. From there, Kynon addresses the tribes, telling them of Delgaun and Berild's treachery and his own lie about having the secret of the Ramas. Then he collapses and dies. The mercenaries and the armies break up and leave. Stark returns to Sinharat and finds Fianna. She explains that she has hidden the crowns of the Ramas, unable to destroy them. She invites Stark to return to Sinharat late in his life, offering to make him a Rama then. He refuses. Fianna says that she will stay in Sinharat. Stark departs for Tarak to meet Simon Ashton, looking back at Sinharat as he goes.

Belle (Lynsey McLeod) lives in France and owns her own book and music shop after marrying her Prince. Helping her at the bookstore are Lewis and Carroll, two magical bookworms, Harmony the Cat and Big Book, a large talking book on a book stand. The bookstore is visited by local children to whom Belle will sing songs and tell stories, usually with a moral relating to something that's happened that day. The show's format bears resemblance to the Kidsongs Television Show and Sesame Street in nature.

Clips from vintage Disney cartoons would often be used to illustrate the stories, including:

• ''Mickey's Rival''
• ''The Cookie Carnival''
• ''Goliath II''
• ''Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree''
• ''Music Land''

Tommy Gibbs (Fred Williamson) is an African-American who grew up in Harlem, New York City. As a kid, he was brutally assaulted by a cop named McKinney. The incident led him to a life of crime. As an adult, he joins the New York mafia and becomes the head of a black crime syndicate in Harlem. He wages a gang war with the Italian mobsters of New York City and begins to establish a criminal empire, keeping a ledger book of all his dealings as leverage over his business associates, including McKinney.

He meets and falls in love with a singer named Helen (Gloria Hendry) and marries her. She is unhappy as he is violent and rapes her. Eventually his enemies conspire with her, leading to an attempt on his life that leaves him shot and wounded. Killing his would-be assassins, he returns to his office to retrieve the ledger book. McKinney meets him there, and attempts to humiliate him before killing him. Tommy overpowers McKinney and beats him to death. Retrieving the ledger, a badly wounded Tommy returns to the house where he grew up, but a street gang attacks, robs and, presumably, kills him.

Armed with a quarterstaff and his pet African lion named Hoodoo, noble nightclub owner Samson (Rockne Tarkington) does his best to keep his neighborhood clean of crime and drugs. When vicious mobster Giovanni "Johnny" Nappa (William Smith) tries to muscle in on Samson's territory, Samson takes a stand against Nappa and his flunkies.

L.A. bounty hunter, Zachary Kane, is on the hunt for a masked serial killer on the loose.

After a year of marriage, Edward "Teddy" Bare kills his wealthy older wife, Monica, after she asks her lawyer, Phillip Mortimer, to change her will. He stages it to look as if she was accidentally asphyxiated while drunkenly trying to light a gas heater.

To his chagrin, he discovers that she actually intended to leave him all her money; instead, he only inherits the mansion from a prior will, while her fortune is left in trust to her only relative, her sister Dora. Edward will receive the money if Dora dies. An inquest rules it an accident, but Phillip makes it clear he suspects Edward. When Edward asks where Dora lives, Phillip tells him she is too far away, in Jamaica.

Edward manages to marry lower-class but well-off widow Freda Jeffries, who is closer to her husband's age, and much less trusting than her predecessor, keeping tight control over her fortune. As the death of a second spouse so soon after the first would be highly suspicious, he is powerless to do anything. Edward becomes acquainted with Charlotte Young, who is looking for a house to purchase for an equestrian school. As Edward was an estate agent before he married Monica, he shows her around, making Freda jealous.

Edward lures Charlotte to his mansion late one night while Freda and the servant are out. He reveals he knows that Charlotte is actually Dora. Then he brazenly admits killing her sister before trying to make her leave. Suspicious, she remains where she is. Eventually, however, Freda returns home and escorts Charlotte to the door. After she drives away, Edward tells Freda that he killed Monica, secure in the knowledge that a wife cannot be compelled to testify against her husband, and that he expects to inherit Charlotte's money shortly, as he has tampered with the brakes on her car. He is shocked when Phillip enters the room, having heard his confession, followed by his intended victim. She had returned to the house after meeting the lawyer at the estate's gate. Edward flees in his car, but the entrance is blocked by Charlotte's and Phillip's automobiles. With Phillip in pursuit, Edward switches to another vehicle, only to realise too late that he has taken Charlotte's. He loses control and drives off a cliff.

