Act I

The play opens with Wesley putting pieces of a broken down door into a wheelbarrow. Ella, his mother, enters and they begin to discuss the events of the night before that lead to Wesley's father, Weston, breaking down the door. Wesley begins a monologue narrating exactly what he saw and heard happen from the night before. Wesley then leaves and Ella begins to give a motherly talk on what happens during menstruation and what cannot be done during the cycle. Ella is on stage alone for the beginning of the talk, but her daughter, Emma, walks on stage mid-talk and joins the conversation as though she has been there all along. Ella then asks Emma what she is holding and Emma reminds her that these are her poster for the 4-H project on how to properly cut up a frying chicken that she has been working on quite some time. Emma goes to the refrigerator and begins to look for her chicken. Ella begins to act antsy and Emma realizes that Ella has boiled her chicken. Emma begins a rant about how she raised the chicken and hand fed it every day, then killed and cleaned it and her mother has gone and boiled it. Ella tries to feign innocence and Emma storms out. Wesley enters and decides that Emma's project is pointless and that she ought to focus on more important things. Emma returns, still furious, and the three begin an argument about the starving class and whether or not they are part of it. During their argument, Wesley goes to Emma's posters and begins to urinate on them. Ella points this out to Emma and Emma storms off, insisting that she is going to take the horse and run away. Ella tells Emma that the horse is crazy and that she is too young to leave home but Emma refuses to listen.

Ella tries to get Wesley to go down and stop Emma from taking the horse. Wesley refuses to stop Emma, and Ella begins to tell him about her plans to sell the house. Wesley is not happy with his mother's decision, and she continues to try and ask him to go stop Emma. Wesley still refuses to go after his sister, and Ella tells him that she is planning to use the money from the house to go to Europe and that he and Emma can come if they want. When Wesley tells her that there will not be enough money from the house to move to Europe Ella gets angry that Wesley is ruining her dream. Wesley then leaves and Emma returns, covered in mud after being thrown from the horse and dragged through the mud. Ella does not tell Emma that she plans to sell the house, but Emma tells Ella that she dreams of moving to Mexico and becoming a mechanic.

Ella goes to the back part of the house and Emma goes to the refrigerator. Emma asks the refrigerator why it doesn't have any food because they aren't part of the starving class. She reassures the refrigerator that soon there will be little eggs, butter, and other foods tucked away inside of it. She then becomes angry with the refrigerator and slams it shut. When she turns around she finds that there is a man standing in the room with her. The man tells her that he was going to knock but that there was no door. Emma explains that her father broke the door down the night before in a drunken rage. The man tells her that his name is Taylor and that he is looking for her mother. She wants to know what he wants her mother for and he tells her that he is in the real-estate business and is helping her mother sell the house. Emma is enraged that her mother is selling the house and Taylor tries to convince her that selling the property is in their best interest. Emma tells Taylor that her family has violent tendencies caused by some family members having nitroglycerin, which is a very explosive element, in their blood.

Wesley then enters and sets up a small enclosure in the kitchen. He exits again and returns with a lamb, which he puts in the enclosure. Ella finally enters and says that she is going on a business luncheon with Taylor. Emma yells at Ella and exits. Ella leaves with Taylor, telling Wesley to take the lamb with the maggots back outside.

Weston enters, drunk, with a large bag of groceries. Weston talks to the lamb briefly, and then begins putting the groceries, which turn out to only be desert artichokes, in the refrigerator. Wesley enters and they discuss Weston's laundry and the best way to help the lamb with the maggots.

Act II

Act two opens on Wesley and Emma in the kitchen, where Wesley is building a new front door for the house. Emma and Wesley discuss whether their mother will come back, or whether she will run off to Mexico with Taylor. Wesley and Emma then argue over who is going to go add water to the artichokes that are boiling on the stove. Wesley does not want to do it because he is making the door and Emma doesn't want to do it because she is remaking her posters. Wesley says that Emma doesn't want to do it just because she is “on the rag”, so she throws down her markers and gets up to add the water.

Wesley then explains to Emma that it is not typical homebuyers who are going to purchase the house, but that it is land developers. He compares it to a zombie invasion and takeover, where the zombies build their own city. He then suggests that they move away to some place safe, like Alaska.

Weston enters, even drunker than he was before. Emma is frightened by him, but Wesley tells her to stay calm. Weston asks where Ella is, and then goes into a rage when Wesley and Emma tell him where she went. Weston then tells them that he has already found someone who will buy the land and pay in cash. Emma, angry, leaves. Weston begins to tell Wesley about how he began to see the ‘poison’ in his own father, and how Wesley can see it in him. Weston tries to explain the poison to Wesley by comparing it to the way to you poison a coyote by putting strychnine in the belly of a dead lamb.

Wesley then tells Weston that Ella has also found a buyer for the house and Weston goes into a rage, and then collapses on a table and falls asleep. Ella returns with groceries that Taylor has bought for the family and throws out the artichokes. Wesley deduces that Taylor is the one who sold Weston worthless desert property in the first place. Ella talks about the curse that is plaguing their family. She tells Wesley that just when you think the curse has been beaten, and it has retreated back into the smallest cells of their genetics, it will suddenly reappear in full force.

Ellis, the owner of the “Alibi Club” walks into the house and sees Weston on the table. He tells Wesley and Emma that he has already purchased the house from Weston and shows them the cash. He pulls out the $1,500, telling them that is the amount that Weston owes to some “pretty hard fellas”. Wesley takes the money, offering to deliver it to the people his father owes money to. Ella tries to take the money from Wesley, but he tells her there is not enough to go to Europe on. Taylor then enters and Ella tells him what is happened. Taylor says that any deal Weston makes is void because he is considered incompetent by the state. Taylor declares that he will go to court and have the deed taken back and then buy the property from Ella, then leaves the house.

Sergeant Malcolm from the police department enters and tells Ella that Emma has been arrested for riding a horse into the “Alibi Club” and shooting the place full of holes. Ellis says that Weston must have sent Emma down there and takes back his $1,500 and runs off to his club, swearing he will get revenge on Weston. Ella goes downtown to get Emma out of jail.

Act III

This act opens with Weston, who is now clean, and sober. He has done his laundry, which is all nicely folded on the table, and the lamb is back in the kitchen. He tells the lamb a story about an eagle who was diving very close down to the ground trying to steal the testes of the lambs he was castrating. In the end he was cheering for the eagle. Wesley, who has been listening to this story, then asks what happens next. Weston becomes grumpy and refuses to tell the rest of the story. He asks what happened to Wesley, who had clearly been beaten up. Wesley tells him that he ran into a brick wall.

Weston tells Wesley that he has decided to stay and fix up the house instead of leaving, no matter who holds the deed. Weston says that when he woke up that morning, after sleeping on the table, that he felt like a new man and walked around their property naked to reclaim ownership. He then came inside and took a bath, made a big breakfast, drank some coffee, and did everyone's laundry. He tells Wesley to go clean up, and he'll make him a big breakfast. While Wesley is bathing, Weston yells in to him that he agrees to become an avocado grower for the Grower's Association.

Ella enters and she and Weston discuss Emma's shooting up of the club. Weston is proud of Emma, saying that it takes guts to do something like that at her age. Ella begins to yell at Weston for pulling a Jekyll and Hyde act by changing overnight. He tells her it was the night's sleep on the table that fixed everything. Ella pushes all the laundry to the floor and lies on the table. As she is falling asleep, and Weston is talking to her about the benefits of sleeping on the hard table, Wesley walks into the kitchen, naked, and takes the lamb outside.

Wesley re-enters, wearing his father's old clothes. He tells Weston that he has butchered the lamb for food. Weston yells at him, telling him that they didn't need the food, because the refrigerator is full for once. Wesley then begins to gorge himself on all of the food in the refrigerator. Weston tries to calm Wesley down, and to wake Ella up, but cannot seem to do either. He declares to them that he is a whole new person, and Wesley, finally stopped eating, tells Weston that the men who are after him are going to kill him. At first, Weston can't remember who all he has loaned money to, and begins to rant about how this is his home and nobody ought to be able to take it from him because he has nowhere else to go. Wesley tells him to take the Packard and escape to Mexico. Weston leaves.

Emma enters, carrying her riding crop. She asks Wesley why he is wearing their father's clothes. He tells her that as he put them on he could feel his own essence slipping out of him, and his father's essence coming into him. Wesley asks her how she got out of jail and she tells him that she made sexual overtures at the guard. She then pulls out a wad of cash and tells him that she's taking their mother's car and going into crime. As she leaves, Ella wakes up, mistakes Wesley for Weston, and tells him to go after Emma because she's too young to leave on her own. Weston tells Ella to let Emma go and then there is a bright flash and a loud explosion from outside. Emerson, a small well dressed thug, enters, giggling about the explosion. His partner, Slater, enters after him, playing with the skinned lamb carcass. Since Ella is still under the impression that Wesley is Weston, Emerson and Slater also mistake Wesley for Weston. Wesley tries to tell them that Weston is his father. They tell him that they have blown up the car with Emma in it. The men tell Wesley, still calling him Weston, that he is to pass on the warning to his father and they leave.

Ella believes that Emma has left on the horse, and is not overly concerned about her. Looking at the lamb carcass, she asks Wesley to help her remember the story Weston always told about the eagle. They finish the story, saying that a tom cat had come to sniff around in the testes and the eagle picked it up. The tom cat and the eagle start fighting in midair, with the cat clawing out the eagle's chest, and the eagle trying to drop it. However, the tom cat won't let go because if it does it will fall and die. Instead, it chooses to bring the eagle down, even if it means certain doom for the cat as well.

The play ends with Ella and Wesley staring at the lamb carcass.

Upon his return to Italy from his many adventures, the great warrior Hercules learns that his lover, Princess Deianira (Daianara), has lost her senses. According to the oracle Medea (Gaia Germani), Daianara's only hope is the Stone of Forgetfulness which lies deep in the realm of Hades. Hercules, with two companions, Theseus and Telemachus, embarks on a dangerous quest for the stone, while he is unaware that Dianara's guardian, King Lico, is the one responsible for her condition and plots to have the girl for himself as his bride upon her revival. Lico is in fact in league with the dark forces of the underworld, and it is up to Hercules to stop him.

The climax has Hercules smashing Lico with a giant boulder and throwing similarly large rocks at an army of zombies.

Jonathan Fisher, a struggling magazine reporter based in New York City, is having difficulty pitching a story to his editor, Ted Avery. Frustrated and worried about his career prospects, he finally pitches a profile on a real life street pimp, which Ted finds intriguing but gives him a very narrow deadline to meet. Jonathan pays a prostitute for her time, an upbeat former beautician nicknamed Punchy, but finds himself stonewalled by her fear-based loyalty to her pimp, Leo "Fast Black" Smalls, Jr. Across town, Smalls beats up a patron assaulting one of his girls; the patron has a fatal heart attack and Smalls is indicted for second-degree murder.

After an attempt by his girlfriend, Alison, to help approach the nightlife goes disastrously wrong, Jonathan invents the story of a pimp named Tyrone. The story is exceptionally well-received by Ted and the magazine's readership; Jonathan is lured into TV stardom as a result, hosting a news segment called "Street Smart," about people using their "street smarts" on the streets of New York City. However, Jonathan soon comes under pressure from Ted, who is eager to meet "Tyrone" and publish more stories about him, and from an Assistant District Attorney named Leonard Pike, who visits Jonathan at home, angry that his story is granting Smalls celebrity just when he is going before the court. Jon denies that Tyrone and Smalls are the same person, but Pike does not believe him, and even Smalls' own legal team believes that Smalls is the subject, so strong are the parallels. Smalls' lawyer subpoenas the notes of Jonathan's article, knowing that Ted, Jonathan and the magazine will refuse, and that their refusal to cooperate will imply to a jury that Smalls should be exonerated of the murder. Meanwhile, Smalls, Punchy, and Smalls' lieutenant, Reggie, start hanging around with Jonathan, even attending a magazine fundraiser in Ted's home as the guests of honour. Jonathan and Punchy have in the meantime become romantically involved, causing Alison to break up with Jonathan.

Despite his often charming exterior, Smalls is a violent and unpredictable man; he nearly cuts up the face of his favorite prostitute, Darlene, when he believes she is skimming from her earnings. Smalls, who knows that the magazine article isn't about him, asks Jonathan to create notes that show that their interview coincided with the time of the murder, therefore giving him an alibi. Jonathan is subpoenaed to appear at Smalls' trial and ordered to hand over said notes (which only Jonathan and Alison know for certain do not exist). Jonathan declines to comply, is found in contempt of court and summarily held in custody. Jonathan makes bail, and then admits to the magazine's lawyer representing him that he made up the entire story, that the similarities between the Tyrone character of the story and the circumstances of Smalls' life are purely coincidental and tries to back out, but the judge on the case shows him photos Pike had taken of Smalls and Jonathan eating together during their first public meeting, and is held in contempt and remanded into custody once again. Pike then approaches Punchy, who initially refuses to answer his questions and unsuccessfully tries to seduce him, but when she later tries to tell Smalls she wants to stop turning tricks for him, Smalls threatens to cut out her eye and he makes Punchy choose which eye he will take. After she tearfully chooses her left eye, Smalls relents and lets her go. Punchy runs straight back to Pike and tells him Smalls wants Jonathan to fabricate the aforementioned notes, but Smalls kills her shortly after she leaves Pike's apartment. Pike, having identified Punchy's body at the morgue, visits Jonathan in jail to inform him of her murder, and also tells him that he knows about what Smalls wants Jonathan to do, angrily advising him not to do it. Meanwhile, on Smalls' orders, Reggie stabs Alison as she goes shopping and puts her in the hospital.

Trapped and with nothing left to do, Jonathan changes his story again and declares that he will produce the notes and is released. He meets Smalls and agrees to give him the alibi he needs. Smalls is found not guilty and a furious Pike tells Jonathan that he'll be pursuing him for fabricating evidence. When Jonathan asks what he would get out of that, Pike replies "satisfaction". Despite the criminal charges hanging over his head, Jonathan's journalistic reputation remains intact and he and Alison get back together. In revenge for Alison's stabbing, Jonathan entraps Reggie by videotaping him accepting $200 from Darlene (which was given to her by Jonathan who asked her to tell Reggie it came from Smalls), which makes it look as if Reggie is the one skimming from Smalls. Jonathan then warns a terrified Reggie that he should skip town before Jonathan shows the videotape to Smalls.

Smalls, unaware of the videotape, has been looking for the recently absent Reggie. He finally locates him, but Reggie, convinced that Smalls is coming to kill him, takes off running. As Smalls gives chase, Reggie trips and falls. Confused by Reggie's behavior, Smalls approaches, and Reggie, afraid for his life, shoots Smalls dead. As Reggie is taken away in handcuffs, Jonathan reports on Smalls' execution for his latest Street Smart segment.

Quadriplegic Jason Kemp, a former architect who now uses a wheelchair, relieves the boredom of his daily existence by engaging in voyeurism, a pastime that allows him to spy on his neighbors from the rear window of his apartment. When he witnesses sculptor Julian Thorpe viciously beat his wife Ilene, he reports the incident to 911 and the police remove him from his home. Thorpe is released the following day, and that night Jason Kemp hears a blood-curdling scream from the courtyard. From that moment on, Ilene is missing from her apartment, apparently replaced by another woman. Jason, certain she was murdered by her husband, tries to convince his colleague Claudia, nurse Antonio, and friend Charlie that his suspicion is true. Thorpe slowly comes to the realization that Kemp is fully aware of his crime, and engages him in a deadly game of cat and mouse in an effort to silence him forever.

Dempsey Cain (Christopher Reeve) is a top detective in San Sebastian, California. His brother, Nick (Edward Kerr), is also a cop but is generally viewed as a screw-up despite Dempsey's attempts to help him. Nick is having an affair with Dempsey's wife, Gail (Kim Cattrall). Alan Rhinehart (Joe Mantegna) is another detective who thinks Dempsey is dirty and resents him for being the star on the force.

In part due to Nick's carelessness, Dempsey is shot during a night raid on a tenement building and his doctor says he is paralyzed from the waist down. Dempsey still covers for Nick's mistake. He is medically retired from the force.

Dempsey and Gail send their son, Damon, away to camp for the summer. Gail tells Nick that she dislikes being the wife of a disabled man. One night, Dempsey's neighbor, Iris (Finola Hughes), looks through her kitchen window and sees him pointing a gun at his head but she bangs on the door and seemingly stops him from committing suicide. Iris tells Gail about the attempt.

Dempsey informs Gail and Nick that he does not want to spend his life in a wheelchair and asks them to help him die. The pair agree to kill Dempsey and make it look like a botched home robbery. On the night it is set to happen, they sneak out of a movie theater after causing a commotion in order to create their alibi, go to the house, start staging the scene, and take two pistols with silencers out of a dresser drawer. Nick puts his gun to Dempsey's head but cannot bring himself to shoot his brother. Gail aims her gun at her husband, pulls the trigger, and the gun clicks. Dempsey shoots Gail dead. He then informs Nick that he knew about the affair before rising from his wheelchair and shooting Nick dead.

The police conclude that Dempsey killed Gail and Nick in self-defense. Alan, however, becomes suspicious that Dempsey murdered them and begins to investigate, over the objections of his captain and other officers. He finds some inconsistencies in Dempsey's account and locates a man who forged a driver's license for Nick which he used to rent a car that he drove himself and Gail to the house on the night of the murders.

Alan leaks his investigation to the press but denies doing so after a story about it appears in the paper. His captain reluctantly agrees to have Dempsey charged as the police cannot be seen as covering up a possible murder. A pre-trial hearing is held where Dempsey's lawyer undermines much of the state's case. The judge rules that there is not sufficient evidence to proceed to trial and dismisses the matter.

Alan approaches Dempsey in the courtroom and tells him that he knows that he is a murderer and knows that he can walk. Alan then stabs Dempsey in the right thigh, expecting to elicit a physical reaction to prove that he actually can use his legs. Dempsey does not even wince and acts as if he did not feel the stabbing. Alan is arrested and loses his job. Dempsey begins dating Iris and starts a new life with her and Damon, while still pretending to be a paraplegic.

After meeting each other for the first time in the gift shop of the Las Cruces, New Mexico hotel where they are both staying, insomniac writers Julia Mann and Kevin Vallick fight over the last box of sleep medicine.

Initially, they do not realise both are speechwriters for rival candidates in a New Mexico Senate election, so fall in love. Julia works for Democratic candidate Lloyd Wannamaker and Kevin for Republican candidate Ray Garvin. Inadvertently influencing each other's work, they discover each other's jobs when they are both invited to speak in a school. Both shocked, end up attacking one another verbally on stage. Later, in their campaign speeches they continue to argue, unbeknownst to everyone else. Their romance causes great confusion, as they have to decide if love and politics can mix.

Also complicating matters are, amongst other things, Kevin's cutthroat ex-wife Annette, who got Kevin the job on the Republican's campaign trail. Also Julia's estranged fiancé, "Mr. Flak Jacket," television war correspondent Robert "Baghdad Bob" Freed turns up and wants her back. She had broken off the engagement, as she believed he wanted a cheering section more than he wanted a wife.

Julia's organizer accidentally falls into Kevin's hands, and he hacks into her candidate's speech, making Wannamaker sound foolish. Then, Julia's team meets with his in his offices. He doesn't attend, but meets with her that night, where she tells him she's engaged again and he warns her she's getting fired. She takes advice from him to make her candidate more loved by the people by having him help rescue the missing bear cub, who's been dominating the news. This gives her a promotion to press secretary.

At the televised debates, Julia breaks off the engagement, and immediately after Kevin tells her he's crazy for her. They sneak off, spending the night together. The next morning at dawn, Annette shows up, tasking him to write a campaign ad. Not able to wake him, Julia writes a sitcom-style ad.

The next morning, Kevin chews Julia out because he thinks she leaked financial info to the press, not thanking her for the successful ad. Later on, one of her staff tells Kevin that both of their candidates took bribes, Proctor is responsible for both bribes, but has chosen Wannamaker. She is told by a workmate, as they approach the stage in victory.

Kevin arrives, interrupting Wannamaker's victory speech, to declare his love, swooping down into her arms. The film closes with a news report given by Bob of Julia's late entry into a senatorial race, with Kevin as campaign manager.

The storyline introduces giant, technologically superior aliens who have conquered Earth. People live like vermin in holes in the insulation material of the walls of the homes the monsters have built, sneaking out to steal food and other items from the aliens. A complex social and religious order has evolved, with women preserving knowledge and working as healers, while men serve as warriors and thieves. For the aliens, human beings are just a nuisance, neither civilized nor intelligent, and are generally regarded as vermin to be exterminated.

The novel opens with the story of Eric, a boy who is a member of a tribe that calls itself "Mankind". In order for Eric to become an adult, he must undergo a ceremonial rite of passage in which he must venture out on his own into monster territory and steal some item from them which the tribe can then use for themselves. As he is about to embark on his adventure, Eric learns that his uncle has been a secret supporter of a very different philosophy – the idea that "Ancestor-Science" failed to repel the aliens when they first came and therefore to seek the old "science" would be futile. It would be wiser to try to gain knowledge of "Alien-Science" and then to turn it against the monsters. Eric goes out into alien territory to prove himself and ends up meeting some more people who also believe that alien science is the answer to escaping from their predicament. However, on his return to the burrows, Eric finds an insurrection led by his uncle has failed and he is now an outcast. What follows is Eric's journey from boy to man, from follower to leader and ultimately from captivity to deliverance.

First Narrative:

Young Gozal whose husband is a taxi driver has an affair with a young blond shoeshine boy. One day an old man who can’t hear well is recording the bird’s songs when he hears what they say to each other. So he finds out about their affair and tells everything to Gozal’s black-haired husband. The black–haired kills the young blond boy and injures Gozal and then surrenders himself to the court. He is sentenced to death and is thrown into the sea as he chooses. Gozal commits suicide in her regular meeting place.

Second Narrative:

This time the blond–haired man and Gozal are husband and wife, and Gozal is in love with the black – haired. The blond – haired is the taxi driver and the black–haired is a hawker. The old man gets to know about the affair between Gozal and the black – haired and informs the blond–haired. He intends to kill the black – haired but is killed himself. The black–haired is sentenced to death and as he asks, he is hanged on the tree under which he saw Gozal for the first time. Gozal commits suicide in the hospital.

Third Narrative:

Like the first narrative, once again the black–haired and Gozal are husband and wife and Gozal has an affair with the blond- haired. The old man tells Gozal’s husband about this affair. The two rivals start fighting, but the black-haired refuses to kill the blond- haired when he is in the situation to do so. This way he gives his rival the chance to tell him but the black–haired holds the wedding party of Gozal and the blond–haired. In the wedding ceremony, the court judge who has resigned from his job due to its difficulties is present. The black–haired give the bride and groom a lift to their house and gives his taxi to them as the wedding present. The blond–haired who has decided to give Gozal back to the black–haired, runs after him but instead he finds the old man who confesses that he has been in love with Gozal for many years.

In AD 2045, a group of military cadets attending the preparatory course of the Central Military Academy transfer to the space station Aries for zero-g training. This class of cadets includes Ryota Aizawa, Sayaka Nagase and Kazuhiko Nitta. Their training is interrupted when a terrorist group called "Hallarax" takes over the station. While the military successfully evacuates the civilians on board the station, Ryota and his group are trapped. Worse still, the boarding assault has left most of the military personnel dead, effectively leaving the cadets on their own.

An unexpected twist occurs when a mysterious virus is released within the station, which turns those infected into mindless creatures. This forces everyone, friend and foe alike, to work together to find a way off of the station alive.

In the world of Pokémon, people at the age of 10 can get their official license to become Pokémon trainers, and Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town is about to receive his very first Pokémon from Professor Oak. On the morning of the day that he is supposed to get his first Pokémon, it is revealed that Ash has accidentally broken his alarm clock while dreaming and oversleeps. When he wakes up, he runs in his pajamas to Professor Oak's laboratory where Ash runs into his rival and the Professor's grandson, Gary Oak. Gary proceeds to taunt Ash for arriving to the ceremony late and brags about having already received his first Pokémon. When Ash enters Professor Oak's lab to receive his Pokémon, he is told that all three starter Pokémon have already been taken. Ash pleads for any Pokémon and Oak replies that he still has one left. Ash does not care and receives the Pokémon, which turns out to be the electric-type Pokémon Pikachu. Ash thinks that it is cute, but it gives him an electric shock when he picks it up to hug it. Oak gives Ash a Pokédex and six Poké Balls before he heads out on his journey to become the greatest Pokémon trainer of all time.

Ash soon comes to realize that the Pikachu refuses to go inside his Poké Ball and prefers his independence. As Ash carries the reluctant Pikachu, he hopes that they can be friends, but Pikachu acts aloof and openly shows his distrust of Ash. Just then, the two stumble upon a Pidgey in the wild and Ash unsuccessfully tries to catch it by throwing a Poké Ball. Ash uses his Pokédex and finds out that in order to catch a Pokémon, a trainer must first use their Pokémon to battle it, thereby weakening it, to be caught by a Poké Ball. With Pikachu being uncooperative, Ash tries to fight the Pidgey himself, but is easily beaten, which greatly amuses Pikachu. The Pidgey escapes and Ash finds a Rattata rummaging through his pack. He chases the Pokémon off as he hears cooing behind him. He turns to see several Pidgey gathered in the tall grass. Frustrated, Ash throws a rock at what he believes is the Pidgey. However, it turns out to be a Spearow, which starts attacking after Ash threw a rock at it. Pikachu shocks Spearow, and in the process alerts a whole flock. The angered Spearow flock gives chase and eventually catches up and attacks Pikachu. Ash quickly grabs Pikachu and dives down a waterfall in order to escape from the flock of Spearow, and the two are fished out down river by a a young girl, who tells Ash to take the injured Pikachu to the Pokémon Center in Viridian City. Seeing the Spearow flock approaching, Ash escapes with Pikachu taking the girl's bike.

Ash pedals quickly toward Viridian City, with the flock of Spearow following behind him. Ash loses control of the bike and collapses, crashing down a hill. Realizing Pikachu's condition is critical, Ash pleads him to go inside his Poké Ball so that Ash can protect him from the approaching Spearow. Pikachu, after seeing how much Ash cares for it, performs a powerful Thunder attack which drives the Spearow away, but also destroys the girl's bike. As the rain-clouds part, a mysterious golden bird flies over a rainbow and Ash's Pokédex informs him that there is no current data on this Pokémon and that there are several yet to be identified. Ash carries Pikachu into Viridian City, and Pikachu licks Ash's cheek.

The Doctor suspects Silurians are afoot when a child goes missing in a seaside community, a policewoman begins drawing cave paintings, and the employees at the mysterious ''Glasshouse'' project are desperate to hide something. Meanwhile, his assistant Liz Shaw teams up with a journalist to search for people who don't exist, and Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart copes with personal and UNIT crises. And how does all this link back to the very heart of the British Government?

Set in the spring and summer of 1928, ''City Boy'' spins the tale of an 11-year-old Jewish boy from the Bronx, New York City, New York. The novel first follows Herbert Bookbinder through the final days of school at New York Public School 50, and then through a summer spent at Camp Manitou, a summer camp in the Berkshire Mountains operated by his school's principal. Herbie's city world is one of endless daydreams and small urban pleasures: playing in empty lots, going to the movies on Saturday, arguing with friends around a forbidden campfire, feasting on "fraps" (in this context, a fancy sundae) in Mr. Borowsky's candy store, and going out to dinner at Golden's Restaurant with his dad and his dad's business partners.

Herbie is an exceptionally bright but fat little boy, a seventh grader and a star pupil. Although a poor athlete, Herbie yearns to be a "regular guy" among his schoolboy peers and constantly struggles against the consequences of his own quick wit and natural clumsiness with his rival, Lennie Krieger, the son of the business partner of Herbie's father, Jacob Bookbinder. Both blessed and cursed with a highly-active imagination, Herbie is also on the verge of adolescence, and the story revolves around his continuing quest to win the heart of the fickle, red-haired Lucille Glass.

Herbie, his parents, and his thirteen-year-old sister, Felicia, dwell in an aging Homer Avenue apartment house. Jacob Bookbinder is founder and part owner of an industrial ice-making plant, known to Herbie and his cousin Cliff Block as The Place, a location that plays both a significant role in Herbie's fate and an adult sub-plot that frames the climax of the story.

Herbie contrives to have himself (and his sister, his cousin Cliff Block, and his rival Lennie) sent to Camp Manitou (run by Mr. Gauss, the principal of P.S. 50, as a source of summer income) when he learns that Lucille Glass will be there. The second half of the novel skewers the summer camp scene of the 1920s even as it sets up a succession of abject failures and spectacular successes for Herbie.

Herbie and Cliff contrive to burglarize The Place to finance a well-intended camp project, and that crime is the device by which all the subplots come together in Dickensian fashion, at a cost to Herbie's bottom if not his psyche. Wouk fashions a moral to the tale without preaching, but the boy's victory in the quest for Lucille proves tenuous at best.

Mizuki Mochizuki is a high school student who one day meets a man named Adam. In the two weeks they are together, she falls in love with him. The day he is to leave, she decides to follow him. Bringing her passport and a bag, she crosses one of Shibuya's many streets, on a red light, to follow him. When her ex-boyfriend calls out her name, she turns around, in the middle of the street, to see him running after her. While standing there, she is hit by a car.

Some time later, a girl named Hotaru, who has lost her cat, mistakes a stray as her own. The cat wanders into an abandoned home, and she squeezes through the bars to follow. Realizing that the cat isn't hers, she decides to leave, but is drawn in by a beautiful melody. She goes to where the sound is coming from, and discovers a girl playing a piano. After telling her friends about the girl, they all leave to check out the scene. When they go there, they cannot see the girl. They know she is real when Hotaru hands her a notebook, and she takes it from Hotaru's hands. They have no idea who this girl is, but they are determined to find out who she is and why she is there. The rest of the story follows their discoveries of the ghost they call Eve.

''I'm Gonna Be An Angel!'' is the story of Yuusuke Kamoshita who is living alone until he stumbles across a naked girl in a forest, a very energetic girl named Noelle. Noelle and her entire family proceed to move into Yuusuke's tiny home, replacing it with a huge plastic-looking castle, and disrupt his life. Shortly into the series, Yuusuke writes a note to his crush Natsumi Suzuhara apologizing for a few "incidents", in which he also exclaims that she is an angel to him. Noelle later finds the note and decides she wants to be Yuusuke's angel. Silky and her minions interfere as the series goes on.

The world, now ravaged by nuclear war and plague, lies in ruins, overrun by Demons and other monsters, with the remaining humans forced into tightly controlled fortress-like compounds. A group of children, the Ghosts, hide out in the ruins of downtown Seattle. Their leader, Hawk, is multi-talented, and unaware that he is a gypsy morph, a magical creature. He has prophetic dreams in which he leads a large group into a new "promised land". He secretly sees Tessa, a girl from the nearby compound at Safeco Field, though they are forbidden to be together by compound law.

A young Ghost girl named River, sneaks out of the hideout. Hawk tracks her, and finds that she has been secretly visiting a man that turns out to be her grandfather—a mad homeless man whom everyone else knows as the Weatherman (because of his incoherent meteorological ramblings). He is sick with a plague and Hawk grudgingly agrees to take him back to the hideout to have him cared for. Later, Hawk goes to bring medical supplies as part of a trade to one of the competing tribes, the Cats, but while he is away the rest of the gang is attacked by a mutant resembling a giant centipede. The beast is destroyed by Sparrow and Cheney, but Cheney is mortally wounded. Hawk, arriving just after the battle, cradles Cheney and mysteriously the dog's life is restored. Confused, Hawk sets out to visit Tessa, but is captured by guards at the Safeco compound. He and Tessa are sentenced to death for breaking the law of the compound.

Meanwhile, deep in the Oregon woods in the Elven kingdom known as ''The Cintra'', exists Arborlon, the largest Elven city in the world, hidden away from men. Long ago in "the time of Faerie", Elves had conquered the demon hordes that ruled the planet, sealing the forces into another world called the "Forbidding". The linchpin of the barrier that keeps the demons in the Forbidding is the Ellcrys, a sentient tree that resides in the Cintra. The Ellcrys is protected by the Chosen, teenaged guards specially selected by the tree herself. The Ellcrys telepathically tells two of these guardians (Kirisin and his cousin Erisha, the Elven King's daughter) that a force is coming that will forever change the world. The Ellcrys tells them that they must find the three seeking Elfstones and use them to locate the Loden Elfstone— in which the tree can be sealed for protection and transport. The King behaves suspiciously when they tell him of the Ellcrys' message, and refuses to act. Erisha and Kirisin then try to sneak into the library to find out more information about the Elfstones, but are caught.

Elsewhere, there are two remaining Knights of the Word. Angel Perez, who is pursued by the demon Findo Gask and his henchwoman Delloreen. After narrowly escaping death in an encounter with Delloreen after rescuing a group of children, Angel is confronted by a Tatterdemalion, a messenger of the Word, named Ailie. Angel is told of the existence of Elves, and instructed to head north and seek the Loden Elfstone.

The other Knight is Logan Tom, who is charged by the Native American O'olish Amaneh, also a servant of the Word, to find the gypsy morph and give him the bones of Nest Freemark's right hand, and shows Logan how, by casting the bones, they will point in the direction of the gypsy morph. Using Nest's bones as a guide, Logan eventually reaches the Ghost hideout in Seattle. He tells the Ghosts his story, and they come to realize that the gypsy morph must be Hawk, who had just left to meet Tessa. Far to the south, Findo Gask has felt the magic emanating from Hawk when the dog Cheney was healed and identified it as the gypsy morph's as well. Logan is able to gain entrance into the Safeco compound and give Hawk the bones of Nest Freemark. Although Hawk does not instantly realize who he is, he soon recalls his mother, her life and death. But he still doesn't know what he is supposed to do to fulfill his vision.

Unfortunately, Logan is unable to save Hawk from his sentencing—Hawk and Tessa are thrown from the top of the compound. Elsewhere in the city, Owl and the Ghosts are preparing to abandon Seattle, Sparrow sees what she believes is a demon invasion army coming in from the ocean.

FBI agent Joe Devine (Alec Baldwin) has been assigned to come up with an elaborate scheme to take down infamous mob boss John Gotti. He assumes the role of a Hollywood producer and tells all the right lies to enlist a stooge to help execute his sting. He finds unsuspecting wannabe screenwriter/director Steven Schats (Matthew Broderick), who would do just about everything to get the chance to direct a feature. Schats falls for the pitch, but what Devine does not tell Schats is that the movie will never be made.

Though Schats' screenplay is titled ''Arizona'', and the main character is supposed to euthanize herself in a Hopi cave at the end of the movie, he is so desperate to make the film that Devine convinces him to film it in Rhode Island. Devine's target there is Tommy Sanz, who muscles in on the production. Devine records Sanz accepting a bribe for the Teamsters' approval of the production. Instead of ending the investigation at that point as the FBI expects, Devine plows ahead with the film production, because he has fallen in love with the movie business.

Devine's mania leads him to pitch a three picture deal to his FBI superiors. He is convinced that he can ensnare more mobsters with a similar scheme, while also producing actual films. The FBI agrees to the idea, and Devine throws himself into production full tilt. Just as filming begins, the FBI arrests Gotti and puts an end to the production, against Devine's wishes. The film jumps forward two years to the premiere of a movie based on the sting operation. Schats is working as a manager at a movie theater. Devine visits him and apologizes. He reveals that he has been working on a screenplay, and Schats gets excited about the pitch.

Tia and Tony follow their Uncle Bené as he leaves the Witch Mountain colony. As they catch up to him in the woods, Deranian and Foreman, henchmen of billionaire Aristotle Bolt, shoot tranquilizer darts toward the trio in an attempt to capture the children. Bené reverses the darts in mid-air, and one strikes Foreman as Deranian runs from the scene. Tia and Tony learn that Bené has left the colony in search of his long-lost grandson. In a vision, Bené discovered that his grandson, Gregory, also a survivor from their lost world, used his telekinetic powers to move a log across a river to save drowning children. Bené first encourages Tia and Tony to return to the safety of Witch Mountain, but they insist that they can help and Bené concedes. Tia, Tony and Bené set up camp in the woods for the night, and they begin to visualize a cabin, which they draw in the dirt with a stick. Bené finally reveals to the children that his time on Earth has come to an end. As he passes away and his body evaporates, he tells the children to go to the cabin to seek help in finding Gregory.

The next morning, Tia ascertains that the cabin belonged to Jason O’Day. They reunite with Jason, who reluctantly agrees to help them in finding Gregory and bringing him home to Witch Mountain, after Tony reveals that Bolt is again pursuing them. The children are also reunited with Winkie, Tia's black cat, who she entrusted to Jason at the end of ''Escape''.

