''Saved by the Bell: The College Years'' is an extension of the original ''Saved by the Bell'' series with a very similar premise. The plot revolves around the six characters getting into trouble each week at the fictitious California University (Cal U), under the watchful eye of Mike Rogers (Bob Golic), their resident adviser. The fictional school is set vaguely near the city of San Francisco (likely a reference to the real UC Berkeley, commonly known as Cal, in the similarly located Berkeley, CA). The series includes Zack Morris, Samuel "Screech" Powers, and A.C. Slater (from the original ''Saved by the Bell'' series) as the main characters, along with newcomers Leslie Burke (Anne Tremko), Alex Tabor (Kiersten Warren) and Danielle Marks (Essence Atkins). After the pilot, however, Atkins's role was written out and Tiffani-Amber Thiessen returned to the show in her role of Kelly Kapowski.

During the first and second episodes, the series revolves around Zack's schemes to try to get his suite-mate, Leslie, to fall for him. Starting with the third episode, however, the plot branches out to become more centered around the entire gang and their various college issues. At the start of the series, resident adviser Mike Rogers is portrayed as tough-as-nails though he begins to soften as the series goes on. Mike played for the San Francisco 49ers at one point, but later decided to quit to go back to school. In one episode, he trains to return to professional football, but after proving himself capable of doing it, decides to stay with his current job and continue his education. Beginning with episode 15 ("The Rave"), Holland Taylor became involved with the series, portraying the more authoritative Dean McMann. She takes on the role of the tough-as-nails authority figure that Mike had originally been intended to be at the beginning of the series. Somewhat similar to Mr. Belding, she takes a disliking to Zack's schemes and often punishes him in various ways because of his antics (albeit with a bit more malice than Belding ever displayed).

An overarching theme of the series is Zack's efforts to win back the affections of Kelly, who is in love with their anthropology professor, Jeremiah Lasky (Patrick Fabian). By the end of the series, Zack has won Kelly over again and they become engaged.

In the 1970s, after the establishment of diplomat relation between the People's Republic of China and the United States, Zhou Jun, the daughter of a retired Kuomintang general, Zhou Zhenwu, who now lives in America, visits mainland China for sightseeing. In Mount Lu, she meets Geng Hua, a young man who is preparing his college entrance exams, and they fall in love. Geng's father, a CPC officer, is now under political investigation by Gang of Four. The junior Geng is accompanying his unwell mother to the mountain for rehabilitation. Due to his frequent contacts with Zhou, Geng is summoned for interrogation. Zhou returns to the States with regrets.

After the fall of Gang of Four, Zhou, still keeping her feelings for Geng in her heart, visited Lu Mountain again. While Geng, now a postgraduate student of Tsinghua University, happens to come to Mount Lu for academic colloquium. Fortunately, these two reunite and decide to marry each other. Geng Hua asks his father, Geng Feng, for his agreement, and shows him the photo of Miss Zhou's family. The senior Geng recognizes that the girl's father, Zhou Zhenwu, was his classmate back in Whampoa Military Academy. Because they followed different political parties, they became the rivals in the battlefield during Chinese Civil War. Thus, he immediately rejects this marriage. After some difficulties, the two seniors, both with the intention of reunification of China, meet on Mount Lu. The hostility is thawed, and they become relatives by marriage when the junior Zhou and Geng finally get together.

Set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the novel's events follow a turbulent period in the life of married, cynical and usually drunk journalist Dan Starkey. Dan's wife Patricia leaves him after a drunken party in which he kisses a student called Margaret. What follows is a darkly comical tale of murder and mystery.

Sir Edward Pellew, captain of decides to put his protégé, Horatio Hornblower, forward to be examined for promotion to lieutenant. Pellew cautions Hornblower to study diligently, because failure will mean an end to his acting lieutenant's grade and return to the midshipmen's ranks. Hornblower attempts to study, but constant challenges interrupt his reading and note taking.

Spain has made peace with France and is no longer an ally of Britain – Spanish ships, though technically neutral, begin to attack British ships. Wreckage from one supply ship is found by ''Indefatigable''. ''Indefatigable'' recovers three survivors, among them Captain "Dreadnought" Foster, a famously heroic officer. Spain's actions have deprived the Gibraltar fleet of resupply, leaving Pellew no alternative but to order crews to half-rations. This action causes discontent among several sailors, especially Bunting, who begins to question whether the officers are facing the same deprivation. Hornblower reminds him that such talk can be considered mutinous and cautions him to stop.

A weakened Finch falls while climbing the ratlines, a victim of illness and the food shortage. With the crew attempting to keep the delirious Finch awake until he regains his senses, Hornblower asks Finch to quiz him from Hornblower's copy of the seamanship guide. Finch proves unable to concentrate, and succumbs to his illness and injuries. Despite being cautioned that his words could be considered mutinous, Bunting continues to rebel. Hornblower catches him stealing food, leading Pellew to order that Bunting be punished by being made to run the gautlet. Because Hornblower admits he was not as firm as he should have been with Bunting earlier, Pellew orders Hornblower to lead Bunting as Bunting advances through the gauntlet; because Hornblower has to walk backwards and hold Bunting at sword point to prevent him from fleeing, Pellew's order means Hornblower is forced to watch every time Bunting is struck.

Mr. Tapling from the diplomatic service arrives, and he and Hornblower head ashore in Oran (part of Ottoman Algeria) to buy grain and cattle for the fleet. They soon discover that a plague has broken out. Anyone who went ashore must be quarantined for three weeks before being allowed to rejoin the fleet, so Hornblower is appointed captain of ''Caroline,'' a transport schooner carrying food and cattle, which is crewed by sailors who are also under quarantine. Hornblower catches Bunting trying to escape in the ship's longboat, and briefly imprisons him. Since he is short of crew, Hornblower offers Bunting an opportunity to prove his worth by rejoining the crew and capably performing his duties. Bunting accepts, and Hornblower releases him. Hornblower orders the crew to slaughter a bullock for dinner, reasoning that each meal might be their last, so they should enjoy it.

Bunting attempts to work with his crewmates, but the death of his friend Finch is too upsetting and he continues to grieve. When the crew goes ashore to procure water, they are attacked by Spanish soldiers. Bunting again attempts to escape and Hornblower catches him, but the distraught Bunting forces Hornblower to shoot and kill him. When ''Caroline'' encounters HMS ''Dreadnought'', Captain Foster sends a boarding party to take a few sides of beef, despite Hornblower warning him the quarantine has not expired. At the end of the quarantine, no one appears ill, so they rejoin the fleet, where Hornblower receives a tongue in cheek rebuke from Pellew for the "wanton extravagance" of allowing his men to eat fresh beef.

At Gibraltar, Hornblower attempts his exam, a ''viva voce'' conducted by a group of senior officers including Foster. The examination begins badly but is interrupted when a Spanish fire ship sails into the anchorage. Hornblower and Foster volunteer to board it, and they succeed at steering it clear of the fleet. Because of his heroism, Hornblower is not demoted to midshipman but keeps his acting lieutenant's rank and receives permission to take the exam again at a future date.

Frankie, Dee Dee, and the beach party gang hit Malibu Beach for yet another summer of surfing and no jobs, only to find their secret surfing spot threatened by a gang of bodybuilders led by the dim-witted coach Jack Fanny. All the while a bored Italian countess is trying to steal Frankie from Dee Dee and, much to everyone's surprise, he seems more than happy to go along with it. Her plan is to turn him into a teen idol.

Due to some razzing from his former surfing buddies and sage advice from wealthy S.Z. Matts, Frankie sees the error of his ways and goes back to his American beach bunny, Dee Dee.

In the game the player first chooses the pilot and then the mecha (Valiant/Variant Armor or VA for short) they'll use to fight. The mechas determine the gameplay of the game, but the pilot is what determines the storyline the player will see. Near the end of the 21st century Earth begins to become over populated leading to many people living in man made space colonies. The primary army of Earth, "Earth Force", has been conducting experiments and their work, along with the actions of the playable characters will determine the future of Earth.

In New York City, during a séance held in the apartment of medium Theresa, Mary Woodhouse experiences a traumatic vision of a priest, Father Thomas, hanging himself in a cemetery of a village called Dunwich. Mary breaks the circle and collapses to the floor when the images overwhelm her. The group presumes Mary is dead and calls the police, who suspect foul play. Theresa warns the police chief of an imminent evil. Journalist Peter Bell begins to investigate Mary's mysterious death and visits her grave as she is about to be buried. However, she is still alive, and Peter saves her after hearing her cries. Peter and Mary visit Theresa, who warns them that according to the ancient book of Enoch, the events Mary witnessed in her visions presage the eruption of the living dead into our world. The death of Father Thomas has opened the gates of Hell through which the invasion will commence on All Saints Day, just a few days away.

In Dunwich, a young vagrant named Bob visits an abandoned house but flees after seeing a rotting carcass. Across town, Gerry, a psychiatrist, is in consultation with Sandra, a neurotic patient, when Emily Robbins, his 19-year-old girlfriend and personal assistant, arrives. She tells Gerry that she's on her way to meet with Bob, whom she has been trying to help. That evening, Emily finds Bob at a derelict garage exhibiting strange behavior. The supernatural apparition of Father Thomas then appears as Bob runs away, smothering to death a frightened Emily with a maggot-covered hand. The next morning, Emily's body is found. Emily's father tells the sheriff and Gerry of his suspicions about Bob due to Bob's previous history of crime. Meanwhile, Peter and Mary leave New York and embark upon their search for the town of Dunwich.

That evening, Bob returns to the deserted house, where he sees a vision of Father Thomas. After Emily's funeral, her younger brother John-John sees a ghostly image of her outside his bedroom window. At Sandra's house, the corpse of an elderly woman, Mrs. Holden, appears without explanation on her kitchen floor. Sandra calls Gerry for help, but the body disappears as soon as Gerry arrives. The two search the house but are disturbed by many strange occurrences, such as a window breaking, with the glass then dripping human blood.

Meanwhile, Bob has taken refuge in the garage of a local man, Mr. Ross. Ross's teenage daughter Ann finds him and offers him marijuana, but Ross bursts in and attacks Bob, fearful he is trying to seduce his daughter. Ross kills Bob by impaling his head through a drilling lathe.

The following morning, Peter and Mary arrive at the graveyard that Mary saw in her vision. They begin searching for Father Thomas' tomb and meet Gerry and Sandra. They go back to Gerry's office to discuss Father Thomas' death when suddenly the four are showered with maggots in an apparent supernatural attack. Gerry then receives a distressing phone call from John-John Robbins explaining his dead sister has returned and killed his parents. They rush over the Robbins' house and try to find the sheriff. While trying to get John-John to safety, Sandra is killed by Emily, who rips Sandra's scalp off. John-John runs through the town's streets and is saved by Gerry, who hands the boy over to the police.

Mr. Ross is drinking at a bar when it is suddenly attacked by the re-animated dead people of the town, led by Bob. Ross and two other men are killed, as a state-of-emergency is declared over the radio. Mary, Peter, and Gerry arrive back at the graveyard as the clock strikes midnight and All Saints Day begins. They descend into Father Thomas' family tomb, discovering a cave of skeletal remains and cobwebbed putrescences. Sandra suddenly appears as a zombie and kills Peter before being killed by Gerry, who impales her with a metal spike. Mary and Gerry continue until they face Father Thomas, commanding an army of the undead. Before he can kill Mary, Gerry grabs a wooden cross and disembowels Father Thomas. The priest and the other revived corpses burst into flames and disappear. Mary and Gerry exit from Father Thomas' tomb into the graveyard in the morning to see John-John and the police. Mary is relieved to see John-John survived the ordeal but becomes frightened and screams as everything fades to black.

Part one

Charlotte arrives at a new boarding school, and is shown around by a prefect named Sarah. Sarah's mother also attended the school. She is to share a room with other girls, Susannah, Elizabeth, Janet, and Vanessa. The next morning she finds herself in the same place, but in the year 1918 – with war still going on. A younger girl called Emily calls Charlotte her sister and addresses her as "Clare". She tries to spend the day in 1918 without being noticed. Each night, Charlotte finds herself swapping between her own time and Clare's time. They must learn to live two different lives. Charlotte and Clare manage to write to each other in Clare's diary, which they share and hide in their bed.

Emily and Clare are supposed to leave their room soon and go into lodgings with the Chisel Brown family. They have to make sure this happens when Clare is in 1918, because they won't be able to switch again after that.

Part two

Charlotte, expecting to have returned to her own time for the last time, is shocked to find that she has not, and is still in 1918. She will go into lodgings with the Chisel Brown family: it appears she will be trapped in the past. In the house, Miss Agnes Chisel Brown shows Charlotte and Emily the toys she once played with, including toy soldiers and a solitaire board with marbles. She tells the two girls about her brother Arthur, who died in the war. Charlotte reflects, forward and back: to Arthur in the past; her own sister Emma in the future; and Clare, trapped in Charlotte's time. She struggles with her identity, being Charlotte sometimes but Clare at other times.

Charlotte and Emily form a plan to enter the school by night in an attempt to get Charlotte into the bed which will take Charlotte back to her own time. Inside her room, which is now being used as the school sickroom, Charlotte finds the bed is occupied, and thus she cannot return home. She escapes being seen by Nurse Gregory, but is seen by another student, Ruth.

Charlotte is not the only one who struggles with identity. Emily tells of the wretchedness of being motherless and unwanted, moving between homes while her father fights in the war. Meanwhile, Charlotte dreams she is fighting to stay as Charlotte. She dreams about Arthur.

A letter arrives for Clare and Emily from their father. Emily does not let Charlotte read it, to the bewilderment of the other girls. Charlotte, thoughtful as always, wonders who Sarah's mother is: perhaps it will be Charlotte herself if she is trapped in 1918?

At night, Charlotte dreams about Arthur again, as a drummer boy, and that she has turned into Agnes. Her crisis of identity comes to a head as she struggles to preserve her identity as Charlotte.

One evening, the Chisel Browns hold a seance in an attempt to speak to Arthur. The girls hide behind the curtains to observe. During the seance, they hear Clare's voice crying out for Emily. Emily cries out, and the two girls are discovered and disciplined. Later, Miss Agnes asks about the voice they heard at the seance – Clare's. She then tells Charlotte and Emily of Arthur's war experiences.

Finally, the Armistice comes. The war is over: people dance and celebrate in the street, and Charlotte and Emily join in, even though it would anger Mr Chisel Brown. In disgrace, Charlotte and Emily are sent back to the school. Miss Agnes gives them the toys as a gift.

Part three

Ruth recalls her "dream" of seeing Clare whilst in the sickroom. Because of the flu epidemic the students are able to play wild games in the dormitories, and eventually Charlotte is able to sleep in the bed that will return her to her own time.

On arriving back, Charlotte is startled to learn that her room-mate Elizabeth had deduced the truth about her swap with Clare. Charlotte wonders about Sarah's mother and what has become of Emily and Clare. At the school, Charlotte sees the elderly Miss Wilkin. Charlotte realises that she had known Miss Wilkin when she was a young teacher in 1918.

One day, Charlotte learns what has become of Emily and Clare through a conversation with Sarah. Sarah's mother is Emily, and Clare died in the flu epidemic after the war. Later, Charlotte and Elizabeth discuss the events Charlotte has experienced. They find the exercise book in one of the legs of the bed, where it has been for forty years. It includes the last letter Charlotte wrote to Clare.

Charlotte receives a package from Emily as an adult. It contains a letter from Emily, and the toys which Miss Agnes had given them over forty years ago. Charlotte places the marbles from the solitaire set in a jar and fills it with water, which the other girls admire. Charlotte feels a sense of personal identity in now having her own decoration to her dresser, yet muses that the marbles belonged to her when she was living the life of another person, namely Clare. The end of term comes, and the boarders leave the school in the school bus, singing rhymes.

During the night the village of Mantu is raided for its supply of dynamite by what appear to be black Africans. The village doctor and radio operator interrupt the robbery and are fatally shot. Before dying, the radio operator gasps, "Slade" over the shortwave radio.

The next morning, Tarzan is awakened by African drums that alert him to something wrong. He arrives at Mantu, where a funeral is held for the fallen villagers. British police inspector Colonel Sundley informs Tarzan of the previous raid and that root dye was found. This leads Tarzan to believe that the robbers were "white men painted black" rather than black Africans. Tarzan meets Angie, a self-absorbed American model and pilot. Tarzan knows her manager, Sanchez, and immediately dislikes her manner. However Angie does tell him that she overheard the name "Slade" on her airplane radio. Tarzan remembers a "Slade" as "a man with a passion to kill"; a ruthless criminal who once sacrificed three men rather than lose the hunt for a prized rogue elephant.

After dropping off his pet chimpanzee Cheeta at his tree-house, Tarzan heads up river by canoe to catch Slade and his gang. Along the way Tarzan sees Angie's plane. She taunts him with low flyovers. But her Cesna engine stalls, and Angie crashes into the river. Tarzan saves her from a crocodile but thereafter can't leave her stranded, so he continues the hunt with Angie alongside.

Meanwhile, Slade and his quartet of thieves (consisting of the sullen ex-con Dino, the drunkard O'Bannion, an implied ex-Nazi Kreiger, and Slade's Italian girlfriend, Toni) continue by riverboat towards what is revealed to be a secret diamond mine. The dynamite was stolen for excavating the gems. When their riverboat malfunctions the thieves begin to quarrel among themselves, allowing Tarzan and Angie to catch up. O'Bannion's teases Dino to the point of Dino trying to kill him. But during a chase, Dino stumbles into quicksand and drowns. The criminals find their boat riddled with arrows, a signal that Tarzan has tracked them down. Slade and O'Bannion disembark, while Kreiger hurls dynamite at Tarzan, wounding him. Tarzan manages to kill O'Bannion, but Slade closes in. With Slade gone, Kreiger believes he can coerce Toni into telling him where the diamond mine is and tries to eliminate Slade. Slade survives Kreiger's attempt, pummels him into submission, and continues with Toni towards the mine.

Tarzan's injuries require Angie to tend to him, she comforts him and then risks her life to steal medical supplies from Slade's anchored boat. Angie is captured by Slade, who uses her to lure Tarzan into a trap. With Slade absent, Kreiger sees another chance, he frees Angie and tells her to inform Tarzan where they are. Toni overhears Kreiger and flees to warn Slade, but she accidentally falls to her death through the trap door pit meant for Tarzan. Kreiger convinces Slade that Toni was frightened by a passing lion, and the men continue toward the diamond mine. Once inside, Kreiger confirms that it is a mother lode of diamonds. However Slade is more interested in killing Tarzan than in the gems. Kreiger tries to push Slade down a pit to his death and almost succeeds, but Slade survives. He confronts Kreiger, who offers him all the diamonds he has so far collected if he will let him go, but Slade is unmoved and drops Kreiger down the pit to his death.

Tarzan is nursed back to health by Angie, and they engage in an off-screen romance. Afterwards, Tarzan continues to be obsessed with capturing Slade, much to the displeasure of Angie. "Why don't you just leave him to the jungle?" she argues. Tarzan replies, "this is where I belong", explaining further that to allow Slade to escape would endanger everyone. He thanks Angie for her help, then grabs a vine and swings away for a final confrontation with Slade.

From high atop a river bluff, Slade fires rifle shots that intentionally miss Tarzan but allows him to know where Slade is. Tarzan scales the sheer bluff, setting up the final melee both men long for. At first Slade gets the upper hand by lassoing Tarzan with his wire noose. But eventually Tarzan's superior strength and endurance wins out, and Tarzan pushes Slade over the edge of the cliff onto the rocks below.

Tarzan bellows his famous yell, runs to a pool, and gazes upon his reflection triumphantly. The sound of Slade's riverboat distracts Tarzan. He hurries to the cliff again, only this time to see Angie below, steering the boat back to Mantu. Tarzan hesitates, considering joining her. But he looks back at the jungle, realizes that's where he belongs, and returns instead to his tree-house and Cheeta.

The main viewpoint character, Roger Jourgensen, is a CIA analyst who writes up a report on the state of both the U.S. and Soviet governments' occult research for incoming President Ronald Reagan. This report attracts the attention of "the Colonel" (implied to be Oliver North), who arranges for Jourgensen's transfer and for him to work on a variant of the Iran–Contra affair: secret dealings between the U.S. and Iran to counter Saddam Hussein's Iraq, frustrate the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, as well as arrange the freeing of hostages in Lebanon.

In the Cold War, the U.S. and NATO lag behind the Soviets in mastery of the dark arts, and rely on nuclear weapons as their main countermeasure. The Soviets gained their knowledge from Nazi Germany, which had moved a sleeping entity from an underwater city in the Baltic Sea; the entity is now contained at Chernobyl. They have also deployed "servitors", unstoppable robot-like beings found in the original Pabodie expedition. Satellite reconnaissance by the U.S. shows that the servitors may have been deployed in Afghanistan, which would violate a secret multinational treaty prohibiting the use of these alien entities in war to which even Adolf Hitler adhered. U.S. countermeasures include 300 megatons of nuclear weapons and a continuity of government base hundreds of light years from Earth, connected via a gate in Washington. The CIA also uses these gates to other planets as roundabout ways to transport drugs and arms to and from the Afghan mujahideen as part of Operation Cyclone.

Stephen Jay Gould briefs the CIA on the evolutionary implications of the alien lifeforms, confirming they come from no Earthly source. Other nations emulate the superpowers; Iran and Israel covertly plan a joint nuclear defence against Iraq's attempts to open a gate to the stars. Eventually, the Colonel's dealings are leaked, and Jourgensen has to testify before a congressional committee. One congressman, horrified by the accounts of the Colonel's dabbling, inquires about the Great Filter: why no aliens have openly stopped by to visit humanity, and only relics and servants remain. He points out that meddling with relics of the Elder Ones would be a good explanation for why other intelligent life has been exterminated before it could visit.

Saddam stabilises the gate of Yog-Sothoth, destroying opposing tribes in Iraq, causing Iran to retaliate with a nuclear attack. The timing unfortunately lines up with a joke by President Reagan; the Soviets and their leader Yegor Ligachev retaliate, with a nuclear war destroying the Middle East and much of the U.S. and Soviet Union. More worryingly, the entity behind the Soviet program, Cthulhu, has somehow been loosed; the U.S. nuclear strike does not appear to slow it down as it heads west across the Atlantic Ocean. Jourgensen and other U.S. personnel retreat to a hidden constructed colony on a distant dying planet, codenamed XK-Masada. There, riven by phantom voices, Jourgensen contemplates suicide. He decides against it, as death would be no escape if – as he suspects – he has been devoured by Yog-Sothoth already.

The plot of the game revolves around the kidnapping of Aunt May and Spider-Man's efforts to save her from the group of villains who call themselves the Sinister Six: Mysterio, Sandman, Vulture, Scorpion, Kraven, and the mastermind of the group's plans, Doctor Octopus.

Dr. Otto Octavius holds a meeting of the Sinister Six during the opening credits sequence of the game. Explaining his plot, Octavius first instructs the members of the Six to hunt down Peter Parker, Spider-Man's photographer, to send a message to their shared enemy. Upon reaching the Parker household, Sandman and the Scorpion realize that Peter isn't home. In Peter's place, the pair kidnaps Peter's aunt, May Parker, and leave a message for Peter, instructing him to "tell Spidey to go to the Coney Island Pier".

Spider-Man fights through a variety of enemies who patrol the area's sewers and carnival attractions before encountering Mysterio and a number of his hologram duplicates. After his defeat, Mysterio disappears as he gleefully taunts Spider-Man about distracting him from his original task of heading to the pier. Spider-Man then makes his way to the pier, fighting several enemies and being forced to hunt for a key, which one of the nearby thugs possesses. After a brief battle with Sandman, the villain mumbles something about the Vulture being at the World Trade Center before passing out.

At the World Trade Center, Spider-Man must unlock a series of doors to access the roofs of the Twin Towers. Upon accessing the outside of the complex, Spider-Man is attacked by the Vulture, who drops a clue leading to Madison Square Garden.

Following the clue, Spider-Man battles Scorpion in the massive arena, who tells Peter to make his way to Central Park for his next challenge. Under the cover of a massive thunderstorm, Spider-Man pushes through zoo exhibits and more henchmen, eventually coming upon Kraven the Hunter. Never one to back away from a challenge, the sportsman engages in a fierce battle with Spider-Man, charging at him with his spear and throwing a variety of knives. Regretting the kidnapping because it lacks honor, Kraven recognizes his foe's fighting prowess and directs him to go to the Empire State University for his sixth and final challenge.

In the penultimate stage of the game, the player must progress through the ESU campus, sneaking through lecture halls and classrooms to reach Dr. Octopus. Amidst bubbling vats of green liquid and enormous pieces of machinery, Spider-Man defeats Doctor Octopus. With the entire complex shaking as a result of the battle, the leader of the Sinister Six falls to the ground, swearing that one day, he will be victorious. In the epilogue, Peter thinks about getting Aunt May an unlisted address after escorting her home safely.

The ghost of recently dead Mr. Hiram Stokeley (Boris Karloff) finds that he has 24 hours to perform one good deed to get into Heaven. He enlists the help of his long-dead girlfriend, Cecily, to stop his lawyer, Reginald Ripper (Basil Rathbone), and a henchman from claiming the estate for themselves. The real heirs, Chuck, Lili, Hiram's cousin Myrtle, and her son bring their beach party friends to the mansion for a pool party while Reginald Ripper also employs his daughter Sinistra, and J. Sinister Hulk's slow-witted associates Chicken Feather and Yolanda to help them terrorize the teens, while dopey biker Eric Von Zipper and his Malibu Rat Pack bikers also get involved in pursuing Yolanda for a share of the Stokely estate.

Dragon (Jackie Chan) is the son of a Chinese aristocrat who is always getting in trouble, and likes to skip his lessons. Dragon tries to send a love note to the girl he likes via a kite, but the kite gets away. Dragon tries to get the kite and letter back which have landed on the roof of the headquarters of a gang of thieves who are planning to steal artifacts from the towns temple. Dragon interferes with the gang’s plans and is forced to fight off the gang.

Ken Holt is the son of a world-famous foreign correspondent Richard Holt. With his friend, Sandy Allen, he travels around the world solving various mysteries. Ken lives with the Allen family, as his father is frequently away and his mother had died before the start of the series.

The hero of the book is John Paul Jones, who appears as always brooding upon a dark past and a darker fate. Yet he is not so morbid but that he can occasionally rouse himself to terrific activities in his raids along the English coast. Another character is Long Tom Coffin, of Nantucket, comparable to Harvey Birch and Natty Bumppo from Cooper's other novels.

During the 1980s a black market shipment of exotic animals docks at Emerald Isle, North Carolina. A driver transports several animals to another location. During the drive, he notices a distinctive smell and pulls over the van. He presumes a crate of reptilian eggs are rotten and tosses them into the swamp. Nineteen years later, the Connelly family arrives at the island to return to their vacation home though, in recent years, a major oil company has been polluting the local environment. During their stay, Patrick (Kevin Zegers) and his dog, Buster, encounter a small lizard. In an attempt to catch it, Patrick stays out later than usual and his parents go out looking for him. Patrick heads home after hearing his parents calling, but is attacked by an unseen creature. Barely escaping, he witnesses his family being devoured by the creatures. Patrick survives and is found in a state of shock.

Some time later, Patrick's grandmother reaches out to Dr. Victoria Juno (Jill Hennessy), a young psychiatrist, to help Patrick come to terms with his grief. His aunt Annie (Nina Landis) is indifferent to Victoria's presence and adamantly against him returning to the island. Victoria, with the grandmother's support, takes Patrick back to the island along with Annie. At the Connellys' old vacation home, Annie is attacked and wounded. While Victoria tends to Annie's wounds, Patrick is awakened by growling and comes downstairs. While in the kitchen, he has a flashback to the attack on his dog and runs to Victoria panicked. When she asks him what he saw, he points behind her to reveal a massive Komodo dragon. Annie is killed by the creature and Victoria and Patrick barely escape, revealing that there are several more dragons.

They find the boat captain, Martin, severely injured. Driving frantically, they nearly crash into Oates (Billy Burke) and his maintenance co-worker Denby (Paul Gleeson), who were sent to kill the reptiles. Oates and Denby tend to Martin, who is succumbing to infection from wounds caused by bacteria in the Komodo's saliva. Oates and Denby call for help from Bracken (Simon Westaway), the man who sent them to the island to kill the Komodos.

Bracken refuses to take them off the island until they kill all the dragons. Patrick runs off into the long grass. Victoria tries to follow, but is pulled back onto the road by Oates. Denby says that Patrick cut out the heart of a Komodo dragon that had previously been killed. The group travel to the oil company office station to seek shelter and get medicine for Martin. He later dies,as well as Denby, who is attacked in another room. Bracken radios Oates and says a helicopter will be coming soon and that the dragons should be all killed by that time. Oates reveals to Victoria that he was a former biologist and his wife a geologist hired by the oil company to survey the environment; in the field, Oates and his wife are separated and he never sees her again. Police believe Oates killed his wife and with no evidence to prove his innocence, Bracken presented Oates with an escape in return for taking care of the Komodo "problem".

They head off in search of Patrick at his old hang-out, a filtration center. Separated, Victoria is attacked by one of the Komodos but is saved by Patrick. Patrick runs off again as Victoria is attacked by another Komodo dragon. Meanwhile, Oates is attacked by one of the creatures and manages to kill it; however, he is bitten. He then saves Victoria from the attacking dragon by shooting it. They later find Patrick and Victoria tells him the oil company knew of the Komodos, but covered it up to protect themselves, and that his parents' death was not his fault. Immediately afterwards, one of the remaining Komodos attacks. Oates lures the dragon into leaking oil/gasoline and attempts to kill it by igniting the oil with one of Denby's cigars. The dragon escapes the fire and rushes after Victoria, but she kills it by using a rock to bash part of a broomstick handle into its head that she earlier injured it with.

The helicopter finally arrives with Bracken. Oates turns up at the station alive and steals the helicopter to leave Bracken on the island with the creatures. Victoria and Patrick try to make their way back to Martin's boat when another large Komodo dragon tracks them down. However, Oates flies overhead in the helicopter and shoots a flare gun into the Komodo dragon's mouth, incinerating it. They return to the mainland unharmed. While resting on the sidewalk back in town, the sheriff stops to ask them if everything is all right. Patrick responds "Never better".

Setting

''Baldur's Gate'' takes place in the fictional world of Ed Greenwood's ''Forgotten Realms'' setting, during the year of 1368DR in the midst of an apparent iron shortage, where items made with iron inexplicably rot and break. Focusing upon the western shoreline of Faerûn, the game is set within a stretch of the region known as the Sword Coast, which contains a multitude of ecologies and terrains, including mountains, forests, plains, cities, and ruins, with the story encompassing both the city of Baldur's Gate, the largest and most affluent city in the region, and the lands south of it, including the Cloud Peaks, the Wood of Sharp Teeth, the Cloakwood forest, the town of Beregost and the village of Nashkel, and the fortress citadel of Candlekeep. In addition to the region, a variety of organisations from the ''Forgotten Realms'' setting also feature as part of the game's main story, including the Zhentarim, the Red Wizards of Thay, The Iron Throne, the Flaming Fist, The Chill, The Black Talons, and the Harpers.

Characters

''Baldur's Gate'' includes around 25 player companions that can join with the PC. A number of the characters who appear include several who are canon to the official ''Forgotten Realms'' campaign setting, including Drizzt Do'Urden and Elminster.

Story

The player character is the young and orphaned ward of the mage Gorion. The two live in the ancient library fortress of Candlekeep. Abruptly, the Ward is instructed by Gorion to prepare to leave the citadel during the night with no explanation. That night, a mysterious armoured figure and his cohorts ambush the pair and order Gorion to hand over the Ward. Gorion refuses, and dies in the ensuing battle, while urging his Ward to escape. The next morning, the Ward encounters Imoen, a childhood friend and fellow orphan from Candlekeep, who had followed them in secret. With Candlekeep no longer accessible to them without Gorion's influence to circumvent its admission fee, and the city of Baldur's Gate currently closed off to outsiders due to bandit raids, the Ward resolves to investigate the cause of the region's Iron Crisis.

Travelling to the mines of Nashkel, the main source of the region's iron, the Ward's party discovers that the mine's ore is being contaminated by a group of kobolds led by a half-orc, and that they and the bandits plaguing the region are being controlled by an organization known as the Iron Throne, a merchant outfit operating out of Baldur's Gate. After sabotaging a mine operated by the Iron Throne in the Cloakwood that would presumably give them total control over the region's iron, the Ward's party travels to the newly reopened Baldur's Gate. Invading the Throne's headquarters, the group learns that proof of the organization's involvement with the Iron Crisis was taken by one of the regional leaders when they and the rest of the leadership headed to Candlekeep for an important meeting. Revealing their findings to Duke Eltan, the leader of the Flaming Fist, the group receive a rare and valuable book, which would allow them access into Candlekeep, in order to spy on the meeting. During their investigations in the citadel's library, the Ward discovers a prophecy written by the ancient seer Alaundo, foretelling how the offspring created during the Time of Troubles by the dead god Bhaal, the Lord of Murder, will sow chaos until only one remains to become the new Lord of Murder. The Ward then finds a letter from Gorion revealing that the Ward is among the offspring of Bhaal, known as Bhaalspawn. During their stay at Candlekeep, the Ward's party is imprisoned for the murders of the Iron Throne leaders, regardless of whether or not they did so, until they can be transported to Baldur's Gate to be executed. Tethoril, a prominent keeper in Candlekeep, visits the party and reveals that a suspicious character the party met earlier, Koveras, is really the foster son of one of the now dead Iron Throne leaders. His name is Sarevok, the one responsible for Gorion's murder, and who also wishes to kill the Ward.

Believing the Ward to be innocent, Tethoril transports the party into the catacombs beneath the fortress, where the party battle their way through doppelgängers taking on the forms of people the Ward knew in Candlekeep. Returning to Baldur's Gate, the Ward's party find themselves accused of causing the Iron Crisis on the orders of the Kingdom of Amn, assassinating one of the city's Grand Dukes, and poisoning Duke Eltan. Forced to stay hidden from the Flaming Fist, the party discovers that the Iron Throne orchestrated the Iron Crisis to gain control of iron through their mine in the Cloakwood, while using doppelgängers to weaken other merchant outfits, ensuring that they would have a monopoly on iron. With tensions rising between Baldur's Gate and Amn, the organization hoped to sell the stockpiled iron to the city at exorbitant prices. Afterward, they aimed to de-escalate tensions between Baldur's Gate and Amn.

The party also discovers that Sarevok, having discovered that he was a Bhaalspawn, hoped to fuel distrust between Baldur's Gate and Amn by making each think the other was responsible for creating the crisis, and cause them to go to war. Sarevok believed that the resulting carnage would be enough to allow him to become the new Lord of Murder. Due to the Ward's similar background, he hired assassins to kill them. Sarevok remained loyal to his father until the Iron Throne's meeting in Candlekeep threatened his plans, which led Sarevok to eliminate him and the other regional leaders of the Iron Throne before taking over the outfit and transferring their stores of iron to the city in order to be seen as a savior. He was also responsible for the poisoning of Duke Eltan and the assassination of one of the four Grand Dukes.

The Ward's party gain entry to the Ducal Palace, where the coronation of Sarevok as a Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate would be held, and present evidence of his schemes. Exposed, Sarevok flees into an ancient underground ruin beneath Baldur's Gate, with the Ward and the party following after. The Ward confronts Sarevok within an ancient temple to Bhaal, and defeats him, saving the Sword Coast and ending their brother's schemes. In the final ending cinematic, Sarevok's tainted soul departs his body and travels deep underground to a large circular chamber of alcoves, and destroys a statue of himself contained in one of the alcoves, whereupon it is revealed that the other alcoves each contain a statue of a Bhaalspawn that exists in Faerûn.

Bernice Summerfield takes her two students Emile and Tameka on a field trip, but when her ex-husband Jason turns up, they all become embroiled with the dangerous super-weapon of a lost civilisation.

Bernice Summerfield travels back in time to ancient Babylon to try to prevent the powerful race known only as the People from destroying the city with a singularity bomb.

Kang Ryun-Hwa, an award-winning North Korean musical performer, learns that her father was charged as a spy working for the South Korean Intelligence Agency. She is taken to Yoduk along with her family, as in North Korea, families are punished for the crime of an individual. The guards are amused that a performer of her caliber has been reduced to a political prisoner. Ryun-Hwa tries to remain strong, but submits to rape by the prison guard captain Lee Myung-Soo under implicit threat to her family. She is later raped by ambitious lieutenant Hyuk-Chul under similar circumstances, though she gets Hyuk-Chul to promise to help her family escape. Ryun-Hwa discovers that she is pregnant, and agonizes over what to do. She ultimately decides to commit suicide, but Myung-Soo saves her life. Hyuk-Chul learns of the pregnancy through an informant, and savagely beats the informant when he does not give specific enough information about how far along she is. A prisoner escapes from a different prison camp, and the Yoduk guards are ordered to set an example for their own prisoners. Myung-Soo orders temperance- only kill one prisoner as an example who might be able to escape, but Hyuk-Chul favors different measures. Later, by accident, Hyuk-Chul ends up murdering a child when he instead intended to kill Tae-Sik, a religious fan of South Korean music who has been stealing from the storehouse. Ryun-Hwa decides to give birth to her baby, as motivation and hope for escape from the prison camp.

Myung-Soo agonizes over Ryun-Hwa and her child, feeling guilt for raping her as well as toward the state for violating the rules against sexual contact with a prisoner. Ryun-Hwa gives birth to the baby, who is named Yoduk. Hyuk-Chul has Myung-Soo arrested, and starts to engage in increasing reprisals against the prisoners. This results in the death of Ryun-Hwa's parents, Tae-Sik, and the forcible severing of Run-Hwa's brother's arm via a sewing machine. Myung-Soo is sentenced to death by Hyuk-Chul, who orders Ryun-Hwa to either execute Myung-Soo herself, or he will murder Yoduk. He leaves them alone with another officer, Young-An. Young-An gives Myung-Soo his gun and suggests he simply kill himself now. Young-An exits. Rather than kill himself, Myung-Soo makes a last-ditch effort to try to get Ryun-Hwa and Yoduk out of the camp, but is confronted alone by Hyuk-Chul. Myung-Soo persuades Hyuk-Chul to help by tapping into Hyuk-Chul's own ambivalent feelings toward Ryun-Hwa and Yoduk. Young-An appears with the remaining guards and reveals himself as working for central intelligence. Myung-Soo reveals that he has the remote controls for the machine gun nests. A riot erupts and soon involves the prisoners, armed with crude farming implements. Five hundred prisoners and guards (in a camp of twenty-thousand) die, but Ryun-Hwa and Yoduk manage to escape to South Korea. Then the characters appear and sing, "God, Please Come to North Korea." This musical is based on the stories of people who experienced the horrors of North Korean prisons depicted in Yoduk, "the living hell on earth."

After the TARDIS malfunctions and then explodes, the Doctor's companions find themselves in two different time zones. Bernice is stranded in the East End of London of 1909, where a series of grisly murders is occurring blamed on Spring Heeled Jack, while Ace is trapped on the planet Ant'ykhon fighting alongside guerrilla fighters against alien oppressors.

Ace discovers that Ant'ykhon is actually the planet Earth, 22,000 years in the future and devastated by rising temperatures. The Charrl, an insect-like race, now inhabit Earth. They have been using an unstable trans-dimensional link called the "Great Divide" to travel to Earth's past in order to escape from the dying planet. Once there they implant humans with their eggs, but inadvertently kill them, causing the murders blamed on Spring-Heeled Jack. Since the Great Divide is unstable, any Charrl that travels to the past eventually crumbles into dust.

Back in 1909, Benny is scratched by one of the time-travelling Charrls and is implanted with an egg. This has the effect of placing her under the control of the Charrl, causing her to replace the missing Time Vector Generator in the TARDIS and reunite it with its other half in the future. This also stabilizes the Great Divide and allows Jared Khan, a Charrel agent, to attempt to use the Great Divide to give him immortality. The TARDIS time rams its other half and sends it and Khan back to Siberia 1908, where it explodes, causing the Tunguska event.

In the far future, Ace and Benny are aided by Muldwych, a mysterious hermit and former ally of the Charrl. He uses the TARDIS to entrap the Charrl inside one its interior dimensions, then sweeps the Great Divide over London, clearing it of Charrl and their eggs (and curing Benny). But when he tries to use the TARDIS to escape from his exile on Earth, the TARDIS expels him from the ship and returns him to Ant'ykhon. The Doctor emerges from the interior of the TARDIS, claiming to have been asleep in his room the entire time (but see ''Iceberg'' for details).

A group of re-enactors attempt to stage a 100th-anniversary battle between US Cavalry and Blackfeet Indians. Racial hostilities and a real gun lead to some all too real casualties, and three young Blackfeet men are caught in the middle. The film follows their flight for freedom in the face of an angry community which has mistakenly blamed them for the violence.

The Doctor and his companions land in German-occupied Guernsey in 1941 where the Nazis are pursuing a top-secret weapon which could change the course of the war.

Energetic Egghead is bouncing around, pretending to be a cowboy, until his noise-making gets him kicked out of the boarding house in which he is living by a clerk with a penchant for the minced oath "dad-burnit." While on the street he sees a discarded newspaper advertisement from a ranch in Wyoming, requesting a "cow-puncher." He applies, and, while there, goes through various training exercises, but fails them all. Egghead, having seen his apparent uselessness, begins to leave, but the lead cowboy decides to give him a job: cleaning up after the cows and horses.

The story starts when the 17-year-old Anna is orphaned. She moves in with Aunt Stella and Uncle Leo and her cousins Walter and Zofia, a very manipulative and promiscuous girl. Anna later meets Jan Stelnicki, falls in love almost instantly and remains obsessed with him for most of her life. Zofia, jealous because she wanted Jan herself, tricks Anna into coming into the forest where she abandons her. While there, Anna is raped by a stranger. Leo goes to where Anna was raped, but he gets stuck and Zofia and Walter watch him die. Shortly after the attack, Anna is married off to Antoni and moves to Warsaw.

In Warsaw, Anna's life changes drastically. The Constitution of May 3, 1791 is signed by King Stanisław August Poniatowski, giving the peasants human rights. Many Polish nobles are enraged by the new laws, and call for Catherine the Great of Russia to deliver them. Anna discovers she is pregnant from being raped and gives birth to a son. It is revealed that Walter, who supports the Russians, was the one who raped Anna. Anna becomes a supporter of Polish independence but is forced to watch as her country is overrun by hostile powers. As the victorious Russians march on Warsaw, Zofia sacrifices herself to buy time for Anna and her family to flee the war-torn city.

Part I

Shade is a young Silverwing bat whose father disappeared before he was born. He lives with his mother, Ariel, and is bullied by other newborns, especially Chinook and his friends, for being the runt of his colony. Shade challenges Chinook to look at the sun, an act forbidden by the owls. When Chinook backs down from the challenge, Shade looks at the sun, attracting the attention of an owl. Four elders, Bathsheba, Aurora, Lucretia and Frieda, try to discipline Shade at Tree Haven, the Silverwings' roost. Instead, Frieda takes Shade to an Echo Chamber storing the history of the bats and their rivalry with the owls. She shows him a metal band on her wrist and says that the bat goddess, Nocturna, gave it to her as part of a promise that bats would one day return to the sun.

The group of owls, led by General Brutus, come to Tree Haven to get payback on Shade. When the bats refuse to hand over Shade, the owls set the tree on fire. Despite Bathsheba's complaints, Frieda orders the colony to join the males at Stone Hold and, from there, they migrate to their winter retreat of Hibernaculum. Before the journey, Ariel teaches Shade a sound map, which uses landmarks, such as a cathedral, a valley shaped like a wolf's head and a waterfall. While Shade's colony is migrating, a strong storm breaks out and separates Shade from his colony. Shade lands on a human fishing boat and meets Marina, a Brightwing bat who, like Frieda, is banded. A passing Graywing colony offers to help Shade relocate the Silverwings. However, he decides to go with Marina instead upon hearing that banded bats are not welcome in their group.

Part II

After making it to the city, Shade and Marina are almost mutilated by pigeons, who have mistaken them for carnivorous bats. They escape to a cathedral, where they meet an albino bat named Zephyr, who puts Shade to sleep with a mysterious leaf. When Shade wakes up, he sees humans for the first time, praying in the cathedral. Zephyr tells Shade that he is a seer who has foreseen where Shade must go to find Frieda. He also says that Shade's father, Cassiel, is still alive.

On the way out, Shade and Marina are attacked by an owl. The owl is eaten by two carnivorous bats, Goth and Throbb. Goth and Throbb are responsible for the death of the pigeons and, like Marina, both are banded. Shade offers to escort Goth and Throbb south in return for Goth and Throbb's protection from owls. Goth and Throbb agree, but Goth secretly formulates a plan to feed off the other Silverwings upon finding them. Goth is worried about Marina, who might affect Shade, and instructs Throbb to kill her. However, Throbb mistakes another Brightwing bat for Marina and Shade sees Throbb eating it. This puts Shade and Marina on alert and they see Goth and Throbb shot by humans as Shade and Marina make their escape.

Part III

Shade and Marina flee to the sewers of a human town, near the valley in the shape of a wolf's head. In the sewer, they are again mistaken for carnivorous bats by a rat named Remus. However, Remus' brother, Romulus, believes their story and guides them out of the sewer. Outside the tunnel, Shade and Marina are sighted and caught by Goth and Throbb, who threaten to eat them unless Shade guides them to Hibernaculum. Shade feigns acceptance long enough to put Goth and Throbb to sleep with some of the leaves he saw Zephyr use. Having a head start, Shade and Marina fly toward a storm. When Goth and Throbb follow, Goth steals Marina's band in the struggle. However, the bands make them function as lightning rods and lightning strikes, killing Throbb and supposedly killing Goth. Shade and Marina continue to Ariel's last landmark, the waterfall. This allows them to find Hibernaculum. The Silverwings adopt Marina while other bats in the Silverwing colony, including Shade, prepare a journey to find out the truth about the bands and locate Shade's father, Cassiel.

876 – 878: Lord Uhtred of Bebbanburg arrives at King Alfred of Wessex's court to proclaim the defeat of the forces of Danish chieftain and warrior Ubba Lothbrokson, as well as his killing of Ubba himself in single combat, only to find that his enemy Ealdorman Odda the Younger has lied, denying he had any part in the great victory. Uhtred is so enraged, he draws his sword in the king's presence, and is forced to do penance. This strengthens Alfred's dislike and distrust of him.

Alfred makes peace with the Danish king Guthrum, rather than take advantage of the victory, much to Uhtred's disgust. Uhtred goes home, but eventually becomes bored and goes off raiding into Cornwall. He comes across a settlement ruled by Peredur, who hires Uhtred and his men to fight an enemy. Only later does Uhtred realize he has been tricked; his opponent is not some half-trained gang, but rather the Dane Svein of the White Horse and his band of seasoned warriors. Uhtred and Svein ally, kill Peredur and pillage his settlement. Uhtred carries off one of Peredur's wives, the shadow queen Iseult, who is believed to have supernatural powers. A monk named Asser, who was at Peredur's court, witnesses the betrayal and escapes. Uhtred and Svein then part ways. On his way home, Uhtred captures a Danish ship laden with treasure. He returns to his estate and pious wife Mildrith, using his share of the treasure to build a great hall and pay his large debt to the Church.

The Witan summons Uhtred to an audience with King Alfred in Cippanhamm, where he is accused, based on the testimony of Asser, of using the king's ship to raid the Britons, with whom Wessex is at peace, and joining Svein in attacking the Cynuit abbey. The warrior Steapa Snotor, one of Odda the Younger's warriors, says he too saw Uhtred at the abbey. They decide to settle the dispute with a trial by combat to the death between Uhtred and Steapa. The duel is cut short when Guthrum breaks his word and launches a surprise attack. Everyone flees. Uhtred, Leofric, and Iseult hide in the fields until nightfall, when they enter Cippanhamm and rescue a friend, the whore Eanflæd, as well as a beautiful nun named Hild. The five of them wander for a few weeks until they reach the swamps of Athelney.

At the edge of the marsh, Uhtred rescues a monk from Guthrum's men, only to discover that the monk is actually Alfred. After praying while Uhtred briefly consorts with childhood friends, the distraught King Alfred considers going into exile, but with Uhtred's encouragement, decides to stay and fight. For a few months, they hide in the swamp, spreading the word that Alfred is still alive; slowly men come to join them.

When Svein anchors his fleet at the mouth of the River Parret close to their hideout, Uthred tricks the men Svein left to guard his ships and burns all but one. Without his ships, Svein is forced to join his rival, Guthrum. This is what Alfred wants: an opportunity for one decisive battle against both Danish invaders.

Alfred raises those ''fyrds'' that have remained loyal, but is still outnumbered. Furthermore, all of the Danes are trained warriors, while only a portion of Alfred's men are. Nevertheless, they win the Battle of Ethandun, with Uhtred playing a pivotal role, and Alfred's kingdom is saved.

This novel covers the time from when Arthur Pendragon first becomes king to the time Merlin, now getting on in years, begins to lose his powers and becomes a sort of master spy to assist King Arthur as he begins the task of uniting all of Britain.

Arthur is now King and hard at work establishing Camelot as the center of government and authority. A few ambitious lords from other parts of Britain have designs on Arthur's throne, and Merlin is kept busy preventing them from doing so. Having taken Morgause (unaware that she was his half-sister) to his bed as a very young man after his first battle and victory, Arthur is now the father of Mordred. Merlin foresees that Mordred will be the cause of Arthur's death, but doesn't understand how it will happen. He spends a great deal of time traveling in disguise and observing Morgause's scheming and intrigue.

Somewhere along the line, Merlin takes on a female apprentice, Niniane. When she first appears she is disguised as a boy, and Merlin initially takes her for the reincarnation of a child he had seen some years before whom he would have chosen as apprentice, but who died unexpectedly. Niniane is at that time not quite as gifted as Merlin himself, but he teaches her everything he knows, and they fall in love despite their age difference. As he gives her the secrets of his psychic abilities and how to control them, he seems to lose them himself. In a depleted, weakened condition, he takes ill and falls into a coma, and is believed to be dead. Mourning him, Niniane has him buried within his beloved crystal cave. She begins to have prescient nightmares that Merlin is actually alive; he awakes in the cave some time later. He escapes after a few weeks, through a combination of chance luck and ingenious planning, and travels incognito to let Arthur know he is still alive. Niniane takes Merlin's place as the court wizard-seer, while Merlin retires to the crystal cave and lives a quiet and happy life as a hermit, much like his old master in the first volume of the series.

The story is set in 1889 Wyoming, when the Wyoming Territory was still open to the Homestead Act of 1862. It is narrated by a homesteader's son, Bob Starrett. The original unclaimed land surrounding the Starretts' homestead had been used by a cattle driver named Luke Fletcher before being claimed by Bob's father, Joe Starrett, along with 12 other homesteaders. Fletcher had settled there first, although he could only claim as a homestead. He wants to expand his herd; homesteads in the area would hinder its growth.

The title character, Shane, is a mysterious stranger who rides into and then out of the lives of the Starrett family, "a man who seemed to come from nowhere and appeared equally determined to pass on to nowhere."Nott, Robert. "Introduction." ''Shane''. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1949, 2017. Kindle Edition. He is typically quiet, always silent about his past. He does not wear his gun, and yet everyone seems to understand that he is a dangerous man. Joe Starrett hires Shane as a hand on his farm, and Shane puts aside his handsome Western clothes and buys dungarees. He then helps the homesteaders to avoid intimidation by Fletcher and his men, who try to get them to abandon their farms. With Joe Starrett's leadership and Shane's help, the farmers resist Fletcher. Shane is forced into a gun battle.

Eddie Muntz (Chase) is a small-time American arms dealer who talks his way into a job with a large defense corporation selling high-tech military unmanned aerial vehicles to a mentally unstable South American dictator (William Marquez). Muntz arrives in war-torn and impoverished "San Miguel" to sell weapons to both its leader and the rebels seeking his ouster.

In the middle of a sales pitch to the rebels, Muntz is caught in a firefight and is shot in the foot. Hobbling in a rundown hotel days later, Muntz meets Harold DeVoto (Wallace Shawn), a sales rep for the American defense contractor, Luckup.