Minkey, a super-spy primate, rescues his partner Mike Muggins from Middle Eastern terrorists. Their secretary, Edith, commends them on being the two best spies in the business, but Mike informs her that he is going to retire to be with his wife and daughter. The movie flashes forward 10 years. Mike's wife had died, and his daughter, Amelia, is a child prodigy, having invented a revolutionary oxygen iodide laser drill. Amelia is about to receive the National Scientific Achievement Award from the world's leading scientists, Dr. Robert Farley and Dr. Claudette Amour. Mike tells her how proud he is, and reminds her that Minkey is in town, now the star of a circus show. Mike offers to take Amelia to Minkey's show, but Amelia laughs it off, remembering those "silly stories" he used to tell her about life as a spy.

As Amelia leaves for school, Hugo, a henchman, follows her and takes pictures of her. Amelia receives the National Scientific Achievement Award, although Dr. Amour is unable to be there. As she and Mike leave, Dr. Farley videotapes Mike with a pen-camcorder. The next day, Dr. Farley shows up in a black limousine and kidnaps Amelia, telling her that her father has a surprise for her. He has a manipulated video of Mike confirming this, and Amelia happily goes with Dr. Farley. Dr Farley takes her to Japan, explaining that it is a "top-secret government program." He has built a full-scale model of Amelia's drill, but it is not working properly; Amelia begins working on it. Meanwhile, Hugo delivers a package to Mike—it's a video of Dr. Farley, who promises not to hurt Amelia as long as Mike does not contact the authorities. Mike springs into action, contacting Edith and Minkey, persuading them to come out of retirement to help him save Amelia. Minkey's new friends from the circus are enlisted as spies; while Mike and Minkey fly to Jamaica to find Dr. Amour, Edith brings the performers up to speed on the project.

Apparently, Minkey was genetically enhanced and specially trained as a part of operation SPYMATE, but when the Russians moved in on the project, Mike was ordered to terminate Minkey. After Minkey exhibited formidable martial arts skills against KGB agents, Mike requested him as a partner. Meanwhile, Mike and Minkey find Dr. Amour, who tells them that Dr. Farley plans to use Amelia's drill to cut through the Earth's crust in a Japanese volcano and harness the heat energy of the Earth's core. However, according to Dr. Amour's calculation, the energy will cause a massive earthquake that could wipe Japan off the map. Dr. Amour agrees to take Mike and Minkey to Dr. Farley's drill site. Meanwhile, Amelia is becoming suspicious of Dr. Farley. She tries to escape, but is captured and held prisoner. Meanwhile, Mike, Minkey, and Dr. Amour parachute into the drill site.

Dr. Amour and Mike are captured, but Minkey escapes with the help of a Japanese ninja sensei, who "has been awaiting him." The sensei and his students tell Minkey how to breach Dr. Farley's lab and promise their help. Dr. Farley threatens to kill Mike and Dr. Amour if Amelia does not fix the drill. Amelia reluctantly tells him to put an elastic band around the drill to dampen the sympathetic resonance. Dr. Farley begins drilling into the earth and tells Hugo to kill Mike and Dr. Amour. As Mike and Dr. Amour are escorted out, Minkey ambushes Hugo. Mike fights off the other guards while Dr. Amour and Minkey run to the drill chamber. Dr. Amour distracts Dr. Farley while Mike and Minkey take out the guards in the drill chamber and rescue Amelia. More guards pour in, but Minkey's ninja friends drop out of the ceiling. Dr. Amour and Amelia stop the drill, but this causes it to explode. Mike, Minkey, Dr. Amour, and Amelia barely escape the exploding lab. Outside, Amelia exclaims to Mike that he really is a spy. Minkey receives a call from the president requesting his services in a "delicate matter" and snowboards away to more adventures. Minkey was not seen in any other films besides this, leaving the franchise on a cliffhanger ending.

12-year-olds Rudy Carges and his overweight friend Leonard Fisher spend the night inside their treehouse after hearing bullies Jeff and Kenny want to destroy it. Jeff and Kenny arrive and set the treehouse on fire, not knowing Jacob and Leonard were in there until too late. Leonard escapes unharmed but then falls to the ground unconscious, while Rudy is burned to death offscreen. Rudy's twin brother Jacob, a boy with a huge birthmark, decides to seek revenge against the bullies. At the hospital, Leonard finds out he lost his sense of taste and smell. Leonard is then prompted by his gym teacher to go on a diet, which isn't welcomed by his obese family. The boys' female friend Malee tries to befriend an adult named Gus, a grief-stricken patient of her therapist mother Carla. Jacob's family falls apart after the death of his brother, but soon after they adopt a boy named Keith Gardner. Meanwhile, Malee begins to have a crush on Gus and changes the song for her recital to one Gus liked. As time goes by, she sees Gus as her "soul mate". She sneaks into his house one night to find him grieving. Afraid to confront him, Malee steals his gun and leaves. She gives the gun to Jacob the following day.