Meanwhile, Bolt, now aware that the children have left their secret colony, sends Deranian to bring Jason to him, in an attempt to lure the children to Bolt. When Jason and the children are briefly separated on a shopping trip, Jason is held up at gunpoint by Deranian and Foreman and forced to drive to Bolt's estate. Winkie leaps out of the window of Jason's camper, and telepathically informs Tia of Jason's plight.

Jason, meanwhile, is drugged by Bolt in an attempt to gain information about the children, and Jason inadvertently reveals that he has been in contact with the children. The children hitchhike their way to Bolt's estate to rescue Jason. Using their telekinetic powers, they cause a commotion inside the home, which allows them the opportunity to escape with Jason. The trio successfully escapes from Bolt in time to retrieve Gregory from a hospital, where he has been under observation. Tia and Tony teach Gregory about their people, and the colony of Witch Mountain, and Gregory happily agrees to be returned to his people, having already had visions of his impeding rescue.

Jason brings Tia, Tony and Gregory to the woods near Witch Mountain. The children begin walking towards the colony, but Tony and Tia decide that they should seek out other survivors from their world, and bring them home to Witch Mountain. As Gregory continues on to Witch Mountain, Tia and Tony return to Jason's camper, and Jason agrees to help them in their efforts to retrieve other survivors.

Irene Vail decides to divorce her husband, the rich ship owner Bruce Vail, after he falsely accuses her of having an affair. Bitterly jealous and possessive of Irene, Bruce learns that he can prevent the divorce from being finalized if he can provide evidence that she has been involved with another man within six months of filing for divorce. Bruce pays his driver, Michael, to go to Irene's hotel room in Paris and pretend to be her lover, with the intention of having a private detective catch them in a compromising position. However, an unknown man overhears Irene's startled cry upon finding Michael in her room. A struggle ensues when the man defends Irene against Michael's unwanted advances, and ends with Michael on the floor, unconscious. When Bruce and the detective burst into the room, the man threatens them with a gun, demands Irene's jewelry, and takes Irene hostage.

Once they are away, the intruder, Paul Dumond, returns Irene's jewelry and invites her to dine with him at the Château Bleu restaurant, where he works as a waiter. They literally dance the night away and Irene falls madly in love with him. In the morning, Irene returns to find Vail and the police in her room, for Michael is dead. Vail leads her to believe that Paul is responsible for his death, and blackmails her into coming back to America with him in exchange for Paul's freedom. Distraught that he is unable to find Irene, Paul reads in the newspaper that Irene has reunited with her husband and left for America. Sensing something is wrong, he embarks for the United States to find her, accompanied by Cesare, his good friend and head chef of Château Bleu.

In Manhattan, Paul and Cesare rehabilitate a restaurant, with the hope that its reputation will cause Irene to come to dine. The reunion takes place at last, but the happiness is short-lived when Paul learns that Michael is dead and a man has been arrested in Paris for the murder. Unwilling to let an innocent man pay for what he thinks is his crime, Paul embarks for Paris, and Irene joins him. They travel on the liner ''Princess Irene'', which is owned by Vail and named after her.

Vail learns they are on the ship. In a rage, he radios orders to the captain to run at full speed, despite the danger of collision with an iceberg in the poor weather conditions, supposedly to break the record for fastest crossing. He actually hopes the ship will be sunk, killing Paul and Irene. The ship does strike an iceberg, and premature news reports state that the ship has sunk with horrendous loss of life, with the death toll possibly higher than the ''Titanic'' disaster. Consumed by guilt, Vail commits suicide and confesses to killing Michael in a suicide note. Fortunately, the ''Princess Irene'''s bulkhead doors manage to contain the water and prevent the ship from sinking. Paul and Irene and the other passengers rejoice when they hear they are to be rescued.

The Lost Grounds erupt into war as kingdom fights kingdom in their search for peace and the secrets of the Dragon King. Intrigues, betrayals, and dramatic confrontations ensue as each kingdom walks the path of war towards what may eventually become world conquest.

The Hardy Boys have invited Nancy Drew to join them on a train trip hosted by Lori Girard, a wealthy, young socialite. Lori has gathered the best detectives, researchers, and investigators in the country to help her solve the mystery of what happened to Jake Hurley, the man who originally owned the train. One day in 1903, the train was found in Blue Moon Canyon, Nevada with only the dead engineer on board. Jake Hurley was never seen again. As soon as the train takes off, Lori Girard mysteriously vanishes from the train. Nancy needs to find Lori and solve the mystery of Jake Hurley's disappearance.

Nikola Tesla, Mark Twain and Bertha von Suttner combine forces to try to bring about world peace through superior firepower. The comic's introduction shows Twain explaining that the story does not concern itself very much with historical accuracy, and this assertion is borne out by the story: Twain and Tesla use scientific know-how, general trickery and media manipulation techniques to try to scare world leaders into following their noble path. In the company of several allies, the two are soon confronted by dark forces led by the dastardly Thomas Edison, John Pierpont Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, and Guglielmo Marconi. The inventors and financiers are collaborating on a bizarre new skyscraper, the Innsmouth Tower, on whose building site many construction workers have already died in mysterious accidents.

The film tells the parallel love stories of a mother and daughter. The story of the mother is told partially in flashbacks.

The movie starts in the present day. The daughter, Ji-hye (Son Ye-jin), is cleaning-up around her house when she comes across a box full of old letters and a diary that detail the story of her mother, Joo-hee (who is also played by Son Ye-jin). Periodically in the movie, Ji-hye reads one of these letters, which starts a flashback scene in which the story of the mother is told. These flashbacks are intertwined with Ji-hye's own story, in which she falls for a fellow student, Sang-min (Jo In-sung), who is involved with the school theater.

The movie tells the story of both relationships. The mother, Joo-hee, visits the countryside as a student one summer and meets Joon-ha (Cho Seung-woo). Together they explore the countryside, playing near a river which they both will always remember as their special place. When a storm starts they take shelter together under a tree, but not before Joo-hee twists her ankle and is rendered helpless. Joon-ha carries her on his back and they struggle home, only to be confronted by her angry parents. Before they separate, Joo-hee gives him a necklace, which he keeps close as a precious reminder of their time together.

Unfortunately, as often happens in affairs of the heart, a third party prevents any deepening of their relationship. Joo-hee has been promised by her parents as a bride to Tae-soo, Joon-ha's friend. But Tae-soo, a noble friend, finds out about Joo-hee and Joon-ha's attraction for each other and helps the two communicate secretly by letting them use his own name in place of Joon-ha's in their letters. When Tae-soo's father finds this out, however, he beats Tae-soo. Tae-soo tries unsuccessfully to commit suicide so that his two friends can be together.

Meanwhile, in the present, Ji-hye falls for Sang-min in whom her friend Soo-kyeong is also very interested, but he seems not to notice. Then, in a sweet scene, they take shelter from the rain together under the same tree. He uses his coat to cover both of them and escorts her to where she needs to go. The moment, while magical, does not go anywhere as she feels his help was only due to his generous nature and not from any feelings for her on his part.

Back in the past, Joon-ha is guilt-ridden over his friend's attempted suicide and Joo-hee's own guilt. Determined to prevent any more hurt to her, Joon-ha joins the army and goes to Vietnam. There he loses his eyesight while he tries to retrieve the necklace Joo-hee had given him. When he returns to Korea, he meets again with Joo-hee, and, trying to hide his blindness, convinces her he has married in the hope she will move on with her life. Though heart broken that their relationship cannot continue, she does move on and eventually marries Tae-soo, Joon-ha's kind friend. After they have been married for several years and have a young daughter (Ji-hye) Joo-hee is approached by friends of Joon-ha, who relate Joon-ha's last wish: that his ashes be scattered by Joo-hee in the river, now a reservoir, where they first met. She then finds out that Joon-ha hadn't married, but he later did after Tae-soo and Joo-hee were married. She was told that he had a son also. The heartbreak is too much and she cries.

In the present, Ji-hye's own story unfolds. Sang-min reveals his true feelings for Ji-hye — feelings that mirror her own. It is also revealed that their taking shelter together during the storm was no accident: he had purposely left his umbrella behind in a shop so that he could join her under the tree. Then, when Ji-hye pensively reveals her mother's story to him, tears stream down his face. Silently he lifts a necklace from around his neck and places it around hers. It is the necklace that Ji-hye's mother, Joo-hee, had given to Joon-ha when they met. The circle is completed: Joo-hee's daughter and Joon-ha's son have fallen in love.

The film follows a character known as The Cinematographer (Mehdi Hashemi), who is looking for someone called Atieh (Future). As he calls out to her, he is magically transported back in time from the early twentieth century to the reign of Naser al-Din Shah in 19th century Iran. Captured by the Shah's guards, he shows films from the (future) history of Iranian cinema to the Shah (Ezzatolah Entezami). The Shah is entranced and eagerly shows his family the apparently magical medium.

While watching the film ''Lor Girl'' (1932), a melodrama about feisty girl attacked by bandits, the Shah becomes enamoured of the heroine, Golnar. Golnar (Fatemeh Motamed-Aria) then drops out of the film into the "real" world of the Shah's court. The Shah has his soldiers take her to his harem to become one of his many wives. Transported to the Shah by being sent down his harem slide, Golnar rejects him and attempts to escape, leading to a slapstick chase-scene.

Meanwhile, the cinematographer is showing films to the Shah's wives. The Shah himself wants everyone to see ''Lor Girl''. There is a big open-air showing. Other films are also shown, notably the vigilante revenge drama ''Qeysar'' (1969). The vigilante hero comes out of the film. The Shah talks to him about using him against his enemies and confesses that his one true love in the harem was killed by his other jealous wives. Now he only dreams of Golnar. Meanwhile, disturbed by the disruptive power of cinema, the Shah's advisors meet to discuss how to censor this dangerous medium.

The Shah asks the cinematographer to turn him into Jafar, the hero of ''Lor Girl'', to win Golnar's love. The cinematographer uses his cinema magic on him but instead turns the Shah into the protagonist of ''The Cow'' (1969), a film about a man believes he is a cow. He then instructs him to pull a plough to help a poor family. The cinematographer is arrested and condemned for insulting the Shah. As he is about to be executed, the full power of cinema is unleashed, blowing the court away. The film moves into colour, ending in a series of clips of people embracing.

The story opens with the village hearing the news of Zein's upcoming nuptials. Because Zein is regarded as the village idiot, the people as a whole are greatly surprised that any family agreed to give their daughter to him.

The rest of the story unfolds non-linearly. The first section is an account of Zein's childhood and young adulthood, focusing on his strange ability to draw attention to village girls by falling in love with them. After he sings their praises, other people notice the girls, resulting in their advantageous marriages. Because of this, the other villagers invite him over in hope of his falling in love with their daughters. Zein is also distinguished by his friendship with Haneen, a Sufi holy man who did not associate closely with anyone else in the village. He is also close to many of the socially shunned, such as Mousa the Lame, a disabled former slave.

The turning point of the story is an encounter between Zein and Seif ad-Din, a local man of bad character. Seif ad-Din attacks Zein while he is standing talking to Mahjoub's gang, a group of local men who run the village. Zein retaliates with unexpected strength, but before he can actually kill Seif ad-Din, he is stopped by Haneen, who blesses both men and the village as a whole. In the following year, which is referred to as Haneen's year, the village experiences multiple miracles, which they attribute to Haneen's blessing. The story climaxes with one of these miracles, the wedding of the fool Zein to the most beautiful, intelligent, religious girl in the village, Ni'ma.

''Slings & Arrows'' centers around life at a fictional Shakespearean theatre festival in New Burbage, Canada. Each season focuses on The New Burbage Festival’s production of a different play. The themes of the play are often juxtaposed with personal and professional conflicts facing the festival’s cast and crew.

Season 1: ''Hamlet''

The show's central characters are actor/director Geoffrey Tennant (Paul Gross), New Burbage artistic director Oliver Welles (Stephen Ouimette), and actress Ellen Fanshaw (Martha Burns), who seven years previously collaborated on a legendary production of ''Hamlet''. Midway through one of the performances, Geoffrey suffered a nervous breakdown, jumped into Ophelia's grave and then ran screaming from the theater. After that, he was committed to a psychiatric institution.

When the series begins, Geoffrey is in Toronto, running a small company, "Théâtre Sans Argent" (French for "Theatre Without Money"), on the verge of being evicted. Oliver and Ellen have stayed at New Burbage, where Oliver has gradually been commercializing his productions and the festival. On the opening night of the New Burbage's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', Oliver sees Geoffrey on the news, chained to his theatre in protest. Heavily drunk, Oliver calls Geoffrey from a payphone and they argue about the past. Oliver then passes out in the street and is run over and killed by a truck bearing the slogan "Canada's Best Hams".

Geoffrey's blistering eulogy at Oliver's funeral about the state of the festival leads to him being asked to take over Oliver's job on a temporary basis. After clashing with an old rival, Darren Nichols (Don McKellar), Geoffrey is reluctantly forced to take over directing the festival's latest production of ''Hamlet''. Making this difficult are Jack Crew (Luke Kirby), the insecure American film star cast as Hamlet; Geoffrey's former lover Ellen, who is playing Gertrude and dating a much younger man; and Oliver, now haunting both Geoffrey and the festival as a ghost. Also in the play is apprentice actress Kate (Rachel McAdams), who finds herself falling for Jack.

On the business side of the festival, New Burbage manager Richard Smith-Jones (Mark McKinney) is seduced by one of his sponsors, American executive Holly Day (Jennifer Irwin) who wants to remake New Burbage into a shallow, commercialized "Shakespeareville".

Season 2: ''Macbeth''

The second season follows the New Burbage production of ''Macbeth''.

Richard is desperate for money to keep the company going, and Geoffrey, frustrated over what he sees as a lack of commitment from his actors, suggests downsizing the company. A new actor, Henry Breedlove (Geraint Wyn Davies), arrives to star in a production of ''Macbeth'', which Geoffrey is reluctant to direct because of its supposed difficulty (though he doesn't believe in the curse of "The Scottish Play").

Richard finds funding in the form of a government grant that comes with a catch—it may be used only for "rebranding". So, Richard hires an avant-garde advertising agency, Froghammer, to promote and rebrand the festival. Sanjay (Colm Feore), the head of Froghammer, launches a series of shock advertisements and manipulates Richard into accepting them.

Elsewhere at the festival, Darren has returned from an artistic rebirth in Germany to direct a version of ''Romeo and Juliet'' in which the actors don't touch or even look at each other, much to the chagrin of the couple playing the lead roles. The festival's administrator, Anna Conroy (Susan Coyne), copes with an influx of interns and begins a romance with playwright Lionel Train (Jonathan Crombie) who is doing a reading at the festival.

Ellen undergoes a tax audit, in preparation for which she is able to explain the "business purpose" of such theatrical necessities as lipstick and a push-up bra.

Meanwhile, Geoffrey obsesses over directing ''Macbeth'', antagonizes his cast and crew, and starts seeing Oliver's ghost again, all of which make Ellen fear for his sanity.

Season 3: ''King Lear''

The third season follows the New Burbage production of ''King Lear''.

The cast of ''Macbeth'' returns home after a successful run of the production on Broadway, where an old friend of Ellen's (Janet Bailey) tells her to think about moving beyond New Burbage. As Richard tries to cope with being a success, Anna must deal with a group of stranded musicians and Darren is back in town, this time to direct a new musical, ''East Hastings''.

Geoffrey, meanwhile, has cast an aging theatre legend, Charles Kingman (William Hutt) as Lear, despite everyone's fears that the role will kill him. As rehearsals continue, Charles terrorizes Sophie (Sarah Polley), the actress playing Cordelia. Sophie is also involved in the rivalry between the young actors in ''Lear'' and the young actors in the musical, whose success soon overshadows the troubled Shakespeare production.

As things spiral out of control, Oliver returns to haunt and help, and Geoffrey seeks therapy from an unlikely source.

Josephine is a rarity among the mouse people, for she has the innate ability to sing, which no others in the community have displayed in recent history. Although they are not a musical people and some question Josephine's ability, while others adore her and consider her a communal treasure, all of the mouse people gather round to listen whenever Josephine starts to sing and appreciate her performances as something that helps them tolerate their unusually hardworking lives.

Sometimes I have the impression that our people sees its relationship with Josephine rather like this: that she, this fragile, vulnerable, somehow distinguished creature, in her opinion distinguished by her song, has been entrusted to us and that we must look after her; the reason for this is not clear to anyone, only the fact seems to be established. But what has been entrusted to one's care one does not laugh at; to do so would be a breach of duty; the utmost spite that the most spiteful amongst us can vent on Josephine is when they sometimes say: "When we see Josephine it is no laughing matter."[http://www.bookrags.com/notes/kaf/PART7.html http://www.bookrags.com/notes/kaf/PART7.html] [Accessed December 10, 2006.]

The narrator begins by asserting that whoever has not heard Josephine sing does not know the true power of music, but, upon reflection, he questions if Josephine even sings, or simply whistles, which all the mice people can do, and indeed do regularly. He says there is really nothing particularly noteworthy about her voice taken by itself, except perhaps its fragility, but that there must be something special about Josephine, since seeing her perform makes everyone forget, at least temporarily, any criticisms they may have about her; he wonders if her effect may come from making a spectacle of an everyday thing, in which case her average voice could be an asset. After some further refining of his estimation of Josephine and what she provides to the community, the narrator decides that what is held so dearly by the mouse people is not her 'ability', but the opportunity to gather and reflect in silence that her performances provide. They value these gatherings the most when times are the hardest, and Josephine remains influential in the community even though her performances sometimes attract the attention of the many enemies of the mouse people and lead to an attack from which she is always rushed to safety.

There are regular attempts made by Josephine to get the community of mouse people to allow her to stop her regular work so she can focus on her 'singing', though the narrator thinks what she is actually looking for is public recognition of the value of her art. She starts by arguing that she could sing even better if she had time to recuperate between performances, but the community ignores her pleas, so she begins to shorten her performances and feign injuries, but no one except for her supporters takes much notice. Eventually, Josephine disappears. She is initially missed and looked for, but the narrator comments that, in the end, she has only hurt herself by running away, since the mouse people were able to survive before she was alive and will now go on without her, at first with only their memories of her songs, and later without even those.

So perhaps we shall not miss so very much after all, while Josephine, for her part, delivered from earthly afflictions, which however to her mind are the privilege of chosen spirits, will happily lose herself in the countless throng of the heroes of our people, and soon, since we pursue no history, be accorded the heightened relief of being forgotten along with all her brethren.

It is of note that the mouse people are not ever described as such within the story. It is uncertain if they are actually mice. Many aspects of them and their lives are mouselike (that danger is always imminent and enemies many, the terrain they live in, that they are so very hardworking and practical, the practice of their children being turned out from their families into the wider community very shortly after birth, that they keep no written records, etc). They are described by the narrator, one of their number, as, when Josephine begins to sing, falling "quiet as mice"—aside from the title, this is the only time that mice are referred to. It is probable that Kafka intended the issue to be left up to our own judgment, the suggestion playfully bandied about, but no explicit answer given. Either way, whether they really are mice is of little importance to our understanding of the story, while the necessity for the idea to be in the reader's mind is central to the reading experience.

''Hello! Sandybell'' is the story of a girl who lives in Scotland with her father. She spends her time playing with her faithful dog (Oliver) and her friends. One day she meets the Countess of Wellington, a kind-hearted woman living in the castle near their village. She also meets Kitty, an arrogant young lady who lives in the large mansion outside their village.

Kitty hates Sandybell and constantly visits the Countess in the hope of winning the love and interest of her son, Marc, who falls in love with Sandybell. The Countess gives Sandybell a white lily and she plants it outside the village. She also brings other flowers and plants them around the lily, making a small garden of flowers around it. Sandybell treasures the lily because it reminds her of her deceased mother.

Sandybell's goal throughout the series is to find her mother someday. In the final episodes, they finally reunite. However, upon their meeting Sandybell finds that her mother suffers from amnesia, and Sandybell fails to convince her that she was her daughter. Later, when a young child falls into the water and Sandy saves his life, flashbacks strike her mother and she remembers the past.

Sam Carraclough, an out-of-work miner who struggles to earn enough to feed his family, reluctantly sells their Collie dog, Lassie, to the Duke of Rudling, whose granddaughter, Cilla, sees and likes her. Sam's young son, Joe, is left heartbroken. The Duke's servant, Hynes, scares Lassie, who keeps escaping and coming back to the Carracloughs who have to keep returning her, and Hynes blames the boy for Lassie's departures.

For the holiday season, the duke goes to the Scottish Highlands, taking Lassie with him. Lassie escapes once again, with Cilla's help, after Hynes beats the dog, for which the duke fires him, and makes the 500-mile journey back to Yorkshire. Meanwhile, Sam enlists in World War I to support his family. During her journey, Lassie climbs mountains, swims a river, passes Loch Ness, dodges municipal dog catchers and is taken in by a kindly puppeteer and circus performer (Peter Dinklage) and befriends his small dog, Toots. Later, they are attacked by men who kill the small dog and the angered performer and Lassie chase the men away. Lassie parts with her new friend and reaches home on Christmas Day but collapses outside the church in which the family is in. When mass is over, the family's other dog help them find Lassie, exhausted, ill and nearly dead, and take her home. The veterinarian tells the family that Lassie might not survive. When Hynes, living in the village, sees that Lassie has been found, he, accompanied by police officers, goes to the house to seize Lassie and take her to the Duke's local estate. The family is forced to accompany her. The duke, recognizing Lassie, instead lets the family keep her by denying that it is the same dog and evicts Hynes from his premises for good. After Lassie recovers, the duke offers Hynes' old job and tied house to Sam and his family. Cilla sees that her crusty grandfather has a soft side and visits the family to see Lassie's new puppies. Joe and Cilla play with Lassie and her puppies as the movie ends.

The film is set in 1830, 40 years after the events of ''The Vampire Lovers''. In the deserted chapel at Castle Karnstein, Count (Mike Raven) and Countess Karnstein (Barbara Jefford) conduct a Satanic ceremony to resurrect the body of their daughter Carmilla. Richard LeStrange (Michael Johnson) has come to the village to get background for his books about witches, vampires and black magic. Warned to beware of Castle Karnstein, he takes no heed. Immediately upon entering the castle, he is set upon by three women dressed in shrouds. They turn out to be students on an educational tour from Miss Simpson's (Helen Christie) fashionable finishing school. As LeStrange is being introduced to Miss Simpson and her students, a new student arrives, one Mircalla Herritzen (Yutte Stensgaard). LeStrange falls in love immediately.

Later that evening, when LeStrange relates his adventure to the men at the village inn, one of the serving girls is found dead with two holes in her neck, and LeStrange is convinced that the Karnstein story is not mere superstition. When he chances to meet the recently-hired teacher of English literature on his way to Miss Simpson's school, he tricks him into going to Vienna and arranges to take his position at the school. Shortly thereafter, Mircalla's roommate Susan Pelley (Pippa Steele) disappears. When the headmaster Giles Barton (Ralph Bates) discovers the secret of Mircalla/Carmilla, he offers himself to her. Later that day, after Barton's body is found, LeStrange goes through his books and discovers what Barton had learned-that Mircalla Herritzen is Carmilla Karnstein. LeStrange confesses his love for her, and they make "strange love".

Miss Simpson, worried sick about the disappearance of a student and the death of her headmaster, decides not to call in the authorities or to notify Susan Pelley's father, particularly when Countess Herritzen's private physician agrees to certify Barton's death as a heart attack. However, dance teacher Jenny Playfair (Suzanna Leigh) notifies both the police and Mr Pelley (David Healy), all of whom arrive to investigate. The Karnsteins manage to kill the policeman who has just discovered Susan's body in the bottom of a well, but Mr Pelley arrives with a writ of exhumation and a pathologist to investigate his daughter's death. Susan's body is exhumed (it has just been conveniently buried by the Karnsteins), and talk gets around that she was the victim of a vampire. Together with the village priest, the villagers storm Castle Karnstein with the intent of burning it to the ground. LeStrange also makes his way to the castle, looking to save Mircalla. The villagers trap all three Karnsteins in the burning castle, where a burning timber falls from the ceiling and impales Mircalla/Carmilla. LeStrange is saved from the fire, with Count and Countess Karnstein remaining, safe in the knowledge that fire does not destroy them.

''The Tricky Part'' tells the story of the relationship and its effect on Moran, who grew up as a homosexual. It describes Moran's sexual awakening, and how he and a chubby friend of his called George, go with Bob to get the camp ready. Bob pulls Moran into his sleeping bag the first night they are alone (with George asleep beside them) and abuses him.

A year later, Moran discovers that a friend of his, Kip, another 13-year-old, is also being abused by Bob. The abuse continues through puberty and adolescence and Moran tries to tell Bob that he wants it all to stop. Bob's response is to invite the boy into bed with him and his cowgirl-friend Karen. Bob is finally arrested and jailed for his sex crimes.

Moran's desperate coming-of-age is described with candor and humor and sets out the paradox that what is, in nearly everyone's eyes, a seriously damaging experience, can be the very thing that gives "rise to transformation, even grace".

The book condemns adult–child sex. Moran is ambivalent about the touching and other sexual acts. He tries to commit suicide twice, but eventually finds his feet in Off Broadway and Broadway theater.

Moran has also developed and performed ''The Tricky Part'' as a one-man play.

Category:2005 non-fiction books Category:American non-fiction books Category:Gay non-fiction books Category:Child sexual abuse in literature Category:LGBT autobiographies

Act I

The play opens with a discussion between Gerstein and the Papal Nuncio of Berlin over whether Pope Pius XII should have abrogated the ''Reichskonkordat'' to protest the actions of the Nazi government of Germany. Father Riccardo Fontana, the priest protagonist, and Gerstein meet for the first time.

A number of German aristocrats, industrialists, and government officials (including Adolf Eichmann) spend an evening in an underground bowling alley. Despite the commonplace setting the scene is rather macabre: conversations alternate between lighthearted pleasantries and equally dismissive discussions of the treatment of Jews. An icy Catholic industrialist—played by the same actor as Pius—defends his use of slave labor.

The final scene ends with Riccardo meeting Gerstein at his apartment; at the latter's urging, he agrees to trade clothes and documents with a Jew, Jacobson, Gerstein has been hiding in order to help him escape.

Act II

Act II repeatedly attempts to drive home the point that Hitler feared Pius more than any of his contemporaries and that Pius's commercial interests preclude him from condemning Hitler.

One of the Cardinals argues that the Nazis are the last bulwark that remains against Soviet domination of Europe.

Act III

As the Jews are rounded up for deportations "under the Pope's windows," Riccardo declares "doing nothing is as bad as taking part [...] God can forgive a hangman for such work, but not a priest, not the Pope!" and a German officer comments that the Pope has given "friendly audiences to thousands of members of the German army. Riccardo first voices his idea to follow the example of Bernhard Lichtenberg and to follow the Jews to the death camps in the East, and possibly to share in their fate.

Act IV

Pius, with a "cold, smiling face," "aristocratic coldness," and an "icy glint" in his eyes voices his concerns about the Vatican's financial assets and the Allied bombing of factories in Italy. Pius verbally reiterates his commitment to help the Jews but states that he must keep silent "'ad maioram mala vitanda''" (to avoid greater evil).
When angrily questioned by Riccardo, Pius pontificates on the geopolitical importance of a strong Germany vis-a-vis the Soviet threat. Ultimately, Riccardo shames the Pope into dictating a statement for public release; however, its wording is so vague that all are confident it will be ignored by the Germans. Riccardo views this as akin to the Crusades, a sin that forever stains Mother Church, and feels called on to prove to God that the Church is indeed worthy of his trust: " 'If God once promised Abraham that he would not destroy Sodom if only ten just men dwelt in it...maybe...God will still forgive the Church if even only a few of its servants - like Lichtenberg - stand with the persecuted...The Pope's silence burdens the Church with a guilt for which we have to atone...Not Auschwitz is at stake now! The idea of the papacy must be preserved pure in eternity, even if it is briefly embodied by an Alexander VI, or a -'" Riccardo breaks off, but clearly he, and possibly Hochhuth, want to imply a comparison between the Borgia Pope (Alexander VI)and Pius XII.

Act V

Riccardo dons the yellow star and joins deportees to die at Auschwitz, where the rest of the act takes place. He is confronted by the Doctor, who is otherwise not named but closely resembles Josef Mengele. The Doctor is a nihilist to whom "Auschwitz refutes creator, creation and the creature. . . cursed is he who creates life. I cremate life" He takes Riccardo under his protection, hoping that the church will help him escape the hangman after Germany loses the war. Gerstein appears at the camp in an unsanctioned attempt to rescue Riccardo. Unfortunately in the end they are found out, and Riccardo momentarily loses in faith and violates his vow not to take up arms in order to shoot the maleficent Doctor, but is himself gunned down before he can pull the trigger. Gerstein is taken into custody, and Riccardo follows in a long tradition of tragic figures by showing himself partly redeemed with his dying declaration, a whispered "'in hora mortis meae voca me'" (Latin, and modally ambiguous: one could read subjunctive :"in the hour of my death may He call unto me" or imperative "in the hour of my death, call unto me!" In either case, Riccardo does not die entirely confident of salvation, which would lessen his status as a tragic hero.

The play ends with a quotation from German ambassador Weizsäcker:

Since further action on the Jewish problem is probably not to be expected here in Rome, it may be assumed that this question, so troublesome to German-Vatican relations, has been disposed of.

The story begins on a fully rigged naval training ship for cadets.

Jim is a promising young English merchant seaman who rises to first officer under Captain Marlow. However, Jim is injured and left at Java. When he is fit again, he signs on with the first available ship, a dilapidated freighter called the SS ''Patna'', crammed with hundreds of Muslims on a pilgrimage to Mecca. When a storm threatens the leaking ship, the crew panics and takes to the lifeboats, abandoning their passengers; in a moment of weakness, Jim joins them.

When they reach port, the sailors are stunned to find an intact ''Patna'' already there before them. The rest of the crew disappears, but Jim insists on confessing his guilt at an official inquiry and is stripped of his sailing papers. Filled with self-loathing, Jim becomes a drifter.

One day, he saves a boatload of gunpowder from sabotage. Stein, the cargo's owner, offers him an extremely dangerous job: transporting it and some rifles by river to distant Patusan to help Stein's old friend, the town's chief, lead an uprising against bandits led by a local warlord named The General.

When Schomberg is bribed to deny Stein the use of the motorboat he had promised, Jim takes a sailboat with two native crewmen, leaving the aged Stein behind. As they near their destination, one of the crewmen reveals himself to be working for the General. He kills the other sailor and flees to warn the General. Jim manages to hide the cargo before he is captured.

Jim is tortured but refuses to divulge the location. This surprises Cornelius, the drunken, cowardly agent of Stein's trading company who has joined the general. That night, the Girl leads Jim's rescue.

Jim distributes the arms and plans the attack on the General's stockade. He is assisted by Waris, the chief Du-Ramin's son. After much bloody fighting, Jim delivers the crushing blow, pushing a barrel of gunpowder through a hail of bullets into the bandits' final stronghold, blowing it up along with the General. Only Cornelius survives, hiding in a secret underground room with the General's hidden treasure. Jim is hailed as a hero. Du-Ramin bestows the title ''tuan'' on him, which translates as "Lord".

Jim is content to live in Patusan with the Girl. Cornelius and Schomberg recruit notorious cut-throat "Gentleman" Duncan Brown and his men to steal the treasure, and in the course of this they are detected and cornered. At an impasse, Brown offers to leave peacefully, but the village does not trust him. Jim insists they be allowed to go, offering his own life as forfeit if anyone is killed as a result. As Brown and his men feign to leave, under cover of heavy fog, they make one last attempt at the treasure. Waris and Jim dispatch them, although Waris is mortally wounded.

Afterward, Stein pleads with Du-Ramin to spare Jim. Du-Ramin agrees if Jim leaves the following morning. Stein urges Jim to leave, but he refuses. The following morning as the funeral procession for the dead villagers starts, Jim walks up to Du-Ramin and waits, taking in the village's beauty. Du-Ramin shoots him and Jim's body is added to the procession, which ends in the cremation of the dead.

Sid enters a tournament. Shortly after he is crowned champion, the fallen Angel Aquross infects him with a hideous disease that requires him to steal the life energy of Angels or be in constant pain. The only relief lies in a drug that kills the pain, but causes sexual urges that cannot be denied. Now, Sid must defeat the evil Aquross.

In 1987, Adam (Craig Chester), a shy, cynical, Jewish kid, encounters Steve (Malcolm Gets), an attractive Dazzle Dancer performing at Danceteria one night. The two flirt and go back to Adam's apartment to have sex, with Steve offering Adam the latter's first hit of cocaine. Unbeknownst to Steve, the cocaine is cut with baby laxative, resulting in Steve losing control of his bowels and explosively defecating all over Adam's apartment. Humiliated, Steve flees.

Seventeen years later, Adam is a jaded ex-substance addict working as a New York City tour guide, and Steve has become a successful psychiatrist. By sheer coincidence, the two meet when Adam accidentally stabs his dog and Steve, who dabbled in veterinary medicine, treats the animal at the hospital. Both Adam and Steve fail to recognize each other from their previous meeting.

Adam and Steve strike a fast friendship and begin dating, eventually falling in love; Steve introduces Adam to his latently religious parents, and Adam introduces Steve to his disaster-prone family. Rhonda (Parker Posey) and Michael (Chris Kattan)—Adam and Steve's respective best friends—are initially wary of the other's friend and openly hostile toward one another, but soon themselves fall in love and begin dating.

Steve's feelings for Adam grow, and eventually he confides in Michael and Rhonda that he plans to propose marriage to Adam. On the Brooklyn Bridge, however, right as Steve prepares to propose to Adam, Adam absentmindedly muses that his entire litany of substance abuse and relationship problems were sparked by his disastrous affair with an incontinent Dazzle Dancer back in 1987. In that instant, Steve realizes who Adam is; horrified at this revelation, and feeling responsible for all of Adam's problems, Steve abruptly breaks up with Adam.

Adam falls into despair until Rhonda wheedles the truth about Steve's past from Michael; she and Michael reveal all to Adam. Adam angrily confronts Steve, who is apologetic but still upset and scared by feelings of responsibility for Adam's problem-filled life.

Adam is still upset and prepared to give up on their relationship, but Steve apologizes more humbly and professes his love to Adam (buffeted by singing a piano-accompanied version of the song "Something Good"); Adam softens and accepts. Steve moves forward with his marriage proposal. The film ends with the two marrying in an outdoor ceremony, with all their friends and family in attendance.

Eric Cartman has an intense dislike for the television program ''Family Guy''. When he learns that an episode of the show is to feature a depiction of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, he exploits fears of retaliation to urge Fox, the network on which ''Family Guy'' airs, to pull the episode. Cartman pretends to be a sickly Danish kid with a broken leg, telling the Fox executives that his father was killed by terrorists during the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy and pleading that they pull the ''Family Guy'' episode. His story touches the executives, who encourage him to try to persuade the writers to yield. Kyle, who likes ''Family Guy'', arrives at the Fox Studio to foil Cartman's plans, but is knocked unconscious by an ally of Cartman's, a kid resembling Bart Simpson who, also wanting to destroy ''Family Guy'', restrains Kyle in a supply shed.

Cartman is introduced to the ''Family Guy'' writing staff, who turn out to be a group of manatees. The staff, who live in a large tank, pick up "idea balls" from a large pile of them, each of which has a different noun, a verb or a pop culture reference written on it, and deliver them, five at a time, to a machine that then forms a ''Family Guy'' cutaway gag based on those ideas. The manatees refuse to work if any idea ball is removed from their tank, making censorship an unfeasible practice with them. Cartman secretly removes a ball from their tank, causing them to stop working, and then convinces the Fox president that the manatees are spoiled, and abusing the executives' generosity. Cartman convinces the president that they need to show them who's boss. The president decides to pull the new ''Family Guy'' episode shortly before airtime. Cartman feels victorious, but Kyle shows up, saying he convinced the Bart-like kid to set him free.

After a physical altercation between Cartman and Kyle, they both go to the Fox president's office. Kyle tells the president that Cartman has duped him into pulling the episode, and despite Cartman's brandishing of a gun, Kyle implores the president not to censor the episode. The network president ultimately decides, in spite of threats of violence from both Cartman and Islamic terrorists, that ''Family Guy'' should be aired, and without censorship. The ''Family Guy'' episode airs, and features Muhammad in a cutaway gag, handing Peter Griffin a "salmon football helmet", but the scene with Muhammad was cut by Comedy Central, and is replaced by a black screen and a title card reading, "In this shot, Mohammed hands a football helmet to ''Family Guy''. Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Mohammed on their network."