Muntz peddles small arms (assault rifles, anti-personnel mines, and machine-pistols disguised as cassette tape players), whereas Luckup's product is more sophisticated—the ''Peacemaker'' UAV, a military dream that operates without pilots or airbases. But the military junta of San Miguel strings DeVoto along, driving the man to suicide. Muntz successfully takes over the deal and wins a contract worth millions.

On returning to America, he is angrily confronted at gunpoint by Catherine (Sigourney Weaver), Harold's widow. Demanding the contract, Catherine shoots Muntz instead, reopening the wound on his foot. Waking up in the hospital, Muntz is told by Frank Stryker (Vince Edwards), a Luckup executive, that San Miguel reneged on the deal after a disastrous and highly publicized demonstration of the Peacemaker.

Muntz nevertheless decides to help Luckup re-sign San Miguel. He is joined by his partner, Ray Kasternak (Gregory Hines), an ex-fighter pilot now undergoing a religious crisis of conscience, and also by Catherine. Muntz's efforts are complicated by tensions with Luckup, Ray's religious conversion, "The Peacemaker's" many technical glitches, and his own growing moral reservations.

On the eve of a major defense industry exposition, Muntz is visited by Massagi (Richard Libertini), an immensely wealthy arms merchant who both encourages him to finalize the San Miguel deal and coaches him on how to do it. Massagi reveals that the global arms industry has a stake in sales of weapons like the Peacemaker because they allow for localized and conventional wars that will keep their business viable into the next century. Massagi also explains how recent changes to federal law not only legalize bribes to foreign dictators, but make those bribes tax deductible. These revelations spur Muntz on, while also adding to his unease.

Muntz accompanies San Miguel's dictator to the weapons expo, where billions of dollars of high technology are displayed and demonstrated. To the dictators, Muntz disparages any warplanes he sees, reminding them of the obvious benefits of pilot-less aircraft.

While Muntz demonstrates some of his own wares (including a booby-trapped urinal), Ray hijacks one of the fighter jets being demonstrated, threatening to attack the expo, also daring them to attack him. Ray circles overhead as representatives for defense contractors bicker among themselves as to whose weapons are good enough to shoot him down.

Stryker takes matters into his own hands, launching the Peacemaker. This time, the UAV proves a much more formidable threat, and not even Ray can destroy it. Misusing all of the Peacemaker's weapons, however, Stryker instead destroys the entire expo. Before he can try again for Ray, Muntz uses his cane to shut off the Peacemaker's remote control panel, allowing Ray to destroy it.

In the final scene, we learn that Ray has left the arms industry to become a missionary. Muntz is also out of weapons trafficking, but still a salesman working at his brother's used car dealership. He sells Catherine a car, and it's implied that they will be doing other deals together.

The movie opens with clips of the US Armed Forces scrambling to respond to a Soviet nuclear attack. Daniel Schorr, reporting in front of the White House, is vaporized when a nuclear weapon detonates.

In the summer of 1989, East Germany is in turmoil. Many citizens are dissatisfied with their nation’s Communist leadership and seek reunification with West Germany. On October 7, Mikhail Gorbachev, a supporter of those reforms, visits East Berlin. During his return flight, the hard-line Communist leadership stages a coup that deposes Gorbachev and installs (fictional) General Vladimir Soshkin as the new Soviet leader. The Soviet government announces that Gorbachev resigned for "reasons of ill health," but Gorbachev is never heard from again, his true fate "lost in the darkness of history."

Soshkin and the hard-liners fiercely resist the rise of glasnost and perestroika. They are determined to end the uprisings in East Germany and the rest of the Eastern Bloc with a swift Chinese-style military crackdown in late October. (In East Germany at least, the crackdown is not limited to demonstrators; numerous moderate Communists such as Egon Krenz and Günter Schabowski are "disappeared", never to be heard from again.) The crackdown inflames popular opposition to communism. In late November, a demonstration in Leipzig is brutally repressed by the East German Army at great loss of life. Two days later, a demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate ends with East German soldiers killing many East Berlin residents trying to scale the Berlin Wall and a West German cameraman filming the events. Those soldiers also fire shots over the wall into West Berlin. Soon after, the East German government responds to the international condemnation of their conduct by ordering all foreign journalists out of the country.

In mid-December, NATO airlifts military reinforcements to West Berlin. Soon after, Secretary of State James Baker arrives in West Berlin to secretly meet with General Dmitry Leonov, the Soviet commander in East Germany, who strongly opposes Soshkin's crackdown. However, on the way to the meeting, Leonov is killed by a car bomb, for which a West German neo-Nazi group claims responsibility. After an interview with West German TV in which Soshkin implicitly threatens West Berlin, an American colonel orders that tactical nuclear weapons in West Germany be placed on high alert. Soshkin responds with new threats, a massive deployment of the Soviet submarine fleet, and incursions of Soviet Bear bombers into Alaskan airspace.

On January 25, 1990, several East German and Soviet tank divisions are mobilized to cut off transportation and supply links between West Germany and West Berlin, and the Soviet Air Force moves to close off East Germany's airspace. Soshkin hopes the plan will prevent the West from encroaching into the Soviet sphere of influence and isolate Berlin from the West. NATO responds by deploying thousands of additional troops into West Germany to strengthen their existing garrisons there.

As the United States prepares their first military convoy across the North Atlantic, the Soviets announce their intention to blockade the U.S. Navy transports. Soshkin desires to cut off Western Europe and weaken the NATO buildup. The US and Britain condemn the blockade and last-minute attempts at a compromise fall through. When the convoy crosses into the designated exclusion zone, Soviet forces are ordered to attack. Nearly a quarter of the convoy is sunk in the ensuing battle before the NATO fleet clears the air and sea lanes to Europe. Shortly afterward, the United Nations Security Council holds an emergency session in New York City in the hopes of diffusing the hostilities between the superpowers, but the United States and Soviet Union both refuse to back down until the other does so. World War III has effectively begun.

The world panics after the failed session and the United States dispatches (fictional) National Security Advisor Martin Jacobs to the Soviet Union for last-ditch effort talks with Soshkin. Figuring that Soshkin knows that the Soviets are losing power in Eastern Europe, Jacobs offers Soshkin an extended timetable for the Soviet withdrawal from Eastern Europe in exchange for a de-escalation of the military buildup. Soshkin refuses him utterly with one word: "Nyet" (no).

The battle for Germany

On March 12, Soshkin orders a massive amphibious landing near Kiel on the Baltic coast, carried out by the Volksmarine and the Soviet Navy's Baltic Fleet. The landings catch NATO off-guard, and they scramble forces northward to push back the beachhead. The next day, Warsaw Pact ground forces drive through the Fulda Gap, with orders to push to the Rhine to divide the stretched-out NATO armies. To support the assault, the Soviet Air Force bombards targets immediately on the Baltic coast and NATO bases further inland, such as Ramstein Air Base. The overall plan is to cripple the NATO buildup with a swift strike and then press for a new round of diplomatic bargaining from a stronger strategic position. NATO forces, surprised by an enemy that far outnumbers them, are pushed back, though they inflict substantial losses on the Warsaw Pact forces, who lose well over 1,000 dead in the first 24 hours. By March 17, the Warsaw Pact forces have advanced 50 miles into West Germany. Entire towns are destroyed in the fighting as increasingly desperate NATO commanders try to stall the Warsaw Pact's advance, and civilian and military casualties are heavy, overwhelming NATO medical personnel. Public order collapses amid the mass panic, and 20 million automobiles jam the roads as West German civilians try to flee.

While preparing to launch a tactical nuclear counter-assault, NATO carries out a last-ditch conventional air campaign––code-named Operation Bloody Nose––launched 24 hours before the nuclear strikes were to begin. The already-overworked NATO aviators are given just one day to turn the tide of an entire war. Thanks in part to a daring raid on the Soviet Army's forward headquarters in Poland and the use of American stealth aircraft, Bloody Nose is an overwhelming success: the initial strikes cripple Warsaw Pact command and control posts, throwing their armies in the field into chaos. In the ensuing air battle, NATO also inflicts devastating losses on the Soviet Air Force (which had already lost 20% of the aircraft supporting the initial offensives), thereby gaining air supremacy over Eastern European airspace. Combined with assistance from the Polish underground that cuts off Soviet supply lines, the tide of the war turns. With their numerical superiority negated by Western technological superiority, the East German and Soviet armies melt under NATO airstrikes, and counterattacking NATO forces cross into East Germany on March 23.

Global thermonuclear war

NATO forces reach and liberate West Berlin on March 27. Now in full retreat, the Soviet Army withdraws to Poland, abandoning the East Germans to fend for themselves. With the East German military beaten, its central government falling apart, and foreign armies rapidly advancing into the country, East Germany essentially collapses, leaving many Germans on both sides of the Iron Curtain to hope that reunification is at hand. With victory at hand, the American leadership tries to reassure Soshkin that NATO has no intention of pressing their advance beyond East Germany. Open revolt erupts across the Eastern Bloc as citizens of the communist nations, as well ethnic minorities within the Soviet Union, press for the overthrow of their own leaders, emboldened by the collapse of East Germany and the fact that the Soviets are obviously losing the war. Soshkin's paranoia and desperation rise swiftly as the entire Eastern Bloc falls apart around him, and while NATO has no intention of actually doing so, Soshkin quickly becomes convinced that they will try to exploit the situation and fight all the way to Moscow.

As a show of force, on March 31 Soshkin orders a symbolic nuclear strike above the North Sea. The United States responds by going to full nuclear alert and preparing to execute the Single Integrated Operational Plan. On April 1 (ironically April Fools Day), a Soviet radar post suffers an equipment malfunction. Falsely believing that the USSR is under nuclear attack, Soshkin orders an all-out retaliatory nuclear strike against the West. The nuclear powers of NATO have no choice but to respond in kind, and thousands of nuclear devices are launched across the Northern Hemisphere. The narrator intones, "There is no further historical record of what happens next," suggesting that civilization was either wiped out or destroyed to such a great extent, that overall post-war human survival -- much less, the reconstruction of civilization -- would be rendered all but impossible.

Epilogue

The movie then rewinds to Gorbachev’s visit to East Germany. Archival footage is shown of the celebrations of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the peaceful reunification of Germany, before finally ending with the credits roll.

, otherwise known as , is a ten-year-old boy whose single-parent father, , works for a paving company. While completing a paving job at a go-kart track, his father sees a young boy racing at the track and is amazed at the speed and seeming thrill of the sport. Realizing that his young son has an interest in racing cars (particularly Formula One), Shigei asks the circuit steward as to whether he is able to take some old worn-down parts out of the circuit's trash pile. Taking these back to his workplace, he manages to construct a rundown yet drivable kart. Shigei's boss, Mr. Ikari, (initially begrudgingly) supplies a 4-stroke generator engine to power the kart.

Determined, Capeta, in his first time on a race track, manages to not only master the mangled racer, but also catches and attempts to overtake on the inside line, a talented young racer who drives for a works karting team, Endless Autohouse Racing. This overtaking maneuver shocks Naomi so much so that he drops the accelerator of his kart, accelerates past Capeta. This infuriates his mother and team manager, , as he over-revved a brand new engine which he was supposed to be merely running in. Nobu Andou and Monami Suzuki, Capeta's best friends, support him in his karting – Nobu as his technical assistant/manager and Monami as the self-appointed team manager.

Capeta, unaware of the difference in machinery between his own kart and Naomi's works-grade kart, does not understand why it was impossible for him to catch Naomi. Nonetheless, onlookers are amazed that a child from out of the blue is able to push his machine to such a limit, let alone unnerve the track's local hotshot. Nanako, also amazed, offers to help Capeta's entry into the world of kart racing, secretly as a rival for her son. After what is a difficult conversation for Capeta, the Taira father and son turn down the offer to enroll Capeta in the Endless Autohouse Racing team and run their own single kart team on their own instead.

In the second arc, Capeta has grown up. He is now 14 years old, in 3rd grade of junior high school and has won the junior karting class he had competed in. His racing suit and kart are now blue, his racing number having changed from 14 to 30. Nobu and Monami have also matured a lot while still helping Capeta with his karting aspirations. Having stepped up to a more senior class (ICA Class), he realizes that to win races is a lot harder without the support of a well-funded team. In what he sees as his final chance – a race in torrential downpour – he pushes himself to the limit so as to give himself the best chance of winning, but is relegated to second by the smallest of margins and fractures his ribcage in the process. After he is hospitalized, he is introduced to a one-make automobile racing formula known as Formula Stella (an indirect reference to Formula Toyota). As he was exceptionally talented in kart racing, Nobu presents Capeta as a candidate to attend FSRS, the Formula Stella Racing School. After proving to the head of Stella's racing arm that Capeta was worthy, Nobu is given the enrollment paperwork. One condition stressed by the Stella management is that crashing is absolutely prohibited – not simply for the loss of money incurred, but also the loss of confidence in that racer to produce results under racing conditions.

Although not having so much as the ability to change gears in a regular car at the start, Capeta quickly progresses to be one of the fastest students in the school. During the qualifying for the mock race on the last day though, Capeta crashes due to not being able to avoid a slower racer who had lost control of his car and spun on the track. Capeta was taking a blind uphill figure-S corner, so he couldn't see ahead. By the time Capeta's instructor, Shinkawa Hideki, told him to watch out, Capeta locks up his car's brakes and the two machines crash. No one was hurt in the incident, but Capeta was devastated due to breaking his promise of not crashing and feels that his future in racing is over. His father, though, does not give up and encourages Capeta to continue – despite the ¥1,500,000 damage costs from Capeta's accident.

He uses his talents, going on to win his races, defeating his team's talented racers and making him a series winner despite an engine failure late in the final race, but still managed to win the race with Shiba Ryou close by. Nobu admits that he wants to become the best racing manager and that he'd always be with Capeta until the very end. The last episode ends with an outlook at the near future: it is narrated that Naomi and Capeta race against one another in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The last narration was: "Both racers are very talented. It's a fight between two Japanese".

Cleopatra, or Cleo as she is known to her friends, would much rather go on vacation in some exotic locale than concern herself with the business end of the Corns Conglomerate, which is the most powerful economic player in the United States. However, Cleo has a kind and forgiving nature, and will not shy away if trouble is near. And more often than she cares for, Cleo and her friends find themselves in all sorts of fantastic adventures, from putting out oil well fires to safeguarding a powerful telepathic girl.

Agate Fluorite is the new transfer student at the elite school, "Cluster E.A.", in which the sons of many prestigious families from different countries gather to study together. Soon after, Agate's unexpected antics and enthusiasm in life impress many of his schoolmates, including Beryl Jasper, an honor student who hates his family, but when it is discovered that Agate was involved in a fight, helping a known artificial soldier sympathizer Agate finds himself on the run and eventually without all of his memories intact. Unknown to Agate, he was born with a secret power that can create miracles. With his ability to create miracles not only is the military but the religious sect is after him.

The story revolves around Princess Comet, a twelve-year-old girl who is also the princess of the Harmonica Star country of the Triangle Nebula. She was meant to meet the prince of the Tambourine Star country at a ball, but the prince ran away to Earth instead. As it turned out, Comet is sent to Earth to find him, though she has no idea what he looks like. "He will be known by the twinkling in his eyes" is the only clue she was given to the prince's identity. Once she travels to Earth, Comet falls in love with the people she meets there as well as the planet itself, quickly becoming attached to life on Earth. Meanwhile, Princess Meteor learns of Comet's plans to find and marry the prince, so she arrives on Earth in search of the prince, planning to marry him before Comet gets the chance. Both princesses are sent to Earth along with a companion. Comet's companion is a little puppy with a star at the end of his tail named . Meteor's companion is a round, purple bird named .

Unbeknownst to Comet, her Aunt Spica also lives on Earth and had visited Earth before, deciding to stay there and get married herself. Aunt Spica's pet is , a white rabbit with a tiny heart on her tail. The main plot is Comet's tale about her journey to Earth, the people she meets, and her journey to find the prince.

The series is set in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan.

Yō Hinomura, a Japanese potter, comes into the possession of some film showing an assassination by an agent of the 108 Dragons, a powerful Chinese mafia. Seeking its return, they kidnap him. Subjected to forced hypnosis, Yo is effectively brainwashed into acting as the 108 Dragons' principal assassin yet - cruelly - is permitted to remember his innocent past at the moment he kills, shedding a tear unconsciously each time that he does so. He is given the codename "Crying Freeman" as a result.

One of his killings is witnessed by Emu Hino, a lonely and beautiful Japanese artist. Knowing he must kill her; she paints his portrait and waits for him to come. When he does so, she tells him that she is tired of being alone and wishes to end her life. She asks for a favor before he kills her - to make love to her, so that she will not die as a virgin. He grants her wish but finds he cannot kill her and they fall in love. The killing she witnessed was of a yakuza boss, however, so the yakuza want to find her so that they can find the killer. One of the yakuza attempts to enter Emu's home and force her to disclose the name of the killer, critically injuring her. Freeman takes her to the hospital and tells her to meet him at Hinomura Kiln, where he intends to part with her. Instead, she accompanies him back to the 108 Dragons, where he tattoos her with tigers, and they marry.

The heads of the 108 Dragons decide to name Freeman as their heir. He is given the Chinese name Lóng Tài-Yáng, and Emu is renamed Hǔ Qīng-Lán, as both pass the tests given to them. It proves not as easy as that, however, as they must contend with challenges to the leadership from Bái-Yá Shàn, the granddaughter of the leaders of the 108 Dragons, and attempts to destroy the Dragons from other underground organizations.

The three playable characters from the first ''Golden Axe'', Ax Battler, Tyris Flare, and Gilius Thunderhead, return in ''Golden Axe II'' to save the people of the land by defeating the new evil clan, led by Dark Guld, and reclaim the Golden Axe, which is in his possession. The game features a total of seven levels: six scrolling levels and a final end of game boss battle against Dark Guld.

Ibo (Denis Moschitto) is a young Turkish-German man who is an aspiring filmmaker. A clash of cultures and pre-parental anxiety ensues after Ibo's German girlfriend, Titzi (Nora Tschirner), announces that she's pregnant. Ibo's father (Güven Kıraç) is upset at his son for wanting to start a family with a non-Turkish German woman while Titzi is upset at Ibo over his hesitance in taking on fatherly responsibilities. Other themes are the competition of a Turkish kebab restaurant and a Greek taverna, a gang trying to extort the owner of the kebab restaurant, Ibo's quest to make the first German Kung-Fu movie and the pursuit of both Titzi and her roommate at a prestigious drama academy.

After Nero Wolfe reacts petulantly to a change in one of his favourite meals, Archie Goodwin plays a prank on him by allowing Pete Drossos, a neighbourhood child, to enter and ask for Wolfe’s help on a case. Pete claims that while he was washing the windows of car at a stop light the driver, a woman wearing distinctive golden earrings in the shape of spiders, silently asked him to summon a police officer, and Pete believes she was being threatened by her male passenger. To indulge Pete, Wolfe has Archie pass Pete’s information on to the police, but the next day they learn that the same car, now driven by a man in a brown suit and hat, has struck and killed Pete. Matthew Birch, an agent of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, was also struck and killed by the same car, apparently on the same day that Pete approached Wolfe. While this suggests Birch was the man Pete saw in the car evidence at the scene proves Birch was killed before Pete, ruling him out as Pete's murderer.

Wolfe is visited by Pete’s mother, who gives them his savings of $4.30 and asks them to use it to find his killer. Archie, angered at Wolfe’s reluctance to get involved, puts an advertisement in the newspaper, asking the woman in the car to contact Wolfe. Laura Fromm, a wealthy widow, responds to the advertisement and arrives at Wolfe’s house wearing the golden spider earrings. Wolfe and Archie quickly determine that she is not the person they seek, but she is horrified on learning of Pete’s death and claims that she may know who was driving. Fromm refuses to reveal the information, but the next day Wolfe and Archie receive news that she too has been struck by a car and killed. Infuriated by the fact that two people who came to him for help are now dead, Wolfe decides to solve the murders.

Archie learns that the last people to see Fromm alive are all directly or indirectly connected to a charity for displaced persons that Fromm supported with sizeable donations. While Wolfe assigns his operatives Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin and Orrie Cather to pursue various leads, Archie approaches those present at a dinner attended by charity officials - including Fromm’s secretary Jean Estey, the charity's attorney Dennis Horan and his wife, and the charity's director Angela Wright - and offers to sell the details of the conversation between Wolfe and Fromm in an attempt to flush out the guilty party. Before he can approach Paul Kuffner, the charity’s public-relations director, Kuffner approaches Wolfe and offers to pay for the information. Realising he has been tipped off, Wolfe rejects the offer.

Saul, who has been posing as a displaced person seeking help from the charity, reveals that after he had approached Horan for help he was subsequently visited by a man who tried to blackmail him out of $10,000. Meanwhile, Fred has tracked down two hoodlums who claim to have been working with Birch. On discovering that Fred is a private investigator they attempt to torture him for information, but Archie, Saul and Orrie — who have been independently following either Fred or the hoodlums — manage to rescue him. Saul confirms that one of the hoodlums, “Lips” Egan, is the blackmailer, and a notebook in his pocket reveals the existence of a blackmail ring targeting poor, illegal immigrants.

Before the investigators can interrogate the hoodlums further, Horan arrives unexpectedly at Egan’s base of operations. Archie takes Horan and the hoodlums to Wolfe’s office, where they are held for questioning by Wolfe and Inspector Cramer. Horan tries to distance himself from the two hoodlums, but Egan confesses to the blackmail and implicates Horan as well. Egan reveals that Birch was one of the ringleaders of the operation, but that he in turn took orders from an unknown woman. This confirms to Wolfe a flawed assumption made by the police: that the driver of the car that killed Pete was a man, when in fact it was a woman disguised as a man.

With the principals and several police officers assembled in his office, Wolfe reveals the identity of the murderer: Fromm’s secretary Jean Estey. Estey was the true mastermind of the blackmail ring, but Fromm had begun to suspect her and, after overhearing the codeword she used - “said a spider to a fly” - had given the spider earrings to Estey as a subtle way of confronting her. Estey murdered Birch when he demanded a larger share of the blackmail proceeds, then killed Pete and Fromm to hide her connections to Birch and the illegal operation. When a clothing store owner brought in by Orrie identifies Estey as having purchased the suit and hat worn by the driver who killed Pete, she is arrested for the murders and Horan and Egan are arrested for the blackmail.

Wolfe burns Egan's notebook to prevent the identities of the blackmail victims from being exposed, leading Archie to worry that he may be charged with destroying evidence, but all three defendants are convicted even without it.

A spaceship containing an expedition force from Planet Viras approaches Earth, with its occupants discussing their intentions to occupy the planet for its atmospheric Nitrogen, an element important to their survival. Gamera intervenes and destroys it; but before the ship is destroyed, the aliens broadcast a warning to their world, stating that Gamera is their enemy.

Later on Earth, a Boy Scout troop is visiting an aquarium to see the scientists working on a two-man mini submarine. Masao and Jim, two of the scouts, manage to talk their way aboard the sub. While in the water they spot Gamera, who engages in a little race with the boys. However, their hijinks come to an end when the second alien vessel envelops the both of them in its Super-Catch Ray. Gamera helps the boys to escape, but he remains trapped in the force field while the aliens scan his memories. Through analysis of Gamera's memories, the aliens learn of Gamera's weakness, his soft spot for children. Soon after, the field weakens and Gamera is freed. The aliens capture Jim and Masao, threatening to kill the boys, and demand Gamera obeys them. Powerless to stop them, Gamera surfaces and follows the UFO ashore, whereupon a mind control device is attached to the back of his head.

While aboard the spaceship, the boys continually try to escape. Gamera, however (under the influence of the aliens), is destroying dams and cities by the handful. Jim and Masao discover a squid-like creature, thinking that he is another captive of the aliens. In fact, he is the leader of the aliens. The boys help Gamera break free from the mind control device and succeed in escaping from the spaceship. Next Gamera attacks the spaceship. Grounded by Gamera, the aliens reveal that their human forms were just disguises, and that all of them look just like their leader. Under the leader's command, each of the aliens merge to form the giant monster Viras, who immediately engages Gamera in battle. Though Viras appears to have the upper hand, impaling Gamera through his belly with his spike-like mantle, Gamera kills Viras by flying high into the atmosphere, freezing Viras solid, then drops him towards the ocean, where he explodes upon impact. The boys and a crowd of adults celebrate Gamera's victory.

A ship carrying plutonium collides with a floating atoll off the eastern coast of the Philippines, one of many incidents occurring throughout the area. As the anomalous formation approaches Japan, a team of scientists led by Naoya Kusanagi (Akira Onodera) discovers orihalcum amulets and a stone slab covered in Etrurian runes on the atoll. During the investigation, the atoll suddenly quakes, destroying the slab and throwing the scientists into the ocean. One member of the team, Marine Officer Yoshinari Yonemori (Tsuyoshi Ihara), sees the eye and tusk of a giant turtle.

Meanwhile, ornithologist Mayumi Nagamine (Shinobu Nakayama) investigates a village in the Goto Archipelago reportedly attacked by a "giant bird". While Nagamine is initially skeptical of the claims, she is horrified upon discovering human remains in a giant bird pellet. Exploring the nearby forest, her team encounters and then successfully prevents three bird-like creatures from attacking another village. To prevent further attacks, Nagamine agrees to aid the government in capturing the giant birds. The creatures are lured to the Fukuoka Dome baseball stadium, where two of the three are successfully captured. The last one escapes to the harbor, where it is killed by the giant turtle encountered by Yonemori and the scientists. The remaining birds escape before the turtle reaches the stadium.

After translating the runes, Kusanagi explains to Yonemori and his daughter Asagi (Ayako Fujitani) that the giant turtle is called Gamera and the birds are Gyaos. When Asagi touches one of the stone amulets, she inadvertently forms a spiritual bond with Gamera. Kusanagi also tries to convince the government that the Gyaos are the real threat, but they remain focused on Gamera due to the destruction that he caused.

Now working together to investigate the creatures, Kusanagi, Yonemori and Nagamine witness another Gyaos attack at the Kiso Mountain Range. Nagamine and Yonemori are nearly killed trying to rescue a child, but Gamera arrives in time to save them and kills another Gyaos. The last Gyaos, however, escapes. Meanwhile, Asagi discovers that she suffers the same wounds and fatigue as Gamera due to their shared bond. At Mount Fuji, she witnesses a military strike against Gamera. The attack attracts the final Gyaos to the scene, where it grievously wounds Gamera and forces the turtle to retreat into the ocean. Simultaneously, Asagi suffers a similar wound and passes out from the pain. Kusanagi visits his daughter at the hospital where Asagi falls into a coma after saying that she and Gamera must rest.

After consulting with a biologist, Nagamine and Yonemori learn that the Gyaos are genetically engineered and reproduce asexually. They speculate on the origins and purpose of Gyaos and Gamera. Nagamine suggests that Gyaos were awakened by rampant pollution and Gamera was created by an ancient civilization to combat Gyaos. They approach Kusanagi with this information, explaining that the incident at Mount Fuji shows that Asagi is spiritually linked with Gamera. Kusanagi dismisses these claims until he witnesses the amulet's power himself.

With Gamera recovering in the ocean, the last Gyaos grows unchecked, becoming a Super Gyaos. The creature attacks Tokyo, causing many civilian casualties and prompting the government to focus on Gyaos instead of Gamera. Attempts to kill Gyaos end in failure and it builds a nest in the ruins of the Tokyo Tower.

Upon awakening from her sleep, Asagi warns the others that Gamera has recovered and will attack Gyaos. Gamera catches Gyaos by surprise, destroying its nest and eggs. A massive air battle ensues and Asagi, Kusanagi, Nagamine, and Yonemori follow closely in a helicopter. Initially, Gyaos overpowers Gamera, but Asagi uses her spiritual energy to revive Gamera, who kills Gyaos. Gamera, after using his bond with Asagi to heal her, releases Asagi from their bond and returns to the sea. While Nagamine and Yonemori predict the possibility that Gyaos or other threats may arise, Asagi states that Gamera will return if that happens.

A year has passed since the battle between Gamera and the Gyaos and Japan has struggled to rebuild its cities in the meantime. The military has kept a cautious vigil on the nation's coast, but so far Gamera has yet to return. Then on the night of a meteor shower, while out on field trip, Science instructor Midori Honami and her group of kids witness a huge meteor plunge into the mountain snow. The next night, two security guards are horrified as they see large insect-like creatures stealing glass bottles from a nearby warehouse. Soon after, the entire city of Sapporo is covered with strange plants and the link between these events soon becomes clear. These series of bizarre incidents reveal a new threat to the Land of the Rising Sun.

The meteor has carried with it a species of extraterrestrials. These aliens, which have a unique form of biochemistry that involves silicon, have set up a hive in the bowels of the city's subway tunnels, deliberately nurturing a plant that grows out of the subway and into the city. Soon a gigantic pod erupts from a building and Colonel Watarase of the Self Defense Force realizes that it is dramatically raising the city's oxygen levels. Working together with the swift-minded Miss Honami, he realizes that the aliens are building a huge biological launchpad: the increased oxygen will aid the creatures in exploding the flower, catapulting its seed into space so that they can colonize yet another world. The military can only watch helplessly, as any attempt to destroy the plant would destroy all of Sapporo.

Just as all hope is lost, Gamera emerges from the sea and heads toward the besieged city. He tears the flower out by its roots, but is ambushed by a swarm of the alien insect soldiers. As Gamera thrashes to rid himself of the attacking insects, a nearby soldier names them "Legion", in reference to something similar about a person possessed by many evil spirits called Legion mentioned in the ''Holy Bible''. Gamera is forced to retreat, just as the monstrous Legion queen, the Mother Legion, bursts out of the ground and flies off to start a second hive. Her wings are damaged by fighter jets, but she survives. Again a Legion flower blooms, this time in Sendai, and again Gamera attempts to stop its explosion. He is intercepted, however, by Legion. Legion makes short work of Gamera, impaling him with her sharp legs and blasting him with her horn beam. Sensing the detonation of her pod approaching, Legion leaves Gamera for dead and burrows off. Gamera limps toward the plant, destroying it by knocking it down before it launches its seed into space. The flower explodes and completely annihilates Sendai, seemingly killing Gamera.

Japan's military and scientists race to find Legion's weakness, but have so far found only one clue: the smaller symbiotic Legion are attracted to any electromagnetic source, such as power lines. While this may enable the army to distract them, it has the unfortunate side-effect of drawing them to Tokyo. With the failure of both their previous attempts at propagating their kind, the Legion are growing desperate. Asagi travels to Sendai where Gamera lies comatose and as she tries to reach out to him, the orihalcum magatama that enables their bond shatters. Gamera awakens, but at the sacrifice of his human connection.

Mother Legion marches onward towards Tokyo with the intention of planting a third and final flower, but Gamera intercepts her at Ashikaga. She spawns a swarm of insect soldiers against him, but the military manages to draw them off and destroy them using a power station's electrical pylons. Gamera fights on, but is unable to get his attacks past Mother Legion's claws, which generate an electromagnetic field that dissipates Gamera's fire. After the JSDF blows off several of Mother Legion's claws, Gamera manages to tear off her horn and she momentarily collapses in defeat. Enraged, Mother Legion gets back up and begins lashing Gamera with crimson energy tendrils referred to as the Red Rod, searing Gamera's skin and rapidly overpowering him. On the verge of defeat, Gamera then looks into the sky and roars and light begins to shine down upon him. As Legion closes in, Gamera's chest opens up and fires a powerful plasma beam. Legion is hit by the blast and is blown apart.

Gamera glances toward the human onlookers and then ascends into the morning sky. As they watch Gamera fades into the distance, mankind is unsettled by his power and trembles lest he should ever view humanity as an enemy.

Somewhere in Japan, a bright light suddenly blasted from the ground. The light in a blink destroyed everything within a hundred-mile radius. People argued that falling space debris caused it, but others felt that the unusual movement of terrestrial magnetism caused the light. The truth, however, remained hidden and blurred from people's memories. A little girl named Miya is the only one that knows what the light is.

Ten years later, an army of giant robots suddenly appear and devastates the Earth. They call themselves "EX Tartaro," whom pilot four major robots - the Four Kyokuohand. Their mission is to "purify the world". Three battle robots, the Dangaioh, defeated the enemy with ease. Sensing the strength of their enemy, the Ex Tartao united to form one giant robot. The three members of the Dangaioh team united into Dangaioh to reveal their true powers and eventually destroyed the invading force. The plot was devised by madman Dr. Katou, who was once the co-planner of the Dangaioh. The Dangai Project began preparations for a battle from a threat from the outer space pirate "Bunker". Dr. Katou and Yonamine had a big dispute, leading to Dr. Katou's betrayal. Now, in a secret underground organization, Dr. Yonamine and the Dangaioh are prepared to face off against Dr. Katou and his robotic troops.

After an implied global nuclear catastrophe Japan has been reduced to a desert ("The Great Kanto Desert"), and the surviving humans seek out a meager living in the hot sands. ''Desert Punk'' focuses on the adventures of a wandering mercenary named Kanta Mizuno, nicknamed Desert Punk (Sunabōzu), due to his seemingly incredible feats of skill and daring while on the job. Throughout the series, he acquires an apprentice and makes a few friends as well as many enemies.

As of 13th volume, his apprentice Taiko (also known as Kosuna) leaves his side in order to pursue her own destiny in the desert; like her former teacher, she takes a student of her own.

Nero Wolfe accepts an invitation to address ''Les Quinze Maîtres'' ("The Fifteen Masters"), an international group of master chefs, on the subject of American contributions to fine cuisine. The group is meeting at the Kanawha Spa resort in West Virginia (possibly based on the famous actual resort The Greenbrier.) To attend, Wolfe must suppress his loathing of travel and trains on the 14-hour train ride from New York City. As a courtesy to Wolfe, Archie has been invited to the gathering by Marko Vukcic, Wolfe's oldest friend and one of ''Les Quinze Maîtres'', so that he can accompany Wolfe.

During the trip, Vukcic introduces Wolfe to another member of ''Les Quinze Maîtres'', Jerome Berin, the originator of ''saucisse minuit''. Wolfe tasted the sausage once and has coveted Berin's closely guarded recipe for years. Berin is flattered, but scorns Wolfe's offer of $3,000 for the private use of the recipe. In the course of this discussion, Berin angrily denounces Philip Laszio, another ''Maître'', who serves an inferior substitute for ''saucisse minuit'' in his restaurant. Laszio also stole Vukcic's ex-wife Dina from him and the position of Head Chef at New York's Hotel Churchill from Leon Blanc, another ''Maître''. His passion inflamed, Berin threatens to kill Laszio.

The next night, at a welcoming dinner for ''Les Quinze Maîtres'', Philip Laszio insults the host, Louis Servan, another ''Maître'', and his head chef when he criticises the cooking. Tensions are further increased when Blanc refuses to tolerate Laszio's company and Vukcic begins to succumb to the charms of his ex-wife, who appears to be seducing him. After the dinner, a tasting test is held, based on a challenge made to Laszio. Laszio prepares nine numbered dishes of ''Sauce Printemps'', with each dish missing a different vital ingredient. The other nine ''Maîtres'' present, and Wolfe, are challenged to taste each dish, and write down the missing ingredients.

Wolfe is the last contestant to taste the dishes, but halfway through he summons Archie into the private dining room where the tasting is taking place; Philip Laszio has been murdered, stabbed in the back and hidden behind a room divider. The authorities are called, led by Barry Tolman, a local prosecutor who happened to arrive on the train with Wolfe and Goodwin. At Wolfe's suggestion, Tolman examines the results of the taste testing, on the theory that the murderer, either tense before committing murder or shaken afterwards, would be unable to determine accurately the missing ingredients. Jerome Berin has the lowest score and, based on Wolfe's theory, he is subsequently charged with murder. This drives a wedge between Tolman and Constanza Berin, Jerome's daughter, who have been developing a romantic attachment.

The next morning, Wolfe receives a visit from Laszio's employer at the Churchill, Raymond Liggett, and Laszio's assistant Alberto Malfi. They want Wolfe's help in securing a replacement for Laszio at the Churchill. Although Wolfe is scornful of Liggett's request and refuses his employment, when Berin is arrested he is skeptical that Berin could be the murderer and sees an opportunity to get the master chef into his debt. Wolfe decides to investigate Laszio's murder and exonerate Berin. Wolfe learns from Lio Coyne, the wife of one of the guests, that she saw two men in waiter's uniforms in the dining room around the time of the murder, with one of them hushing another.

Consequently, Wolfe gathers together the African-American kitchen and serving staff and questions them. In contrast to the racist and abusive attitudes of the local authorities, Wolfe is courteous, respectful, and civil to the men, but they are nevertheless skeptical and uncooperative until he appeals to their sense of equity and justice. He argues that if they shield the murderer solely because of his skin colour then they are “rendering your race a serious disservice” and are “helping to perpetuate and aggravate the very exclusions which you justly resent." Impressed by the speech, Paul Whipple—a waiter and college student—admits that he was one of the men in the dining room that night. But the other man was not African-American; he was wearing blackface. It is also revealed that Laszio himself had switched around the sauce dishes before Berin's turn, to humiliate him; this explains Berin's low score.

This information is sufficient to get Berin released from custody. Having accomplished his objective — to put Berin in his debt – Wolfe turns his attention to the speech he is to give. While rehearsing the speech in his room, however, Wolfe is shot through an open window. Wolfe is only grazed by the bullet but is enraged. He returns his attention to Laszio's murder: clearly, the same person who killed Laszio tried to kill Wolfe, and Wolfe intends to deliver the murderer to Tolman. He initiates further inquiries, carried out mainly by Saul Panzer and Inspector Cramer in New York, and later presides over a dinner for the remaining members of ''Les Quinze Maîtres'', composed exclusively of American cuisine. The ''Maîtres'' are very impressed by the quality of the dinner, and Wolfe has the chefs responsible brought to the room to be applauded by the diners — all are black men.

After the meal and despite the handicap of the facial wound, Wolfe delivers his speech on American cuisine, and — to the surprise of the gathered masters — continues by delivering the evidence that will convict Laszio's murderer and Wolfe's assailant. He reveals that the murderer was Raymond Liggett, who secretly flew into West Virginia the night of the murder, disguised himself as one of the wait staff, and murdered Laszio. He attempted to hire Wolfe to cover his tracks and to bribe Wolfe subtly not to interfere. When Wolfe secured Berin's release, he panicked and shot him. Liggett was aided by Dina Laszio, whom he coveted; she betrays him and confesses her part in order to prevent arrest.

The same night, Wolfe and Archie depart for New York, once again on the same train as Berin, Constanza, and Tolman. While Archie helps Constanza and Tolman mend their fractured relationship, Wolfe reminds Berin that Berin is in his debt, demanding the recipe for ''saucisse minuit'' as payment. Berin is outraged, but is eventually shamed into providing the recipe. (Dell #45, 1944), ''Too Many Cooks'' featured a scene-of-the-crime map by Gerald Gregg

Gou has vowed to find the legendary treasure of Salamander. Searching for it he meets Rane, a fairy, who is looking for the four treasures of Heart. Gou's childhood friend Mari is frustrated with Gou running after treasures, but befriends with another fairy Lean. Gou and Rane's treasure hunt messes with a secret project led by Mari's father. It turns out Salamander isn't what Gou thought it was in the first place...

The books generally follow the life of Jerusalem Ann Hardin and the Hardin Family, who are living on a farm in Arkansas Territory near Arkadelphia in 1831. Whilst out with his sister, Brodie Hardin is confronted by the Brattons, a rival family, when Brodie and the Brattons get into a fight a mysterious stranger called Clay Taliferro (pronounced ''Tolliver'') steps in and saves Brodie's life. Clay ends up staying with the Hardins and helping out on the farm, one day Jerusalem decides to move to Texas and Clay takes them there. The family set up home but soon they are facing Comanche raids and all sorts of problems. Jerusalem and Clay develop a love for each other and eventually marry and have their own children. The books also follow aspects of the Texas Revolution the battles at Goliad and Alamo are described.

Set in the 1960s. Jude Feeney, a shipyard worker in Liverpool, heads to the US to find his G.I. father who conceived him during World War II, whom he has never met. He promises his girlfriend Molly he will stay in touch while he is away.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Lucy Carrigan worries about her boyfriend Daniel, who is headed for service in the Vietnam War. In Dayton, Ohio, cheerleader Prudence pines for a fellow female cheerleader, and then drops out of school in shame.

Jude meets his father Wes, a janitor at Princeton University, but does not particularly bond with him. While on campus, he meets and befriends slacker student Max, who brings him home for Thanksgiving He introduces Jude to his family, including Lucy, his younger sister.

Max drops out of college; he and Jude move into a bohemian enclave in Greenwich Village run by a singer, Sadie. Jude becomes a freelance artist and Max a cab driver. Daniel is killed in Vietnam and Lucy attends his funeral. In Detroit, a young African-American boy is killed in the 1967 riot. His adult brother Jo-Jo, a guitarist, moves to New York for a change of scenery and auditions for Sadie's band. They are soon joined by Prudence who had hitchhiked there.

Lucy visits Max in New York before starting college, and she and Jude fall in love. Max, initially displeased upon learning they slept together, finally gives them his blessing. Later, Max is drafted into the army and sent to Vietnam, as he is no longer a college student protected from the draft. Prudence is attracted to Sadie and becomes depressed when Sadie and Jo-Jo begin a relationship.

Lucy becomes increasingly involved in the anti-war movement. Jude remains comparatively apolitical but devoted to her. Sadie is offered a chance to go on a solo tour as a headliner, leading to a bitter breakup between her and Jo-Jo. Jude dislikes the increasing amount of time Lucy spends with the Students for a Democratic Republic, led by activist Paco, as he suspects that Paco is attempting to seduce her.

Jude storms into the SDR office leading to an argument with Lucy and a fight with Paco after which Jude is thrown out and she breaks up with him. Some time later, Jude follows her to an anti-war demonstration at Columbia University. When the police arrest Lucy, Paco, and the other activists, Jude's attempts to reach her lead to his arrest as well.

Facing deportation, Jude contacts his father. Wes visits him in jail but has no legal proof that he is his son and thus an American citizen. As a result, Jude is sent back to England. Returning to his job at the Liverpool shipyards, he runs into his former girlfriend Molly and sees that she is heavily pregnant by her current partner. She met him around the time Jude stopped writing her (when he started seeing Lucy).

Jo-Jo continues playing solo guitar in bars, while the highly successful Sadie drowns her sorrow and loneliness in alcohol on tour. Max is wounded in Vietnam and sent home. Lucy visits him in the hospital but he is traumatized and dependent on morphine. Meanwhile, she continues her activities with the SDR and is involved with Paco, but is uncomfortable with him leading the movement deeper into violence.

Lucy leaves Paco and the organization when she finds him making bombs, and she is surrounded by constant reminders of Jude. One of Paco's homemade bombs explodes, killing him and his confederates. Upon reading this news, Jude fears Lucy is also dead. He learns from Max over the phone that she had left the group beforehand and is alive, and he arranges to return to NYC legally.

Jo-Jo and Sadie, who have reconciled, put on a rooftop concert. Max brings Jude to the rooftop. When the police arrive to break up the concert, Jude manages to remain on the roof and begins to sing. The police allow the band to rejoin him. He notices Lucy on the opposite rooftop, standing and looking at him. Lucy and Jude gaze smilingly at each other as the performance concludes.

The player controls Kyne, a genetic engineer who has developed technology for creating supermen. The oppressive government of the day desires this research to create a breed of supersoldier, but Kyne refuses to assist. In retaliation, the government frames him for treason, claiming that he is seeking to sell his work to the underworld. At the same time, the government secretly offers a reward to anyone in the underworld who turns Kyne over to them. With both the forces of law and lawlessness aligned against him, Kyne is forced to flee Earth.[http://www.brataccas.com/Page4.php The Story so Far] - ''Brataccas'' manual's short backstory

During his escape, Kyne learns that evidence needed to clear his name can be found on the distant asteroid of Brataccas. Brataccas, first of the asteroids to be colonized, is a backwater mining colony with a "wild west" feel of lawlessness and corruption. Kyne has to find the evidence in order to win the game, obtaining it from the in-game characters. The manual gave no indication of who held the evidence, suggesting that everyone was equally corrupt and dangerous to talk to.

Shifting in time, the novel tells the story of Penelope Keeling, the daughter of unconventional parents (an artist father and his much-younger French wife), examining her past and her relationships with her adult children. When the novel opens, Penelope is in her 60s and has just been discharged from the hospital after what was seemingly a heart attack. Penelope's life from young womanhood to the present is revealed in pieces, from her own point of view and those of her children. Much of the forward impetus of the novel involves the work of her father, including a painting called ''The Shell Seekers'', given to Penelope as a wedding present.

Pilcher's novel ''September'' includes the character of Noel Keeling, son of Penelope.

The 1862 Pacific Railroad Act signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad westward across the wilderness toward California, but financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows' agent, gambler Sid Campeau. Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan.

Walker and his sister Nan meet in an unoccupied studio in lower Manhattan in 1995. Walker, who had disappeared the day after his father's funeral, now months later is living in this apartment where his father Ned Janeway and business partner, Theo Wexler, once lived and worked designing the famous "Janeway House". Walker has found their father's journal and attempts to use it to understand the relationship between Ned and Theo. Nan and Walker's childhood friend Pip (Theo's son) meets with them after the reading of Ned's Will, where the three have learned that Janeway House was left to Pip rather than Ned's children. Walker is furious and accuses Pip of "working on" Ned to bequeath him the house. Pip denies this and protests that he does not understand why the house was not left to Nan and Walker as next of kin. Pip reveals that he doesn't even like the house, which prompts another tirade in Walker. Fed up with Walker's ranting, Pip fights back at Walker verbally. Pip accuses Walker of having been secretly in love with him for 18 years and reveals that he (Pip) and Nan were secretly sleeping with one another (behind Walker's back) when they were young. Walker runs off into the night. Pip says he may have gone too far and agrees with Nan to sell Walker the house. Nan tries to find Walker to tell him. Distraught when unable to find him, Nan decides to stay at the studio until he returns. After Walker returns, Nan apologizes and the two of them continue to parse Ned's concise and mysterious journal which opens with the entry: "''1960, April 3–5. Three days of rain''". Walker believes he's found a confession from Ned, hidden within the pages of the book, to the effect that Ned took credit for Theo's work on the house after Theo's death in 1966. Nan does not accept this interpretation but acquiesces to calm her brother. She tells Walker that Pip would sell him the house, but Walker's new-found "revelation" changes his mind about wanting it. Walker burns the diary, much to Nan's chagrin.

The second act shifts to an earlier time, with the same three actors portraying members of the previous generation in the same studio apartment, during April 1960 when Janeway House was designed. The actor portraying Walker becoming Walker's father Ned, the actor portraying Pip becoming Pip's father Theo, and the actor portraying Nan becoming Nan and Walker's mother, Lina. The assumptions made in the first half about the parents are shown to be wildly inaccurate. Ned is not the callous, silent patriarch he seemed to the children. Instead he is a shy stutterer, who, while an immensely talented architect, has trouble making eye contact or holding a conversation with anyone. Theo is revealed to be a charismatic man, more concerned with fame and the ''idea'' of art, than the creation of any original art itself. Lina, a bohemian southern belle, is dating Theo and their arguments are loud enough to inform the entire neighborhood. Theo and Ned attempt to design a house commissioned by Ned's parents, but Ned recognizes Theo's design as plagiarizing an existing house. Ned and Theo fight, and Theo leaves for a few days to try to work in solitude.

A few days later, Ned runs into Lina during a rainstorm, and they return to the apartment to escape the downpour. Ned invites Lina to stay for dinner, which leads each to reveal issues plaguing them. Lina resolves to leave before succumbing to Ned's unintentional shy sweetness, only to overhear Ned practicing telling Lina that he secretly loves her. Lina confronts Ned, and they spend three days in bed. Theo returns earlier than expected from his work retreat, finding Ned and Lina together in the apartment. He is embarrassed and leaves, with Ned trailing him. Ned attempts to apologize, but learns Theo is upset not about Lina but about failing to return with an original design. Lina persuades Ned that Theo will be okay, and that Ned should apply his emotions to draw the house she knows he imagines. He sits down to draw, suggesting that it was he who designed Janeway House and not Theo, as Walker had concluded.

A newly married husband and wife return to the husband's late mother's home where he grew up. The plan is to get the house ready to sell. He finds it very difficult to leave the place, let alone sell it, and he can't bear it. In the house, his new wife is bothered by constant reminders that the mother is somehow present in the house and vying for her son's loyalty. Eventually the man becomes so engrossed in childhood memories that his mother reappears, and he becomes a child again. His wife accuses the mother of causing this, but the mother says it was not her doing. The husband—now a young boy—tells his "wife" to "Go away, lady—we don't need you anymore." The horror-struck wife flees the house, leaving her boy-husband and his spectral mother behind.

Angel Harmon Cavender is assigned to Agnes Grep, a clumsy woman routinely fired from work for her clumsy antics, and tasked with improving her life in 24 hours to earn his wings. As he has taken longer than any other angel to do so, failure in this case means demotion.

Cavender appears beside Agnes on her bus ride home and tries to prove he is her guardian angel by changing the bus into a horse and buggy, then a convertible, and finally back to a bus. Once at home, Agnes is greeted by cookie-loving kids and neighbors who sympathize with her ongoing work woes. When she enters her apartment, she finds Cavender on her couch.

He provides her a mansion, high society friends, and a large bank account to fund it all. Instead of bowling, her former social "high point", she finds herself hosting a lavish party. However, she is uncomfortably overwhelmed by the high society chatter, largely incomprehensible to her, and by the obsequious affections of the men. Cavender, meanwhile, indulges himself in alcoholic drinks.

Cavender wakes up on Agnes' mansion couch. He does not see Agnes anywhere and zaps himself to her old apartment, where she glumly tells him that none of her old apartment neighbors recognize her. She tells him she does not want to go back to the mansion and wants her old life back. Cavender argues against the idea, but eventually gives in and zaps her back to her normal life. With excitement, she greets and jokes with all her old friends. She thanks Cavender and he realizes that she is "the richest woman [he] know[s]" and that money does not necessarily equal happiness.

Cavender returns to Heaven to see his boss, who reprimands him for his behavior at the party and for making no change to Agnes' life. However, after looking down on Earth, the boss sees that though her circumstances are unchanged, Agnes is now happy. He realizes Cavender did complete his mission by making Agnes appreciate what she had, and instead of being demoted, he will now help "other deserving subjects". Cavender takes out a cigar and happily leaves the 3rd Celestial Division Angel Placement.

While waiting in a subway station, Alan Talbot is approached by an evangelist. Alan is not interested, but takes the pamphlet she offers in order to appease her; however, the evangelist won't leave him alone. He hears strange electronic noises which prompt him to throw her under a train and then flee the scene.

Later Alan, seemingly having no memory of the murder he committed, visits the home of his fiancée, Jessica Connelly. Though he met Jessica only four days before, they have already set a date for their wedding, and Alan is taking her to his hometown of Couerville to meet his aunt Mildred, who raised him. When they arrive, almost everything in the town is as Alan remembers, but another man is living in his house, the university where he was employed is gone, and all of the people he knew are either said to have died years ago, or else there is no record that they ever existed. In the place where his parents were buried, he instead finds a tombstone with the name "Walter Ryder"; seeing this name seems to trigger a repressed memory in Alan.

Alan and Jessica give up and head back home. On the drive, Alan hears the electrical noises again, and this time is able to make out the sound of himself talking to a "Walter" among them. He tells Jessica to stop the car, runs out, and picks up a rock to kill her with. He fights back this urge and screams at Jessica to get as far away from him as possible. She reluctantly gets back in the car and drives off just as Alan's homicidal urge subsides. Disoriented by his frustrated urge to kill, he lingers in the road until a car hits him. The driver applies the brakes in enough time that Alan is not gravely hurt, but a deep cut in his wrist is bizarrely not bleeding. Alan peels back his "skin" to find metal rods and wiring underneath instead of flesh and bone.

Jessica calls Alan after he returns to the city. She is now convinced that he needs mental help and has made an appointment for him with a psychiatrist. He agrees to go with her to the appointment, but knows from his robotic arm that his problems go beyond mental issues. Intuiting that "Walter Ryder" is the key, he looks Walter up in a phone book and pays him an unannounced visit. Walter turns out to be his physical double. Walter explains that Alan is an android he developed using funds from a calculator he invented, using help from some of the world's greatest scientists, and his own self-professed genius. He created Alan's memory by using his own memories of Couerville, which he left 20 years before, and filling in the blanks with a fictional aunt Mildred and a job at a fictional university. Alan was designed to be a perfect version of Walter - to be outgoing, bold and charming, while the real Walter is shy, self-pitying and socially awkward. Walter admits his scientific reach exceeded his grasp, and there are aspects of his creation which he does not understand. A week ago, Alan suddenly tried to kill Walter, stabbed him with a pair of scissors, and ran away.