Jacob's mother gets furious when she finds out Jeff and Kenny are being put in juvenile hall for only one year, while Jacob's father views Rudy's death as an accident. Jacob spends the next few months visiting Jeff and Kenny, and threatens them, until eventually Jeff commits suicide. Jacob befriends Kenny, soon learning he has an early release and is illegally moving to New Mexico. Meanwhile, Leonard's father decides to take his sisters to Florida instead of Leonard (who would usually go). Leonard decides to force his mother to lose weight by trapping her in the cellar. They both end up in the hospital after a gas leak in their home. Next, Jacob and Kenny agree that Jacob can go with him to New Mexico. Malee visits Gus and removes her clothes in an attempt to seduce him. Instead, Gus calls Malee's mother to come and pick her up. The next day, Gus explains to therapist Carla about the last fire he ever fought (which involved killing an injured little girl, upon the girl's request), claiming that Malee wanted him to take her pain away, as he was aware of her growing crush on him.

Meanwhile, Jacob's mother tells him that Keith Gardner wasn't adopted to replace Rudy, and that she wants Kenny dead, which reminds Jacob of his planned revenge. The night of escape for Jacob finally comes and he meets up with Kenny. Jacob insists on going through a construction site which he says is a secret route. Once there, Jacob points Gus's gun at Kenny, and tells him "you killed him" before shooting him dead. Jacob buries the body and leaves. He returns in the daytime, and sees Gus spreading cement above Kenny's grave, knowing the evidence is gone.

Malee begins visiting her estranged father and Leonard's family finally starts eating healthily. Jacob returns home without telling anyone what he did.

Nancy Drew, an amateur sleuth, and her widowed father, Carson Drew, move from their quaint hometown River Heights to California, where Carson has a temporary job. Carson encourages Nancy to focus on living like a normal teenager, instead of getting herself into trouble with crime- and mystery-solving. However, unbeknownst to Carson, Nancy chose their California house because of its famously unsolved mystery of the death of the movie star Dehlia Draycott. Nancy struggles to fit in at her new school, only befriending a younger boy, Corky. She wears 1950s outfits and penny loafers, becoming subject to teasing from Corky's older sister and her best friend. After discovering many clues about the Draycott mystery, she begins secretly sleuthing behind her father's back. Nancy eventually finds Draycott's lost child, Jane Brighton, who turns out to be the sole beneficiary of Draycott's will, which has disappeared. Nancy contacts her father's business associate, Dashiel Biedermeyer, the lawyer of the Draycott estate, to assist her with the case.

Meanwhile, as an early birthday present, Ned Nickerson, Nancy's good friend with implied romantic interest, visits from River Heights. Corky becomes jealous of Nancy and Ned's close relationship and tries his best to get Nancy's attention. Nancy begins experiencing worsening attacks against her as she learns that someone does not want her to solve the case. One afternoon, a tearful Jane arrives on Nancy's doorstep and announces that her daughter has been taken away from her. While watching a Dehlia Draycott film, Nancy realizes that Draycott has hidden her will in a prop from one of her last movies. After retrieving the will, Nancy is kidnapped by the villain's henchmen. Nancy escapes with the will but gets into a car crash. Her father arrives and demands to know what is going on. After explaining her sleuthing, Biedermeyer offers them a ride home so he can finalize the legacy to Jane.

Nancy concludes that Biedermeyer was Dehlia Draycott's supposed love who stands to lose money if the will goes to Jane. However, when he questions Nancy about the will, she manages to jump out of the car. She is caught by Biedermeyer who threatens her; when Nancy asks him why he killed Dehlia, he replies that Dehlia went crazy after she put Jane up for adoption, and wanted to leave to be with her caretaker Leshing. Nancy escapes but is once again cornered. Leshing arrives and knocks the henchmen unconscious as Nancy reveals that she secretly recorded Biedermeyer's confession. While the police arrive to arrest Biedermeyer, Nancy reveals to Leshing that Jane is his daughter. The will is restored to Jane, who is able to get her daughter back and convert the Draycott mansion into a home for single mothers.

Back at River Heights, Nancy visits Ned as he repairs her car and they share a kiss. She receives a long-distance phone call regarding a new mystery in Scotland.

Shuichiro Harashima (Hiroyuki Sanada), an upper-class and work-driven businessman, falls in love with Kaori Fujimura (Nanako Matsushima), a lower-class downtown sweetheart, and fights to save the doomed building in which she lives. Rumored to be cold-hearted and cruel, his love for Kaori and his growing friendship with her brother-in-law, Konosuke Shimodaira (Koji Tamaki), change him into a kind and caring person.