Terrorist leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, reminding America that it was warned not to show Muhammad, initiates Al-Qaeda's retaliation — a crudely animated video depicting President George W. Bush, Carson Kressley, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, and Jesus Christ defecating on each other and the American flag. After the video ends, al-Zawahiri gloats of their "retaliation" by saying they "burned" the Americans and that it "was way funnier than ''Family Guy''."

In 1746 Mexico, a womanizing outlaw, the army deserter Leon Alastray (Anthony Quinn) is wounded and pursued by the Spanish military into a church. He is given sanctuary by a sympathetic priest (Sam Jaffe), who will not turn Alastray over to the military. The church authorities side with the army, and when the priest still refuses to hand Alastray over they send him to minister to a remote village, San Sebastian. The priest smuggles Alastray, who is proudly atheistic and anti-clerical, past the soldiers surrounding the church. Alastray feels guilty for what has happened to the priest, so accompanies him to the village to ensure he gets there safely. However, he is angry and embittered throughout the trip.

They arrive at San Sebastian to find the church barely stands and the village apparently abandoned. The priest is killed by a marauding vaquero, but his ringing of the church bell brings the villagers out from their hiding places in the surrounding hills. They hide there because they are regularly terrorized by Yaqui Indians. The villagers mistake Alastray for a priest. He at first denies it and is scornful of them, but, guided by a persistent village woman, Kinita (Anjanette Comer), to whom he is attracted, decides to take on the role and organize the villagers. They are aided by the persuasive power of an accident the villagers think is a miracle.

Teclo (Charles Bronson) is a half-breed leader of the vaqueros. He pretends to side with the villagers, but in reality wants them to be scattered in the hills permanently, under his leadership. While Alastray organizes the men of the village to build a dam, the Yaqui attack and massacre many of the inhabitants of the village. The angry villagers order the priest out. Alastray leaves, with Kinita following. He tells her all his life he has fallen just short of achieving something meaningful, and sends her back to the village. A storm of approaching riders are heard, and the two take cover. They see Teclo and the Yaqui leader, Golden Lance (Jaime Fernández) together, and realize the alliance of those two means terrible things for the village.

Alastray goes to the capital and, using a previous romantic connection, obtains muskets, gunpowder, and a cannon, which he takes back to the village. When the villagers see the weapons, they are encouraged and willing to fight. Alastray makes a peace overture to Golden Lance, which is initially successful, but Teclo sabotages it and a Yaqui attack is inevitable.

On the eve of the battle, the villagers ask Alastray to lead them in a Mass. He tells them he is not a priest, but they nonetheless accept him. Together, they repel the Yaqui attack on the village, but they use up most of their gunpowder and their prospects appear grim. However, a village boy out playing sees the vaqueros and the Yaquis gather in preparation for the next day's attack. During the night, Alastray and a few villagers set charges in a mountainside overlooking the gathering place, to explode rocks down onto the attackers.

The next morning, Teclo rides by and sees the fuse to the charges, but the villagers kill him before he can do anything about it. The Yaquis gather below the rocks, and most, including Golden Lance, are killed when the charges are detonated. With the area pacified, government authorities come to administer the village. A military officer recognizes Alastray and sends soldiers to capture him. The villagers outwit the soldiers, getting them to pursue a decoy. Alastray flees on horseback in the opposite direction, with Kinita riding after him.

Marc Stevens is a struggling low-level performer, who makes his living performing light pop ballads and easy listening tunes at retirement homes. En route to perform at a Christmas special, his van — which doubles as his home — breaks down during a storm and he is stranded deep in the woods. Lost, cold, and succumbing to the elements, Marc is rescued by a local, an emaciated young man named Boris, who takes Marc to a run down inn.

The sole occupant of the inn is its proprietor, Mr. Bartel, an amiable old man who lives there as a hermit of sorts. Claiming to be a retired standup comedian, Bartel welcomes Marc to stay and offers to repair his van as a token of brotherhood between professional entertainers. Marc accepts the offer, but remains aloof, not speaking with Bartel about his own career or personal life.

The next morning, Mr. Bartel tows Marc's van into the front yard of the inn. Marc tells Bartel he is going for a walk, at which point Bartel suddenly becomes paranoid and aggressive, warning Marc not to go into the nearby village. Marc agrees, but during his walk he approaches a nearby farm, where he witnesses a family voyeuristically watching a teenage boy have intercourse with a pig, calling the experience "so tender". Meanwhile, rather than repairing Marc's van, Bartel snoops through Marc's living quarters and takes his mobile phone and some amateur pornographic photographs presented to Marc by a fan (Brigitte Lahaie).

That night, Bartel becomes even more aggressive, working himself into a frenzy while recalling his adulterous wife Gloria who abandoned him years before. He insists that Marc sing him a song before going to bed. The next day, Marc finds the homemade porn in the inn and realizes Bartel has been going through his things; when he attempts to call for help, he discovers that the telephone Bartel has been regularly using isn't even wired into the wall. Confronting Bartel, Marc discovers him vandalizing the van and pouring petrol over it; Bartel knocks Marc unconscious and blows the van up.

Marc wakes to find himself tied to a chair, clad only in an old sundress. Mr. Bartel, now babbling, addresses Marc as if he were his wife, asking why "she" has come back after leaving him. Mr. Bartel sets about shaving one half of Marc's scalp, to "protect" him from the villagers, before forcing him into bed and cuddling next to him.

The next day, Bartel ties Marc to a tractor and takes him out into the woods to chop down a Christmas tree. Marc escapes, but ends up getting caught in a rabbit snare. He lies there prone while darkness falls, until Boris wanders by. Marc begs him for help, but Boris ignores his pleas, addressing Marc as if he were his lost dog. He sits beside Marc and pets and strokes him until the desperate Marc bites his leg, at which he goes away. The next morning, Bartel, alerted by Boris, retrieves Marc, driving him back to the inn covered by a blanket on the back of a hay truck. A pair of villagers see Boris driving the truck with something concealed under a blanket, but they take no action.

Back at the inn, Bartel chastises "Gloria" for running away, then crucifies Marc behind the inn before going into the village to have a drink at the local pub. Seemingly convinced that his wife was a "slut" who was sleeping with every man in town, Bartel warns the men drinking in the bar that now "she" has "returned", none of them can "have her". The men all appear frightened at Bartel's ramblings, but once he leaves, one of the patrons sits at the antique piano and begins to play nightmarishly discordant waltz music. Gradually, the men all get up and begin dancing with one another.

Back at the inn, Bartel brings Marc into the kitchen and they sit down for Christmas dinner. Boris arrives with a calf, convinced that it is his missing dog. Bartel gives a tearful, impassioned speech about love, togetherness, and the spirit of the holidays, before a sudden rifle shot rings out and a bullet explodes through the inn's window, killing Boris. The villagers lay siege to the inn, rushing the inn with a pig on a leash as one would employ a dog, intent on reclaiming the calf, and it quickly becomes apparent that they are also intent on raping Marc, in the shared delusion that Marc is Bartel's returned wife. The villagers mortally wound Bartel before turning their attention to Marc; one of them then briefly rapes Marc on the dining room table.

Shots are fired among the men and in the confusion, Marc manages to escape from the mob and into the forest. He spends the night running from them through the woods, coming across a cemetery with an imposing crucified Christ gravestone, aligning with the Calvaire of the title. Marc manages to elude all but one of the men, who is about to capture "Gloria" when he falls into a bog and starts being swallowed up by the mire. Crying and broken, Marc approaches the drowning man. Instead of using the man's gun against him - or making any attempt to save him - Marc watches as he sinks below the surface. Finally, just before the man's head sinks into the marsh, Marc, as Gloria, responds to his impassioned question by telling him that "she" does, in fact, love him. Within seconds, the villager is dead, and Marc is left alone in the wilderness.

In the harsh deserts of North Africa, the French Foreign Legion provides a military presence. Lt. Tom Wayne is framed for the murder of Armand Corday, the brother of his fiancé. He vows to capture the real killer, a mysterious Arab terrorist known only as El Shaitan. He encounters three bumptious legionnaires: Clancy, an Irishman always spoiling for a fight; Renard, a wily Frenchman; and Schmidt, a German who loves sausages). They are the surviving members of a Foreign Legion unit that was wiped out in an attack.

Nicknamed the "Devil of the Desert", El Shaitan remains a shadowy figure, hiding his face and his true identity, as a result of which many people are mistakenly suspected of being the cult leader in the course of the serial, while other characters impersonate him for their own ends. At a meeting place called, "The Devil's Circle", El Shaitan commands a fanatic desert cult, a secret society formed to fight against the French authorities.

When Clancy, Renard and Schmidt are trapped by a horde of Berber tribesmen, Lt. Wayne quickly stops the attack using the machine gun mounted on his aircraft. The three legionnaires are in constant danger but Wayne comes to their rescue many times, acting as a modern-day d'Artagnan. Eventually the trio, with the aid of their new friend, triumph over their adversaries.

On the Irken-ruled planet Conventia, the beginning of a galactic conquest campaign known as ''Operation Impending Doom II'' is about to start. The Irkens want all the races of the universe to serve under their already vast empire, so they plan to send their elite soldiers to make the planets vulnerable so their forces can easily conquer them. Former Irken Invader Zim, who had singlehandedly ruined the original ''Operation Impending Doom'' by stealing a battle mech and unwittingly annihilating a portion of his home planet, Irk, arrives uninvited. Reluctant to have Zim involved with the new operation, the Almighty Tallest, the two leaders of the Irken Empire, send Zim away to a distant planet on the other side of the galaxy, represented on their galactic map as a sticky note with a circle drawn onto it with a question mark in the circle. It turns out to be Earth, thus ending the assignment process. On Earth, a boy named Dib intercepts a signal and hears about the empire's plans, though no one, these being his sister and father, takes any interest.

Invaders begin receiving robot assistants called SIR (Standard-issue Information Retrieval) units. Not wanting to give away advanced technology to Zim, he is given a robot constructed of garbage named GIR, who appears unintelligent, but the Tallest convince Zim that it is an advanced model. Zim and GIR head for Earth, and upon their arrival, Zim picks appropriate disguises and constructs a base. The next day Zim, attends the local school as he believes he will learn about his enemy there. Dib is there and recognises Zim as an alien, but nobody else does. Dib makes an attempt to capture Zim but gives up when Zim gets to his base, as the front lawn is covered in laser firing lawn gnomes.

After the brief opening credits set to an orchestrated version of the Minuet in G by Ludwig van Beethoven, the cartoon introduces a lion who is dressed as a musical conductor and attempts to keep his orchestra of animal musicians in order as they half-play and half-fight their way through the piece. Memorable moments include a dachshund playing the xylophone with his back legs while the rest of him sleeps, a group of monkeys using a flute as a pea-shooter to fire at their fellow musicians, and a horse trombonist who attempts to swat a fly with his trombone, but only succeeding in hitting the dog trumpeter in front of him.

In keeping with the building frenzy of Liszt's rhapsody, the animals become more and more violent, playing pranks on each other and generally wrecking havoc, but the piece still goes on. The final scenes see the lion conductor getting smashed over the head with a giant bass drum, at which point he gives in, the music finishes, and the cartoon ends.

In the 1920s, at a hospital in Bozeman, Montana, a boy named Petey Corbin is born with cerebral palsy to Sarah Corbin. The doctor diagnoses him as physically and mentally disabled, unable to walk or talk and has no capacity for thought. Devastated, Sarah and her husband spend two years and enormous sums of money going to doctors, but each tells them to send Petey to an institution. The Corbins decide to send him to a psychiatric hospital, although called an insane asylum (in 1922), in Warm Springs, Montana.

The story's point of view then shifts to Petey, following his life in the hospital. The nurses in the crowded and unsanitary institution care for him lazily and improperly, some even abusing him. A new male nurse named Esteban quickly befriends Petey. Whenever he can, Esteban talks to Petey and brings him chocolate, as Petey is "his favorite". Esteban understands (unlike most people) that Petey is not retarded, but that it is only his body that is deformed. Esteban is discharged for informing civic leaders from Butte that Petey isn't, in fact, retarded.

At the age of eleven, Petey is transferred to the Men's Ward. He is put in a large room with several bigger men. Soon after, he notices a family of mice living in his room. They are his only joy until a new person, named Calvin, moves into Petey's room. Mildly retarded and club-footed, Calvin quickly becomes Petey's best friend, and the two spend all their time together. Petey and Calvin meet many people in the Warm Springs Insane Asylum including Joe, Cassie, and Owen, however they all leave them at different points in time. Eventually, many patients are moved to different facilities. Petey and Calvin are separated when Calvin is taken to a nursing home. Months later, Peter is also transferred to a nursing home. The story then proceeds to travel several years later.

In 1990, outside, he is getting bullied by teens. They are throwing snow balls at Petey. But another teen, Trevor, gets in and stops the bullies. Trevor also gets Petey a new wheelchair and takes him out. Eventually, though, Petey becomes ill and his health declines. Trevor visits him in the hospital as much as possible and asks Petey to be his symbolic grandfather because of the great impact Petey has made in his life. As Petey dies in the hospital, he communicates that Trevor should go and live his life. As the story draws to a close, Trevor says goodbye his "Grandpa Petey" as he dies with dignity.

The story takes place in a mysterious underworld of swanky nightclubs where armed criminals listen to Rat Pack music and hold shootouts from a seated position, behind desks. Mickey Holliday is the top enforcer for Vic, the mob boss, who is about to be released from a psychiatric facility. In his absence, Ben London has been running Vic's nightclub while Mickey has been romancing both Rita and Grace Everly, which is doubly dangerous inasmuch as they are sisters and Grace was previously Vic's girl.

A rival, Jake Parker, recruits a number of hired guns in an attempt to seize power. Mickey kills the first to challenge him, Lee Turner. The next one brought in by Parker, identified as Nicholas Falco and supposedly the fastest draw of all, murders Mickey's close friend, Jules Flamingo, who is unarmed. A showdown is arranged and Mickey ends up eliminating both Parker and the apparently overrated Falco.

Vic returns to resume his reign as mob boss. He brings with him a new enforcer, the "real" Nicholas Falco, the previous one having been an impostor. "Brass Balls" Ben London promptly challenges Vic for control of the organization (while singing "My Way" on stage in the nightclub) and is shot dead. Falco proceeds to gun down the remaining opposition, including "Wacky" Jackie Jackson, and is eager to shoot it out with Mickey Holliday once and for all.

Mickey attempts to repair his relationship with Rita, who is furious that he has been seeing her sister on the side. Mickey finally confesses to Grace that he has been seeing her in the daytime and Rita at night. She also has been unaware that Vic is back in town. At a final confrontation held in a private office, Grace reveals that she is pregnant with Vic's child. Forced to choose between Holliday and Falco before they shoot it out, Vic sides with his old friend and Grace kills Falco. He and Mickey end up (apparently) living happily ever after with the Everly sisters.

For his tenth birthday, Joe receives a mysterious blue book (known only as "The Book") from his magician uncle, Joe the Magnificent. By reading the book, Joe and his friends, Sam and Fred, are (often accidentally) transported to various times and places throughout history, such as Ancient Egypt and the Old West. In the year 2105, the trio meets their own great-granddaughters, Jodie, Samantha, and Freddi.

After each time warp, the group must find and use The Book in order to return to the present day. Later in the series, Joe's evil uncle, Mad Jack, makes several attempts to capture the children and The Book with crafty tricks, such as stranding them in Antarctica (since The Book does not work there).

After a late-night false fire alarm, caused by Daphne smoking a cigarette in her room, she confesses that she's been feeling depressed and lonely. The next day at the cafe, Frasier makes the mistake of telling Roz, who immediately offers to set Daphne up with one of her many ex-boyfriends. Frasier is unable to conceal his low opinion of Roz's taste in men, and she storms out, insulted.

While trying to apologize to her, he explains that he is looking for a man who's not just handsome, but also intelligent and successful. At this point, the station's new manager, Tom Duran, appears, having caught only the last part of Frasier's comments. Tom recently returned from a long stay in the UK and ended a relationship. After a few minutes of conversation, Frasier invites Tom to dinner at his apartment. Unbeknownst to Frasier, Tom is gay and assumes that Frasier is hitting on him. He tells Roz that word of his sexuality must have spread and reached the gay members of the staff. Roz, who is still angry with Frasier, does not enlighten him.

When Tom arrives for dinner, Daphne is pleased, but over the course of the evening, almost everything Frasier says is misinterpreted by Tom: * When Tom mentions how nice the view from his apartment is, Frasier mentions that it's better from the bedroom. * When Tom asks if it gets awkward having Martin around when he brings dates home, Frasier says his only problem is Martin trying to steal them. * Niles joins the party and his demeanor leads Tom to assume Niles is also gay. (Later, "So, wait a minute, this Maris guy he kept mentioning is a woman?")

As the evening goes on, Daphne is enthralled with Tom; Niles becomes jealous. Noticing this, Tom takes Niles aside and asks if he has some problem with Tom dating Frasier. Niles shares the joke with Martin. Tom asks for some "one-on-one" time. While Daphne is out of the room, Niles pulls Frasier aside and tells him the truth. Frasier nervously re-enters the apartment and has to confess the truth, sending a disgruntled Daphne back to her room in a sulk. He apologizes to an incredulous Tom, who accepts, good-naturedly.

In the tag, Frasier and Daphne are both smoking cigarettes and drinking cognac in the living room, late at night.

The story of the anime follows Yuko Kawai, a junior highschool student, as she faces the challenges of growing up and overcoming her shyness as she comes of age. She begins seeing her best friend Hiroshi Naganuma, the boy next door, in a different light.

The story involves Barnabas, Destruction's dog on strict orders to watch over Delirium, looking for Delirium after she disappears. He visits each of the Endless in turn to see if they've seen Delirium, but none of them have any clue where she is. At the end, Barnabas finally finds her by collecting all of the sigils of each of the Endless and conjuring her.

Consulting detective Sherlock Holmes fakes his own death in Scotland in order to investigate a number of bizarre apparent suicides that he is convinced are part of an elaborate plot by "a female Moriarty". Returning to his assistant Dr. Watson in secret, Holmes notes that all the victims were wealthy gamblers, so disguised as "Rajni Singh", a distinguished Indian officer, he stalks London's gaming clubs.

It is not long before he encounters the archvillain, Adrea Spedding. Holmes discovers that she seeks out men short of money, persuades them to pawn their life insurance policies with her accomplices, then kills them. Holmes sets himself up as her next victim, discovering that she uses the deadly spider, ''Lycosa Carnivora'', whose venom causes such excruciating pain that the victims kill themselves. Holmes also finds the footprint of a child nearby.

Searching for evidence Holmes and Watson visit eminent arachnologist Matthew Ordway, who may have supplied the deadly creatures. Holmes soon realizes that the man he is speaking to is an impostor, but the man makes his escape. Searching the premises, Holmes finds the corpse of the real Ordway, as well as his journals, which allude to something or someone from Central Africa immune to the spider venom. This baffles Holmes until he finds the model skeleton of a child. However, Dr. Watson points out that the relation of the skull and the circumference of the chest prove it is not a child, and Holmes deduces that the Central African thing described in the journal is a pygmy.

Holmes and Watson continue their investigations at a nearby fairground, where Holmes allows himself to fall into the clutches of Spedding and her gang. Bound and gagged, Holmes is tied behind a moving target in a shooting gallery, at which Inspector Lestrade and Watson take pot shots with a .22 rifle. However Holmes manages to escape, and Lestrade and the police arrest Spedding, her gang, and the pygmy.

When an explosion within the dilithium chamber of the Federation starship ''Enterprise'' s main engineering appears to be the work of sabotage, Starfleet Command dispatches a retired rear admiral from the Legal Division of its Support Services Section, Norah Satie (Jean Simmons), to lead an investigation to uncover the cause.

Worf (Michael Dorn) discovers that J'Dan (Henry Woronicz), a Klingon exchange officer, had been using modified hypospray syringes to encode information into amino acid sequences for secret transport. J'Dan admits his collaboration with the Romulans but attests that he did not sabotage the chamber. Satie and Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) interview crew members who associated with J'Dan. Among them are Dr. (Cmdr.) Beverly Crusher and medical technician Simon Tarses (Spencer Garrett), who says that his only relationship with J'Dan was to administer injections necessary to treat a rare disease. Satie's Betazoid aide (Bruce French) senses that Tarses is concealing something. Meanwhile, Chief Engineer (Lt. Cmdr.) Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and Lieutenant Commander Data (Brent Spiner) determine that the hatch had failed due to simple fatigue, not sabotage.

Picard considers the matter closed, but Satie pushes to complete her investigation of Tarses under the pretext of proving his innocence. She conducts a second interview with Tarses, held in front of a room full of people. Captain Picard assigns Commander Riker to act as counsel to the crewman. Satie's aide falsely accuses Tarses of using a compound found in Sickbay to sabotage the hatch. He then accuses Tarses of falsifying his academy entrance application and that he is in fact one quarter Romulan, not one quarter Vulcan as he had claimed. Commander Riker quickly whispers to Tarses, who invokes his right to not answer the accusation on the grounds that his answer may incriminate him.

Satie uses this discovery as a pretext to expand her investigations. Picard objects, but Satie reveals that she has been in constant contact with Starfleet Command's Headquarters, that all future hearings will be open, and that Admiral Thomas Henry (Earl Billings) of Starfleet Security will attend. Picard begins to compare the tribunal to a drumhead, resembling a battle-field court-martial of the 18th and 19th centuries on Earth that became infamous for its numerous miscarriages of justice. Even though he resolves to prevent her from conducting a witch-hunt, he is summoned to be interviewed before the tribunal.

Satie uses the hearing to accuse Picard of numerous transgressions of the Prime Directive and other Starfleet orders, actions which were, in fact, later vetted and approved by Starfleet Command. When Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) stands to defend Picard's actions, Satie turns on him, pointing out Picard's poor judgment in having a Chief of Security who is the son of a traitor.

Satie then proceeds to question Picard about his encounter with the Borg and whether he has fully recovered, implying that Picard should have trouble sleeping from the guilt he should feel, because the knowledge of Starfleet obtained by the Borg when Picard was transformed into Locutus had caused the loss of 11,000 lives and the destruction of 39 ships.

Picard recalls a quote from Satie's own father Aaron Satie, whose judgments are required reading at Starfleet Academy: "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." Satie is enraged at him invoking her father, and launches into a fanatical tirade, condemning Picard as a traitor seeking to undermine the very fabric of the Federation. Satie's fanaticism proves to be her undoing, as a visibly disgusted Admiral Henry, who was previously one of Satie's closest allies at Starfleet command, walks out of the hearing without so much as uttering a word to her, and later calls a halt to any additional investigation.

Worf and Picard reflect on Satie's disgrace. Worf expresses regret for his assistance in her investigation, not seeing her for what she really was. Picard notes that such enemies are well-disguised through apparent good words and deeds, and that vigilance against such subtle threats is the price humanity must continually pay in exchange for freedom.

''Utawarerumono'' is a story centering around the masked protagonist, Hakuowlo, who one day is found by a family of two girls and their grandmother in a nearby forest close to their village. He is badly injured and is soon found to have amnesia, so they take him to their home and treat him until he is well again. Hakuowlo is soon accepted into their village where he stays and lives with them, but before long Hakuowlo finds that life in this village is being oppressed by the greedy ruler of the land their village resides in. When these actions escalate into disaster, Hakuowlo leads a rebellion that culminates in his assumption of the throne of a new country, born from the ashes of the old, and named Tuskur after the grandmother of the two girls who helped save his life.

After taking and consolidating power, Hakuowlo soon learns that peace is difficult to maintain, and finds himself fighting a series of bloody battles to protect the peace of his country and his people. Along the way, Hakuowlo meets strong warriors from other countries and tribes and welcomes them into his growing family. The passage of time brings both laughter and hardship, but with Hakuowlo leading the way, all others are confident in their future.

The story's genre is at first a fantasy-style story with heavy Ainu influence, but later develops science-fiction themes. While it initially appears to take place in a fantasy world full of magical beings and new species of humans, it is later revealed that it takes place in Earth's distant future.

Cyndi Lauper's character, referred to as Cyndi, works at her parents' gas station, along with her friends Dave (Wolff) and Wendi (Richter). Cyndi's Mom is baking cookies for gas station customers, and Wendi operates a vegetable stand (set up inside a miniature wrestling ring) outside the station. A group of creditors (Piper, Blassie, Sheik, and Volkoff) show up to evict them and take over the station. While they argue with Mom and Pop (Albano), an old woman (Moolah) shows up and closes down Wendi's vegetable stand, putting in a Benihana-like set-up in its place. While packing, Cyndi removes a picture from the wall, which reveals the entrance to a cavern. Searching through the cave, Cyndi finds a treasure map and then encounters the Goonies (minus the character of Andy), who also have a copy of the map.

Soon after, they encounter a group of pirates (who look just like the creditors, though it is never said if they are the same people as the creditors), and a supposed green-faced witch. Cyndi runs away as the Goonies are captured by the pirates. Running through the caverns, she encounters several skeletons and even some chefs who seem to work for the restaurant Benihana. Cyndi eventually finds herself trapped between the pirates and the green-faced witch on a log bridge. Unsure what to do, she cries out: "Steven Spielberg, how do I get out of this one?" The scene cuts to Spielberg in an editing room, apparently in the midst of editing the video as it is happening. Spielberg stops the editing machine and begins to give a solution, before realizing that he does not know how to help Cyndi.

Cyndi, along with the Goonies, is captured and taken aboard a pirate ship. The pirates, along with the green-faced witch and some female pirates (the Bangles), party, while forcing the Goonies and Cyndi to prepare food for them. Dave and Wendi (who had also gone into the cave to look for Cyndi) have also been captured, and are tied to the mast of the ship. Eventually, Cyndi, Dave, Wendi, and the Goonies break free, and after finding some treasure on the ship, toss some of it to the pirates, who fight amongst themselves for it. After subduing the green-faced witch, the Goonies escape from the ship along with Cyndi and her friends, giving her the remaining treasure that they found.

Cyndi, along with Dave and Wendi, returns through the cavern entrance in the gas station, armed with the extra treasure in hopes of appeasing the creditors. Despite all the treasure she offers, they still refuse. Cyndi then whistles, and in a cloud of smoke, André the Giant appears, and chases the creditors off (with Roddy Piper apparently breaking character, calling out to director Richard Donner, Spielberg, as well as Lauper and Wolff that "the video wasn't supposed to end like this" while being pursued by André). The family then celebrates its good fortune.

This is a story of 13-year-old Cassie Palmer who lives with her mother, older brother, and sister. Cassie's mother is an eccentric "psychic" (medium). After some of her clients are incensed to discover her mother has tricked a woman into thinking that she is communicating with her deceased husband by brushing her face with a feather, the clients threaten to prosecute her. Mrs. Palmer pleads with them not to as such an action would render her homeless.

Mrs. Palmer explains to Cassie that her powers are only intermittent, and as result she sometimes has to embellish the reading to produce results her clients will be happy with. Mrs. Palmer explains that Cassie, being seventh child of a seventh child, would develop great psychic powers as she reached maturity. However, Cassie has no wish to be a psychic. Unfortunately, these abilities have already manifested and Cassie is simply unaware of them.

Desperate to protect her mother from charges of fraud, Cassie goes to a cemetery to try to call up a spirit Charlotte Webb who died as a small child. Instead a dark figure appears from behind a tombstone. He tells her his name is Deverill and wants to know why she's summoned him. Cassie runs away.

Cassie eventually tells her mother, who soon is gravely concerned for their safety. Deverill appears to Cassie several more times, but aside from Cassie and her mother, no one can see or hear him. Unsure of Deverill's intent, she invites him to her house so that her mother can find out what his motives are. He complies but vanishes before her mother can discern if he is a sinister or benevolent entity.

Eventually the Palmers have to sell their house and move to another town as a result of poor business and the bad reputation acquired from the clients who accused Mrs. Palmer of fraud. Deverill reveals to Cassie that when he was alive he buried a small treasure in the floorboards of a house in town. Cassie finds the treasure and is able to use it to purchase a new home for herself, and her mother and two older siblings to start a new life. In exchange for this good deed, Mr. Deverill is able to leave this plane of existence for the great beyond. Cassie had freed his restless spirit of an eternity of darkness and torment. Her psychic powers apparently were burned out during the struggle thus enabling her to lead a normal life, free from the influence of the supernatural.

In a castle's great hall during Yuletide, King Arthur halts a feast as he feels ashamed of how lax he and his knights have become during times of peace, questioning the bravery of all knights present. Suddenly, an ax-wielding knight in green armor arrives at the castle, challenging the knights to a game - he challenges them to decapitate him in one swing of his ax, with the caveat that he can return the blow. None of the knights volunteer, leading the king to shame them for their lack of courage, and accept the challenge himself. Finally, Gawain, a young squire, accepts the challenge in lieu of the king, and is swiftly knighted. Gawain beheads the knight, but the body of the decapitated knight picks up his head and returns it to his neck. Gawain kneels for the knight to strike him, but the Green Knight refuses due to his youth. Promising to return in one year to claim his side of the bargain, the Green Knight gives Gawain a chance to solve a riddle to save his life, which consists of four lines:

:'' Where life is emptiness, gladness.'' :'' Where life is darkness, fire.'' :'' Where life is golden, sorrow.'' :'' Where life is lost, wisdom.''

With King Arthur's blessing, Gawain leaves with Humphrey, a squire, in search of the answer to the Green Knight's riddle. Morgan le Fay instructs Gawain to blow a horn near the seashore, and to go to the lost city of Lyonesse. Upon blowing the horn, a knight in black armor reveals himself to be the guardian of Lyonesse, and challenges Gawain to a duel. Despite the guardian knight's dishonorable conduct in the duel, Gawain wins, and the guardian, dying, asks to be brought home to Lyonesse. Gawain rides to Lyonesse with the guardian, and Humphrey gets separated from Gawain. Upon entering Lyonesse, the guardian knight, on his deathbed, accuses Gawain of murdering him. Pursued by the city guard, Gawain escapes with the help of Linet, a beautiful maiden who gives him her ring, which makes him invisible. Gawain falls in love with Linet, and attempts to escape the city with her, but he manages to leave the city while she is captured. While held by the guards, Linet quickly gives her ring to Gawain. Abruptly appearing in an empty field, he is told by the Green Knight that the game he accepted as a challenge has rules, rules of which have been broken by meeting Linet at the wrong time, and taking her ring. Encountering a group of monks, Gawain asks Vosper, a friar and former thief, for help with the green knight's riddle; Vosper tells Gawain to see the sage at the rock of wisdom.

Gawain agrees to follow the rules of the game, and is transported to Lyonesse by the sage, only to find the city decrepit, the denizens old and covered in cobwebs, frozen in time. Gawain carries the frozen Linet to a small house outside of the city, and revives her and restores her youth using her ring. Gawain encounters Humphrey, but while away from the house, Linet is kidnapped by the lustful prince Oswald and the army of his father, the warmongering Baron Fortinbras. Seeking to save Linet, Gawain and Humphrey sneak into the Baron's castle by blending in with a group of prisoners being transported to the castle. Gawain rallies the prisoners to help escape the castle and rescue Linet, but while the rescue mission is underway, Sir Bertilak, a rival of Baron Fortinbras, arrives and threatens Fortinbras with war if certain demands are not met. While the prisoners escape, the rescue fails when a fire breaks out in Linet's prison, leading Gawain to believe she's dead. Mournful, Gawain leaves Humphrey and the escaped prisoners, wandering aimlessly until he stumbles across the castle of Sir Bertilak. Sir Bertilak allows Gawain to rest and recover in his castle. Linet is alive, having been accepted by Bertilak as a tribute from Baron Fortinbras to prevent war. Linet gives Gawain a green sash, and tells him that no harm will befall him while he wears it.

The year given by the Green Knight comes to an end, and Gawain, meeting with Humphrey and the former prisoners, goes out seeking the knight. Gawain is attacked by Oswald and Baron Fortinbras's army, and Oswald challenges Gawain to a duel with his champion. After defeating several of Oswald's champions, Oswald himself fights Gawain while the former prisoners fight his army. Gawain wins the duel, and the army retreats. Following his fight with the prince, Gawain is approached by the Green Knight. Gawain has failed to solve the final line of the riddle within the time limit, and must allow the Green Knight one swing at his neck with an ax. The Green Knight strikes Gawain, but he is unharmed due to the sash given to him by Linet. The Green Knight and Sir Gawain duel, and as the Green Knight suffers a mortal wound, he asks Sir Gawain to stop the battle, realizing that he has already lost.

Sir Gawain returns to Linet, who tells him that she must return to Lyonesse alone. As he touches her cheek, she transforms into a dove, and flies away.

While in Wales visiting her husband James (Sean Bean), Adèlle (Maria Bello) tries to fix her relationship with her daughter Sarah (Sophie Stuckey). By the side of a cliff, they see a strange memorial with evidence of a plate missing and with the name "Annwyn" marked on it. A local man Dafydd (Maurice Roëves) explains that, according to traditional Welsh mythology, Annwyn is a sort of afterlife.

Later, Sarah vanishes on the beach, and another similar looking girl, named Ebrill (Welsh for "April"), appears in her place. Ebrill is the long-dead daughter of a local shepherd who also served as the town's pastor fifty years prior. When Ebrill, who was a sickly child, died, her father gave her to the ocean, sending her to Annwyn. He then convinced his followers to throw themselves into the ocean, claiming that it was the way to Paradise, while he privately hoped that their sacrifice would return Ebrill to him from Annwyn. Ebrill did come back, but, something came back with her. Her father tried to draw the evil out of her, through trepanning and locking her in her room. Dafydd was one of the followers who did not throw himself off the cliff, though both his parents did. Ebrill's father took him in, and when Dafydd could no longer bear witnessing the shepherd hurting Ebrill, he set her free, which in turn allowed the evil within her to lash out and shove her father over the cliff.

Adèlle makes the connection that Ebrill is back once more because she has found a living substitute in Sarah. In an attempt to rescue her daughter, Adèlle throws both herself and Ebrill over the cliffs, despite James' protests, and sends them both to Annwyn, a sepia-toned, misty version of reality. While in Annwyn, the film reveals that (prior to the events of the film) Sarah attempted suicide following an argument with her mother, resulting in their trip to Wales. Adèlle begs for a second chance with her daughter. Ebrill informs her that the dead don't get second chances. Ebrill and her father perform trepanation on Adèlle, to draw out the evil within her. Adèlle eventually escapes her bonds and rushes to find Sarah, who is locked behind a door. Adèlle finds a key and tearfully apologizes for being so selfish. In unlocking the door, Adèlle is able to rescue Sarah from Annwyn, though, in doing so, Adèlle sacrificed herself, only to realize too late that the Sarah she brought back was tainted by the same evil that had tainted Ebrill all those years ago.

Zoro is lured away from the crew by henchmen of his childhood friend Saga. In search of Zoro, the Straw Hats encounter the young priestess Maya. Luffy and Usopp get lost and meet Saga, while Saga's men attack Maya's village. Zoro, alongside them, takes three purple orbs from Maya, which none of Saga's men can touch. Luffy fights Saga, but during the encounter falls off a high cliff, causing Usopp to jump after him. Zoro returns to Saga with the orbs and disposes of them in a well. Luffy and Usopp find a tunnel system and explore it. There they stumble upon the orbs and take them along. While in the village the remaining Straw Hats hear about the evil Seven-Star Sword, that has taken control of Saga, and the stolen orbs needed to seal the sword's power, when Luffy and Usopp emerge from the ground in front of them. After hearing the story, the Straw Hats decide to help. Zoro learns that Saga is controlled by the Seven-Star Sword and that Saga plans to make him the sword's first sacrifice. They start a fight during which Zoro attempts to destroy the cursed blade. Using the orbs, Maya performs a ritual to keep the sword's power from fully awakening. Saga defeats Zoro, but before he can kill him, the ritual catches his attention and he hurries to interrupt it. After that, with the sword's power unfolding, Saga fights Luffy a second time. During their fight, the sword crumbles and its power is transferred into Saga's body. Zoro appears, takes over for Luffy, and defeats his old friend. After the cursed power leaves Saga's body and his mind is freed from the evil influence, the Straw Hats set sail for their next adventure.

When the hedonistic Berry-Berry Williams deserts his pregnant lover, Echo O'Brien, his younger brother Clinton's blind faith in him shows signs of waning, while his parents are disgusted by Berry-Berry's actions.

The book goes back and forth from third person to first person (Clinton's diaries).

Artie Lewis is a New York City Police Department detective who believes in his work, loves his wife Rita, and is close to his partner of eight years, Stevie Diroma, a widower with three young daughters. After a hard, violent encounter in a housing project while on duty, Artie and Stevie reassure each other that, although battered and bruised, they have survived.