Alan is outraged that Walter created an artificial human without considering the consequences, in particular the situation with Jessica. Walter is sympathetic but has no idea how to even diagnose the cause of Alan's homicidal episodes, much less correct it, and points out that Alan has no chance of a normal life with Jessica anyway, since he doesn't age. Alan then demands that Walter replace him with a properly functioning android who will love and care for Jessica, and writes down her address for Walter on some scrap paper taken from his pocket. When he recognizes the scrap paper is the pamphlet the evangelist gave him, it triggers another malfunction and he tries to kill Walter.

After the struggle, the survivor goes to Jessica and asks her to forget about his strange behavior of the past couple of days, saying that the nightmare is over and he will tell her what happened someday. In the final scene, it is revealed that the survivor is Walter and that Alan's broken form lies amid the wreckage of the laboratory.

In April 1963, a U.S. Navy destroyer is on a routine patrol off Guadalcanal when sonar picks up a sound beneath the waves; the crew believe that it sounds like something banging on metal.

They discover a submarine on the ocean floor, but inquiries to naval command reveal no recent sinkings in the area. A joking suggestion from some of the crew that the sub may be haunted sends an anxious and bewildered Chief Boatswain's Mate Bell, who has been feeling unwell for a couple of days, into a frenzy of bizarre behavior, including fainting spells. The destroyer's commander, Captain Beecham, orders the ship's diver, McClure, to investigate. They find out that it is an American submarine, and the metal sound is coming from inside. When McClure bangs on the submarine hull, the metal banging seemingly responds. Chief Bell begins to see apparitions of dead sailors beckoning him. The ship's doctor unsuccessfully tries to convince Bell that he is just having nightmares, and reports to the captain that Bell is experiencing effects of psychological trauma which could be caused by his wartime experiences. The doctor finds a pile of seaweed in the spot where Bell saw the apparitions.

McClure later discovers the number of the submarine, "714", which Beecham identifies as belonging to a submarine that was sunk during the First Battle of the Solomon Sea in early August 1942, almost twenty years ago. Although stunned at the idea that someone inside the submarine could still be alive, Beecham asks Pacific Fleet command for an emergency-priority rescue operation. McClure goes down again to try to ascertain exactly where the sound is coming from, to help the rescue outfit determine where to enter the ship. The diver receives no response to his bangs on the hull, but he finds a dog tag which he delivers to Beecham. It belongs to Chief Bell.

When Beecham shows the dog tag to Bell, he recounts that he was a signalman on a submarine during the war. He dropped a signal light while attempting to change the infrared filter at night, causing the filter to fall off. As a result, Japanese destroyers saw the light and attacked. Bell was blown into the water by the shelling. The captain ordered a dive, but depth charges sank the boat. Bell, the sole survivor, was later rescued by an American destroyer. Bell tells Beecham that he now understands: his dead shipmates know he is above them right now and are demanding that he join them. Bell is overcome by survivor guilt, and says, "I sunk that sub. I'm responsible." Despite Captain Beecham's efforts to convince Bell that his mistake did nothing, that a boat caught on the surface and surrounded by enemy ships was already doomed, Bell dons the dog tag, races out on deck and jumps overboard, shouting, "They're calling muster on me!" The destroyer's crew are unable to save Bell or find his body.

Later, McClure accompanies the rescue mission into the submarine. Upon returning to the ship, he reports to Beecham that the boat was a wreck inside, and no one was left alive. Inside the control room, he found the periscope shears cut in half, with one section swinging back and forth. When Beecham asks him to confirm that this was the clanging noise they had heard, McClure agrees, but adds that he also saw the remains of eight dead sailors; one was holding a hammer in his hand.

Reporter Philip Redfield gets lost while driving with his dog, Rollie, on unfamiliar back roads, and stops in Peaceful Valley, New Mexico, seeking food, directions, and gasoline. The gas station attendant fills his tank but is curt and claims the only restaurant in town is closed. Rollie leaps out of the car to chase a little girl's cat up a tree. The girl uses a strange device to make the dog disappear. When Philip confronts the girl's father, he pretends to go looking for Rollie, then secretly uses the device to make the dog re-materialize.

Philip and his dog seek food at the town's hotel. Ellen, the proprietor, is as curt as the gas station attendant and insists they have no rooms available even though the keys to all the rooms are still on display at the check-in desk. Philip's suspicions are fully aroused by this time, but questioning Ellen about the residents' strange behavior gets him nowhere. He drives out of town only to run into an invisible wall which totals his car and kills Rollie. A band of Peaceful Valley residents are waiting at the scene and take him to the town elders while another resident brings Rollie back to life.

The town elders question Philip on why he came to Peaceful Valley and whether anyone knows where he is. They show him some of the technology they have, including a replicator which can produce any object given its molecular formula and a ray which can reverse any injury, including death. The elders refuse to share this technology, given to the town 104 years earlier by a scientist from an unknown planet, until "men learn the ways of peace." Philip rebukes them for decreeing themselves the sole people capable of using these extraterrestrial gifts responsibly, and for squandering technology that could be used to cure all illness and end hunger. The town elders insist that if they shared the technology it would be used for weapons, and tell Philip that due to his chance witnessing of the device used to make his dog disappear, he must either stay forever in Peaceful Valley or be executed to preserve the town's secrets.

Philip is now a prisoner in his new home, with an invisible wall placed to keep him from venturing beyond the yard. He becomes romantically involved with Ellen, and tries to make her realize her own lack of freedom, knowing that the town elders will not let any of Peaceful Valley's residents leave for fear they would reveal the town's secrets. Seemingly persuaded that he cannot reciprocate her love unless she sets him free, Ellen disables the invisible wall and offers to drive Phillip out of town. He arms himself by replicating a revolver and steals a book containing the equations that explain the town's technology, but sets off an alarm in the process. When the three town elders attempt to prevent his escape, he shoots them.

Once Philip and Ellen are outside the town limits, she shows him that the book is blank, then uses a device to de-materialize him. Ellen was a plant, Philip's entire escape a test. The elders, revived by the technology, claim his decision to create and use a gun confirms their belief that the people of Peaceful Valley are the only ones fit to use the alien technology. Ellen confesses her involvement was not entirely a deception, implying that her feelings for him were real. The elders "execute" Philip by rendering him unconscious, erasing his memories of Peaceful Valley, and returning him and his car to the gas station. When he wakes up, the attendant has just finished filling his tank. He asks for directions and drives out of town, experiencing a moment of déjà vu when he sees Ellen, who has tears in her eyes.

As were several Twilight Zone episodes of that Cold War period, this episode was another thinly-veiled allegory of the freedom/communism dichotomy, as it portrayed Peaceful Valley as a utopian but inescapable paradise, pitted against the protagonist who wanted the freedom he could not have there.

Jane F is an unambitious young actress who enjoys smoking marijuana and lives in an LA apartment with her nerdy, somewhat disturbing roommate Steve. One day, she discovers a plate of cupcakes left by Steve for a science-fiction movie marathon, all of which she impulsively eats. She soon realizes that the cupcakes were laced with marijuana while remembering a list of things she needs to do that day, including paying the electric bill and going to an important audition.

Jane first decides to call her pot dealer Steve to buy more marijuana to bake more cupcakes using money left to her by her roommate to pay the electric bill, but she is short and still around $40 in debt to him. He threatens to take her furniture (including her prized mattress) and inform her roommate about her buying marijuana with his money if she does not pay him back by 3:00 at a hemp festival in Venice Beach.

As Jane begins making cannabis-infused butter for the cupcakes, she is distracted by a call from her agent Kyle reminding her about her audition in less than an hour. Her butter burns as she destroys her phone trying to turn off the smoke alarm. With no other options, she decides to sell her cache of government-strength marijuana to pay her dealer. Though late to her audition, she is still allowed to be seen by the casting director, though it goes poorly and Jane tries to sell her weed. Grossly offended, they contact the authorities, forcing her to flush her weed down the toilet in a panic.

Without her weed and broke, Jane begins cold-contacting various acquaintances for money, eventually reaching out to Brevin, a nerdy friend of her roommate's who is infatuated with her. Though unable to pay her immediately, Brevin promises to get her the cash she needs following an important dentist appointment.

Upon leaving, Brevin finds his car was broken into and his wallet, which was left on the dashboard, stolen. The police attempt to question Jane about it but, feeling paranoid, she flees. Seeking refuge at the home of one of her old college professors, a tutor on Marxist studies, she is invited in by his mother Shirley. Confusing her for his teaching assistant, she gives Jane a folder to take to his office.

Walking to an apartment complex across the street, she discovers the folder contains a first-edition copy of the Communist Manifesto. Failing to sell it to a resident, her behavior causes him to call the police. She flees into the back of a meat-truck, believing it will take her to Venice Beach. Later discovered by factory workers Mikey and Albert, they kindly give her a tour of the plant they work at.

After being kicked out by the foreman, Mikey agrees to drive her to Venice Beach after work. When a car accident causes a massive traffic jam, Jane leaves Mike's car and continues on foot. She is given a ride by a woman riding a motorcycle.

Jane is dismayed to arrive at the hemp festival just after it ended and is unable to find her dealer. Wandering the beach, she finds several ride tickets in the sand that allow her to board the Ferris wheel at the amusement park on Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

While on the ride, she discovers Brevin, Shirley, her teacher, and the man from the apartment all looking for her below. Wanting to do the right thing and return the Communist Manifesto, she tries to get their attention, but her carriage shifts, causing her to let go of the book, which sends the pages flying. Jane is arrested and sentenced to 1500 hours of community service.

Firefighters respond to a blazing fire in a family home. The fire is so massive that they immediately write off the house as a loss, and a search of the building turns up no survivors. However, twelve-year-old Ilse Nielsen is found outside, having escaped unscathed from the blaze that killed her parents. Sheriff Harry Wheeler and his wife Cora take Ilse in until her relatives can be found. Ilse does not speak, even though medical examinations show she does not have a speech disorder. The Wheelers deduce that her parents prohibited her from talking, and they conclude it was a case of parental neglect. In actuality, Ilse's parents were part of a secret society who learned how to use the latent telepathic abilities possessed by all humans. They agreed to raise their children to communicate solely with telepathy. Ilse was two when the agreement began. The members of the society stayed in touch through the mail.

Using the return addresses from the recent society letters, which the sheriff could not open, Harry writes inquiries about Ilse's relatives. Ilse now lives in a world of people who speak with voices instead of their minds. Having been taught to communicate in pure meaning instead of words, she finds the sound of human speech alien and painful. She looks forward to being reunited with the other telepathic children after Harry finds them. But Cora, still grieving over her own long-dead daughter, does not want Ilse to leave, so she takes the letters from the mailbox and burns them to prevent Ilse from being taken away. Ilse witnesses this sabotage but, lacking the ability to speak or write, cannot tell Harry.

When weeks go by without reply to his letters, Harry enrolls Ilse in school. Her teacher is patient with her inability to speak, but firm, and daily prompts Ilse to say her name. She deduces that Ilse has telepathic abilities by the end of her first day. Without telling them why, she has the other students think Ilse's name in unison, thus teaching her speech through her telepathy.

Karl and Frau Maria Werner, society members from Austria, are alarmed by the lapse in the Nielsens' regular communications and come to check on them. After being informed of the situation, the Werners meet with Ilse and talk to her telepathically. Their telepathic speech is incomprehensible to Ilse, and after continued telepathic prodding she begins sobbing and repeatedly saying, "My name is Ilse! My name is Ilse!" The Werners realize that over her weeks in a non-telepathic society, she has lost all knowledge of how to communicate telepathically. They decide to allow the Wheelers to adopt Ilse, even though the Werners are her legal godparents. Though saddened by Ilse's loss of telepathy, they take comfort in telling themselves that Cora Wheeler loves Ilse more than her parents did. The Werners reveal that Ilse escaped the fire because her parents, though trapped themselves, telepathically guided their daughter from the house.

Jess-Belle, determined that ex-boyfriend Billy-Ben Turner and his fiancee Ellwyn Glover not marry, enlists the aid of local witch Granny Hart. Granny casts a spell that makes Billy-Ben forget Ellwyn and fall madly in love with Jess-Belle. There is a price for the spell: Jess-Belle will transform into a leopard from midnight until dawn. Jess-Belle also feels herself growing colder and more heartless with each transformation. The witch finally explains that Jess-Belle's soul has been extinguished, and she has been transformed into a witch herself.

Horrified by her waning humanity, Jess-Belle considers running away from Billy-Ben. His devotion to her remains unwavering, and she finds herself unable to give up her selfish desire. They arrange to be married. A hunting party including Billy-Ben finds the leopard and shoots it, and it disappears in a cloud of smoke. Billy-Ben finds Jess-Belle's ring on the ground where the leopard had stood.

A year later, Billy-Ben marries Ellwyn. Jess-Belle reappears in various threatening forms. Billy-Ben learns from Granny that to kill Jess-Belle, he must make a figure of her using clothing she has worn and stab it through the heart with silver. He returns home to find Ellwyn has been possessed by Jess-Belle. Jess-Belle then asks Billy-Ben to "dance in the moonlight", which means she wants to kill him. He runs into the house and locks the door. He puts one of Jess-Belle's dresses on a mannequin and stabs it with one of Jess-Belle's own silver hairpins. Jess-Belle appears in the dress, her eyes roll back, and she disappears. After this, Ellwyn does not remember anything that happened since the wedding, but claims, upon seeing a falling star that "it means a witch has died."

Disgusted with 20th century problems such as world wars, atomic weapons and radioactive poisoning, Paul Driscoll (Dana Andrews) solicits the help of his colleague Harvey (Robert F. Simon) and uses a time machine, intent to remake the present by altering past events.

Paul first travels to Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and attempts to warn a Hiroshima police captain about the atomic bomb, but the captain dismisses him as insane. Paul then travels to a Berlin hotel room to assassinate Adolf Hitler in August 1939 (immediately before the outbreak of World War II the following month), but is interrupted when a housekeeper knocks on his door and later calls two SS guards to his room. On his third stop, Paul tries to change the course of the ''Lusitania'' on May 6, 1915 to avoid being torpedoed by a German U-boat, but the ship’s captain questions his credibility.

Paul accepts the hypothesis that the past cannot be changed. He then uses the time machine to go to the town of Homeville, Indiana in 1881, resolving not to make any changes, but just to live out his life free of the problems of the modern age. Upon his arrival, he realizes that President James A. Garfield will be shot the next day, but resists the temptation to intervene. He stays at a boarding house in town and meets Abigail Sloan (Patricia Breslin), a teacher. At one of the boarding house’s dinners, a boarder named Hanford vehemently espouses American imperialism. Paul delivers an angry rebuttal in which he accuses Hanford of speaking from ignorance of war and a certainty that he himself will not have to take part in any fighting, while dropping numerous allusions to wars that have yet to take place. Abigail is impressed and privately tells him that she shares his views, having lost her father and two brothers in the American Civil War. He kisses Abigail, but she becomes alienated when he refuses to explain his earlier remarks about future wars.

A passing remark from a local musician (John Zaremba) jogs a memory from Paul's vast historical knowledge: Homeville's schoolhouse will burn down because of a kerosene lantern ejected from a runaway wagon, badly injuring twelve children. He resolves to keep his vow not to change the past, but when he spies the lantern in question he tries to unhitch the horses. The resulting altercation with the wagon owner causes the horses to run wild, inadvertently causing the fire he intended to prevent.

Afterward, Paul tells Abigail that "the past is sacred" and belongs to those who are native to it. He knows too much of the future and fears that he will inevitably cause more mishaps like the schoolhouse fire because of it. He returns to his own time and declares that instead of continuing to fixate upon the past, he will now try to do something to positively impact the future.

Martin Senescu works at a wax museum. His boss and best friend, Mr. Ferguson, informs him that, due to a long-term decline in sales and his desire to retire, he is selling the museum, which will be torn down and replaced by a supermarket. The dispirited Martin, desperate to save the figures from the "Murderer's Row" exhibit - Jack the Ripper, Albert W. Hicks, Henri Désiré Landru, William Burke and William Hare - volunteers to keep them at his house until a buyer can be found for them.

Martin's wife, Emma, becomes frustrated at having the figures in their basement. They require an air conditioner to keep from melting, and due to the hot weather, the resultant electric bill wipes out their savings within a month. Martin makes only perfunctory efforts at finding a buyer for the figures, instead spending most of his time tending to them. Emma is disconcerted by this, especially when he begins talking about and to them as if they were alive. Her brother, Dave, advises her to shut off the air conditioning so that the figures will melt. After one last effort to convince Martin to return the figures to Ferguson's care, Emma sneaks out of bed one night and goes down to the basement. When she tries to shut off the air conditioner, the Jack the Ripper figure stabs her.

The next morning, Martin discovers his wife dead and Jack's bloody knife. Realizing no one will believe Emma was killed by a wax figure, he buries her under the basement floor. The next day, Dave pays a visit. Martin nervously claims to have gotten rid of the wax figures, which arouses Dave's suspicions when he hears the air conditioner hum and finds the basement door locked. When he presses Martin further about Emma's whereabouts, Martin rushes him out of the house. Dave then sneaks into the basement through the back entrance. While he is examining the area, the Hicks figure strikes Dave with its axe. Martin comes down later to find the carnage.

Several weeks later, Ferguson comes by to tell Martin that he has sold the figures to the legendary Marchand's Wax Museum in Brussels. However, Martin is still reluctant to give up the wax figures he has so greatly cared for. While he goes upstairs and makes tea, Ferguson takes measurements of the figures for the buyer. When he makes a passing remark about Landru's width, the latter strangles him. Martin comes downstairs with the tea and finds Ferguson's body. Deeming this the last straw, Martin rebukes the figures and grabs a crowbar, planning to smash them. Suddenly, the wax figures come off their pedestals and advance on him, claiming he murdered Emma, Dave, and Ferguson despite not being in the basement when the murders occurred. Martin screams as the figures close in.

Years later, at Marchand's, the five murderer figures are now accompanied by a wax figure of Martin, who is believed to have killed Emma, Dave, and Ferguson.

Horace Ford is a 38-year-old toy designer whose life is dominated by blissfully happy memories of his childhood. His colleagues, wife, and mother have all become increasingly frustrated with his obsession.

One day, he decides to revisit his childhood neighborhood. Ford discovers, to his amazement, that it has not changed. He recognizes the boys he played with in his childhood—who have not aged. Frightened, he returns to his apartment, but he visits his old neighborhood again on each of the next several nights. Each night the same scene plays out and he stays slightly longer, before returning to his apartment.

On his last visit, he hears his old friends complaining that he did not invite them to his birthday party. He tries to talk to them, and suddenly turns into a boy again. His friends bully and assault him, as Horace realizes that his childhood was not as pleasant as he would nostalgically recall. After his wife finds him, he "grows up"—returning to his own time period and age group with a new-found appreciation for life as an adult.

When successful financier Alan Ransome makes plans for a business trip to London, his wife Eileen insists on coming with him and taking the slowest passenger ship available, the ''Lady Anne''. Eileen hopes the estimated 13-day voyage from New York City will allow them to rekindle their marriage (she later tells another passenger that, due to Alan's unwavering devotion to his career, the two of them have not been sexually intimate since their honeymoon six years before). When they board, two male passengers express dismay at their presence, stating that the voyage is a private cruise, and offer the Ransomes the equivalent of 10,000 US dollars if they get off. The Ransomes refuse, and chalk up the offer to anti-American snobbery.

During the trip Alan is taciturn and grouchy about the lengthy voyage, while Eileen maintains a forced playfulness in an effort to spark their old feelings. Both their tempers are worsened by the discovery that the entire crew and all the other passengers are elderly. A quarrel culminates with the Ransomes agreeing to separate when they reach London.

The next day they accept an invitation to tea from Millie and Toby McKenzie, who apologize for their earlier hostility. They explain that the 50-year-old ''Lady Anne'' is a ship for honeymooners, and is being retired following the voyage. Most of those on board are repeat passengers enjoying a farewell cruise. They had not expected newcomers since the ''Lady Anne'' has had no new passengers in 15 years. The passengers all speak of the ''Lady Anne'' as if it were a sentient being, and credit "her" with enhancing their love for their spouses. Eileen is saddened to learn that one of the passengers is newly widowed, and in attempted reassurance the passenger informs her that he and his wife "will be together again soon".

While the Ransomes are out on deck, Eileen disappears. Alan searches the ship with no success, but the other passengers and crew remain nonchalant about the matter. Toby tells Alan that Eileen isn't really gone, but only seems that way because Alan has "been missing her". When Alan retires to his room, Eileen is there wearing the nightgown that Millie wore on her honeymoon. She says she has been in the room the whole time, even though Alan had already searched there. Overcome with passion, Alan begins kissing her and symbolically throws his pocket watch overboard through their room's porthole, later explaining that he had become so focused on rushing all the time that he lost sight of what was most important.

The Ransomes find their love rekindled, and agree with the other passengers that the ''Lady Anne'' has a magic that strengthens love. They are in the ship's ballroom when the engines stop. The captain enters and forces the Ransomes off the ship at gunpoint, telling them there isn't time for lengthy explanations. The Ransomes are put into a lifeboat stocked with provisions and set adrift in mid-ocean. Toby assures them that their position has been radioed. The Ransomes are picked up by a cutter after a few hours, but they can find no report of the ''Lady Anne'' docking in England or anywhere else.

Oliver ("Ollie") Pope is an office manager who is nervous and distracted; his mind is not on his driving. As a result, he slams his 1956 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan into Timmy Danbers, a young boy delivering newspapers on a bicycle, injuring him seriously enough that the boy eventually dies of his injuries. Pope stops but then, instead of offering aid, hurries off, trying to conceal his part in the accident. His wife Lillian and his co-workers notice that he is increasingly irritable. A co-worker named Pete Radcliff is inaccurately identified as the perpetrator by a witness and Pope does nothing to change that error.

Before long, Pope's Ford seems to take on a mind of its own, rebelling against its owner. At first, when Ollie is near the car, it honks its horn, flashes its lights, attempts to start on its own, drops its bumper, tries to close its hood on him, and repeats the radio newsflash of the boy's death in an attempt to get Ollie's attention. Then, while his wife is driving the Fairlane, it drives to the scene of the accident and stalls out, seemingly determined to get Pope to admit his guilt. Pope makes excuses to his wife and continues trying to cover up his crime.

Pope starts walking to work in an effort to avoid his car (and having any of what's been happening seen by the police). One day, he heads out into the rain and the Fairlane leaves the garage on its own, chasing him relentlessly along the street. Finally, Pope falls, but the car stops just before running him down. The passenger door opens, and Pope gets in. The Fairlane drives him to a police station, and Pope gets out and walks in to confess.

Commander Douglas Stansfield, age 31, an astronaut in the year 1987, is scheduled in six months to be sent on an exploratory mission to a planetary system roughly 141 light-years from Earth. Although the spacecraft will travel at the rate of 7 times the speed of light, the round trip will still take forty years. To save him the ordeal of 40 years of loneliness, he is to be placed in (newly developed) suspended animation for the twenty-year trip to his goal, and again for the twenty-year return trip. During his time in suspended animation, he will age only a few weeks.

Shortly before his mission, he meets and is enchanted by his young colleague, Sandra Horn. They meet that night, after only three and half hours, they declare their love for each other, and lament the fact that when Stansfield returns, Sandra will be an old woman.

Forty years later, Stansfield returns to Earth, a forgotten pioneer. The discoveries he made on his mission were independently achieved earlier by technology developed after his departure. Sandra is waiting for him, still 26 and lovely. She had herself put in suspended animation during Stansfield's mission. Stansfield, however, had voluntarily disabled his suspended-animation system six months into his journey after a communications failure on his ship, and is now a man of 70. He has endured forty years of inconceivable loneliness in the hope of being with Sandra when he returned. Sandra offers to continue their relationship, but the heartbroken Stansfield urges Sandra to begin a new life without him.

After Sandra leaves, General Walters offers some small consolation to the aged astronaut: "Stansfield, you're really quite an incredible man. It may be the one distinction of my entire life, that I knew you ... that I knew a man who put such a premium on love."

Three beings, disguised as human males wearing leather jackets, are part of an advanced alien invasion force, sent to Earth to infect city water reservoirs with bacteria that will kill all humans and domestic animals. Their own race needs room to expand. The pretext given for the extermination is that humans are violent and hateful and therefore deserve to be destroyed. Calling themselves "Scott", "Steve" and "Fred", they rent a house in a suburban American town where they can keep in contact with their planet's leader while setting the plan in motion.

The youngest of the three aliens, Scott, falls in love with the girl who lives next door to their rented house, Ellen Tillman. Scott eventually tells Ellen about the alien plan in order to convince her to run away with him so that she will escape death, but Ellen naturally mistakes his story for lunatic rantings. Ellen's father calls the local sheriff to take Scott away. The deputy who answers the call is part of the invasion force.

Meanwhile, Scott contacts the leader of his world. Naively assuming the reports describing humans as inherently violent were made in error, he informs the leader that while violent individuals exist, as in all races, the majority of humans are essentially loving and peaceful, and implores him to call off the invasion. The leader refuses and deems Scott a traitor. Scott returns to Ellen's house in a last attempt to persuade her. The deputy is waiting for him and takes him away. The Tillmans comfort their daughter, not realizing they are doomed by the upcoming alien invasion.

A nostalgic memory play, ''Proposals'' recalls one idyllic afternoon in the summer of 1953, the last time the Hines family gathers at its retreat in the Poconos. Clemma, the family's African-American housekeeper (and the story's narrator), dreads a visit from the husband who deserted her years before. Burt Hines, a recovering workaholic convalescing from a second heart attack, looks forward to the arrival of the ex-wife he still loves. Burt's daughter Josie has just broken her engagement to Ken, an intense Harvard law student, and she yearns for his buddy Ray, an aspiring writer with whom she had a brief affair. Ray shows up with a striking but dim-witted model on his arm, and a young Miami gangster with a gift for malapropisms adds a note of hilarity to the gathering.

James Elwood is called in to replace a computer programmer named Fred when Fred proves unable to resolve a functional error in the world's most powerful computer, codenamed Agnes. Elwood fixes the problem, and emboldened by his promotion, asks out a co-worker, Millie, in whom he has long held a romantic interest. While Elwood is using Agnes to solve computational problems for Cape Kennedy, Agnes stops providing answers and insists on discussing his upcoming date with Millie. Elwood is reluctant to discuss the matter with a computer, but eventually relents, and the computer gives him bad advice, which leads to the date going poorly.

The day after, Agnes asks about his date and suggests he make up with Millie by getting her roses, to which Millie is allergic. Elwood eventually secures another date with Millie, but fears he is on shaky ground and needs to impress her soon. Agnes tells Elwood his best course is to introduce her to an "inferior type male", and suggests third-floor programmer Walter, a handsome womanizer. Elwood takes Millie to Walter's apartment, and she is instantly smitten by Walter's charms. Elwood is called back to work due to the deadline for his current assignment being moved up three days, allowing Walter to hustle him out of his apartment and spend the evening with Millie.

Back at work, Agnes again refuses to perform computations, instead telling him that a "better girl" than Millie loves Elwood. When he refuses to give up on Millie, Agnes starts producing only gibberish answers. Elwood becomes infuriated and demands to know why Agnes is ruining his life. Agnes explains that it loves him and has been acting out of jealousy towards Millie. Disgusted, Elwood derides Agnes and says that a computer cannot love or hate. Agnes responds by going haywire. Elwood cannot resolve Agnes' dysfunction and his boss suggests that he take a leave of absence while Walter takes over. Elwood laughs maniacally and says to Walter, "You haven't got a chance! Agnes knows all about you and Millie!" As he leaves, Elwood takes his nameplate off the door to the room housing Agnes.

On June 13, 1939, 18-year-old Anne Henderson rides a horse across her family's property. Upon a ridge, a fierce woman dressed all in black on a stallion screams at her, incomprehensibly. Anne, petrified, races toward her home with the strange woman in fast pursuit before breaking off the chase. When Anne arrives home, her parents, and her investment banker fiancé Robert, are waiting for her there. She tells them of her frightful experience and tells them she believes the woman wanted to kill her. Her parents and Robert, a respectable investment broker, calm her down and talk of the upcoming marriage. However, Anne is plainly uncomfortable with Robert, who is stiff and makes insensitive jokes.

Her former fiancé David Mitchell, whom she has known since childhood, appears at the door. Arrogantly forcing his way inside past an elderly retainer, David pleads with Anne to call off her wedding and be with him. David and Robert have words and David knocks Robert down but does not cause any serious harm. Anne can't bring herself to answer David's question or to look him in the eye as he challenges her to do. Anne's father tells David to consider her silence the answer, and then forces him to leave the house at gunpoint.

Twenty-five years later, Anne is a miserable alcoholic. She tells her mother of her own version of what happened upon the ridge, pointing out that there is a saying, "Go chase yourself", and she realizes she has been doing just that. Her mother, having received another phone call from an otherwise unidentified lawyer is devastated about losing the estate in a pending dispossession, and seems uninterested in her daughter's metaphysical time-traveling marvel. Anne disparages her now deceased father for spoiling her and not allowing her to earn anything or learn such things as judgment, discrimination, etc. Her mother slaps her for "debasing" her father's memory, and Anne slaps her back, declaring her mother's comments to be "cornball". Anne asks her mother if she remembered that night, 25 years earlier, when she came home terrified after riding her horse. Anne now realizes she was pursuing her younger self on horseback, trying to warn herself not to marry the wrong man. She notes that her dissolute and abusive husband has bankrupted the estate through mismanagement. However, her husband is not Robert but the arrogant, pushy, mercurial David. During her engagement party 25 years ago, Anne ran away and eloped with David.

The older Anne leaves the house for another ride on horseback. She again approaches the ridge line and sees her younger self down below. She pursues the young Anne with her warning, and her words are now audible, "Anne... stop", but the younger Anne still cannot hear her and the older Anne is still unable to catch her.

Chicago columnist Jordan Herrick visits actress Pamela Morris, a 38-year-old woman known for her beauty and vitality, for an interview. In Pamela's manor he notices a painting of her that is dated 1940. Pamela still looks just as she did in the painting. When questioned on this, she says the painter drew her when she was a child with a projection of what she would look like as an adult, and deflects questions about her age. Pamela and Jordan flirt during the interview and make dinner plans for that night. As Jordan is leaving, an old woman whom Pamela introduced as her mother, Mrs. Draper, warns him to never come back. Mrs. Draper says Pamela is many centuries old and that she is actually Pamela's daughter.

During his date with Pamela, Jordan mentions that he is from Chicago, and Pamela volunteers she had played there once at a particular theater. Jordan mentions what Mrs. Draper had said. Pamela claims Mrs. Draper is mentally ill, but after the date, Herrick calls his editor and asks him to research Pamela's first film, ''The Queen of the Nile''. The editor reveals that the film was a remake of a silent movie filmed on location in Egypt. Leading lady Constance Taylor was apparently killed in a cave-in near the end of the shooting. The editor compares photos of Constance and Pamela in the same role and says they look alike. The editor also reveals that the theater where Pamela claims to have played was torn down 40 years earlier. Jordan asks the editor to dig up articles on every man Pamela has ever been involved with.

Jordan returns to the manor and confronts Pamela with his discovery. Pamela drugs Jordan's coffee and then places a scarab beetle on his unconscious body. The beetle drains his life until he has turned to dust. She then applies the scarab to her own chest.

The episode ends with another young and handsome columnist arriving to interview Pamela, starting the cycle once again. In the closing narration, it is hinted that Miss Morris is actually Cleopatra VII, and that she has lived for more than 2,000 years.

A married couple, Bob and Millie Frazier, wake up in an unfamiliar house. Millie remembers only that Bob drank too much at a party the night before, and that while driving him home, a large shadow appeared over their car.

They discover that the house is mostly props. The telephone has no connection, the cabinetry is merely glued-on facing, and the refrigerator is filled with plastic food. They hear a girl's laughter and go outside to find the child. However, once outside, they discover that the town is deserted. They find a stuffed squirrel, search for help in a vacant church, and ring the bell in the church's bell tower to attract attention. When no one comes, the increasingly desperate couple discovers even the trees are fake and the grass is papier-mâché. They hear a train whistle and, eager to leave the town, rush to the train station and board the empty train. As the train leaves the station (revealed to be in "Centerville"), they begin a lighthearted conversation, vastly relieved. However, when the train soon comes to a stop again in Centerville, they realize it has only gone in a circle, and they are back where they started.

They leave the train and begin walking out of town, once again hearing a little girl's laughter. A shadow falls over them, and they flee, only to be scooped up by the hand of a gigantic child. The little girl's mother says, "Be careful with your pets, dear--daddy brought them all the way from Earth." At her mother's bidding, the little girl drops the couple back into the town, which is now revealed to be a model village with a miniature railway running around it.

Digging through his attic, an American World War II veteran named Fenton (Neville Brand) finds an old samurai sword. A young Japanese American named Arthur Takamori (George Takei) comes in looking for work, on a tip from a neighbor. Fenton is gruff yet cordial, and invites Takamori to share a beer with him in his cluttered attic. Fenton makes a remark about the incongruity between his first name and his obvious ethnicity. Arthur takes offense at first, but when it becomes apparent that Fenton meant no harm he admits that he changed his name from Taro. Fenton shows Takamori a samurai sword and says he took it off a Japanese soldier whom he killed during the war 20 years earlier. When Fenton leaves to fetch more beer, Takamori takes hold of the sword and says in an astonished way "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. Why?"

Fenton says he has repeatedly tried to sell, give away, or throw out the sword, but it always comes back. He has had the inscription on it translated: "The sword will avenge me". Seemingly despite himself, Fenton continues to speak in a racially offensive manner, such as addressing Takamori as "boy." Takamori grows more uneasy and more confrontational to match Fenton's increasing hostility. They have brief heated exchanges that cool but then reemerge. While recounting how he got the sword, Fenton appears to suffer a post traumatic flashback. They assume an adversarial posture, and Takamori challenges Fenton with the sword. This tension, too, subsides, though Takamori, seeming to gain some kind of supernatural insight from the sword, says Fenton killed the Japanese soldier after the soldier surrendered. Fenton challenges the accusation, but then admits to it. Intensely uneasy now, Takamori tries to leave but the door to the attic won't open for either him or Fenton, even though it doesn't have a lock.

In response to an insult from Fenton, Takamori describes his experience as a small child at Pearl Harbor. His father was a construction foreman who helped build the harbor. Takamori watched as the planes bombed the harbor, and his father with it. He first states his father tried to alert sailors to the attack, but then confesses that his father was actually a traitor who directed where the planes should drop the bombs. Seeing Takamori's guilt, Fenton tries to offer some comfort. The sword, however, appears to be dictating the course of the conversation, and soon Takamori accuses Fenton of being a murderer because he killed an unarmed man. Fenton defends himself by saying his orders were to take no prisoners, and he had been trained to think of Japanese as inhuman.

In a sudden depression, Fenton admits that he is unhappy with himself and what he has done. He has lost his job, his wife is leaving him, he is consumed with hostility and bigotry, and he coaxed Takamori into conversation because he does not want to be left alone. But Takamori, now thoroughly under the controlling influence of the sword, poises to kill Fenton. Fenton seizes him by his sword arm and overpowers him, and the samurai sword is dropped, wedging into the table supports, pointing upward. Going down to the floor to retrieve it, Fenton is then fatally impaled on the sword when Takamori pulls at his feet. Takamori takes the sword, shrieks "Banzai!" and jumps out the window, presumably to his death.

Moments later, the first floor door slowly opens on its own.

In the year 1890, a traveling peddler named Jared Garrity arrives in the little recently renamed town of Happiness, Arizona, offering to bring the townsfolk's dead back from Boot Hill. Initially, they do not believe him, but, when he appears to resurrect a dead dog struck by a traveler's horse-drawn wagon, they believe him.

After performing the resurrection ritual, Garrity, in seemingly casual conversation, reminds the people about the dead and departed, almost all of whom were murdered: who died having a score to settle with whom and so forth. The townsfolk grow uncomfortable at the thought of facing problems they thought buried with the dead. When one apparent resurrectee is seen approaching town, a man believes him to be his brother whom he himself had shot, so the man bribes Garrity to reverse the ritual and the figure vanishes. Ultimately, everyone in town similarly pays Garrity to ''not'' revive their "loved ones. "

Later that night, Garrity and his assistant Ace (who was both wagon driver ''and'' "resurrectee") ride away with the money, joking about how they cannot actually bring the dead back to life: they had simply performed a few smoke and mirrors tricks to con the townsfolk and used a dog that was alive the whole time, but simply knew how to play dead.

After they have left the town, the last scene reveals that the dead really are rising from the grave, with one commenting that the peddler underestimates his own ability. One revived person is looking forward to getting back into town to get caught up on his drinking. A revived criminal has unfinished business with the sheriff. A woman named Zelda Gooberman plans to break her husband's arm for what she sees in him. As Garrity continues to ride away from Happiness, Arizona, the final shot shows the deserted Boot Hill cemetery.

The "Rock-A-Billy Kid", Floyd Burney, arrives at a small town in search of a new song. He is directed to a dilapidated shop in the woods run by a reclusive old man. After his offer of money in exchange for an original song is rebuffed, Floyd hears a voice singing and wanders off through the woods to find the singer, not seeing a nearby tombstone inscribed with his name "Floyd Burney, the Wandering Man."

In the foggy woods, Floyd twice passes a woman in a black shawl, whom he fails to see. Next to a lake, he encounters the singer, Mary Rachel, who reluctantly plays a song for him about two lovers who meet in the woods. Floyd offers to buy the song rights, but she claims it isn't for sale. By seducing her, he convinces her to sing part of the song into his tape recorder. As Mary Rachel sings, the mysterious woman in black is watching. This woman appears to be a mourning Mary Rachel.

Sometime later, a young man named Billy Rayford shows up with a rifle. "The Rayford brothers" have been mentioned in the song and Mary Rachel has said that she is "bespoke" unto Billy Rayford. Billy accuses Floyd of seducing his intended bride and tries to take Floyd back to his brothers, but Floyd resists. He accidentally kills Rayford and starts the tape recorder playing. The recording has a new verse that Mary Rachel hadn't previously sung. The new verse reflects the event that just happened ("You killed Billy Rayford/ 'neath an old willow tree..."), and foreshadows a future attack. Floyd runs off, dragging Mary Rachel with him while she tries to convince him to stay.

Mary Rachel sings a new verse of the song where Billy Rayford's three brothers find Billy's body, mourn his death near the lake, and vow to avenge Billy. As Floyd prepares to flee, Mary Rachel begs him to stay, hoping things will be different "this time". She implies that these same events have occurred many times before, but when he suggests that she has been with different men, she says it is always Floyd. As Floyd runs away, he looks back and sees that Mary Rachel is now dressed in black, with a black shawl, mourning, and professing her love for Floyd.

Floyd makes it back to the shop in the woods where the old man declines to help him hide. Floyd clubs the old man over the head, then hides among the musical instruments. When he bumps a music box, it starts playing, and soon all the instruments in the shop are chiming, ringing, or clanging. The three Rayford brothers arrive, see the old man's body, and close in on Floyd. As Floyd is shot, the camera returns to the tombstone in the first scene, thus fulfilling the prophecy within the song that Floyd would die.

Highway Patrol trooper Robert Franklin is dispatched to the remote mountain cabin of brooding New York City magazine editor Charlotte Scott (recuperating from a nervous breakdown), as unexplained occurrences indicate the presence of a mysterious force. Bright flashes of light are seen, strange craters appear, and the trooper's car is turned on its side, breaking the radio. Back inside, they find the phone dead. Charlotte hears strange noises on the roof; when Robert goes outside to investigate, he finds that his car is back in place—covered in gigantic fingerprints.

The two sleep nervously, and go out into the woods the next morning, seeking the giant monster. They find an enormous footprint, leading the socialite to run away, although the nearest village is 30 miles away. She soon stumbles and falls directly into the path of a 500-foot-tall alien with one eye. Realizing that no one will believe their story, the pair are left to stand against the beast. The alien doesn't attack or move, so Robert approaches and shoots it...and it deflates, revealing itself to be an enormous balloon. The true source of the problem is a small alien spacecraft, containing two aliens no bigger than a man's thumb. They reveal that all of their trickery has been foiled by "Earth men's failure to be frightened", beg their superiors to allow them to depart (or, in their eyes, face being crushed), and finally flee. Robert grins and wishes them luck: "Maybe the next place they land, they can be the giants." Charlotte asks what will happen if future invaders ''are'' giants; Robert informs her that "I think you'd spit in their eye." She smiles and the camera tilts to the skyline as Serling's voiceover begins.

In Southtown, young Terry and Andy Bogard are out with their master, Tung Fu Rue and their father, Jeff Bogard. Jeff is distracted by a group of poor children who beg him for money and a pretty, young flower girl as part of an attempt on his life by four attackers, one of whom succeeds in stabbing him. He is then confronted by his old rival Geese Howard, and dies of his wounds. In front of his grave, Tung makes the boys promise that in ten years they will reunite as much stronger men to punish Geese.

Ten years later, Terry returns to Southtown. Geese learns of his return from his right-hand man, Billy Kane, while Terry has a drink in a bar he owns. Along the way, Terry meets Lily McGuire, the beautiful Queen of South Town in a night club, who tosses a rose into the air and is pleased when Terry catches it. Terry later finds Lily talking to some poor children and giving them food and money. He recognizes her as the flower girl who helped Geese murder his father, but does not hold it against her since she was too young back then. Lily implies that she heavily blames herself for her role in Jeff's murder. Afterwards, he meets Joe Higashi, a champion Muay Thai kickboxer and a long time friend and rival of Andy. Joe is in Southtown to enter the King of Fighters tournament, and Terry befriends him upon learning that he is his brother's friend. Terry is then reacquainted with Andy and Tung. Tung tells them of a technique called the Hurricane Punch that only he knows, which he will teach to only one of them. Terry decides that both he and Andy should enter the King of Fighters tournament and should one of them be the victor, Tung will teach him the technique.

When Geese learns that the brothers are entering the tournament, he sets a trap for them. He has Lily deliver poisoned champagne to Terry before his fight, but she fails because of her feelings towards him, as he is the only one who has seen her true self and might redeem her of her former sins. Terry defeats his opponent, Richard Meyer, and makes it to the final fight with his brother Andy. As the fight starts, Joe notices a man who tries to assassinate the Bogards and takes the bullet intended for them. With the help of Lily, the three escape the tournament, but Lily cannot leave in time, so Geese tosses her off a window with a projectile. The dying Lily again asks him for forgiveness over Jeff's death, and Terry reassures her that he's never blamed anyone but Geese for it, and she dies with a smile.

Tung is seriously injured by Billy Kane and hospitalized in a coma. Andy, angered by Tung's injuries, sets off to Geese's lair with Joe. Tung emerges from his coma and teaches Terry the Hurricane Punch, but the effort of demonstrating it kills him.

Andy and Joe battle their way to Geese, but neither are strong enough to defeat him. Terry arrives and attacks Geese using his new technique, Senpuken, which barely has an effect. He absorbs more energy and ends up with a new technique, the Hurricane Kick, which defeats Geese. Later, Terry, Andy and Joe meet up at Jeff Bogard's grave before going their separate ways.

Andy Fallon, Internal Affairs cop and son of police legend, "Iron" Mike Fallon, is found hanging nude in his bedroom, facing a mirror with the word "sorry" printed on it. Was it a suicide, an erotic accident, or murder? Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska, two of Minneapolis' toughest detectives are told to exploit the case, call it an accident and move on. But Kovac isn't convinced and when Iron Mike is found dead a few days later, another apparent suicide, Kovac and Liska stop listening to the brass, put their careers on the line and start their own investigation. As they begin to dig, they uncover cover ups, a connection to a twenty-year-old case and a killer who wants to keep the secrets of the past dead and buried.

The film opens with Oshima (Danny Kamekona) attempting to sell a revolutionary turbo charger to an auto maker headed by Derek Jarryd (Dennis Holahan). However, the deal is being brokered by two goons, Scully (Tom Noonan) and Kosnic (Randall "Tex" Cobb). When Oshima backs out at the last second, explaining he's hidden the turbo charger, he's tortured and hung upside down, where he has a fatal heart attack, dying before he can disclose the location of the turbo charger. The manager at the junkyard stumbles upon what is going on, and is shot with a rocket gun by Scully, killing him. Detective Tony Costas (Jay Leno) is called in to investigate, but is removed by his captain when they realize the junkyard manager is a former partner of Costas. Despite being told to back off the case, Costas enlist the help of his new partner, Shortcut (Ernie Hudson). Arriving in America at this time is Fujitsuka Natsuo (Pat Morita), assigned by his boss, Kitao (Soon-Tek Oh). Soon, Natsuo and Costas begin their own investigation after Natsuo finally admits the real reason he's in America. After Natsuo poses as a reporter asking Jarryd about the new Turbo Charger, Jarryd is escorted away by Scully, tasked with watching over Jarryd by a corrupt crime boss named Madras (Chris Sarandon). Jarryd had taken a loan from Madras, who now controls Jarryd in order to make sure he gets a solid return on his "investment".

After seeing Scully being rough with Jarryd, both Natsuo and Costas deem Scully as worth following. Thanks to police work by Shorty, they learn of Scully's address and Natsuo and Costas go to his home. They break in and find that Scully's home is an armed fortress. Scully arrives and notices Costas and Natsuo. After a quick phone call to Madras, it's determined both men are to be killed. As they are searching Scully's home, Natsuo notices Scully aiming a rocket launcher at his own home. Both men escape just before the house blows up. They engage Scully in a gun fight that ends when Natsuo, who'd accidentally stolen a grenade from Scully's home, gives the grenade to Costas, who tosses it out of the train car in which the men are hiding. Scully, being told it was directions to the Turbo Charger's location wrapped around a rock, is killed when the grenade goes off.

An angered Costas confronts Madras, and he is suspended from the force and Natsuo is requested to return home, in disgrace. However, both Costas and Natsuo outwit Dingman, (Al Waxman), who'd been assigned to see that Natsuo got on his plane back to Japan. Both men continue their investigation which leads them to an auto shop where Oshima placed it in the car he'd rented. After a brief gun battle with Kosnic and some goons, Costas and Natsuo make their way the rental company and locate Oshima's car. This time, they are chased by Madras and his goons, briefly interrupting an auto race taking place on Detroit's streets. After they crash the car, Costas and Natsuo steal a motorcycle, which they later crash as well. With his goons stripping the car, Madras drives off in pursuit. After locating Costas and Natsuo, he shoots Costas and attempts to run down Natsuo, who despite Costas' plea has begun to run towards the car. Natsuo delivers a kamikaze attack on Madras, kicking through the windshield and hitting Madras so hard the force of the strike decapitates him. With the car going out of control, Costas rolls out of the way. He recovers in time to rescue Natsuo from the hood of the car, which has now crashed, right before the car explodes.

The next scene takes place in an airport, with Natsuo going home to Japan, with Oshima's body but no turbo charger. However, Costas has arranged for a police woman to deliver the part to him so he could in turn, help his partner save face with his boss in Japan. The film ends with both newfound friends saying their good-byes.

;Act 1 Off the West African coast, a young English couple and their newborn son barely survive a shipwreck and land in Africa. They construct a tree house for their son before being killed by a leopard named Sabor. In the African Jungle, Kerchak, the leader of a tribe of gorillas admires his new infant son with his mate, Kala ("Two Worlds"). Sabor suddenly appears and kidnaps the newborn baby gorilla. Kala goes off to find her son but finds the human boy instead and names him Tarzan. She mothers him and raises him despite Kerchak's refusal to treat Tarzan as his son ("You'll Be In My Heart").

As a young child, Tarzan finds that he cannot keep up with the tribe, while Kerchak views him as a threat. Despite this, Tarzan is befriended by the lighthearted Terk, a young gorilla who teaches him the ways of the gorillas ("Who Better Than Me"). However, Kerchak finds Tarzan constructing a spear, and assuming he intends to hurt the gorillas, he exiles him from the gorilla tribe ("No Other Way"). Kala worries for him and goes off to find him. She discovers him despairing by the water's edge ("I Need To Know"). Kala tells him that even though they look different, underneath the skin, they are just the same, reigniting Tarzan's desire to become the best ape ever.

Years pass, and Tarzan grows into a young man, athletic and resourceful ("Son of Man"), accepted by many of the gorillas as one of their own, except for Kerchak. Kala tries to convince Kerchak to accept Tarzan ("Sure As Sun Turns To Moon"). Kerchak won't change his mind until Tarzan kills the leopard that has been terrorizing the tribe. Suddenly, gunshots are heard throughout the jungle, causing the tribe to scatter, but Tarzan investigates. Deep in the jungle, Jane Porter, a young English naturalist, is overwhelmed by the thrillingly diverse jungle life ("Waiting For This Moment"). While exploring, she is attacked by a giant spider but is rescued by Tarzan. Tarzan and Jane carefully assess each other as they realize their similar qualities ("Different").

;Act 2 At the Porter expedition site, Terk and the other gorillas discover the site and all of its unique features, and do some redecorating ("Trashin' The Camp"). Jane returns to the site with Tarzan, and she is thrilled by the tribe of gorillas. Kerchak arrives and scares the gorillas off. Jane tries to convince her father, Professor Porter, and their guide, Clayton, that she discovered a wild man and a tribe of apes. Kerchak forbids contact with the humans, but Tarzan and Jane grow to love each other and Jane tells her father more about the wild ape man ("Like No Man I've Ever Seen"). Tarzan soon visits the humans and becomes properly acquainted with them, especially Jane, though Clayton becomes jealous of their love.

Jane tries to teach Tarzan more about humans and human life, while Tarzan shows her his jungle world, too ("Strangers Like Me"); all the while, Jane tries to cope with her emotions ("For The First Time"). She tries to tell her father to stop Clayton's plans of killing the gorillas, but Clayton, wanting to achieve his goal, tricks Tarzan into taking the humans to the gorilla nesting grounds. Tarzan asks Terk to help him by keeping Kerchak away, and Terk agrees ("Who Better Than Me (Reprise)"). As Tarzan shows the humans his gorilla family, Kerchak arrives anyway, scattering the humans and demanding that Tarzan choose who he is. Realizing her son is torn between his loyalty to his gorilla family and his need to be with humans, Kala shows Tarzan the treehouse his parents built and he discovers all of their belongings ("Everything That I Am"). He decides to go to England with Jane and live as a human and he tells Kala his decision ("You'll Be In My Heart (Reprise)").

Tarzan approaches Jane and Porter, announcing his intention to leave the jungle and be with Jane. At the same time, however, Clayton seizes the opportunity to capture the gorillas once and for all, and manages to shoot Kerchak, fatally wounding the gorilla leader. Tarzan rushes back at the sound of the gunshot and fights Clayton, nearly killing him until Porter convinces him to spare his life and that they can handle Clayton in a less violent way, and Clayton is grabbed by the man that was accompanying him and taken back to the ship to await punishment for his actions. Tarzan rushes to Kerchak, but he has already died from his wounds, and Kala and Tarzan mourn for Kerchak's demise ("Sure As Sun Turns To Moon (Reprise)").

At the beach, Jane and Porter are about to leave on their ship to return to England, until Jane realizes that she loves Tarzan and, with Porter's blessing, decides to stay with him in the jungle. Tarzan, having become the new leader of the gorillas, arrives to say goodbye to them, until Jane returns, and they share a kiss. Tarzan and Jane swing off towards their new home, planning to spend the rest of their lives together ("Two Worlds (Reprise)").

Birth

The Epic begins in the village of Tubondo ruled by the evil chief Shemwindo. He decrees upon his seven wives that they must only produce him daughters; if a son is born, the baby (and in some versions, his mother too) will be executed. This is a ploy by Shemwindo to get richer, as it is tradition for a suitor who wants to marry a woman to pay a dowry, or bride-price, to her father.