Corrupt Division Commander Earl Buglar orders his subordinate Dr. J. Barrett C. Coldyron, a leading scientist in the field of police robotics, to rush development of an experimental police robot. Buglar wants the prototype – dubbed R.O.T.O.R. (Robotic Officer of the Tactical Operations Research/Reserve Unit) — ready in sixty days so that Senator Donald D. Douglas can take public credit for the project and use it to catapult himself into the White House.

Coldyron warns Buglar that the prototype is several years away from completion but is forced to resign and is replaced by his incompetent assistants, Dr. Houghtaling and his robot Willard. In Coldyron's absence, R.O.T.O.R. is inadvertently activated and put on duty. The robot executes a motorist for speeding and terrorizes his young fiancée, Sonya, who the robot views as an accomplice in her boyfriend's infraction. Upon learning his creation has escaped, Coldyron enlists the help of his colleague Dr. Corrine Steele, who designed the unit's combat chassis. Together, Steele and Coldyron track down the rampaging robot and attempt to stop it from killing again.

The narrative is split into three parts; the "Yin" phase following Utsuki, the "Yang" phase following Sakuya, and the unlockable "Kuon" phase following Abe no Seimei. Utsuki and Kureha arrive at Fujiwara Manor from their home in search of Doman. Utsuki is soon separated from Kureha, and must defend herself from the many monsters roaming the grounds. Sakuya arrives with three of Doman's disciples, including her brother, to investigate the recent rumors of terrible incidents. As they investigate, Sakuya fights off the monsters, and two of the disciples are killed and corrupted by the monsters.

During their explorations, Utsuki and Sakuya find notes by Doman and members of the Fujiwara clan. It is revealed that when Kureha died in an accident for which Utsuki is presumed responsible, Doman was tempted by the Mulberries' twin spirits to subject Kureha to the Kuon Ritual, performed using a special chest. Doman also subjected members of the Fujiwara family to the ritual, with they and other victims returning as monsters. During her exploration, Sakuya burns one of the Mulberry trees. Utsuki is revealed to have already been absorbed by Kureha, with most of her narrative being a dream during her absorption. Utsuki awakes, struggling against Kureha's influence, and ends up absorbing Sakuya's older brother. Both reach the underground chamber where Doman's experiments were conducted, and despite the monstrous Utsuki attacking her, Sakuya vows to help her.

Alerted to Doman's actions, Abe no Seimei arrives and makes her way through the Fujiwara estate, coming across a wounded Sakuya, who begs Abe no Seimei to help Utsuki. Abe no Seimei also comes across a weakened Utsuki, who is momentarily calmed. Confronting Doman, he reveals his wish for Abe no Seimei to become the Kuon Ritual's ninth and final sacrifice. Abe no Seimei kills Doman, then the possessed Utsuki takes Doman's body and enters the prepared chest, beginning the final stage of the Kuon Ritual. Abe no Seimei seals the surviving Mulberry's power, but is stopped by Sakuya from killing Utsuki. Abe no Seimei leaves, warning Sakuya of the new being's potential for evil. During the credits, Sakuya coaxes the Kuon Ritual's child, a young girl resembling Utsuki, outside the Fujiwara grounds for the first time. They walk away together, leaving their futures uncertain.

The game begins with Ted discovering an ancient idol in an African jungle, only to find it is three inches tall. He leaves the jungle in disappointment, giving George (voiced by Frank Welker) his yellow hat. George follows Ted through the jungle and onboard a cargo ship, which serves as the setting for the next level. Onboard the cargo ship, George makes his way out of the cargo hold, where he is greeted by two sailors on deck. The sailors tell George to dance, which leads to the first dancing minigame. After the dance, the sailors challenge George to complete an obstacle course. George explores the rest of the ship before returning to the hold, where the level ends as the ship arrives at its destination.

Following Ted off the ship, George rides on the top of cars and follows Ted's cab through the city, before arriving at a construction site. Navigating through the construction site, George spots Ted entering his apartment building, and makes his way inside Ted's room by climbing the balconies. Upon his arrival, his scent attracts the attention of Ivan, the building's doorman, who enforces a "no pets" policy. George sneaks through the apartment to avoid Ivan, before entering the penthouse of Ms. Plushbottom, leading to the second minigame. George is then discovered and evicted from the apartment along with Ted.

The next level takes place at the museum where Ted works; he dodges questions regarding the size of the idol as George sneaks through the museum. Junior (voiced by David Cross), the son of the museum's owner, becomes suspicious after Ted repeatedly mentions a monkey, and sets out to find George. George's repeated antics eventually send a frustrated Junior home, but George and Ted are kicked out regardless after the monkey accidentally destroys an Apatosaurus skeleton. Left with nowhere to sleep, the duo take refuge in a park, where they find solace in the fireflies, which George collects.