Stevie is then killed in the line of duty by drug addict Mickey Garrett during a hostage situation. Stevie's daughters Marian, Barbara, and Carol are left orphaned with no relatives able to take them in. Artie is informed that Stevie, in his will, had named Artie the legal guardian of his children in the event of his death.

Artie and Rita take the children in and want to adopt them. (It is revealed the couple are unable to have children of their own). However, Child Welfare Services decides that their apartment is too small for three children, and Barbara is a diabetic who needs daily insulin shots.

To gain the welfare agency's approval, Artie feels he must buy a house. The one he has chosen requires a $25,000 down payment that he does not have. In desperation, he grabs his gun and a ski mask and robs drug kingpin Beniamino Rios, whom he has investigated and knows is indirectly responsible for Stevie's death and orphaning the girls since Garrett killed Stevie under the influence of Rios' drugs.

Artie uses $25,000 of the take for a down payment on the house. He gives the rest to Father Wills, who runs a local makeshift shelter, and admits to Rita how he got the money for their house. Beniamino's girlfriend Grace De Feliz is actually an undercover narcotics agent who suspects Artie, but his superior, Lieutenant Danny Quinn, defends Artie as one of his best officers and no action is taken against him.

One of Beniamino's customers, who gave Artie a tip as to the location where Beniamino kept his money, breaks down under his questioning and gives Artie to the drug lord. Beniamino kidnaps Artie and tortures him to find out what he did with the money. Knowing that Artie will not reveal the information, and is about to be killed, Grace blows her cover and saves him. Together they are forced to kill Beniamino and his colleagues.

Artie writes a confession to Lt. Quinn, preparing to turn himself in for his crime. However, Father Wills turns in most of the money Artie gave him; he used only $200 of it to pay for a museum trip with the shelter's children, and all of Artie's co-workers make up the rest of the stolen money. Grace refuses to testify against him after learning that Artie's actions were not motivated by greed but as a father, so the federal government walks away from the case to avoid compromising its field agents. Quinn understands Artie's motives, is short-staffed for good detectives, and out of loyalty to Artie's slain partner, whose kids will be fatherless again if Artie goes to prison, tells Artie that no charges will be filed against him. Quinn tears up the confession letter and sends Artie home to be with his wife and adoptive children.

Relieved from the ordeal, Artie happily calls Rita to tell her that he is coming home early, and that their family is still together.

Milo, a bored boy who lives in a San Francisco apartment block, is surprised by a large, gift-wrapped package that has appeared in his room. The package turns out to be a tollbooth which is a gateway into a magical parallel universe. As Milo uses the tollbooth's toy car to pass through the tollbooth, the character moves from live action to animation, and after getting accustomed to this he drives further, and is transported to the enchanted Kingdom of Wisdom in the Lands Beyond.

Accompanied by Tock, a "watchdog" who actually has a large pocketwatch in his body, Milo has a series of adventures in places like the Doldrums, Dictionopolis (Kingdom of Words), Digitopolis (Kingdom of Mathematics), the Mountains of Ignorance, and the Castle in the Air. Together, they must rescue the Princesses of Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason, who are being held captive in the Castle in the Air, and restore order to the Kingdom of Wisdom. The many eccentric characters they meet include the Whether Man, the Humbug, the Spelling Bee, the noisy Dr. Kakofonous A. Dischord, King Azaz the Unabridged, the Mathemagician, Faintly Macabre the Not-So-Wicked Which, Chroma the Great, and Officer Short Shrift as well as demons like the Senses Taker, the Terrible Trivium, the Demon of Insincerity, and the Gelatinous Giant.

"Cacao woke up to find a girl sleeping next to him. Unable to remember what had happened on his own and didn't get enough needed answers from Hinano, he went to school to ask his friends what had happened. He finally got the explanation of events from Prof. Ghana in term Cacao joined his wizardry class."

In the year 2100, Dr. Amami is a scientist working in the field of alternative energy, who at the beginning of the series is on the verge of a major breakthrough in the area of "Rynax energy". His daughter Kurau accompanies him to the lab on her twelfth birthday, where an experiment goes horribly wrong and she is struck by a bolt of this energy, which disperses her into lights.

When she reforms, it is found that her body has been taken over by two Rynax, who are actually sentient life forms and not just a form of energy. However, one of the Rynax is too weak to awaken. The awakened Rynax takes on Kurau's name and identity, and though her newfound superhuman abilities make her a subject of interest for scientists, Kurau manages to live a relatively normal life. Ten years later, the second Rynax awakens and emerges as a twelve-year-old girl, whom Kurau names Christmas. The two look and interact very much like sisters.

Rynax

Originally believed to be a form of energy, Rynax are actually binary life forms that exist in Pairs. These beings are made up of pure energy and are channeled from an alternate dimension, and not generated as Dr. Amami believed. This channeling proves very traumatic for the Rynax, and often results in nearly immediate death. A Rynax that has fused with a human is known as a Ryna sapien. However, fusing with a human is often dangerous, and the usual outcome is a slow, agonizing death for both human and Rynax. Kurau proves to be extremely fortunate, as the human and Rynax components of her identity live together in a symbiotic relationship. The Rynax also give her special abilities, such as amazing strength and agility, and the ability to fly, pass through solid objects and generate enough radiation to disintegrate objects instantly.

Other humans who have been merged with Rynax prove to be dangerous and destructive people, resulting in pursuit of the GPO (police force) and termination of both Rynax and human. Kurau and her Pair are pursued by the GPO under the belief that they, too, are a threat to the world. Kurau vows to protect her Pair, while at the same time trying to escape detection and live a peaceful life.

Kathy Lane, a reporter, goes to Theodore Geisel's home and meets a strange character. Kathy tells him the editor for ''The Ferncast Times'' demands her an article on Dr. Seuss. When she uses him as a source, the character reveals himself to be the Cat in the Hat. Kathy finds a magical book labeled "Open a book, open your imagination", which pulls her into the world of Dr. Seuss. The Cat in the Hat shows Kathy a political cartoon which would later become The Sneetches. The Cat then leads Kathy to a door which leads to a beach. On the beach, they read ''The Sneetches''. The Cat then tells Kathy about Seuss being a target during World War I. She then ends up into a kitchen where she meets Mr. Hunch from Hunches in Bunches. They eat lunch and learn more about his childhood. Then Mr. Hunch shows her a book based on his childhood: ''McElligot's Pool''.

Kathy notices Horton the Elephant and ends up in a jungle. She reads ''Horton Hatches the Egg''. The Cat in the Hat appears, and explains to her about Seuss in the 1920s. Kathy then wanders into "The World of Advertising". The Ad Man and the Ad Woman explain about Dr. Seuss in the advertising business. The room rocks and Kathy is transported to Mulberry Street where she meets Marco. She helps Marco come up with a story to tell his father after he walks home from school.

The story changes as Kathy and Marco add exciting things to it. The story starts out as a horse pulling a cart. But it soon turns into a tale with an elephant, the mayor, planes with confetti, a Rajah, a band playing music and more. Marco keeps the story as a horse pulling a cart. He leaves.

Sgt. Mulvaney brings Kathy to a revolving door that is shown to represent the way people rejected Dr. Seuss' first book for publishing. The Sergeant disappears through the door. Kathy follows but ends up in a hall with the Cat in the Hat. The Cat explains to Kathy about some of Dr. Seuss' dark political cartoons. An alarm goes off and he disappears. Kathy walks into a room and meets The Voice of America. The Voice of America then shows Kathy the documentary, ''Hitler Lives'', which was made by Geisel and his wife.

The Voice of America further reveals that Dr. Seuss' initial drawings of Yertle the Turtle depicted the character with a Hitler-esque mustache and a Nazi uniform. A live action version of the story is then shown in a gospel like song. Kathy meets back up with the Cat in the Hat, who tells her his own origin story as told by a father reading to his two daughters. After the story, Kathy ends up in the story of ''Green Eggs and Ham'' where she is chased by multiple Sam-I-Ams who try to get her to eat green eggs and ham. After that, Kathy ends up in the mountains where the Grinch had lived. A woman reads her ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!''

Next, Kathy shows up at the Street of the Lifted Lorax where the Cat tells her that while the Grinch was successful for Dr. Seuss professionally, his personal life wasn't and explains what happened to Seuss during the late 1960s. She then put in a payment (15 cents, a nail, and the shell of a great, great, great grandfather snail) written on paper in a bucket after which The Once-Ler hoisted up the bucket with all those things, collected them, brought down a speaker and told the story of ''The Lorax''. After planting a new Truffula Tree, marching music sounded, indicating a butter battle which represents ''The Butter Battle Book''.

Kathy and The Cat in the Hat visit the library where they sing ''Oh, the Places You'll Go!'' after which are transported back to Dr. Seuss' house. The film ends with a quote from Dr. Seuss: "I hope for the children a world of peace and they would never lose their sense of wonder and discovery. From there to here, from here to there. Fun things are everywhere".

In keeping with the film's story, the game takes place on a British chicken farm and follows a group of chickens as they try to break out of confinement.

Players must help Ginger and her flock make a break for freedom, while avoiding the evil Mrs. Tweedy and her oafish man Mr. Tweedy, who wants to turn them into chicken pies.

In November 1888, Sherlock Holmes is engaged by Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard to help with the murder investigation of a young actress, Sarah Carroway. She was killed outside a theatre in the Mayfair area of London. Lestrade thinks the manner of her death shows that this is another strike by Jack the Ripper, but Holmes believes someone else committed the crime. It appears that the victim was killed with an unusual knife, one shaped like a scalpel but with a serrated blade.

The investigation takes Holmes and Dr. Watson to many parts of late 19th century London, including a perfume shop, the zoological gardens, the morgue, a pub, Scotland Yard, Surrey Commercial Docks, Savoy Street Pier, St Pancras railway station, and of course 221B Baker Street. They encounter a number of characters connected to the case and also get assistance from Inspector Gregson, the leader of the Baker Street Irregulars named Wiggins, and the invaluable tracking dog Toby.

Charlie Anderson, a widower, lives with his large family in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, during the American Civil War. Anderson does not wish to be involved with the war because he doesn't consider it "his" war, but he is forced to take action when his youngest son Robert is taken prisoner by Union soldiers. In the course of searching for Robert, Charlie, his daughter Jenny, and some of his sons rescue Sam (Jenny's newlywed Confederate soldier husband) from a Yankee POW train. After enduring the tragedy of losing his eldest son Jacob (to a sniper) and his second eldest son James and James' wife Anne (to deserters), Charlie and the rest of the family return home, defeated. In his despair, Charlie is reminded to return to church, where he, at long last, is reunited with Robert once more.

The protagonist is named Lord George Hell. A worldly man, he is a dandy, fond of gambling, drinking, womanising, and the like. He is enjoying lavish outdoor entertainment in London with his lover, La Gambogi, when a young and innocent dancer named Jenny Mere performs on the stage. A dwarf sitting with Lord George, revealed to be Cupid, shoots his arrow into Lord George's breast.

Lord George boldly proposes marriage to Jenny, but she says that she will only marry a man with the face of a saint. Confused, Lord George spends the night wandering the streets, heartbroken. In the morning, he stumbles upon a mask maker shop of a man named Mr. Aeneas. He purchases a saint's face mask, custom altered to bear the mark of true love. La Gambogi, who sees him leave the shop with his new false face, confronts him, but he pretends not to know her and retreats to Kensington, intending to return to London that evening to see Jenny perform again. However, while viewing his new look in the reflection of a brook, he sees Jenny, leaps across the brook and proposes marriage. Jenny accepts.

Starting with signing the marriage register as "George Heaven", Lord George makes a total moral conversion by returning ill-gotten wealth to gamblers he had cheated to the rightful owners, donating excess money to charities. He then buys a woodman's cottage to live a quiet, modest existence. The newlyweds lead a simple but unrealistic life subsisting "''bread and honey and little strawberries (...) seed-cake and dewberry wine''".

One month after the marriage, as the happy couple is celebrating the occasion, La Gambogi shows up and refuses to leave until she is granted one last look at Lord George's true face. A scuffle between the three people results in La Gambogi tearing off George's mask. Although he fears that his true love is lost, it turns out that his face has assumed the contours of the mask. Jenny concludes with ecstasy that he was testing her fidelity for a time before revealing his true beautiful face.

La Gambogi leaves the couple happily kissing as the mask melts in the sun.

Dale wonders why no one ever visits Chilly Beach, and realizes that it's due to the cold climate. Thus, Frank invents a super heater to warm Chilly Beach up. When the U.S. learns about it, they steal it and accidentally use it to destroy the planet. Frank and Dale must travel back through time to undo the damage.

In addition to the James Bond-like opening credits and theme song, the movie contains references to ''Back to the Future'' and ''The Terminator''.

The Player starts the game in their new cottage on the Oregon coast. According to the Player's diary, he or she (the character's gender is never explicitly defined) is a struggling writer who has just moved in, and recently met their eccentric next door neighbor, Dr. Jeremiah Krick, and his daughter Amanda, who live in a nearby lighthouse. Glancing out of the window, the Player sees the lighthouse struck by lightning and then begin to glow strangely. On the Player's answering machine, Dr. Krick has left a frantic message begging the player to come over to his house and watch Amanda.

Upon arriving at Dr. Krick's house, the player discovers the front door locked, darkness inside, and silence. After turning on the power and entering, the Player finds Amanda in her crib, alone. Once the Player has explored the house, a snap is heard, and Amanda begins crying. When the Player enters her room, the "Dark Being", described in Dr. Krick's journal, takes Amanda, and jumps through a portal. At this point, the Player can either follow him through or use Dr. Krick's laboratory to construct their own portal. Either way, the Player ends up on a rocky beach in a parallel world. Krick's notes on this make reference to the real physical concept of Godel's universe.

The Player must explore the parallel world and save Dr. Krick & Amanda from the Dark Being.

On December 8, 1995, Bauby, the editor-in-chief of French ''Elle'' magazine, suffered a stroke and lapsed into a coma. He awoke 20 days later, mentally aware of his surroundings, but physically paralyzed with what is known as locked-in syndrome, with the only exception of some movement in his head and eyes. His right eye had to be sewn up due to an irritation problem. The entire book was written by Bauby blinking his left eyelid, which took ten months (four hours a day). Using partner assisted scanning, a transcriber repeatedly recited a French language frequency-ordered alphabet (E, S, A, R, I, N, T, U, L, etc.), until Bauby blinked to choose the next letter. The book took about 200,000 blinks to write and an average word took approximately two minutes. The book also chronicles everyday events for a person with locked-in syndrome. These events include playing at the beach with his family, getting a bath, and meeting visitors while in hospital at Berck-sur-Mer. On March 9, 1997, two days after the book was published, Bauby died of pneumonia.Thomas, Rebecca. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7230051.stm Diving Bell movie's fly-away success], ''BBC'', February 8, 2008. Accessed June 5, 2008.Mallon, Thomas (June 15, 1997) [https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/06/15/reviews/970615.mallon.html "In the Blink of an Eye - ''The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'',"] ''The New York Times''. Retrieved April 8, 2008.

Connie Wyatt is a restless 15-year-old who is anxious to explore the pleasures of her sexual awakening. Before she enters her sophomore year in high school, she spends the summer moping around her family farmhouse. She suffers from her mother's put-downs while hearing nothing but praise for her older sister, June. Her father somehow manages to float around the family tensions. She also helps paint the cottage, just as her mother constantly demands her to.

Connie passes the time cruising the local shopping mall with her friends and flirting with boys. However, when an actual date leads to heavy petting, she escapes from the boy's car. At a hamburger joint, an older man confides to her, "I'm watching you!" and proves this soon after. One afternoon, her mother and June warn Connie to be careful with whom she flirts, and she is left alone in the house, while her family goes to a barbecue.

Later, as Connie is playing around the house, a man who calls himself Arnold Friend approaches her in a 1960s convertible with that name painted on it and identifies himself as "A. Friend". He dresses and behaves like James Dean, and name-drops several teenybopper acts, even though he is much older than she is. He comes off very kind and friendly, but rather suspicious, alternating between speaking to her in a warm, seductive voice and shouting insults to his fellow car passenger when he asks Arnold if he should pull out the phone, possibly to keep her from calling the police. Arnold informs Connie about how he has been watching her and that he knows all about her, recounting the details about her family's barbecue plans with amazing accuracy. He then begins speaking about how he could be her lover. She begins to become scared and orders him to go, but he coerces her into going with him, threatening to burn down the house, while his friend remains at the house, supposedly to watch over it while they are gone.

When she returns home, Connie is bewildered and disheveled, and informs Arnold that she never wants to see him again. It is left ambiguous whether or not he raped her; it is implied that she isn't the same person she was at the film's beginning. After her family returns home, her mother tearfully apologizes to her for slapping her earlier that day, but Connie reassures her that everything is all right. At the film's ending, she doesn't inform June about what happened, but dances with her to James Taylor's recording of the song "Handy Man".

Within 24 hours, three near-fatal accidents have occurred. At the scene of each, the letter "W" is scrawled over the injured person. Katie Lewis (Twiggy) and her husband Ben (Michael Witney) discover that these accidents are in fact the work of a mysterious killer, and that they are the real targets. While trying to avoid death, the couple must struggle to discover the source of these attacks.

A jaded pilot named Noah Dugan (Elliott Gould) is unemployed and owes a large amount of money due to his gambling. He goes to an old friend, Stoney (Vincent Gardenia), who owns an airfield. He is offered a job flying a cargo of animals to a remote South Pacific island aboard a B-29 bomber, a large plane well past its prime. Bernadette Lafleur (Geneviève Bujold) is the prim missionary who accompanies him. Bernadette has raised the animals at an orphanage and is close to two of the orphans, Bobby (Ricky Schroder) and Julie (Tammy Lauren).

As the aircraft prepares to taxi for takeoff, Bobby is concerned about Dugan's treatment of the animals, and decides to stow away aboard the bomber so that he can make sure his special friends are properly cared for. Julie follows Bobby aboard. During the flight, the bomber goes off course, and Dugan is forced to crash-land on an uncharted island that Bobby has spotted with his keen eyesight. While on the island, the group meets two elderly Japanese holdout sailors who have lived there alone for 35 years. Dugan treats them as enemies, as the sailors are unaware that World War II is over, but Bernadette wins their friendship and trust. They are able to communicate because the mother of one of the sailors had spent time in America, and she taught her son how to speak English. She even named him "Cleveland", after her favorite place there.

The sailors convince Dugan and Bernadette that there is no hope of rescue should they stay on the island, as the two had been there for decades with no one coming to repatriate them. They propose a plan to turn the old aircraft into a boat to sail back to civilization. This requires flipping the B-29 upside down, as this will be a more stable and watertight configuration. Bernadette needs to construct a sail for the boat, so the sailors give her their battle flag of the Japanese Empire, which she uses as the primary fabric for the sail. She tells the soldiers that she will sew it in the top position as a symbol of respect.

Noah and Bernadette (or "Bernie", as he calls her) fall in love after the two had resented each other at first. Bernie paints the name "Noah's Ark" on the converted boat-plane. Dugan tells her that he does not like his first name, but as she starts to remove the paint, he says he is okay with it. The animals are also brought on board at Bobby's insistence. Bernadette keeps a Bible close to her. After many days at sea, she tells Dugan that she has been inspired by the story of Noah's ark in how a dove was sent to search for a sign of hope, so they decide to send their duck with a message attached, telling of their need for rescue. The duck flies westward, away from the direction of Hawaii, and hope dwindles. Bobby has been resentful of Dugan (since his first mistreatment of the animals), but the two eventually develop a close bond, especially after Dugan saves Bobby's life when the boy falls overboard when they try to fish for food while a big shark is circling them. They are rescued by United States Coast Guard Cutter ''Mellon'', which has the duck aboard, and the ''Ark'' is towed to Oahu.

Charlie Sheen plays Ryan Turner, a hotshot broker living an upscale life in New York City with his shallow girlfriend Cindy Styne (Denise Richards). One morning, he is playing golf with the owner of one of the biggest newspaper publishers of New York. He tells Ryan of a huge merger between his company, Simpson Inc., and a large drug corporation. Ryan, ecstatic that this could be his big break, calls all his clients and informs them of the huge deal that is going to happen and they all place large amounts of money into the merger. However, the next day, Simpson reveals that there is not going to be a merger. Ryan loses most of his own, and much of his clients' money in light of the news. He storms over to Simpson's office, and Simpson tells Ryan that he personally screwed him over because Ryan was sleeping with his wife. Ryan, now near bankrupt, sells his possessions and moves in with his girlfriend, Cindy. Ryan tries to get another job at another brokerage, but his license is revoked. Devastated, he loafs around, until Cindy tells him that she is leaving for Brazil with another man.

Cindy was working at a small newspaper as an advice columnist. Ryan, since he can't get another job anywhere else, lies to the editor Page Hensen (Angie Harmon) and takes over the column. Inexperienced at caring and giving solid advice, Ryan does poorly at first, and Page wants to get rid of "Cindy". However, Ryan makes a real effort and begins giving good advice to the people writing in, and the column turns into a huge hit and Page's newspaper begins to sell more and more across the city. Now, many people want to interview Cindy, but Ryan either tells them she does not give interviews or just sends them to the door. Ryan begins to develop feelings for Page, feelings which turn out to be mutual, and they both have sex. However, things didn't go so well for Cindy, and she comes back into town. Simpson, who now wants Cindy's column for his own paper, is interested in buying. Ryan and Page are caught in bed, and reveal everything to Cindy. However, Cindy blackmails them, and moves to Simpson's company. Ryan uses his brokerage skills to make some money off the combination of Cindy and Simpson. Of course, Cindy ruins the whole transaction, as she is incapable of the compassionate advice that Ryan was offering in her stead, and soon Simpson's stock plummets. Ryan and Page are engaged, and Ryan has since become a successful columnist in his own right.

Max Devlin is the shady landlord of a rundown slum in Los Angeles. While running to escape his angry tenants after one of them blurts out that he owns the building, Max is killed by a bus and descends into hell, which resembles a corporate headquarters. He meets souls manager Barney Satin, the devil's chief henchman, who tells him that he will set him free if he can get three innocent youngsters to sell their souls in exchange for his own. Max agrees and is returned to life, but Barney retains Max's soul, and consequently Max cannot see himself in a mirror. Barney even gives him limited magical powers to help achieve his goal; he tells Max that if he succeeds, his soul will be free and the subjects will continue to live until the natural end of their lives. Alive again, Max begins his frantic quest, and Barney, whom only Max can see, appears frequently to check on Max's progress – and to taunt him.

Max's three targets are Stella Summers, a high school dropout and aspiring singer; Nerve Nordlinger, a student who dreams of being popular; and Toby Hart, a child who longs for his widowed mother Penny to find happiness again. Max charms his way into each of their lives by landing a recording contract for Stella, training Nerve as a motorbike racer after school, and spending time with Toby while helping Penny operate a day care facility. Max begins to care for all three of his subjects and discovers his innate decency. He even falls in love with Penny, but finds it difficult to get them to sign away their souls. Stella refuses to sign, believing that Max is trying to get more than his 20% fee as her manager, Nerve is too focused on training for an important race, and Toby refuses to sign unless Max marries Penny.

Eventually Max obtains all three signatures, and upon signing, their personalities immediately change for the worse. After Max and Penny wed, Barney appears and reveals that all three of them will die at midnight, and though Max gets to live until the natural end of his own life, he is still damned. Angered at the lie, Max is ready to destroy the contracts, and Barney whisks Max back to hell revealing his true demonic form, threatening Max with even greater torment if he destroys the contracts. Knowing he is already condemned, Max throws the papers into a nearby fire, but he is quickly returned to life.

Believing himself still damned, Max leaves his wedding reception to say goodbye to Nerve and Stella, and finds that their personalities have returned to normal. When he comes back to say goodbye to Toby and Penny, he is overjoyed when he can again see himself in a mirror, surmising that by his self-sacrifice he has been redeemed and Barney is defeated. He looks toward Heaven and gives thanks as he attends one of Stella's concerts with Penny and Toby.

Milo, an aging Serbian drug lord, attends a meeting of Narcotics Anonymous. The five-days-sober Milo admits that he is worried that the stress of cooking for his daughter's 25th birthday celebration will cause him to relapse into using. Milo departs the meeting to pick up a drug shipment with his henchman Branko. Though he requested heroin, the shipment turns out to be 10,000 ecstasy pills. Seeking an explanation, Milo meets with his Albanian supplier Luan. The Albanians agree to send a new shipment of heroin and allow Milo to try to sell the ecstasy as well.

After a quick talk with his demanding and spoiled daughter, Milena, Milo goes back to the kitchen at his club to cook for the party. After Milo forces his henchmen to try his cooking, he meets his associate Little Muhammed, who has come to drop off his daily haul. The pugnacious Muhammed warns Milo to respect younger hoods like himself, calling himself "King of Copenhagen", but Milo mockingly calls him the "King Kong of Copenhagen." However, as Milo knows nothing about ecstasy, he needs Muhammed to set up a buyer for the pills. When all of Milo's henchmen get food poisoning from his cooking, Milo has no choice but to trust Muhammed to make the sale alone and return within an hour.

The birthday celebration begins and Milo splits his time between mingling with guests, cooking, and trying to contact the tardy Muhammed. While buying wine at an underground store, Milo learns that Milena's boyfriend, Mike, is in fact a drug dealer. He forces Mike to accept him as his sole supplier, and then haggles with his daughter over the price. While waiting in a restaurant for an emergency supply of fish, Milo bumps into Kurt the Cunt, a low-level drug dealer who gives him some heroin. The over-stressed Milo breaks down and smokes some of it. Having not heard from Muhammed in four hours, Milo contacts a corrupt cop who promises to find him.

When Milo meets with Luan to admit that he lost the ecstasy and needs more time to pay for them, the Albanians force Milo into a partnership to settle the issue. Using his kitchen as a meeting place, Rexho, an Albanian crook, and a Polish pimp arrive to sell a young girl into prostitution. Milo tries to distance himself from the transaction in disgust, but Rexho treats him as a subordinate, demanding food and drink and that he serve them. Rexho and the pimp attempt to sell the girl to Jeanette, a local brothel operator, but she refuses to take her, sensing she is likely under the age of 18. Milo gives the girl a piece of his daughter's birthday cake after she reveals that it is her birthday as well. After Rexho leaves, the girl attempts to flee, but Milo helps run her down. The furious pimp pours boiling water on the girl's hand, which ultimately sends Milo over the edge. In a rage he beats the pimp to death with a hammer, then waits for Rexho to return and kills him as well. The corrupt cop then delivers Muhammed to Milo in the trunk of his car, warning him not to hurt him.

Out of options Milo seeks help from his old friend and ex-henchman Radovan, who left the underworld to start a successful pizza restaurant. Radovan agrees to help Milo one last time. Radovan helps Milo torture Muhammed, who reveals that the ecstasy pills Milo had received were fake. Milo and Radovan stash Muhammed in a freezer after he threatens Milo, and then begin butchering the two corpses for disposal. At dawn, Milo returns to his tranquil home and talks with Milena. She wonders why he disappeared during the party, then goes to bed. Milo walks into the backyard and silently smokes a cigarette while looking into his empty swimming pool.

The plot revolves around Ada Harris, who is so enchanted by her employer's couture wardrobe that she becomes determined to go to the House of Dior in Paris to purchase an evening gown of her own. She achieves her goal with the assistance of a French marquis, whom she first meets at the house of Dior during an afternoon showing and who becomes a long-term friend as do a series of other characters revealed to have hidden hearts. The comic tale takes on a final poignant overtone when the dress is loaned to an up-and-coming actress, with disastrous consequences. Initially devastated, Mrs. Harris reflects that the experiences she had in pursuit of the dress were worth its loss.

Subsequent titles in the series are ''Mrs. 'Arris Goes to New York'' (1960), ''Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Parliament'' (1965), and ''Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Moscow'' (1974). (The original U.K. titles were ''Mrs Harris Goes to New York'', ''Mrs Harris MP'', and ''Mrs Harris Goes to Moscow''.)

In ''New York'', the French Count re-appears and, again, all but one or two characters reveal hidden hearts.

In ''Parliament'', Mrs Harris finds that being nice, kind and hopeful does not always lead to people being nice and kind in return. There is rather less comedy in this third book.

In ''Moscow'', Mrs Harris wins a trip there and stumbles onto the Soviet Union's most embarrassing problem: it has bought a cargo of toilet paper that has had to be marked as birdseed.

Paige, a young accountant, moves into a spacious loft apartment in Los Angeles, owned by Jonas and his eccentric wife, Elaine. Her police officer boyfriend, Mitch, is angry with her for moving out of his home, and dismisses her aspirations to work as an artist. In the closet, she discovers a Ouija board. While playing with the board, Paige begins receiving messages from an entity who claims to be named Susan. First, the board correctly predicts that Paige will receive a promotion at the accounting firm where she works. When Paige asks several tenants of the building, they tell her that a woman named Susan Sidney formerly lived in her apartment.

While Paige contacts Susan again using the ouija, Jonas is attacked in his shop by a poltergeist which flings tools at him. He locks himself inside the boiler room, and is then incinerated when the boiler overheats. Paige begins suffering from nightmares that inspire her to produce several disturbing paintings of a woman she believes to be Susan. At Jonas's funeral, Russel, a photographer tenant of the building, informs Paige that Susan was an exotic dancer who prostituted herself to Jonas in exchange for rent. When Paige asks how Susan died, Russel tells that as far as he knows, she is alive, but that he has not seen her since she was evicted two years prior. Paige again consults the ouija, and the entity insists it is Susan, and claims she was murdered.

Paige asks Mitch to search for records pertaining to the murder of Susan Sidney, but his search efforts produce no indication that she ever existed. When Paige vocally calls out the entity communicating through the ouija, the shades of the loft windows all violently slam shut. Horrified, Paige is consoled by Russel and Elaine, who heard her screams. The three decide to use the ouija together, attempting to communicate with Susan. The board directs them to "uptown"; in conversation, Mitch tells Paige that there is a remote area outside of the city known as Uptown Woods. Convinced Susan was killed and buried there, Paige has Russel bring her to the location, but they are startled by Mitch, who escorts her home.

Mitch is subsequently injured in a car accident in which his vehicle is hijacked by the entity. Meanwhile, Russel informs Paige that the ouija board was used by witches throughout history to contact demons, and that this is likely what she is communicating with. Paige is insistent, however, that the entity is Susan. Russel points out the symptoms of "progressive entrapment," through which demons take control of victims via the ouija; Paige exhibits several, including notable shifts in her behavior and temperament. However, Russel too becomes convinced that it is Susan when Paige produces an earring that belonged to her. Shortly after, Elaine is killed in a violent accident.

Paige realizes that the earlier message directing her to "uptown" was in fact intended to be "Upton," the name of Russel's photographer company. Realizing that Russel murdered Susan, Paige attempts to flee from Russel, and locks herself in a bedroom. Russel tries to break the door down, but is stopped by Mitch, who has been discharged from the hospital, then it is revealed that the killer is Elaine and her accomplice is Jonas. Paige then emerges from the room, taking Susan's form. She throws Mitch through a window, but he manages to cling to a fire escape. Susan kills Russel with an axe just before Mitch manages to re-enter the apartment and find his body. He is confronted by Susan, who shapeshifts between herself and Paige. Susan attempts to murder Mitch, but he pleads for Paige to fight Susan's spirit, and it is then expelled from Paige's body once she destroys the ouija board.

One afternoon, Candy Marshall, a white plantation owner, discovers that a white Cajun farmer, Beau Boutan, has been shot in the yard of a black man named Mathu. She enlists the help of seventeen other old black men by having them come to Mathu's yard, each with a shotgun and one empty number 5 shell. She and the men all claim to be responsible for the murder in an effort to protect the guilty party. Meanwhile, Sheriff Mapes arrives to the scene to arrest the real murderer, most likely Mathu (as he was the only black man who stood up against racism and the Boutans, and is capable of shooting a shotgun). The sheriff also wishes to keep Beau's father, Fix Boutan, from coming to lynch Mathu, who he presumes killed Beau. Meanwhile, Fix's son Gil, who happens to be a standout football player at LSU, arrives at his house to try to convince Fix not to go to Marshall to seek revenge.

The film begins with a man narrating then opens with Bobby Carter and his psychiatrist discussing the events of the first film, which took place seven years ago. Bobby is still traumatized by the events, but he and Rachel, (formerly known as Ruby) who now owns a biker team, have also invented a super fuel that can power bikes. The team is due to race in the same desert where the original massacre took place and Bobby's psychiatrist convinces him to go, but he declines and Rachel takes his place. The team consisting of the blind Cass, her boyfriend Roy, Harry, Hulk, Foster, Jane and Sue meets up at a bus and sets off. Along the way, they pick up Beast from a dog pound. Previously owned by the Carters, he now belongs to Rachel.

While going through the desert, they get lost and Harry suggests a shortcut through the bombing range. As they drive, the bus begins leaking fuel and they stop at an old mining ranch. As they explore the mine, Pluto, who apparently survived the earlier attack from Beast, attacks Rachel. She fights him off and he retreats, but no one believes her at first until Pluto returns and steals one of their bikes. Roy and Harry chase him down, but Harry falls behind, gets caught in a trap and is flattened by a massive rock. Roy catches Pluto, but is ambushed by a 7-foot cannibal called the Reaper, who knocks him unconscious. The Reaper is later revealed to be Papa Jupiter's older brother.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group stays at the mine until nightfall. They begin to worry about Roy and Harry, but Rachel and Hulk depart to look for them while the others stay behind. The Reaper begins to stalk the remaining teens. As Hulk and Rachel try to escape by motorcycle, the Reaper shoots Hulk through the chest with a spear bolt, leaving Rachel to run away in fear.

The Reaper returns to the mine, where he pulls Foster under the bus and kills him. Jane finds Foster's body just before the Reaper catches her and crushes her in his arms. Sue returns to the camp, only for the Reaper to throw her through a window and slit her throat with a machete. Rachel runs into Pluto, who pins her to the ground, but Beast surprises him and chases him away. Rachel tries to follow Beast, but runs into a trap set by the Reaper, which catapults Hulk's corpse against her. Slammed backwards, she trips and fatally hits the back of her head on a rock.

Meanwhile, Roy wakes up and runs into Pluto at the top of a cliff. Pluto gets ready to attack him, but Beast returns and knocks him off the cliff to his death. Cass runs from the Reaper and ends up in his mineshaft where he dumped the bodies, and comes across the corpses of all her friends. She throws a jar of acid at the Reaper's face and escapes up a rope with help from Roy. The Reaper follows them, but they trap him in a bus full of bike fuel, set it on fire and watch as it explodes. The Reaper escapes from the wreckage covered in flames and attempts to kill them one last time, but he stumbles into an open mineshaft, falling to his death after which Roy and Cass embrace. The film ends with Roy, Cass and Beast walking away from the mine at sunrise, into the vast desert as they follow the road home.

Set in a remote desert location, government scientists Alex, Joanne, Frank, Larry and Rob perform reanimation experiments in an underground nuclear facility. The goal is to create a superhuman. Their subject, "Thor", is a specimen from a suicide found in the desert. In the attempts to bring Thor back, an uncontrollable creature is unleashed. The next morning, Alex calls Stockton, one of the overseers of the project, at his home and after an argument, Stockton eventually decides to visit the facility by plane. His son Scott, his daughter Wendy, and Wendy's boyfriend Mark join him.

After Thor is reanimated, he kills Frank and Larry in the test room, leaving Alex, Joanne and Rob to attempt to escape, but Alex erases his handprint for the exit, intending to keep Thor alive, before he is pulled into the vents. Joanne and Rob attempt to find another exit based from old blueprints of the facility, but Rob is killed trying to rewire the power, leaving Joanne by herself. Meanwhile, Stockton arrives at the facility, with the others in tow, and enters the facility. While this is going on, Thor is revealed to be undergoing a form of genetic mutation and needs the sterols from the brainstem to stay alive, to which he sprouts a pincer from his mouth and uses it to take the bound Alex's sterol, killing him.

Stockton and the others split up after Wendy sees the facility's experiments and becomes upset with her father's involvement and she storms off; Mark goes off to find her while Stockton goes to find the scientists and Scott stays in the rec room. Stockton finds Larry's body and heads back to get the others out of the facility. Thor sneaks into the rec room and almost kills Scott, but the microwave timer goes off, the loud noise incapacitating Thor and Stockton is able to save Scott. They eventually come across Joanne and she explains the situation. They attempt to escape, but Thor catches up to them and captures Stockton, taking him into the vent shafts, where he recognizes Stockton from the earlier stages of the experiment and begins to further mutate. Later, Thor attacks the others and kills Joanne, Mark and Scott, before moving on to Wendy, who sprouts a pincer from her mouth; this is revealed to be a dream.