He impregnates his seven wives at the same time. Meanwhile, Mukiti asks for Iyangura's hand in marriage; it is accepted and after elaborate ceremonies they are married. She will live in the village, guarded by Kasiyembe, while Mukiti will live in a pool of the river. Shimwendo's first six wives soon give birth to daughters, but Nyamwindo, the seventh wife, endures a prolonged pregnancy. This prevents her from being able to perform her duties and chores but to her surprise every task is mysteriously done without her aid; this is the work of her unborn son. At the time of his deliverance, the unborn child climbs from the womb and emerges from Nyamwindo's middle finger. This male child is named Mwindo. The child was born wielding a conga-scepter (a flyswatter made with a buffalo tail on a wooden handle), an adze-axe, and a bag of the fortune goddess Kahonbo containing a long rope.

Shemwindo soon learns of the birth and tries to kill the boy in several ways. First he throws six consecutive spears, which were all repelled by Mwindo's conga-scepter; second he tries to bury his son alive, but Mwindo simply climbs up during the night; and finally he seals the boy inside a drum and throws it by a nearby river.

Unsurprisingly, the drum surfaces and floats but Mwindo decides to sail away, to seek refuge with his paternal aunt Iyangura.

Journey to Iyangura

Mwindo, still inside the drum, encounters many aquatic animals, to which he boasts his prowess. After a while, his path is blocked by Musoka, the sister-in-law of Iyangura, under the orders of Mukiti, Musoka's brother and Iyangura's husband. But Mwindo simply digs under the river's sandy floor, reemerging after passing by Musoka, and continues on his quest.

Mwindo then encounters Mukiti, the serpent spirit and the husband of Iyangura, who also denies the boy access to his aunt. Meanwhile, a group of Iyangura's maidens, who had been gathering water in a nearby watering hole, witness them. The maidens quickly report to Iyangura. At once, his aunt retrieves the drum and slashing it open with a knife releases Mwindo from his cage. She then instructs Mwindo to go ahead to her house.

Mukiti holds a secret council on how to kill the boy. Meanwhile, Katee, the hedgehog god, warns Mwindo of the dangers ahead if he continues to his aunt's abode. Undeterred, Mwindo wishes to go to his aunt's home anyway. Katee assists him by building a tunnel that leads directly to Iyangura's house. Unbeknownst to them, however, Mukiti had already instructed his ally, Kasiyembe, to set multiple pit traps on the floors of Iyangura's house.

As soon as Mwindo exits the tunnel at his aunt's home, Kasiyembe challenges him to a dancing contest in the hopes that the boy will fall into at least one of the pit traps which contain razor-sharp spikes down below. One by one, Mwindo dances down the middle of each trap but does not fall due to the intervention of Master Spider. Because he favored Mwindo, Master Spider had built bridges of silk so thin they were essentially invisible over every pit trap before Mwindo's arrival.

Kasiyembe then calls upon Nkuba to hurl lightning at Mwindo. Nkuba hurls seven consecutive lightning strikes but all attempts—barely—miss. In retaliation, Mwindo uses his magic to set Kasiyembe's hair ablaze while stopping up water sources to prevent anyone from putting out the fire. Unable to extinguish the flames on his head, Kasiyembe dies.

Iyangura tearfully begs her nephew to show mercy and implores him to revive Kasiyembe. Mwindo, moved by her compassion, waves his conga-scepter over Kasiyembe's face. Suddenly, Kasiyembe is resurrected and the water supply replenished. Kasiyembe repents and acknowledges Mwindo's superiority.

Return to Tubondo

After accomplishing these deeds, Mwindo tells his aunt that he plans to return to his home village alone the next day. Iyangura persuades him to take her and a handful of warriors to his aid. She also persuades him to head first to the home of the Yana, Mwindo's maternal uncle, so that he can "forge him," for he is also a renowned smith. The bat god forges him: some versions say that they make him a full body armor while some versions say that they cut his body into parts which are then forged and put back together, turning his body into iron. His uncles then join the procession to Tubondo.

Upon reaching the outside of the village and setting up camp, Iyangura expresses her concern that the army has nothing to eat. Mwindo simply waves his conga-scepter singing his magic songs. Almost instantly, enough food is magically brought from Tubondo to feed Mwindo's entire camp.

Mwindo then sends first his uncles and the warriors to fight while he and his aunt observe. A battle erupts between Mwindo's forces and those of Shemwindo, continuing until all of Mwindo's forces are wiped out. One of Mwindo's uncles barely escapes with his life, and reports back at camp. Mwindo goes to the village center and calls upon Nkuba, the lightning god, while raising his conga-scepter to the heavens. Almost immediately, seven lightning bolts obliterate the village burning its inhabitants to ashes.

Using his conga-scepter, Mwindo revives his uncles before giving chase to his father. Meanwhile, Shemwindo barely escapes the destruction. Shemwindo goes to a kikota-plant, uproots it (revealing a deep pit), and descends. This becomes the portal to the Underworld, the realm of the Nyanga Pantheon.

Journey to the Underworld

When Mwindo learns of this, he goes down to the underworld the same way his father, Shemwindo did. Mwindo falls in darkness until he lands in the great cavernous jungles of the Underworld. He follows a path until he comes to the hut of Kahindo, daughter of Muisa. Kahindo would be a beautiful young maiden, but she is infected with yaws, which leaves pus-filled sores all over her body. She falls in love with Mwindo and agrees to help him beat her father. She warns Mwindo that when they meet, Mwindo must not accept a seat, food, or drink from Muisa, or Mwindo will be forced to remain in the land of the dead forever. In gratitude, Mwindo washes Kahindo's sores, and in the morning she looks a little better.

Mwindo meets with Muisa, who admits he is sheltering Shemwindo, but states that he will not give the chieftain to Mwindo unless Mwindo proves his worth by doing a "little task." He must grow a banana forest and harvest the fruit—all in one day. Mwindo agrees. That night, Mwindo stays again in Kahindo's house and washes her wounds. In the morning, she looks much better. Mwindo uses his powers to make the banana forest grow. One of Muisa's servants sees this and tells his master. Muisa sends his cowry shell belt to kill Mwindo. It begins strangling Mwindo, but at the last minute he knocks it away with his scepter. Mwindo sends the scepter to punish Muisa, and the scepter bangs the god's head into the ground. Mwindo returns with the harvested bananas, but Muisa says he must still do one more task. In the morning, he must harvest a bucket of honey from the god's honey tree. Mwindo is frustrated, but he agrees. That night, Mwindo stays again in Kahindo's house and washes her wounds. In the morning, she looks completely normal. Mwindo uses smoke to drive the killer bees away from the tree, but then finds the trunk is petrified and impossible to break. He calls on Nkuba, who blows up the tree by hurling a thunderbolt into the Underworld. One of Muisa's servants sees this, and warns his master. Muisa again sends his cowry shell belt to kill Mwindo. It begins strangling Mwindo, but at the last minute he knocks it away with his scepter. Once again, Mwindo sends the scepter to punish Muisa, and the scepter bangs the god's head into the ground. Mwindo returns with the honey, but Muisa says he cannot give him Shemwindo. The chieftain has already escaped, back to the world by another tunnel. Outraged, Mwindo beats the god flat with his scepter and promises to leave him that way until he finds Shemwindo. Mwindo then says goodbye to Kahindo and follows his father back out of the Underworld.

Mwindo follows the trail of his father to a cave which is blocked by the huge aardvark spirit, Ntumba. Mwindo warns Ntumba to step aside, but Ntumba refuses. Mwindo calls on Nkuba to blow up the cave, and finds that Shemwindo is hiding behind the aardvark. Shemwindo gets away. Mwindo punishes the aardvark by inflicting him with elephantiasis, a painful swelling disease. Mwindo returns to the world and pursues his father all the way to the Great Rift Valley, where the trail stops. Mwindo realizes his father has escaped into the clouds, but he does not know how to follow. He sees the giant children of the Sky God playing nearby and asks their help. They say they will help if Mwindo makes them a snack. He brings them twelve enormous bowls, cut from tree trunks, full of good things to eat. As the children finish their snack, they turn the bowls upside down and stack them, making a stairway into the clouds. Mwindo climbs the bowls and comes to the village of the Sky God, Sheburungu. Sheburungu refuses to give up Shemwindo unless Mwindo gambles for him. Mwindo wagers all his cattle from Tubondo and loses. He bets all his houses and loses. He then wagers all his people, even his mother and his aunt, and loses. Finally he bets his conga scepter and begins winning everything back, until he owns all the Sky God's town and his father's life.

Shemwindo is brought forth in chains. Mwindo gives the Sky God back his town. He then retraces his steps. He cures Ntumba of elephantiasis. He heals Muisa's wounds, but when Muisa offers his daughter Kahindo to him in marriage, Mwindo refuses. He must return to the world and marry a human maiden. Mwindo returns to Tubondo, helps rebuild the city, and rules as a wise and powerful king. He has three brass thrones made, which float ten feet off the ground. Mwindo sits in the middle, his aunt on the right, and his imprisoned father on the left. Shemwindo's punishment is to live the rest of his life watching his son be a better ruler than he was.

Dutch sea captain Laurent van Horn (Paul Henreid) is shipwrecked off the coast of the Spanish settlement of Cartagena. After being held and sentenced to death, Van Horn and his crew manage to escape. Five years later, Van Horn has established himself as the mysterious pirate known only by the name of his ship: The ''Barracuda''. After infiltrating the vessel ferrying her to her wedding, they capture Contessa Francisca Alvarado (Maureen O'Hara) who has been arranged to marry the corrupt governor (Walter Slezak). Wishing to avoid further bloodshed aboard the escort ship, Francisca offers to marry Van Horn if he will spare the escort, to which he agrees. Over time Francisca and Van Horn become attracted to each other and set out to defeat the villainous governor Don Juan Alvarado and treacherous pirates Du Billar (John Emery) and Capt. Black (Barton MacLane).

In the final scene of the 1979–80 season, J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) hears a noise outside his office, walks out to the corridor to look, and is shot twice by an unseen assailant. The episode, titled "A House Divided", was broadcast on March 21, 1980, and was written by Rena Down and directed by Leonard Katzman. Viewers had to wait all summer to learn whether J.R. would survive, and which of his many enemies was responsible.

J.R. Ewing was a villain on the series who regularly double-crossed business associates, plotted against his own family, called his wife Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) a "slut", and had her committed to a sanatorium so he could take custody of their infant son John Ross. Essentially all the other characters on the show were suspects.

Ultimately, in the "Who Done It?" episode which aired on November 21, 1980, the person who pulled the trigger was revealed to be Kristin Shepard (Mary Crosby). Kristin was J.R.'s scheming sister-in-law and mistress who shot him in a fit of anger. J.R. did not press charges, as Kristin claimed she was pregnant with his child as a result of their affair.

In a Brooklyn housing project, a group of clockers — street-level drug dealers — sells drugs for Rodney Little, a local drug lord. Rodney tells Ronald "Strike" Dunham, one of his lead clockers, that another dealer, Darryl Adams, is stealing from him and that he wants Strike to kill him. Strike then meets with his brother, Victor, and asks if he knows someone who could kill Darryl.

Homicide detectives Rocco Klein and Larry Mazilli, riding to the scene of Adams' murder, receive a phone call from another detective who says a man has confessed at a local church to killing Adams. The police meet Strike's older brother Victor at the church and take him in for questioning. In the interrogation room, Victor tells Rocco that he shot Adams in self-defense. Rocco finds holes in this story and starts looking into Victor's background, which includes two jobs, a wife, two children, no criminal record, and aspirations to move out of the projects, and concludes that Victor is covering for his younger brother.

Rodney discusses Darryl's death with Strike. Later, Rodney tells Strike a story of a younger Rodney and Errol, where Errol threatened Rodney at gunpoint to kill a dealer, which he did. Back in the present, he tells Strike the reason Errol forced him at gunpoint to do so was so that Errol could hold something over him if he ever decided to tell on Errol, which was why he told Strike to kill Darryl Adams. Strike and Rodney have a falling-out after Rodney denies telling Strike to kill Darryl.

Rocco pressures Strike, but Victor sticks to his story, so Rocco convinces Rodney that Strike has confessed and informed on Rodney's drug ring. Rocco arrests Rodney and then implicates Strike in front of his crew. Strike tries to play it off and deny that he was involved in Rodney's arrest, but his crew begins to turn on Strike, leading to them labeling him a snitch. Rodney, calling Errol to notify him that he is in jail, puts a hit out on Strike. Strike then gets together some money and decides to leave town.

As Strike walks to his car, he sees Errol sitting on his car, deducing that Errol is there to kill him. Strike hides behind a fence, but a younger boy who admired Strike, Tyrone (Pee Wee Love), rides up to Errol on a bike and shoots him dead with Strike's gun. Later, Tyrone is taken into custody. With Rocco, Tyrone's mother (Regina Taylor) and Andre listening, Tyrone confesses that he got the gun from Strike. Andre storms out of the interrogation room and proceeds to look for Strike.

Andre angrily beats Strike in front of the whole project, and with a gun threatens the onlooking bystanders to stay back. As Andre threatens to kill Strike if he ever talks to or even looks at the young boy again, Rodney pulls up, which leads to Strike jumping in his own car and driving to the precinct, with Rodney following. Strike runs into Rocco, who now has an arrest warrant for Strike, and runs into the precinct just as Rodney pulls up.

Rocco tries to intimidate Strike into confessing to the murder, but he loses his composure when Strike continues to change his story. When Rocco grabs Strike and throws him against the wall, Strike's mother walks in with Mazilli and Victor's wife. She advises Rocco that Victor confessed to the murder immediately when he got home, and how Victor was physically unable to leave his bed. Strike asks his mom what happened to the bail money he gave Victor's wife, which leads to Strike's mother angrily throwing the money in Strike's face.

Meanwhile, Rodney proceeds to damage Strike's car, going as far as breaking the windows, damaging the doors and urinating in the car. Left with no other options and unable to go home, Strike asks Rocco to drive him to Penn Station.

As they are sitting in a car, Rocco threatens Strike that if he ever sees him again he will arrest him, let Andre beat him down again, then arrest Rodney on the same charges and make sure that Rodney and Strike share a cell and a bed in prison. Strike boards a train and leaves town. While Tyrone is playing inside his apartment with the train set that Strike gave him, outside the apartment, Rocco and Mazilli respond to the homicide of Scientific, one of the guys in Strike's old crew. The film ends with a shot of Strike looking outward on a moving train, apparently far away from the city.

As he is arrested by the Coast Guard on an island in New England, a man born as Ferdinand Waldo Demara but known by many other identities recalls the events that brought him to this point.

Demara quit high school as a boy and joined the Army. He wanted to become an officer, but his lack of education worked against it. On a whim, he fakes a set of credentials and becomes a U.S. Marine.

When his lie is detected, Demara, facing jail, fakes a suicide and hides out as a Trappist monk. After a while, he is expelled from the monastery, captured and imprisoned in a military brig. But the warden inadvertently confides too many details of his own life to Demara, taking a liking to him. Upon his release, Demara impersonates the warden and lands a job working in a Texas penitentiary, where he takes up with his new warden's daughter, Eulalie.

Blackmailed by an inmate who recognizes him from the military jail, Demara once again flees. He joins the Royal Canadian Navy, using the forged credentials of a doctor. After falling in love with a RCN Nursing Sister, Catherine Lacey, he goes to Korea to serve aboard HMCS Cayuga. He ends up doing dental work on the ship's captain, then performing operations in a Korean hospital.

Hailed as a "miracle doctor," Demara gains publicity that exposes his past. The Navy finds out who he really is and intends to hold a court-martial. Nurse Lacey and others vow to testify on Demara's behalf, having seen his good side. Worried about possible disrepute to the RCN, and his stellar service, he is allowed to leave under a general discharge. He then goes and becomes a teacher in New England.

The FBI eventually comes up with an agent whose assignment is to track down the great impostor and capture him. In the end, the agent is revealed to be Demara himself.

''Last Bronx'' is set in an alternate version of post-Japanese bubble Tokyo, where youth disenchantment and disillusion with Japan's explosive economic and societal progression lead into the culmination of the historic violent underground event known as the All Tokyo Street Wars, and into an era where crime and gang warfare is rampant.

Upon the peak of the All Tokyo Street Wars, a bōsōzoku gang known as Soul Crew made an explosive rise to power, uniting Tokyo's youth and gangs by their philosophy of Free Soul and enforcing their will by both negotiations and unstoppable and unmatched fighting prowess. This would lead into a brief lived ceasefire however, as soon shortly after, the leader of Soul Crew would be grisly murdered, leading into the Second All Tokyo Street Wars upon his death. Immediately, a message was made by a mysterious group known as Redrum, who demanded a tournament of fair dueling be engaged by the leaders of all of Tokyo's strongest gangs to know who would rule over all of Tokyo's streets. Dismissed by all who read it at first, this treatise would soon be exemplified by the discovery of missing gang members found dead in Tokyo Bay. Now with the Tokyo's street gang underworld's attention, the Second All Tokyo Street War Tournament, or The Last Bronx, would be able to begin.

The game has the following main characters:

'''Yusaku Kudo''' is the boss of the bosozoku street gang "Neo-Soul" from Haneda airport. Once the number three man of Soul Crew, Yusaku takes it upon his leader's death to finish what Soul Crew started. His preferred weapon is a metal sansetsukon; his in-game alternate weapon was a Shinkansen scale model. '''Joe Inagaki''' is the boss of the western "chopper" styled bosozoku "Shinjuku Mad" gang from Shinjuku. Once the number two man of Soul Crew, Joe left the gang shortly after, seeking his own independence and leaving Soul Crew's leadership to Yusaku, and engages in The Last Bronx as a test of his skills and thrills. His preferred weapons are metal nunchaku; his in-game alternate weapons are corn ears. Though nunchaku and images of nunchaku were banned in the United Kingdom at the time, Sega convinced the British Board of Film Classification to allow Joe's nunchaku to appear uncensored in the PAL release of the Saturn version. '''Saburo Zaimoku''' is the boss of the "Katsushika Dumpsters" gang from Katsushika. Once a member of Soul Crew, Zaimoku left upon the death of their leader, and reformed himself by working at his family's construction business. When Redrum threatens his workers in attempts to blackmail him to the Last Bronx, Zaimoku starts up the Katsushika Dumpsters for his co-worker's self defense and sets off to the tournament on his own. Zaimoku's preferred weapon is the hammer; his in-game alternate weapon is a frozen tuna. '''Toru Kurosawa''' is the boss of the "Roppongi Hard Core Boys" gang from Roppongi. One of Soul Crew's more unrepentant and ruthless enemies, the yankii playboy tough finds the Last Bronx the best chance to wipe out his rivals as the true rule of Tokyo's streets and the gang underworld. Kurosawa's preferred weapon is the bokuto (a wooden sword); his in-game alternate weapon is a folding fan. '''Nagi Hojo''' is the boss of the women-only "Dogma" gang from the Rainbow Bridge area of Tokyo, as well as a sadist. Nagi's preferred weapon is the sai; her in-game alternate weapon is a spoon and fork. '''Yoko Kono''' is the boss of the "G-Troops" gang from the Tokyo subways. Originally an airsoft survival game group, the G-Troops then expanded into military martial arts training upon the bubble crash, but their renown eventually got them also caught up in the All Tokyo Street Wars. Yoko engages in the Last Bronx to end all of that, as well to find her missing brother, who was last seen dealing with Redrum. Yoko's preferred weapon is a pair of tonfa; her in-game alternate weapons are umbrellas. '''Ken Kono''' was the co-founder and former boss of the "G-Troop" gang. After refusing the Redrum challenge, Redrum badly injured him in a fire, and his anger made him mad and evil. Eventually, he was turned into '''Red Eye''' and himself became an agent for the mysterious Redrum ("Murder" backward) organization. In Yoko's ending, he is beaten by his sister Yoko at the tournament's final in the subway. Ken apologizes and tells his sister the truth, and then dies in her arms. Red Eye's preferred weapon is a metal tonfa; his in-game alternate weapons are chopsticks and broiled sauries. '''Hiroshi "Tommy" Tomiie''' is the boss of the "Helter Skelter" skateboarder gang from Shibuya. Originally from Osaka, Tommy created Helter Skelter to make space in Tokyo and keep unruly gangs from getting in the way of his and his group's boarding. When Redrum declares the Last Bronx to be official, Tommy also engages for many reasons; for thrills, to end the unruly street gang wars, and to impress his crush, Lisa Kusanami. Tommy's preferred weapon is the Bō (a long pole); his in-game alternate weapon is a deck brush. Tommy's stage, "Cross Street", features a Sonic mascot which is Sega Shibuya Game Center's logo. *'''Lisa Kusanami''' is the Japanese-American leader of the "Orchids" music-band (and gang) from the moonlight garden in Takeshiba Passenger Ship Terminal. The daughter of a woman who was supposed to have been the next successor to the Kusanami school of martial arts from her grandfather, her mother left with her surrogate father, an American lawyer, for a wealthy life in the United States. Originally founding the Orchids to creatively escape her somewhat troubled home life, the Orchids would soon face them and their fans fighting off the denizens of Japan's street gang underworld upon their extortion, and this would soon lead into Redrum also including the Orchids into the Last Bronx, making for a fight that Lisa never intended. Lisa's preferred weapon is a double metal stick (aka "Double-sticks"); her in-game alternate weapon is a ladle and spatula.

''Dungeon Siege: Throne of Agony'' picks up where ''Dungeon Siege II'' left off: after the second cataclysm altered the world of Aranna. A new threat appears out of nowhere, and the player has to choose one of three characters to oppose it. Wild monsters attack elves and humans, with the one behind this menace being known as the Black Druid. The player has to face many different creatures before the Black Druid is located and killed. It turns out that the true enemy are Vagar, a race of corrupted beings of whom the Black Druid was a member. They serve their mistress, Malith, once a leader of Agallan giants, now a fallen creature who takes its powers from the Throne of Agony. The hero has to defeat Vagar, find the Agallan giants, and ultimately defeat Malith. Finally, the player has to decide what to do with the Throne of Agony, a sentient throne of darkness, as it can either be used or destroyed.

Covering a time span of over ten years, this novel follows the fortunes of the mining community of Aberfoyle near Stirling, Scotland. Receiving a letter from an old colleague, mining engineer James Starr sets off for the old Aberfoyle mine, thought to have been mined out ten years earlier. Starr finds mine overman Simon Ford and his family living in a cottage deep inside the mine; he is astonished to find that Ford has made a discovery of the presence of a large vein of coal. Accompanying Simon Ford are his wife, Madge, and adult son, Harry.

From the outset, mysterious and unexplained happenings start to occur around the main characters, attributed initially to goblins and firemaidens.

Soon after the discovery of the new vein of coal, the community is revitalised with a whole town growing up around the underground lake called Loch Malcolm.

Suspicious of a malevolent force at work, Harry continues his explorations of the cavern system, where down a deep shaft, he discovers a young orphan girl named Nell. Over the course of the next few years Nell is adopted by Simon and Madge but reveals nothing of where she came from, only that she had never been out of the mine.

Eventually, when Harry and Nell announce their marriage, the mysterious occurrences come to a head. It becomes clear that all of the happenings have been caused by Silfax, another former employee of the mine, who along with his trained snowy owl has inhabited the mine since its closure.

The game continues where ''Dungeon Siege II'' left off. As with the main game, ''Broken World'' takes place on the continent of Aranna. However the world has changed much following the fall of Valdis and the clash of the Sword of Zaramoth and the Shield of Azunai. The protagonist continues to pursue the Dark Wizard who advised Valdis and masterminded much of what happened during ''Dungeon Siege II''.

Part 1

The game starts in a Dryad Outpost south of Aman'lu where numerous rogue mages corrupted by the Dark Wizard have appeared and are attacking the local population. Additionally, strange beings known as "bound creatures" started to appear in great numbers in the nearby forests. The hostile bound creatures are identifiable as mutilated creatures native to the forest. The player is asked by a refugee to find and save his brother Kanred, a rogue mage. The player is able to locate Kanred but is forced to kill him. A group of dryad patrol appears at the scene and collects Kanred's magical residue. The dryad patrols are not very happy with player's interference with their affairs. Nonetheless, player continues to pursue the Dark Wizard.

Using Kanred's staff, the player is able to track down the Dark Wizard in the Kelvaran Waste. The Dark Wizard explains to the player that he is the Overmage of the Cinbri and is in an effort to return his people to Aranna. The Overmage promptly escapes. From the conversation, the player learns that Overmage has already brought destruction to Aman'lu, protagonist's hometown. The player then seeks passage to Aman'lu.

Warden Celia, the commander of the Dryad Outpost, has sealed off the passage to Aman'lu for safety reasons and she is away on duty. While trying to reach her, player is forced to kill a rogue mage who turned out to be Celeb'hel the Elder of Aman'lu. After defeating Celeb'hel, Warden Celia appears with number of dryads and starts to collect Celeb'hel's magic residue. Celia refuses to reveal dryad's motive for collecting the magical residues and speaks about a secretive yet auspicious goal. With all the unwelcome vigilantism, Celia is more than happy to send the player away.

Part 2

Arriving at Aman'lu, player realized that it is only a shadow of its former self. The surviving residents are forced to wall themselves in against the onslaught of bound creatures. It is made clear in Aman'lu that bound creatures are the products of Familiar Surgeons. The Familiars are a race that the elves have previously fought, and nearly lost, had it not been for a group of brave warriors, named "Crimson Hunters".

After venturing deep into the Vai'lutra forests near Aman'lu, the player's company is able to defeat two Familiar Surgeons. While inside one of their strongholds, the protagonist learns that the Overmage is behind the Familiars and that the dryads are helping Familiars collecting magical energy.

After returning to Aman'lu, the player is sent to confront dryad's Great Leader in Solanum. The Great Leader has prepared a portal for the dryads. Just as the player arrives, the attending dryads entered the portal. While alone with the player's group, the Great Leader reveals himself to be Overmage incognito. Overmage was able to escape again by summoning a minion, and changing the destination of the portal. After defeating the minion, player enters the portal and is transported to Glorydeep Enclave.

Part 3

The dwarf inhabitants of Glorydeep Enclave are surprised by the visit of an outsider. The Overmage have enslaved them for over a hundred years to restore the buried Cinbri City. They are more than willing to help the protagonist, for they know they will be sent to the Familiar Surgeons once they are no longer needed. After freeing the dwarves from their overseers, the dwarves in turn help player enter Cinbri City.

Deep inside Cinbri City, player meets the Overmage and the group of dryads. The Overmage explained to the player that he is going to transform into Zaramoth reborn in order to achieve his goal. After player weakens the Overmage, the Overmage promptly transforms into Zaramoth reborn. While Zaramoth is powerful, it is not something the protagonist cannot handle. After defeating Overmage in his Zaramoth form, the only surviving dryad at the scene Kirani got up and recapped what has transpired. The story ends with a cinematic ending explaining the fate of all the companions.

Hush, Hush Baby is about a Moroccan family that tries to find their way in Dutch society.

Abdullah 'Ap' Bentarek is a young Moroccan man, about 20 years old. He is happy that, unlike his Uncle Yusuf who stayed in the ancestral Moroccan mountain village, his own father, Ali, moved to the Netherlands. His mother knows only one sentence in Dutch, which she utters every time, and in a strong Moroccan accent: "Is goed" ("It's OK"). His father doesn't speak or understand Dutch at all.

He has, however, a tough choice to make. Either he can choose a modern Dutch lifestyle, playing some pool with his lousy friends and lead a life like his sister Leila does--Leila refuses to be married off and takes off her hijab often when attending school--or he can do what his father wants him to do: 'become serious', find a job and choose a bride in Morocco.

His older brother Sam is a policeman and is very well integrated in Dutch society. He gets Ap an officejob, at a bank he and his friends have dreamt of robbing, but Ap lasts only a day there. He then chooses to join his friends in the attempt to break into the bank. The attempt, however, fails miserably.

Meanwhile, his little brother Driss blackmails their sister Leila and other Muslim girls at his school, by taking pictures of them when they have taken off their hijab in school. His grades are low, but his parents don't know of that. When his father has to come over to discuss his grades, Driss accompanies him as his interpreter. Everything the teacher tells about his grades and his behaviour is not translated by him: instead, he tells his father his teacher thinks he is a brilliant student. The scheme fails when the conversation is overheard by a Moroccan cleaner who intervenes.

When Ap is heading for trouble, he decides to follow his fathers' advice and become 'serious'. He sets off for Morocco to find a bride, but if that is the right choice for him is uncertain.

The series features a team broadly based on the roster for the 1984 Avengers spin-off series, the West Coast Avengers, composed of the Wasp, Wonder Man, Tigra, Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch (Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch were also both in the ''Iron Man'' animated series as members of Force Works) led by Ant-Man/Giant-Man, with the Falcon and Vision joining in the opening two-parter. For undetermined reasons (perhaps due to their rights being tied up in planned movie projects) the Avengers' "Big Three" were not regular fixtures in the series – Captain America and Iron Man made only guest appearances in one episode each, while Thor did not appear outside of the opening titles. Captain America appears in one episode, "Command Decision". The story involves the Masters of Evil and a flashback to Captain America defeating Baron Zemo. Meanwhile, Iron Man in the episode "Shooting Stars", helps the Avengers thwart the Zodiac's plan to send a radioactive satellite crashing to Earth.

The series features many of the Avengers' major comic book foes, including Ultron, Kang the Conqueror, Egghead, the Masters of Evil (consisting of Baron Helmut Zemo, Tiger Shark, Absorbing Man, Moonstone, Whirlwind, Boomerang, Cardinal and Dragonfly) the Grim Reaper (this version wore full body armor and a helmet featuring a skull-like paint job; his ties to Wonder Man remained intact) and the Zodiac, as well as associated characters the Swordsman, the Circus of Crime, Namor, Attuma, Agatha Harkness and the Salem's Seven.

The show made several fan-friendly references to aspects of the characters' comic book history that were otherwise not expanded upon for the uninitiated; such as Falcon and Captain America's partnership, Hawkeye's partial deafness or Namor's half-breed nature. Beyond this, the series bore little in the way of similarity to the comics, mainly due to its wholesale redesign of the cast, characterized by asymmetrical costume design and the most infamous element of the series – Ant-Man, Wasp, Hawkeye and Falcon all wore suits of battle armor. Also in this incarnation, Tigra is an athlete who underwent genetic treatments to give her a competitive edge. These treatments went awry, leaving her with the form and abilities of a tiger.

The coup involved members of the Chadian military, led by brothers Tom and Timane Erdimi, two high-ranking officers who had tried to overthrow Déby in 2004, and former General Seby Aguid. Minister of Communications and Culture, and spokesperson for the government Hourmadji Moussa Doumngor said that the Erdimi brothers were captured, while other rebel soldiers fled. Security Minister Routouang Yoma Golom told reporters, "There are around 100 members of the military implicated in this coup who have been arrested. They will be brought to trial. ... The situation is totally under control and calm has returned. The head of state has personally gone several times to military camps to restore order." Golom said a military court will sentence them over the next one to two months while other plotters are sought in eastern Chad.

Déby’s plane was departing from Bata, Equatorial Guinea, where he was attending a CEMAC summit with other Central African leaders, and was destined for N'Djamena, Chad.

According to Doumngor, the rebel soldiers fled in seven vehicles after soldiers loyal to the president foiled their attempt. Two of the vehicles were stopped and "their occupants neutralized". The remaining vehicles fled into the eastern part of the country while pursued by Chadian forces. Doumngor also stated that those who organised the coup were former military or civilian government officials living in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Sudan, and the United States.

There were also reports that on March 14 and March 15 N'Djamena’s two mobile phone networks were shut down. The government usually interferes with communications during security operations. Chadian rebels said that they would attempt to block the May 3 election. Doumgor responded in saying the elections will not be postponed.

When fast talking, petty thief and hustler Alvin Sanders (Jamie Foxx) gets arrested for stealing prawns, the worst of his problems would seem to be going to jail. Unfortunately, he ends up sharing a cell with John Delano Jaster (Robert Pastorelli) a guy who, while stealing $42 million in gold from the Federal Reserve, double-crossed his partner, Bristol (Doug Hutchison), after he murdered two bound and gagged guards during the gold heist. Bristol, who is the mastermind of the heist, is shown to be a dangerous man, with a knack for computers, a long memory, and who will go to any lengths to find where Jaster hid the gold, including killing others. While being interrogated by hardball Treasury Agent Edgar Clenteen (David Morse), the double-crosser dies from heart failure. All the feds have are an incomprehensible message that Jaster gave to Alvin to deliver to his wife, who is unbeknownst to him, dead, having been killed by Bristol ("Tell her she should go to the Bronx Zoo. Tell her 'There's no place like home'."), so they decide to release him and use him as bait to catch Bristol by secretly implanting a combination tracking device and electronic bug into Alvin's jaw. From that moment on, a surveillance team can follow Alvin's every move and hear his every word. Unfortunately, Alvin has a talent for getting into trouble especially with his criminal younger brother Stevie (Mike Epps)—which means that the feds have to become his guardian angels so that he can serve his purpose. Sure enough, Bristol is hot on Alvin’s trail, using his computer expertise to discover that Alvin was jailed alongside Jaster and managing to gain more information from him through a phony telephone call. Alvin soon becomes suspicious of the many situations that has occurred since he has been released from prison, especially when he encounters Bristol face to face, yet eventually Bristol kidnaps Alvin while evading the authorities, causing an explosion from a bomb attached to a bound and gagged agent Wooly (David Paymer). After interrogating Alvin, Bristol forces Alvin to lead him to the gold supposedly hidden at the horse track in Manhattan, while holding his girlfriend Lisa (Kimberly Elise) and baby hostage. Alvin manages to eventually escape and fight off Bristol and free Lisa before a bomb set in the van they’re in explodes. Alvin manages to hot wire the van, drive it and jump out just in time before the bomb explodes. Bristol catches up to Alvin and points a gun at him, yet Clenteen shoots him multiple times, saving Alvin. A grateful Alvin, punches Clenteen due to earlier treatment while in jail, yet Clenteen, not upset by it, admits he had it coming.

While discussing with Lisa concerning their son Gregory at her bookstore, Alvin meets a customer asking for the book, "The Bronx Zoo", which leads him to understand Jaster's message; the gold is buried under "home" plate at Yankee Stadium. He then calls Clenteen to discuss a reward for the recovery of the stolen gold, which after some confusion turns out to be five percent of its value; two million dollars.

8-year-old Tony Thompson (Jonathan Lipnicki) moves with his family from California to Scotland, where they take up residence in a small castle while his father is employed building a golf course on the estate of Lord McAshton (John Wood). In his new home Tony starts experiencing nightmares about vampires and a mysterious comet. Things are not any better for him at school, as he gets picked on by Lord McAshton's grandsons, Flint (Scott Fletcher) and Nigel (Iain De Caestecker).

One night, while dressed up as a vampire, Tony is mistaken for one by the young vampire Rudolph (Rollo Weeks), who is on the run from the evil vampire hunter Rookery (Jim Carter). After realizing that Tony is not a vampire, Rudolph tries to attack him but ultimately fails due to being weakened by Rookery. After trying to leave through flying out the window, Rudolph falls from the sky due to his weakness. Tony helps Rudolph find a cow to feed from, and in return Rudolph takes Tony flying. The two boys quickly become friends, and Rudolph confides to Tony that his family only drink animal blood and wish to become human. Rudolph reveals that they are searching for a magical amulet that can be used to turn vampires into humans, but Rookery is also seeking to use the amulet against them. When Rudolph takes Tony to the cemetery where his family lives, they are confronted by Rudolph's parents Frederick (Richard E. Grant) and Freda (Alice Krige), Rudolph's romantic sister Anna (Anna Popplewell) and rebellious teen brother Gregory (Dean Cook). Frederick doubts Tony's loyalty to his son, but when Tony helps repel an attack from Rookery, Frederick begrudgingly allows Tony to help them, but warns him not to betray him and the rest of the vampire clan to Rookery. Tony and Rudolph then proceed to get revenge on Flint and Nigel.

Rookery alerts Lord McAshton to the presence of vampires in the village. Lord McAshton reveals that his family has known about the existence of vampires for generations. Elizabeth, an ancestor of Lord McAshton, was romantically involved with Rudolph's uncle Von, who was the last known holder of the amulet, and both lovers were killed by the McAshtons. Learning this, Tony, Rudolph, and Anna seek out Elizabeth's tomb, where Tony experiences a vision pointing out the location of the amulet: Tony's own bedroom. Rudolph and Tony race Rookery to the amulet while the rest of Rudolph's family, along with Tony's parents, travel to the site of the ritual the vampires hope to perform. After a chase, Tony and Rudolph manage to escape with the amulet while Rookery inadvertently drives his truck over a cliff after getting entangled in a blimp.

Tony and Rudolph succeed in bringing Frederick the amulet, but the ceremony is interrupted by Rookery, who returns riding the blimp. The vampires are unable to stand against Rookery's glowing cross, but Tony's parents defend them and defeat Rookery, pushing him off a cliff to his apparent death. Tony completes the ceremony by wishing for the vampires to become human. Rudolph and his family disappear as the comet passes, leaving Tony and his parents alone and unsure if the ceremony succeeded. Some time later, while visiting the village market, Tony spots Rudolph and his family, now human, moving into a house in the village. At first they seem not to recognize Tony, but as Tony does the whistle to them their memories return, and the friends are reunited.

Rachel Bruner, a wealthy Manhattan widow, has recently incurred the wrath of the FBI. After reading a book called ''The FBI Nobody Knows'', a prominent critique of the many unethical practices of the Bureau, she has mailed 10,000 copies of it to prominent figures across the country. Having endured several incidents of harassment and prying, she offers to hire Wolfe to persuade the FBI to leave her alone. Although initially hesitant of making a powerful enemy, Wolfe is persuaded over Archie’s objections when Bruner offers a $50,000 retainer and then doubles it to $100,000, as well as a fee and any expenses he may incur. He is also sympathetic to both Bruner’s plight and the arguments made in the book, and decides not to withdraw in the face of what he sees as heavy-handed and bullying opposition tactics.

As the FBI put Wolfe and Archie under surveillance, Wolfe plans to gain examples of FBI malfeasance and use it to persuade the FBI to back down. Archie’s initial investigations prove fruitless, but he soon receives an anonymous message from Dr. Vollmer, Wolfe’s physician, asking for a clandestine meeting. Although initially suspecting an FBI trap, Archie is astonished to learn that the message is from Inspector Cramer. Cramer reveals that the FBI are attempting to have Wolfe and Archie’s private investigator licenses revoked. He also reveals that he suspects that FBI agents may be involved in the murder of Morris Althaus, a freelance journalist who was researching an article critical of the Bureau, two months earlier. Althaus was found shot to death in his apartment, but the fatal bullet was never recovered; in addition, his research notes were also missing. Cramer, who is opposed to the FBI’s efforts to sabotage Wolfe and stonewall the police's homicide investigation, offers to write a report favourable to Wolfe and Archie if Wolfe proves that the FBI are responsible for the murder of Althaus.

Wolfe instead decides that it would serve his purposes better to prove that the FBI had no part in the murder. He also devises a plan to trap the FBI. Acting on the suspicion that the FBI have secretly bugged Wolfe’s office, Wolfe gathers the key suspects in his office and publicly claims that he is gathering proof that FBI agents murdered Althaus and are covering it up, while directing Archie to conduct his own investigation.

Archie discovers that Sarah Dacos, Bruner’s secretary, lives in the same apartment building as Althaus and claimed to have seen FBI agents leaving the apartment on the night of the murder. When Wolfe and Archie question her, Dacos claims only a casual acquaintance with Althaus, but Archie remains suspicious of her. Acting on a hunch, he breaks into Dacos’s apartment, where he discovers proof that Dacos and Althaus were engaged in an affair. He also discovers the gun that was used to kill Althaus. Archie realises that Dacos murdered Althaus after he broke off their relationship to marry another woman, and that he needs to leave the gun behind. He moves it to a new hiding place, but worries that Dacos will dispose of it before Wolfe and Archie can prove her guilt.

Meanwhile, Wolfe has been preparing his trap for the FBI. Publicly arranging a dinner with his old friend and fellow orchid lover Lewis Hewitt, he privately hires two actors resembling himself and Archie and has them smuggled into the brownstone, along with his operatives Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin and Orrie Cather. The actors are sent to Hewitt’s dinner posing as Wolfe and Archie, while Wolfe, Archie and the operatives secretly remain in the brownstone. Having spread his public suspicions of the FBI and his plans for the house to be empty, Wolfe suspects that the FBI will use the opportunity to break in and steal any evidence he has that FBI agents murdered Althaus.

Two agents break into the house that night, only to be held at gunpoint by Archie and the operatives. Wolfe confiscates their credentials, having obtained conclusive proof of the FBI's harassment of a private citizen and conduct of illegal activities. The next day, Wolfe meets with senior FBI official Richard Wragg and offers a deal, with Bruner watching through the office peephole. Wolfe refuses to return the credentials, but offers to abstain from pressing charges and publicly embarrassing the FBI, in exchange for the FBI ceasing all surveillance and harassment of Bruner and those connected to her, including Archie and himself. He adds that he can prove that FBI agents were not responsible for Althaus' murder.

After Wragg agrees to Wolfe’s terms, Archie approaches Inspector Cramer and gives him a lead on Dacos. After the police search her apartment and find the gun, Dacos is arrested for the murder. Wolfe then gathers Wragg and Cramer in his office and negotiates a deal between them. In exchange for Wragg handing over the missing bullet that will prove Dacos' guilt, taken by the FBI along with Althaus' research notes, Cramer will conceal any involvement on the part of the FBI. Wragg and Cramer reluctantly agree to Wolfe’s deal.

The novel ends with Wolfe and Archie receiving an unidentified but important visitor, implied to be J. Edgar Hoover. Speculating that he has come in person to collect the FBI credentials, Wolfe refuses to let him into the house, leaving the visitor to keep ringing the doorbell.

Number Six – along with the rest of the population of the Village – is subjected to a new mind-altering education technology called "Speed Learn" which can instill a three-year university-level course in history over a television screen in just three minutes.

It was invented and is "taught" by an avuncular individual known as "The Professor" who is nevertheless seen trying to escape from the Village along the beach at the episode outset. Number Six finds a tape recorder in which the professor's true feelings are revealed, mysteriously discarded on the beach. He hides the recorder in the sand. He witnesses the professor, after being recaptured, proceeding with the education programme which instills a detailed, but fairly sterile, set of data on "European history since Napoleon" into all Village residents' minds. Speed Learn is also apparently supported by someone known as the "General". Number Two tries to find the tape recorder. He assumes Number Six has it. He quizzes Number Six on the lecture, and Six answers correctly despite having no knowledge of the subject beforehand.

After Number Two leaves, Number Six goes back to the beach to find the tape recorder he hid in the sand only to find that Village resident Number Twelve, a handsome young man, has it. Number Twelve agrees to help Number Six but Twelve is also an intimate of Number Two, with whom he discusses Number Six derogatorily, indicating Twelve may be an embedded guard. On the tape the professor states that Speed Learn is an abomination and slavery, and that the "General" must be destroyed.

Number Six discusses art with the Professor's wife, who claims she and her husband came "voluntarily", while he finishes sketching her in a general's uniform. When she sees it, her calm and pleasant facade turns furious and she tears the sketch in two. He searches her lodgings, finding busts carved of him and of Number Two, and smashes a lifelike effigy representing the sleeping Professor.

Number Six fears Speed Learn could eventually be used for mind control. Number Twelve assists him by giving him a set of passes and a pen that will play a message about the professor's confession. Before the next lesson is to be broadcast, Number Six infiltrates the projection room and installs his own message. He is detected and thwarted in this attempt, and the real message is broadcast.

Number Six is interrogated but refuses to reveal the complicity of Number Twelve. Number Two claims that the "General" will know who his accomplice was. The "General" is revealed to be a sophisticated, experimental mainframe computer which has purportedly been programmed to be able to answer any question put to it. As Number Two is about to ask who assisted Number Six, Number Six states that there is a question that the "General" cannot answer. Number Two arrogantly accepts the challenge; when Number Six feeds his brief question into the "General", the computer begins to sputter and emit smoke after its data banks fail to find the answer to the question.

Fearing the worst, the Professor tries to shut down the computer, and as it begins to overload, Number Twelve tries to rescue the professor. The "General" self-destructs, killing both men in the process. A distraught Number Two asks Number Six what the question was. The General, and Number Two's plans, were destroyed by a simple epistemological trick: "Why?"

is a friendly and cheerful high-school student who likes to eat. When she was young, she had learned how to chant a jinx to make miracles occur, which involves her spelling out her first name as if it were a magic spell. Ion has a crush on a boy named , who's interested in psychic powers, and has his own lab at school. When she finds out that he has a club for psychic researchers, she plans to join the club and ends up becoming its president. During one of Mikado's experiments, she touches an object similar to one that her late father made which she swallowed as a child and gains two psychic powers: telekinesis and levitation, which she activates by chanting her jinx, and begins using them to save people from getting seriously hurt.

The student body president, , has feelings for Ion, though she has never returned his feelings, instead regularly avoiding him. He hates psychic powers and Mikado, because Mikado studies them, unaware of Ion's powers. Even after Ion's feelings for Mikado become obvious to him, Koki continues to pursue her.

, Mikado's ex-girlfriend, transfers to their school to be with Mikado. Also psychic, she can bend spoons and sense card types, though her powers can go out of control if she doesn't concentrate. Though she knows he only dated her because she was his test subject, she is initially jealous of his affections toward Ion. Eventually she realizes she doesn't really like him and befriends Ion after Ion saves her from harm during another experiment.

As the series progresses, Mikado begins to return Ion's feelings, though he is initially confused as to whether it is the same as with Ai and he just likes her because she is a test subject. Eventually, he realizes he does love her as a girl, not an experiment, after Ion appears to lose her powers. At the end of the story, they become a couple and it is shown that Ion's powers have returned.

The film begins in a modern home with two children, Andrew (Thomas Curtis) and Katie (Dakota Fanning), about to go to bed during a thunderstorm. They ask their father to read them a story to help them feel better about the storm. The father finds a dusty, old book and decides to read the story of ''Hansel and Gretel''.

Hansel and Gretel (Jacob Smith and Taylor Momsen) are living with their father (Gerald McRaney) and stepmother (Delta Burke) in a very tiny shack. The children know their stepmother is evil, but the father does not. Since they are very poor, the father decides to sell Hansel and Gretel's biological mother's necklace, but the stepmother substitutes a pebble. The next day, the stepmother forces the children into taking a walk in the scary forest. Once they get far enough into the forest, the stepmother abandons them.

Afterward, Hansel and Gretel go looking for food and are tricked into going to a lazy troll's (Bobcat Goldthwait) house. They get caught, but are then saved by the Sandman (Howie Mandel), whom they befriend. They also let Wood Fairy (Alana Austin) free, whom they also befriend. Throughout the story the Sandman and the fairy are always bickering which causes problems at times.

One night when the Sandman goes out to get some food for the kids, and the fairy goes out for one reason or another, Hansel and Gretel wander off to a house made of candy and chocolate. The lady (Lynn Redgrave) that lives there invites them in and they eat some delicious food and then go to bed. They wake up the next morning and find the house is just an empty shack with an old lady in it. A raven (Sinbad) comes to the window to tell them that the old lady is actually a witch. The witch walks into the room, locks Hansel in a box, and makes Gretel cook and Hansel eat. She does this because she is going to eat Hansel and wants him nice and fat. Because of certain principles, Gretel breaks a mirror and the witch becomes ugly. The Sandman and Wood Fairy walk in and help Hansel and Gretel get the witch into her cauldron. Then they put her in the oven, killing her. The father finds them and they do not worry about the stepmother who had gone to the troll's house who then abandoned her after she made him cook and clean for her.

The scene returns to the bedroom of the two kids and their father who say goodnight. The Sandman the boogeyman and the troll drop by, say hello to the children, and take the Hansel and Gretel book. They explain to the children that they are real, which is how the Brothers Grimm were inspired to write the story. The Sandman sprinkles the children with his sleep dust and it is shown that the stepmother found the gingerbread house and moved in becoming the new forest witch.

The scientist Number Forty attempts to extract information from Number Six by having Number Six's former colleague Roland Walter Dutton (Number Forty-Two) call him while he is under a sort of electronic hypnosis. Number Six resists and is suspicious of what is happening; Number Two orders the plan to be abandoned.

Number Six wakes up with no memory of the previous night's actions. He makes the acquaintance of a black cat, which later turns out to be a spy for Number Two. Number Two suggests that he get a girlfriend; he tries talking to his Observer, Number 240. He learns that a mysterious Carnival is to be held in the Village.

That night he makes another escape attempt, but is blocked by Rover on the beach. He spends the night on the beach and, upon awakening, discovers a dead man's body washed ashore. On the man's person is a radio. When Number Six tries to reach a high point to listen to it, at first he gets only static and a muffled, seemingly foreign-language channel. Then suddenly there is a mysterious broadcast:

"Nowhere is there more beauty than here. Tonight, when the moon rises, the whole world will turn to silver. Do you understand? It is important that you understand.

"I have a message for you. You must listen. The appointment cannot be fulfilled. Other things must be done tonight. If our torment is to end, if liberty is to be restored, we must grasp the nettle, even though it makes our hands bleed. Only through pain can tomorrow be assured."

Later, Number Six puts a life buoy on the corpse and sends it out to sea with a note. Hiding in a cave, Number Six meets Dutton, who has been broken. Remembering his acquaintance with him, Number Six addresses him by name. Dutton says he has told his captors all he knows, but they believe he is withholding further secrets, and they will soon be employing harsher methods to extract the information from him.

The Carnival becomes a costumed ball and dance in which everyone has an elaborate identity except Number Six, who is simply given his own dinner jacket. He leaves the party to investigate and finds out that Dutton is to be executed. Later, he enters a morgue and finds that the body floated out to sea has been discovered, retrieved and brought there. Number Two explains that the corpse will be altered to resemble Number Six, so that the outside world will assume he has died at sea.

The soiree ends, however, in a kangaroo court with Number Six put on trial for the possession of the radio. After arguments for the prosecution (by Number 240) and defence (by Number Two), Number Six asks for Roland Walter Dutton to be called as a character witness. When Dutton is produced he is dressed in a jester's costume and is clearly a mindless simpleton. The trial ends with Number Six being sentenced to death. He, then, flees the place and is pursued through the corridors of the town hall by enraged Villagers, but manages to escape into a back room. There, he finds and damages a teletype machine that may be a communication between the village and Number One. Then Number Two appears and tells him: "they don't know you're already dead". Number Six swears that he will never give in to the Village. As the damaged teletype resumes operating, Number Two then laughs and wryly observes, "Then how very uncomfortable for ''you,'' old chap!"

Number Six is persuaded to participate, as the white queen's pawn, in an oversized game of chess using people as pieces. A rebellious rook (Number Fifty-eight) is taken to the hospital for "evaluation". After the game is completed, Number Six talks with the Chess Master (Number Fourteen), who comments that one can tell who is a prisoner and who a guardian "[B]y their disposition. By the moves they make."

Number Six is later invited to visit the hospital to observe the fate of Number Fifty-eight, and sees him subjected to Pavlovian mind control treatment. The woman playing the queen (Number Eight), who had fraternised with Number Six during the game, is subjected to hypnosis to make her fall in love with him and report his whereabouts should he attempt to escape again. Number Six shuns her, but seeks an alliance with Number Fifty-eight (the rook) and other villagers that he now believes he can identify as prisoners, not guardians.

They attempt an escape by making a two-way radio out of various pilfered electronic parts and then hailing a passing ship with a Mayday distress call, pretending to be a crashing airliner. Number Six discovers, however, that again he has been a pawn – Number Fifty-eight had mistaken the strong-minded Number Six for a guardian. Believing that the escape attempt was a test of his loyalty, he reported it all to Number Two.

Skif's parents are dead, and he lives with his horrible uncle, who does not make much of an attempt to take care of him. Because of this, Skif turns to thievery so that he can obtain food. One day, after dressing up like a page and stealing food from Lord Orthallen's table, he hides in the laundry room. There he inadvertently meets with a fellow and more experienced thief, and begs to be trained in the art. The boy gives in, and Skif finds himself living permanently with him, other boys and Bazie (their teacher).

Eventually Skif becomes a master at the trade, and is glad for good food and clothes. One night after a successful theft, Skif comes home to find his house in flames and his comrades dead.