The next day, George collects tokens in the final minigame by popping balloons with a group of children; he tries to buy a balloon with the tokens, but ends up taking the entire bunch and floating away, to Ted's horror. This leads to the next level, where George floats through the air, while dodging obstacles and collecting balloons to sustain himself. He eventually lands safely, only to be captured by animal control and sent back on a ship to Africa. Luckily, Ted rescues George aboard the ship, but then has his idol stolen by a rat. George chases the rat through the ship, and comforts a musophobic sailor through dance. On deck, the idol is swooped up by a seagull; George distracts the bird by offering up a stolen potato, and recovers the idol.

In the final two levels, George and Ted find themselves back in Africa, with Ted realizing the tiny idol was only the key to a larger one. Together, they navigate the various puzzles guarding the path to the idol, some of which prove to be dangerous. The game ends as George opens the entrance to the idol, with the final cutscene from the film showing Ted presenting the idol at the museum, and emphasizing the importance of curiosity on his journey with George.

A framing device shows Andy's bedroom (taking place after ''Toy Story 2'') where all of his toys are about to watch the VHS copy of ''Buzz Lightyear of Star Command''. In the film, Buzz Lightyear and his partner Warp Darkmatter are searching for three missing Little Green Men (L.G.M.), a noosphere-dwelling race working as scientists for Star Command's Universe Protection Unit. They discover the lost L.G.M. in a hidden lab belonging to the evil Emperor Zurg. Buzz and Warp break in and rescue the L.G.M., keeping Zurg's robots busy while they escape. Zurg triggers the self-destruct mechanism; Warp gets pinned under debris and forces Buzz to leave just before the explosion happens, apparently killing Warp.

Stricken with survivor guilt over Warp's death, Buzz refuses a new partner, but is given a Star Command recruit, Princess Mira Nova from Tangea, whom Commander Nebula trains. With the power of "ghosting", Nova is nearly invincible, but Buzz is still reluctant. Buzz later prevents a well-meaning janitor named Booster from being fired.

In Zurg's fortress, a new henchman called Agent Z arrives with a multi-weapon robotic arm. Zurg learns of a huge orb on the L.G.M. homeworld called the Uni-Mind, responsible for the telepathic link between them; he sends his robots to capture it. The L.G.M. build a robot soldier called XR, who is offered to Buzz as a partner as he can be repaired after any damage. They get a telepathic message about Zurg's attack. When Buzz and XR arrive on the L.G.M. planet, Agent Z confronts them and destroys XR while Zurg steals the Uni-Mind. Unable to think clearly, the L.G.M. rebuild XR, but with a mind of his own. Commander Nebula decides to launch a full-scale assault on Planet Z, despite Mira's argument that a solo ranger could go to stop Zurg with the prototype Alpha-One.

Zurg corrupts the Uni-Mind into a "Mega-Ray" to bend everyone to Zurg's will. Mira steals the Alpha-One prototype spacecraft to fight Zurg, and Buzz, who wanted to follow her plan, pursues Mira in his own craft, unaware Booster and XR have stowawayed. Eventually, Buzz catches Mira and stores Alpha-One in his spaceship's cargo bay; Booster and XR are then discovered. Zurg's Mega-Ray subverts several planets in quick succession before turning it on Star Command. Buzz, Mira, Booster, and XR discover all of the staff, including Nebula, have been suborned by Zurg; they flee in Buzz's Star Cruiser. Zurg uses Star Command's entire arsenal, planting a bomb on Buzz's ship. Buzz and the others escape in the Alpha-One just before the bomb detonates, destroying the cruiser. Zurg presumes Buzz dead.

Booster accidentally causes the ship to crash-land on Planet Z. There, Buzz, insistent on finishing the mission alone, orders the others to leave. Buzz fights Agent Z, but is incapacitated and delivered to Zurg when Agent Z reveals himself to be Warp, who, in addition to having faked his death, was secretly working for Zurg for years as a double agent. Buzz dictates his "final log entry", a coded distress call to Mira, Booster and XR.

Zurg plans to use the Mega-Ray on Buzz, but XR and Booster intervene in time to rescue him as it fires. Booster and Mira destroy Warp's mechanical arm after Booster lands on him. Buzz fights Zurg, who escapes before Buzz's allies can arrest him. Booster and XR arrest Warp and skydive from Zurg's exploding tower. Mira uses her "ghosting" power to push Buzz to the core of the Uni-Mind and restore it to normal, freeing the suborned peoples and leaving Zurg momentarily helpless and apparently destroyed. The unity of the L.G.M. is restored and Warp is taken to prison for treason.