Meanwhile, Joanne and the others try to devise a way to kill Thor by leaving a trail of sterols to lead him into a freezer room and trap him there. The plan goes awry when Thor comes up behind them and kills Mark. Joanne is able to knock him into the freezer, but with the hand codes unavailable, they are still locked into the facility. However, they find Stockton still alive and use his handprint to escape. They drive away, but Thor has stowed away and attacks them again. Scott uses a piece of glass to cut off Thor's pincer before he can use it. When they get to the plane, Thor attacks them again. Joanne shoots him with a shotgun and he falls off. The survivors fly to safety and Thor is shown motionless where he has fallen, until his hand twitches, indicating he is still alive.

This adventure, and Vecna's multiverse-shattering plan contained within it, have been used by some ''D&D'' fans as an in-game explanation of the differences between the 2nd and 3rd editions of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The closing paragraph of the module reads as follows:

:"Even with Vecna's removal, his time in the crux effected change in superspace. Though the Lady of Pain attempts to heal the damage, the turmoil spawned by Vecna's time in Sigil cannot be entirely erased. Some Outer Planes drift off and are forever lost, others collide and merge, while at least one Inner Plane runs "aground" on a distant world of the Prime. Moreover, the very nature of the Prime Material Plane itself is altered. Half-worlds like those attached to Tovag Baragu multiply a millionfold, taking on parallel realism in what was before a unified Prime Material Plane. The concept of alternate dimensions rears its metaphorical head, but doesn't yet solidify, and perhaps it never will. New realms, both near and far, are revealed and realms never previously imagined make themselves known. Entities long thought lost emerge once more, while other creatures, both great and small, are inexplicably eradicated. Some common spells begin to work differently. The changes do not occur immediately, but instead are revealed during the subsequent months. However, one thing remains clear: Nothing will ever be the same again."

Bugs Bunny finds the Easter Bunny (also called the "Easter Rabbit" throughout this cartoon) sitting on a rock, crying. The Easter Bunny tells Bugs that his feet are sore, so he cannot deliver the Easter eggs. Bugs takes up the job, not knowing that, every year, the Easter Bunny gets some "dumb bunny" to do his work for him. (The Easter Bunny characterization is taken from Mel Blanc's "Happy Postman" radio character, including the ironic catch phrase "Keep Smiling!")

The first house the "joyous bunny" visits bears a name by the door: '''Dead End Kid''', the mean little red-haired kid who lives inside throws the egg (still raw) at Bugs' face, bites him in the leg and beats Bugs up before body-slamming him on the floor - all the while demanding, "I wanna Easter egg! I wanna Easter egg! I wanna Easter egg!" Bugs loses his cool and grabs the kid's arm. Unfortunately, Dead End Kid screams that Bugs has broken his arm and three huge thugs (one of them female) rush in, aiming guns at Bugs. Bugs barely escapes the hail of bullets (some of which spell the message "'''And stay out'''"). When Bugs rushes back to the Easter Bunny telling him he quits, the Easter Bunny gets him to "try once more".

Unfortunately, the next house is that of Elmer Fudd, the veteran wabbit hunter. Intent on making "Easter Rabbit Stew" out of the bunny, Fudd sets up an elaborate welcome and, disguised as a baby, hides his gun in a bassinet and climbs in. Just then Bugs arrives, but this time he's prepared for toddler resistance: he cracks the egg in Elmer's hands. Thus commences the classic chase and gags until Bugs manages to dump the Dead End Kid with Elmer (who beats Elmer on the head repeatedly with a hammer after Bugs paints Elmer's head to look like an Easter egg). Finally, Bugs plants a bomb painted like an Easter egg and leaves it for the Easter Bunny. When the Easter Bunny picks it up to finish his job, Bugs lights the fuse, proclaiming to the audience "it's the suspense that gets me," and the bomb explodes on the Easter Bunny, leaving the hapless hen-fruit handler hanging high up in a tree. Bugs' parting shot: "Remember, Doc, keep smiling!" (in reference to Mel Blanc's Happy Postman from the radio version of ''The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show''). The cartoon irises out as Bugs starts laughing hysterically.

An Iranian actor named Akbar is trying to become a serious actor instead of the clown everyone considers him to be. However, financial problems force him to abandon his dream of being an artistic actor. He also has to deal with his family problems and his wife's inability to become pregnant.

The synopsis from ''The Bioscope'' trade paper of 5 June 1919 reads as follows:

In the company of Rupert Bedford, a grasping speculator, Samson Cavor, an elderly inventor-scientist, ascends to the Moon in a sphere coated with 'Cavorite', a substance which has the property of neutralizing the law of gravity. After strange adventures with the 'Selenites' (the inhabitants of the Moon), Bedford villainously deserts the professor and returns to Earth alone in order to make a fortune for himself out of Cavorite. By means of wireless telegraphy, however, Hogben, a young engineer in love with Cavor's niece, Susan, succeeds in getting in touch with the stranded inventor, who denounces Bedford and states that he has been amicably received by the Grand Lunar, overlord of the Selenites. Susan thereupon indignantly rejects the proposals of Bedford, who has represented it as Cavor's last wish that she should marry him, and, instead, accepts Hogben as her husband.

The film is about the construction of the American first transcontinental railroad. It depicts Irish, Italian, and Chinese immigrants, as well as African Americans, as the men who did the backbreaking work that made this feat possible. The primary villain is an unscrupulous businessman who masquerades as a renegade Cheyenne. It culminates with the scene of driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869. There is a note in the title before this scene that the two original locomotives from the 1869 event are used in the film, although this is false - both engines (Union Pacific No. 119 and Jupiter) were scrapped before 1910. Main stars were George O'Brien and Madge Bellamy.

During the Spanish Civil War, an American language teacher, Robert Jordan, who lived in Spain during the pre-war period, fights in the International Brigades against Francisco Franco's forces. An experienced dynamiter, Jordan is ordered to travel behind enemy lines and destroy a critical bridge with the aid of a band of local anti-fascist guerrillas. The bridge must be blown up to prevent enemy troops from traveling across it to respond to an upcoming offensive against the fascists.

Jordan meets an old man, Anselmo, who is a guerrilla fighter who will serve as Jordan's liaison with the local guerrilla fighters. Anselmo leads Jordan to a group of Republican guerrillas who are led by a middle-aged man named Pablo. Jordan falls in love with one of the guerrillas, a young woman named María. María's life was shattered by her parents' execution and her gang-rape at the hands of the Falangists (part of the fascist coalition) at the outbreak of the war. Jordan has a strong sense of duty, which clashes with the unwillingness of the guerrilla leader Pablo to commit to helping with the bridge-blowing operation, as it would endanger himself and his band. At the same time, Jordan develops a new-found lust for life which arises from his love for María. Pablo's wife Pilar displaces Pablo as the group leader and pledges the allegiance of the guerrillas to Jordan's mission. However, when another band of anti-fascist guerrillas, led by El Sordo, is surrounded and killed in a desperate last stand, Pablo destroys Jordan's dynamite detonation equipment, hoping to prevent the bridge demolition and thereby avoid fascist reprisals on his camp. Later, Pablo regrets abandoning his comrades and returns to assist in the operation.

However, the enemy, apprised of the coming offensive, has prepared to ambush the Republicans in force and it seems unlikely that blowing up the bridge will do much to prevent a rout. Regardless, Jordan understands that he must still demolish the bridge in an attempt to prevent fascist reinforcements from overwhelming his allies. Lacking the equipment destroyed by Pablo, Jordan and Anselmo improvise an alternative method to explode the dynamite by using hand grenades. Jordan attaches wires to the grenades so that their pins can be pulled from a distance. This improvised plan is considerably more dangerous than using conventional detonators, because the men must increase their proximity to the explosion.

While the guerrilla fighters—Pablo, Pilar, and María—create a diversion for Jordan and Anselmo, the two men plant and detonate the dynamite, costing Anselmo his life when he is hit by a piece of debris from the exploding bridge. While the guerrillas are escaping on horseback, Jordan is maimed when a fascist tank shoots his horse out from under him. Jordan cannot feel his legs and he knows that if his comrades stop to rescue him, they too will be captured or killed. He bids goodbye to María and ensures that she escapes to safety with the surviving guerrillas. Armed with a Lewis machine gun, he waits until the horse-mounted fascist soldiers appear in his gun sights. He then pulls the trigger, firing a sweeping barrage at the oncoming soldiers. The film ends with Jordan firing the Lewis gun directly at the camera.

Unlike many ensemble films, the subplots of the film mostly do not interconnect with each other, and the film ends without a finale. Instead, the story threads illustrate life on the border between two countries; what appears to be poverty and desperation to some is a promised land for others, worth risking their lives to reach. The threads are: Kolya, a Ukrainian, has paid to be smuggled into Germany illegally; he finds he has been left on the Polish side of the border. When he is caught, a German interpreter agrees to smuggle him herself; he reaches Berlin. Ingo, a German mattress salesman, finds business in Frankfurt to be minimal and the people self-interested. He is humiliated and becomes desperate, but may have found love in Simone. Antoni, a Polish taxi driver, struggles to find the money to buy a communion dress for his daughter. By the time he is able to afford it, he is too late. (This subplot pays homage to Ken Loach's film ''Raining Stones'' and Mike Leigh's ''All or Nothing''.) Philip, a young German architect, runs into his Polish former girlfriend Beata while working on a building project in Słubice. Neither the romance nor the project works out. Anna and Dimitri, a young Ukrainian couple, are swindled out of their money and try with Antoni's help to cross the river Oder, almost drowning in the attempt. Andreas, a young German orphan who smuggles cigarettes, attempts to take the money and run away with a girl from the children's home.

Spoiled playboy Bob Merrick's reckless behaviour causes him to lose control of his speedboat. Rescuers send for the nearest resuscitator, located in Dr. Phillips's house across the lake. While the resuscitator is being used to save Merrick, Dr. Phillips suffers a heart attack and dies. Merrick ends up a patient at Dr. Phillips's clinic, where most of the doctors and nurses resent the fact that Merrick inadvertently caused Dr. Phillips's death.

Helen Phillips, Dr. Phillips's widow, receives a flood of calls, letters, and visitors all offering to pay back loans that Dr. Phillips refused to accept repayment of during his life. Many claimed he refused by saying "it was already used up." Edward Randolph, a famous artist and Dr. Phillips's close friend, explains to Helen what that phrase means. This helps her to understand why her husband left little money, even though he had a very successful practice.

Merrick, who had once been a medical student but who abandoned his studies, discovers why everyone dislikes him. He runs from the clinic but collapses in front of Helen's car and ends up back at the hospital, where she learns his true identity. After his discharge, Merrick leaves a party, drunk. Merrick runs off the road and ends up at the home of Edward Randolph, who recognizes him. Randolph explains the secret belief that powered his own art and Dr. Phillips's success. Merrick decides to try out this new philosophy. His first attempt causes Helen to step into the path of a car while trying to run away from Merrick's advances. She is left blind as a result of this accident.

Merrick soberly commits to becoming a doctor, trying to fulfill Dr. Phillips's legacy. He also has fallen in love with Helen and secretly helps her adjust to her blindness under the guise of being simply a poor medical student, Robby.

Merrick secretly arranges for Helen to travel to Europe and consult the best eye surgeons in the world. After extensive tests, these surgeons tell Helen there is no hope for recovery. Right after this, Robby shows up at her hotel to provide emotional support but eventually discovers that Helen has already guessed his real identity. Merrick asks Helen to marry him. Later that night, Helen realizes she will be a burden to him, and so runs away and disappears.

Many years pass and Merrick is now a dedicated and successful brain surgeon who secretly continues his philanthropic acts, and searches for Helen. One evening, Randolph arrives with news that Helen is very sick, possibly dying, in a small Southwest hospital. They leave immediately for the hospital. Merrick arrives to find that Helen needs complex brain surgery to save her life. As the only capable surgeon at the hospital, Merrick performs this operation. After a long night waiting for the results, Helen awakens and discovers she can now see.

The life of spoiled Robert Merrick (Robert Taylor) is saved through the use of a hospital's only pulmotor, but because the medical device cannot be in two places at once, it results in the death of Dr. Hudson, a selfless, brilliant surgeon and generous philanthropist. Merrick falls in love with Hudson's widow, Helen (Irene Dunne), though she holds him responsible for her husband's demise. One day, he insists on driving her home, and makes a pass at her. She gets out, and is struck by another car, losing her sight. Merrick confronts a friend of Helen's husband, wanting to know why a beautiful young woman would marry a middle-aged man. The doctor's friend tells him that her husband had a philosophy - to help people, but never let it be known that you are the one helping them. Only then, he believed, could there be true reward in life.

Merrick watches over Helen, and visits her during her recuperation, concealing his identity and calling himself Dr. Robert. His true identity is known to Helen's step-daughter, Joyce (Betty Furness), who keeps it a secret. When he finds out that she is nearly penniless, Merrick secretly pays for specialists to try to restore her vision. Finally, she travels to Switzerland, and is told that her eyesight is gone forever. Robert follows her, confesses his true identity, and proposes marriage. She forgives him and reciprocates his love, but goes away, not wanting to be a burden to him.

Six years later, Robert has become a Nobel Prize-winning brain surgeon. He learns that Helen urgently needs an operation, which he performs. When she awakens, her sight has miraculously returned.

An American Freemason who has been listening to a racist and bigoted rabble-rouser, who is preaching hate speech against ethnic and religious minorities and immigrants, is warned off by a naturalized Hungarian immigrant, possibly a Holocaust survivor or escapee, who explains to him how such rhetoric and demagoguery allowed the Nazis to rise to power in Weimar Germany, and warns Americans not to fall for similar demagoguery propagated by American racists and bigots.

By the year 15 billion AD, Earth's species have evolved to the point of being super-selected to a purpose. Every form has a sentient representative: animal, plant, and mineral. Pairing of sentient beings, including humans, is controlled by the use of "Soul Eggs" which are given shortly after birth, worn from the neck and when held up to another belonging to a potential mate will sync in pattern and color to approve marriage. Many times through Earth's existence it faced its end, but each time this event occurred, humanity was at a high point in intelligence and was able to rescue Earth from annihilation. When the sun died, they ignited the moon, and later when the moon died, the Earth was moved to safety. But now Earth's death is approaching during a time when humanity's technological levels are at a low point.

The story opens with Deyv, a human, being forced to leave his tribe, the Turtle Tribe, because he cannot find a mate. After leaving his tribe to find a possible mate from a distant tribe, Deyv runs into trouble and ends up meeting the plant-man Sloosh and a feisty woman named Vana. It is revealed that all three have had their Soul Eggs stolen by the fox-like Yawtl, and they begin a mission to track their Soul Eggs down and recover them. Their search brings them to the Jewelled Wasteland, home of the Shemibob, an ancient female being from another star who knows Earth's demise is near and holds the only key to escape.

Steven Gold is a struggling medical student who moonlights as a stand-up comedian. It quickly becomes evident that he is lousy at the former and excels at the latter. And yet, when he is given a chance at the big time, he cracks under the pressure. Lilah is a dedicated housewife who yearns to be a comic. She has the raw talent but does not have the command of craft that Steven possesses.

At first, he doesn't give Lilah the time of day. Steven is derailed by the unexpected appearance of his father and brother, both medical professionals. Lilah's unfailing support wins Steven's affections and he teaches her the fundamentals of stand-up comedy. Lilah has spent her cookie jar money to buy jokes. Steven advises her to connect with the audience to unveil the honest humor in her life as a wife and mother. Lilah discovers her natural gift of making people laugh. An uneasy friendship develops between the two as they share the personal conflicts they must resolve: Steven's desire to make it big vs. his inability to do so and Lilah's love of comedy vs. her love for her family.

Steven, beginning to appear emotionally unstable, develops a romantic attraction to Lilah–to her dismay. Lilah struggles to remain loyal to her family and her friend, while maintaining her conviction and love of comedy. Steven mimes a painful rendition of Gene Kelly's famous dance routine from ''Singin' in the Rain''.

The film culminates in a competition at the "Gas Station" comedy club where Steven, Lilah and other aspiring comedians have been performing. A judges panel of television executives promise the winner a prime time opportunity and possible stardom. As they compete on stage, the characters also grapple with conflicts among their desires for success on stage, their loyalties to one another, and the expectations of their families. Pending the judges' final tally, with a note of support from her husband in her hand, and hearing Steven has only two of the five judges' votes, Lilah withdraws "in case the winner is me" and persists in leaving when the club owner reveals she was in fact the winner. She leaves with her husband who, after watching his wife do stand-up for the first time, is won over and begins suggesting ideas for her next set. The pair walk away arm in arm reminiscing about the funny and endearing sayings of their children. Inside, Steven is declared the winner of the show, which reflects Lilah's judgment and that of their competing fellow comics.

When Kathy decides to explore an unusual boat that she discovers next to a lake, she is accidentally pulled from her home in Australia into a parallel universe. The new world she finds herself in is populated by ethnic Chinese, who possess advanced technology, including a talking computer called the "Oracle" that runs the empire.

Kathy spends most of her time trying to evade dangerous people, return to her own world, and reunite with her family. She is further antagonised by Ashka, a cunning and manipulative woman who has escaped from prison in her own world (for her crimes in the first series) and who seeks to gain advantage for herself.

The series also depicts a journey Sun takes to Kathy's world, where he is no longer protected by his empire, and people do not respect his authority.

Dude, a 1950s greaser, engages in a high-speed chase with the local cops, Sarge and his unnamed partner. After Dude causes their car to crash in a game of chicken, he joins his girlfriend Donna at a club. Donna does not enjoy the loud rock music preferred by Dude, and she is annoyed that he has made her wait. After they dance, Dude's friend Nixer joins them, much to Donna's annoyance. As they cruise around town and try to decide what to do, they run into Teddy, a rival greaser, and his friends. After exchanging insults, the two groups engage in a drag race. When Dude flicks his cigarette at the other car, it lands in Teddy's girlfriend's hair and sets it on fire. Teddy's car swerves and loses the race as the occupants attempt to put out the fire. Teddy and his friends swear revenge, and Dude drives off.

When he later sees Dude, Sarge threatens to arrest him but says that he is content to wait for a charge that will result in Dude's incarceration. Sarge privately berates his son, Teddy, for letting Dude make a fool of him and says that Teddy must get the situation under control before others begin to question Teddy's authority – and Sarge's own by extension. Teddy later confronts Dude and Nixer at J. T.'s diner, but J. T. defuses the situation. When Teddy challenges Dude to a street fight, one of Teddy's friends reminds him that he has set up a date with his girlfriend, who is his friend's sister. Teddy is forced to delay the fight, and Dude sets a date with Donna at the same roller rink. Annoyed to find Dude there, Teddy attempts to start a fight with him, only to end up embarrassed when Dude uses his hair gel to cause Teddy and his friends to crash.

Dude, Nixer, and Donna go to see Nixer's favorite film, ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers'', and they later discuss the film's themes at J. T.'s diner. J. T. tells them that they must be ready to seize opportunities when they present themselves, as they may not get another chance. Like ''Invasion'' s protagonist, they may find themselves stuck in a situation with no escape. Donna urges Dude to take advantage of his interest in music, and Dude casually inquires about trying out for a local band that he enjoys. Although he does not commit to an audition, he becomes excited about the possibility of escaping his small town. Meanwhile, Teddy again confronts Dude at J. T.'s diner after sexually harassing Donna. Donna initially tries to talk Dude out of a fight but stops when Teddy continues to harass her. Sarge breaks up the two before they can engage in a switchblade fight in public.

Fed up with Teddy's failure to take care of Dude, Sarge hands him a pistol and tells him that he must resolve the situation by that night. Sarge tells him to do it privately, so that he will not be implicated in the murder. Dude is torn between fighting Teddy and auditioning for the band, and both Donna and Nixer attempt to convince him to ignore Teddy. Dude finally decides to audition for the band, but when he shows up, he finds that they have sold out and now play bland pop music. Angry, he leaves the club, only to be confronted by Teddy, who wounds him as he flees. Dude returns home to fetch a shotgun, and he kills Teddy but spares Teddy's girlfriend Julie. As he prepares to leave town, Dude says goodbye to both Donna and Nixer. Having learned about his son's death, Sarge attempts to kill Dude, but Dude causes a fatal car crash by shooting out Sarge's tires. Dude drives on with a sinister smile on his face.

In ''Command and Conquer: Yuri's Revenge'', the story starts off assuming that the Allies were victorious in ''Red Alert 2''. The game begins with the White House announcing DEFCON 2 status, as Yuri, the former head of the Soviet Psychic Corps, plans to take over the world through mind control, accomplished by activating a secretly built network of Psychic Dominators around the world. The U.S. launches an air strike on the Psychic Dominator on Alcatraz Island. Despite heavy casualties, the device loses power after its power plant is destroyed. But Yuri activates the others, and the rest of the planet quickly succumbs to Yuri's mind control.

Allies story branch

The Allied commander is sent to San Francisco to defend and activate a time machine; the Allies plan to go back in time and prevent Yuri's Psychic Dominators from ever coming online. Once enough power plants have been secured, the player goes back in time, arriving at the time that Soviet forces are first invading San Francisco. The Soviets, caught by surprise, are defeated and the Psychic Dominator under construction on Alcatraz island is destroyed.

The Allied commander is deployed to Los Angeles where Yuri is slaughtering the city's population, converting them to raw materials. The commander liberates Los Angeles with the aid of heavily armed celebrities. Next, the commander is deployed to Seattle after receiving a plea from the chairman of Massivesoft Corporation (parodies of Bill Gates and the Microsoft Corporation): Yuri has taken control of the Massivesoft campus for funds and development of genetic software. The commander engages in urban warfare to control local power stations, preventing Yuri from powering his nuclear silo while powering the Allied superweapon instead. Following these victories, Yuri captures Albert Einstein, forcing him to work on his Psychic Dominator near the Great Pyramid in Egypt. The Allies commando Tanya Adams, however, frees Einstein, who has sabotaged the Psychic Dominator. The commander gets to use it once before it blows up. The Allied forces then attack Yuri's cloning facility in Sydney, Australia. Yuri intends to kidnap world leaders and replace them with mind-controlled clones.

Wishing to bring the war against Yuri to a conclusion, the Allies and Soviets leaders meet in the Parliament Building in London to sign a peace and joint cooperation treaty. Under Yuri's mind control, Allied Lieutenant Eva divulges the location. The Allied Commander is forced to defend the building against Yuri's onslaught long enough for the treaty to be ratified before destroying Yuri's London base with some assistance from the Soviets.

Lieutenant Eva traces Yuri's mind-controlling transmission, exposing his home base on Antarctic Peninsula. A joint Soviet-Allied invasion is launched, eradicating the base and capturing Yuri, who is locked away in a Psychic Isolation Chamber, where he "won't be able to mind-control a fly". Just as General Carville congratulates the commander, the two timelines began to merge. In the new timeline, instead of Yuri, it is Carville himself who interrupts the emergency meeting at the White House, much to the shock of President Dugan. Meanwhile, Tanya invites the commander to the victory gala, just like she did in the previous timeline. She is, however, interrupted by Lt. Eva this time, who also invites the commander to attend. Tanya complains to Einstein that he didn't get the timeline straight, and asks to be sent back to two hours ago. She then, with a wink, tells the commander that she'll catch him on the replay.

Soviet story branch

A Soviet strike team manages to capture the Allied time machine. After a misuse, which takes the Soviets to the Cretaceous era, the Soviets arrives at San Francisco during the Soviet occupation and destroys Yuri's still-incomplete Psychic Dominator. To prevent a future in which the Soviet Union loses the war to the Allies, the Soviet commander is put in charge of the assault on the Allied Chronosphere prototype in the Black Forest, Germany. This assault would have otherwise failed, as seen in ''Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2''. Without the Chronosphere, the Soviet Union becomes the ''de facto'' world superpower and focuses on destroying Yuri.

Yuri has occupied London. Having mind-controlled the Allied forces there, he starts slaughtering its citizens for raw materials and building a Psychic Dominator. To stop this, the Soviet forces infiltrate London and destroy a Psychic Beacon there, freeing the local Allied military from Yuri's mind control. A joint Allied-Soviet force then razes the Psychic Dominator minutes before it becomes operational.

After rescuing the Soviet Premier, whose plane was shot down over Casablanca, Morocco, the Soviet commander is deployed to an uncharted island in the Pacific Ocean where Yuri has set up a large base. After an extensive battle, the base is captured. It is revealed to be a launch facility hosting a spacecraft programmed to fly to the Moon, which Yuri intends to use as a refuge when the Psychic Dominator network goes online. The Soviets use this rocket to send a specialized task force there, razing and looting Yuri's bases.

Yuri is discovered in his ancestral home of Transylvania, where he has combined his own forces with mind-controlled Allied and Soviet forces around his stronghold. Despite his strength, however, the Soviet commander defeats Yuri's forces and razes Yuri's castle. In a last ditch effort, Yuri activates the time machine which he has stolen from San Francisco. Soviet Lieutenant Zofia interferes, causing Yuri to travel to the early Cretaceous with depleted power reserves. Stranded in time, Yuri is eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The Soviet Union, having imposed communism over the entire world, begins to build its space program, ready to spread its glorious cause to the far reaches of space.

30 years after the events of the first film, Amity Island is growing, making corporate connections with prestigious companies like Environplus to improve the island's economy. The increased population around the island and industrial activity has also attracted Earth's most fearsome creature and the game's main character: Jaws, an enormous, great white shark. When the son of Environplus CEO Steven Shaw is eaten by the ferocious beast, Shaw hires renowned shark hunter Cruz Raddock to track down and kill the shark. Meanwhile, marine biologist Michael Brody tries to capture the shark for research. Players are introduced to the controls and abilities of Jaws in a tutorial, where the player kills several divers, learns to attack swimmers at a beach, and must destroy a set of docks. Brody shows up at this point, captures Jaws, and transports him to Amity's marine theme park, similar to SeaWorld.

Jaws is put in a holding tank, where Brody, Vaughn, and Shaw argue about what to do with the shark. Shaw wants Jaws to be killed, as he killed his son and is endangering the beaches, whereas Mayor Vaughn wants to put the shark on display for tourists. After they leave, Jaws escapes from his holding tank and destroys the waterpark. In one of the exhibit tanks, Jaws kills the resident Orca. After this, the player is free to roam.

Brody tells the Mayor that his research has discovered that the subsonic frequencies emitted by Environplus's Seaseeker submarines are causing the sharks around Amity to become more aggressive and attack humans. The mayor brushes off Brody's complaint and decides to have the machines stay.

The shark finds his way into a beach party in the middle of the night, and attacks the swimmers. When a truck starts throwing explosive barrels in the water, Jaws grabs one, and throws it at a pipe line filled with oil. The barrel explodes, causing a chain reaction as the oil ignites that causes the entire Environplus refinery to catch fire and collapse into the ocean. After this, he causes more carnage, such as destroying an underwater facility, destroying an oil shipment, and killing Shaw and Mayor Vaughn by ramming his yacht into a barge filled with fireworks. Seeing this as the last straw, Cruz sets to blow up Jaws, but he is killed when his boat is destroyed. Brody drops a bomb over the wreckage of Cruz's boat, ''The Orca II''. Assuming the shark is dead, Brody, aboard the Coast Guard helicopter, flies away, but Jaws reveals himself to be alive and begins to follow the helicopter.

The plot is centered on B-ko's father Hikaru Daitokuji, a billionaire industrialist who bears a strong resemblance to Ted Turner and Tony Stark. B-ko's obsession with C-ko finds another outlet, as she uses her genius intellect to help the Alpha Cygnans repair their spaceship, since C-ko has developed a soft spot for the stranded Napolipolita and D. The Alpha Cygnans have turned their ship into a posh 30,000 room hotel, but long only to return home.

The plot also involves a stereotypical summertime swimming pool scene. The heroines are also being stalked by a steadily growing number of mysterious men in white suits, who all attempt to appear inconspicuous by nonchalantly reading newspapers. Later in the movie, they reveal themselves as spies, their mission being the capture of the Cygnan "super-technology."

The climax of the movie involves the military forces — being manipulated by Hikaru Daitokuji — attacking the Alpha Cygnan ship with a giant experimental mecha named the Queen Margarita (whose blueprints he confiscated from B-ko) in a greedy attempt at seizing their alien technology. This results in the movie's one truly classic moment, in which B-ko's father flies into the fray wearing one of his daughter's revealing Akagiyama battle suits and attempts to catch the Ship — which is plummeting back to Earth — and ends up blowing out his back (it appears that his spine is broken, but since he is seen walking again in FINAL, clearly this is not so).

''Project A-ko 3: Cinderella Rhapsody'' opens with a fluidly-animated dream sequence of A-ko, B-ko, and C-ko engaged in a game of pool. However, this has nothing to do with the rest of the storyline.

It's Spring Break for the students of Graviton High. While B-ko plots to whisk C-ko away to some secluded location, C-ko dreams only of spending time with A-ko, having fun as usual. A-ko, however, has other plans. She decides that it's time to "stop hanging around" with C-ko and find a boyfriend.

Unsatisfied with her wardrobe, she gets a job at a local fast food restaurant to earn money to buy new clothes. This leaves C-Ko feeling quite lonely, so she spends most of her days waiting for A-ko to get off of work.

One day, A-ko (literally) runs into Kei Yuki, a handsome biker. To her great delight, Kei returns to the restaurant where she works and seems to hang about. B-ko also notices Kei and decides to "steal" him from A-ko. Later, C-ko sees A-ko and Kei arriving on Kei's motorcycle. She runs up to A-ko and snarls and hisses at Kei like a feral cat, angry that he is robbing her of A-ko's affections.

A-ko and B-ko's battle for the habitually silent Kei culminates in a disastrous "date" at the Alpha Cygnans' Space Hotel. During the posh event, A-ko realizes that she removed her magic armbands which keep her powers under control. Without them, her strength is so great that it obliterates everything she touches. The destruction spurs Graviton City's overenthusiastic Public Works Defense Force into action. This colorful all-volunteer force (of which Miss Ayumi is a proud member) assemble from all corners of the city, clad in superhero outfits and piloting a small army of various mecha.

Just when it seems that all hell is going to break loose, A-ko and B-ko's melee comes to an abrupt halt when Kei reveals his love for C-ko. C-ko utterly rejects him.

A-ko and B-ko are both crushed and disappointed, but A-ko does find joy in being with her best friend again.

A-ko and B-ko are bounty-hunter partners who hunt giant tortoises on a sand planet. When C-ko is kidnapped by a gang of space pirates, A-ko and B-ko set off to rescue her—thinking only of the reward money offered by her wealthy father. Aided by a pint-sized Galactic Police Officer named Maruten, the girls discover that C-ko's abduction is part of a much larger scheme. Gail, the charismatic leader of the space pirates, intends to use C-ko's body as a host for the spirit of Xena, a long-dead sorceress. Although Gail believes that Xena will "purify" the universe, he is oblivious to her true motive—to annihilate all universes and create a new one in which she is the absolute ruler.

The final showdown occurs in the Talho sector, where Xena begins to merge all existing universes into one. This features A-ko and B-ko fighting each other in a variety of different eras and locations, including the climactic battle of the first movie. This seems to suggest that the two are always destined to battle.

The audience is also treated to what could be a brief glimpse of A-ko and B-ko back on planet Earth, in which the girls graduate from Graviton High and continue their rivalry for Kei in the workplace.

In the end, the universe is saved, Maruten takes all of the credit, and A-ko and B-ko are left as broke and short-tempered as they began.

Kang the Conqueror appears with his son Marcus, the new Scarlet Centurion in front of the U.N, after Marcus is barely defeated by Goliath, Triathlon, Iron Man, Vision, Wasp, and Warbird, and destroys the building using a blast from a space base, Damocles, which is shaped like a giant sword, but when Wasp talks of the murders he has committed, he shows none of the occupants have been killed. Kang creates a force-field around the group, and shows many visions of the Earth's possible futures, all of them dark and horrific. At first it is thought he intends to help the Earth, but then he announces that he wishes to conquer it in order to save it. Kang tells the UN that he will strike at France first. He then announces that any who conquer land in his name will have a place in his new order. Several groups and foes—including the Presence, the Deviants, and Attuma's Atlanteans, attack across the world. Kang knew that against an invading army the Earth would unite but against their own, they would be fractured. He then teleports away with the Centurion, by threatening to strike with lethal force if they make another attack. Meanwhile, the Presence is attacking Russia with a group of radioactive ghost-like creatures that most of the Soviet-Super Soldiers have been turned into and who several Avengers member meet.

After these attacks are stopped, Kang launches his invasion of Europe with his army from the far future. The Avengers and UN troops fight back valiantly at the ramparts they had constructed, while the American forces are occupied with an attack by the self-proclaimed Master of The World, who creates technological towers capable of resisting Kang around all major North American cities. Warbird finally manages to kill him—with some subtle assistance from Kang's son, who is infatuated with her.

The Avengers try to infiltrate Kang's starship, Damocles Base. Meanwhile, as part of a wrap up to a long-running plotline, the Avengers discover that the religious cult known as the Triune Understanding is trying to protect Earth from a mysterious threat named the Triple Evil. After the attack fails, the Avengers who had launched the attack (including Captain America) are stranded in space. Kang seizes control of the Sentinel Fleet the US planned to protect themselves with, and uses a futuristic weapon to devastate Washington DC and kill millions. With the threat of more such attacks, the world has no choice but to surrender to Kang, with the Wasp personally doing so for the Avengers.

The Avengers stranded in space are saved by Quasar and the Triune Understanding, aided by Justice, Firestar and Vision, who warn them that the Triple Evil has arrived; an enormous floating black pyramid on the far side of the moon. They confront it and eventually triumph, the ancient power of the billions the Triple Evil had destroyed passing to Triathlon, who becomes the re-embodiment of 3D-Man. Jonathan Tremont, the head of the Understanding, who had wanted the power for himself, is captured. The Avengers then learn that Earth has been conquered by Kang.

On Earth, Kang and the Scarlet Centurion are gloating over their victory when they are told the Avengers are attacking their main prison. Thor and the Avengers left on Earth free Wasp and many other heroes, taking them to the Master's base, which they use as their new base of operations. They discover how to activate his technology (the huge ring-walls) across America, which prove a massive threat to Kang. Their plan is to distract him so that Warbird, Thor, Iron Man, Wonder Man and Firestar can attack Damocles Base, with the Master's technology hopefully taking down its protective force field. Wasp has reservations until the President himself, who is safely at the base, encourages her to do it. She agrees, but first says she has to make some calls.

Meanwhile, Captain America's team in space heads for Earth, using the Pyramid's power. On Earth, Kang declares that he will destroy a city each hour until the Avengers surrender. Before he make good his threat, the Master's technological towers erupt from the ground and attack. Thanks to Jan's calls, across the world others assault Kang's forces, including the Presence, the Atlanteans and the Deviants. With his forces locked in a counter-attack, Kang and the Centurion retreat to Damocles Base. From there, he locates the Avengers' new base and opens fire on it. Facing a no-win situation, the five heroes who had agreed to attack his base take off anyway. Just as Kang is about to triumph, the Pyramid materializes beside Damocles Base, opening fire on it. Captain America tells Triathlon to ready the technology.

Kang uses his technology to project an enormous holographic projection of himself in Space. He tells the Avengers that he can counter all their capabilities. Kang turns to find an enormous holographic projection of Captain America in space beside him, the same size, saying "Now you miserable jacked-up little tin Hitler... Let's end this."

Vision, Quasar, Justice, Jack of Hearts, Firestar and Photon attack Kang's base along with the pyramid, even as the giant Captain battles the giant Kang. Damocles Base focuses its fire on the pyramid, allowing the Earth defenses to attack it, even as the heroes from Earth join the battle against it. The Presence and Starlight also fly into space to aid them. Kang has the edge on Captain America and is about to defeat him, but at that point the damage to Damocles Base becomes so severe, Kang is unable to maintain the holographic projection.

Triathlon is unsure whether or not to continue using his power, since it belongs to dead civilizations. Enraged, the captive Tremont uses his remaining power to break free and charge into space, using all of his power to take down the Damocles Base force field, even as he himself is vaporized. The Avengers assault the base, and Warbird destroys the main core. Kang then forces the Scarlet Centurion to take a capsule to his own time, leaving Kang to die honorably. The Avengers evacuate as the crippled Damocles Base plunges to Earth.

The base crash lands in Maryland, causing devastation. Kang alone survives, finding the Avengers waiting as he emerges from the ruin. He tells them he wishes to die fighting. Captain America steps up to battle him alone, shield against sword. The Captain defeats Kang in battle, and takes him into captivity. Triathlon declares he has to leave to get in touch with himself as the Avengers fly back. They are told that most of Kang's armies are now surrendering. Across the world, millions of people cheered their salvation, celebrating. The festivities are interrupted when the Avengers discover that the Master's base is beginning to self-destruct.