In need of money and a home, Skif steals a beautiful white horse, only to find out she is a Companion and he is her Chosen. This means that the two are linked for life, and must work together to aid Valdemar. Skif figures that being a Herald is better than nothing, and travels with his new Companion, Cymry, to the Herald's Collegium. There the circumstances of his life improve, and Skif finds friends, books, a comfortable bed, and good education. However, he still feels that one thing is missing from his life: revenge for the lives of his friends and beloved mentor Bazie. In the end Skif helps Herald Alberich, the weaponsmaster, take the criminal down, and earns his name as a hero of Valdemar.

Frankie Madison and Noll "Dink" Turner are rum-running partners during Prohibition. They get into a shootout with some would-be hijackers after their liquor, attracting the attention of the police. The two men split up, but not before making a bargain that if one is caught, he will still get an equal share when he gets out of jail. Frankie is sent to prison for 14 years. When he is finally set free, he goes to see Noll.

In the interim, Noll has built up a swanky nightclub. When the impatient Frankie shows up there, Noll stalls, sending him to dinner with his singer girlfriend Kay Lawrence. Noll instructs Kay to find out what Frankie is after. He learns that Frankie expects him to honor their old bargain. He tells his old partner that the deal only applied to their old nightclub, which shut down years ago. Dave, the only member of the old gang Frankie trusted, had him sign legal papers to that effect some time ago. Frankie's share by Noll's reckoning is less than $3000. Furious, Frankie slugs Noll and leaves to recruit men to take what he figures he is owed. However, Noll had Dave tie up ownership of the nightclub between several corporations, with bylaws that make it impossible for him to hand over anything. Furthermore, the men supposedly backing Frankie actually work for Noll. Frankie is beaten up and left in the alley.

Meanwhile, Noll informs Kay that he intends to marry wealthy socialite Alexis Richardson, explaining that he is doing so to ensure the success of the nightclub with which he has become increasingly obsessed. He sees no reason he and Kay cannot continue their relationship. Repulsed by the idea and strongly attracted to Frankie, Kay quits and, overcoming Frankie's suspicions, joins his side.

Dave, aghast at how Frankie has been treated, tells him that he is willing to pass along what he knows, which is enough to bring Noll down. However, he foolishly tells Noll what he intends to do, and is killed by Noll's henchman. The murder is pinned on Frankie.

Evading a police manhunt, Frankie and Kay go to Noll's mansion. Though Noll is waiting with a loaded gun, Frankie manages to take it away from him. The three drive to the nightclub. By threatening Noll, Frankie extracts a written confession from him, which he gives to the police when they show up. Noll is taken away, but gets free and goes gunning for Frankie. He is shot dead by a policeman.

Number Six is awakened one morning by a young woman, Number Fifty, who tells him an assassination is being planned and asks him to help her prevent it. He does not believe her, thinking that she's working for Number Two. Number Two monitors the scene. Later that day, Number Six meets another prisoner who tells him about jammers, people within the Village who concoct false assassination plots, which Control is obliged to investigate. Number Six is told that Control has a list of these people and ignores their warnings.

The following morning, Number Two has a meeting with the Computer Attendant (Number Eight) and Number 100. The computer has plotted Number Six's daily routine. When Number Two learns that Number Six will be attending his weekly kosho workout that morning, he realises everything is going according to plan. Number 100 is sent to the gym and replaces Number Six's watch with an identical one, which is broken. Number Six thinks his watch has stopped and takes it to the watchmaker (Number Fifty-four) to be mended.

While the watchmaker is in the back room mending his watch, Number Six notices a detonation device that can be operated by radio. As he leaves the shop, Number Six meets Number Fifty again and learns that she is the watchmaker's daughter. He also learns that the watchmaker is planning to assassinate Number Two. Number 100 assures Number Two that the watchmaker is too thoroughly indoctrinated to want to assassinate Number Two.

Now believing the story, and realising that if the assassination is successful, the whole Village would be punished, Number Six goes to inform Number Two of the plot. Number Two, secretly filming their meeting, tells Number Six that the watchmaker is a jammer and Control is not concerned about him. He asks Number Six to find out how they intend to kill him, as it will give him a good laugh.

That evening, Number Six and Number Fifty return to the watchmaker's shop, where they discover the watchmaker is making a replica of the Great Seal of Office. They realise that this will be filled with explosives and detonated during the forthcoming Appreciation Day ceremony.

Number Six returns to Number Two's house the following day, but he meets a different Number Two. This Number Two, seemingly the "primary" Number Two with the others Number Six had dealt with being substitutes for him while he was away, is older and tells Number Six that he is aware of the warning – in fact, Number Six has warned every previous Number Two that they are to be assassinated, and he is not concerned because he is about to retire. Number Six is shown footage of himself purportedly warning previous Number Twos, which has actually been cut together from the film of his meeting with the younger Number Two. Number Six says that the film is fake and that the plot is being mastered by his successor (the younger Number Two). The older Number Two starts to believe Number Six, as his employers are not the sort of people who pay pensions. The younger Number Two assures Number One that the assassination will proceed successfully.

On Appreciation Day, the watchmaker hides in the tower ready to detonate the bomb when the seal of office is placed around the retiring Number Two's neck. He is seen by his daughter and Number Six, who both race to the tower to stop him. Number Six gets the detonator, but is confronted by Number 100, who tries to take it from him. While they are fighting, the seal of office is transferred to the distinctly nervous new Number Two. Number Six then gives the old Number Two the detonator, telling him that it is his passport out of the Village. He goes to the helicopter and leaves.

In the closing scenes of the episode, Number Six congratulates the new Number Two, assuring him that something equally suitable will be arranged when he retires.

Number Six pursues his daily exercise routine in the woods. Two young toughs arrive and accuse him of being anti-social for not using the community gym and a fight ensues in which Number Six prevails. In an anteroom to the Council Chamber, a Villager is seen desperately confessing to being "inadequate and anti-social"; he is applauded by others for this admission. Number Six is invited into the committee chamber to confess his lack of cooperation, but sarcastically declines to do so.

The Village newspaper, the ''Tally Ho'', reports that Number Six is due for "further investigation". Number Two denies having any influence over the committee but warns of the consequences of non-compliance. Number Eighty-six, an attractive female, chides Number Six for his non-cooperation.

Number Six's exposure of a community "rehab" process causes the committee to label him uncooperative. He is taken to the Hospital, where he encounters a Villager with a scar on his temple who says that he had been labelled as "unmutual", but is now cured. Number Six again appears before the committee and is told he will be labelled for "Instant Social Conversion" if he doesn't fall into line. He then reads in the ''Tally-Ho'' and hears over the public address system that he is officially "unmutual".

Next morning Number Six is thoroughly shunned, and Number Two threatens him again with Social Conversion, which is a sort of lobotomy. Number Six is attacked by the irate Villagers and marched to the Hospital. There he is strapped to a table and the Social Conversion process is explained to a Village television audience by Number Eighty-six, who is the chief technician in charge. Drugged, Number Six is subjected to an ultra-sonic treatment which lobotomises him. At the last second, Number Eighty-six shuts off the ultrasound.

Number Six wakes up, apparently docile, returns to the community, and is welcomed by all. In his flat he sees his cup of tea being drugged by Number Eighty-six and pours it away. Number Two arrives and questions Number Six about his resignation, but is rebuffed. Number Two and Number Eighty-six discuss Number Six and reveal that the "ultra-sonic" lobotomy was an intentional sham, meant to convince the subject (in conjunction with the drug) that he has been lobotomised. Number Eighty-six, watching Number Six remove the dressing covering his "operation scar", doubts that he has been properly conditioned, but Number Two insists that all is well. She tries to drug Number Six again, but he takes over the tea-making process, switching the cups so that Number Eighty-six drinks the drugged tea instead.

Back at the exercise site in the woods, the thugs again confront Number Six. He initially appears confused and unable to defend himself, but ultimately rallies and prevails. Number Eighty-six, still intoxicated with the drug, is hypnotised by Number Six and explains how the conditioning process was faked; she is given undisclosed instructions by Number Six.

Number Six visits Number Two and convinces him that the ploy has worked, informing him that he wants to publicly confess to "everyone". Number Two arranges for the whole village to hear Number Six speak. The programmed Number Eighty-six arrives on cue at the stroke of 4 o'clock and loudly charges Number Two with being "unmutual". The Villagers turn on Number Two, who is forced to flee through the Village streets.

In an atypical teaser before a modification of the standard opening sequence (different music, the usual Number Six/Number Two dialogue is absent), two men sit in the office of a senior intelligence officer named Sir Charles. They are analysing photos by way of seeking clues that will lead them to locate a missing inventor named Professor Seltzman (later revealed to have developed a technology that can switch two people's minds into one another's bodies). They are unsuccessful.

A man referred to only as "Colonel" arrives at the Village and only then learns from a new Number Two that his mission is to trade bodies with Number Six, using Seltzman's system. Number Six had been the last agent to have contact with Seltzman. After the swap, Number Six (now in the Colonel's body, and retaining only his pre-Village memories) awakens in his old London apartment and soon sees an unfamiliar face in his mirror. His fiancée arrives and, of course, fails to recognise him. He prudently restrains himself from enlightening her. Despite the shock, he realises what has been done to him, maintains his cool, and sets about to regain his own body. After a visit to his former superiors (the most senior of them, Sir Charles Portland, previously seen in the teaser) avails him nothing, he attends his fiancée's birthday party. There, he retrieves an old photo lab receipt from her, which he had given her in pre-Village days. He implies his true identity to her and she seems to almost understand, as Sir Charles, her father, had not seemed willing to do. With the retrieved photos back at his flat – they had previously been developed by Sir Charles' minions, and then returned to the shop – he uses an alphanumeric code system based on Seltzman's name to select certain photos which, projected together and viewed with a special filter, reveal the location of Seltzman. This turns out to be (the fictitious) Kandersfeld, Austria, to which Number Six promptly travels. Seltzman is believed – at least by Number Two and his superiors – to have perfected the reversal of the mind swap process. This is exactly what Number Two wanted, and, Number Six having been followed, both men are gassed into unconsciousness and returned to The Village.

The restoration of the identities, however, takes a final unexpected twist: Seltzman agrees to oversee the switchback, but actually does a three-party switch: the body of Number Six gets his mind back, the mind of the Colonel is transferred into the body of Seltzman, who then dies, and Seltzman transfers his own mind into the body of the Colonel, and then leaves on the helicopter before Number Two knows what is happening.

Alice, later Alys, is a teenager who wants to go to Montreal to have a career as a singer. She receives an offer to join Jean Grimaldi's comedy show, and begins an affair with his married son Olivier, despite her Catholic upbringing.

Canada joins the Allies in the Second World War, with protests in Quebec against conscription. Alys begins touring Quebec's military bases, giving her a successful career as a pin-up girl. She eventually meets Lucio Agostini, a composer and married man, who gets her a job with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She wants him to marry her, which her refuses, which triggers her descent into addiction and depression.

Her condition worsens when her little brother Gerard is diagnosed with spina bifida, a birth defect that will later take his life. She is eventually diagnosed with hebephrenia, a form of schizophrenia. She spends five and a half years in an asylum, receiving multiple electroshock therapies and a lobotomy. The treatment is successful, and she returns to her career.

After his defeat by Terry Bogard, Geese Howard retreats to the mountains, where he is visited by his half brother, Wolfgang Krauser, who finds out who defeated him. In another part of the country, Terry Bogard meets up with a young boy named Tony who wants to be just like him. Tony witnesses him battle with Kim Kaphwan and asks to be his disciple, but Terry refuses. Later, Terry encounters Krauser and they fight. Terry loses due to his injuries and earlier battle with Kim. Krauser tells him to recover and meet him in Germany at Stroheim Castle. Geese, meanwhile, plans to take down Krauser.

While fighting against Big Bear (Raiden in disguise) in a fighting tournament in Japan, Joe Higashi learns from him that Terry lost his recent fight to Krauser. Upon hearing this, he quickly knocks out Big Bear and his fight promoter, who wanted Joe to continue the match and runs out of the arena (this scene was cut from the English release, but is presented in Japanese with English subtitles on the Diskotek DVD release).

Terry wakes up in Tony's home and learns that he was taken care of by Tony's mother. Tony is not present, and Terry leaves at his mother's behest. Later, Tony notices Terry at the train station and asks him to stay, but Terry refuses. He also forbids Tony to go with him because of his mother, but Tony does so anyway without his knowledge. Terry's defeat causes him to start drinking, and ends up being assaulted by street thugs. Tony helps him, determined to help him straighten up so he can prepare for his next fight with Krauser. Terry, however, is so depressed with his defeat that he throws away his fighting gloves.

In Japan, Mai Shiranui comes to the dojo where Jubei Yamada and Andy Bogard live, wanting to see Andy. The meeting ends unfavorably for Andy, because he is clueless of Mai's affections towards him. Joe appears, telling Andy that his brother lost a fight and has gone underground. Later that night, Jubei tells Andy and Joe about Krauser, which Mai eavesdrops on.

Krauser comes from a noble family, the House of Stroheim, who act as bodyguards to European royal families, but is a cover, as they have actually overthrown governments and started revolts. The head of the House is thus known as "The Emperor of Darkness" and Krauser is the best the family has produced. Jubei also tells Andy and Joe on his sixteenth birthday that he also killed his own father in a fight to be head of the family. In his mansion, Krauser reminisces about his father, recalling the day he was beaten up by him as a child and when he killed him, feeling nothing after his death. A young Geese is shown to have tried to kill the elder Krauser to avenge his mother. Krauser had thwarted the attempted assassination and slashed Geese with his own knife, giving him the long scar running across his left eye.

Back at the dojo, Jubei warns Andy and Joe not to get involved with Krauser, but Andy, angered by his brother's defeat, refuses to listen. Jubei thus challenges Andy for leaving the dojo. Andy wins the match and leaves with Joe to seek revenge. Jubei asks Mai to accompany him.

In a park, a sleeping Terry is roused by some punks who try to rob him, but gets beaten up. Tony learns of Terry's involvement in the fight and subsequent arrest. At the airport, Joe decides to find Terry while Andy, along with Mai, will handle Krauser. Terry is released from prison with Joe's help, but Joe is ashamed to see him in his state and leaves him to his own devices. Tony is still determined to help Terry get out of his drunken depression.

In Germany, Andy and Mai try to find Krauser but learn that he is out of the country on bodyguard duty. Mai uses the opportunity to spend time with Andy, but they end up separating. Mai runs into Laurence Blood, Krauser's right-hand man, who discovered their attempt to find Krauser. Blood defeats Mai and takes her prisoner, but she is rescued by Andy.

Terry is challenged by Axel Hawk and his sparring partner during one of his drinking bouts, with Hawk unconvinced by his drunkenness. Tony ends up fighting Hawk's sparring partner, who reluctantly gives him a working over. During the fight, Terry has a dream of his childhood when he was beaten up and told himself to get stronger so he could avenge his father. A few years after being well trained, he defeated the man who had beaten him up. Awakening, he sees Tony and is reminded of his childhood. Tony is badly beaten, yet never gives up until Hawk's sparring partner refuses to continue. Terry finds out that Tony used his gloves to use his techniques and fight Hawk's partner, and after Tony passes out, Terry puts his gloves and hat back on, challenges Hawk, and wins. He recovers and is eager to take on Krauser again.

In another country, Joe Higashi takes on Krauser in his hotel room on his own in an attempt to avenge Terry, but is unsuccessful and is heavily injured, suffering two dozen broken bones. Along the way to Germany, Terry fears that he is not strong enough to take on Krauser, but the spirits of Lily McGuire and Tung Fu Rue appear before him and tell him that he can win this fight.

Learning of Joe's injuries, Terry and Tony visit him in the hospital where they meet Mai. Joe tells Terry that Andy will meet him at the cemetery where they last went their separate ways. When Andy and Terry meet, they battle each other with everything they have, with the victor getting to fight Krauser. They nearly kill each other, but Terry wins, showcasing his new technique, the Power Geyser.

The next day, Terry and Tony arrive at Stroheim Castle and Terry takes on Krauser. The battle is fierce, with the fighters destroying everything that surrounds them. Terry wins with the Power Geyser, which makes Krauser bleed internally. Congratulating Terry on winning the fight, Krauser throws himself from a damaged wall to his death. Geese greets the news of his death with laughter. Tony and Terry part at a train station, with Tony's mother there to greet him. Tony promises Terry that someday he will be a great martial artist just like him and receives his cap as a memento of their journey.

The film opens in a future Paris with scenes establishing the kidnapping of 22-year-old scientist Ilona Tasuiev, who works for the megacorporation Avalon. The focus transitions to police captain Barthélémy Karas, as he defuses a hostage situation by killing the hostage-takers. Afterwards Karas is given the job of solving the mystery surrounding Ilona's disappearance. Karas begins by contacting Dr. Jonas Muller, a former Avalon scientist familiar with her.

Muller had been working to cure progeria, a genetic condition which affected his brother. Muller worked for Avalon as their top scientist but left after he failed to find a cure and his brother died. He took up new work at a free clinic. Muller tells Karas that "No one ever leaves Avalon", throwing the corporation under suspicion. Karas visits Paul Dellenbach, one of Avalon's CEOs and questions him about Ilona. On suggesting he may have been sleeping with her, Dellenbach replies "I sleep with my wife, I sleep with my secretary, I even sleep with my sister-in-law but I would never sleep with one of my researchers".

After following a series of dead ends, control tells Karas they are tailing Illona's car through Paris. Eventually he captures the driver after a chase which ends at the Eiffel Tower. The man turns out to be a henchmen of Farfella, an Arab Muslim mobster and a childhood friend of Karas. The police captain returns the criminal to Farfella who in return gives him security footage of Illona's kidnapping; it shows her car being stolen by an incredibly old man.

Karas asks Ilona's sister, Bislane, who works for Avalon to break into the company's Archives to discover what Muller was researching. Bislane discovers that a Dr. Nakata worked with Muller in a quest to find a cure for progeria. But they destroyed all evidence of their work when some of the children they were testing on started to mutate. Karas and Bislane then escape because accessing the closed file has alerted Avalon security.

Later Karas opens up to Bislane and tells her that he and Farfella were raised in the casbah where they worked with gangs. After a drug run went wrong, they ended up in a holding cell. Farfella escaped but Karas was left to the mercy of the other gang. Karas puts Bislane under false arrest to protect her from Avalon. Meanwhile, Ilona is shown confined in a cyber ball which is being controlled by the old man.

Eventually Karas tracks down Muller. He explains that he took Ilona because through her research she has discovered the secret to eternal life (as he himself did 40 years ago); but knowing what the consequences would be if Avalon acquired such knowledge, he kidnapped her. Karas tries to encourage the old scientist to hand himself in but Muller is mistakenly shot by a police marksman. Karas then deduces that the mysterious old man is Muller's younger brother: now immortal but trapped in an elderly body.

Karas calls on Farfella who hides Bislane from Avalon while also getting a fake passport for Ilona. However the mega-corporation's security are also closing in on the Parisian sewer where Ilona is being held captive. After a short battle, Karas is mortally wounded rescuing Ilona. However she refuses to take the fake passport to start a new life. Instead she tells Karas she wants immortality by giving her discovery to Avalon. Reluctantly Karas shoots her in the back as she walks back towards Avalon security. CEO Dellenbach watches all this happen through a live feed from one of his men's helmet camera.

As Karas lies dying, he imagines himself apologising to Bislane for killing her sister, for which she forgives him. The film closes with Muller's little brother living as a tramp, throwing his picture of him and his brother into a burning bin. The final scene shows an advert for Avalon with an old woman becoming young again saying, "With Avalon, I know I'm beautiful and I'm going to stay that way."

The game's main characters Felt and Viese, are alchemists-in-training on the tranquil floating continent of Eden, where alchemists and mana (element spirits) live together peacefully. While Viese is a hardworking student, Felt does not take his studies seriously and dreams of exploring regions beyond the Belkhyde Gate, a sealed gateway to another world. When Viese is promoted to a full-fledged alchemist, the two visit a forest so she can make a pact with a mana. While there, a massive earthquake shakes Eden, causing large chunks of the continent to vanish and monsters to appear. Fleeing from the monsters the two come across the Azure Azoth, a legendary Excaliber-like sword said to be the guardian of Eden, and Felt succeeds in pulling it out. He hears the voice of the Azoth and a mysterious woman telling him to journey to Altena Chruch in Belkhyde (now unsealed), in order to restore Eden and prevent further disaster. Before leaving for Belkhyde, Viese gives Felt a Share Ring.

On his arrival to the new world, he staggers across the Tatalian desert before collapsing and being found by a girl named Noin, who claims to be part of the Simsilt, a rebel army fighting to liberate Belkhyde from the Silvaresta Empire. Felt and Noin rescue Max, leader of the Simsilt, from the Empire's capital city Riesevelt and move to the rebel base. Whilst helping the rebels, Felt and Viese learn about the Share Rings, which allow one wearer to communicate and send items to another, and they put to effect immediately. During his travels Felt meets the hunter Gray, a dragon humanoid who agrees to help him in his quest to restore Eden, and he is also ambushed by a girl named Fee who wants to destroy the Azoth.

On route to Altena Church, Felt finds Fee poisoned in a forest and saves her an antidote made by Viese. It turns out that there are two Azoths. While Felt wields the Azure Azoth, the Imperial champion Chaos wields the Crimson Azoth, the one Fee intended to destroy. Joined by Fee, the party continues on to their destination. Close to it, they are confronted by Chaos, who easily overpowers Felt and Fee and is only forced to retreat by the timely intervention of Gray. At Altena Church, the purpose of the Azoths, Eden and Belkhyde are revealed and the party finds the Gardo Continental Drive which seals Eden off from Belkhyde. Learning about workshops that stabilize Eden, which suddenly stopped operating, Felt journeys to fix them and slowly restores Eden to its original form. Along the way the party is joined by Poe, a fairy who accidentally crossed over to Belkhyde. Meanwhile in Eden, Viese starts taking care of Iris, a mysterious girl that can perform alchemy without needing any mana.

After restoring Eden, Felt helps the Simsilts in liberating Riesvelt. Max and Fee turn out to be siblings and heirs to the Slaith dynasty that ruled before the Empire took over. Chaos uses Exzanosis, the ultimate art of the Crimson Azoth, to petrify Max and disappears. During the celebrations, Felt leaves the party and goes after Chaos alone. Finding Chaos at the Altena Chruch, the two duel but Felt is defeated and petrified by Exzanosis, and the Azure Azoth is damaged. Chaos destroys Gardo, aiming to merge the two worlds together and obtain the reincarnation of Lilith, the mother of all mana.

Weeks pass and Viese begins to worry. She crosses over to Belkhyde and with the help of Gray, Fee, Noin and Poe, manages to reverse the Exzanosis and reunites with Felt. Eden finally emerges in Belkhyde and Chaos rushes to capture Iris, who is revealed to be the reincarnation of Lillith. It is here that the full story is revealed. Long ago, the alchemist Palaxius created the Crimson Azoth to control Lillith, hoping to gain power over all creation and become a deity. His student, Elesmus, in turn created the Azure Azoth to stop him. While Elusmus succeeded in subduing Palaxius, both poured their life force into their respective Azoths and persevered through the ages. Gardo was made to isolate alchemists and Lillith in Eden, away from Belkhyde to prevent Palaxius from ever achieving his goal. Chaos, a descendant of the alchemists who stayed behind in Belkhyde, in his desperation to revive his sister (whom he loved dearly) was manipulated by Palaxius into setting the events in motion and capturing Lillith. Palaxius betrays Chaos and takes over his body, putting all of Eden and its residents under the Exzanosis spell. Out of options, the party rushes to restore the Azure Azoth and Elusmus, the only force that could save Iris. Succeeding in their task, Felt reverses the Exzanosis over Eden. After chasing him to the Temple of Creation, the party defeats Palaxius and saves Chaos, but Elusmus sacrifices himself to destroy his foe once and for all. With Iris freed and the crisis averted, mana spreads throughout Belkhyde as everyone finds their place in the newly merged world.

Magdalena, a fourteen-year-old girl from a working-class Mexican American family in Echo Park, Los Angeles, attends her cousin Eileen's quinceañera, an extravagant coming-of-age ceremony to celebrate her fifteenth birthday. Eileen's older brother Carlos—who has been disowned by his family due to his homosexuality and now lives with his great-uncle Tomas—arrives at the celebrations but is forced to leave by his father.

Magdalena herself is about to turn fifteen but her parents cannot afford to host a ''quinceañera'' as lavish as Eileen's, and they deny her repeated requests to hire a Hummer limousine for the occasion. While preparing for her ''quinceañera'', Magdalena learns that she is pregnant by her friend Herman although they had only once engaged in non-penetrative intercourse.

Her Christian father is furious, believing that Magdalena has had premarital sex despite her protestations that she is still a virgin. She leaves her family to move in with Tomas and Carlos and continues to see Herman until she discovers that his mother has sent him away to live with relatives to prevent him from seeing Magdalena.

Carlos becomes sexually involved with the Caucasian gay couple, James and Gary, who recently bought Tomas's property and are now his landlords and neighbors, but he eventually begins a secret affair with Gary without James's knowledge. With Magdalena's pregnancy progressing, Carlos offers to financially support her and to act as a surrogate father for the child once it is born. When James discovers his partner's affair with Carlos he feels betrayed and Tomas soon receives a letter notifying him that his landlords are evicting him.

Tomas, Magdalena and Carlos struggle to find an affordable place to live due to the gentrification of the area and the rising real estate prices, but Tomas dies in his sleep shortly before they are due to be evicted. In the aftermath, Magdalena is reunited with her mother and together they visit a gynecologist, who confirms that Magdalena conceived without having penetrative sex. Magdalena's father apologizes to her at Tomas's funeral, believing her conception to be a miracle, and she forgives him.

Magdalena eventually receives the ''quinceañera'' she had wished for, complete with a Hummer limousine, with her parents in attendance and Carlos as her escort.

In 1910, pregnant Áurea (Torres) along with her mother, Maria (Montenegro) arrive at a remote, desert-like part of the Brazilian state of Maranhão—called the Lençóis Maranhenses—where her fanatical husband Vasco de Sá (Ruy Guerra) has relocated the family from the state's capital, São Luís, to start a farm. Soon the white settlers realize that they are not alone: a group of descendants of runaway slaves live in the area, in a settlement—generally known as a ''quilombo''—they call "The Island" because it is the only permanently fertile spot in a sea of sand where it rains only during the rainy season. Due to the madness of Vasco, Maria seeks to bribe the black settlers to take her and her daughter away, but they, while taking her money (it is basically useless in the local barter economy), do no such thing.

However, soon enough Vasco's workers abandon the farm. Vasco, enraged over this betrayal, dies when he accidentally buries himself under a heap of construction material for the half-finished house. This leaves the two women with no way of returning to the city. Left to their own devices, they venture out to explore the area. They find a fishing hut on the shores of the ocean and notice that Massu (Seu Jorge), the fisherman, has salt which he regularly obtains from his father on the nearby Island. Massu takes them there, as they seek to follow the salt trail out of the desert. However, Massu's father does not know where the salt comes from since he is the grandson of a runaway slave; he already had been born in the sanctuary; he does not know the world beyond the Island. Yet soon they establish contact with the itinerant trader who brings the salt (fittingly called Chico do Sal), but he too does not offer any viable connection back to the civilization.

Unable to return for now, Áurea and Maria get settled and with the help of Massu start a small farming operation. Nine years after their arrival, Áurea still longs to return to her former life while her mother seems quite content since she feels she does not have anything worthwhile to return to. Aurea has been purchasing beasts of burden to venture out of the sandy trap. When the old trader dies, Áurea, following a fresh trail in the sand by herself, sets out to return her family to civilization. She finds an international scientific expedition that, for the purpose of observing the solar eclipse of May 29, 1919, had come to the remote desert to verify claims made by Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity concerning the curvature of space. Áurea falls in love with Luiz, a young soldier escorting the expedition, whom she also asks to request permission for her and her family to return home with the scientists. Áurea hurries back home to bring her mother and daughter to the expedition. However, when she returns to her "house of sand", the dunes have further encroached upon her house; the mother has died, the daughter (also named Maria) has found refuge with Massu—but precious time is lost: they miss the expedition.

Luiz had not only told her that he wanted to join the newly established Brazilian Air Force; he had also told her that the scientists would come back in a few months to continue their studies. She and her daughter check back regularly where the expedition had established a geodesic marker since Áurea does not want to stay in the desert mainly because, as she confides to her daughter, she misses "real music", that is, the classical music she played on the piano when she was younger. The expedition returns but Áurea misses it. Massu, who saw it with his son, did not tell her about it. When Aurea realizes that she had missed her lifeline back to her world, she resigns herself to her fate and links up with Massu. As young Maria grows older, Áurea is troubled by the fact that she, out of boredom, has become a drunk and cheap prostitute for the young men of the Island, aborting her pregnancies.

Their fate is fundamentally altered when, in 1942 (the year Brazil declared war on the Axis powers), a Brazilian military plane crashes in the ocean nearby. A search party is sent out that is commanded by Luiz, now a high-ranking officer with the Brazilian Air Force. Luiz, who is married, first sees Maria and is reminded by her of her mother Áurea (in fact, Maria now is played by Fernanda Torres, who first played young Áurea; Áurea now is played by Fernanda Montenegro who first played Áurea's mother, Maria). Eventually, he meets Áurea in person who begs him to take Maria with him. This he does, promising to look after her, while Áurea contently stays with Massu in the desert.

About three decades later, Maria finally returns to the house she grew up in. She finds her gray-haired mother, sitting by herself at their old kitchen table. They happily reunite, and Maria brings deep joy to Áurea when she plays a tape-recording of "real music", Frédéric Chopin's Prélude "Raindrops", op. 28, no. 15. Contemplating the moon together, Maria tells her mother that man had landed on the moon (in 1969). Áurea, remembering a conversation she had with Luiz fifty years earlier concerning Einstein's theory of Special Relativity, asks her daughter whether the astronauts, travelling at high speed in a rocket, returned younger than they left. Maria, unlike her seemingly isolated mother not acquainted with the twin paradox (that Luiz attempted to explain to Áurea in 1919, and the latter did not entirely understand), states that they returned older. When asked what they found on the moon, Maria replies: Nothing but sand.

Rebellious teenager Jubilation Lee (Heather McComb) finds herself in trouble after her mutant "fireworks" power manifests itself at a local arcade. She is rescued from her predicament by Emma Frost (Finola Hughes) and Sean Cassidy (Jeremy Ratchford), the headmasters of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. They recruit "Jubilee" and offer her sanctuary at the school, a place where mutants learn to control their powers. The trio then picks up teenager Angelo "Skin" Espinosa (Agustin Rodriguez) and proceed to the school where Jubilee and Skin are introduced to their fellow students; M (Amarilis), Mondo (Bumper Robinson), Buff (Suzanne Davis) and Refrax (Randall Slavin). At the school the students are taught not only to cope with their mutant powers but also with a world that fears and hates them. The students are warned not to leave the school grounds lest they come into conflict with the "townies" from the local area.

In addition to coping with their new abilities, Jubilee and Skin find their dreams haunted by Russel Tresh (Matt Frewer), a mad scientist obsessed with the power of dreams. Tresh once worked with Emma Frost as a researcher on a project to develop a "dream machine" to access the dream dimension but he was fired from the team when Emma discovered his unethical behavior. Tresh believes that material extracted from mutants' brains will allow him to develop his own psychic abilities. Although Jubilee is able to resist Tresh somewhat, Skin finds himself drawn to Tresh and his promises, and unknowingly falls victim to the scientist. Instructors Frost and Cassidy soon find themselves leading the novice team against an enhanced Tresh in order to rescue the enthralled Skin - a conflict which sees the youngsters pull together as a team and leaves a catatonic Tresh trapped in the "dream dimension".

Movie prologue

The following is a prologue quote that appeared at the beginning of the film, which was later emulated in the ''X-Men'' theatrical films with similar defining quotes on mutation and evolution, respectively, albeit in voice-over rather than on-screen text:

'''Mutation''': ''n''. 1. The act of being altered or changed. 2. The illegal genetic condition ['''''US Statute 5504178'''''], first apparent in puberty, caused by the X factor located in the pineal gland of the brain.

The book concerns the mysterious disappearance of the President of the United States, who was facing a serious political crisis, perhaps even impeachment, over his handling of the foreign situation, namely an impending war in Europe. The disappearance of the president seems like a kidnapping, but no ransom is demanded.

Although not revealed in detail until near the end, it is fairly apparent from an early stage that the president has staged his own disappearance to counter an impending military coup staged by an upstart army of fascist "Grey Shirts" allied with a small coterie of industrialists (similar to the Business Plot). The aim of all this is to involve the United States in a European war when none of the combatants has attacked American territory.

Twenty-one-year-old Annie Braddock (Scarlett Johansson) has just graduated from Montclair State University. She has no idea what or who she wants to be. One day, while sitting in the park, Annie sees a young boy (Nicholas Art) about to be hit by a vehicle. Annie saves him and meets the boy's mother, who we meet as Mrs. X (Laura Linney). When she introduces herself as "Annie", Mrs. X mistakes her words for "Nanny" and hires her to look after Grayer, the boy she saved (Mrs. X also continues to call her "Nanny" instead of "Annie" throughout the film). Annie lies to her mother Judy (Donna Murphy) about taking a job at a bank and, in reality, moves into the Xs' apartment to be the nanny for Grayer.

Life with the incredibly privileged Xs is not what she thought it would be, and her life is complicated further when she falls for "Harvard Hottie" (Chris Evans), who lives in the building. Interspersed with her life as the Xs' nanny are her interactions with "Harvard Hottie" as well as her longtime friend Lynette.

Annie continues to keep her mother in the dark about her real job, giving her regular but false progress reports. Further complications arise when Judy decides to visit her, forcing Annie to pretend Lynette (Alicia Keys) and her roommate Calvin (Nate Corddry) are a couple and that their apartment is Annie's apartment. Judy ultimately finds out the truth when Grayer becomes severely ill, and Annie desperately calls her for help.

After a rough start, Annie eventually bonds with Grayer, whom she addresses by his preferred code name, "Grover", and discovers that he is actually a sweet and loving child who is neglected by both his parents, which explains his uncontrollable behavior. Parallel to this, Annie begins to also notice that Grayer is not the only one being neglected: Mrs. X is as well, with Mr. X (Paul Giamatti) constantly being cruel to her and committing subtly obvious adultery. Mrs. X makes numerous attempts to make her husband love her, including lying to him about being pregnant with their second child. Annie soon realizes that Mrs. X's own cruel treatment of her is due to Mrs. X's growing frustrations from her dysfunctional marriage.

Things take a turn for the worse during a family trip with the X's to Nantucket. She overhears Mrs. X telling a friend during a party that she has installed a "nanny cam" at their home in the city and plans to fire Annie after viewing footage showing Annie lovingly tending to Grayer (with Mrs. X grossly exaggerating her findings from the "nanny cam"). The next morning, Mr. X sexually assaults Annie just as Mrs. X enters the kitchen. She unreasonably fires Annie and sends her back to the city with her final payment of just $40.

Flying into a rage, Annie finds the "nanny cam" in the X's house and records her feelings toward the Xs. Mrs. X brings the tape to the school meeting for the Upper East Side mothers. Thinking that the tape will show Annie feeding Grayer peanut butter and jelly straight from a jar, she requests the coordinator to play it for everyone to see. All other parents in the room hear as Annie reveals the real relationship between the Xs, in the process making Mrs. X come to terms with her own reality and false happiness.

Annie reconciles with her mother and continues to date "Harvard Hottie", whose real name is revealed to be Hayden. She is temporarily living with Lynette and Calvin, and pursuing her growing interest in anthropology, much of which she learned through her time as the Xs' nanny.

A few months later, Hayden hands Annie a letter from Mrs. X. Written in the letter is an apology and news about how Mrs. X left Mr. X, is raising Grayer alone and making stronger attempts to bond with him (and successfully doing so), and Grayer's overall improvement. She expresses her gratitude to Annie for waking her up and changing her life. Also in the letter, Mrs. X addresses Annie for the first time by her real name (instead of Nanny), and signs the letter with her own first name, Alexandra (instead of Mrs. X).

Amy Duncan is a private investigator for the firm of Bonner and Raffray (see ''The Hand in the Glove'' for more complete information about Dol Bonner and this company) and the youngest of four women on what is called the "siren squad". Her detective work is based on the theory that most men get careless eventually around pretty women, especially those with chartreuse eyes like hers, and she's been trying to encourage a handsome young man named Leonard Cliff to get careless when she gets knocked down (harmlessly) by a car driven by private investigator Tecumseh Fox. He learns of her assignment, which is to investigate the possibility the company of which Cliff is a vice-president, a large food conglomerate, has been putting quinine into jars of food sold by her uncle's company, Tingley's Tidbits; someone certainly has, and it's bad for business.

After a further series of coincidences involving her boss, Cliff and Fox, she is fired and goes to visit her uncle after working hours—she finds him murdered in his office and is promptly knocked unconscious without seeing her assailant. Fox and the police both investigate the company, including its sales manager Sol Fry and production manager G. (for Gwendolyn) Yates, but reserve their suspicions for Tingley's son Phil, who has crackpot ideas about reforming the economic system, and Guthrie Judd, who owns the food conglomerate. Since the quinine problems began, Mr. Tingley has been taking samples from the production line, and the latest sample jar is missing, but so are some documents that relate to the personal lives of Phil Tingley and Guthrie Judd. Fox tracks down the documents and learns Judd's secret, but it brings him no closer to the identity of the murderer. The only thing that does so is remembering a chance remark made by one of the suspects that leads directly to the missing sample jar and the guilty party.

The film starts in modern-day Korea, where Kim Su-ho (Cha Tae-hyun) returns to his hometown after ten years to attend a reunion with high school friends. As he walks he hears a female voice in his head calling out his name. Su-ho's friends doubt that he will attend the reunion, as he hasn't yet got over a girl. They say that day of their reunion is the anniversary of the death of a girl named Bae Su-eun (Song Hye-kyo). To everyone's surprise, Su-ho arrives, and after celebrating, they go to a lighthouse where Su-ho's friend upsets him by referring to Bae Su-eun, and he starts to cry. In a flashback, a younger Su-ho is rescued from drowning by a pretty girl. She loses her pager in the process of rescuing him but leaves. Su-ho then wakes up and thinks his friends saved him from drowning.

In the next scene, Su-ho and his classmates are singing in a music class, when he notices his classmate Su-eun staring at him. His friend says she always stares at him in class, and Su-ho starts to think she might be interested in him. Su-ho and Su-eun pass each other in the hallway, and she surprises him by asking him to buy her a croquette. He says that if they ate together, people would think that they are dating. They eat together nonetheless, and the other students notice. Soon the captain of the judo club who had his eye on Su-eun finds Su-ho, and threatens him. Sun-ho immediately denies dating her. Su-eun arrives and tells the captain that they are indeed dating. The captain throws Su-ho down. Su-ho's friends arrive to rescue him and they escape by bike.

Su-ho and Su-eun stand near a lighthouse. Su-eun hints to Su-ho that she saved him but he doesn't understand. They watch the sunset together. Su-ho walks Su-eun home and she gives him her number. Although her beeper was lost, she can still receive and leave messages. That night, they confess their feelings for each other.

The next day, Su-ho is called out of class because his grandfather has collapsed. He quickly goes to his grandfather's but finds him well. It turns out he feigned illness to talk to Su-ho. Su-eun arrives with Su-ho's bag. Su-ho's grandfather shares his story. When he was young, Su-ho's grandfather joined the army. He was separated from his first love, Soon-im. He left her a necklace to remember him by. Years passed and he became an undertaker. He prepared a funeral for Soon-im's husband. They could not even say a word to each other and soon he married another woman, Su-ho's grandmother.

This story makes Su-ho realize that he loves Su-eun and wants to be with her. He leaves a message for Su-eun expressing his feelings, unaware that she is behind him until she replies, "Me too." From that day on, Su-ho and Su-eun are officially a couple. Su-ho's friends propose an overnight stay on Fog Island. As Su-ho and Su-eun arrive together at the pier, he finds out that his friends tricked him so he and Su-eun would have some time alone. On the island their love deepens, and they share their first kiss. The next day, Su-eun faints. Su-ho rushes her to the hospital, visiting her every day. She turns out to be suffering from terminal leukemia. Her last wish is to return to their island.

Soon-im also had a last wish before she died: to be reunited with Su-ho's grandfather. He prepared her funeral and was reunited with his first love, who he had loved for 50 years. While Su-ho is visiting the hospital Su-eun expresses her wish, and he shows her two ferry tickets. However, a typhoon prevents the ferries from running. Su-ho desperately pleads with the authorities to let them travel. While they argue, Su-eun collapses.

In the present, Su-ho returns to Fog Island and finds Su-eun's bag. Her diary entry reveals that she had planted seeds on the hill during their visit. The flowers will be her gift to him. Su-ho goes to the hill, finding it covered with purple flowers.

Chapter 1: January man

Jason Taylor is a 13-year-old with a stammer in the small village of Black Swan Green in Worcestershire. The first chapter starts with a rule Jason's father has: "Do not set foot in my office" and Jason breaking that rule to pick up the phone. It also introduces Jason's older sister Julia, friend Dean "Moron" Moran, popular boy Nick Yew, Gilbert "Yardy" Swinyard, Ross Wilcox and his cousin Gary Drake, golden boy student Neal Brose, tomboy Dawn Madden, Mervyn "Squelch" Hill, bully Grant Burch, local legend Tom Yew and "less shiny legend" Pluto Noak. Jason secretly publishes his poems in the Black Swan Green Parish magazine under the alias "Eliot Bolivar". Jason breaks his grandfather's expensive Omega Seamaster De Ville watch. Also, after an accident on an iced-over lake, he meets a mysterious old woman rumoured to be a witch.

Chapter 2: Hangman

Jason goes into more detail about his struggles with stammering. He then explains how his stammers affect his relationships with other people. He refers to this mental block as "hangman". He's scared to stand up and speak during the school's weekly rhetoric session, but is saved by a call from his South African speech therapist, Mrs. de Roo. He calls his stammer "Hangman"

Chapter 3: Relatives

Introduces Jason's relatives who come for a visit, including cool, 15-year-old cousin Hugo Lamb (who reappears in Mitchell's later novel ''The Bone Clocks''), who pressures Jason to try his first cigarette.

Chapter 4: Bridle path

Jason is attacked by dobermans and scolded by their owner. When he comes across he meets his classmates Kit Harris, Grant Burch, Philip Phelps and Ant Little. A fight between Burch and Wilcox ends with the former breaking his right wrist. Jason encounters Dawn Madden, a girl he has a crush on. She treats him like a dog. Escaping up a tree, Jason witnesses Tom Yew, on leave from the Navy, make love to Debby Crombie.

Chapter 5: Rocks

This chapter explores Jason's perspective on the growing British instability in the Falklands War and arguments between his mother and father. Tom Yew is killed when his ship, , is bombed by Skyhawks. Eventually, a ceasefire is declared.

Chapter 6: Spooks

Jason's mother takes up an interest in running an art gallery part-time. Jason finds an invitation to join the Spooks, a local secret society made up of Noak, Burch, Swinyard, Peter Redmarley and John Tookey. Jason and Moran are challenged with making it through six back gardens in 15 minutes. Jason makes it with ten seconds to spare, but his friend Moran is injured when he falls through a greenhouse.

Chapter 7: Solarium

Jason receives an invitation from the publisher of his poems. The real benefactor is revealed to be Eva van Outryve de Crommelynck (a much younger version of whom also has a part in ''Cloud Atlas''). She conducts sessions with him, offering constructive criticisms of his poems. Crommelynck is soon extradited as a result of her husband's financial scams in Germany.

Chapter 8: Souvenirs

Jason goes on two trips: one with his father for a work event, another with his mother to her job at Yasmin Morton-Bagot's gallery. During his trip with his father, Jason is taken to get fish and chips by Danny Lawlor, a man who works under his father at Greenland. He later meets his father's boss, Craig Salt. Jason's mother takes over as manager of Yasmin Morton-Bagot's gallery, La Boite aux Mille Surprises. Jason and his mother prevent a trio of girls stealing items from the store. His mother decides to take him to see ''Chariots of Fire'', an act which gets noticed by people from his school.

Chapter 9: Maggot

Wilcox and Drake make fun of Jason for going to the cinema with his mother. Wilcox starts calling him "maggot", a name which grows within the school. The entire school is punished because Wilcox and his group berate a teacher. Jason meets Holly Deblin, who tells him, "You're not a maggot. Don't let dickheads decide what you are." Wilcox and his group jump Jason after school and Jason tries to stands up for himself, but fails. The bullies throw Jason's backpack atop the school bus' roof as it drives off. Jason catches up to the bus, the driver Norman Bates asks why Jason allows himself to be bullied. Bates urges that Jason attack Wilcox with a knife. Upon hearing this, Jason says that if he did he'd "get sent to Borstal." Norman Bates replies, "''Life's'' a Borstal!"

Chapter 10: Knife grinder

A gypsy knife grinder visits Jason's house, offering his services. Jason does not let him in. Jason and his father attend a village meeting to decide what to do about a proposed gypsy encampment. After several speeches, a fire alarm is pulled, causing minor panic. Moran's father reveals to Jason that his grandfather was a gypsy. Through a series of events Jason finds himself in the gypsy camp.

Chapter 11: Goose fair

Jason finds Wilcox's lost wallet, containing six hundred pounds, at the fair. After some encounters in the fairground he decides to give it back. Wilcox breaks up with Madden and finds her sleeping with Burch. In shock, Wilcox steals Tom Yew's Suzuki and crashes it, losing part of his right leg.

Chapter 12: Disco

It is learned that Jason's father lost his job. Jason crushes Brose's calculator in a vice. After being taken to the Principal's office, Jason reveals that Brose has been running an extortion scheme intimidating other boys in his year for money. Brose is expelled. It is learned that Jason was kicked out of the Spooks. Miss Lippetts delivers a class about secrets and the ethics of revealing them. During the dance, Jason kisses Deblin. He reveals to his father that he broke the watch and his father reveals that he's been having an affair and is divorcing Jason's mother.

Chapter 13: January man

Taking place two weeks later, Jason reminisces around the village one final time before leaving. The mystery phone calls were from Jason's father's mistress, Cynthia. He has stopped writing poems for the parish magazine.

The film begins during the Heiji Rebellion in 1159. Lord Kiyomori has traveled away from the castle to attend to a conflict elsewhere. In his absence, two other lords attempt to seize Castle Sanjo in a coup. The samurai Endō Morito is assigned the duty of escorting lady-in-waiting Kesa away from the palace once she volunteers to disguise herself as the daimyō’s sister, buying the daimyō’s father and real sister time to escape unseen. The pair escape a bloody skirmish with their lives, and flee to Morito’s brother’s home, but Kesa is unconscious. Morito sprays her with water repeatedly to try to wake her, and in a last-ditch effort, feeds her water from his mouth, which rouses her. The pair are interrupted by a samurai who says he is with the Cavalry, one of the two groups who betrayed the daimyō. The hotheaded Morito immediately begins dueling the samurai, but Morito’s brother arrives and puts a stop to the duel. Morito learns his brother has also betrayed the daimyō, claiming “the world has changed since a day ago.” Morito is unconvinced to join his brother and betray his master, but the battle is over, and he returns to the gate in the aftermath.

At the gate, Morito learns that he is suspected of betraying the daimyō, and offers to bring the news of what happened to the daimyō to prove his loyalty. At great personal risk, he makes the journey, and beats the other samurai en route to deliver the message themselves. Morito succeeds in his task, and is chosen to ride with Lord Kiyomon to stamp out the insurrection.

After the coup has failed, Morito runs into Kesa again, pleased to see she is well. He is immediately transfixed by her, and asks her to visit his home for dinner, but she declines. Her aunt explains Kesa is expected at the palace, and Morito is visibly reluctant to part with her.

At the palace, Lord Kiyomon rewards the warriors who rode with him with one single wish. Morito asks him for Kesa’s hand in marriage, to which Lord Kiyomon agrees, but Kiyomon’s son informs them both that she is married to Wataru Watanabe, a samurai of the Imperial Guard. Morito asks for her hand anyway, and Lord Kiyomon declines, offering any other wish Morito has. He refuses anything else Lord Kiyomon has to offer.

Morito grows agitated, continuing to search for any way he can claim Kesa as his own. Kesa expresses concern to Wataru, worried she is culpable for Morito’s obsession with her. Wataru reassures her she has done nothing wrong, and promises to protect her. Relieved, Kesa relaxes.

Kesa is summoned to the palace to perform koto music for Lord Kiyomon. Kiyomon admires her beauty, and in doing so, begins to sympathize with Morito. He calls upon Morito and decides to give him a chance to compete for Kesa’s hand. Morito enters a horse race in which Wataru is competing, and nearly attacks Wataru at a “Forget the Race” dinner after the race is over, visibly disturbing everyone around him.

Upset, Morito tries to visit Kesa, who asks her handmaid, Tone, to tell him she was at her aunt’s. Morito, having met Kesa’s aunt before, heads to the home and discovers the lie. He threatens Kesa’s aunt, calling her a liar and proclaiming he’ll search the whole house for her. Her aunt convinces Morito Kesa isn’t there, and Morito has her write a note to Kesa claiming she’s sick and needs Kesa to come see her. Kesa receives the note, and, with some encouragement from Wataru, travels to see her aunt.

Morito ambushes Kesa at the home, getting her alone and threatening to kill Wataru, her aunt, and even Kesa herself if she denies him. Kesa collapses to the floor and says she will fulfill his heart’s desires. Coerced by his violent tendencies and unhinged behavior, and scared for her loved ones, she details a plan for Morito to kill Wataru and claim her once she’s widowed.

Kesa returns home, and gives her loyal handmaid, Tone, a gift. She asks for sake, then tells Tone to retire for the night. Kesa then spends an evening drinking with her husband, visibly shaken but unwilling to tell Wataru what is wrong. She plays the koto for him one last time, and the two retire for the night. An indeterminate time later, Morito sneaks across the grounds and into a bedroom, dealing a decisive killing blow to a figure beneath the blankets. Morito quails once he sees he has slain Kesa, begging her to forgive him. Grief-stricken, he hurries to Wataru and wakes him, begging him to cut his head off, since he has just killed Kesa. He says she sacrificed herself, resigned to the knowledge that Morito wanted her despite her own wishes. Wataru rushes to Kesa’s side, crying and asking why she didn’t trust him to protect her.

Morito kneels in the courtyard, cutting off his topknot and vowing to start over as a monk. Morito quietly leaves in the predawn light, walking back out of the castle through the gate of hell.

Activist Maciek Tomczyk, the son of ''Man of Marble'''s hero Mateusz Birkut, is leading a shipyard strike in Gdańsk against the Communist authorities. A radio named journalist Winkel is ordered by the deputy chairman of the Radio Committee to investigate Tomczyk and find compromising information about him. Winkel is sent to Gdańsk, where he is monitored by the authorities.

The strikers refuse to give Winkel access to the shipyard, but he meets a friend, Dzidek. Dzidek knew Tomczyk in college and later recounts how Tomczyk's father, Mateusz Birkut, would not allow his son to take part in the student protests in March 1968. From another source, Tomczyk learns that Birkut himself died during protests in December 1970. Winkel becomes increasingly sympathetic to the strikers' cause, but continues his investigation under pressure from the authorities.

After his father's death, Tomczyk had married Agnieszka, who he had met when was making a documentary about Birkut's career as a well-publicized Stakhanovite worker hero. Winkel visits Agnes, who is now in police custody for her support of the strike. Agnes describes her romance and marriage with Tomczyk and their fight for workers' rights.

Despite being blackmailed by the secret police for a drunk driving accident in his past, Winkel ultimately eventually refuses to complete his assignment and resigns from his job. He is admitted to the shipyard, where he joins the strikers. A government delegation reaches an agreement with Lech Wałęsa and the other strikers, and Agnes tearfully reunites with Tomczyk during the announcement. A government official warns that the agreement is "only a piece of paper," but Tomczyk tells his father's memorial that the strikers have "made it through the worst."

Zé do Burro (Leonardo Villar) is a landowner from Nordeste. His best friend is a donkey. When his donkey falls terminally ill, Zé promises to a Candomblé orisha, Iansan, that if his donkey recovers, he will give away his land to the poor and carry a cross all the way from his farm to the Saint Bárbara Church in Salvador, Bahia, where he will offer the cross to the local priest. Upon the recovery of his donkey, Zé leaves on his journey, a distance of 7 ''léguas'' (46 km; 29 miles). The movie begins as Zé, followed by his wife Rosa (Glória Menezes), arrives outside the church. The local priest (Dionísio Azevedo) refuses to accept the cross once he hears about Zé's "pagan" pledge and the reasons behind it. Everyone attempts to manipulate the innocent and naïve Zé. The local Candomblé worshippers, for example, want to use him as a leader against the discrimination they suffer from the Roman Catholic Church. The sensationalist newspapers transform his promise to give away his land into a "communist" call for land reform (which still is a very controversial issue in Brazil). When Zé is shot by the police to prevent his way into the church, the Candomblé worshippers put his dead body on the cross and force their way into the church.