Buzz, having finally admitted that he cannot work alone, creates a new team called "Team Lightyear" with XR, Mira and Booster.

The young ninja battles together with his faithful pet dog. In the center of the city, a group of terrorists are committing every imaginable atrocity known to man, including the planting of time bombs throughout the metropolis. Our youthful hero and his canine companion courageously set out to gather all the explosives placed by the evil gang and annihilate the syndicate that manipulates them.

The protagonist is never actually named in the original arcade version, although the various home versions gives him differing identities. The manual and packaging description for the Master System version identifies him as Takashi, although the attract sequence in this same version contradicts this by naming him Fuma. The manual for the home computer versions produced by U.S. Gold, claims that he is Joe Musashi himself, with one print ad for the game referencing Kato and Sauros (who were characters from the Genesis version).

In 1997, an evil ninja cult Union Lizard, worshipping a giant reptilian demon, has taken over New York City, turning most of the city to ruins. The few citizens who survived Union Lizard's onslaught of chaos are now kept prisoners by its members. A ninja warrior, accompanied by his faithful dog , emerges from hiding to combat Union Lizard's reign and rescue the hostages. The identity of the protagonist, which is kept ambiguous in the in-game opening, varies between supplemental materials. The Japanese manual identifies him as , son of Joe Musashi from the previous games in the ''Shinobi'' series, while the English language manual identifies him as Joe Musashi himself coming out of retirement.

Set against a soundtrack of Clash, Sex Pistols, Ruts, and Ramones records, sixteen-year-old Joe sets about enjoying his newfound freedom, which in the summer of 1977 means hard-drinking pubs and working-men's clubs, local Teds, soulboys, disco girls, and a job picking cherries with gypsies. A joyride to Camden Town in North London takes him to see his first band, but a late-night incident back on the streets of Slough changes his life forever.

The second part of the book takes place in 1988 and finds Joe in China, receiving bad news in a letter from home. He buys a black-market ticket and takes the Trans-Siberian Express back to England. During this journey, he reflects on the events that have filled the intervening years, eventually returning to that night in 1977. Siberia passes in a series of recollections and romance with a Russian woman, Joe arriving in Moscow during the days of Mikhail Gorbachev, continuing to Berlin, where he crosses the Wall in the early hours. More trains take him on to Slough.

The third section of ''Human Punk'' captures the main characters as they reach middle age. They are older but little wiser. Slough has changed, but not too much, the spirit that drove Joe and his friends as boys stronger than ever. He makes his living in a range of ways, one of which involves buying and selling secondhand records. His punk beliefs remain solid. Life bounces along, until a face from the past emerges from the haze of a misty morning and forces him to stop and confront his memories once more.

Tim Purdom is born in 1937 in a small village on the Kentish coast as the illegitimate son of a young woman who dies in her early forties. After her death in 1959, Purdom decides to move to London as he does not have any sense of belonging to his home town any more. He finds cheap accommodation in Bayswater and work in a snack bar in Soho. Purdom is not only a jazz fanatic (his favourite musician is Thelonious Monk) but also an intellectual who reads books and who is interested in what is going on in the world, both politically and culturally. His intellectual pursuits do not go together with his lifestyle or his job. However, without any formal education or money, he is reduced to the kind of life he is leading; but, unambitious by nature, he is quite content with it for the time being.

Very early during his stay in London Purdom is confronted with petty crime through his contact with guests and workmates. When he is offered some extra money by one of the older regulars he tags along with him and suddenly finds himself in a place where "dirty pictures"—which were illegal at the time—are taken. He is then approached by the owner of some adult bookshops and encouraged to become a pornographic photographer himself. The customers like his pictures, which are sold under the counter, and Purdom makes some good money.

He is initiated into the world of private parties where old blue movies of foreign origin are shown to middle-aged upper middle class men in the company of young, attractively made up women. At one of those parties, where he works as the projectionist, he meets a man who later turns out to be Stephen Ward, one of the key figures in what will later be referred to as the Profumo affair. Ward supplies Purdom with a good many "models" for his photographic sessions. Eventually Purdom buys an 8 mm amateur movie camera and starts shooting pornographic movie shorts himself.

His short-lived career is already over in early 1963 when he is told by his employer that the industry has moved on and that cheap Scandinavian imports are now in demand, which are also in colour rather than black and white. Purdom keeps on working at the snack bar and in addition is commissioned to do some serious photography about London for foreign magazines. He has become a respectable citizen with a new girlfriend who does not know anything about the shady business he has left behind. It is then that he feels he is being haunted by his past.