Kang, in his cell, is content to die as he had built an Empire, won great victories and even defeated the Avengers. However, the Scarlet Centurion arrives and saves him. An angry Kang tells Marcus that he should not have done so, but returns to his ship. Kang takes Marcus into his private chambers, which is revealed to be a morgue with twenty-two bodies, all of them exact duplicates of Marcus. Kang tells him that he is not the first Marcus, but the previous ones had always proved unsuitable. He had thought that Marcus was different, but then revealed that he had known all along that Marcus had helped Warbird. If Marcus had confessed, Kang would have been content to die and let Marcus be his heir. But since he had survived, Kang could not tolerate a traitor. He then stabbed Marcus in the chest, killing him.

Just as Gunvald Larsson arrives to replace a colleague, the apartment of a drug dealer in Stockholm, the house he is observing suddenly explodes into flames. Larsson tries to break into the house to rescue the residents, while an anonymous person calls the fire brigade from a payphone. The fire brigade arrives too late and some residents are killed.

The investigation finds that the drug dealer under surveillance has committed suicide by gas poisoning and blocked all the openings of his room. Beck still has doubts about this happening: where did the spark for the explosion come from and why did the fire department take so long to arrive? The doubts are justified, as it turns out according to the findings of the Crime Lab: the gas was lit by a hidden incendiary bomb in the mattress of the deceased.

The suspect, who had placed the incendiary, was, as it turns out, a Lebanese professional killer entering the country specifically to kill the drug dealer. He had himself called the firefighters as he wanted to avoid harming bystanders but accidentally due to lack of local knowledge he said the name of the wrong location.

In the world of ''Panzer Bandit'', sources have since gone scarce with the reduction in energy that is consistently used by humans. For this, an organization called Arc, led by the evil Prof. Fuarado, seek to manipulate the consumption of preserved energy and ultimately conquer the world with that in possession. For the course of the game, four heroes are required to take the preserved energy before Arc and ultimately, destroy whatever is left of Arc.

The series focuses on a battle between Maximal and Predacon factions for possession of mysterious Angolmois Capsules. The lone "one-man army" Big Convoy is assigned the task of being a teacher to a group of young recruits against Magmatron's group. By the end of the series, however, both forces unite to oppose the wrath of the dark god Unicron and his sub-group, the Blentrons.

A Gainesville, Florida auto upholsterer George Gattling, played by Paul Giamatti, is a man out of place in the world and out of place in his own skin.

Gattling attempts to transcend his mundane life by training a wild red-tailed hawk. He owns University Custom Auto Shop and is the disgruntled patriarch of his family: his divorced sister, Precious, and her 20-year-old autistic son, Fred. He's also the unwitting case study of a "life-gone-wrong" for Betty, a young psychology student who works in the auto shop.

Gattling dreams of capturing and training hawks. It is an ancient art that requires precision (you only have a few days to succeed) and extremes (only through practically killing yourself and the bird are you brought together). It is the obsession he shares with Fred. In the quiet pre-dawn tracking of the birds, Gattling feels like a man temporarily freed from the absurdity of civilized life.

After several years of failed attempts, George and his nephew Fred capture the most magnificent bird they have ever seen—the red-tailed hawk. That night, Fred dies in a freak accident, drowning in his water bed. Grief-stricken, George sees his only chance to survive tied together with this bird. He becomes determined to tame her — meaning that he will not eat or sleep, nor will she, until it's all over. At his weakest moment, he locks himself into a battle of wills with the only creature on earth that would rather die than succumb. To the rest of the world, it appears George has gone mad; the closer he gets to achieving success, the crazier his family thinks he's become. Betty is the only one who realizes that George must take himself to the bottom to truly be saved. She watches as George is released into a world where the senses are awakened and emotions are unchecked—a world where one can see and feel the "blood of things".

A succession of raids leaves a tribe of Vikings without anyone to fight against them. The tribe's adviser, Cryptograf, concludes that their enemies have all fled, stating that "fear gives you wings". The Viking's chief, Timandahaf, misinterprets his adviser's words and declares they must find a "Champion of Fear", believing that if the tribe were to become great cowards, they'll be able to fly and become invincible. Cryptograf, secretly wishing to seize power from Timandahaf, goes along with it and declares that they'll find who they seek within Gaul. While en route, Timandahaf is shocked to learn that his daughter Abba snuck aboard disguised as a man, after he refused to take her with him. Despite being angry, he reluctantly keeps her among his crew.

Meanwhile, in the rebel village of the Gauls, the villagers welcome the arrival of chief Vitalstatistix's nephew Justforkix, who is to be trained to be a man. However, his nephew is more interested in chasing girls, using a bird to send messages to them, and is a vegetarian, much to the shock of Obelix. Obelix and Asterix attempt to train him to be a warrior, but lack success because of his pacifist nature and his refusal to drink the village's magic potion, which gives the villagers their super-human strength. When the Vikings arrive near their village, Cryptograf explains to his incredibly stupid son Olaf that he could claim Abba as his wife if he were to capture the Champion, thus putting him next in line as the tribe's chief, with his father secretly calling the shots.

When Olaf captures Justforkix, after witnessing his cowardice, Asterix and Obelix find themselves having to rescue him before his father visits their village. Travelling to Norway, the pair attempt to rescue Justforkix. However, he refuses to leave as he has fallen in love with Abba and she with him. When the vikings test Justforkix's flying skills by throwing him from a cliff, Cryptograf secretly rigs up a rope to him that causes him to be suspended in the foggy air. Tricked into believing he is the Champion, the Vikings rush to Olaf's wedding ceremony, leaving Justforkix to be rescued by Asterix and Obelix. Before they can take him back to Gaul, Justforkix secretly takes some magic potion, and swims back to the Viking's village.

Despite the risk, Justforkix rescues Abba, managing to fly by making an improvised hang-glider from a ship's mast and sail. While Cryptograf and Olaf are shunned for their deception, the Vikings travel back to the Gauls' village to celebrate the wedding of Justforkix and Abba. When Cacofonix decides to sing during the ceremony, the Vikings finally experience real fear and make a run for it. When Asterix asks him what fear is good for, Getafix explains how real courage means overcoming fears.

The American oil company KIK Corporation is building an ice road to explore the remote northern Arctic National Wildlife Refuge seeking energy independence. Independent environmentalists work together in a drilling base headed by the tough Ed Pollack in a sort of agreement with the government, approving procedures and sending reports of the operation. A friendly football game outside of the housing area is interrupted when environmental scientist Elliot accidentally collides with rookie oil worker Maxwell, resulting in Elliot getting a bloody nose. That night, Maxwell is disturbed by sighting a spectral herd of Caribou charging past the camp; the eerie sight of the ghostly animals unnerves him. The next day, Maxwell is dispatched to check on one of the sites the drilling team is working on and mysteriously goes missing for most of the day. He stumbles back to camp that night traumatized, just as the others are about to head out into wastes to look for him, claiming that his radio had been "screeching at him". Maxwell gets into an angry confrontation with environmental scientist James Hoffman, admitting that he didn't want to work on the oil site but his father, a friend of Pollack, thought it would be good for him; Maxwell states that he "saw something" out in the snow and demands that Hoffman who has repeatedly been raising the alarm about drilling in the area due to the extremely warm(for Alaska) temperature, tell the public.

That night, Maxwell, still partly delirious, strips naked and ventures out with a video camera, intending to document the paranormal phenomena. He captures the spectral herd of Caribou passing on camera before something strikes him from behind. When he is found dead out on the snow the next morning, Hoffman suspects that sour gas (natural gas containing hydrogen sulfide) may have been leaked out as a result of runaway climate change (arctic methane release). The sour gas might then be provoking hallucinations and insanity in the group. Elliot, Hoffman's partner, attempts to email the outside world, but can't get a signal; he then dies shortly thereafter, possibly of a brain aneurysm. Hoffman had refused to sign off on permission for heavy equipment to be brought in to help move drilling equipment due to potential damage to the tundra earlier in the film; Pollack and his boss, Foster, arrange for Hoffman to be replaced as a result. Hoffman convinces Ed to travel with the team to a hospital for examination after Elliot's death; however, the bush plane arriving to pick them up crashes into their building, badly damaging it. Gary, the pilot, and the replacement environmental scientist, Marshowitz, are both killed in the crash; Foster is horrifically burned, but manages to live out the night before dying. Native Alaskan worker Lee vanishes without a trace the next morning; the sound of hooves, the same sound which occurred prior to each appearance of the ghostly caribou, is heard. The only thing left are his boots, still propped up as if someone was standing in them. His fellow Native Alaskan worker, Dawn goes insane shortly thereafter and murders Motor, the station mechanic, who had been injured when the plane crashed into the building. Abby stumbles upon the scene and, in an altercation with Dawn, pushes her over a shelf, causing Dawn to fall and break her neck.

One of the characters presently opines that nature itself has turned against mankind. Documentation and research found in an abandoned shack in the middle of the Arctic by another team member suggest that the Earth is releasing 'The Last Winter'. This implies that the rapacious, virus-like behavior of oil-seeking humans has resurrected the 'ghosts' of the fossil-fuels being siphoned out of the ground. The chief catalyst here is allegedly the spirit of the Wendigo; Dawn, while treating one of Elliot's nose bleeds, refers to a similar spirit from Algonquin mythology known as the Chenoo. In the penultimate scene, Hoffman must decide whether to fire a flare gun at a ghost stalking Pollack, or up into the air to summon help from a nearby town, opting for the latter. This action causes the creature, a massive, ghostly moose, to focus on Hoffman instead of Pollack, and it grabs him and carries him off. The scene then segues into a montage of past life images which interrupt themselves long enough to reveal Pollack being attacked and presumably killed by a trio of spectral creatures.

The ending scene is that of the only surviving researcher, Abby Sellers, waking up alone in a deserted hospital with no recollection of arriving there. A news anchorman is broadcasting over a television in the waiting room about natural disasters occurring nationwide. She discovers a male employee who has committed suicide by hanging himself in one of the rooms. She proceeds outside, and the camera's perspective switches to a claustrophobic overhead shot that gives away very little of what she is witnessing. There are pools of water on the ground nearby. In the background she hears car alarms and the sound of the wind, as well as a fluttering noise similar to that made by the murderous "ghost" creatures further north in the Alaskan snow fields.

J.D.'s story begins with a first-person narrative, setting the tone and style of the series while introducing the main characters. J.D.'s life slowly unfolds to the audience, showing flashbacks to illustrate J.D.'s relationship with his best friend and fellow doctor Chris Turk. They soon meet Elliot Reid, J.D.'s recurring love interest throughout the series, as well as a number of other key characters in the series. A flashback to the previous day's orientation shows hospital lawyer Ted Buckland advising the doctors on malpractice. Following Ted's presentation, chief of medicine Dr. Bob Kelso introduces himself as the new doctors' "safety net". J.D. reflects that surgical and medical interns are on opposite sides of the hospital's social spectrum, and fears that Turk, a surgical intern, will end their friendship.

As J.D.'s day continues, he is thrust into the fray, but freezes up and relies on nurse Carla Espinosa to carry out a routine IV placement. This scene marks the first appearance of Doctor Perry Cox, J.D.'s reluctant mentor. The first interaction between the two — with Cox mercilessly belittling J.D. — sets up their future relationship.

J.D.'s first movement towards Elliot occurs during rounds with Dr. Kelso, in which J.D. gives Elliot an answer when she appears to be struggling. He then asks her out to dinner. Later, when she refuses to help J.D., he rescinds his invitation. J.D. wonders if Turk is having the same difficulties as he is. After a short conversation, it becomes apparent that Turk is enjoying being a surgical intern. J.D. is introduced to Todd Quinlan, who gives J.D. one of his signature high-fives.

On his second day, J.D., while waiting for Elliot, encounters the hospital's janitor repairing an automatic door. J.D. innocently speculates that the cause of the problem is that maybe a penny is stuck in the door. The suspicious janitor swears vengeance. When J.D. receives his first code page, he hides in a medical supply closet and discovers Elliot hiding as well. Dr. Cox finds them hiding and is unfazed. Turk and Carla's relationship becomes sexual during an encounter in the on-call room. Later on, when Elliot mentions this to Carla, Carla gives Elliot a long speech about judging others, leaving Elliot dumbfounded.

During J.D.'s first night on call, he has the nurses do a number of his procedures. Nurse Laverne Roberts tells him that a patient he had bonded with earlier has died, and says, "Just pronounce him so I can go home". Shortly afterward, J.D. runs into Turk, who admits that he, too, is scared of the new hospital environment, and that he has already moved his things into J.D.'s apartment.

When J.D. asks him for help, Dr. Kelso shows his dark side; he angrily tells J.D. that he only cares about patients who have the necessary health insurance, and that he only carries a chart with him everywhere so that he can pretend to remember the new interns' names. J.D. eventually overcomes his fears and, with Dr. Cox's encouragement, successfully inserts a chest tube. Elliot comes to tell J.D. she talked to the family of his patient which was pronounced dead, as an apology. She then kisses J.D. on the cheek. Happy to have gone through his first three days "without looking like a complete idiot", he leaves and runs into a glass door.

Amelia and her husband, Professor Radcliffe Emerson, return to Egypt for the 1894–95 season to excavate the ruined pyramids of Mazghunah, which pale in comparison to the nearby dig at Dahshoor – but that is all Emerson could get after annoying the Department of Antiquities. On this trip, the Emersons bring along their young son Walter (aka Ramses) and his cat Bastet, along with a sturdy footman to keep Ramses out of trouble. This is Ramses' first trip to Egypt, after studying and hearing about it for all his young life.

:Ramses got off his donkey. Squatting, he began to sift through the debris...[He] held up an object that looked like a broken branch. "It is a femuw," he said in a trembling voice. "Excuse me, Mama - a femur, I meant to say." [...]

:Ramses rose obediently. The warm breeze of the desert ruffled his hair. His eyes glowed with the fervor of a pilgrim who has finally reached the Holy City. (''TMC'', chapter 5)

While in Cairo, Amelia hears rumors of a scrap of papyrus which no one will confess to owning, but which has the local antiquities dealers living in fear of the man who is after it.

No sooner does the family settle in near their dig than they are paid a visit by a group of American missionaries who have set up shop nearby, then the rival archaeologist who ''did'' get permission to dig at Dahshoor, then a German noblewoman with more money than taste...and then a thief who steals one of the objects the Emersons find at Mazghunah, a mummy case.

''Princess Princess'' is a story revolving around the lives of three boys chosen to dress up as girls at the all-boy school they attend, which also just happens to be the most elite school in the area. The main protagonist, Toru Kouno, has just transferred to a new all-boys school, Fujimori, after living with his uncle for a time. He is one such boy chosen to be one of the or "Princesses", which is a tradition at the school in order to break up the monotony of life surrounded by nothing but males. Students (based on certain qualifications) are selected to be Princesses and are made to dress up as girls and attend school functions like this.

At the beginning of the story, there are already two such Princesses, Yuujirou Shihodani and Mikoto Yutaka, known as the Western Princess and Eastern Princess respectively, due to their room location. Toru is convinced into becoming a Princess soon after entering the school though once he accepted the job, he found it to be much more enjoyable than he thought.

Princess system

A candidate for a Princess must be a first year student of the school since they: have more free time from school work, their bodies have not fully developed, and they can easily wear girls' outfits. From all the first years, those with the best looks and most-suited personalities are chosen to be Princesses. However, if one only has good looks but is not popular, that person will not be chosen. The Princesses' duties consist of: wearing girl's clothes to morning meetings or school events, encouraging others at school, and cheering at school events. Students who are required to be Princesses cannot refuse the position.

When there is a conflict between a Princess' work and school classes, absence from class or leaving early can be considered as a school vacation, and the absence will not show up on his attendance record. Every month the Princesses receive thirty school luncheon vouchers each. Therefore, when they eat at school, they do not have to pay. All necessary school supplies (notebooks, school apparel, etc.) are covered by the Princess budget, which is the largest in the whole school. Also, the Princesses will receive partial profit they can use as pocket money from the photography club that takes pictures of the Princesses and sells them to other students. The school rules require the photography club to share profits with whoever serves as model for the photos they sell, and the photographs of the Princesses are the most sought-after.

Charlemagne "Charlie" Fotheringham-Grunes, the apprentice saviour of the universe, has been asked to find the source of mysterious signals from the moon which turn out to be a black monolith (a homage to the film ''2001: A Space Odyssey''). Charlie promptly volunteers for the task of going to the moon and finding the monolith.

Christopher and Leslie are a couple in their mid to late 20s who have no-strings-attached sex on a regular basis. After another get-together, they debate and argue over the meaning of their relationship and the nature of sex vs. love, with each of them claiming that the other is the only one developing feelings, before both finally say "I love you" to each other.

Freddy and Jay are a pair of college guys who, after having sex, argue over Jay refusing to admit that he is gay until Freddy tells him about his teenaged years of hiding his homosexuality out of fear of being shunned, and tells Jay that he cannot be honest with others about his sexual orientation before he is honest with himself.

Kristy and Sam are a teenaged couple, both of whom have just had sex for the first time in Kristy's bedroom, and after some small talk, Sam has to hide when Kristy's mother, Janet, shows up for a talk about sex with Kristy.

Nikki and Kat are two college roommates who are in a casual sexual relationship where Nikki allows Kat to perform oral sex on her, but insists that she is not a lesbian and only likes the oral sex because Kat performs it better than a guy. During their visit to the campus library, Kat admits to Nikki that she really is a lesbian, but is comfortable with hiding the fact from her strict parents.

Trudy and Gene are a middle-aged, interracial couple who have sex in a nature park, and during the walk back, talk about how they first met at an orgy during the "sexual revolution" of the 1970s and about their children who seem not to understand their active sexual lifestyle.

Neil and Bob are a closeted 30-something gay couple who have sex in Neil's apartment. Afterwards, Neil drives Bob home to his house, where during the drive, they discuss their roles as gay men in a relationship and who is the "butch" and the "bitch", since they both have different backgrounds and careers. The next day, Neil is revealed as the lead singer in a hair rock band, and Bob is a high school football coach.

David and Jordy are an ex-couple who have met at a cheap motel for sex where David defends his infidelity and womanizing as the person that he is, while Jordy is a troubled woman who cannot seem to let go of her ex, despite her knowledge of his unapologetic cheating.

Marco and Alanna are two strangers who have sex after meeting at a nightclub; afterwards they arrive in Marco's loft, where they learn more about each other, but Marco is soon disturbed about the dull-witted Alanna's admission of being a high-priced escort and of her love for sex with strangers for money.

Shōichi Kamita is a second-year high school student who is worried about university exams and his future. In this point in his life, he comes into contact with various girls, and the series follows Shōichi and his relationships with them.

The film tells the story of the amazingly naive and inept Lieutenant Roger Carrington (Berry) of the United States Army Air Forces beginning in January 1944 during World War II. After accidentally falling out of a C-47 when attempting to drop airborne leaflet propaganda, he lands in German territory. Escaping pursuing German soldiers, he is hidden by a local baroness named Marlene (Gabor). Luckily, Marlene is against the Nazis, and sympathizes with Carrington, taking him under her wing to recover, and eventually falling in love with him.

Unfortunately, when World War II ends, Marlene realizes that Carrington will leave when he finds this out. Not wanting him to go yet, she decides not to tell him about the war ending so he will stay, and she manages to keep him with her for nearly five years, explaining the Allies are continuously losing, then recapturing England. Around then is when Carrington convinces himself that it's his duty to continue fighting on a one man sabotage operation. He leaves Marlene's estate, not realizing he's now in a peacetime country. The only problem is, no one can tell him the war is over because no one around him speaks English including the Baroness' maid Eva who accompanies him.

Widow Bea Pullman and her two-year-old daughter Jessie are having a rough morning. Jessie demands her "quack quack" (her rubber duck) and doesn't want to go to the day nursery. She must: her mother is continuing her husband’s business, selling heavy cans of maple syrup door-to-door, and making very little money. Black housekeeper Delilah Johnson has also had a bad morning. She misread an advertisement and came to the wrong house—Bea’s.

Trying to reach her duck, Jessie falls fully clothed into the bathtub, and Bea runs upstairs. When she returns, Delilah has fixed breakfast. Delilah explains that no one wants a housekeeper with a child, and introduces her daughter Peola, whose fair complexion conceals her ancestry. Bea can't begin to afford help, so Delilah offers to keep house in exchange for room and board. The four quickly become like family. They all particularly enjoy Delilah's pancakes, made from a secret family recipe.

Bea uses her business wiles to get a storefront and living quarters on the boardwalk refurbished on credit, and they open a pancake restaurant where Delilah and Bea cook in the front window. (Signage indicates that they are on the Jersey Shore in Pleasantville. A title card mentioning Atlantic City was removed. See below.)

Five years later, they are debt-free. The little girls are good friends, but one day Jessie calls Peola "black". Peola runs into the apartment declaring that she is not black, won't be black, and that it is her mother who makes her black. Cradling her weeping daughter, Delilah tells Bea that this is simply the truth, and Peola has to learn to live with it. Peola's father, a light-skinned African American, had the same struggle, and it broke him. Delilah receives another blow when she finds out that Peola has been "passing" at school.

One day, Elmer Smith, a hungry passerby, offers Bea a two-word idea in exchange for a meal: "Box it [the flour]." Bea hires him, and they set up the hugely successful "Delilah's Pancake Flour" business. Delilah refuses to sign the incorporation papers, and when Bea tells her that she can now afford her own home, Delilah is crushed. She does not want to break up the family. So the two friends continue to live together, and Bea puts Delilah's share in the bank.

Ten years pass. Both women are wealthy and share a mansion in New York City. Delilah becomes a mainstay of the African-American community, supporting many lodges and charitable organizations and her church. She tries to give Peola every advantage, including sending her to a fine Negro college in the South, but Peola runs away.

Meanwhile, Elmer arranges for Bea to meet a handsome ichthyologist, Stephen Archer; they hit it off immediately and plan to marry. Then eighteen-year-old Jessie comes home on college vacation, and during the five days it takes for Bea and Delilah to find Peola, she falls in love with Stephen.

Peola has taken a job in a segregated restaurant, serving white customers only, in Virginia. When her mother and Bea find her, she denies Delilah.

Peola finally tells her mother that she is going away, never to return, so she can pass as a white woman, and if they meet on the street, her mother must not speak to her. Delilah is heartbroken and takes to her bed, murmuring Peola's name and forgiving her before eventually succumbing to heartbreak.

Delilah has the grand funeral she always wanted, with marching bands and a horse-drawn white silk hearse, and all the lodges processing in a slow march. The coffin is carried from the church to the hearse through the saber arch of an honor guard, and a remorseful, sobbing Peola rushes to embrace it, begging her dead mother to forgive her. Bea and Jessie gather her into their arms and take her into the car with them.

Peola decides to return to college. Bea asks Stephen to wait, promising to come to him after Jessie is over her infatuation. At the end, Bea starts to tell Jessie about her insistent demands for her "quack quack" and the day they met Delilah.

In Seattle, straight-laced Matt Leland (O'Donnell) falls in love with beautiful Casey Roberts (Barrymore), the new schoolmate from Chicago. They begin a relationship.

She deliberately sets off the fire alarm at school, trying to get Matt's attention, and is subsequently suspended. She has an argument with her parents over it and they tell her they are sending her to a boarding school. His father disapproves of their relationship and her parents try to stop them from continuing to see each other. She takes an overdose and they subsequently have her committed. Matt helps her escape from the psychiatric ward, and as they run away they must deal with her borderline personality disorder.

Casey is eccentric in nature. Her impulsiveness and risk-taking is attributed to her illness, in which she experiences frequent intense feelings of passion toward Matt and of fear and destructiveness, which dominate her persona. Throughout the relationship, Matt selflessly puts her needs before his. The severity of her highs and lows increase as her mental state worsens.

Heading toward Mexico in Matt's SUV, Casey becomes increasingly reckless and overemotional. They crash and abandon the vehicle. They hitchhike, accepting a lift from a salesman (Liev Schreiber). He puts his hand on Casey's lap and she protects herself with a lit cigarette. He throws her out and a fight ensues between him and Matt. They steal his car and continue their journey.

Casey becomes more distressed and Matt does his best to help her. She scares him; after she threatens suicide and also threatens to shoot him with a gun she took from the glove compartment in the salesman's car. They return to Seattle and their families, where she is readmitted to the psychiatric hospital. Matt goes home, missing their time together. He later receives a letter from Casey saying she has moved back to Chicago and now feels significantly better. She writes "I had a dream last night, you were in it. You waved to me, maybe to say goodbye, it doesn't matter. Whatever happens, I'm proud of what we went through. It helps me get through the day. That, and you in my heart" implying she wants him back.

In 1947, single mother Lora Meredith dreams of becoming a famous Broadway actress. Losing track of her young daughter Susie at a crowded Coney Island beach, she asks a stranger, Steve Archer, to help her find the girl. Meanwhile, Susie has been found and looked after by Annie Johnson, who is also a single mother with a daughter, Sarah Jane, who is about Susie's age. With the help of Steve and a police officer, Lora is reunited with Susie. The Merediths are white and the Johnsons are black, but Lora initially assumes Sarah Jane is white and not Annie's daughter. Sarah Jane's fair skin allows her to pass as white and she fervently rejects being identified as black.

In return for Annie's kindness, Lora temporarily takes in Annie and her daughter. Annie persuades Lora to let her stay and look after the household so that she can pursue an acting career. Lora becomes a star of stage comedies, with Allen Loomis as her agent and David Edwards as her chief playwright. Although Lora had begun a relationship with Steve, their courtship falls apart because he does not want her to be a star. Lora's concentration on her career prevents her from spending time with Susie, who sees more of Annie. Annie and Sarah Jane have their own problems, as Sarah Jane is struggling with her identity.

Eleven years later, Lora is a highly regarded Broadway star living in a luxurious home near New York City. Annie continues to live with her, serving as nanny, housekeeper, confidante, and best friend. After rejecting David's latest script (and his marriage proposal), Lora takes a role in a dramatic play. At the show's after-party, she encounters Steve, whom she has not seen in a decade. The two slowly begin rekindling their relationship, and Steve is reintroduced to Annie, and the now-teenaged Susie and Sarah Jane. When Lora is signed to star in an Italian movie she leaves Steve to watch after Susie. The teenager develops an unrequited crush on her mother's boyfriend.

Sarah Jane begins dating a white teenager, but he beats her in an alleyway after learning she is black. Some time later, she again passes for white to get a job performing at a seedy nightclub, but tells her mother she is working at the library. When Annie learns the truth, she goes to the club to claim her daughter; Sarah Jane is fired. Sarah Jane's rejection of her mother takes a physical and mental toll on Annie. When Lora returns from Italy, Sarah Jane has run away from home, leaving Annie a note that says if she truly does care about her, she will leave her alone and let her live her life.

Lora asks Steve to hire a private detective to find Sarah Jane. The detective finds her living and working in California as a white woman under an assumed name. Annie, becoming weaker and more depressed by the day, flies out to see her daughter one last time and say goodbye. Upon meeting with Sarah Jane, Annie apologizes for being selfish by loving her too much and wishes her the best. Annie pleads to Sarah Jane that if she ever needs help, she will reach out to her, and the two share an embrace. Sarah Jane's roommate interrupts them and presumes Annie is a maid. Annie tells the roommate that she is a former nanny of "Miss Linda," Sarah Jane's new name.

Annie is bedridden upon her return to New York and Lora and Susie look after her. The issue of Susie's crush on Steve becomes serious when Susie learns that Steve and Lora are to be married. Annie tells Lora of the girl's crush. After a confrontation with her mother, Susie decides to go away to school in Denver to forget about Steve. Soon after their argument, Annie dies with Lora crying hysterically by her side. As she wished, Annie is given a lavish funeral in a large church, complete with a gospel choir, followed by an elaborate traditional funeral procession with a band and four white horses drawing the hearse. Just before the procession sets off, a bereaved and guilt-ridden Sarah Jane pushes through the crowd of mourners to throw herself upon her mother's casket apologizing and begging for her mother's forgiveness, proclaiming "I killed my own mother!" Lora takes Sarah Jane to their limousine to join her, Susie, and Steve as the procession slowly travels through a city street.

The film starts with the arrival of Callum at a small juvenile facility run by Jed, and consisting of Steve, Blue, Jethro, Lindsay, Davie and Lewis. It is implied that the group gives Davie and Lindsay a hard time, and when Davie answers back to Steve's taunts, Steve and Lewis humiliate the two by urinating on them. Callum later discovers Davie has killed himself by slashing his wrists. Davie's dad learns about the suicide and the group, along with Jed, are sent to an island for team building exercises. Once arriving, the group notices something odd about it.

Callum is knocked out by an unseen force and is discovered by the group. They go swimming and afterwards Jed notices a campfire in the distance. Lindsay is captured by an unseen force. They then meet a group of women, consisting of team leader Louise and her charges Jo and Mandy. Jed and Louise come to agreement to keep the groups separate, while Jo and Lewis form a romance.

Steve and Lewis discover a homeless man and chase after him. The man attacks Steve with a stick in defence, prompting Steve to beat him with it and Callum later discovers him dead. Callum is caught by Jed and Louise washing the blood off his hands and is handcuffed to a tree. Jed discovers his emergency phone missing and blames the group for taking it, which angers Steve. Jed and Louise decide to merge the groups for safety.

The next morning Jethro wakes up to go get more water and is then attacked by something. Jed orders Blue and Lindsay to go find him and they discover his dismembered arm in the water. The group is then ambushed and Jed shot with arrows to disable him and then disemboweled & gets mauled by a group of four dogs who act on command via a whistle. One of the dogs chases Louise and Callum but Louise sacrifices herself by leading the dogs away and she is knocked off a cliff.

The group discover Jethro's body hanging from a tree with the letter D carved into his flesh. They find a cabin and take refuge in it. Lindsay reveals everything he knew, including who the killer is, which is Davie's dad. The next morning the group venture outside and Blue attempts to rape Jo enraging Lewis who attacks him and Blue runs away only to step on a bear trap and although Mandy and Callum attempt to free Blue he is killed after he falls face first into another trap. Davie's dad then forces the rest of them out of the cabin with smoke. As they make their escape Steve leaves Lindsay who is struggling to keep up.

The remaining group finds that Louise is alive but badly injured so they decide to put her in a safe, dry area and go and search for a boat but Louise is killed when Davie's dad sneaks up on her in camouflage and slashes her throat. The group split up to search for a boat with Steve teaming up with Lewis and Callum with the girls. Steve finds a boat and plans to leave the others and Lewis agrees to it eventually. They discover the fuel line is cut and Davie's dad shoots at them with a flaming arrow causing the boat to go up in flames. The dogs return and Steve and Lewis climb up the rock face to avoid them and the rest wading into the water. Steve and Lewis discover Lindsay and attack him and eventually use him as bait for the dogs.

The dogs are eventually called back but one stays behind and Callum kills it. The group discovers Louise's head on a stick with Davie's name written in blood on her head, prompting Callum to cut the dog's head off. They then cook the dog and eat it. Callum then walks to the islands highest point and holds the dogs head up trying to distract Davie's dad. Steve and Mandy then fight the next morning over what to do next and Steve attacks her.

Lewis subdues Steve and Steve calms down while Mandy runs away. Jo then tells Steve he is poison and Lewis does not need him any longer, prompting him to kill Lewis. Jo then runs away and is caught in a trap. Steve finds her and she begs him for help. He then declines and she is burned alive.

Steve runs into Lindsay and ties him to a tree. Davie's dad appears and Steve claims Lindsay is the one who bullied Davie but the dad forces Steve to feel his sons pain and cut his wrists. Steve then taunts him and throws a knife in his leg, only to be shot in the head with the crossbow. Davie's dad cuts Lindsay free and tells him to meet him by the boat, which Mandy overhears as she hides in the tree line. Callum appears and calls the dad out on his actions.

The two fight and Callum wounds the dad with an axe and chases after Davie's dad with the crossbow. Mandy confronts Lindsay over his actions and he confesses to asking Davie's dad to come and kill them all, Lindsay smiles as he backs away from her and falls off the cliff to his death. Callum prepares to shoot Davie's dad with the crossbow but the latter succumbs to his wounds on the beach. Mandy and Callum reunite and Callum states that "everyone died on the island". The two then get on the boat and leave the island.

The game starts with Hay Lin, one of the five main protagonists, having a vision. The W.I.T.C.H. Guardians Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin embark on a mission to defeat the series' antagonist, Prince Phobos.

Bill, Graeme and Tim have decided to run their own agency. Using Tim's inheritance, Graeme has made a modern high-tech residence/office that contains various features such as a fully stocked supermarket, a high-tech computer and a picture window that can show various images when the blinds close. Delighted with the new office (aside from the lack of a phone for which they utilize an old lady downstairs), they set to work on promoting their business, which is not exactly clear to any of them, considering their marketing catch-phrase "Anything, anytime" is too vague.

Bill, who was in charge of advertising their agency, has put advertisements into various magazines and newspapers. Graeme comments that Bill is casting the net a bit wide; Bill replies that he does not know what they (The Goodies) do. Tim comments that they were "going to do... good to.... people" — to which Bill responds "How wet!"

The Goodies are almost immediately summoned to the Tower of London, where they meet the Chief Beefeater in the kitchens of the Tower (renovated from a disused torture chamber). He tells them that somebody is stealing the Beefeaters' beef and, as a result, the Beefeaters are starving as they refuse to eat anything else but corned beef and are now only three feet tall. The Chief Beefeater asks The Goodies to find out who is stealing the beef, and why.

Back at their office, The Goodies attempt to solve the mystery by suggesting "bulls or poultry farmers" as the conspirators. However, Bill has a mental image (a strange effect from sucking on lemon sherbert) of a pictogram revealing that someone is starving the Beefeaters in order to steal the Crown Jewels. They are called back to the Tower (disguised as Beefeaters) by the Chief Beefeater, where they discover that the last remaining Beefeaters have perished "from the lack of beef".

The Goodies get to work, setting up an elaborate security system protecting the Crown Jewels from attempted robbery. Soon after, they catch a burglar who, strangely enough, bears an official royal seal that reads "by appointment". As the Chief Beefeater interrogates the burglar, The Goodies spot a man on a horse outside the Tower, who appears to resemble Prince Charles. Believing him to be an imposter and accomplice to the robbery, they go on a wild chase throughout London. When he escapes into Buckingham Palace, they realize that it was indeed Prince Charles.

Later, as the Goodies wallow in their shame, they receive a message from the Queen herself. She explains how The Goodies were actually protecting a fake set of Jewels as the real ones were pawned "due to a recent financial embarrassment". The Goodies had mistakenly foiled an attempt to put the real Crown Jewels back. They are let off the hook for their noble actions, and are requested to treat the embarrassing incident as a secret. Still in business and safe from jail, The Goodies rejoice.

In October 1889, Sherlock Holmes's brother Mycroft is injured in an explosion when his club, the Diogenes, is blown up. The player, first as Dr. Watson and then as Sherlock Holmes, investigates the explosion and discovers that it was not a gas leak but a bomb which was the cause. This leads them to investigate a case of espionage and the strange death of an unidentified man with a rose tattoo. In this game, establishing the identity of the victim is as important as finding out who killed him. The intricate plot leads the player to a great number of locations over town and involves several subplots.

The plot is separate from the previous game, ''The Case of the Serrated Scalpel'', though multiple characters return from that game, such as characters from Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories like Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard, as well as some minor characters original to the games like Sergeant Duncan, the desk sergeant at Scotland Yard.

12-year-old Katy Carr lives with her widowed father and her two brothers and three sisters in Burnet, a small Midwestern American town. Her father is a very busy doctor who works long hours; the children are mostly in the care of his sister Aunt Izzie, who is very particular and something of a scold. Bright, headstrong Katy can hardly avoid getting into mischief almost daily under these circumstances, but she is unfailingly remorseful afterward. She behaves somewhat kindly to the children and dreams of some day doing something "grand" with her life: painting famous pictures, saving the lives of drowning people, or leading a crusade on a white horse. She also wants to be "beautiful, of course, and good if I can." When her mother died four years earlier, she hoped Katy would be a little mother to her siblings: in practice, she is the kind of big sister who is sometimes impatient and cross with them but leads them into all sorts of exciting adventures.

When Cousin Helen, an invalid, comes to visit, Katy is so enchanted by her beauty and kindness that on the day of Helen's departure she resolves to model herself on Helen ever afterward. The very next day, however, Katy wakes in an ill humor, quarrels with her aunt and pushes her little sister so hard that she falls down half a dozen steps. Afterward, sulky and miserable, Katy decides to try out the new swing in the woodshed although Aunt Izzie has forbidden it. Had Aunt Izzie actually explained that the swing was unsafe because one of the staples supporting it had cracked, "all would have been right," but she believes that children should unquestioningly obey their elders. Katy swings as high as she can and then, as she tries to touch the roof with her toes, the staple gives way. She falls hard, bruising her spine.