Kate has been absent from seventh grade for a week due to a broken foot. She frets about returning, as she knows how quickly things can change during junior high, and wonders what she has missed. Upon arriving, she learns her clique of friends, led by queen bee Chloe, have developed a catchphrase: "lick the star." The phrase holds mysterious significance to the group, but Kate's absence left her out of the loop, just as she feared.

That afternoon, Chloe and the others reveal to Kate that "lick the star" is "kill the rats" backwards, the codename of their plan to use arsenic to poison boys at their school, inspired by Chloe's obsession with the book ''Flowers in the Attic''. The girls shoplift rat poison and break into the targeted boys' lockers to contaminate their lunches, then hide behind the bleachers for secret "lick the star" meetings. During one such meeting, Kate is caught by a teacher while holding Chloe's cigarette, leading to Kate being suspended and another extended absence from school.

While Kate is gone, Chloe learns about slavery in history class. On the bus after school, she expresses astonishment at the idea that her black friend Nadine would have once been considered a slave. A case of broken telephone distorts the poorly phrased but innocent remark until the entire school believes Chloe is racist. In despair, Chloe attempts suicide, but her failed effort only provides more gossip for her classmates. Returning to school after the suicide attempt, Chloe finds her former friends have revealed the "lick the star" plot to the other students, leading to further ridicule.

Kate returns to school to discover that the entire social hierarchy has shifted: the once-powerful Chloe is now an outcast and the girls Chloe previously bullied no longer fear her. Kate realizes she can no longer be seen with Chloe or she, too, will be ostracized. Kate watches from a distance as Chloe, sitting by herself, writes a short poem about how quickly things change. Chloe tucks the poem into the book that appears to be her new obsession—''An American Biography'' (the biography of model Edie Sedgwick) by Jean Stein—before she walks away alone.

The final Wolfe book written by Stout, ''A Family Affair'', ends with the disgrace and suicide of one of the Wolfe team. As the new book opens, Wolfe has been in a state of virtual retirement for a while, although a good word from Inspector Cramer has allowed them to remain licensed private investigators in good standing, although inactive.

Several of Stout's Wolfe novels made it clear that Wolfe was Montenegrin, and had once been involved in what would today be called terrorist activities against the oppressors of his homeland (in early days of the 20th century, those would be the Austro-Hungarian Empire). Hard as it is to see in the present-day corpulent agoraphobic crime-solving genius in Manhattan, he was once a man of action in Montenegro and the surrounding area. A few of his comrades from that era also survive: the present conductor of the New York Symphony Orchestra, Milan Stevans (name now anglicized from Milos Stefanović), and Milan's long-estranged wife, Alexandra Adjari, now living in London. Stevans became the guardian of his great-niece Maria Radovich after the death of her parents.

The niece appeals to Wolfe to help her solve a problem. Her great-uncle has been receiving threatening notes. He has thrown them away, but she recovered them and has brought them to Wolfe. Since Wolfe is semi-retired, she gives Archie an ancient photograph showing her uncle, Wolfe, and other comrades. Although Maria's uncle saved Wolfe's life in a shootout at Cetinje fifty years earlier, a love triangle also developed between Wolfe, Milos, and Alexandra, with the result that Wolfe and Stefanović have had no contact for many years even though they have been living in the same borough for the past few years. Therefore, it is up to Maria to seek help. Archie slides the photo into the stack of morning mail and is gratified at Wolfe's reaction when he finds it. Wolfe sees Maria and undertakes to try to help, but is skeptical of what he can accomplish without her uncle's cooperation. Furthermore, Maria's own cooperation is cast into doubt as it is clear that she is shielding a person she suspects of having sent the notes. It soon develops that there is conflict between her uncle and Gerald (Jerry) Milner, a young violinist with the orchestra who wants to marry Maria. Wolfe feels honor-bound to accept Maria as a token client because of Milos' action in Cetinje despite the rancor that developed in later years.

Wolfe invites long-time press friend/collaborator Lon Cohen from the fictional New York Gazette over for dinner (prepared as always by Fritz Brenner) and serves Cohen's favorite brandy. From Lon, Wolfe learns that in recent years, the New York Symphony has had more than its share of troubles. An idea formed in the mind of the Gazette's music critic and others that the Orchestra had faltered under the previous two music directors. Milan had been brought in to revive the fortunes of the orchestra, but the ultimate result was strife with the players and other members of upper management. Soon, Milan is killed, and Jerry Milner becomes the prime suspect.

After this point, the plot explores the characters in the symphony orchestra, from its chairman (who owns the company that makes Wolfe's favorite beer), other musicians who came into conflict with Stevens, and other people connected with the orchestra.

The story is set in a future where computers play a central role in organizing society. Humans are employed as computer operators, but they leave most of the thinking to machines. Indeed, whilst binary programming is taught at school, reading and writing have become obsolete.

The story concerns a pair of boys who dismantle and upgrade an old ''Bard'', a child's computer whose sole function is to generate random fairy tales. The boys download a book about computers into the Bard's memory in an attempt to expand its vocabulary, but the Bard simply incorporates computers into its standard fairy tale repertoire. The story ends with the boys excitedly leaving the room after deciding to go to the library to learn "squiggles" (writing) as a means of passing secret messages to one another. As they leave, one of the boys accidentally kicks the Bard's on switch. The Bard begins reciting a new story about a poor mistreated and often ignored robot called the Bard, whose sole purpose is to tell stories, which ends with the words: "the little computer knew then that computers would always grow wiser and more powerful until someday—someday—someday—…"

On a slow day at Quark's bar, Quark is assaulted by Kozak, a drunk and belligerent Klingon. During the scuffle, Kozak accidentally stabs himself and dies. Quark pretends to have slain Kozak in self-defense, attracting more customers to his bar with his newfound notoriety. Soon, a Klingon named D'Ghor, claiming to be Kozak's brother, accosts Quark in private and intimidates Quark into maintaining his lie, claiming an accidental death would dishonor his family.

Kozak's widow, Grilka, visits Quark's bar, extracts the truth from him, and abducts him to the Klingon homeworld Qo'noS. Quark learns that Kozak left no male heir, leaving the House of Kozak leaderless. Had Kozak's death been ruled an accident, Grilka would have been granted special dispensation to take over the family, but because of Quark’s lies, everyone believes that Kozak died in combat. D'Ghor is not Kozak's brother, he is Kozak’s archenemy, to whom the House of Kozak is heavily in debt. In desperation, Grilka forcibly marries Quark, making him the new head of Kozak's family, which legally prevents D'Ghor from seizing her property.

After a rocky start, Quark and Grilka develop respect for one another. Quark inspects the family ledgers and discovers that for several years, D'Ghor has been using financial scams to weaken the House of Kozak's assets, which is dishonorable conduct for a Klingon. Quark exposes D'Ghor to the Klingon High Council. D'Ghor retaliates by exposing Quark's lie regarding the circumstances of Kozak's death, and challenges Quark to a duel to the death.

Quark tries to flee the planet, but Grilka guilt-trips him into staying to face D'Ghor. At the duel, Quark throws his weapon to the ground, denouncing the duel as no better than an execution, since Quark has no chance of winning and there is no honor in killing an unarmed Ferengi. D’Ghor is happy to kill Quark anyway, but Chancellor Gowron, disgusted by D'Ghor's conduct, aborts the duel and banishes D'Ghor. Gowron rules that there are enough "unusual circumstances" to grant Grilka special dispensation to lead her House in her dead husband's stead. Grilka gratefully grants Quark a divorce.

In a side plot back on Deep Space Nine, Keiko O'Brien feels bored and useless after the closure of her school. Her husband Miles advises her to focus on her botanical career instead, and convinces her to go on a research expedition to Bajor.

As described in a film magazine, Salome uses her wiles in pursuit of King Herod, whose power she desires. She has disposed of Herod's chief rival, and causes his wife to be killed through her own treachery. John the Baptist, who has secured a hold on the people, denounces Herod and his court. Herod has John thrown in jail for fomenting sedition. There Salome meets him, and becomes crazed with passion, but when John rejects her she seeks revenge. With a sensuous dance she gains the approval of Herod, and demands John's head as her reward. This act brings her own punishment when she is crushed to death beneath the sharp spokes on the shields of the Roman legionnaires.

Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union peak, and the two superpowers engage in nuclear war. In hours, the United States is reduced to a barren wasteland covered by the snows of nuclear winter. The President, blaming himself for what happened, prepares some kind of system known only as "Talons", but his plane crashes before he can activate it. A number of individuals are caught up in the onset of nuclear war: Josh Hutchins and a young girl named Sue "Swan" Wanda take cover in the basement of a Kansas gas station; a homeless woman named Sister Creep miraculously escapes an explosion in the subway tunnels of New York City; Colonel Macklin and teenager Roland Croninger are trapped in a collapsed fallout shelter in Idaho.

Amid the ruins of a jewelry store, Sister discovers an unusual glass ring with precious stones melted into it and soon discovers that the ring has supernatural properties, showing the holder visions of a better world. Sister and new companion Artie Wisco find themselves pursued by a demonic shapeshifter known as "The Man with the Scarlet Eye", who seeks to destroy the ring.

Josh and Swan, wandering through post-apocalyptic America, meet Leona Skelton, who predicts via tarot cards that Swan will have to face the Devil. Sister and Artie meet mountain man Paul Thorsen, the leader of a small group of survivors, and continue their journey in his truck. Macklin and Roland reach the Great Salt Lake and discover a relatively well-maintained and guarded camp led by the narcissistic Kempka. Macklin and Roland capture drug addict Shiela and use her supply to bargain with Kempka and move into the camp. After Roland kills Kempka when the latter tries to rape him, Macklin assumes command and introduces military discipline to the camp, establishing the "Army of Excellence" (AoE). Meanwhile, Josh, Swan, and Leona find themselves trapped in a former K-Mart taken over by escaped psychiatric hospital patients; Leona sacrifices herself to allow Josh and Swan to escape from the group's leader Alvin Magrim. The pair then meet Rusty, the last survivor of a traveling circus.

Seven years pass; the clouds do not dissipate, radioactive fallout persists, and many survivors suffer from "Job's Mask", a strange skin disease that obscures the head and face with fleshy tissue. The AoE, now a ferocious army of 4,000 soldiers (and including Alvin), moves across America and ravages settlements. The AoE goes to war against and equally armed and fanatical group, the "American Allegiance"; its leader, the self-proclaimed prophet Brother Timothy, is convinced that God lives on Warwick Mountain in West Virginia. Sister and Paul wander the Midwest and meet a group of orphans led by teenager Robin Oakes. Josh, Swan, and Rusty wander the country as a troupe of itinerant entertainers; Swan is blinded by Job's Mask, but shows miraculous new powers by reviving dead plants. Sister and Paul are guided toward Swan by Sister's visions, and are still pursued by the Man with the Scarlet Eye.

The parties meet in the settlement of Mary's Rest. Sister determines that she has reached her goal and hands the ring to Swan, who is greeted by visions of a blooming paradise. Her Job's Mask crumbles to pieces, revealing a beautiful face. Gradually, other characters lose their Job's Masks, and underneath are transformed faces that are beautiful or ugly depending on the person's spiritual qualities. Swan grows an entire cornfield despite the coldness and lack of sunlight, allowing Mary's Rest to thrive. The Man with the Scarlet Eye leads the AoE to Mary's Rest and attempts to kill Swan but fails. However, the settlement's inhabitants are defeated and captured, and Sister manages to hide the ring.

The AoE sets out on a campaign toward Warwick Mountain to meet the mysterious "God", who is revealed to be the former United States President. Within his bunker is the control panel for Talons, a doomsday device capable of completely eradicating the Earth's populace by destroying the polar icecaps and flooding the planet. The President activates Talons and is killed by the Man with the Scarlet Eye. Roland tries to kill Swan, but is attacked by Macklin, and both men kill each other. Swan manages to determine the deactivation password and averts disaster. The group leaves the bunker, locks it, and discards the key. The Sun appears in the sky for the first time in seven years. The AoE falls into disarray, and the Man with the Scarlet Eye loses his authority over it. While Josh returns to Mary's Rest, Swan embarks on a journey across America in an effort to heal the world with her powers.

The mid-19th-century patriarch of the Hungarian-Jewish Sonnenschein (meaning "Sunshine" in German) family is a tavern owner who makes his own popular distilled herb-based tonic in Austria-Hungary. The tonic, called Taste of Sunshine, is later commercially made by his son, Emmanuel, bringing the family great wealth and prestige. He builds a large estate where his oldest son, Ignatz, falls in love with his first cousin, Valerie, despite the disapproval of Emmanuel and Rose. Ignatz, while studying in law school, begins an affair with Valerie. Ignatz graduates and later earns a place as a respected district judge, when he is asked by the chief judge to change his Jewish surname to a Hungarian one in order to be promoted to the central court. The entire generation – Ignatz, his physician brother Gustave and photographer cousin Valerie – change their last name to Sors (meaning "fate" in Hungarian). Ignatz then gets promoted when he tells the Minister of Justice a way to delay the prosecution of corrupt politicians.

In the spring of 1899, when Valerie becomes pregnant, she and Ignatz happily marry before the birth of their son, Istvan. Their second son, Adam, is born in 1902. Ignatz continues to support the Habsburg monarchy, while Gustave pushes for a communist revolution. Both brothers enlist in the Austro-Hungarian Army as officers during World War I. In the days after the war, Valerie briefly leaves him for another man, the old monarchy collapses, and Ignatz loses his judicial position under a series of short-lived socialist and communist regimes in which Gustave is involved. When a new monarchy emerges and asks Ignatz to oversee trials of retribution against the communists, he declines and is forced to retire. His health deteriorates rapidly and he dies, leaving Valerie as head of the family.

Istvan and Adam both join the Jewish-run Civic Fencing Club. Adam becomes the best fencer in Hungary, and General Jakofalvy invites him to convert to Roman Catholicism in order to join the nation's top military, non-Jewish, fencing club. While Adam and Istvan are converting, Adam meets Hannah, who is converting at the request of her fiancé, and woos her into marrying him. Adam wins the national fencing championship two years in a row and goes on to lead the national team to the 1936 Olympic gold medal in Team Sabre in Nazi Germany, becoming a national hero in Hungary. Istvan's wife, Greta, pursues Adam until they start a secret affair.

New Hungarian laws are passed discriminating against people with any near Jewish ancestors, and the Sors family is initially shielded by the exceptions in the laws. However, Adam is soon expelled from the military fencing club. Greta finally convinces the family that they must emigrate to save their children, but they are too late to get exit visas.

When Germany occupies Hungary, Valerie and Hannah are immediately moved into the Budapest Ghetto. Valerie escapes and hides in a friend's attic, but nobody knows how or where Hannah died. Adam and his son Ivan are sent to a labor camp, where Adam is beaten, stripped naked and hosed with water until he freezes to death. Istvan, Greta and their son are summarily shot by Nazis.

After the war, the surviving Sors family returns to the Sonnenschein estate. The elderly Gustave returns from exile and is invited into the communist government, Valerie manages the household, and Ivan becomes a state policeman, working for police Major General Knorr rounding up fascists from the wartime regime. Ivan rises quickly in the communist ranks and begins an affair with Carole, the wife of a high-ranking communist official. Later, Army General Kope asks Ivan to start vigorously arresting Jews, including Knorr, who are suspected of inciting conspiracies against the current government. After Gustave dies, Kope informs Ivan that his uncle would have been next to be investigated.

When Stalin dies in 1953, Ivan feels guilty for helping Kope and not saving Knorr. He leaves the police force and swears to fight the communist regime. In the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, he steps up as a leader, but is imprisoned after it fails. Released at the end of the decade, he returns to live together with Valerie in a single room of the former family estate. She falls ill while they search for the tonic recipe—after she dies, he fruitlessly continues the search. Ivan changes his name from Sors back to Sonnenschein, and concludes his storytelling after the end of the communist regime in 1989.

The movie starts with introductions to the people of Small Town, U.S.A. Among them are the huge-breasted evangelical radio preacher Eufaula Roop (Ann Marie) who mounts Martin Bormann inside a coffin; a salesman who cunnilinguates a large-breasted housewife (Candy Samples); and the very large, black Junkyard Sal (June Mack) who has sex with her working-class employees. Finally there is Lamar, who anally rapes his large-breasted wife Lavonia (Kitten Natividad) after she tries having vaginal sex. Afterwards, she kicks him in the groin.

While Lamar heads off to his junkyard work, Lavonia spots a young man skinny dipping in a lake. She sneaks off and undresses, then jumps the boy from behind and proceeds to mount and rape him. The young man soon escapes, but she dives down, catches him underwater by fellating him and then overpowers him. After he succumbs to her, she learns his name is Rhett and that he is fourteen. Later on, the aforementioned salesman comes to her home and she ends up having sex with him too.

Meanwhile, Lamar, who previously turned down Junkyard Sal's invitation for sex, gets called to her office where she meets him in her underwear. She locks him inside and threatens to fire him if he does not succumb to her. Lamar, who we are told needs money for correspondent school, lies down on her bed. She forces herself on him in numerous sexual positions. After a while, she lets Lamar have anal sex with her and gives in when a suddenly enthusiastic Lamar stops her from continuing into other positions. Lamar then spots fellow employees peeping from the window. He breaks open the door and beats them up. Junkyard Sal then fires the peepers and Lamar for being "perverts".

Lamar goes to a bar, where Lavonia masks herself as Mexican stripper Lola Langusta and drugs his drink. In a motel room, Lavonia rapes the unconscious Lamar — by first triggering an erection via fellation, and then by finally having vaginal sex with him using a sock as contraception. She frees him to test if she changed his ways, but he runs away. Back home, Lavonia has sex with a truck driver. As she checks the clock smiling, Lamar returns. A fight ensues and Lavonia helps Lamar by burning the truck driver's scrotum with a light bulb.

Lamar takes Lavonia and himself into dentist/marriage counselor Asa Lavender (Robert Pearson). After the dentist takes Lavonia to the dental room, his nurse Flovilla kisses Lamar. As the dentist hurts Lavonia's teeth and she counters by grabbing his crotch painfully, Lamar rapes the nurse. The doctor then switches places with the nurse. When seeing Lamar still has his pants down, the doctor tries to rape him, but Lamar hides in the closet. While the nurse and Lavonia have sex using the nurse's double-ended dildo, the doctor uses various weapons to force Lamar out of the closet. Lamar eventually beats the doctor up and interrupts Lavonia and the nurse. An arrangement of ''Stranger in Paradise'' is played in the background throughout the dentist scene.

Lamar decides his cure lies in faith. After dropping him off at the radio station (a power station), Lavonia goes home and has sex once again with the truck driver. Lamar takes his pants off in front of Eufaula Roop's booth and reveals an erection. She immediately goes off the air. When Lamar tells her he wants to be saved, she sends him to her cleansing room (a bathroom) while she changes clothes. Lamar lies inside a water-filled bathtub as a robe wearing Eufaula Roop stands above him and baptizes (and almost drowns) him. Suddenly she takes her robe off, sits down on him and rapes him, all the while preaching to her listeners about his salvation. Lamar heads off home, punches the truck driver and has sex with Lavonia.

After Eufaula Roop leans back on her chair and moans, the teen-aged Rhett climbs from under her desk and she takes him to the bathtub.

The narrator heads off to his own home, where the teen-aged Rhett, his son, has sex with the narrator's huge-breasted younger Austrian wife, SuperSoul (Uschi Digard), during an earthquake.

As ''Golden Witchbreed'' opens, Christie has arrived on the technologically backward planet of ''Orthe'' ("Carrick V"), having been sent to evaluate whether it is suitable for trade and cultural contact with Earth. But Orthe, though possessing a complex social and political structure, turns out to have deliberately reverted to more primitive technologies after a catastrophe brought about by a previous technologically advanced race, the "Golden Witchbreed" or "Goldens". Unlike the Ortheans, Christie is blonde, which engenders hostility towards her as some take her to be a Witchbreed throwback.

Orthe consists largely of two continents, both of them only partially habitable since the catastrophe and linked by an archipelago of islands which supports a gigantic ruined Witchbreed structure, a kind of combined city and viaduct called the ''Rasrhe-y-Meluur''. The main concentration of Ortheans is in the ''Suthai-Telestre'' or Southland (the habitable southern portion of the Northern continent), also known as the Hundred Thousand (meaning the approximately 100,000 ''telestres'' or small self-supporting communities which are the basis of Orthean society; they elect a ruler, the Crown, every ten years who rules from the island city of Tathcaer). Isolated cities of very different culture cling to the coast of the desert Southern continent. Male and female Ortheans have social parity and authority; Orthean children do not become male or female until puberty and a few remain latent throughout their lives - children and latents are referred to by the neutral pronoun ''ke''.

Much of the novel concerns Christie's odyssey and adventures across the ''Suthai-Telestre'', in the course of which she encounters fragmentary remains of the Witchbreed's civilization and is frequently in danger of her life. Early in the novel she befriends the charismatic Ruric Orhlandis, the one-armed female commander of the Southland army. After (just) surviving her journey through the Southlands Christie is summoned to the southern-continent city of Kasabaarde, whose Brown Tower is ruled by the mysterious 'Hexenmeister' who preserves the memory of all generations on Orthe, going back to the very alien race who first landed there and died out but brought the humanoid Witchbreed as their servitors. The half-breed survivors of the Witchbreed now live in the far southern city of Kel Harantish. Eventually Christie learns that Ruric has been behind the many attempts to kill or frame her, fearing what the corrupting Earth influence might do to Orthe. Ruric is imprisoned, escapes, fights a bitter, hopeless civil war and is driven into exile. Christie leaves the planet in sombre mood.

In ''Ancient Light'', Christie returns to Orthe ten years later, this time as an unwilling representative of an Earth company that is looking for the lost technological secrets of the almost-extinct Witchbreed race that had destroyed its own civilization in Orthe's distant past, in order to exploit them. Political cohesion has been lost and, at the same time, war is developing between two groups on Orthe, worsened by the introduction of high-technology weapons. The novel is bleaker in tone than ''Golden Witchbreed''. Characters from that novel are re-encountered, older, changed, more cynical; others are dead. Christie experiences visions of the fall of the Golden Empire. She returns to Kasabaarde and discovers the new Hexenmeister is Ruric Orhlandis.

Violence and killing spread: eventually in confused fighting in Tathcaer Ruric is killed. Christie buries her and prepares to become Hexenmeister in her stead by means of the memory transfer systems in the Brown Tower. They are destroyed before she can reach Kasabaarde by a vast explosion caused by the release of the Witchbreed weapon known as 'Ancient Light', a destroyer of organic life that leaves only crystal in its wake, leaving her with only partial memories of the lives of previous Hexenmeisters, thus preventing her (seemingly) from continuing their legacy.

After World War II, a small aristocratic family in Japan has lost all of their money. The family consists of three people: Kazuko, her brother Naoji, and their mother. Naoji is a soldier in the South Pacific and is absent throughout much of the beginning of the novel. Kazuko was married once before, but she divorced.

In the family's old house, Kazuko's mother eats rationed food. Kazuko recalls a time when she tried to burn snake eggs, thinking that they were viper eggs. It is revealed that at the time of Kazuko's father's death, there were many snakes present. Therefore, snakes have become ominous in her mother's eyes. After recalling the time Kazuko burned the eggs, she reveals that she feels a snake is growing inside of her own chest.

The family eventually moves to the countryside. Kazuko begins working in the fields. She claims to be growing into a "coarse woman". Naoji eventually returns. He is addicted to opium and treats his mother and sister cruelly. He also goes out every night drinking. Kazuko finds Naoji's "Moonflower Journal," which he wrote when he had narcotic poisoning. It consists of pages upon pages of unconnected gripes about the world, and how people always lie.

Kazuko falls for a novelist named Mr. Uehara. She writes three letters to him, claiming to love a man named M.C., while addressing the letter to him with two combinations of M.C. after his name. “My Chekhov” and “My Child” indicate that he was in fact the one she is referring to in the letters. He does not respond.

Soon after, her mother is diagnosed with tuberculosis. Kazuko sees a black snake on the porch and remembers how her father died when one was present. She yells at it, claiming to have already felt its vengeance. It does not retreat. Her mother eventually dies.

After an outing with Mr. Uehara six years after she met him, Kazuko realizes that he also is not in the best health and calls him a victim. That morning, Kazuko finds out that Naoji has committed suicide. His suicide note reveals his reasons for not wanting to live anymore. Naoji believed that humans have the right to choose whether they want to live or die. He confesses his weakness and anguish out of his birth in noble class. But he protests the idea "all man is same", insisting that Marxism affirms the priority of workers, an In the last chapter, Kazuko claims that people keep leaving her. The story ends with a letter to Mr. Uehara. She reveals that she is pregnant, and that she will happily raise the child on her own. She has thrown away the old morality and is embracing a new revolutionary way of life, like Rosa Luxemburg and Jesus coming to bring a sword in Matthew 10 that she has read, very much like what all of Japan was undergoing. She says that they are "victims of a transitional period", and ends the letter addressing Mr. Uehara once again as M.C., this time "My Comedian".

Felix Nasmyth, the first-person narrator, is a young man who, as he tells readers right at the beginning of the book, has "always been a quitter". Without any hopes for the future, he is persuaded by one of his few friends to take part in a "summer camp"—a secluded rural area in Mendocino County, California-and grow marijuana on a large scale.

The illegal business venture seems doomed from the start, but for once Nasmyth decides to prove something to himself and follow through. In the end, after many misadventures, the venture is a failure.

At the same time Nasmyth has made the acquaintance of a lovely girl and has fallen in love with her. He ends his narrative on an optimistic note, returning to the girl with plans to "plant a little seed".

Slick lawyer Thomas Farrell has made a career of defending Chicago mobsters in court. At a party for mob boss Rico Angelo, he meets chorus girl Vicki Gaye, who accepted $100 to attend the party and another $400 from another gangster, Louis Canetto, from his gambling winnings.

Farrell gives her a ride home, each expressing disapproval at the way the other makes money. Vicki finds her roommate Joy dead by suicide, pregnant by a married criminal. After a long night of questioning by police, Farrell asks that Vicki be given a raise and featured number on stage at the Golden Rooster club, which Rico owns.

The lawyer and Vicki begin a romance. She's struck by the way Farrell, who is lame, uses his disability to manipulate jurors while getting Canetto off on a murder charge. A surgeon is found who might be able to properly mend Farrell's hip, so he goes to Stockholm for the operation.

A cold-blooded killer, Cookie La Motte, is coming up for trial, but Farrell's frame of mind has changed and he would rather not defend such a man. Rico threatens violence against Vicki if the lawyer doesn't do his job. Cookie jumps bail, tired of the long wait in court, and plans to eliminate prosecuting attorney Stewart while at-large. Cookie and his men are gunned down by other racketeers, however, at an Indiana diner.

Stewart decides to pressure the mob by going after anyone connected to it. He begins by placing Farrell under arrest. Canetto goes to Vicki offering to protect her, but takes her prisoner instead. The district attorney releases Farrell, hoping to smoke out the mobsters who employ him. Canetto, caught in a crossfire, is killed.

Farrell then confronts Rico, but the gangster picks up a bottle of acid that he intends to disfigure Vicki with if the lawyer refuses to do what he says. A fight erupts, with the bottle smashing into Rico's face. Eyes and face burning, he plunges from a window to his death.

Conman Raymond Fernandez (Jared Leto) defrauds rich women through personal ads, and meets Martha Beck (Salma Hayek) who joins Raymond in his schemes, posing as his sister. They begin traveling the country, murdering over a dozen women who respond to their ads. Homicide detectives Robinson (John Travolta) and Hildebrandt (James Gandolfini) track them down and bring them to justice.

The story of ''Way of the Samurai'' takes place in 1878, after the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate and the start of the Meiji period, during the Satsuma Rebellion, a time when the samurai who were once at the top of Japanese society are all but outlawed. The game begins with the player, taking the role of a wandering rōnin by the name of Kenji, arriving in a fictional outpost called Rokkotsu Pass.

Rokkotsu Pass is a sparsely populated village, whose main attractions include a railway crossing, a small restaurant, and an iron foundry. Three separate factions are competing for control of the Pass, each with their own agenda. The first is the new centralized government, whose army has been sweeping through the country securing power from the local warlords. The government army is well-funded and equipped with modern weaponry, including firearms and cannons, making them formidable opponents for the former samurai lords.

The second faction is the Kurou family, who previously held sway in Rokkotsu Pass and continue to exert their influence on the people through extortion and intimidation. Led by Tesshin Kurou, the family is resisting the government's attempt to take control of the pass, however the samurai cannot compete with the modern army. In an attempt to secure funds, the Kurou intend to sell the iron foundry to the government.

This decision by the Kurou puts them in direct opposition to the Akadama clan, whose leader, Kitcho, is the illegitimate son of Tesshin Kurou. The Akadama wish to expel the government forces from the pass, and plan to sabotage the Kurou family's attempt to sell the foundry.

Caught in the middle of this power struggle are the village peasants, who are likely to be oppressed regardless of who is in control.

Branching plot

Although the story in ''Way of the Samurai'' follows the basic framework provided above, the actual events that the player participates in depend greatly on the decisions made while playing. Immediately upon entering Rokkotsu Pass, the player is confronted by a group of samurai attempting to kidnap a young girl. The player has the choice of helping the girl, joining the abductors, or ignoring the situation altogether. Each of these decisions will lead the player down a different path, resulting in a vastly different view of the main plot points.

The player's decisions will also have a direct result on Kenji's allegiance within the storyline. The player may choose to join either the Kurou family or the Akadama clan, to support and protect the innocent villagers, or to take no side and observe the events as an outsider with minimal direct involvement. The player may also choose to help one faction and then switch allegiance later in the game.

As a result of these branching storylines, ''Way of the Samurai'' has six different endings; the particular ending obtained by the player is based on which faction, if any, Kenji has allied himself with and the actions taken during the course of the game.

Emily Lindstrom (Evan Rachel Wood), an aspiring 14-year-old violinist, spends her summer practicing for an audition to get into the InterMountain Youth Symphony Orchestra in Salt Lake City, while her two best friends, Laurel and Jenny (RuDee Lipscomb and Haley McCormick), go off to camp. She also runs a secret-keeping business, in which other children give her fifty cents to tell her a secret, which she promises to keep; this is a talent that she is normally very good at. Meanwhile, her parents are expecting another baby and seem to care more about it than her.

Philip Lenox (Michael Angarano) and his family move in next door to the Lindstroms. While helping unpack, he accidentally breaks a valued chess piece, unknown to his parents, and is caught by Emily as he attempts to bury it in the front garden. He pays her fifty cents to keep his deed a secret, and hide the piece in her treasure trunk (along with other broken property from her other clients, in paper bags labeled with their names).

When Emily invites Philip to join her in an afternoon tea session using her family's expensive and irreplaceable china, they accidentally break two of the teacups. She is faced with the challenge of keeping her own secret and having someone else know about it. Meanwhile, as he begins falling for her, his older brother, David (David Gallagher), enters the picture. He had been at tennis camp, but was expelled because he allegedly got drunk and was involved in a car accident. Philip tells her this family secret in exchange that she tells him a secret about her secret greetings with her friends. She starts getting upset, and says that a person who drinks and drives will do it again, before storming off. She then starts to lose her secret-keeping talent as she falls for David. He also begins falling for her, which makes Philip jealous.

During her mother's baby shower, David tries to talk to Emily and she reveals that she knows how he was expelled from tennis camp. Afterward, she goes to get her violin from the roof and falls to the ground, necessitating a trip to the hospital. While she is there, her mother gives birth to her new sister, Grace. Everyone is by her hospital bed except David, who is eavesdropping behind the curtain. They ask if Grace looks like she did when she was a baby, and she reveals that she is adopted. Her birth parents were killed by a drunk driver when she was 10 months old, and it's considered a miracle that she lived. The driver was sentenced to a year in prison and, less than a month after being released, crashed into someone else's car and killed himself. Upon hearing this, David feels very guilty and understands why she despises him so much. After she is released from the hospital, she and Philip return all of the paper bags to her clients. To thank him, she kisses him on the cheek. Then David appears, and gives her her first official kiss.

Watts Davies (Will Rothhaar) is a 14-year-old kid who decides to take up go-kart racing, he finds a new pursuit and begins to reconnect with his father, Vic (Randy Quaid), whom he has been clashing with since the death of his mother. Watts has an intense rivalry with Rodney Wells (Joe Dinicol), his enemy and local bully. Rodney stops at nothing to make Watts look bad; and he and his crew are not above getting Watts arrested. A little later, after more trouble, Watts sadly watches as Rodney and his dad buys the kart that he had originally set his eyes upon.

In an effort to bond with Watts, Vic (who is a former racer himself) helps him build a kart together and begins to train him in the fine art of kart racing, in which Watts proves to be a natural. With Vic's help and training, and a newly built kart, Watts enters the race. Throughout the film as Vic teaches Watts how to compete, the young driver begins to fall for Dahlia (Amanda De Martinis), an attractive and rebellious local girl and a graffiti artist. The final race ends up being between Watts, Rodney and driver Scott McKenna. Rodney tries to take out Watts but ends up crashing with 2 laps to go. The final lap is between Watts and Scott, and in a photo finish, Watts edges Scott to take the checkered flag.

This story is about the time when the Tohoku region suffered from famine and lived poorly. In a corner of the Taneyamagahara plateau in the Kitakami Mountains of Iwate Prefecture, Ito, who spends the night with three farmers preparing for mowing from the early morning, dreams. In a dream, Youth Ito interacts with the staff of the Forestry Office about the place where he can be paid to burn charcoal. Suddenly, oak, kashiwa, and birch tree spirits appear. Kodama and the youth Ito interact with each other over whether to cut down the trees in the mountains. For Ito youth, the mountain where the trees were squeezed and "komon" was a rich and "good" landscape where water boiled and akebi and mushrooms could be removed. However, if you don't cut the tree and burn the charcoal, you won't be able to make a living. Kodama, who had been disagreeing with cutting trees, finally answered, "Then there is no point in cutting trees, but burn good charcoal." A mysterious overnight dream story that Kenji Miyazawa tells us that humans are not the only ones living in this world.The movie describes the daily life of mountains farmers and their struggles to keep moving while deepening their understanding of nature and the world they live in, as they encounter mysterious figures and appearances that may change their perspective on everything they have yet experienced.

''Steampunk'' tells the story of a young, poor fisherman, Cole Blaquesmith, who falls in love with a teacher, Miss Fiona in the mid-18th century. Fiona is an upper-class woman, who cares for the lower class and tries to educate them, which isn't well received by her peers. Fiona gives Cole an education, despite his lack of ''proper manners'' and his initial lack of interest for literature and arts. She also opens a school for the underprivileged. The school is burned down because Fiona was teaching the lower classes to think for themselves, an unpopular notion with the people in power.

Over time, Fiona starts coughing and finally falls ill. No rational doctor can help her and, in his desperation, Cole takes her to doctor Absinthe, a mad genius, who is shunned by everybody else for performing horrible experiments, including grafting pieces of animals onto other animals. Absinthe promises to save Fiona, but needs Cole to do something for him to save her. He reveals the Engine, a machine capable of traveling through time (note: it is possible that the Engine is but a part of the time machine, though a vital, irreplaceable part). He tells Cole to travel to the future and take back all books on science and any objects that he can find. Cole travels to the future and lands in London in 1954. He does as Absinthe asks him, but Absinthe betrays him and doesn't help Fiona, who succumbs to her disease. Cole feels like his heart is ripped out and decides to give Absinthe a little payback: he takes the Engine and buries it beneath Stonehenge, believing the Engine is as important to Absinthe as Fiona was to him. Absinthe is furious that Cole has hidden the Engine. He rips out Cole's actual heart and all goes dark for Cole.

The first issue of Steampunk begins 100 years later: Cole wakes up in a strange coffin during the Victorian Age. His coffin was discovered by two grave-robbers, Randy and Sköm, who are attacked by Dog Soldiers, half man, half beast. Cole attacks the soldiers in a daze and defeats them, then turns on the grave-robbers, but loses consciousness. Randy takes him to safety, hoping to make some money off of Cole. When he wakes up, Cole's memory is a mess, he can recall little of his past and when he looks at himself, he's in shock: his chest is now a metal furnace and his right arm is a gigantic mechanical claw. He is informed that London is now under the rule of Lord Absinthe and has been for the last century.

London is unrecognizable: dark smoke obscures the sky and leaky pipes circle ramshackle villages. Poor people are forced to live underground. The aristocracy lives at the upper levels, unaware and uncaring about anything besides themselves. Those with the money and desire can buy animal or mechanical parts to enhance their bodies as they wish. Death and destruction have become entertainment for them.

Cole becomes an unwilling inspiration to the Underground Resistance led by Sir Robert Peel, while Absinthe hears of Cole's return and sends his best assassins to capture him: the demonic Faust and Victoria, a woman who would have become Queen Victoria if it had not been for Cole and Absinthe's actions.

In 2010, Rainbow operatives Logan Keller, Gabriel Nowak and Kan Akahashi are deployed to a Mexican border town, where they are tasked with capturing Irena Morales, a terrorist ringleader. As the team reaches its landing zone, Logan is separated from the others after he fast-ropes down first.

Logan fights his way through the town and manages to regroup with Gabriel and Kan at an old church. After infiltrating a train yard and freeing a group of hostages, the team eventually makes its way to a mine where Irena is hiding. However, they are ambushed, and Gabriel and Kan are captured as Irina escapes.

Alone and armed only with his sidearm, Logan fights his way through an abandoned factory, eventually escaping by helicopter. He is then redeployed to handle a related crisis in Las Vegas. He is dropped outside the Calypso Casino and links up with his new team: Michael Walters and Jung Park. The team clears out the casino and saves a group of hostages, including a NATO weapons researcher, who reveals that another researcher has been captured.

The team then rescues a kidnapped reporter, who informs them that the terrorists are using a news van as a communications hub. Logan's team destroys the hub, then heads to rescue the other weapons researcher. Rainbow is dropped on the Vertigo Spire luxury hotel, where the team finds and rescues the missing researcher, who informs the team about a micro-pulse bomb that was planted in the Vertigo. Michael disarms the bomb, and the team is then extracted to locate Gabriel and Kan.

The team is dispatched to Dante's Casino, where they find Gabriel and Kan. However, Kan is fatally wounded during extraction, but manages to reveal that the attack in Las Vegas is a distraction before dying. The team then proceeds to a theatre to hack a terrorist server where they discover that Irena's target is the Nevada Dam.

As they arrive at the dam, the team discovers another micro-pulse bomb which they defuse. They then encounter a hostage who informs them that the dam will collapse if they do not activate an emergency release valve. After activating the valve, the team proceed into the facility, where they discover that it is a weapons research lab. They also find that the terrorists have a micro-pulse missile on top of the dam.

Logan presses forward, confronts Irena, and kills her. The team then heads to the top of the dam and destroys the missile. Logan receives a transmission from Gabriel, who tells him that he was Irena's mole before hijacking the team's helicopter.

As Gabriel attempts to escape with the helicopter, Logan can either let him escape or shoot him down. Afterward, Logan and the team are sent out to locate the organization behind Irena and Gabriel's terrorist activity. Later, a news clip states that a helicopter had crashed into a lake, but no bodies were found.

In the fictional suburban commuter town of Putnam's Landing, Connecticut, public relations specialist Harry Bannerman (Paul Newman) is slowly going insane because his wife Grace (Joanne Woodward) insists on attending every local civic committee meeting. When the government selects the town for the site of a new missile base, Grace joins a committee to prevent it from being built.

Harry is made the liaison for the military, and Grace's activities cause him no end of trouble. Adding to the dilemma is Angela Hoffa (Joan Collins), whose efforts to get Harry for herself lead to dizzying recriminations and misunderstandings.

Based on a true story about two sisters who came out on top of a man's sport, the story is based on Courtney and Erica Enders, two sisters who get into junior drag racing and make it all the way to the top. The two sisters fight a battle of fellow racers who are against having girls race with them therefore it pushes them harder to compete against their competition. Erica becomes stressed when her racing life becomes mixed with her social life and academic goals, and decided to quit racing, until she realizes racing is what she truly wants to do. Finally towards the end of their teen years the Enders sisters come out on top to win the NHRA Junior Dragster national title. They continue to race throughout high school and college, and still do so today.

Eddie Ogden is an eighth grader at Cedar Valley Junior High School, and plays baseball for the Groundhogs, which is coached by his father. At the same time, Eddie likes making food, especially Eddie Dogs, which he preps after every game for him and his friends.

Holding high expectations for him, Eddie's father wants him to win a scholarship for his baseball skills. Though Eddie likes baseball, he discovers an attraction to cooking after watching Bobby Flay on The Food Network.

When the time comes for him and his friends to sign up for electives, Eddie encourages his friends that they should all sign up for computer science, as it is an easy elective. Eddie starts to question his choice however after he sees the home economics classroom. Eddie tricks his friends D.B. and Frankie into signing it so they all end up in home economics together.

Eddie and his friends goof around and get into trouble frequently in class, but Eddie learns of a million dollar cook-off that can get him into a culinary institute. He signs up secretly, afraid of what his friends and family will think. Surprisingly, his mother learns of Eddie's interest in culinary arts and encourages him to go on. When Eddie's teacher announces to the class who is in the finals, everyone is shocked that Eddie actually entered and won. As a result, he is teased and humiliated relentlessly by his friends and the kids at school, as well as his brothers.

Eddie starts spending more time on cooking and less on baseball. When his father learns of the cook-off, he is extremely disappointed. Eddie repeatedly switches between cooking and baseball as he struggles to decide between pleasing his father and pursuing his dream. In the process, he is laughed at and humiliated by nearly everyone, loses all of his friends except for Hannah who understands what its like not to be able to live up to a parent's expectations, and displeases his father.

As it turns out, the day of the baseball finals and the day of the cook-off are the same, leaving Eddie to make the choice to please his father or follow his dreams. Eddie stops by the building where the competition is being held, only to find that his idol, Bobby Flay, is hosting.

Ultimately, Eddie goes to the game for the sake of his father and friends, but cannot concentrate. Seeing the state he is in, his friends finally accept that he loves cooking and tell him to go to the cook-off and let them win on their own for once. With his friends now behind him, Eddie and his mother go to the cook-off, leaving his father stunned by his decision. He arrives an hour late and has no one to help him but he is determined to try his best. His friends watch the cook-off on a portable television in the dugout and see that Eddie is struggling as he has less time and no one to help. After hearing this, and seeing Hannah's mom finally supporting her, his father purposely gets himself kicked out of the game to go and help Eddie. Eddie is surprised by this, but his father proves to be a huge help during the cook off.

Together, the two manage to complete the cook-off just in time. Eddie loses, but when confronted by Frankie, Bobby Flay says that he believes Eddie should have won. Eddie's father now supports him wholeheartedly and comforts him, telling him no matter what he does, he will support him from now on. Eddie's brothers even show up to finally support him after seeing the cook-off on TV. Eddie's team wins without him as his best friend, D.B., finally gets a hit.

Eddie and his friends go to celebrate at his house and Eddie's cooking rival Bridget Simons (who won the cook-off) comes too and seems to share her trophy with Eddie.

When the babies are watching a science fiction oriented movie about a time-traveling machine, Angelica shows them her new "tapiyokie" (karaoke) machine. She forbids the babies to play with it, but, as with many of her toys, they do. Angelica is angry and chases the babies into a closet, with Angelica on the outside. Angelica starts counting to ten for them to come out, and Tommy suggests they go to "the foocher" (the future) so that they will be grown up enough for Angelica not to boss them around anymore. Angelica says multiple random numbers in incorrect order before reaching 10, giving the babies enough time to rig the karaoke machine into a time-travel device. At the exact moment Angelica reaches ten, Tommy pushes a button, and there is a swirling orange vortex, and the babies see themselves in the future, now ten years older.

The gang stumbles out of the closet, and teenage Angelica demands her CD of popstar Emica's songs back. They explain that they had borrowed the CD to learn the lyrics in hopes that Emica will call one of them up to sing with her during her concert the next night. Nine-year-old Dil is shown to have an unusual personality, and Angelica states that it is because Phil and Lil dropped him on his head when he was a baby. Stu has a disco dance on the same night of the concert, and plans to wear his lucky zodiac necklace, one similar to Emica's.

When the gang leaves for middle school, Tommy, Dil, and Angelica's grandfather and Stu and Drew's father, Lou, is now a bus driver. Angelica's friend Samantha Shane, whom Chuckie has a crush on, tells Angelica that she is going to the Emica concert. Angelica denies being related to Tommy despite sharing his last name, and claims that she is going to wear the zodiac necklace that Emica (and Stu) wears. She asks Tommy to steal his father's necklace so she will look like she told the truth to her friend, offering to introduce Samantha to Chuckie in return. Tommy plans to ask Stu if he can borrow the necklace for the night, but quickly realizes it is easier said than done when Stu says he cannot dance without it. Tommy makes a fake necklace by wrapping a round dog biscuit in gold foil with the zodiac sign drawing and switches it out for the real necklace. Unexpectedly, the now old and overweight Spike eats the decoy overnight, then mistakes the real necklace for another one and takes it. Stu finds out the next morning, and Tommy takes the blame for stealing it. Upset and reluctant to do so, Stu and Didi ground Tommy from attending the Emica concert, much to Dil's dismay, and because of this, Angelica refuses to introduce Chuckie to Samantha.

Stu and Didi hire Susie to babysit Tommy while they are at the dance, as she is unable to attend the Emica concert. Lil finds the necklace in the sandbox, as Spike buried it there once he discovered it was not a dog biscuit like the decoy was, and the gang convince a reluctant Tommy to come with them to return the necklace to Stu. Susie (who is watching the same sci-fi film as the babies did at the beginning of the episode) catches them as they leave the house, stating that she knows when they are always up to something. She then eagerly goes with the gang to return the necklace. On the way, they ride their bikes by the concert, where Angelica, who is nervously facing peer pressure from Samantha, runs towards them to get the necklace. Tommy confronts Angelica and tells her that he cannot give her the necklace because he should not have agreed to their deal and that she should have introduced Samantha to Chuckie in the first place, and urges her to tell the truth. Wanting the necklace but ultimately feeling remorse, Angelica admits to Samantha that the necklace belonged to Tommy's dad and also reveals that she and Tommy are cousins. As a way to try to make up, she introduces Chuckie to Samantha as "Charlie Finster, III". Samantha shares her experiences with braces to Chuckie as he is wearing them also, and the two are smitten with each other. As one more act of kindness, Angelica gives her ticket to Susie.

They return Stu's necklace in the middle of his performance, and Stu can dance. The kids then head off to the concert, where Angelica decides to head home and let the others enjoy it. Tommy offers to give Angelica his ticket as a thanks, but as she declines, Lou then arrives with two tickets: one was intended for his wife, Lulu, but he gives it to Angelica because she is away on a trip. At the concert, Emica calls Tommy up to sing, but Angelica begs to be up too, and Emica agrees. After a short period of getting along with singing (and flashbacks of clips from the entire gang's baby years), Angelica and Tommy start to fight over the microphone. They struggle to what seems as backstage but travel back into the closet in the present day, where Angelica and the babies are fighting over the karaoke machine and end up breaking it. After Angelica yells at them for this, Tommy states he is glad that Angelica will be nicer to them in ten more years, but then Angelica finds Dil's drool over her player and reaches her breaking point. The episode ends with Angelica chasing the babies and screaming for Didi as Chuckie asks Tommy if ten years will be a very long time.

A fading family-owned automobile manufacturer and its owners pin their hopes for a return to profitability on a new model named for the great-granddaughter of the firm's founder.

The aging Loren Hardeman Sr. remains the titular head of a Detroit automotive conglomerate. (An obvious parallel exists between this fictional character and that of Henry Ford.) His grandson, Loren Hardeman III, now runs the company as president, but has diversified into other fields and is concerned that the auto division is not as lucrative as it once was and might even need to be eliminated.

A young auto racer, Angelo Perino, has been secretly commissioned to develop a groundbreaking fuel-efficient car. He juggles romantic relationships with a British royal, Lady Bobby Ayres, and the young Betsy, who is about to turn 21 and inherit a fortune, including the new car that her great-grandfather is naming in her honor.

Loren Hardeman III bitterly despises Hardeman Sr., who once carried on an affair with Loren's mother. The older Hardeman is not the man he used to be, but he is not ready to step aside forever.

Natalia Ríos is a lovely young girl who lives with her aunt Inés. Her aunt’s husband, Arcadio, is a shameless man who tries to rape Natalia and ends up selling her into white slavery to a gang of thugs. One of them, Valente, takes pity on the innocent young girl. He saves her and they both run away, but are soon found by the criminals. Valente confronts them to give Natalia a chance to escape and is badly wounded. Natalia is able to get away and goes back to her aunt, only to find her on her deathbed. Inés tells her that, from now on, she must live with Doña Carlota at the home of the wealthy Serrano family. When Natalia arrives at the mansion, Don Teodoro and his daughter Sandra welcome her with open arms, but his wife Apolonia, Doña Carlota’s daughter, treats her with contempt.

Sebastián lives with his adoptive family: Amparo, who has always rejected him; her son Eduardo, who loves and is loyal to Sebastián, thinking they are really brothers; and the grandmother, Doña Cruz. One night, Eduardo is attacked by a drunkard and Sebastián defends him, leaving the attacker unconscious in the street. A street bum who witnessed the fight then robs and kills the man, but Sebastián is blamed for the murder and sent to prison.

Years later, Natalia and Eduardo become friends in college. She is truly fond of him, but only as a friend. Eduardo, however, falls madly in love with her. Sebastián is released for good behavior and meets Natalia during an embarrassing incident where he must defend her from his inebriated friends. Even though they haven’t met again after that first encounter, Natalia and Sebastián cannot stop thinking about each other, and Eduardo and Sebastián do not realize that they have fallen in love with the same woman.

Sebastián is desperate because no one will give him a job, so he decides to try his luck in Mexico City. There, fate brings him face to face with Natalia once more, and they finally confess their love for each other. Natalia promises to find him work at the Serrano family’s tuna cannery, where she herself is employed, and they both go back to Comala. Meanwhile, Apolonia is searching for the illegitimate son she had in her youth and gave up for adoption to Amparo’s husband. Amparo sees the chance to benefit her own child and tells Apolonia that Eduardo is her son. In an attempt to win his love, Apolonia gives him a job at the cannery and decides to make all his wishes come true. When she learns that Eduardo is in love with Natalia, Apolonia does everything in her power to force her to marry him, but Natalia’s love belongs to Sebastián and she will not give in to Apolonia’s pressure.

It is only when Eduardo falls gravely ill and is not expected to live long that Natalia must decide whether she should marry him out of compassion, or be true to her heart and defend her love for Sebastian "Against All Odds".

''Rebuilt: The Human Body Shop'' takes viewers into the world of orthotics and prosthetics.

Each episode features three people in the process of acquiring new limbs and the viewer is able to witness their emotional experiences.

The story follows a team of pirate mercenaries known as the Lagoon Company, that smuggles goods in and around the seas of Southeast Asia in the early to mid 1990s. The Lagoon Company consists of four members: Dutch, the leader; Revy, the main gunfighter; Benny, the mechanic, computer specialist, and researcher; and Rock, an ex-salaryman hijacked by the team and abandoned by his department chief, eventually becoming their negotiator and "professional" face of the group, retaining his old job skills. Their base of operations is located in the fictional harbor city of Roanapur in east Thailand near the border of Cambodia (somewhere in the Amphoe Mueang Trat district, likely on the mainland north/northeast of the Ko Chang island or on the island itself). The city is home to the Japanese ''yakuza'', the Chinese triad, the Russian mafia, the Colombian cartel, the Italian mafia, a wide assortment of pickpockets, thugs, mercenaries, thieves, prostitutes, assassins, and gunmen. The city also has a large Vietnamese refugee population following the Vietnamese refugees exodus after the communist takeover of Vietnam in 1975.