Having survived the assassination attempt at the end of ''Black Caesar'', Tommy Gibbs takes on corrupt New York District Attorney DiAngelo, who had sought to jail Gibbs and his father, Papa Gibbs, in order to monopolize the illicit drug trade. Gibbs decides to eliminate drug pushing from the streets of Harlem, while continuing to carry out his other illicit enterprises. Gibbs falls in love with Sister Jennifer (Margaret Avery), a woman who works with Reverend Rufus, a former pimp who has found a religious calling.

Gibbs and his father have a falling out after Gibbs is told by his enforcer, Zach, that his father ordered the death of Gibbs' ex-wife, Helen. Gibbs and Jennifer move to Los Angeles, leaving Papa Gibbs in charge of the Harlem territory. It is later revealed that Zach himself killed Helen as part of a move to take over the territory, with the assistance of DiAngelo. Gibbs defeats hit men sent to take him out in Los Angeles, while Papa dies from a heart attack while fighting Zach.

Knowing that DiAngelo will be having the New York airports and roads watched, Gibbs flies in to Philadelphia, and then enters New York City on foot in order to carry out a personal war against Zach and DiAngelo.

Dorothy Gale (Bebe Daniels) and Imogene the Cow are chased by Hank the Mule. Dorothy runs to the cornfield and discovers that the family Scarecrow (Robert Leonard) is alive. They realize a cyclone is approaching, so they all hide in a haystack. Dorothy and Toto, Hank, Imogene, and the Scarecrow are all swept to the Land of Oz, where soldiers get scared away by the Witch Momba (Winifred Greenwood), who attacks the Wizard of Oz (Hobart Bosworth) due to his threat to her reign. As Dorothy plays with Toto, the good Witch Glinda (Olive Cox) changes Toto into a real protector. Dorothy then encounters the Cowardly Lion, and they encounter the Rusty Woodman and oil his joints. The children meet Eureka the Cat. The Witch kidnaps and imprisons the children. Dorothy throws water on the Witch Momba, killing her and allowing the gang to rescue the animals. Dorothy and her friends arrive at the Emerald City. The citizens dance, and the Scarecrow reads a note that says the Wizard has declared him king, as the Wizard and Dorothy leave in a balloon.

A camouflage-clad serial killer has begun mysteriously killing the members of the school's majorette squad under the guise of "saving their souls" before they reach adulthood. The local sheriff and a federal agent investigate the killings. Pregnant teenager Nicole Hendricks is among the first victims, who is attacked and murdered alongside Tommy Harvack, a male acquaintance. Her body is found lying on the shore of a creek. Meanwhile, detective Roland Martell is carrying on an affair with teenaged Marie Morgan, a friend of Nicole.

Meanwhile, Vicky McAllister lives with her rich but invalid grandmother and her grandmother's housekeeper, Helga Schuler. Unknown to Vicky, Helga and her son Harry (a pervert who spies on Vicky and her fellow majorette friends in the shower and takes nude photos of them) poisoned her grandmother (rendering her paralyzed, mute, and utterly helpless) and murdered Vicky's parents years earlier. Helga has rewritten the grandmother's will to inherit everything if Vicky and her grandmother die, but a small catch can foil the entire plot: Due to an irrevocable clause in the original will that had to be left intact in the forged revised will, if Vicky dies before her 18th birthday, the grandmother's fortune will go to the state without an adult heir left alive to inherit.

After another majorette, Shirley, is found murdered in her swimming pool, Roland suspects that there is a significance to the fact that the victims are being found in water—he surmises it has a symbolic significance, akin to a baptismal purification ritual. Helga ultimately finds out the identity of the killer, the local Sheriff, when Harry stumbles upon the sheriff killing another victim in the shower; after the victim managed to remove the killer's hood from his face prior to dying. The housekeeper and her son ambush the sheriff at his house, discovering that he is a religious fanatic that is murdering the majorette squad before they turn 18 so that they will stay pure and not become sinful adults who have pre-marital sex or do drugs. They instruct the sheriff that he is to kill Vicky for the pair, but only after she turns 18 so they can steal the entire family fortune.

Vicky is subsequently kidnapped by a local biker gang that seeks to rape and kill her, leading to further confusion among the police and investigators. Her boyfriend, Jeff, accrues a large number of weapons and stages a siege against the bikers' headquarters to save Vicky. In the confusion of Vicky's abduction, the sheriff turns the tables on his blackmailers: He murders Helga and destroys photographic evidence proving him to be the killer. The Sheriff subsequently frames the now-dead Harry (who was killed by the biker gang earlier) for the murders, as he had a history of being a peeping tom.