The lively Katy is now bedridden and suffering terrible pain and bitterness. Her room is dark, dreary, and cluttered with medicine bottles; when her siblings try to comfort her, she drives them away. However, a visit from Cousin Helen shows her that she must either learn to make the best of her situation or risk losing her family's love. Helen tells Katy that she is now a student in the "School of Pain" where she will learn lessons in patience, cheerfulness, hopefulness, neatness, and making the best of things.

With Cousin Helen's help, Katy makes her room tidy and nice to visit and gradually all the children gravitate to it, coming in to see her whenever they can. She becomes the heart of the home, beloved by her family for her unfailing kindness and good cheer. After two years Aunt Izzie dies and Katy takes over the running of the household. At the end of four years, in a chapter called "At Last", she learns to walk again.

The book includes several poems that the characters wrote.

The U.S. military has a secret illegal mining operation in Antarctica. When one of the personnel stationed at the base goes on a rampage, two military operatives, Capt. Sam Cage (Clayton Rohner) and Maj. Callie O'Grady (Chase Masterson) search the base by rappelling in from helicopter during stormy weather. They discover two survivors, medical officer Capt. Jennifer Wells (Faith Ford) and technical officer Lieut. Brian Shebanski (Max Perlich). The base radio is mysteriously smashed.

Going into the mining area of the base, Capt. Cage sees what appears to be another survivor and starts a chase through the corridors, taking an elevator down to the second level. When Maj. O'Grady collapses because of the gases in the mine he takes her to an elevator, only to discover they are actually on the fourth level. Back in the main compound they discover that a body they had found in the snow has now moved and is gone. They find dead and dying personnel, and a book about conjuring the Devil. More bodies disappear when nobody's looking, and reappear later as lurching menaces. Soon Jennifer and Sam find themselves the only ones still alive, fighting the undead and their diabolical master.

The exact details are not always settled upon (in particular, the time of the day is one of the most disputed questions in the entire series), but the primary implication is clear: The two are totally uninterested in each other, and the marriage and the household are rapidly becoming untenable.

The plot begins as two stories that take place in parallel: one in the world of humans (in Paris), the other in the world of ants (in a ''Formica rufa'' colony in a park near Paris). The time is the early 21st century (the near future, relative to the time when Werber wrote the book). The human character receives a house and a provocative message as legacy from his recently deceased uncle. He begins to investigate his uncle's life and mysterious activities, and decides to descend into the cellar of the house but does not return. His family and other people follow, and disappear. The ant character is a male whose foraging expedition gets destroyed in one strike, by a mysterious force that comes from above. He suspects that a colony of another ant species has attacked them with a secret weapon, and attempts to meet with the queen and to rally other ants to investigate the disaster. However, he attracts the attention of a secret group of ants within the same colony that appear to want to conceal this information. As the plot unfolds, the humans and the ants encounter new mysteries and participate in challenging events, including a war between different ant species.

The film follows 22-year-old Sébastien, a Georgian immigrant living in France and working construction jobs to support his poor family. Sébastien works on the home of Godon, a feeble morphine addict who is under police surveillance. After Godon dies of an overdose, his widow informs Sébastien that she is unable to pay him. Sébastien then overhears the widow talking with one of Godon's friends, describing a mysterious "job" that Godon had lined up before his death. The destitute Sébastien steals an envelope containing the instructions for the job. The police begin following Sébastien as he uses the train ticket contained in the envelope.

The police lose track of Sébastien as he follows the instructions and is brought to a secluded house in a forest. At the house, a deadly gambling event is being organized by a powerful criminal. Though Sébastien's contacts immediately recognize that he is not Godon and has no idea what he is getting into, they force him to participate in the game. Thirteen men identified by number must undergo a series of Russian roulette games, arranging themselves into a circle and pointing their revolver at the man in front of them. Spectators place bets on who will survive. Sébastien, as #13, survives the first round and fires his gun only after threatened with death. On the second round, in which two bullets are placed in each gun, Sébastien survives only because the man behind him is killed before he could fire. On the third round, with three bullets in each gun, Sebastien survives along with three other men.

Though he believes that he is finished, Sébastien is selected for the final "duel" game against #6, a cruel man who is managed by his own brother. Sébastien wins the duel and survives the game. He collects €850,000 out of the winnings his handlers have made from him, then flees the house. Fearing for his life, he sends the money home in a parcel before the police catch up with him. He tells the detective that he was turned away from the game and received no money, but gives the license plate number of a particularly unpleasant gambler in attendance. The police release him, but the brother of #6 spots him as he boards a train. The brother shoots Sébastien and steals his empty satchel. Sébastien collapses into a seat as the train begins to move.

Inspired by the true story of an African American teenager who shook up a small town where high school proms had been racially segregated for decades. Amid the protests of the community and with the help of a newspaper reporter who returns to her hometown to cover the story, the two women are able to reverse decades of racist tradition and make history, at least for one night.

The subject of the play is typical for a morality play. It recounts neither biblical events, nor a saint's life, nor miracles. Instead, ''Ordo Virtutum'' is about the struggle for a human soul, or Anima, between the Virtues and the Devil.

The piece can be divided as follows:

Part I: A Prologue in which the Virtues are introduced to the Patriarchs and Prophets who marvel at the Virtues.

Part II: We hear the complaints of souls that are imprisoned in bodies. The (for now) happy Soul enters and her voice contrasts with the unhappy souls. The Soul is too eager to skip life and go straight to Heaven. When the Virtues tell her that she has to live first, the Devil seduces her away to worldly things.

Part III: The Virtues take turns identifying and describing themselves while the Devil occasionally interrupts and expresses opposing views and insults. This is the longest section by far and, although devoid of drama or plot, the musical elements of this section make it stand out.

Part IV: The Soul returns, repentant. Once the Virtues have accepted her back, they turn on the Devil, whom they bind. Together they conquer the Devil and then God is praised.

Part V: A procession of all the characters.

Seventeen-year-old Dickory Dock, an art-school student in Greenwich Village, answers an ad for a job as a painter's assistant at Number 12 Cobble Lane. The painter, Garson, evaluates and hires her; in her duties of cleaning paintbrushes and answering the door, she becomes involved in Garson's mysterious affairs, as well of those of his downstairs neighbors, Manny Mallomar and Shrimps Marinara. She befriends Garson's companion, a deaf, mentally handicapped man with the pseudonym of Isaac Bickerstaffe; her fellow student, George Washington III; and the Chief of Detectives of the NYPD, Joseph P. Quinn.

When the latter begins asking for Garson's assistance as a sketch artist, Garson assumes the character of Inspector Noserag (whose name is an imperfect reversal of "Garson"), and dubs Dickory his assistant, Sergeant Kod (likewise). The two work together to solve several cases, which divide the book into six sections of four chapters each: "The Mystery in Number 12 Cobble Lane," "The Case of the Horrible Hairdresser," "The Case of the Face on the Five-Dollar Bill," "The Case of the Full-Sized Midget," "The Case of the Disguised Disguise," and "The Case of the Confusing Corpus." Meanwhile, Dickory learns more about the histories, motives and identities of all the people in and around Number 12 Cobble Lane.

Baltimore lawyer Quentin Hobson Clark witnesses the somber, simple funeral of Edgar Allan Poe on October 8, 1849. He had previously corresponded with Poe about providing legal support for a new publication, ''The Stylus''. Clark feels obliged to look into the mysterious circumstances surrounding Poe's death, despite protests from his fiancée Hattie Blum and his friend Peter Stuart.

Clark's journey takes him to Paris to seek out the real-life inspiration for Poe's character C. Auguste Dupin, a man of intellect who could help unravel the mystery. After eliminating several possibilities, he meets Baron C.A. Dupin, a famous lawyer, and a detective with a similar name, Auguste Duponte. After a confrontation with the Baron Dupin and his female aide, Bonjour, Clark realizes that the Baron is not the character described in Poe's stories. He determines that Auguste Duponte, with his approach to problem-solving through ratiocination, was the real inspiration for the character.

Clark and Duponte return to Baltimore to investigate Poe's final days, only to find that the Baron and Bonjour are already doing the same. Both parties interview the funeral attendants and witnesses, and try to obtain Poe's final letter, discovered by funeral attendant Henry Reynolds.

Jesse has been adopted by his foster parents, the Greenwoods, and they have moved from Seattle to the Pacific coast. He is given a job at the Misty Island Oceanic Reserve, a local wildlife rescue and research institute where Randolph, his Native American mentor from the movie, now works. In the first episode, Jesse discovers he has the ability to talk to animals and understand their speech; Randolph, a Haida people, explains that he is a Truth Talker. This revelation allows for Willy and the other sea creatures featured in the show to have full personalities and more prominent roles in key plot events. Jesse and Randolph work with Mr. Naugle, the head biologist, and Marlene, a research assistant, who are studying Einstein, a dolphin, and Lucille, a seal, teaching them behavioral communication with normal humans.

The main villain of the series, similar in personality to Captain Ahab, is a cyborg called "The Machine" who holds Willy responsible for his loss of an arm and part of his face. It was initially implied that Willy had bitten them off, but a flashback revealed that his submarine was destroyed upon encountering Willy, hurling him into another ship's screw propeller. His appearance recalls Locutus of Borg and the Erik (The Phantom of the Opera). When not using his new submarine to create environmental havoc, he dons a mask and glove (perhaps a nod to the contributions of Michael Jackson to the films) for disguise and continues to run an oil company under his former identity, Rockland Stone.

Early in the series, The Machine jettisons his ship's skipper, a rather nervous fellow by the name of Captain Frye, revealing he has created, ''à la'' Frankenstein, four green, slimy, synthetic henchmen called Amphonids from inanimate toxic waste. They mainly function as comic relief, oddly reluctant to carry out instructions to pollute and destroy the environment, preferring to slouch around and entertain themselves, and often making costly and catastrophic errors for The Machine.

Throughout the series, Jesse is constantly fighting plots and schemes hatched by The Machine to destroy Willy, such as releasing deadly parasitism and creating genetic engineering giant squid predatory to orca, and to despoil the ecosystem, such as wanton spilling of garbage, toxic waste and oil into the sea. Meanwhile, he attempts to influence the ostensibly reasonable business magnate Mr. Stone to adopt environmentally friendly industrial practices through his publicist, P.R. Frickey.

Toward the end of the first season, Jesse starts suspecting that Rockland Stone is The Machine who faces him trying to wipe out the salmon streams in Misty Island’s inland rivers (“Milestones”). In the final episode (“Ghost Ship”) Jesse and Willy come across a half sunken ship that has something to do with The Machine’s past and the Stone Cooperation. Frustrated in figuring out if Rockland Stone is the villain that he and Willy have been fighting against, Jesse unmasks The Machine before the public (which in his Stone identity is running for senator) and escapes a close encounter from him while trying to find evidence. The next day of the senator election, Jesse and Willy go and gather video tape evidence of the ship (which is full of war material) and The Machine tries to get rid of the ship with the use of explosives. In the end, “Stone” loses the election thanks to Jesse’s video tape showing what the ship was carrying which was shown to the public through media coverage and Jesse and Willy celebrate his defeat afterwards.

While the first season centers mostly around Willy and Jesse's adventures at the Misty Island Oceanic Reserve, the second season takes them to the Arctic with eco-activist Ben Shore. They discover an untouched paradise island with various healthful benefits ("Paradise Found") and are greeted by Arktos, a bear who claims Jesse is the "protector" of the island, and other talking animals. Unfortunately, The Machine follows and attempts to industrialize the island, destroying its natural beauty and benefit to the ecosystem. Ben heroically demolishes the passageway to the island after Jesse and Willy escape, thwarting The Machine, but injuring and trapping himself. However, the healing effects of the island restore Ben's health and he lives happily in his environmental utopia, having given Jesse a carved eagle necklace as a keepsake to carry on his work. In the second to last episode of the season (“Turmoil”), Jesse, Willy and the Echo Ranger crew meet up with Marlene’s former teacher, the balding chemist Dr. Elliot who has created a special formula called oil solidification to help stop future oil spills. The Machine hears about this new formula and has plans in mind. He kidnaps Dr. Elliot and causes a massive intentional oil spill to suffocate Willy and other sea life. He also impersonates Dr. Elliot (using a different disguise) and influences the public in giving a one million dollar donation for cleanup efforts. Jesse and Willy were able to see through the disguise, rescue Dr. Elliot, prevent the fraudulent donation and stop the oil with the formula. Upon returning to Misty Island, Jesse and Willy become entwined in a Christmastime plot ("Yuletide or Redtide") to use a biodegradable jet ski (assumed to be a gift from his parents, Glen and Annie, but actually from Stone) for the release of deadly red tide to thrive in the unseasonably warm water, implied to be an effect of climate change. Unchecked, the microorganism would simultaneously destroy Willy, the ecosystem and Jesse's reputation. When The Machine is defeated by teamwork and a sudden cold spell, saving everyone's good cheer, the Amphonids make themselves into a distorted Christmas tree and actually sing along with the townspeople, to their master's chagrin.

Continuing the storyline begun in the previous episode, a massive manhunt begins for President Bartlet's youngest daughter, Zoey, but the Secret Service's only clue is provided when Charlie Young remembers that Zoey's boyfriend, Jean-Paul, wanted her to take ecstasy at her graduation party. The Secret Service discovers that what Jean-Paul thought was ecstasy was actually GHB.

While the White House senior staff attempts to rally around the President and First Lady, the president's advisers immediately clash over how to handle the situation: Joint Chiefs chairman Admiral Fitzwallace believes the abduction to be an act of terrorism and advises a military response, while National Security Advisor Nancy McNally theorizes that Zoey's abduction may be a standard (albeit high-profile) kidnapping, and cautions that military action may hinder the investigation and antagonize political enemies. The question of whether Zoey's abduction is an act of terrorism or a simple kidnapping is heightened by a faxed ransom note found by Donna, which indicates that the crime has elements of both.

Confusion over how to handle the situation is exacerbated by a false alarm when an unidentified aircraft violates the emergency no-fly zone. A last-second revelation that the plane is piloted by students playing a prank does nothing to alleviate the president's fear that he has lost control over the situation. Privately, he confesses to Leo McGarry that his concern for Zoey is so distracting that he's unable to pay attention to vital national security concerns.

Meanwhile, Toby Ziegler is at the hospital, bonding with his newborn twins; Huck, after Andy's grandfather, and Molly, after the Secret Service agent who was killed protecting Zoey in the previous episode. Toby's love for his children makes him realize that the president suffers from a severe conflict of interest because of his duties as a father and his duties as the President. Toby rushes to the White House to advise the president to step down, only to discover that Bartlet has already invoked the twenty-fifth amendment.

With the office of Vice-President vacant after John Hoynes's resignation due to a sex scandal, the amendment requires that following the line of succession, the Speaker of the House, Glen Allen Walken, take over the presidency temporarily. After Walken is sworn in as President, conflicts have already begun between him and President Bartlet's staff, one of the reasons being that Bartlet is a Democrat and Walken is a Republican. Bartlet tries to calm Walken, stating that the staff are all trying to resolve the situation, to which Walken replies "You are relieved, Mr. President."

The novel begins with backstage performance jitters just before a musical performance at Carnegie Hall in New York to be given by a striking young violinist, Jan Tusar and his on-again-off-again girlfriend and piano accompanist, whose father has died a few months earlier in a fall from his office window. Private investigator Tecumseh Fox is by no means a follower of classical music, but has been convinced by his friend Diego Zorilla, a former violinist whose fingers were mangled in an accident, to charitably contribute to buying a valuable violin for the young performer.

Fox and his friend take their seats in the audience, but the concert does not go well, and it seems not to be the fault of either the violinist or the pianist but the magnificent violin itself. The concert limps to intermission, and the audience is so disgusted that many go home. Fox and his friend rush backstage, only to find that the young violinist has just shot himself to death in front of witnesses and the violin has vanished in the furore.

Fox is then invited to the home of Mrs. Irene Dunham Pomfret, wealthy socialite, who also contributed to the purchase of the violin. Her husband Henry is unenthiastic on the topic of music, but collects rare coins and Chinese porcelain (a rare piece of which, he mentions, has been stolen). Fox and other contributors to the violin's purchase (including gorgeous movie star Hebe Heath) have been assembled for two reasons: one is to hear Jan Tusar's suicide note and the other is to arrange the sale of the violin and the return of the money to the contributors, since the violin arrived at Mrs. Pomfret's home by parcel post that morning. Hebe Heath's publicist confesses privately to Fox that he has returned the violin and, when asked to explain why, tells him that the movie star is not only spectacularly stupid but subject to bizarre impulses—she stole the violin in an uncalculated moment for no reason at all.

Tecumseh Fox takes the violin away and examines it, then convenes another meeting at Mrs. Pomfret's penthouse apartment. He announces that the reason that the violin's tone had flattened was because someone had poured liquid varnish into it, and suggests that the person who did this is responsible for the violinist's death. The party separates into smaller groups as people discuss these developments, and Mrs. Pomfret talks it over with her son. Fox is summoned hurriedly from another room because the son has gulped down his bourbon and died of poison.

Hebe Heath promptly grabs the bottle of bourbon and throws it off the balcony, narrowly avoiding killing any passers-by in the street below. When the police ask her for the reason she produces one -- "Oh," she cried softly, "it was an ungovernment impulse!" But when it's suggested that she disposed of the bottle because she had put poison in it, her self-protective instinct outweighs her impulses -- "Put something ''in'' the bottle? Don't be a damn fool!".

Fox decides to investigate. Although it's not certain quite why the theft of Mr. Pomfret's piece of porcelain is important, he finds that someone from the same group of people must have been responsible. The case may also explain the mysterious death of the accompanist's father. He tracks the missing vase to Diego Zorilla's home, and barely dodges a poisonous trap that someone has set for the former violinist. Next he investigates the possibility that Tusar's sister Garda is somehow connected with an anonymous note implicating Nazi sympathizers in the murder, since she has no visible means of support. Finally his attention focuses on the comings and goings of a mysterious person who visits Gerda's apartment as a Mr. Fish and leaves it in the person of her veiled neighbour Mrs. Piscus. Fox works out the identity of Mrs. Piscus, calls together the suspects and reveals the solution to all the crimes.

The game follows Opa-Opa as he fights to avenge the death of his father, '''O-papa''', who was killed defending the Fantasy Zone against the invading Dark Menon. Opa-Opa must rid the Fantasy Zone of the minions of the Dark Menon and restore peace.

''Make Up! Sailor Guardians''

Usagi and Chibiusa overhear two girls talking about the Sailor Guardians after they see a poster. As the girls debate over the smartest, most elegant, strongest, and the leader of the Sailor Guardians, Usagi grandly claims those titles for herself. Chibiusa shakes her head at Usagi's delusion. Clips appear from the debut of each Sailor Guardian, and that girl's image song plays in the background. When even Tuxedo Mask has been mentioned, and the girls are about to leave, Usagi butts in on their conversation and asks them directly about Sailor Moon. The girls give a series of glowing compliments about Sailor Moon, but unlike their analysis of the other Sailor Guardians, they also list her faults. After the girls leave, Usagi sarcastically apologizes to the viewers for being a clumsy cry-baby and then bursts into exaggerated tears.

''The Promise of the Rose''

A young Mamoru Chiba hands a mysterious boy a rose before he disappears, vowing to bring Mamoru a flower. In the present, Mamoru meets up with Usagi Tsukino and the Sailor Senshi at the Jindai Botanical Garden. Usagi attempts to kiss Mamoru, but when he suspects the other girls of spying on him, he walks off outside alone.

The stranger appears from the garden's fountain and takes Mamoru's hands into his own, which makes Usagi uncomfortable. Usagi tries to break the man's grasp from Mamoru, but is knocked down. The man vows that no one will prevent him from keeping his promise before disappearing again. Mamoru tells Usagi that the stranger's name is . At Rei Hino's temple, the Sailor Senshi discuss an asteroid which has started to approach Earth and on which Luna and Artemis have discovered traces of vegetal life. The talk turns into rumors about Mamoru's and Fiore's possible relationship, while Usagi thinks about how Mamoru had told her that he had no family and was alone, and how she had promised him she would be his family from now on.

Fiore sends his flower-monster henchwoman, , to Tokyo to drain the population's life-energy, but the Sailor Senshi free them and destroy the monster. Fiore appears, revealing his responsibility for the attack, and uses a flower called a before severely injuring the Sailor Senshi. Mamoru attempts to talk Fiore out of fighting but the Xenian controls Fiore's mind. After Mamoru saves Usagi from certain death by intercepting his attack, Fiore takes Mamoru to an asteroid rapidly approaching Earth and begins to revive him in a crystal filled with liquid. While in the crystal, Mamoru remembers meeting Fiore after his parents died in a car accident. Mamoru had previously assumed that he had made up the boy as an imaginary friend. Fiore explains that he had to leave Mamoru because of the Earth's unsuitable atmosphere; Mamoru gave Fiore a rose before disappearing. Fiore searched the galaxy to find a flower for Mamoru, finding the Xenian in the process. Seeking revenge on the humans for his loneliness, Fiore returns to Earth.

Meanwhile, Luna and Artemis tell the Sailor Senshi that the Xenian can destroy planets using weak-hearted people. Ami Mizuno realizes that the energy from the asteroid matches the flower-monster's evil energy, deducing that Fiore has hidden there. The Sailor Senshi decide to rescue Mamoru. Despite her initial reluctance, the Sailors and Chibiusa convince Usagi to save Mamoru and confront Fiore.

After the Sailor Senshi fly to the asteroid, Fiore reveals his plans to scatter flower-seeds to drain humanity's energy on Earth. The Sailor Senshi then fight hundreds of flower-monsters, but they end up captured. When Fiore orders Usagi to surrender, she is unable to feel his loneliness; Fiore begins to drain her life-force. Mamoru escapes and saves Sailor Moon by throwing a rose at Fiore. The rose embedded in Fiore's chest blossoms, freeing him from the Xenian's control. The flowers on the asteroid disappear, but it continues to hurtle towards Earth. Usagi uses the Silver Crystal to transform into Princess Serenity to change the course of the asteroid. Fiore then attempts to assault the group in a suicidal effort to defeat them, but upon coming into contact with the Silver Crystal, Fiore discovers the truth that when Usagi and Mamoru were children she gave Mamoru the rose that was once given to him after Fiore had left. Emotionally incapacitated, Fiore ignores the Xenian's pleas and allows her and himself to be vaporized by the Silver Crystal's powers. With Fiore and the Xenian destroyed by the Silver Crystal, Serenity, Endymion and the Sailor Senshi combine their powers to divert the asteroid away from the Earth. The Silver Crystal is shattered and Serenity dies of exhaustion. Back on Earth, despite Luna and Artemis' concern over why the Sailor Senshi are taking too long, Chibiusa assures them that the girls are all right.

In the aftermath, now safely drifting in orbit, the Senshi and Tuxedo Mask are devastated by Sailor Moon's death in her still form after her transformation brooch is damaged, saying that it wasn't worth it to survive if they lost the one most dear to them. The spirit of Fiore reappears and thanks Tuxedo Mask and his comrades for freeing him. Using a nectar-filled flower with Fiore's life-energy, Tuxedo Mask wets his lips with the nectar and kisses Sailor Moon, reviving her, restoring her transformation brooch and repowering the Silver Crystal. Fiore, reduced to the form of a child again, ascends to the afterlife to live in peace. She smiles weakly at them and says she told them she would protect everyone. The Senshi smile through their tears and collapse into her arms.

The assassin Waylander is doomed to travel the world in search of revenge against those who killed his family. After allying with a priest, a fellow assassin, a young woman and three children in her charge, Waylander gradually redeems himself and tries to save the kingdom that he plummeted into chaos.

An extraterrestrial ice entity named arrives on Earth in an attempt to freeze it, but a fragment of her comet has been lost and she is unable to proceed without it. She has her henchwomen, the Snow Dancers, search for the missing fragment. In Tokyo, a young astronomer named finds the fragment and keeps it in his observatory to study it further.

Meanwhile, the Sailor Guardians are enjoying a day in the Juban Shopping District. Luna falls ill and decides to go back to Usagi's house. Along the way, she collapses while crossing the road, and is almost hit by a car, but is rescued and nursed to health by Kakeru. Luna then develops romantic feelings for him, even kissing him on the cheek in his sleep, leaving Artemis crushed. Luna herself ends up with unrequited love because it is revealed that Kakeru himself has a girlfriend, an astronaut named , and more importantly, because Luna is a cat. The two are devastated because Himeko is oblivious to Kakeru's belief of Princess Kaguya's existence. Later, after finding herself unable to reconcile her differences with Kakeru, Himeko leaves on a space mission.

The fragment of the comet attaches itself to his life force, and begins slowly stealing his life-force energy, causing him to become very ill. Kaguya later steals the shard, but because it is linked to his life-force, he is brought even closer to death when Kaguya throws the shard into the ocean and creates an enormous ice crystal that will continue to drain away Kakeru's life-force energy completely. She and her Snow Dancers then begin freezing the entire Earth, little by little. The Sailor Guardians attempt to stop her, only for Kaguya to revive the Snow Dancers using the Crystal. Just before Kaguya could kill the Sailor Scouts, Sailor Moon arrives and tries to talk her out of her plot. Wanting more strength, she activates the mighty powers of the legendary Holy Grail to evolve into Super Sailor Moon, but is easily overpowered by Snow Queen Kaguya. Determined to protect the Earth and its people, Usagi prepares to activate the Legendary Silver Crystal's immense energy and power. The eight Sailor Guardians, along with Sailor Chibi Moon, combine their own strength and Sailor abilities at once to further strengthen the healing power of the Legendary Silver Crystal, destroying Snow Queen Kaguya and the Snow Dancers head-on, and eliminating the ice crystal in the ocean, as well as her comet.

Usagi wishes for Luna to become the mythical Princess Kaguya for one night. Concerned about Himeko's safety, Kakeru wanders in the snowstorm and is saved by Luna at the exact point Kakeru saved her, transformed into a human. She takes him near the moon, where Himeko, on her space mission, witnesses the phenomenon and realizes that Princess Kaguya does exist. Luna tells him that he needs to start focusing on his relationship with Himeko, and the two kiss. After returning to the Earth, Kakeru takes up Luna's advice and meets Himeko at the airport, where the two lovingly hug. Artemis meets up with Luna, and the cats reconcile.

A paintballing team known as the "Weekend Warriors" heads to a woodland retreat just outside London to celebrate the marital engagement of one of their members. However, deep within the forest, an ancient warrior preserved from the time of King Arthur has awoken and begins to hunt them down one by one.

Wealthy heiress Linnet Ridgeway agrees to hire her friend Jacqueline "Jackie" de Bellefort's unemployed fiancé, Simon Doyle as her estate manager. Soon after, Linnet and Simon marry after a whirlwind courtship. While honeymooning in Egypt, they are continually stalked and hounded by the jilted Jackie. To evade her, the Doyles pretend to go to the Aswan railway station before backtracking to board a Nile paddle steamer, the S.S. ''Karnak''. Also in Egypt is detective Hercule Poirot, who will slowly learn about the situation.

During an on-shore excursion to the Temple of Karnak, a large stone is pushed off a pillar and narrowly misses the Doyles. The couple is shocked when Jackie joins the cruise, having ignored detective Hercule Poirot's advice to stay away. Jackie also reveals that she carries a small .22 caliber pistol and is a crack shot. That evening, Jackie confronts Simon in a drunken rage and shoots him in the leg, then is escorted away. The next morning, Linnet is found dead from a gunshot wound to the head. The letter "J" written in blood on the wall above her bed implicates Jackie, but she has a solid alibi as Miss Bowers sedated her with morphia and watched her all night.

Poirot and his friend, Colonel Race, investigate. They discover that numerous passengers had motives to kill Linnet: Louise Bourget, Linnet's maid, was bitter that her mistress refused a promised dowry; Andrew Pennington, Linnet's American trustee, was embezzling from her; Mrs. van Schuyler, an elderly American socialite and a kleptomania, wanted Linnet's pearl necklace; van Schuyler's nurse, Miss Bowers, blamed Linnet's father for financially ruining her family; Salome Otterbourne, a romance novelist, was being sued by Linnet for libel; Mrs. Otterbourne's daughter, Rosalie, wanted to protect her mother from financial ruin; Jim Ferguson, an outspoken Communist, resented Linnet's wealth; and Dr. Ludwig Bessner, a Swiss psychiatrist, faced Linnet exposing his unorthodox treatments that harmed some of her friends.

Soon after, the crew pulls a small bundle from the Nile. The missing pistol is wrapped in Mrs. van Schuyler's stole, which has a small bullet hole. There is also a blood-stained handkerchief and a marble ashtray used as a weight. When Linnet's pearl jewelry is missing, Mrs. van Schuyler denies taking them. Soon after, the necklace is found on Linnet's body, causing Poirot to deduce Mrs van Schuyler "returned" them.

While Poirot and Race conduct their investigation, Louise Bourget is found dead, her throat slit with Dr. Bessner's scalpel, and a fragment of a banknote clutched in her hand. Poirot deduces she saw the murderer exiting Linnet's cabin and extorted money for her silence. Salome Otterbourne claims she saw Louise's murderer and is about to tell Poirot and Race when she is shot through an open cabin door with Pennington's revolver, which is too large to have been used on Linnet.

Poirot gathers everyone in the saloon and reveals that Simon killed Linnet, with Jackie as his accomplice and the plot's mastermind. She pretended to shoot Simon, drawing attention to herself. After running to Linnet's cabin and shooting her, Simon, returning to the saloon, shot himself in the leg, using Mrs. van Schuyler's stole as a silencer. He then replaced the empty cartridges with a new one should the gun be found. Wrapping the gun in the stole, along with a marble ashtray and the supposed blood-stained handkerchief, he threw the items out the open window, into the Nile. Jackie later killed Louise, who was blackmailing Simon because she witnessed him enter Linnet's cabin, then killed Mrs. Otterbourne, who saw Jackie exiting Louise's cabin. The plan was that Simon would kill Linnet, inherit her money, and, at a later date, marry his old love.

When Simon claims Poirot has no proof, Poirot claims that the police can do a gunshot residue test known as a "moulage" test on both him and Jacqueline. Realizing they are caught, Jackie confesses and embraces Simon. Poirot suddenly realizes she has reclaimed her pistol but cannot prevent her from fatally shooting Simon and then herself.

The passengers depart at the next port, and Poirot is congratulated for his work.

''Ami's First Love''

Japanese theaters showed a 16-minute short before the ''Sailor Moon SuperS'' film, titled ''Ami's First Love'' (''Ami-chan no Hatsukoi''), in which Ami Mizuno (Sailor Mercury) struggles to focus on her studying amidst various distractions including a pruritus-inducing love letter found in her school locker and a rival known as "Mercurius" who ties Ami's perfect score in mock high school entrance exams, and who Ami believes is either a female monster that makes her forget math and English or a handsome boy who looks like a young Albert Einstein. The short featured a new transformation sequence into her evolved Super form (''Mercury Crystal Power Make Up!'') and a greater water-based attack (''Mercury Aqua Mirage'') for Super Sailor Mercury.

''Black Dream Hole''

Somewhere in Europe, a young man named plays a song on his flute to hypnotize children, following him into a mysterious ship before sailing off into the sky. In Tokyo, Usagi Tsukino, Chibiusa, and the other girls bake cookies together at Makoto Kino's apartment. Usagi ends up with cookies that look perfect but taste terrible; Chibiusa produces the reverse. Chibiusa sets out to give her cookies to Mamoru Chiba, but is stopped by a butterfly wing-shaped boy in strange white clothing standing outside the sweets shop. They befriend each other, and he causes some of the treats inside the shop window to dance by playing a tune on his flute before revealing himself as . Meanwhile, Usagi visits Mamoru with her cookies, and they argue over his strong and close friendship with Chibiusa. They hear a report on the radio about the mass disappearance of children all over the world. Around the same time, Chibiusa gives her bag of cookies to Perle before going their separate ways.

That night, Chibiusa wakes up, and begins walking through the city. Diana wakes Usagi, who along with the other girls, follow Chibiusa, and the other children. They save Chibiusa, but get into a fight with Poupelin, and his "Bonbon Babies." Poupelin then hypnotizes the girls into seeing a Gingerbread House. In turn, Mamoru appears, and snaps the girls out of the spell. orders Poupelin and her other henchmen and to hurry up. Perle says that he no longer believes in her, but she orders that Chibiusa be captured. The ship lands, along with two others, in Marzipan Castle. When the doors are opened, the children run out into the darkness, except for Chibiusa. Looking into the shadows, she witnesses "Dream Coffins," each containing a sleeping child. Badiane lifts her into the air, commenting on the power she senses from Chibiusa, and explains her purpose. In the castle's center, a massive Black Dream Hole is forming, gathering the magical "sugar energy" of the sleeping children. Eventually it will overtake Earth, and all humans will enter into Dream Coffins.

Meanwhile, Perle leads the other Sailor Guardians to a flying ship of his own. He tells them that Badiane promised that the children would be happy and safe in her world of dreams and where they can remain children indefinitely, but he thinks also of Chibiusa, his friend. As they reach the castle, they are attacked, and after crash-landing fight Poupelin, Banane, and Orangeat, as well as three sets of Bonbon Babies. Just when the situation seems hopeless, the girls are saved by Sailor Uranus, Sailor Neptune, and Sailor Pluto. With this advantage, they are able to break the flutes of the three fairies, changing them into small birds. Afterwards, the Guardians infiltrate the castle and confront Queen Badiane, who has drained enough dream energy from the children, including Chibiusa, to create the Black Dream Hole. The power drain is enough to force all the Sailor Soldiers except Usagi into a partial de-transformation, weakening them, without any clothing. Taking Chibiusa with her, Badiane enters the hole itself, and Usagi follows. Usagi then finds herself in Mamoru's apartment, carrying Chibiusa. Mamoru lays her on the bed, then wraps his arms around Usagi and tells her not to worry about anything, just to stay there with him. She asks him again who is more important, herself or Chibiusa; he eventually tells her that she is. Usagi lifts Chibiusa in her arms once again, and eventually realizes that this experience is all just a dream.

As Usagi tries to flee, Queen Badiane demands that she give back Chibiusa. When Usagi refuses, the dark Queen of Dreams assimilates herself into the black dream hole and attacks her with pure fire. Hearing her mental cry, the other seven Guardians send their power and strength to Usagi, awakening Chibiusa and allowing them to finally obliterate Queen Badiane with their combined ''Moon Gorgeous Meditation'' technique. After the battle, Marzipan Castle is destroyed, and with Perle's help, the six Super Sailor Guardians and three Outer Sailor Guardians escape. The airships, each carrying children, return to Earth.

Later, at a beach, Perle gives Chibiusa his glass flute, telling her that he is the fairy who protects children's dreams, and will always be with her, and Chibiusa kisses him goodbye on the cheek. As Perle flies away, the six Super Sailor Guardians and three Outer Sailor Guardians watch the sun rise.

Stewie has built a mind control ray, and plans to use it in conjunction with Peter's satellite dish. However, his plans are interrupted by his half-brother Bertram, who claims to want his satellite dish. After making his way to the roof, Stewie decides that he would rather fail at world domination than let the satellite fall into his half-brother's hands, and self-destructs the satellite dish. However, Bertram reveals that he has come to trick him into destroying his own satellite, and he has begun a plan for world domination as well. He then leaves in his helicopter, and blasts Stewie off the roof. To discover Bertram's plans, Stewie infiltrates his lair in Peter's testicles. There, Stewie finds the location of Bertram's new lair and promptly lays waste to the facility. Stewie finds Bertram at the top of a missile silo, planning to launch the rocket into orbit so he can project his mind control beam around the world. To add insult to injury, Stewie's teddy bear, Rupert, has been placed inside the rocket. Stewie destroys the rocket, rescues Rupert, and has a final battle with Bertram at the playground. Bertram uses a device to grow to tremendous size, but is defeated anyway. Before Stewie can finish him off, he calls for his "mommy" to escape, leaving Stewie by flipping him off.

Brian's section of the game sees him trying to prove his innocence when he is accused of once again impregnating Seabreeze. Brian is forced to escape from prison and follow a scent picked up from Seabreeze's genitals. This leads him to Tom Tucker at the Quahog News Station, which turns out to be a dead end. Brian's next stop is the Quahog Dog Races, where Brian, disguised as a food vendor, finds the scent on a discarded ticket stub. He takes Seabreeze's place in the race, wins (by drugging the other dogs), and draws the father out. Brian reveals that the father of Seabreeze's puppies is Quagmire, thereby clearing his name.