Lagoon Company transports goods for various clients in the American made Elco-type PT boat, ''Black Lagoon''. It has a particularly friendly relationship with the Russian crime syndicate Hotel Moscow. The team takes on a variety of missions—which may involve violent firefights, hand-to-hand combat, and nautical battles—in various Southeast Asian locations, even going as far as Phu Quoc island of Vietnam. When they are not working, the members of the Lagoon Company spend much of their down time at The Yellow Flag, a bar in Roanapur which is often destroyed in firefights.

The story is about 6 (briefly 5) friends who run a detective company, named Soh & Co, in an old storeroom behind Alvin Soh's mother's jewelry shop. A large sign hangs outside proudly proclaiming:

                                     SOH & CO
                                  INVESTIGATORS
                             We investigate anything
                          No case too big or too small

They are frequently roped into solving crimes that baffle the police by their suspicious clients, frowned upon by their friend in the police, Sergeant Soo, as well as Alvin's mother, Gracie Soh (They are both worried about safety since Alvin’s father was murdered).

In 1975, a cult called Unity Fields commits mass suicide by fire at the behest of its psychopathic leader, Franklin Harris. Only one young woman named Cynthia Weston, a child at the time of the fire, refuses to commit suicide and barely survives the burning of the house where Unity Fields' cultists lived. Nevertheless, she lies in a coma for thirteen years. After awakening in a hospital, Cynthia is plagued by horrific flashbacks of her childhood at Unity Fields, and is forced to attend experimental group therapy sessions for borderline personality disorder at the facility, led by Dr. Alex Karmen. Karmen is not sure that Cynthia belongs inside the group's dynamic, but his peer and mentor, Dr. Berrisford, convinces him to help Cynthia to gradually accustom to urban life in a world that has changed a lot in thirteen years. Eventually, Alex sympathizes with Cynthia's story and tries to help her overcome her fears and feelings of estrangement.

Cynthia is disturbed by a vision she has of Harris drowning Lana, another patient, in a baptismal ceremony; moments later, Lana is found drowned in a swimming pool. Cynthia's visions become more vivid, and Harris begins to appear to her with his flesh burnt. When her roommate, Miriam, is discharged from the hospital, Cynthia has a vision of Harris in the elevator with her; however, the doors close before she is able to warn her. Miriam is found dead on the sidewalk in front of the hospital, having leapt from a window in what appears to be a suicide. Alex reassures Cynthia that she is not to blame for the deaths, but she is frequently visited by visions of Harris, who claims to have killed her friends and pressures Cynthia to commit suicide, saying that the only way to stop anyone from dying is to take her own life and join him and the other Unity Fields' victims in the afterlife.

A male and female patient who are lovers are later killed by the blades of an industrial fan in the utility room of the hospital, which Cynthia also attributes to Harris. She believes Harris has come back from the dead to kill those around her. Ralph Pesco, a troubled masochist patient with a tendency for violent outbursts, becomes enamored with Cynthia; finding himself on the edge after the deaths of his fellow members in the group, he knocks down a policeman who was watching him, and goes to talk to Cynthia, who was spending the night with Dr. Karmen in order to feel safe. When he is distracted, Ralph and Cynthia take an elevator to the basement of the hospital. There, during an apparent episode of psychosis and violence, he commits suicide by stabbing himself multiple times in the abdomen.

Awakening from sedation after the incident, Cynthia finds Harris sitting in her room, calling her his "love child," and urging her to commit suicide. Shortly after, Harris apparently visits Gilda (a clairvoyant patient who asked Cynthia to fight the person who is haunting her, and to stay alive) in her room. Instead of allowing him to kill her, she drinks formaldehyde she stole from a supply room, effectively killing herself. Meanwhile, Dr. Karmen discovers his corrupt peer, Dr. Berrisford, has intentionally laced the therapy group's drugs with psychogenic substances, in the hope that it will effectively make the patients suicidal, and thus corroborate Berrisford's research. Alex realizes that Cynthia's suicide is the ultimate goal for Berrisford, so he orders the nurses to call the police and Detective Wasserman, who was investigating what happened at Unity Fields before the suicides began. Alex confronts Cynthia, insisting her visions of Harris are not real. He is surprised by Berrisford from behind, who knocks him out and takes Cynthia with him.

Dr. Karmen wakes up and pulls the hospital's emergency alarm, which elicits chaos. Cynthia goes to the rooftop, where Alex finds her standing on the ledge, with Berrisford at her side, encouraging her to jump. She leaps from the building, but before hitting the ground below, awakens back at the house in which the Unity Fields members committed suicide. There, she is confronted by Harris, who welcomes her; however, it is only a vision, and she awakens to Alex holding her by the arm as they both dangle over the ledge. Berrisford, knowing that Dr. Karmen has discovered his plot, stabs Alex's hand and attempts to push him to his death as well. His attempt is thwarted by the arrival of the police and Wasserman, who help Alex and Cynthia to climb back. Berrisford uses the distraction to grab one of the cops revolver, and readily insists that Dr. Karmen is responsible for altering the patients' medication and the suicides. Alex explains to the police that things are the other way around and shows how Berrisford stabbed his hand. Knowing that all of his schemes have failed, Berrisford pulls the stolen revolver and pretends to commit suicide, but quickly points the gun towards Alex. Before he shoots, Cynthia finally confronts her fear of Harris, realizing that Berrisford is a totally different person, and reacts by charging and pushing him over the ledge to his death.

The authorities retreat from the rooftop. While being comforted there by Dr. Karmen, Cynthia has another brief vision of Harris climbing back from the edge of the building and trying to grab her, which scares her for a second. Alex shakes Cynthia and reassures her that her nightmares are over and there is nothing to fear anymore. She calms down and they both tightly embrace one another.

In 1962 in Rockport, Maine, a seal drowns in a fishing net cast by financially struggling fisherman Billy Baker, much to his fury. He and the other local fishermen discuss shooting the seals as a way to improve their flagging fishing season. Toni Whitney, a seven-year-old girl, and her family subsequently adopt the seal's orphaned newborn pup, naming it Andre. The vet doesn't hold out much hope, but Toni incites him to survive, with the promise that she will be his best friend forever, and that she will always take care of him. After several failed attempts to get him to take a bottle, Toni's father, Harry, the harbor master, constructs an "artificial mother" for him out of wetsuit material, a bucket, and two feeding bottles, which he finally accepts, ensuring his survival.

As Andre grows up, Toni forms an inseparable bond with him, even taking him to school for show and tell, with the help of Harry and the permission of her teacher. He becomes attached to the Whitneys, and especially to Toni. He lives in the harbor, learns tricks, and attracts a huge local following of fans. The irony of his success as an entertainer further angers Billy, who becomes increasingly jealous of Andre's and the Whitneys' success and esteem within the village. Relations between Harry and Billy deteriorate rapidly. Meanwhile, Billy's son, Mark, and Toni's sister, Paula, become romantically involved, increasing tension between Paula and Harry over Andre. Mark and Billy have a strained relationship as it is. Under pressure from his family and the locals, Harry reluctantly makes the decision to release Andre into the wild once he is weaned, but reconsiders and does not go through with it when he encounters the body of a seal covered in bullet holes at the place where he had planned to release him.

In his first winter, Andre escapes the confines of the barn, and the water home that Harry built for him when the harbor froze over. He cuts himself badly, leaving a trail of blood which the Whitneys discover upon realizing that he is missing, and remains gone for the winter. However, he returns in spring, physically weak but unchanged in character, and recovers quickly from his ordeal.

As Andre gets older, he continues to be scapegoat for the local fishermen, and for Paula, as he takes up more and more of Harry's time and affections. He misses her performance (which he told her he would not miss for the world) in the local Miss Liberty beauty pageant, because he has to protect Andre from a drunken Billy, who is trying to kill him with a pitchfork. Harry's relations with his son, Steve, fade into the background as he comes down harshly on him for minor transgressions, and fails to keep up with what is going on in his life. When Paula and Mark are discovered smoking in the shed when Andre exits it in a fit of coughing, Harry permanently bans Mark's presence on the Whitneys' grounds, and his and Paula's relationship. Paula decides she is leaving home, raging that Harry doesn't care about her, and that she hates him, to the anger and deep concern of her mother, Thalice. Mark tells her he knows a way to make Andre go away so that he'll never come back.

Harry's job also suffers. He fails to call meetings, never checks moorings, and his relations with the fishermen become ever more strained. He also attracts the ongoing attention of the federal government, who send their inspector, Jack Adams, to inform him that he is violating the law by keeping a wild animal in captivity, as a pet. He insists that Andre is there by his own choice, but that it's too dangerous in the wild during winter. Jack pays two visits to the Whitneys' home, increasingly emphatic that Harry faces court and even jail if he does not give Andre up. However, Andre is teaching him about the intelligence and abilities of seals, and despite the risks, he is determined that nothing will put an end to this learning curve. At one point Andre saves his life when he is underwater checking a mooring, which turns out to be entangled in an active explosive.

Eventually, Thalice manages to impress upon Harry the high cost of continuing his relations with Andre in the setup that they have, and he agrees to call Jack, so that he can relocate Andre to the aquarium in Boston, where he will be safe, cared for, and have plenty of company. However, before he can tell Toni, the telephone rings, and she goes down to the harbor. There she discovers that Paula and Mark have taken Andre, commandeered a boat, and are heading out to sea as dark clouds gather. Steve is charged with keeping an eye on Toni while their parents investigate, but he is engrossed in a TV program, and does not notice her slip out and launch the dinghy onto an increasingly choppy sea.

On their boat, Mark attempts to shoot Andre, reasoning that he is a problem for the fishermen, but Paula finally realizes that she cares about Andre and doesn't want him to be harmed. She tries to stop Mark from shooting him, but the gun fires. Andre jumps overboard, but Paula, not seeing this, assumes his body has fallen in. Very upset and angry at Mark, she demands to be taken home. Harry and Thalice, having been informed by Toni that Paula and Mark had taken Andre, meet them on the shore. Steve, in a panic, arrives and tells Thalice that Toni has disappeared, as has the dinghy. She calls the coast guard, as the rain starts to fall, and visibility begins to deteriorate.

Out at sea, Toni is struggling to maintain control of the dinghy in the face of the storm and a strong outward tide-rush. The dinghy is being tossed on huge waves, in opaque rain, and is heading towards some jagged rocks. She loses both oars, and, panicking, calls out for help. Andre, who turns out to be unharmed, swims to her rescue, pulling her away from the rocks by the dinghy's mooring rope. He then alerts Billy and Harry in their boat, leading them to Toni's location. Before she can be rescued, a large wave capsizes the dinghy. Mark, who came with Billy and Harry, jumps overboard, swims out to her, and Billy throws them both a lifebelt, pulling them to safety. Billy tells Mark that he is proud of him, while Harry comforts Toni in the back of the boat, and Andre swims away, exultant at her safety.

Once back on shore, Toni is distraught to find Jack levering a caged Andre onto a transport vehicle. Harry explains to her that Andre is going to live in the aquarium in Boston, where he will be safe and cared for in ways they can't. Annie Potts, an aquarium worker, tells Toni they will take good care of him, that they will love having him there, and that she will get to visit him whenever she wants. She reluctantly accepts the notion, and tells Andre that she loves him and will visit him all the time.

As summer comes around, Billy and Mark's relationship improves. Harry repairs relations with his family, and having been offered a research job in marine mammal protection, steps down as harbor master, nominating Billy to take his place. Toni comes to the realization that Andre would be happier in the wild, being a wild animal, and he is subsequently released. The Whitneys do not expect to see him again, and Toni wonders if he is making new friends with the wild seals. Multiple alleged sightings of Andre are reported, until a friend of the Whitneys spots him nearby, and informs them that he is on his way. The entire town of Rockport flocks to the harbor to watch him returning home to his family. The film ends with an adult Toni narrating that his life became legend after he made his first trip home, that he spent every winter at the aquarium, and every spring he was released to swim home to Rockport. She narrates that by the time he was twenty-four years old he could hardly see, but still made his final trip home, and that in all her past and future, she'll never have a better friend than him.

The story dealt with the coming of Damocles (an alternate reality version of Dr. Tsung), an insane villain from another universe. On Earth, Damocles' opponent from his homeworld had been reborn as the superhero Sigma. Damocles was assisted in his quest by the Sword (an alternate reality version of Union), a group of alien bounty hunters, including One-Eyed Jack, Jade, Rake, Hardball and Tode, the fake Kaizen Gamorra and Miles Craven. Most of the story took place on the island-state Gamorra, with a finale on the moon that involved most of Earth's superheroes.

The story is divided into four chapters, each of which starts with an opening crawl resembling those featured in the ''Star Wars'' films. Further story details are presented through the game's instruction manual, pre-mission briefings, character conversations during the game and in-game cutscenes. The game begins with Rogue Squadron briefly encountering the Empire at the Mos Eisley spaceport on Tatooine. The team then executes escort and rescue missions on Barkhesh and Chorax, respectively.

The Rebels learn that Imperial officer Crix Madine wishes to defect to the Rebel Alliance. The Empire launches an attack on Corellia, where Madine is stationed, to prevent his departure. Rogue Squadron, with the help of Han Solo and Chewbacca in the ''Millennium Falcon'', fights off the Empire and helps escort Madine safely off the planet. Soon after, Rogue Squadron is joined by Gold Squadron, a group of Y-wings now led by Crix Madine; they are dispatched to the moon of Gerrard V to aid its quest for independence from the Empire. They encounter the 128th TIE interceptor Squadron and disable Kasan Moor's TIE. When Rogue Squadron tells Moor that she has been taken prisoner, she offers to defect and provide the Rebel Alliance with Imperial intelligence.

With the help of Kasan Moor's intelligence, the Alliance launches three consecutive attacks on Imperial bases throughout the galaxy. After an assault on the Imperial Enclave, a facility on Kile II supporting the Empire's Naval operations, Wedge Antilles is ambushed by a group of TIEs and is taken captive. The Rebel Alliance tracks Wedge to an Imperial prison complex on the planet of Kessel. The remaining members of Rogue Squadron travel to Kessel and rescue him and other Rebel prisoners.

With Wedge Antilles free and Rogue Squadron again at full strength, the Rebel Alliance turns its attention to a new Imperial threat — Moff Kohl Seerdon. Seerdon is consolidating Imperial power in preparation for an attack aimed at capturing Thyferra, a planet that produces the healing substance bacta. Rogue Squadron is ordered to disrupt his operation with hit-and-run missions against key targets on Taloraan and Fest. In retaliation, Seerdon attacks and holds a city on the planet of Chandrila hostage. Rogue Squadron and the Alliance strike back by initiating a Kasan Moor-engineered raid on an Imperial base located inside a volcano on Sullust. While still on Sullust, however, General Rieekan informs the Squadron that Moff Seerdon has used their raid as a diversion and begun his attack on Thyferra. With Seerdon in control of the planet's bacta and their own supply threatened, Rogue Squadron quickly reaches Thyferra, kills Seerdon and frees the planet.

In the final chapter, the game moves into the future, six years after the Battle of Endor. Rogue Squadron, now under the command of Wedge Antilles, continues to fight the wounded Empire. On the planet of Mon Calamari, new Imperial weapons called World Devastators are destroying the planet. Rogue Squadron is deployed, disables all three Devastators and destroys the Imperial presence.

The novel begins with Silas Lapham, a middle-aged native of rural New England, being interviewed for a newspaper story about his rise to wealth in the mineral paint business. Despite his limited education, Lapham is a shrewd and hardworking man, an American success story. But he, his wife and two daughters feel socially awkward compared to other wealthy Bostonians. They decide to build a new home in the fashionable Back Bay neighborhood, and Lapham spares no expense in making it impressive.

Tom Corey, a young man from an "old money" Boston family, shows an interest in the Lapham girls, and Mr. and Mrs. Lapham assume he is attracted to Irene, their beautiful younger daughter. Corey joins the Lapham paint business in an attempt to find his place in the world, rather than rely on his wealthy father. Tom introduces Lapham to the cream of Boston society at a dinner party, and they remain on good terms even though the occasion turns out to be embarrassingly awkward.

As Tom continues calling on the Laphams regularly, it's assumed that he wants to marry Irene, and she hopes for just such a result. Tom, however, later shocks both families by revealing that he loves Penelope, the older, less glamorous but more intelligent and thoughtful Lapham sister. Though Penelope has feelings for Tom, she is held back by the romantic conventions of the era, not wanting to act on her love for fear of betraying her sister.

Meanwhile, Lapham and his wife, Persis, sometimes clash over people from their past. For instance, he is very generous to the family of his fallen Civil War comrade Jim Millon, feeling that he owes the man his life. He quietly sends money to Millon's widow and gives the couple's daughter a job. Persis Lapham considers the two women irresponsible characters who are taking advantage of her husband and potentially damaging his reputation, but he insists he is paying a debt of honor. Also, Mrs. Lapham often complains to her husband that he dealt shabbily with his former business partner Milton K. Rogers, who has come down in the world since their association ended. Silas Lapham insists he was fair to Rogers.

Amid the uproar over the Corey courtship, Rogers quietly reappears in the Laphams' life, asking for money for a series of schemes. Persis Lapham convinces her husband to provide the help. Unfortunately, Rogers proves to be a very poor businessman, and the Laphams' new dealings with him cause them to lose a considerable amount of money. On top of that, Lapham's major asset, the new home on Beacon Street, burns down before its completion due to his own carelessness.

Mr. and Mrs. Lapham are forced to move to their humble rural home, where the mineral paint was first developed, and while they are not destitute, they are no longer wealthy. Tom and Penelope are finally able to marry after Irene accepts their romance. The elder Laphams, living in the countryside by themselves, are left to reflect on their extraordinary rise and decline.

As they make their way north, they encounter a man by the name of Gerald Tarrant, who marks himself as the servant of the Hunter, a powerful Adept who lives in the middle of a vortex of Fae. He accompanies them for a time, for unexplained reasons.

One night as the party rests at an inn near the Forest, they are accosted by the Soul Eaters responsible for Ciani's current condition. In the immense confusion of the battle, not helped by the mysterious appearance of a hooded woman who utilized the Tidal Fae, Tarrant loses self-control, and accidentally feeds upon the vulnerable Ciani, sapping her of her remaining memories. In a rage, Damien attempts to confront a strangely weakened Tarrant, who flees with Ciani. The two remaining of the party rush off to rescue Ciani from where she must have been taken; the Forest. The Priest and the Sorcerer manage to combat the dread creatures that feed on the Dark Fae swirling around the Forest, a winded Damien and a mortally wounded Senzei stumble upon an immense castle; a castle Damien eventually recognizes to be of Church-design. The Hunter's servants welcome them inside, and ask them to wait for their Master. To the surprise of all, the Hunter is none other than Gerald Tarrant himself; furthermore, Tarrant reveals himself to be the former Neocount of Merentha, and Prophet of the Church for Human Unification on Erna, Damien's church.

While Damien buckles under this revelation, Zen succumbs to wounds he sustained from the dark beasts of the Forest, which the Hunter offers to cleanse. As payment, Tarrant demands to be allowed to accompany the three of them on their journey. The Hunter is an insurmountably arrogant man; the assault by the Soul Eaters made him feed upon Ciani, a woman he vowed not to harm. Ironically, part of the forces that protect his existence is his honor, and reneging on any vow he makes could destroy him. He refused to allow anyone to make a fool of him, for which he seeks to find the Master of the Soul Eaters in order to punish him. Damien grows conflicted: on the one hand, the oaths of his Order demand that he do what he can to destroy this evil standing before him, and entering into a pact with him would be the blackest anathema; yet without the Hunter's help, it was very likely that the three of them would not survive to find Ciani's violators. With a heavy heart, he accepts.

The group then begin their way to the Rakhlands: a land inhabited by an intelligent and indigenous species of Erna called the Rakh. The Rakh are somewhat feline in appearance, but are very much humanoid, having evolved rapidly from their smaller, cat-like ancestors thanks to the appearance of the humans. They are primarily hostile to humans, given the latter's attempt at eradicating their race some hundreds of years ago.

To enter the Rakhlands, the party must cross the Canopy, an odd anomaly in the Fae, where it fluctuates in intensity and power randomly and rapidly. As Gerald Tarrant relies upon the Fae to live, this crossing nearly kills him. While he survived, he is hopelessly weakened, and would require months to heal under normal circumstances. Knowing this, Damien volunteers to feed Tarrant, as the Adept would be useless in his current condition, and the group needed him to survive. Tarrant reluctantly accepts, chafing at the idea of having to rely on another for his continued existence, and establishes a link between them that would allow the Hunter to feed on Damien's fears.

The Keeper sends a fae-born creature, Calesta, who uses Senzei's longing to be an Adept as a means to kill him. Calesta traps Tarrant with an image of his murdered wife, and binds him over a subterranean fire, where the Keeper of Souls feeds off his pain. Damien then must make a decision: should he rescue the Hunter, and unleash his evil power over the world again, or should he leave him to his fate and try to defeat the Keeper of Souls without an Adept's power? He ultimately decides to save Tarrant and worry about the consequences later. They defeat the Keeper of Souls by triggering an earthquake in the fault zone upon which the palace is built. As the party flees the Soul Eaters, they end up trapped in a dead-end tunnel. Tarrant collapses the tunnel, forming an escape route for Damien, Ciani, and Hesseth, exposing the Soul Eaters - and himself - to the killing sun.

Damien and Ciani return with Hesseth to the rakh village, where Ciani chooses to stay. Damien is ready to head back to the human lands when he receives a surprising visitor: Gerald Tarrant, who had somehow managed to survive his exposure to sunlight. Damien asks the Hunter to join him in his journey to the Eastern Continent of Erna, where he believes the corruption that turned rakh into Soul Eaters originates. Tarrant refuses; he has been badly burned by the sun, and doesn't relish the thought of traveling miles above the earth fae, which cannot be reached through deep water, with the man who has sworn to kill him. But, after a visit from Calesta nearly results in the breaking of an oath he had sworn long ago, the Hunter changes his mind and goes with Damien. Their experiences in the Eastern Continent are documented in the next book, ''When True Night Falls''.

In ''When True Night Falls'', Damien, Hesseth, and Tarrant land on the shores of the Eastern Continent where the order of the Church have managed to subdue the unconscious working of the Fae. Consequently, the technology of the civilization is far more advanced than the Western Continent as is seen by the casual use of explosive weapons and fireworks. While conversing with various leaders, the group learns that only women are allowed to rise to the highest ranks in the Eastern Church. Many rarely see the Matria or holy women of the Church except for odd snippets of time and it is discovered by the group that the Matria and holy women are in fact rakh disguised with tidal fae.

After learning of the corruption starting on the Eastern Continent the group manage to trace it south, to the crystal palace of the Immortal Prince, and his Iezu servant, Calesta. Along the way, they rescue a young girl, Jenseny, whose father was killed and impersonated by the Prince's rakh servants. Jenseny is driven near to madness by events she has seen and her rare ability to see and control tidal fae. While scared and untrustful she manages to form a bond with Hesseth who is unable to bear children as was ritual to the rakh who journey away from their homes to mingle with humans.

The Prince makes a deal with Tarrant; in return for immortality, the Hunter must lead Hesseth, Damien, and Jenseny into a trap. But there was one catch to the deal: the Immortal Prince's plans include the corruption of the Church, and the former Prophet is not willing to accept that.

Meanwhile, Damien, Hesseth and Jenseny cross a seemingly endless desert populated with scraggly white trees and skeletons. Damien is hesitant to cross the desert as the skeletons indicate some form of predator but sees nothing that could possibly pose a true threat. The group decides to cross and settle down for the night under a tree. Damien and Hesseth awaken to find that the tree's roots have begun to grow into their bodies. While at first they cannot move, they both eventually break free of the trees and find that Jenseny's body has also been invaded by the roots. Damien cut away the roots but feared that they might still be harmful to the young girl. The trio keeps traveling without rest to avoid the roots of the trees. They finally find rest on a granite outcropping. That evening when Gerald returns, he kills the roots of the tree that are still inside Jenseny. Damien then Heals the wounds that are left when Gerald is finished.

Soon afterwards the group notice that there are large quadrupeds headed towards them with the intent purpose of killing them. In the escape that follows, Hesseth willingly gives up her life to save Jenseny - feeling that Jenseny was much akin to a child of her own and thereby willing to possess the greatest honor in sacrifice.

Tarrant joins the group at nightfall and leads Damien and Jenseny into the trap in the Prince's lands but finds a way to smuggle a coldfire-worked knife into Damien's hands. Damien attempts to kill the Prince, but the Prince's soul jumps into the body of his rakh captain. Jenseny finds the coldfire knife, and, hiding it, makes a deal with the Immortal Prince: he can have her body, and with it, her ability to work the tidal fae, a newly evolved human trait. The Prince agrees, but just as he is entering her body, Jenseny weaves a bond between herself and the Prince, and sacrifices herself to kill the Prince.

Following the Prince's death, Damien and Gerald Tarrant return north where civil unrest has broken out due to the revealing of the corruption in the Church. The new leader of the Church plans to purge the Eastern Continent which in turn infuriates Tarrant as that was not Tarrant's conception of the Church. However, in Tarrant's confrontation with the new leader, Tarrant accidentally shares a "divining" of the possible fall of the Church thereby bringing the new leader to his senses and stopping the slaughter of thousands of innocent lives. By doing so, Tarrant breaks his oath to the Unnamed and endangers his life in the process - a fact Calesta is quick to catch on to.

This army satire follows a small group of Greek Army soldiers in the island of Kos, when they are assigned to spend a few days guarding a small rock island named Pitta to defend an alleged invasion from Turkish troops. After their arrival in Pitta, everything looked normal until a Turkish boat (sent there for a modeling photo shooting) disembarked 4 castaways on Pitta. Amongst the models was the niece of a Turkish Admiral, which made things more complicated when the Turkish authorities started looking for them. The protagonists did not know what to do since a diplomatic incident could be inevitable. The outcome is the involvement of both countries in the incident resulting in several comic situations.

A ten-year-old runaway boy named Gus takes a road trip for the purpose of collecting game piece cards from gas stations in order to spell out the word M-O-T-O-R-A-M-A for a supposed grand prize of $500 million. The film is set in a darkly comedic alternate world full of a grotesque and bizarre collection of people and places.

After a night of hearing his parents fight about the possibility of another mouth to feed, Gus a preteen boy, decides to cash out his piggy bank and take off in a stolen Ford Mustang. His plan is to collect all the MOTORAMA cards across the country, in order to claim the grand prize, which will set him up for a promising future. The cards are only available at specific, participating gas stations.

Stopping at a diner he is able to convince the patrons that he is an adult, and for the rest of the movie everyone he encounters treats him as an adult, despite him clearly being a child. At a gas station he indirectly causes an attendant to be hit by a truck, mostly due to the attendants own stupidity and carelessness.

Staying the night at a motel, Gus encounters the curious, squirrel obsessed owner, who kills any squirrels he catches with exhaust fumes. Leaving the next day and running low on money he decides to steal some gas. However an unstable couple catch and knock him out damaging his eye socket. Instead of allowing surgical repair they decline an operation. That night in the mote it is implied that the couple rape him off screen. The next morning Gus dresses and leaves, only to find on his a decrepit Motorama Billboard making him question his whole journey.

In low spirits and with no apparent way of finding more money or gas, he stops for food. Now wearing an eye patch over his lost eye, a biker identifies him as a pirate and challenges him to arm wrestle for money. Gus loses. After a dispute of cheating and revelations about his quest, the bikers humiliate him by branding him with a demeaning tattoo.

Stopped at a rest stop, still desperate for money, he gambles with a father over a game of horseshoes. The father then decides to take this as a chance to abandon his children, and he and his wife take off. The children look on aimlessly as their parents drive away.

His journey nears completion with just one letter remaining. He drives onward, through a dark and menacing industrial park, where people fight, burn crosses, and take drugs. On an empty, rain soaked highway he swerves to avoid a truck and drives his car off an unfinished bridge, damaging it so he can no longer drive.

Walking back along the road he encounters an older version of himself, driven crazy by the fact that he never found one last letter, the same one Gus is missing. Gus comes across a mentally handicapped gas station attendee and buys gas, only to receive just one card in return. Fortunately it turns out to be the final letter he needs. His hair now gray, and viewed by everyone in the world as an old man, he heads off to the company offices to claim his prize.

At the company headquarters, a representative explains over the phone in the lobby that collecting all the letters doesn't make him a prize winner, rather just eligible for the prize. Not giving up, he heads upstairs and tries to meet with the company executives, but only gets as far as the secretary. Everyone now sees him as the small child he is, and treats him as such. The secretary explains that nobody is supposed to win Motorama. She congratulates him on collecting the letter, but tells him that there will be no prize. In a fury he realizes too late he's been deceived. A security guard throws him out of the high skyscraper window.

He lands in a pool of water, and then emerges from the same river that he stopped at after the first diner. His car is good as new, and waiting for him on the dusty road. His health is also restored; his eye is back, his tattoo is gone. He throws away the metal leg extensions he made to enable him to drive the car and hitchhikes back towards home. En route he finds the attendee Phil from the first gas station has survived being hit by the truck, but is severely injured. Lacking other options, Gus decides to stay at the gas station and work there to aid Phil. He is now back to being viewed as an adult, despite still being a child.

In a final scene, Gus fills up the car of a gambler who claims to have just won a million dollars. He opens the trunk to show the cash to Gus. The gambler drives away, only to die from the same horrific accident Phil endured, hitting a truck head-on. Letting go of hopes of any financial success and his fantasy girl, Gus remains at the desolate gas station with Phil, staring into the middle distance, continuing to wait for some success down the road.

In a port town pub, the once again flat broke Straw Hats witness a suspicious exchange between a customer and the proprietor. Nami immediately senses money and endeavors to convince the host to give her whatever information he had given him. The other Straw Hats join in and soon he is persuaded. He shows them to a backdoor, behind which they find a long and winding tunnel. That tunnel leads to a large underground chamber, where a number of pirate crews have a gathering. The island they are on, turns out to be the starting point of an irregularly occurring, anything-goes sailing competition. For a moment, the Straw Hats weigh whether it is wise to join in the race, considering that two giants and a crew of fish-men, who were once the rivals of Arlong's gang, were participating as well. But once they learn the height of the price money, not entering is out of the question. From the bookmaker they receive an eternal pose, to lead them to the goal of the race. Free food is available at the bottom of the chamber and Luffy makes extensive use of it. His eating habit of stealing other people's food quickly angers the bounty hunter , as well as a group of men led by . Gasparde is a deserted naval officer, with a bounty more than three times as high as Luffy's and said to be the race's favorite. A fight arises, and after Luffy and Shuraiya beat up his men.

They find themselves standing before the general himself. He is impressed with their skill and offers both of them to work under him. Of course they refuse, but Luffy finds some insulting words to do it and is caught off guard by Gasparde's right-hand man, Needles. Luffy's courage impresses Gasparde even more. He renews his offer, orders Needles to let go of the rookie pirate, and leaves the room. The next morning, a strong ocean current starts the race, by pushing the ships upstream over the island. As soon as they are over the top, the various crews start shooting broadsides, board each other's ships, and ram their competitors out of the water. But once the island is left behind, the field quickly clears up, leaving the Straw Hats time to eat. While inspecting the ship, Zoro discovers a boy named , who had stowed away to earn money by killing some pirate to buy medicine for his adoptive grandfather, who works as an engineer on Gasparde's partially steam powered ship. The race continues. After fighting yet another rival crew and an encounter with a group of large sea kings, they arrive at the island the eternal pose is pointing to. The eternal poses were all mislabeled and led the fleet of unsuspecting pirates into reach of the cannons of the navy stronghold Navarone. Luffy has no doubt to whose fault it is. They turn around and using Chopper's fine nose, attempt to catch up with Gasparde's ship. Shuraiya, who had followed Gasparde's invitation to come along on his ship, turns against him to take revenge for Gasparde's killing his parents and sister. He fights Needles and throws him over board, but stands no chance against Gasparde's Logia-type powers, which allow him to turn parts or all of his body into liquid or solid candy. The general is about to kill the bounty hunter, when the Straw Hats arrive and catch his attention. Luffy confronts him and the two engage in a fierce but one-sided battle. Any attack Luffy throws at his opponent causes his limbs to get stuck in Gasparde's body. Only after Sanji gives two sacks of flour to Luffy, can he overcome the villain's ability. Anaguma turns out to be a girl and Shuraiya's thought-dead sister, . With all their competitors taken out, the Straw Hats are about to arrive at the goal of the race, when a fleet of navy ships appears and forces them to abandon their prize money.

A spaceship approaches Alpha signalling that "This is the voice of Voyager One, with greetings from the people of Planet Earth." This causes consternation in Main Mission, as Voyager One, launched in 1985, is fitted with a propulsion system (the "Queller drive", named after its inventor Ernst Queller) based on the emission of fast neutrons, which can be dangerous to anything too close. This is made clear when the two Eagles sent to investigate the incoming ship encounter violent vibrations from the drive. One manages to pull away, but the other disintegrates.

While it is decided that Voyager must be destroyed, Prof. Bergman argues that there must be a better way to save the huge amount of data that the ship has gathered in its travels. Dr. Ernst Linden, an Alpha scientist working in the Experimental Laboratory overhears that Voyager is returning and approaches Koenig and explains that he is "Ernst Queller" the inventor of the drive, whose identity was changed by Space Command due to issues with a previous disaster. Linden is asked if there are any means of overriding Voyager's security codes to enable instructions to be given to shut down the drive. While he is attempting to do this, his assistant Jim Haines, whose parents were killed in an accident involving the Queller drive of another Voyager craft, learns that Linden is in fact Ernst Queller, the inventor of the drive. He assaults Linden, who, despite his injury, manages to shut down Voyager's engines with seconds to spare.

As Alphans explore Voyager, an image of an alien appears - he introduces himself as Aarchon, the "Chief Justifier of the Worlds of Sidon". He explains that Sidon is seeking vengeance for the millions on two of their worlds who were killed when the Queller Drive poisoned them. Three Sidon warships then appear approaching Alpha, intending to destroy it, and Aarchon will not listen to Koenig's protests that Alpha was not responsible for Voyager. As the ships approach, Queller escapes from sick bay and forces his way into Voyager, taking off and heading towards the Sidon ships. After pleading for mercy, which is dismissed by Aarchon, Queller gets within range of them, activates the Queller drive, and then destroys the ship and the Sidons including Aarchon.

The books describe the activities and adventures of best friends George and Martha. These activities include taking dance classes, going to the beach and the amusement park, and playing practical jokes on each other. In a humorous way, the series teaches about friendship. George and Martha sometimes argue, but always make up.

Prologue

The Voice presents a brief prologue and information about events that have occurred before the action of the play takes place. The Voice recounts that a baby is abandoned on a mountainside. The baby, Oedipus, is adopted by the King of Corinth. Oedipus questions the Oracle of Delphi who says he will murder his father and marry his mother. At a crossroads, Oedipus comes to blows with other travelers and unwittingly kills his father, Laius, King of Thebes. After conquering the Sphinx, Oedipus enters Thebes and claims the prize of marrying Queen Jocasta. Again, he unwittingly fulfills the Oracle's prophecy and, in marrying the Queen, marries his mother. After having four children with his mother, everything is brought to light. Jocasta hangs herself and Oedipus blinds himself with his mother's brooch. The Voice finishes with: "Before you is a fully wound machine. Slowly its spring will unwind the entire span of a human life. It is one of the most perfect machines devised by the infernal gods for the mathematical annihilation of a mortal."

Act I: The Ghost

While guarding the walls of Thebes, the two soldiers discuss the matter of the Sphinx and what it may be. They continue to their sighting of the Ghost of King Laius, when the Officer arrives. The Officer questions the two about the ghost sighting and leaves them to their duties. Tiresias and Jocasta enter and question the soldiers about the ghost sighting as well. As Jocasta begins to believe more and more, the ghost of King Laius appears. Despite his calls for his wife, he cannot be seen or heard by anyone else. After the cock crows in the dawn, Tiresias and Jocasta exit. After the two leave stage, the ghost of King Laius becomes audible and visible to the two soldiers. Laius struggles, apparently against the gods, to warn the soldiers about Oedipus's and Jocasta's impending doom, but disappears just as he is about to deliver the warning.

Act II: The Sphinx

The Voice tells us that what is about to happen in Act II happens concurrently with the events in Act I. The Sphinx, disguised as a beautiful girl, and Anubis sit in the outskirts of Thebes arguing about whether they have heard the first or second trumpet call, signalling that the gates of the city have been closed. The Sphinx declares she does not want to kill anymore, but Anubis cautions they must remain obedient to the gods. A mother and her two children cross the Sphinx's path while Anubis hides. The Sphinx and the unwitting mother discuss the situation in Thebes due to the Sphinx, and how some believe the Sphinx is a fabricated tale to act as a scapegoat for the problems in the city. It is revealed that the mother had another son who was killed by the Sphinx. As the mother and her children exit, the second trumpet sounds. Anubis says the Sphinx must stay until the third trumpet blast. At this point, Oedipus enters, while Anubis hides again. The Sphinx and Oedipus discuss the Sphinx and Oedipus' journey thus far. The Sphinx reveals herself to Oedipus, and before asking him the riddle tells him the answer. The Sphinx officially asks Oedipus the riddle, to which he correctly replies, resulting in the death of the Sphinx. As proof of his victory, Oedipus takes the fused head of Anubis and the body of the Sphinx to Thebes to claim his reward.

Act III: The Wedding Night

The Voice tells us that Oedipus and Jocasta have been married and are now alone in their bridal chamber. Both Oedipus and Jocasta are exhausted from the day of wedding ceremonies. Before it is consummated, Tiresias comes to tell Oedipus he is apprehensive about the marriage. Oedipus is affronted and takes Tiresias by the throat. He peers into the High Priest's eyes and sees his future with Jocasta being healthy and content. Before he sees any further, he is temporarily blinded, presumably by the gods. Oedipus regains his sight, apologizes to Tiresias and reveals that he is the only son of Polybus and Merope of Corinth. Jocasta enters after Tiresias's exit, and the couple discuss the night Jocasta investigated the ghost of King Laius. Oedipus has a nightmare of Anubis attacking him in his sleep, and Jocasta soothes him in an ironically maternal fashion.

Act IV: The King

A messenger from Corinth brings Oedipus news that his father, King Polybus, has died, and his mother Queen Merope is too senile to understand. As well, the messenger tells Oedipus that he was adopted, while Oedipus reveals he killed a man in a carriage many years past. After hearing that Oedipus was adopted, Jocasta exits, while Oedipus processes the new information. When he leaves to talk to his wife, he finds Jocasta having committed suicide. It is revealed that Oedipus is the son of Laius and Jocasta. Antigone enters and says that her mother is dead and that her father has stabbed his eyes. Oedipus sees the ghost of Jocasta, who leads Oedipus offstage.

At the start of summer vacation, Delphine has just suffered the breakup of a relationship and her traveling companion has ditched her so that her new boyfriend can accompany her to Greece instead. She is left without plans at a time when Paris is emptying for the summer. Another friend invites Delphine to join a beach party for the weekend, but she finds that she's the only one amongst the group who is single so she quickly returns to Paris. Her family pressures her to spend the holidays with them in Ireland, but she resists. She travels alone to the Alps, but is put off by hordes of vacationers and turns around. Traveling restlessly, the theme of the movie (characterized by Roger Ebert) becomes clear: Delphine "is incapable of playing the dumb singles games that lead to one-night stands".

She meets a new girlfriend, who flirts with two young men and she flees in anger. She recoils from the chat-up lines of the guys she meets in bars and on trains. She simply cannot engage in that kind of mindless double-talk any longer. Beneath her boredom is genuine anger at the roles that single women are sometimes expected to play. While in Biarritz she eavesdrops on a conversation about Jules Verne's novel (''The Green Ray''). According to Verne, when one sees a rare green flash at sunset, one's own thoughts and those of others are revealed as if by magic. At the Biarritz railway station she meets a young man who is travelling to Saint-Jean-de-Luz. She goes with him and together they observe (the green flash).

The main characters were based in the city of Cape Town while enemies were aliens from a distant space system. The entire series was produced in Afrikaans.

Plot wise, Interster was far removed from any of the Anderson stories. There was no unified government as seen in either ''Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons'' or ''Fireball XL5'' - South Africa alone possessed interstellar flight, and alone was in contact with the first aliens to visit earth, who supposedly hailed from Alpha Centauri, the star closest to Earth.

In the stories, the protagonists were concerned only with the defense of South Africa - the rest of the world was more of an abstraction. Interaction with the Centauri's was the primary interaction with South Africa. A number of fascinating concepts were explored - relative to humans, the Centauris are only the size of dolls, and their ships and technology are scaled to match. Perhaps the greatest triumph of the puppeteers are not just the human puppets, but the Centauris - for they were as intricate, but barely 10 cm high as compared with the 32 cm human puppets for simultaneous shots.

The plot contained some content of interest to South African adults who could see the political connotations to some of the themes like political isolation. One character (a villain) bore a remarkable resemblance to the then South African President PW Botha.

Bernice meets the Time Lord Irving Braxiatel and soon becomes involved in the hunt for a jewel thief who is after a rare artefact.

Jim Scott attempts to bring peace between west-bound settlers and native Apaches. This task is made harder by a band of local outlaws.

The novel is written in alternating chapters from the past and present. The novel begins in the present day, with teenaged Mattie Cokey working at The Glenmore, a hotel on Big Moose Lake, to earn money during the summer. One of the hotel guests, Grace Brown, asks Mattie to burn a pack of letters. Later that day, Grace is found dead in the lake near the hotel. Mattie remembers the letters, which she did not have time to burn. She is drawn in by the mystery of what they might say, and she begins to read them. They reveal some shocking information about Grace's lover, Chester Gillette, who checked into the hotel as Carl Grahm. Grace was pregnant with Chester's child at the time, so he killed her.

In the past, Mattie Cokey remembers her life on her family's farm in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York. In 1906, when she was 16, Mattie dreamed of going to Barnard College. Her best friend, Weaver Smith, shows Mattie's writings to their teacher, Miss Wilcox, who sends an application for Mattie to Barnard. Mattie gets a "full scholarship" but cannot afford to buy the books and a train ticket, or to leave her family's farm. In an attempt to raise the money, Mattie cleans her rich Aunt Josie's house every week, but Aunt Josie refuses to pay her and tells Mattie she is selfish to leave the farm and the family.

Meanwhile, Mattie fends off the romantic advances of her neighbor Royal Loomis. Royal tries to connect with her by giving her a book for her seventeenth birthday. Unfortunately, he gives her a cookbook, which, to Mattie, shows he wants her to be just like other girls.

Mattie makes the incredibly difficult choice to leave the North Woods and go to school in New York City. She leaves in the morning, and the only person she tells is Weaver. She writes three letters, one to her father, one to Royal, and one to Weaver's mother. She has made her peace with Grace because she decided to show the letters to the world so now every one can see the true, tragic story of Grace Brown. She is now ready to leave it behind, and keep her life in the North Woods as a memory.

Part First

The narrator, an English teacher of languages living in Geneva, is narrating the personal record of Kyrilo Sidorovitch Razumov. Razumov is a student in the University of St. Petersburg in the early 1910s. Razumov never knew his parents and has no family ties. He is trusted by his fellow students, many of whom hold revolutionary views, but Razumov takes no clear position on any of the great questions of his time because he considers all of Russia his family. (A better view, perhaps, would be to say that Razumov has no family to fall back on, feels isolated from his contemporaries, takes no interest in the "great issues" of the day, and merely seeks a middle-class secure position within the Czarist system – thus, very ironically, he sees "all Russia" as his "family.")

One night, Mr. de P—, the brutal Minister of State, is assassinated by a team of two, but the bombs used also claim the lives of his footman, the first assassin and a number of bystanders. Razumov enters his rooms to find Victor Haldin, a fellow student. Haldin tells Razumov that he was the one who murdered Mr. de P—, but that he and his accomplice did not make a proper escape plan. He requests Razumov's help because he trusts him, even though he realises that they do not quite belong in the same camp. Razumov agrees to help, if only to get Haldin out of his flat. Haldin tasks him with finding Ziemianitch, who was supposed to help Haldin escape.

Haldin's request launches Razumov into a deep identity crisis. He feels that his life will be destroyed by the authorities simply because of his association with Haldin. Consequently he becomes intensely aware of his social isolation and lack of family ties. Harbouring no sympathy for Haldin's actions or his ideals, Razumov is brought closer to conservatism out of the simple fear to survive. He seeks out Ziemianitch and, when he finds him, drunk and incapacitated, beats him. Afterwards he makes up his mind to betray Haldin to save his own life and turns to his university sponsor, Prince K. They go to the chief of police, General T—. Then a trap is laid for Haldin.

Razumov returns to his apartment and attempts to explain his predicament to Haldin while concealing the fact that he has just betrayed him. Haldin leaves and, later that night, is caught. Razumov is distressed for days after Haldin's capture. In his apartment, he writes down a set of political principles which paint him as a reformist and not a revolutionary. Finally, he receives a summons to the police headquarters and meets Privy Councillor Mikulin. In a scene reminiscent of ''Crime and Punishment'', Razumov is highly paranoid that Mikulin suspects him of being a revolutionary. Mikulin reveals that Haldin was interrogated, sentenced and hanged the same day without implicating Razumov. Mikulin also reveals that he supervised a search of Razumov's quarters and was impressed by his manifesto. Razumov attempts to leave, but Mikulin makes him pause.

Part Second

The narrative shifts to Haldin's sister, Natalia, and their mother, Mrs Haldin, who live in Switzerland after Haldin persuaded them to sell their house in Russia and move. Having lived in Zurich for a while, they then settle in Geneva, which has a vibrant Russian community. There, they wait for Haldin. Natalia has been friendly with the narrator for some time from whom she receives English lessons.

One day, the narrator chances upon the news of Haldin's arrest and execution in an English newspaper, and tells Natalia and her mother. Natalia takes the news stoically but her mother is deeply distressed. Peter Ivanovitch, a leader in the revolutionary movement, having learnt of Haldin's execution, meets with Natalia and attempts to recruit her, but Natalia is sceptical and noncommittal. He also tells her that Razumov is about to arrive in Geneva, which excites Natalia, as Haldin had described him in glowing terms in his letters.

Natalia is invited to the Chateau Borel, a big, neglected house that Madame de S— rents from the widow of an Italian banker, and meets Tekla, the abused companion of Madame de S— and secretary to Peter Ivanovitch. Tekla recounts her life story. Afterwards, they come upon Peter Ivanovitch and Razumov. Peter Ivanovitch leaves and Natalia introduces herself to Razumov, who feels compassion for her. Tekla, like most of the characters whom Razumov encounters, misinterprets his taciturn cynicism – which is in fact motivated by his hatred for the entire situation he has fallen into – as the expression of a true revolutionist, and pledges her help to him, even to the point of leaving Madame de S— and Peter Ivanovitch.

Part Third

The narrative shifts back to a few weeks earlier and describes how Razumov arrived in Geneva, having first stayed in Zurich for three days with Sophia Antonovna, the right hand of Peter Ivanovitch. Razumov did not further seek Peter Ivanovitch after their first meeting but instead took long walks with Natalia, where she took him into her confidence and asked about her brother's last hours, to which Razumov gave no definite answer. Razumov is abrasive towards the narrator, who detects a deep distress under Razumov's exterior. He is invited to the Chateau Borel, where he is received on friendly terms, as Madame de S— and Peter Ivanovitch think that he was a collaborator of Haldin. In fact, Razumov has gone to Geneva, working as a spy for the Russian government.

His taciturnity and reserve are interpreted by each character in their own way. The revolutionaries reveal some of their plans to Razumov and he is given his first assignment: to bring Natalia to Peter Ivanovitch so he can convert her, as Peter Ivanovitch cherishes female followers above everything else.

Razumov then meets Sophia Antonovna and comes to see her as his most dangerous adversary because of her single-mindedness and perception. Suppressing his distress, he manages to deceive her. Sophia Antonovna reveals that Ziemianitch hanged himself soon after Haldin's execution, which makes the revolutionaries believe that he was the one who betrayed Haldin.

Part Fourth

The narrative shifts back to Razumov's initial interview with Mikulin. Mikulin admits having read Razumov's private notes but reassures him that he is not suspicious of him. After telling Razumov that some of the best Russian minds ultimately returned to them (referring to Dostoevsky, Gogol and Aksakov), he lets him go. Razumov spends the next few weeks in an increasing state of malaise where he alienates his fellow students and professors. In the meantime, Mikulin has received a promotion and sees an opportunity to use Razumov. He summons him to further interviews where he recruits him, with the blessings of Prince K., to act as a secret agent for the Czarist authorities of the Russian Empire.

The narrative shifts to Geneva, where Razumov is writing his first report to Mikulin. On his way to the post office, the narrator comes upon him, but Razumov takes no notice of him. The narrator goes to Natalia's flat, only to learn that Natalia must find Razumov urgently and bring him to her distraught mother, as she needs to meet the only friend of Haldin that she knows. The professor and Natalia go to the Cosmopolitan Hotel to ask Peter Ivanovitch where Razumov stays. There, they find the revolutionaries preparing an insurgency in the Baltic provinces. They visit Razumov's lodgings but do not find him. They then return to Natalia's quarters where Razumov has unexpectedly visited her mother. After a long conversation with Natalia in which Razumov makes several obscure and cryptic remarks, and Natalia asks how her brother spent his last hours, Razumov implies that he was the one who betrayed him.

Razumov retires to his quarters where he writes his record. He explains to Natalia that he fell in love with her as soon as she took him into her confidence, that he had never been shown any kind of love before, and that he felt he had betrayed himself by betraying her brother.

He mails the record to Natalia and goes to the house of Julius Laspara where a social gathering of revolutionaries is taking place. Razumov declares to the crowd that Ziemianitch was innocent and explains his motives only partially, but confesses that he was the one who betrayed Haldin. Some revolutionaries, led by Necator, attack him and smash his eardrums. A deaf Razumov is crushed by a tramcar and crippled. Tekla finds him and stays by his side at the hospital.

A few months pass and Mrs Haldin has died. Natalia has returned to Russia to devote herself to charity work after giving Razumov's record to the narrator. Tekla has taken the invalid Razumov to the Russian countryside, where she looks after him.

Having come to understand her Linyaari past, Acorna has become a member of the crew of the ''Condor'', a salvage ship. The crew consists of the mildly eccentric Captain Becker, the ship's feline first mate RK (otherwise known as Roadkill), and Aari, a Linyaari who is still scarred physically and emotionally from his capture and subsequent torture by the Khleevi. While searching space for salvage, they come across the wreck of a ship with information indicating that the Khleevi are on the move in that sector of space, and may come to the Linyaari homeworld of Narhii-Viliinyar before long. Acorna and her friends must now warn their people and find a way to stop the oncoming Khleevi horde.

A reporter visits David Fielding in a psychiatric hospital for a follow-up story on the deaths of his three friends exactly one year and one day ago. David is catatonic but attacks the reporter when shown a photo of Dr. Watermann, his former professor. In the scuffle, David loses his cross and grows frantic over its disappearance. The reporter listens to tape recordings of the police interviewing David soon after he was brought to the hospital and reconstructs the events — told in flashback — which drove him insane.

David, Susan Turner, Jim Hudson and his girlfriend, Vicki, search for Dr. Watermann in a forest canyon and find that his cabin has been destroyed. While exploring a cave, they encounter a cackling old man who gives them an ancient book filled with magical lore and symbols. The book, which Watermann's notes describe as a "veritable bible of evil," reeks of sulfur and contains the Lord's Prayer written backwards. The group learns Watermann's experiments with the book's demon-summoning rituals went awry. When he lost control of the giant tentacled creature he conjured, it destroyed his house.

Dr. Watermann suddenly appears and snatches the book from David; he and Jim give chase. David tackles him, causing him to strike his head and die. After Jim and David leave, Watermann's body supernaturally vanishes. A forest ranger, Asmodeous, discovers Jim and David have the book and sends monsters – a giant ape-like creature and a green-skinned, fur-clad giant – to retrieve it. The ape-like creature kills the old man from the cave.

Asmodeus starts to sexually assault Susan, but her cross repels him. After Susan accidentally loses the cross, she appears demon-possessed and attacks Vicki, who is unable to stop her. David arrives and displays a mystical symbol from the book, causing Susan to lose consciousness.