Some time later, Vicky attends her high school graduation. After the ceremony, she watches from a distance as her coach trains a young group of elementary school girls to be majorettes. Also watching the young girls is the sheriff, who has gotten away with his crimes.

The year is 1865. Will Denton (Kirk Douglas) is a jaded American miner escaping a troubled past. Seeking isolation for two reasons – to mend his broken heart after a failed romance during the California Gold Rush, and also to escape punishment after he murdered a man in a gunfight – Denton tends a lonely and isolated lighthouse with a minimal crew of three men, himself included.

The lighthouse sits on a fictional rocky island adorned with many caves carved by the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean; it is however set in the geographic location of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago at the southern tip of South America. Before the building of the Panama Canal, the waters off Cape Horn were perhaps the busiest and richest shipping lanes in the world (all shipping between Europe and the western coast of The United States had to go around the Cape) and therefore very lucrative.

Denton is contented to retreat from the world and be away from the problems of civilization, and quickly adjusts to his new supervisor, old Argentine sea dog Captain Moriz (Fernando Rey) and his youthful and innocent assistant Felipe (Massimo Ranieri).

A shipload of utterly malicious and sadistic pirates show up, murder Moriz and Felipe, and extinguish the light. They are ''wreckers'', brigands who mislead ships into the rocks to loot the cargo and prey upon the victims. Their leader Captain Jonathan Kongre (Yul Brynner) is a diabolical fiend with a seductive and charismatic facade.

Denton hides out in the caves and amongst the rocks, hiding from the pirates. He saves Italian wreck survivor Montefiore (Renato Salvatori) from the pirates' massacre, and together they wage a war of guerrilla tactics against Kongre and his cutthroats.

Kongre breaks his own rule by keeping one captive alive – a beautiful Englishwoman named Arabella (Samantha Eggar).

Montefiore is captured while creating a diversion for an attempt by Denton to rescue Arabella, who however opts for remaining with Kongre. On the next day, Kongre has Montefiori flayed alive on his ship, trying to draw Denton out of hiding, but Denton shoots Montefiori from afar. Angered, Kongre gives Arabella to his men and withdraws to the lighthouse. Denton uses the pirates' cannon to sink their ship, along with all the pirates except for Kongre.

The finale of the film is a showdown between the only two survivors left on the island, Denton and Kongre. During the fight an explosion occurs. Kongre is set on fire and falls from the lighthouse.

''Skip Beat!'' follows the story of Kyoko Mogami, a sixteen-year-old girl who loves her childhood friend, Shotaro Fuwa, but is betrayed by him. Having spent a large part of her childhood at Shotaro's parents' inn, she learned a great deal about hostelry and other such jobs. Shotaro, not wishing to take over his parents' business, asks Kyoko to run away with him to Tokyo, leaving high school and her life in Kyoto Prefecture behind to help him pursue a career in music. Upon arrival in Tokyo, Kyoko lives an unreasonably frugal life and works multiple jobs to support Sho, as he is called by his fans, spending nothing on herself and doing whatever she can for Sho, who eventually becomes ranked seventh of the top twenty most popular male celebrities of Japan. One day, she overhears Shotaro complaining about her to his manager, saying that she is a boring and plain girl who he thinks of as a doormat. He proceeds to sweet-talk and flirt with his manager, in stark contrast to the cold and demanding attitude he usually exhibits towards Kyoko.

As she storms away, Kyoko doesn't shed many tears when she learns that Sho wanted her along only to handle housekeeping duties. Instead, her "Pandora's box" opens and she vows vengeance on Sho. As she is carried away by security, Sho mockingly tells her that if she wants revenge, she had better become a bigger star than he is. And so, Kyoko changes her appearance and enters the entertainment industry, facing many challenges along the way.

After this introduction, Skip Beat! follows Kyoko's journey climbing up the showbiz ladder at first to gain her revenge but later out of love of acting. Along the way Kyoko meets many interesting people, troublemakers, foes, and friends alike, as she develops both as a person and as an actress. Additionally, she begins to regain the sense of compassion and other tender emotions that she lost when her heart was broken by Sho (Shotaro). Once she enters show biz Kyoko meets Ren Tsuruga, who at first disapproves of Kyoko for such a silly reason to begin acting, a profession he holds semi-sacred. As Kyoko cultivates her acting and friendships, she soon discovers a sense of self separate from her initial plans for revenge.

Mikey Chapman (Michael J. Fox) is a former child star from a 1970s sitcom. Now a talent agent for child stars, Mickey discovers Angie Vega (Christina Vidal), a girl who pick-pockets for money and lives with her teenage sister and her boyfriend. Together, they try to hit it big and earn her a role on a series of television commercials.