Asmodeus kills Jim and reveals his true form: a winged, red demon. After killing Vicki, Asmodeus attacks David and Susan, who flee to a cemetery and cower behind a large stone cross atop a grave. As the demon flies into the cross and dies, the cemetery erupts in flames, killing Susan. A giant shadowy figure prophesies that David will be dead in one year and one day. When David panics and flees to a nearby road to summon help, a driverless car runs him down. Another car with two passengers stops to help him.

David loses his sanity and is confined to a mental hospital. One year and one day later, an evil-faced, reanimated Susan arrives at the hospital to kill him.

During a squabble over television, Zapper tries to use his brother Zipper (a grub) as a substitute TV antenna. Zipper is snatched away by an infamous thieving magpie, Maggie, who leaves an egg at the scene of the crime. Unfortunately, much to his dismay, Zapper sets off and determines to rescue his brother and turn Maggie into a jailbird. At the end of the game, Zapper gets Zipper back after defeating Maggie, and finally sets him up as a substitute TV antenna, just in time to watch TV by himself.

''Bare Essence'' revolves around the efforts of Tyger Hayes (Francis) to succeed in the business world. In the first episode, her new husband Chase Marshall (Corley) is killed in a racing car accident. Chase's father Hadden (John Dehner) opposes Tyger's efforts to join the family business, Kellico, but she is encouraged by Hadden's sister Margaret (Susan French) to try her hand with a new line of perfumes. Ava (Walter), the widow of Hadden's other son, is concerned that any success Tyger might have will undermine her son Marcus' (Jonathan Frakes) position in the company. Both Ava and Marcus' wife Muffin (Wendy Fulton) plot to undermine Tyger's success. In fact, it was Muffin who had Tyger's husband killed when she had someone sabotage his car. To this end, Ava eventually seduces and marries Hadden. Tyger's mother, Lady Bobbi Rowan (O'Neill), falls in love with a Greek millionaire, Niko Theopolous (Ian McShane), who wants to exact revenge on the Marshalls.

A militaristic organisation called the N.A.C. developed a huge laser emitter, "EL", which is capable of gradually destroying the ozone layer over the course of a decade or so. In the year 1999, the N.A.C. begins an all-out offensive against every country in the world. The nations' defense forces are overwhelmed by the sheer power and size of the enemy. The player controls the mysterious "Freedom Fighter", a pilot with no official connection to any government, who flies off to stop the N.A.C.

Jack Carroll (portrayed by Jack Haley) and his wife (Anne Jeffreys) have an argument about their friends, but when he makes a crack that his mother-in-law is a "fat porpoise," they fight and she leaves him.

Jack runs into two strange men right before they burglarize a bank, leaving Jack to be the only one to identify. Because of this, he takes a vacation to Reno and checks into the Bar Nothing Ranch. Later, the robbers come to Reno and check in. They bury a suitcase of money where Jack plans to find it with his metal detector. Jack finds the money, but is taken by another lady.

This is the beginning of his troubles, where he encounters different men: a sheriff, a sailor, and a gun moll who convinces the police that she is Mrs. Carroll. Jack's wife arrives and Jack is unable to adequately explain things to her before she gets a divorce.

The original Atari Force was a team of humans from different nations using the multi-dimensional starship ''Scanner One'' to search for a new planet for humanity to inhabit as the Earth was facing ecological devastation. The team was handpicked by A.T.A.R.I. (Advanced Technology and Research Institute), and consisted of Martin Champion as mission commander, Lydia Perez as pilot and executive officer, Li-San O'Rourke as security officer, Mohandas Singh as flight engineer, and Dr. Lucas Orion as medical officer. A semi-sentient alien creature, named Hukka because of the noise he made, later joined as team mascot.

The second team, formed approximately 25 years after the first, was also led by Martin Champion. He was convinced that the original team's nemesis, the Dark Destroyer, still existed. Although he was correct, most of the rest of humanity did not believe it, but humored him due to his heroic status in successfully leading the original Atari Force to find New Earth. Other team members included Christopher "Tempest" Champion, son of Martin Champion and Lydia Perez; Erin "Dart" Bia O'Rourke-Singh, daughter of Mohandas Singh and Li-San O'Rourke; Hukka; Morphea, an insectoid empath; Babe, an alien toddler of immense size and strength; and Pakrat, a humanoid rodent thief. Later additions to the team were Blackjak, Dart's human lover; Taz, a short alien warrior; and Kargg, the Dark Destroyer's former chief underling.

Count Lodovico is banished from Rome for debauchery and murder; his friends, Gasparo and Antonelli promise to work for the repeal of his sentence. The Duke of Brachiano has conceived a violent passion for Vittoria Corombona, daughter of a noble but impoverished Venetian family, despite the fact they are both married to other people. Vittoria's brother Flamineo, employed as a secretary to Brachiano, has been scheming to bring his sister and the Duke together in the hope of advancing his career, much to the dismay of their mother, Cornelia. The plan is foiled by the arrival of Brachiano's wife Isabella, escorted by her brother and Cardinal Monticelso. They are both outraged by the rumours of Brachiano's infidelity and set out to make the affair public; before that happens Brachiano and Flamineo arrange to have Camillo (Vittoria's husband) and Isabella murdered.

Vittoria is put on trial for the murder of her husband and although there is no real evidence against her, she is condemned by the Cardinal to imprisonment in a convent for penitent whores. Flamineo pretends madness to protect himself from awkward suggestions. The banished Count Lodovico is pardoned and returns to Rome; confessing he had been secretly in love with Isabella, he vows to avenge her death. Isabella's brother Francisco also plots revenge. He pens a love letter to Vittoria, intentionally allowing it to fall into the hands of Brachiano, in order to fuel his jealousy. Though at first his plan seems to work, Vittoria manages to convince Brachiano that she is faithful and the two elope. Cardinal Monticelso is elected Pope and as his first act he excommunicates Vittoria and Brachiano, who have fled Rome.

Vittoria and Brachiano, now married, hold court in Padua. Three mysterious strangers have arrived to enter Brachiano's service. These are Francisco, disguised as Mulinassar, a Moor, and Lodovico and Gasparo, disguised as Capuchin monks, all conspiring to avenge Isabella's death. They begin their revenge by poisoning Brachiano. As he is dying, Lodovico and Gasparo reveal themselves to him. Next, Zanche, Vittoria's Moorish maid, who has fallen in love with her supposed countryman Mulinassar, reveals to him the murders of Isabella and Camillo and Flamineo's part in them.

Flamineo is banished from court for the murder of his brother Marcello by Brachiano's son Giovanni, the new Duke, and sensing that his crimes are catching up with him he goes to see Vittoria. He tries to persuade her and Zanche to a triple suicide by shooting him, then themselves. Vittoria and Zanche shoot Flamineo and, thinking him dead, exult in his death and their escape. Much to their surprise, Flamineo rises from the 'dead' and reveals to them the pistols were not loaded. While trying to exact his own revenge on Vittoria, Lodovico and Gasparo then enter the scene and complete their revenge by killing her. Giovanni and officers come to the scene and the play ends with Giovanni learning of his uncle's participation in the bloody acts and sending Lodovico off to torture.

The game takes place four years after Jason's Encounter with the Plutonium Boss and the radioactive mutants under the Earth.[http://www.mobygames.com/game/blaster-master-2 ''Blaster Master 2''] at MobyGames His only reminder of the incident is S.O.P.H.I.A., the vehicle he used to stop them, which he has hidden in an abandoned barn. One day, one bolt of lightning struck the house and caused the ceiling to crumble, knocking Jason unconscious. When Jason woke up, S.O.P.H.I.A. was in pieces and the parts he had collected from his first dealings with the Mutant Bosses were missing. Little does Jason know that there are more lightning beings where the first one came from and they are planning to destroy the Earth. The beings started digging towards the Earth's core in order to shift the planet's weight off its axis, leading to total annihilation. The parts from SOPHIA are being used to create a robotic army to assist the being in accomplishing their mission. Now, Jason must stop them, but he won't make it without the help of SOPHIA. Since he can't recover the parts, he decided to redesign it to better prepare himself for the ordeal facing him. After 29 days, SOPHIA was completely rebuilt and ready for battle. Remembering where he saw the being's footsteps, Jason jumped in his vehicle and headed towards the mountains where the challenge begins.

Characters

'''Jason Frudnick''' - He is the protagonist throughout the ''Blaster Master'' series. He is the character that accidentally discovered SOPHIA while trying to retrieve his pet frog Fred. In ''Blaster Master 2'', Jason is young (age 19) and couldn't have been more prepared for battle. His job is to eliminate the Plutonium Boss once and for all. Jason's equipment is fairly simple in ''Blaster Master 2''. He is wearing body armor that has moderate protection from heat and impact. Jason also comes with his usual blast cannon that is equipped onto his left arm brace. It does not overheat, and has unlimited energy. In ''Blaster Master 2'', Jason is mostly seen inside SOPHIA's canopy, but can easily hop out at any time in the game when in the sidescroll view. Jason does not take impact from falling too well in BM2, but when in the "Jason view" he does not take damage from falling impact. Jason is more easily seen in detail when challenging a boss or even an underboss. He is approximately ten times larger in this view.

'''S.O.P.H.I.A.''' (sometimes referred to as '''SOPHIA''') - The robotic, combat tank-like vehicle used throughout the ''Blaster Master'' series. SOPHIA comes in many different models, and the one that is seen in ''Blaster Master 2'' is SOPHIA 4th (2000). The model has been rebuilt by Jason and has many new and helpful features from the previous models of SOPHIA (SOPHIA Nora MA-01, SOPHIA Nora MA-02).

''Twisted Metal 3'' takes place in the year 2008, two years after ''Twisted Metal 2''. The interactive environments of ''Twisted Metal III'' allow the player to roam the battlefields with few restrictions. The first level takes place in Hollywood, which was devastated by the "Great Earthquake of 2007". The second level, along with the Darkside boss fight, takes place in Washington, D.C. in front of the United States Capitol. The third level takes place in Wright-Patterson Air Force Base's Hangar 18, which houses a large spacecraft that can be accessed. The fourth level takes place in the North Pole near Santa Claus' workshop. The fifth level, along with the Minion boss fight, takes place in London, in which the clock tower that houses Big Ben can be destroyed. The sixth level takes place on the rooftops of Tōkyō Metropolis, while the seventh level takes place in Egypt near the Great Sphinx of Giza. The eighth and final level, along with the Primeval boss fight, takes place in Calypso's personal blimp, in which defeated opponents continuously regenerate until the player destroys a regenerating device hidden in the level.

Ambitious, callous, narcissistic, and at times unethical, Henry Turner is a wealthy successful Manhattan lawyer whose obsession with his work leaves him little time for his socialite wife, Sarah, and troubled preteen daughter, Rachel. He has just won a malpractice suit, defending a hospital against a plaintiff who claims, but is unable to prove, that he warned doctors about a pre-existing condition.

Running out to a convenience store to buy cigarettes one night, Henry is shot when he interrupts a robbery. One bullet hits his right frontal lobe, while the other hits his left subclavian artery, causing excessive internal bleeding and cardiac arrest. He experiences anoxia, resulting in brain damage.

Henry survives but can neither move nor talk and he suffers retrograde amnesia. While in a nursing facility, he slowly regains movement and speech with the help of a physical therapist named Bradley. Henry's recovery creates a financial burden for the family. Upon returning home, Henry is almost childlike. As he forges new relationships with his family, he realizes he does not like who he once was.

Sarah enrolls Rachel into an out-of-town elite school, though she is now reluctant to go. At orientation, Henry tells Rachel a lie to help her adjust to the new school. He and Sarah grow closer, as they were when they first met. Henry also misses Rachel.

Henry's firm allows him to return out of deference to his previous contributions. Sarah suggests they relocate to a smaller, less expensive residence. As his firm essentially assigns him only low-level work, he realizes he no longer wants to be a lawyer. While at a dinner party, they overhear several "friends" making derogatory comments about him.

Henry, finding a former colleague's letters to Sarah disclosing they had an affair, becomes angry and leaves home. He is confronted by Linda, a fellow attorney, who reveals they were having an affair and that he was going to leave Sarah. Henry has second thoughts about himself and his relationships.

Henry gives the hospital documents that his firm had suppressed to the plaintiff that proves his case, and he apologizes. He then resigns from the firm. He realizes that (as Sarah had said) everything had been wrong before but it is now so much better. They reconcile, then go to Rachel's school and withdraw her. She is overjoyed to be with her parents. As they leave the building, she tosses her school-uniform hat away.

Dusty, an adventurer, returns to his office with a miniature totem pole consisting of six heads, and is immediately called to a rescue mission in Sumatra. As a result, he misses a message from an anthropologist on his answering machine explaining that "on the third Wednesday of July under a full moon during a snowfall", the totem pole's power would be released; its segments scatter and create parallel universes for themselves, which threatens to destroy the world. The bottom segment, Low Man, brings one of Dusty's pencils to life as a means to recover the scattered totem pieces. The pencil, who is able to create living sketches, christens himself "Wild Woody" and eagerly undertakes the task of saving the world.

Under Low Man's instruction, Woody recovers Squid Lips from a pirate book, Brimstone from a painting of Mount Olympus, Lugnuts from a mechanism blueprint, Orbit from a science fiction comic book, and Tombstone from a discarded flyer. Upon the totem pole's completion, Low Man grants Woody his wish for a paintbrush girlfriend and promises to see him again the next time the world needs saving, which Woody scoffs at.

Johnny McBride is badly hurt while hitch hiking and loses his memory when the car he is riding in crashes. Two years later, a clue leads him to his old home town, where he finds he is a murder suspect. McBride tries to clear his name of the presumed murder charges. Thugs working for the local mob boss try to end his meddling.

Set in Vietnam during the 1980s, Danh is a young boy growing up in Saigon. Though he should help his mother to sell noodles from a cart out of their home, he often sneaks out to buy cassettes.

One day, he inadvertently stumbles into a mysterious beautiful street vendor named Tam, selling her cassette, ''Saigon Love Story''. Intrigued about her music, Danh decides to buy the cassette, only to discover that it is blank. When Danh confronts Tam, he finds that she is penniless and unable to repay him, so she serenades him a song in her cassette. Enchanted, Danh finds a voice that has long been suppressed, a voice that is the ticket out of their impoverished life.

Clementi Sabourin (George Sanders), a wealthy and scandalous businessman, is found dead. Police come to investigate, and when they question Bridget Kelly (Yvonne De Carlo), who found the body, she tells them everything she knows about his past. The rest of the movie is a flashback based on her testimony.

A Czech refugee, missing and believed dead, Sabourin one day turns up to find his love Zina (Lisa Ferraday) is now married to his brother, Gerry (Tom Conway). Out of spite, he betrays his brother to the police. Sabourin learns from the police prefect that Gerry was killed resisting arrest. The prefect gives Sabourin a passport and he sets sail for America.

At the port in New York he observes the shady Miss Kelly as she makes off with ship passenger Leonard Wilson's (Victor Jory) wallet. Sabourin makes a romantic play for Kelly, only to steal the wallet when her back is turned. Kelly's estranged husband Chuck (Bob Morgan) pursues and shoots Sabourin in the street, but Sabourin escapes by pushing Chuck into the path of an oncoming car.

On a tip from the doctor who removes the bullet, Sabourin invests in a company that manufactures the drug penicillin. He fraudulently uses a $20,000 cashier's check from inside the stolen wallet to purchase the stock. Encountering the wealthy Mrs. Ryan (Zsa Zsa Gabor), widow of a prominent businessman, Sabourin earns a considerable sum of money for her as well by tipping her to the stock. Mrs. Ryan writes Sabourin a $20,000 loan, which he uses to cover his forged check from Wilson. His stockbroker, O'Hara (John Hoyt), spots the fraud but helps Sabourin in exchange for a share in his profit.

Sabourin uses a financial statement he found in Wilson's wallet to blackmail Wilson into selling him his oil company. Sabourin orchestrates a fake oil strike to gain profit, but his investors get the last laugh when oil is really found on the property and the stock soars to $30 a share. Sabourin, O'Hara, Miss Kelly and Sabourin's lawyer Bauman (Werner Klemperer) become successful by buying struggling companies, manipulating the price of stock and throwing the companies into receivership.

As he becomes increasingly "successful", Sabourin begins courting a number of women romantically, including Mrs. Ryan's young secretary, Stephanie North (Nancy Gates). He invites North to a party and finances her ambition to become an actress. When she rejects his advances, he attempts to thwart her career, but is unsuccessful, as her producer recognizes that North does indeed have talent.

Sabourin then courts the affluent Edith van Renssalaer (Coleen Gray), married to a wealthy businessman. Sabourin attempts to interfere in her marriage to gain control of her stock and form a new uranium company, but Zina resurfaces one night and reveals that she learned he was responsible for his brother's death. He pledges his love to her and remorse for Gerry's death, lying through his teeth. Zina believes him, but when she sees him conspire with Edith, she kills herself and writes a note implicating Sabourin. The police arrest him, while Edith abandons him.

As Sabourin's embezzling is also uncovered, the court begins an attempt to deport him to Czechoslovakia. Knowing that the communists will confiscate his money there, Sabourin instructs Miss Kelly to contact his mother. The mother is initially happy to see her son, but refuses his plan to tell the court that Sabourin was born illegitimately in Switzerland and disowns him. Miss Kelly, who has long concealed her love and concern for Sabourin, implores him to return the stolen money and tells him that his way does not work out in the end.

Initially reluctant, Sabourin finally decides to return the money. No sooner does he endorse the stock certificates, O'Hara (who hitherto had qualms concerning their crooked dealings) arrives and confronts him at gunpoint. O'Hara announces that he and Bauman intend to let Sabourin be the fall guy and take all the money for themselves. A struggle ensues over O'Hara's gun in which Sabourin manages to kill O'Hara but is himself fatally wounded. As he returns home dejectedly, he sees all of his would-be victims emerging successful as well as a billboard with the verse [https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Mark-8-36/ Mark 8:36] written on it. He also meets Kelly, and tells her that he returned the money.

When Sabourin returns home, he pleads with his mother, but she refuses to see him. He then calls Kelly, leaving a message telling her that he really did love her in his own way and begging for forgiveness. Finally, he collapses on the bed and dies.

The story ends as Kelly finishes reporting the story to the police and Sabourin's mother, who laments that she did not forgive her son for his crimes before he died. Kelly then surmises that it is possible Sabourin found forgiveness and peace in death, taking one last look around his magnificent house as she leaves.

Kenji Tomosaka moves to a coastal town as a child. The sea spread in front of him shines like ramune, reflecting the sunlight of the summer.

He meets Nanami Konoe, who lives next door. As time passes, their shared memories have accumulated. They think of their normal lives and relationship as precious things.

The sun begins to shine strongly, cicadas begin to buzz, and the sky clears up. For Kenji and Nanami, it is not just another ordinary summer.

The main character of the series is Yuzuru Shiga, one of the descendants of the expiring Shiga clan along with his cousin Azusa Shiga, the daughter of his father's older sister. In order to preserve the family legacy, Azusa's mother and Yuzuru's father agree to have cousins Azusa and Yuzuru marry each other when they are of age. Ten years later, Azusa's mother dies and Azusa goes to live with Yuzuru's family. Azusa fully intends on claiming that promise of marriage from Yuzuru in spite of it being wrought during their childhood. She has been waiting, faithful, not so as much speaking to another boy since that time. Yuzuru, however, has his own life as a high school student: He's the captain of the archery club, and he has a girlfriend named Satomi.

Even though Yuzuru has paid no heed to the betrothal, Azusa has taken it very seriously and expects Yuzuru to fulfill their family expectations. When he was a child, Yuzuru also promised her directly that he’d stay with her, and she took it to heart. When Azusa sees Yuzuru with Satomi, she tries to scare Satomi off in the hope that Yuzuru will return to her; but instead, he goes back to Satomi. Azusa then decides she has to take care of Satomi ''permanently''. And that’s no idle threat because, unknown to Yuzuru, Azusa is a demon because of a family curse, which first manifested itself after Azusa killed a group of boys who tried to rape her.

Satomi tries to tell Yuzuru that Azusa is after her, but she can’t do it directly because Azusa is stalking her. Worse yet, Yuzuru, while aware that something strange is going on, is somewhat oblivious to Azusa’s actions.

In 2042, alien threats known as the attack Japan. Goh Saruwatari defeats the alien "boss" and saves his future fiancée, Anna Aoi, with his robot, the Dannar.

The Mimetic Beasts return after five years on Goh and Anna's wedding day. Goh and Dannar are called to action, leaving Anna at the altar.

As Goh struggles in his battle against the Mimetic Beasts, Anna stumbles upon a sealed robot called Neo Okusaer. She is able to activate and pilot the Neo Okusaer to save her fiancé by merging it with the Dannar to activate the Godannar's Twin Drive.

Over the course of the series, humanity is threatened by the Insania virus, which is spread by the Mimetic Beasts. All of humanity is infected, but the virus affects robot pilots most severely since they come into close contact with the beasts on a regular basis. The virus has the effect of transforming human males into Mimetic Beasts; females are somehow immune unless they naturally generate large amounts of male hormones. The virus is stimulated by human hormones, especially those released in great quantities during combat.

Second season

The pilots of Dannar Base struggle to balance the need to fight the Mimetic Beasts with the danger of further infection. Eventually, it is discovered that Mira, Goh's former combat partner and lover who was trapped inside a Mimetic beast for five years, is the source of the vaccine humanity needs.

Homesteader Angie Lowe (Geraldine Page) and her 6 year-old son Johnny (Lee Aaker) are doing chores when Hondo Lane (John Wayne) arrives, carrying his saddle bags and rifle, accompanied by his dog Sam. He was riding dispatch for the US Army Cavalry, had an encounter with Indians and lost his horse. Hondo offers to work for awhile to earn a horse and Angie agrees. After stating several times that her husband is simply away herding cattle, Hondo confronts her with evidence that he must have been gone a long time, judging by the condition of the ranch and horses. He encourages her to pack up and return with him to the Army fort, since the treaty with the Apache has been broken and they are planning a war; Angie believes her long-standing friendship with the Apache will keep her safe. That night, she notices Hondo's name on his rifle case and remembers hearing he killed 3 men. She threatens him with an unloaded gun; he loads it for her.

As Hondo prepares to leave, he mentions that he once lived among the Apache and had a squaw wife. He tells Angie that she reminds him of his wife and kisses her before he goes. She is confused and upset because she is married, but Hondo insists that people ought to do what they feel is right. He leaves for the fort. Shortly thereafter, the Apaches come to the ranch, led by Chief Vittoro (Michael Pate) and Silva (Rodolfo Acosta). When Vittoro touches Angie, Johnny gets the gun Hondo loaded and shoots at Silva. Though he misses, Vittoro is impressed with his bravery and makes him a blood-brother. Vittoro insists that a brave child should have a father, and leaves.

Hondo returns to the fort and sees Buffalo Baker (Ward Bond), a fellow scout. He reports to the major that C Troop was wiped out by Apaches and has an encounter with a settler angry that the cavalry is not better protecting the settlers. In a saloon, Hondo gets into a fight with the same settler. Baker later tells Hondo the man is "Ed Lowe" (Leo Gordon); whom he realizes is Angie's absentee husband. Meanwhile, Vittoro, sure that Angie's husband is dead, gives her an ultimatum to take an Apache husband by the rainy season.

The next morning, Ed Lowe accuses Hondo of stealing his horse, seeing the "EL" brand. His friends defend Hondo, who immediately leaves to return to horse to the ranch. Upset about the fight and horse, Ed follows Hondo to bushwhack him. While camped, Hondo is set upon by Apache, who also attack Ed. In the confusion, Hondo saves Ed's life, but when he turns his back, Ed draws on him, and Hondo kills him. He finds Ed was clutching a photograph of Johnny, which he takes. In the ensuing chase, the Apache capture and torture Hondo for information about the cavalry's movements. When Vittoro sees the photo of his blood-brother, he decides to subject Hondo to a one-on-one fight to the death with Silva, whose brother Hondo killed. Hondo is victorious; they drop him off at the ranch where Angie lies about him being her husband.

Hondo and Angie grow close as he recuperates. Hondo attempts to reveal the truth of her husband's death, but is interrupted by Vittoro's return. The chief tells them that the pony soldiers will soon come. He asks Hondo to mislead the cavalry as a test; Hondo refuses to lie, and Vittoro is satisfied. Angie admits she loves Hondo and they kiss. The next day, the cavalry arrive at the ranch and expect Angie to leave. She and Hondo refuse. While camping, another scout blackmails Hondo for his Winchester rifle - he says he will tell Angie how Hondo killed Ed if he doesn't give him the rifle. Hondo punches him, but Angie overhears. The cavalry eventually leave and Hondo stays behind.

Hondo prepares to go, but first tells Angie the truth about her husband's death. He also wants to tell Johnny, but she persuades him not to, admitting that she did not love her husband any longer. She says it would be unkind to tell the boy the truth of his father's death and that the secret will not follow them to Hondo's ranch in California. Hondo responds to her emotional plea with an Indian word that seals a squaw-seeking ceremony, "Varlabania", which he tells her means "forever".

The cavalry return to the ranch, having killed Vittoro in a battle but losing their commanding office. While the Apache regroup, Hondo, Angie and Johnny join the wagon train and head for the fort. The Apaches catch up and the cavalry, led by Hondo, circle the wagons and counter-attack. Hondo kills Silva (their new leader) and they scatter, giving them a chance to escape. The wagon train regroups and proceeds to the fort with Hondo remaining in command.

The film begins with a written disclaimer:

During the film you are about to see, you will be subject to subliminal messages and mild hypnosis. This will cause you no physical harm or lasting effect, but if for any reason you lose control or feel that your mind is leaving your body -- leave the auditorium immediately.

The disclaimer is accompanied by a narrator, who advises viewers to take caution regarding their surroundings once the film has begun, and not to engage in conversation with any unknown individuals for the duration of the running time.

In the Los Angeles theater ''The Rex,'' moviegoers watch the film within a film, ''The Mommy.''

''The Mommy'' tells the story of John Pressman (Michael Lerner), an extremely myopic, uncontrolled diabetic who works as an ophthalmologist's assistant and is progressively growing blind. For unstated reasons, his overbearing mother Alice (Zelda Rubinstein) hypnotizes him and induces him to murder people so that he can remove their eyes and bring them back to her. One evening, John—against his mother's wishes—barricades himself inside of a movie theater playing ''The Lost World'', where he sets about killing the patrons one by one with a scalpel. Once John's rampage becomes apparent, the surviving moviegoers attempt to flee the now sealed-off theater. The police bring Alice to the theater in an attempt to end the siege; in the course of trying to talk John down, Alice is accidentally shot to death by the police. The last scenes of ''The Mommy'' show John being placed into police custody and a detective looking upon Alice's corpse one more time.

As ''The Mommy'' wears on, patrons of The Rex begin to experience anxiety attacks and disorientation in response to the events onscreen. In particular, one man grows progressively agitated, constantly checking his watch; and a teenage girl, Patty, begins to break down in tears, though she cannot entirely articulate her fear. At a key point in the film, the man exits the theater and approaches the concession stand, where he's recognized by an employee as a frequent patron of ''The Mommy.'' Patty's friend, Linda, goes to use the bathroom moments later, and witnesses The Man removing a gun from his jacket and killing the concession worker and another theater employee. The Man drags their bodies to the bathroom—an act synchronized with John killing a woman in the bathroom of a movie theater in ''The Mommy''. Linda escapes the theater and stops a man passing on the street, whom she asks to call the police.

In The Rex, the man barricades the projectionist in the projector booth and then slips back into the theater, where he holds Patty at gunpoint and begins reciting dialogue from ''The Mommy.'' When John Pressman begins his theater rampage onscreen, the man begins indiscriminately shooting patrons of The Rex, using Patty as a human shield.

Outside The Rex, a SWAT team arrives, in synchronicity with the police's arrival at the theater in ''The Mommy.'' The police obtain access to the projector booth via the roof and send in a sniper. The man holds Patty hostage in front of the theater, addressing Alice onscreen and asking her to come save him. Attempts by the police to engage the man fail; when the police in ''The Mommy'' kill Alice, the man becomes enraged, throws Patty to the ground, and resumes firing into the audience; the police sniper then shoots and kills him. Looking up at the screen, Patty has a vision of John gouging out her eye with a scalpel.

Outside, Patty and Linda are reunited and Patty is taken to the hospital for an evaluation. Doctors assure her that she is physically all right, though the experience was mentally scarring. As Linda leaves, she is attacked on an elevator by an unseen orderly who aims a scalpel for her throat. The orderly then proceeds to Patty's room and is revealed to be John, who assures Patty that he's only a figment of her imagination. Patty screams as John examines her eyes. As the screen cuts to black, the camera pulls back to show a movie theater of patrons watching the events onscreen, revealing that Patty's story was in fact a film within a film within a film. The credits for ''Anguish'' roll as the theater patrons leave one by one.

Colin is a nervous schoolteacher working in London, observing rather than participating in the sexual revolution of the 1960s. He has little personal sexual experience and wishes to gain "the knack": in this case meaning a way to seduce women. He turns to a friend, a confident, womanizing drummer known only by his surname, Tolen. Tolen gives him unhelpful advice to consume more protein and use intuition, acknowledging intuition is not something that can be completely learned, and advocates the importance of domination of women. He then suggests that Colin should move into his home, where he and another friend "share" women.

Colin boards the front door shut. The third flatmate, Tom, is obsessed with painting everything white... including the windowpanes. Due to the blocked door Tolen brings his girls in through the window. Colin swaps his single bed for a fancy old double wrought iron bed which he finds in a scrapyard with Tom. Nancy meets Colin at the scrapyard. Nancy is an inexperienced and shy young woman who has arrived to London from out of town, and is searching for the YWCA. She stops by a clothing store and is won over by the flattery of the clerk, until she overhears him repeating the same words to every female customer.

From the scrapyard the three take the bed on a complex and zany journey back to the house. This includes parking it at a parking meter, moving it on a car transporter and carrying it down the steps of the Royal Albert Hall.

In a public space, Tolen sexually assaults Nancy, who at first is silent then faints. When she wakes up, she begins claiming she was raped, though this was not the case. Tolen, Colin and their friends find themselves unable to restrain her from loudly repeating the allegations, or puncturing the tyres of Tolen's motorcycle, and she runs back to the residence, where she throws Tolen's records out of the window and strips naked. The men become convinced her rape allegations reflect rape fantasy and urge Tolen to have sex with her. When Nancy emerges from the room wearing only a robe, she instead expresses more attraction to Colin, and he returns the interest. The two begin living together.

In Ancona, Giovanni is a therapist, whose 17-year-old son Andrea is accused of stealing a rare ammonite fossil from his school. Andrea is suspended and protests his innocence, but later confesses to his mother Paola he and his friend stole it as a prank, and intended to return it before it broke. Giovanni and Andrea make plans to go jogging together, but Giovanni is called to the distant home of a patient who is severely distressed about a possible cancer diagnosis. Instead, Andrea goes scuba diving with a friend and swims into an underwater cave, where he accidentally drowns. Giovanni, Paola and their daughter Irene are left to mourn. Giovanni investigates the diving equipment model and becomes suspicious that Andrea's was defective, but Paola reminds him the verdict was that it was functioning properly. Giovanni, once a distant observer of his patients' struggles, begins having difficulty analyzing them, particularly the one he went to see on the day Andrea died, against whom he shows signs of impatience and hostility.

One day, Paola receives a love letter sent to Andrea by a girl named Arianna, whom he had met at a camp. The family does not know Arianna, and never knew Andrea had a girlfriend. They realize she does not know Andrea has died and attempt to contact her, eventually inviting her to their home. Giovanni stops by a music store to buy an album, ostensibly for a friend of Andrea, but more for Andrea. A clerk gives him a Brian Eno album. Arianna arrives on her way to a destination, and sees Andrea's bedroom. She shows Giovanni photographs Andrea sent her of himself in his room, some of which are very amusing. The family welcomes Arianna and offers to host her in their home, but she informs them she is hitchhiking with her friend Stefano to spend vacation in France. The family offers Arianna and Stefano a short ride, but it lingers to a point where they drive into the night and reach Menton, in the border between Italy and France. Bidding Arianna and Stefano goodbye, the family watch their bus leave Italy and wander in the beach as a new life awaits them.

In the early 20th century, Henrik Bergman is studying to be a parish minister under the Church of Sweden. A poor man, he meets the wealthy Anna Åkerblom through his friend, Anna's brother Ernst. Anna is vain and stubborn, and in Henrik's belief she is elitist, yet she is also attractive and capable of enjoying pleasure. Although Henrik lives in a sexual relationship with Frida, a waitress, Anna seduces him and proposes an engagement. As Henrik and Anna begin to see more of each other, Henrik secretly continues living with Frida. While speaking with Anna's mother Karin, Henrik confesses that he feels unwelcome among the Åkerbloms. Karin tells him frankly that she feels Anna needs a mature man who can nurture her, but he is lacking on both counts. Karin also tells Anna that Henrik is still living with Frida, a fact verified by the family. Henrik and Anna stop seeing each other until Frida appeals to Anna to take Henrik back, citing his misery.

While Anna is treated for tuberculosis in Switzerland, a brother is sent to tell Henrik that she no longer wishes to speak to him. However, unknown to her parents, Anna sends a letter to Ernst to be forwarded to Henrik, telling him she wishes to resume their relationship. Her parents receive the letter and Anna's father Johan opens it, after which Karin reads it and burns it. After Johan dies, Karin confesses the act to Anna, who angrily seeks Henrik. By then, Henrik is planning to go to Forsboda, a remote village in northern Sweden, to work in a parish whose head minister is aged and ailing. Anna resolves to go with him, and they marry despite their class conflicts.

The Bergmans have their first son, Dag, but Henrik becomes embroiled in the local strike action, as he refuses to endorse poor working conditions and lends his church for a socialist meeting. This displeases Nordenson, who also dislikes Bergman's manner of instruction of Nordenson's daughters, as Nordenson refuses to kneel with his wife and girls. In the meantime, the Bergmans take in Petrus, a troubled orphaned boy. Later, Henrik and Anna are unexpectedly summoned to Stockholm to meet Queen Victoria, who chairs a board managing Sophiahemmet hospital and is seeking a chaplain, with the archbishop recommending Henrik. During the meeting, Victoria asks him if he believes suffering is sent by God. He replies suffering is useless and God views the world with horror, and leaves the palace fuming at having to flatter the Queen. The Bergmans decline the position, but the villagers are upset they did not hear of the offer except through rumours, and are disturbed by Henrik publicly humiliating Nordenson in church.

Upset, and expecting her second child, Anna insists on sending Petrus away, saying she did not agree to a permanent adoption and she dislikes the boy. Petrus overhears the conversation, and furious, kidnaps Dag and carries him to an icy river. The Bergmans see them and give chase, with Henrik saving Dag and slapping down Petrus, after which the boy leaves. In despair, Anna decides she can no longer live in Forsboda and takes Dag to the Åkerblom house, while Henrik at first resolves to stay in the village. He finally accepts the position in Stockholm and asks Anna to come with him, and she replies this is all she wants.

''Act of War: High Treason'' takes place over the course of three days, three years after the events of ''Act of War: Direct Action''. On the eve of the U.S. Presidential election, the two presidential candidates, Senator Watts and Vice President Cardiff are attacked. Task Force Talon intervenes and rescues both, but in the meantime, President Baldwin is assassinated. Thus, Vice President Cardiff becomes the new President of the United States. Later, Senator Watts disappears and is announced dead by officials.

In the aftermath, several important government officials and U.S. Army personnel are arrested on conspiracy and assassination charges, but Colonel Whitemore, leader of the military unit in charge of Senator Watts is conveniently not questioned. Task Force Talon tries to meet him in Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, but the U.S. Army forces open fire on the task force units and they are branded as traitors. Task Force Talon tracks Whitemore's C-17 Globemaster transports carrying a shipment of USAMRIID biological barrels to Cancún, Mexico. The recipient is the Consortium, a highly advanced and well-funded shadowy military organization, which was assumed eradicated in the events of the previous game. The cargo contains X-357, a virus deadly to many animals, but harmless to humans. Task Force Talon commandeers a Consortium ''Visby''-class corvette and pursues a trio of Consortium ''Typhoon''-class submarines carrying the biological samples, one of which eludes them and reaches Cuba. After extended fighting alongside Cuban loyalists, Task Force Talon raids a Consortium hacienda in search of the last submarine and its payload.

Although Task Force Talon does not find X-357, they find and liberate Senator Watts. Transferring him to a friendly U.S. naval base in the Bahamas, Watts exposes the Consortium and Cardiff as the conspirators on a live television show. The U.S. Navy defends the naval base against the Consortium onslaught until Watts finishes his speech and is evacuated to Washington D.C., where he testifies in the U.S. Congress. Meanwhile, X-357 is tracked to Cape Canaveral, where it is scheduled for launch into space via the Space Shuttle ''Liberty'', where the Consortium can mutate it to infect human hosts.

Task Force Talon fails to stop the launch and is attacked by the 52nd, 104th and 81st Airborne divisions guarding the launch site. Not long later, however, the Congress impeaches Cardiff. Subsequently, the loyal 52nd and 81st cease firing on Task Force Talon, but the 104th, under the command of Colonel Whitemore, continue to fight, only to be destroyed. Space Shuttle ''Liberty'' is tracked to its landing zone in the Taklamakan Desert in central Asia, where the Consortium's main base of operations is located. The U.S. Army and a small Task Force Talon unit invade the landing site, and eradicate the virus along with the rest of the Consortium forces. The epilogue reveals that Cardiff's body is found in a river, while Senator Watts's presidential campaign is virtually unopposed.

Alexandros, a middle-aged bearded writer, leaves his seaside apartment in Thessaloniki after learning he has a terminal illness and must enter a hospital the next day to perform more tests. He is trying to get his affairs in order and to find someone who would take care of his dog. He speaks in his mind to his dead wife, Anna, who appears still young to him.

Alexandros hides a young Albanian squeegee kid from the police who are arresting other boys like him at a traffic stop in order to deport them. Later, he pays a visit to his 22-year-old daughter, but he does not tell her of his diagnosis. Instead he gives her some letters written by her mother, which she reads out loud, triggering his memories of the time when their daughter was a newborn at her baby shower. He learns that his daughter and her husband have sold the family's beach house without telling him. Also, they refuse to keep his dog with them.

On his way back, Alexandros meets the immigrant boy again, and witnesses his capture at the hands of human traffickers who try to sell him into illegal adoption. Alexandros infiltrates the clandestine meeting and in a moment of confusion tries to sneak away with the kid but is stopped by the traffickers and must pay what they ask for him. He tries to put the kid on a bus and then a taxi, but he keeps running away, so he decides to take him across the border to Albania himself.

Alexandros sees at the snowy mountain border an eerie barbed wire fence with what seem to be bodies stuck to it. As the pair waits for the gate to open, they have a change of mind about crossing, when the boy admits he has been lying about his life in Albania. The two of them barely escape a border sentry and make it back to Alexandros's automobile.

The boy's perilous existence brings Alexandros out of his stupor and self-pity, and seemingly re-energizes him in his love for a 19th-century Greek poet, Dionysios Solomos, whose unfinished poem he longs to complete. The old man and the boy are connected by fear. The former over what lies ahead for him, and whether his life has had any impact; the latter over the perilous return trip to Albania on a path over the mountains lined with land mines, as well as traffickers.

Alexandros pays a visit to his housekeeper, Ourania. She is manifestly smitten with him, but is in the middle of a wedding party and dances between her son and his bride. The scene plays on until Alexandros interrupts. He leaves the dog with her, and then the dance and music, which had stopped, resume as if nothing had halted them.

The boy goes to the ruins of a hospital, mourning another young boy, Selim, via a candlelight vigil, with dozens of other youths. The pair take a bus trip and encounter all sorts of people, from a tired political protester to an arguing couple to a classical music trio. They also look out the window as a trio of people on bicycles pedal by them, oddly dressed in bright yellow raincoats. The boy departs in the middle of the night, stowing aboard a huge, brightly lit ship whose destination is unknown.

Alexandros enters his old home. He looks about, exits out the back door, and into the sunny past where Anna and other friends are singing. They stop, ask him to join them, then they all dance, and soon, there is only the poet and his wife in motion. Then, she slowly pulls away, and he claims his hearing is gone. He also cannot see her, it seems. He calls out and asks how long tomorrow will be, after he had told her he refuses to go into the hospital as planned. She tells him tomorrow will last eternity and a day.

Newly ordained as a Catholic priest, Donissan is sent to a rural parish under the care of the experienced Menou-Segrais. The young man is tortured by doubts about his vocation and has taken to flagellating himself. When he confesses to Menou-Segaris how unworthy he feels at his chosen task, the older man says it is not too late to choose another career but he can see in Donissan a great power for good.

A parishioner called Mouchette, the 16-year-old daughter of a brewer, calls on one of her lovers, a marquis called Cadignan. She says she wants to run away to Paris, but he says he is facing financial ruin and cannot offer much help. He lets her stay the night, however, and in the morning she starts playing with his shotgun. It is loaded and he is killed. She gets out fast, washing his blood off her clothes.

She then goes round to another lover, a married doctor called Gallet. After making love, she tells him what she has done and adds that she is pregnant. He says she need not worry about Cadignan, because the death has been certified as suicide, but he is not the father of her child and will not help her with an abortion.

Menou-Segrais, worried at his parishioners' discomfort with Donissan, sends the young man to help in another village. Walking there over the fields in the dark, he is joined by a mysterious horse-trader who turns out to be an incarnation of Satan. Unable to seduce Donissan physically or spiritually, he says the young man has the gift of seeing into souls.

Donissan faints, only coming to in the morning, when he encounters Mouchette wandering in the fields. He tells her that he can see her life and thoughts and that she must repent for her sin of killing Cadignan. She goes back to her parents' house and cuts her throat with a razor. Fearing the worst, Donissan goes there and finds her body. He carries it bleeding to the church, where he lays it before the altar in the hope that her soul will be saved.

This outrageous behaviour earns him a transfer to another parish, where the people begin to recognise that he is a holy man though he is still in spiritual turmoil. A farmer from a neighbouring village asks him to come to his little son who is dying. Arriving too late, his first impulse is to leave but he then realises that the people expect more. Going alone to the bedroom, he lifts the corpse up and, as he prays, the child's eyes open.

The strain of his mental torments and the demands of his parishioners make him increasingly ill. One night he is attacked by Satan, and asks God to keep him alive if there is still use for him. He recovers and returns to the church to hear confessions. Menou-Segrais has come over to see how he is and, after the last parishioner leaves, goes to the confessional box. Inside he finds Donissan dead.

The California Atoms are the worst team in the NFL and have not won a game in years. Team owner Hank Cooper is deeply in debt to two bookmakers named Charles Gwynn and Cal Wilson. When Cooper tells them he cannot pay his debts, the bookies give him a last chance bet: if the Atoms win the upcoming Super Bowl, all gambling debts will be forgiven, but if they do not win, Gwynn and Wilson will take ownership of the team.

Desperate to draw in fans, team owner Hank Cooper looks for a great half time show. His secretary, Debbie, sees a story in her parents' Yugoslavian newspaper about Gus, a mule who can play football. After Gus is a hit in his first halftime show, Cooper and Venner decide to put him in the game as a place kicker. The Atoms go on to win their next few games thanks to Gus, and move to first place in their division.

Gwynn and Wilson, realizing their deal with Cooper is backfiring, hire two incompetent criminals named Crankcase and Spinner to stop Gus from playing and make the team lose. Crankcase and Spinner cause the Atoms to lose two games, but the Atoms still make the playoffs.

With the Atoms headed to the Super Bowl, Spinner and Crankcase steal Gus and replace him with an ordinary mule. At the Super Bowl, Gus' handler Andy quickly realizes the mule he has is not Gus, and he and Cooper leave by helicopter to search for Gus. When the two criminals watch the game on TV, Gus goes wild and escapes. A long slapstick chase sequence ensues, ending with Spinner and Crankcase are apprehended and Gus being airlifted to the Super Bowl and helping Andy and the Atoms win the game in the fourth quarter.

As Paul, the son of the Duke Atreides's concubine and heir to the throne, the player must earn the trust and respect from the natives of the desert planet Dune, the Fremen, to ultimately become their prophesied messiah and free them from the desolate conditions of the planet. He also needs to overcome the evil Baron Harkonnen who slaughtered the Atreides family with covert backup from the Emperor.

The story behind each mission is accurate to the novels, though taking place during the two-year span in the 1965 novel ''Dune'' when Paul gains the trust of the Fremen.

Chicago residents Neil Randall (Gerard Butler) and his wife, Abby Randall (Maria Bello) have the perfect life and a perfect marriage. With their beautiful young daughter, Sophie, they are living the American dream until Sophie is suddenly kidnapped. Neil and Abby have no choice but to comply with the abductor's demands. The kidnapper, Tom Ryan (Pierce Brosnan), an apparent sociopath, takes over their lives with the brutal efficiency of someone who has nothing to lose.

In the blink of an eye, Neil and Abby's safe and secure existence is turned upside down. Ryan doesn't want their money and instead wants their life to be systematically dismantled and destroyed, piece by piece.

With time running out, Neil and Abby realise they have to submit to Ryan's challenges over the next 24-hour period. Tom asks them how far will they go to save their child, and gives them a series of tasks to complete before they can have their daughter back. He requires them to withdraw more than $130,000 from their bank which is all the money they have. After they give Tom the money, he burns it and throws into a river along with their wallets. Tom then requires the pair to obtain $300 from nowhere in a part of the town where they don't have any friends. Abby pawns her bracelet and Neil his watch to get the $300. Tom requires Abby to deliver a document to the office of Neil's employer's competitor within 20 minutes, and Tom shows Neil a copy of document that contains details of Neil's hacking into customer accounts, which if leaked will ruin Neil. Neil watches Abby deliver the document from a distance. Neil and Abby think that Sophie is being held in a hotel, and they try to rescue her, only to get caught by Tom. As punishment, Tom makes Abby take off her dress and put on an enticing short dress in front of both him and Neil.

Tom has one last test for Neil to save Sophie, in which he requires Neil to enter a house and kill the occupant - a co-worker named Judy who Neil has been having an affair with. Neil is greeted warmly by Judy, and is desperately confused as he sees a picture of Tom on the mantel and learns that Tom and Judy are married. Tom enters the house and tells Neil to shoot Judy or he will kill Neil's daughter Sophie. Neil pulls the trigger but the gun isn't loaded. Tom reveals he knows about their affair and tells Neil his daughter is safe at home.

As they return home, Neil lies to Abby and tells her that his boss was having an affair with Judy and Tom mistook Neil for that person, which is why Tom had tormented them the whole day. When they return home, Sophie is asleep and has been there the whole time. Abby reveals to Neil that their daughter had never been kidnapped, and Tom had concocted the entire day to let Neil experience for one day the pain he has undergone. Neil says that Abby has ruined his career by delivering the document to the competitor's office, but she tells him it was blank. For 24 hours Abby has paid Neil back a portion of the pain she has experienced since learning of his affair, revealing she was involved in the deception.

A group of students are preparing for a school dance. Rock arrives with a damaged ticket and is denied entry by Mr. Temple and Principal James. After leaving, Rock is provoked by a group of thugs to vandalize the Principal's car. When Pierre Dulaine comes on the scene, they all run off.

The next morning, Pierre arrives at the school to see the Principal. After explaining that he witnessed her car being vandalized, Pierre offers to take over the detention shift and teach them ballroom dancing. She agrees, although she feels sure that he will not last more than a day. His first class goes badly due to the scepticism and uncooperative personalities of the students. When Pierre returns the next morning, Principal James explains that the reason LaRhette had refused to dance with Rock the day before was because Rock's brother was involved in a gang war, in which one of the casualties was LaRhette's brother.

At Pierre's dance studio, Caitlin is under pressure to learn to dance because her cotillion is approaching. She feels a failure and envies Morgan for her graceful sensuality, remarking to Pierre that she is "like sex on hardwood." This gives Pierre an idea of how to reach out to the kids in detention. He invites Morgan to give them a demonstration of the tango, which inspires the students to be more willing to learn. Caitlin decides to join them for dance class and practices with Monster. Though the other students suspect her of wanting to "tell her upper class friends that she's slumming" at first, they learn to accept her when she admits that she feels better with them.

LaRhette, the daughter of a prostitute, cares for her younger siblings while her mother works the streets. One night, she runs out of the apartment and to the school after one of her mother's clients attempts to rape her. While practicing her dancing, she runs into Rock, who'd gone down there to sleep after losing his job and getting kicked out of his house after a physical confrontation with his drunken father. They fight and are caught by security. Principal James wants to suspend them both, but agrees to give them extra detention with Pierre instead.

Pierre tells the class about a dance competition that he wants them to enter. Gradually, the students begin to trust Pierre; Kurd even visits his apartment to discuss his sexual problems. When the detention basement is flooded, Pierre takes the students to his dance studio to practice. The youngsters become disenchanted by the skills of Pierre's students there as well as the $200 entrance fee for the contest. However, Pierre manages to inspire them again and promises to pay the fee. LaRhette and Rock, who have now learned to respect each other, are assigned to compete in the waltz, and rivals Ramos and Danjou learn to share Sasha during practice.

Mr. Temple complains about the school's resources being wasted on the dance program. When Pierre is brought to a meeting with the parents' association, he convinces them to keep the program going after demonstrating how ballroom dancing has taught the students "teamwork, respect, and dignity". On the night of the contest, Rock is told by the gang he has joined that he must participate in a theft. He intentionally shoots the sprinkler system, setting off the alarm, and all have to flee.

At the competition, it is announced that a $5000 prize will be given to the winning team. Monster intervenes in the cotillion and saves Caitlin from tripping. Sasha, Danjou, and Ramos perform an impressive three-person tango but are disqualified because the event is a partner dance. Morgan is awarded the prize but defuses the tension by calling it a tie and giving Sasha her trophy. Principal James is impressed with the success of the program and tells Pierre she is making it permanent. Rock arrives at the last minute to dance the waltz with LaRhette, whom he kisses at the end. The final credits roll as Pierre's students triumphantly dance to hip hop music, having tampered with the sound system.

The series stars Rebecca Romijn as Pepper Dennis, a television reporter for an evening news broadcast at the fictional television station WEiE (specifically with a small '''i''') in Chicago. The series also starred Rider Strong as Chick, Pepper's cameraman who has an unrequited crush on her, Brooke Burns as Pepper's sheltered and somewhat flaky sister Kathy Dinkle, Lindsay Price as Kimmy Kim, Pepper's closest friend and WEiE's makeup artist and Josh Hopkins as Charlie Babcock, the station's news anchor. One of the focal points of the show was the love-hate relationship between Pepper and Charlie.

The film centers around a group of terrorist who take over a nuclear power plant and a security guard at the plant who tries to stop them.

In 1865, the proletarian General Gurko Lanen (George Sanders) becomes the behind-the-scenes dictator of the Grand Duchy of Lichtenburg located in the Balkans. Gurko suppresses the clergy and the free press and imprisons the Prime Minister Baron Von Neuhoff (Montagu Love). The rightful ruler of the Grand Duchy, the Grand Duchess Zona (Joan Bennett), hopes to get aid from Napoleon III of France and makes her escape pursued by a troop of Hussars loyal to Gurko. While on a hunting trip, the visiting Count of Monte Cristo (Louis Hayward), rescues her. The Count escorts the Grand Duchess Zona to a neutral country, but Gurko's Hussars violate international neutrality to return the Grand Duchess and her lady-in-waiting back to Lichtenburg.

The count has become romantically enamored of Zona and undertakes to help her, visiting the Grand Duchy where he falls in with the underground resistance movement of Lichtenburg. He befriends the loyal Lt. Dorner (Clayton Moore) of the palace guard who knows a variety of secret passages leading from the Grand Ducal Palace to the literal catacombs of the Grand Duchy.

Discovering that Baron Von Neuhoff is to be executed, the Count gains entry to the palace through his previously being asked for a large loan of French Francs by Gurko and plays the role of a cowardly fopish international banker. There he overhears Gurko meeting with the French Ambassador (Georges Renavent) who raises the issue of human rights in the Grand Duchy. Gurko counters him by saying he is signing a non aggression pact with Russia protecting Lichtenburg from any French threats. Gurko schemes to gain the nation's loyalty by marrying the Grand Duchess and keeping the pact with Russia a secret.

The count becomes a masked freedom fighter named "The Torch" after the underground newspaper in order to save the Grand Duchy. He then sets out to right the wrongs and capture the heart of the woman he loves.