Peter, after being smashed on the head by the PTV satellite dish, wakes up in the hospital and sees a spotlight identical to the Bat-Signal, only in the shape of Mr. Belvedere. Believing that Belvedere has kidnapped his family, Peter rampages across town in an effort to destroy him and save his family. He eventually arrives at Cheesie Charlie's, where he is hit in the head by the doors, opened by several African-Americans. Peter takes on the persona of Rufus Griffin and destroys the entire arcade before waking up in the closet. Seeing that the Belvedere signal is now at the Indian Casino, Peter travels there. As he enters, he takes another blow to the head when a hooker attempts suicide by jumping off the roof. Peter becomes Hooker Peter and destroys the casino. He then takes a fourth blow to the head, now seeing the Belvedere signal again at the docks. As he arrives, the debris of Bertram's rocket crashes on him, and Peter emerges as ANNA, an android programmed to destroy Mr. Belvedere. Crossing the dock and the beach, Peter arrives at a cave and is forced into battle with the Black Knight. Peter defeats the knight, but takes a final blow to the head when the knight's helmet falls off and hits him. When he comes to, Lois confronts him, furious that Peter had destroyed half of Quahog looking for Belvedere.

In the final level of the game, Peter decides to drown his sorrows at the Clam. There, he is confronted by Belvedere, who rips off a disguise revealing none other than Ernie the Giant Chicken. In the final battle of the game, Peter defeats Ernie, and just barely escapes a massive explosion in a penthouse, landing safely on top of Meg who, along with Lois and Chris, had inexplicably been standing in the middle of the street. After getting up from Meg and rejoining his family, Peter sees the Belvedere spotlight again which turns out to be Adam West (which almost starts referencing the ''Batman'' TV series) making shadow puppets. The Chicken, as always, ends up surviving.

Vanessa Andrews, an aspiring business student stressed over school, struggles to finish her latest class assignment while refusing to attend to her infant son, Sonny Jr., or help her husband and Madea's nephew, Sonny Andrews Sr., get ready for work. Sonny works at a prison to both pay for Vanessa's schooling and to support their son. Ella Kincaid, Madea's best friend and next-door neighbor, enters the house asking for Madea, who is absent. Unbeknownst to everyone, Madea has been arrested in Conyers for refusing to pay for gas and is currently in custody at the same prison where Sonny works. Ella and Vanessa then argue over the latter's ambivalence over the needs of her husband and child, and refusal to do her part as a wife and mother, given that Sonny is working hard to pay for her education among other things. Nate, Sonny's boss and friend, comes to the house to drive him to work. As he waits, Sonny tries to placate Vanessa, promising her some love and affection after he returns home. He leaves with Nate, and Ella takes a phone call and learns that Madea is in jail.

Later, at the jail, Sonny runs into his long-time friend, Wanda, who is now an Assistant District Attorney. After catching up briefly, Wanda leaves and Sonny's co-worker Leo and Madea enter and accuse each other of giving the other a hard time. Madea tells Sonny about how she got arrested and asks him to go home to fetch bail money. She then meets and butts heads with Chico, a hardened inmate who is later revealed to have three sons (one in jail, one "strung out", and one dead) and gets acquainted with Katie, who has been in jail for nine years for non-fatally stabbing her pimp ex-husband Pete after catching him molesting their daughter Toni, who has been continuously bounced from one foster home to another ever since. Toni comes to visit and is shown to have a very nasty attitude from her experiences in the foster system, and soon makes the mistake of turning it onto Madea. After a short confrontation, Toni leaves, and later, the prisoners are forced to turn in for the night. During this time, Madea and Chico are placed together and the two quickly get into a fight over the cell's bunks, which Madea wins.

The next day, Madea meets Jeremy Tucker, her probation officer & the prison chaplain, who explains the terms of her probation. Soon after that, Katie's ex-husband Pete arrives and threatens to go after Toni again as revenge for Katie stabbing him, which Madea witnesses. This inspires Madea, after making bail, to take care of Toni until Katie gets out of jail. Sometime after returning home, Madea notices a strange scent on Vanessa's clothes and bedsheets while doing the laundry. Ella then stops by, and Madea reveals that Toni has been giving her a hard time since her arrival. When Toni comes down dressed in skimpy clothes, refuses to go to school, ignores the women, and gives them attitude, Madea spanks her with a belt and forces her to go back upstairs and change. Leo and Sonny arrive, and Madea complains about Vanessa's trifling and lazy behavior. Vanessa overhears and gets smart with Madea, nearly coming to blows with her as a result, and reveals that she has a job interview the following day. Leo then leaves with Ella, while Sonny receives food from Madea and leaves with her and Toni, and Vanessa then slips off to parts unknown.

Some days later, Sonny forgets his keys and returns home to pick them up. Vanessa tries to get him to leave quickly, revealing that she is about to give their son a bath upstairs, though she assures him that she hasn't run the water yet. The two then get into an argument over what to do once Vanessa gets a job, with her selfishly refusing to take over Sonny's responsibilities so that he can return to school and finish his classes. After Sonny leaves, Nate emerges from hiding, revealing that he and Vanessa have been having an affair. As they start to make out in the bedroom, Nate suddenly hears water running in the bathroom, and they both run inside and discover the baby has had a horrific accident and is about to drown. They quickly call 9-1-1 and rush the child to the hospital.

Later, Madea is fuming over the baby's accident. Then, when Vanessa, Sonny, and Nate come in from the emergency room, Madea and Ella smell the same scent on Nate that was on Vanessa's clothes and bedsheets. After confirming this, Madea tries to get Sonny to realize what's going on. When he doesn't, Madea tells Vanessa to admit to her affair with Nate. The two viciously argue, with Sonny defending his wife. Wanda enters and informs them that she has just met with the Child Protective Agency about the baby and that he needs a blood transfusion, but reveals that Sonny isn't a match and therefore, is not the child's biological father. Vanessa protests this and tries to assure Sonny that he is the father, but he, finally realizing his wife's infidelity, angrily demands the truth. Nate then admits to his affair with Vanessa and that he is likely the father, nearly causing Sonny to attack him. Nate and Vanessa try to appeal to and apologize to Sonny, but Madea orders the two to leave and chases them out of the house with a gun when Nate attempts to confront her. Madea and Ella then chase after them, and a distraught Sonny retreats to his son's room, much to Wanda's sadness.

Some days later, Sonny, Toni, and Wanda come back from church, with Sonny planning to return to work to take his mind off everything. Wanda informs him that Sonny Jr. is recovering, but then reveals that Nate isn't the child's father either and went crazy against Vanessa when he found out; Vanessa was subsequently forced to take out a restraining order against him and is now in jail after being charged with child endangerment. After learning that Vanessa gave up her parental rights and that the baby will be put into foster care, Sonny expresses his desire to adopt and raise the child. The next day, at the prison, Vanessa attempts to weasel her way back into Sonny's good graces to get bail so she can keep her job, but fails and is forced to sign his divorce papers. As Sonny meets with Jeremy, Nate arrives, and after brushing off Vanessa out of anger and disgust, gives Sonny more jobs (working four back-to-back doubles). When Sonny cops an attitude with him over this, Nate retaliates by having him transferred to the F-Unit, where all the hardened convicts reside, telling him to quit if he doesn't like it. Jeremy intervenes and decides to help Sonny by talking to the warden, while also scheduling Toni to pay a visit to Katie. Also, Katie persuades Chico to turn her life over to God to make a brand new life for herself after her release.

The next day, Nate arrives and almost ends up in another confrontation with Sonny over a complaint filed to the warden, before Leo breaks it up. Jeremy then reveals that he filed the complaint and that he recommended Nate for the position in the F-Unit. Nate begrudgingly takes the position and finds out that Sonny has his job now, at which point he leaves. Leo becomes jealous that Sonny is now his boss and temporarily denounces their friendship until Ella sets him straight. Wanda arrives and Sonny reveals he is in love with her; while unsure of how she feels, but decides to give things a try. Madea arrives with Toni to visit Katie as Ella, Sonny, and Wanda leave. Toni properly greets her mother, leaving Katie very pleased with the change in her daughter's attitude. Madea then persuades Katie to tell Toni the truth about how she ended up incarcerated and subsequently exits. Katie prepares to tell her daughter the truth, but an upset Toni refuses to believe her and runs out of jail.

Later, at home, Sonny is depressed over his breakup with Vanessa, upset that he couldn't get her to change her ways. Madea says that someone like her could never change and instructs him to start paying attention to things better and to move on after he finishes grieving. Ella, Wanda, Leo, and Jeremy arrive and soon everyone sings musical numbers to try and cheer Sonny up. After this, Wanda reveals that Leo, is in fact, the father of Vanessa's baby. Upon hearing this, Leo immediately runs out of the house, and Ella, livid at the news, pursues him with a knife in hand, thus proving that he was no more of a friend to Sonny than Nate was. Sonny and Wanda then share a kiss as Madea goes upstairs to Toni's room. After overhearing Toni having a strongly suggestive conversation with a 16-year-old boy, Madea takes the phone and speaks to the boy and, after learning about how young all of his family has had children, she advises Toni not to talk to him anymore. She spends some time with Toni, giving her advice about being what she wants to be and not caring about others' opinions of her, and giving Toni her interpretations of the Bible. Toni reveals that she doesn't know how to pray and later asks Jeremy to teach her about prayer, at which he agrees.

The next day, Toni is confronted by her father, who aims to molest her again, but Madea and Ella arrive just in time to save her and chase him out of the house. Shortly afterwards, Wanda, Sonny, and the now-released Katie then enter, and Katie reveals that she is ready to take Toni back. Toni wants to stay with Madea, but Katie's powerful declaration of her love for her daughter changes her mind. Toni gathers her things, says goodbye to Madea, Ella, Sonny, and Wanda, the latter of whom finally become an official couple, before leaving with her mother.

The game takes place on the fictional island of Acidophilus in Greece. William the Kid, the CEO of the Nectar of the Goats (N.O.G.) Corporation, plots to rid the world of cow's milk so that he can take control of the dairy world with his "delicious" goat by-products. By kidnapping all of the dairy cows in the world, including his rival, Mr. Howard Hugh Heifer Udderly III, the president and CEO of Amalgamated Moo Juice Incorporated, Kid plans to gather all of the dairy milk in the world in a giant milk carton called the Milky Weapon of Destruction, flood the capital with all that milk, frame the dairy cows for that crime, get them all thrown in cow jail, and eventually take over the dairy world. Spy Fox (voiced by Bob Zenk) is assigned to find Kid's secret fortress, where this Milky Weapon of Destruction is being held and disarm the weapon.

After Spy Fox rescues Mr. Udderly, the latter explains Kid's entire plan and states that he swiped the code that can turn the Milky Weapon of Destruction off, but also nervously admits that he swallowed it so it wouldn't be discovered. Fortunately, Fox is able to use an "X'-Ray Gum" gadget made by Professor Quack to see the code and sets out to find the missing part to it.

Spy Fox manages to enter the fortress but is stopped by a scanner due to not having an N.O.G. uniform. However, he is able to get in after he snatches a yellow jumpsuit, which is the N.O.G uniform. After finding the piece to disarm the Milky Weapon of Destruction, William the Kid decides to drown the dairy cows in the milk. After getting through a secret passageway (thanks to Kid's ascot getting stuck in the door), Fox frees the cows, but William the Kid declares that he will return.

In a bonus ending, Spy Fox manages to sneak on Kid's blimp and set up Kid's ejection, so he lands in Spy Jail. When William the Kid lands in prison, he vows to escape from jail someday for revenge. The president rewards Spy Fox with the Big Daddy Congressional Cookie of Justice, to which Fox says, "I got my cookie, has anyone got milk?"

''Bubsy 3D'' takes place on the planet Rayon, the home planet of the series' recurring enemies, the Woolies. The story follows the central character, an orange bobcat named Bubsy, whose goal is to escape the planet by building a rocket ship from a collection of atoms and rocket pieces. The story begins with the Woolie queens, Poly and Esther, invading earth and kidnapping Bubsy, intending to steal all of Earth's yarn. However, Bubsy escapes his kidnappers when there is a malfunction on the Woolie ship, creating a panic across their planet. The Woolies fail to understand why Bubsy is collecting atoms and rocket parts, but nonetheless see him as a danger and call for a military campaign to stop him.

The game's ending depends on how many collectibles the player is able to gather. If Bubsy collects fewer than the 32 rocket parts needed to escape, his rocket will ultimately become stranded in outer space. If the player successfully collects all 32 rocket pieces, the rocket rips through the space-time continuum due to the density of the atoms that Bubsy has collected, stranding Bubsy in the Stone Age. In both cases, the Woolies go through with their plans and invade Earth.

Based on actual events of the early twentieth century, the story concerns a grueling cross-country horse race in 1906, with a winner-take-all prize of $2,000 ($ today), and the way it affects the lives of its various participants.

The fifteen colorful contestants include: two former Rough Riders named Clayton and Matthews who can't let friendship come between them if they intend to win; Miss Jones...a lady of little virtue; Carbo, a punk kid; Mister, an old cowhand in poor health; Sir Harry Norfolk, an English gentleman who's competing just for the sheer sport of it all; and a Mexican with a toothache who literally needs to bite the bullet. All must race against a thoroughbred of championship pedigree owned by Parker, a wealthy man who has no intention of seeing his entry lose.

The film touches on the themes of sportsmanship, animal cruelty, the yellow press, racism, the end of the Old West and the bonds of marriage and friendship. As the race progresses, the conditions test not only the endurance of horses and riders but also their philosophies of life and the meaning of victory and defeat.

When Miss Jones helps free her beau from a railway chain gang, they steal the contestants' horses and attempt to escape. The convicts are pursued and the riders get their mounts back, and the race is able to continue. Miss Jones, now free of her former boyfriend's malevolent influence, rides away into the countryside.

In the end, with all but three of the contestants knocked out of the race, Clayton and Matthews cross the finish line together as co-champions, beating the championship thoroughbred by a matter of minutes to win the prize money, plus any side bets they had placed.

The plots focuses on the character Onion (Jen) who became blind and mute during his childhood. Onion works at a hospital transcribing documents into braille for blind patients. His work allows him to live in the hospital dorm and get health checks from Dr. Woo (So). We learn that Onion always gets his haircut by Autumn (Cheung) whose first impression was full of apologies for being late and she was very clumsy. One time, she accidentally cut Onion's ear, but Onion never got mad. Instead he tried to console her and joke with her. Gradually they became close and Autumn gave Onion his nickname "Onion" because after the haircut, she said he looks like an onion head. One day, Onion and Autumn were hanging out on the rooftop of the hospital and she told Onion excitedly about a meteor shower that is about to happen in a few days and how they should each make a wish. Onion later accompanied Autumn back to the dormitories for her to get ready for her night shift. Before parting, Onion asks Autumn out on a date and when she says yes, he becomes really happy. He trips over a rock running into the street and is hit by a car. The death of Onion made Autumn realize that she was really deeply in love with him.

Because he was the 6 billionth human to die and depart to Polaris, Onion is granted a wish. He wishes to return to Earth. But there's a limit of five days. Unfortunately the rules stipulate that he cannot tell anyone who he really is and that, at the same time, his face will be different, so he will not be recognized as Onion by his former friends.

Upon returning to Earth, Onion wakes up in the storage of the same hospital he used to work at. After changing into overalls, Onion sets out exploring the hospital grounds taking in the sights. Finally able to speak to his colleagues, Onion soon learns from a nurse that Autumn has left the grounds to attend the funeral of a dear friend. That dear friend turns out to be Onion himself. At the funeral, Onion sees an inconsolable Autumn with Dr. Woo by her side. After the funeral, Onion discovers an insurance broker's business card in his secret storage in his dorm. THe name on the card reads "Cheuk Ji Mun". Posing as Cheuk Ji Mun, a life insurance broker, Onion tries to get close to Autumn again by posing as a friend of Onion. But his approach is all wrong and only gets Autumn mad at him. When he finds her being courted by Dr. Woo, he wastes a few days trying to tell her who he really is, even writing a card and voice recording himself, but the rules keep stopping him with epileptic effects, a smudged out card, and an empty recording. Just when he was about to give up, he discovers that he can share his memories with Autumn indirectly by narrating Onion's life story via Onion's diary. But that ended up hurting Autumn more as her memories about Onion come flooding back overwhelming her. Onion then makes the most of the time he has remaining with her by being her guardian angel, secretly helping her with hospital duties, loading her grocery cart with her favourite candy, and serenading her with his saxophone outside her dorm window just like he has always done in the past. His action made Autumn feel like Onion has come back to her. But where is he?

Towards the end of Onion's stay, Autumn slowly realizes that he is Onion. But by that time, there are only few minutes left until the meteor showers, flying him back to Polaris.

After the loss of their father, the Doyle family – Leslie, Jonathan, and Jamie – move to the Fowler Mortuary in hope of starting a new life but find it in poor condition. Jonathan goes to the local diner where he meets Cal and his two girlfriends, Tina and Sara. Cal tells Jonathan about the legend of Bobby Fowler, an abused and deformed boy who lived in the mortuary. Jonathan also meets Liz, a local girl; Grady, Liz's best friend; and Rita, Liz's aunt, who employed her to work at the diner. Jonathan, Liz, and Grady become friends quickly. That night, Cal, Sara and Tina go to the graveyard outside the mortuary and vandalize it; they then go into one of the crypts, where they are attacked by Bobby Fowler.

The next day, Jonathan, Liz and Grady go back to Jonathan's house, where Grady gives them drugs. Shortly afterwards, Sheriff Howell shows up to welcome Leslie to the town. He informs her about his attempt to stop "graveyard babies". He also is looking for Cal, Sara, and Tina. Sheriff Howell investigates the crypts, where Bobby Fowler infects him. The next day at the diner, Jonathan and Liz are working, when Cal and Sara arrive messy. Cal has a rage attack and Sara begins vomiting black ooze. Rita comes in to calm her down but is infected in the process. At the mortuary, Leslie performs her first embalming. While doing so, she makes a mess of the embalming fluids. While going to clean it up, one of the bodies gets up and infects Leslie. Jonathan, Jamie, Liz, and Grady return to Jonathan's house for dinner, where Leslie, now infected with the mysterious ooze, has prepared a sort of ooze soup. The four notice a black fungus growing on the wall. Liz pours salt in her soup which makes it bubble and sends Leslie into a rage in which she attacks Jonathan and Jamie. Liz and Grady quickly escape.

Shortly afterwards, Jonathan fights off his mother and saves Jamie. The four escape outside but are forced to retreat into a crypt, because they are chased there by an infected man. The four make the shocking discovery that Bobby lives in the crypt and dug tunnels under the cemetery. They find Tina, who is still alive, but are attacked by the mother. They find a ladder which leads back into the house, where they barricade themselves. They question Tina and eventually cut her hand to see if her blood has turned into the black ooze, a sign of the infection. Sheriff Howell assaults the house with a shotgun. Tina goes into the kitchen to clean the wound but is infected by contaminated water. Grady accidentally pours salt on her, burning her. The group now knows the weakness of the infected, but their victory is short-lived after they find that Jamie, who Jonathan had left in her room to keep her safe, has been captured.

Shortly after entering the tunnels, they see and hear things; a hand suddenly punches through Grady's chest, giving him enough time to say quietly, "run", before dying. They soon find the source, a well filled with black ooze. Shortly thereafter, Jamie is found, but captured by Bobby Fowler and taken back to the lair, where they confront him by throwing salt in the well. Cal is killed by getting his head blown off by the Sheriff, and the other infected are burned with salt; Bobby is sucked in and the three escape the house. The three, happy to escape but still grieving the deaths of Leslie and Grady, are about to leave the house, but Jonathan is pulled underground, and Leslie, alive again, pulls Jamie into the house, and Liz's fate is left untold.

A rivalry between two volleyball teams (the Phantoms and the Madonnas) causes a big catastrophe when the two teams collide.

Gabby Espinoza (Adrienne Bailon) is captain of the Cathedral High Phantoms volleyball team. Her mother died when she was little, and recently, a fire claimed the life of her firefighter father. Coincidentally, the fire was in the Madonna's school (the Phantoms' rival).

Having to go to different schools and split up, the three Madonnas Lauren McDonald, Katilin, and Becca chose Cathedral High and joined the volleyball team. Tension forms between Gabby's group Lettie and Rada and the Madonnas, causing them to lose during a volleyball game because of lack of teamwork. This makes the coach furious and he makes a speech about working together as a team and feeling the love. Soon after, the girls begin to warm up to one another and at the same time, winning game after game. Lauren's friendship with the other girls, particularly with Gabby, makes Becca jealous and in a fit of jealousy, she tells Gabby about Lauren and Artie (Gabby's ex-boyfriend) and a rift between the two escalates. During the game, a fight between Gabby and Lauren occurs. The coach tells them to put their own issues aside and focus on the game. After winning, Gabby and Lauren are back on good terms, agreeing that both should concentrate on their games first and deciding afterwards who should get the boy. Before the game starts, Becca puts Melatonin in Gabby's water bottle. Gabby begins to lose focus, the coach suspects she's on drugs and orders her to sit on the bench, replacing her with Becca. Gabby breaks down and the Phantoms win. Becca confesses to Lauren about what she did, with reason that she wanted her father to get to watch her play. She gets kicked off the team and the Phantoms head on to finals.

With determination, hard work and cooperation, the Phantoms win the championship. Becca makes up with Gabby. Gabby and Lauren didn't care about which one of them gets Artie and the girls set off to make their dreams come true.

The Goodies want to start a radio station, but Tim's and Bill's dreams of 'groupie girls', and also Graeme's only line in their jingle – "BOM!" – are soon put on hold; their application is delayed in the post which were slow and rotten - even the postman attempted to run away with the letter to The Goodies but failed when Tim and Bill tackled him. Having missed out on obtaining a licence to broadcast from the GPO, the trio decide to start a pirate radio station and, based on a disgruntled suggestion from Tim about the postal service, Graeme is inspired to start a pirate post office at the same time.

'Radio Goodies' is later launched from a huge submarine, with entry through a hatch which, working on the ice berg principle, has been disguised as a small rowing boat called "The Saucy Gibbon" with the words "Not a Pirate Radio Station" painted on the side.

Unfortunately, things are not off to a great start when Tim discovers that they only have one record ("''A Walk in the Black Forest''"), because Bill has not had enough money to buy any other records for their radio station. An embarrassed Tim announces on the radio: "Yes, friends, that was number 1 in The Goodies Hit Parade, and now number 2 and, incidentally, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 ..... "''A Walk in the Black Forest''".

The Goodies Postal Service however proves to be very successful — too successful, in fact, and Tim and Bill are soon swamped with post to sort and deliver. Tim's efforts to close the post office down come to nothing, however, as Graeme (remodelling himself as a totalitarian despot, complete with eyepatch) has become obsessed with dreams of ruling the world and revolutionise the pirate business.

Graeme wishes to start a pirate bank, a pirate bus service, and a pirate Church of England, all outside Britain's 5-mile (9.3 km) limit, as well as having also planned a fiendish scheme to tow the whole of Britain outside the 5-mile limit and become leader of a pirate state, but his plan is ruined when Tim and Bill – having finally had enough – leave him to it. Unfortunately, Graeme's efforts to tow the whole of Great Britain away single-handedly only cause "The Saucy Gibbon" to sink. Graeme, who is standing up, begins to 'go down with the boat', and Tim suggests that they leave Graeme to his fate, feeling that Graeme would have wanted it that way. Bill, however, disagrees, saying: "No he bloody wouldn't!", and he and Tim decide to rescue Graeme from the sea.

Later, as the three are sitting, wet and shivering, in their office, with their feet soaking in hot water after the rescue, it seems that all is lost; although Graeme has recovered from his momentary bout of megalomania. The pirate radio station and post office have gone belly-up and has bankrupted the Goodies, and Tim and Bill are understandably annoyed with Graeme. However, the Post Office — inspired by the Goodies' methods of delivering the post — have mailed them a royalties cheque, and when the Statue of Liberty can be seen moving past the window behind them, it soon becomes apparent that Britain has been towed much further than Graeme had ever envisaged.

The film opens with Ben Jordan and his wife Katie doing monologues about their perspectives of marriage and their own marriage. They have been married for 15 years and have two children, Erin and Josh, a nice home and a comfortable life.

Their initially happy marriage, however, turns into a sham—a performance they deliver daily for the benefit of their children. While behind the scenes they cannot stand each other anymore.

They met while working for a comedy show, and instantly connected. Katie flashes back to moments where they argued, saying eventually they replaced the arguing with silence.

Sending their kids off to summer camp, Ben and Katie commence a trial separation, during which both try to recall what it is about the other that led them to fall in love in the first place.

They both meet with their corresponding circles of friends, each sharing about what is happening in their relationships, including intimacy, except the Jordans. Ben flashes back to a phone call with Katie, where neither is really listening to the other.

One night, after each of them have a positive flashback, they have a brief call about the kids. Another day, she calls him seeking a number and alerting him that his dry-cleaning was delivered, and he goes to the house for dinner. Both are nervous, but the dinner goes OK, so they go to their bedroom. They chat about their various marriage counselors they've seen over the years, then both feel like their corresponding parents are present. While Ben'd just like to make up, Katie says they first need to repair problems. After he says she's turned into her mother she says f--- you, storming off.

Mid-summer they go to Parents' Day at camp. Ben breaks down upon seeing them, but they maintain their composure throughout the day. Erin sneaks into their room that night. He flashes back to a year ago. Ben and Katie took a trip to Italy, which worked well until they were back home, where they fell back to old patterns.

Back home, Katie goes to a Thai cooking class recommended by a divorcé. He asks her to dinner. In the meantime, Ben goes to dinner with a couple they're friends with. After he has a meltdown, he has epiphany about her perspective. Rushing home, he finds his wife preparing dinner with the divorcè.

A bit before Ben and Katie go to pick up the kids from camp, they agree on a plan to tell the kids, starting with a nice dinner. On the way, she has a flood of events they've been through come to her, both good and bad. This time Katie cries when seeing the kids. Ben names the restaurant they'd agreed on, but she counter-proposes another. Then she rants on and on, essentially they have to take the bad with the good. And they stay together.

Maurice Pogue has retrograde amnesia, a form of amnesia that prevents him from remembering anything that happened to him the day before. He realizes from a recording he made for himself the previous night (Sunday) – to keep himself in the know – that he is a private investigator in Los Angeles, and acquired the condition after being injured during a case. Pogue tells himself not to reveal his condition to anyone, as he is the key witness in the case against the man responsible for his amnesia. Appearing on the recording is a strange woman, Sarah Novak, who informs him she has been living under the alias Beth Holly in San Francisco, and she has come to L.A. because she is being blackmailed. The police then come to Pogue's office, and take him to what turns out to be his birthday party. He tells his friend Dolby that he's seen Sarah, and learns from Dolby that Sarah is dead. While at the party, Pogue also meets Anthony Doover, his doctor – the only person who knows of Pogue's condition.

Two henchmen take him from the party to meet Philip Cornell, the man Pogue is to testify against. Cornell offers Pogue a large sum of money to deny witnessing Cornell's involvement in the crime. On re-examining his files at the office, Pogue learns that Sarah was once Cornell's lover, who decided to testify against Cornell lest he kill her because of her knowledge of his illegal activities. Sarah hired Pogue to protect her but was killed by a car bomb, the same bomb that caused his amnesia. That night, Pogue meets Sarah at a fashion show she is modeling in. She tells him the girl that was killed in the explosion was a double, and that someone is threatening to tell Cornell ''she'' is still alive. Sarah also tells Pogue about a valuable coin Cornell stole from the L.A. County Museum, which she in turn stole from him. Sarah tells Pogue that she gave him the coin the morning before the explosion; Pogue cannot remember. The only clue the two have about the coin's location is one word Pogue said when Sarah gave it to him: "Baby".

The next morning, Pogue has forgotten everything again. Cornell shows up to his office to get Pogue's sworn statement but Pogue, mistaking Cornell for his landlord, gives him a check for rent. Pogue tries throughout the day to figure out where the coin is but doesn't find any answers. Later on, he meets with Sarah; she stays at his place for the night and they make love. Pogue wakes up the following day remembering everything from the day before. Through learning his dog is Baby, he recalls that he hid the coin in its collar. He takes Sarah to a pay phone to call the people who are blackmailing her; Pogue notices that her handwriting is not the same as on the note the coin was wrapped in. Thus realizing she cannot really be Sarah Novak, he switches the coin without her knowledge. He then follows her and finds that Doover and she set up the scam to get the coin. When Doover says they'll have to start all over again after they failed to get the coin, the woman posing as Sarah refuses to go through with it again. That night, while sitting in Pogue's car outside his office, the woman reveals into one of Pogue's recorders that she is really Beth Holly, whom Doover had hired because of her resemblance to Novak. Cornell's men then kidnap Beth when they see her in the car.

On Thursday morning, Cornell, who has figured out that Pogue has the coin, abducts Pogue and takes him to his home, where he attempts to torture him to give up the coin. Pogue and Holly escape, and rush to Cornell's trial. During the trial, Pogue falls back in his chair and hits his head, then suddenly regains his memory. He tells Beth that he put the coin in a parking meter and she speeds off to get it. Pogue then gives his testimony against Cornell, which prompts Cornell to change his plea in the case. Pogue finds Beth back at his apartment and the story ends when the two kiss and go inside.

Part I: "Family Legacies"

Genosha is embroiled in a civil war between human and mutants due to Fabian Cortez inciting it. Cortez kidnaps Luna (the granddaughter of his former leader Magneto), and forces the child to witness the chaos that is engulfing Genosha's capital Hammer Bay. Meanwhile, Nick Fury informs the Avengers of the situation in Genosha should not be in their worries until Valerie Cooper and the United Nations give the greenlight to them. Many Avenger members question the government's paranoia. When Crystal retrieves what was thought to be Luna, the Black Knight smacks her away, revealing to be a Genoshan Mutate warning the Avengers the end of Genosha is near. Professor X and the X-Men learn of the Genoshan civil war and split up, with Professor X and the Beast to leave with the U.S. Agent and Henry Peter Gyrich, and the X-Men leaving right behind them. Back at Avengers Mansion, the Avengers go against Fury's orders and decide to go to Genosha, only to have S.H.I.E.L.D. halt them. While the two strike teams make their way to Genosha, Cortez sends a threatening message to the media, stating that all remaining humans in Genosha will perish at his hands.

Part II: "Civil Disobediences"

Cortez readies an army of mutants and Mutates to eliminate the humans in Hammer Bay, while Quicksilver expresses rage that Magneto's message will come to fruition. At Avalon, Colossus contemplates what more could be done to help Genosha whilst Exodus interrupts him. Colossus admits he is done fighting for the dreams of other people, and decided to stay in space to find himself again. He leaves as Exodus watches over the comatose Magneto. On Earth, the Avengers have a battle with S.H.I.E.L.D. After the encounter, an Avengers strike team (Captain America, Black Knight, War Machine, Crystal, Scarlet Witch, and Sersi) leave for Genosha, leaving the rest of the Avengers to deal with the United Nations' response. At Genosha, Professor X and Beast break off from their UN allies to meet with the Genoshan Mutate rebels, and the U.S. Agent hijacks a vehicle to explore deeper into Genosha. Near Hammer Bay, the X-Men (Cyclops, Storm, Gambit, Rogue, Bishop, Revanche, Jean Grey, Archangel, Iceman, and Quicksilver) are confronted by Cortez and his loyalists. The Avengers arrive at Hammer Bay and encounter Exodus, who warns the heroes Magneto's will live on in Genosha once the humans in the country are exterminated.

Part III: "Bloodties"

Hawkeye, Black Widow, Hercules, Vision, Spider-Woman, and Giant-Man are taken to the UN Headquarters, where Hawkeye has a full-blown argument with the UN Director over the handling of Genosha. Elsewhere, in Hammer Bay, War Machine battles with Exodus as the rest of his teammates deal with the chaos in the streets. The U.S. Agent catches up with Beast and Professor X in the sewers, and the three discover an army of Mutates. The three are discovered by the Genoshan Magistrates. Just outside the city, the X-Men defeat Cortez's loyalists and question Cortez, only to be revealed that a Mutate was impersonating Cortez. Exodus defeats War Machine in a lengthy fight, and shifts his focus to Sersi.

Part IV: "Night and Fog"

Professor X, Beast, and the U.S. Agent battle with the Genoshan Magistrates, and come out victorious. They find Gyrich helping the Mutates, and join with him. Above Hammer Bay, Exodus and Sersi have a violent battle, leading the rest of the heroes to worry about Genosha's impending demise. At the UN Headquarters, Black Widow informs the attendants and UN officials the Avengers will no longer be under supervision of the United States government. The X-Men arrive in Hammer Bay, and examines the aftermath of the destruction the civil war has caused upon the once prosperous city. A few miles away, Sersi and Exodus fight to a stalemate, and the Black Knight and War Machine intervenes to stop Sersi from causing more damage. Beneath the Citadel, Jean, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch meets with Crystal. Cortez appears, and holds Luna as a human shield. Scarlet Witch attempts to attack, but Quicksilver stops her, knowing Cortez will want one of them to react so Luna will die. Exodus arrives, and threatens to kill Cortez for the latter betraying Magneto, whilst Cortez begs the makeshift heroes to save him from Exodus.

Part V: "Of Kith and Kin"

Inside the Helicarrier, Nick Fury shows footage of Genosha's deteriorating state to the West Coast Avengers, with the Black Widow sadly admits that prayer is all they have right now. In Genosha, a force field is erected around the country to ensure no more involvement with outsiders. Below the Citadel, Exodus seemingly kills Cortez and takes Luna hostage in the process. The X-Men and the Avengers meet up and decide to find and take down Exodus. After Storm and War Machine unsuccessfully break down the barrier, Professor X sends an urgent telepathic message to the two teams. The X-Men and Avengers arrive to help Professor X, Beast, Gyrich, and the Agent vanquish the Genoshan Magistrates and their reinforcements. As they tend to the wounded, Exodus comes and reveals his plan to ultimately destroy Genosha. He proclaims he is only heir to be Magneto's only successor, and that to ensure it happens, he will kill the X-Men and anyone else that opposed his leader's dream of mutant supremacy. After Exodus orders the Mutates to kill the two teams or the island will be crushed by the force field, The X-Men and Avengers engage in an all out battle with the Mutates. After holding them back, Professor X launches a psychic attack on Exodus, allowing the Black Knight to knock him down and save Luna. A weakened Exodus unleashes a powerful attack on Quicksilver and leaves for Avalon. With Quicksilver near death, the Black Knight resuscitates his teammate's husband via CPR, giving Quicksilver life again. The morning after the crisis, Captain America and Professor X talk and wonder about the future of relations between humans and mutants.

It is morning, and Graeme's intricate alarm system goes off. Graeme and Tim wake from sleep, but Bill is already awake, having been awake all night. Bill mentions that he never sleeps, commenting that he is afraid to go to sleep because he goes sleepwalking whenever he sleeps.

A fast-talking man Rupert Windcheater (Roddy Maude-Roxby) arrives and asks the Goodies to help with his company's excellent bedtime drink called "Venom". For some reason, good though it is, it just isn't selling. The Goodies set to work on a new marketing plan, starting with changing the name to "Snooze".

Graeme decides to upgrade the formula to New and Improved Snooze. The new mixture instantly knocks the drinker unconscious, as proven by its test subject Bill who goes into a three-day sleep. After Windcheater and the Board of Directors try the new formula, they too are instantly put into a long-term sleep for being a bit too hasty. Soon after, Bill starts sleepwalking and leaves the office. Tim must chase Bill as he sleepwalks, while Graeme sets to work on an antidote. Upon finishing it, Graeme plans to test it by drinking some of the new improved Snooze but falls asleep before being able to drink the antidote. Tim, who is still chasing Bill, catches up with him. However, when Tim gets Bill to sleepwalk back to the office, he notices Graeme is now sleepwalking. Tim manages to get them both back to the office, where he then gives them the antidote and they wake up. They check the news, but as a result of Snooze being shipped out to the entire country, the newsreader (Corbet Woodall) has fallen asleep on his desk. Graeme says that the effect will be lessened if they add the antidote to every reservoir in the country.

The Goodies take a barrel of Graeme's antidote down to a creek, to put a teaspoon of formula into the creek (with the intention of taking the remainder to all other waterways in Britain). While Graeme is carefully filling his teaspoon with the antidote, the barrel suddenly rolls down the bank into the creek by Bill's sneeze and Tim's carelessness, spilling out all the contents. Tim demands to know what will happen because of the unintentional spillage, and Graeme tells him that the effect would be to speed up metabolism, as well as speeding up the people themselves. However, they realize that because of the mass amount of antidote that was spilled, the effect will be amplified up to a hundred times.

Life takes on a surreal effect as the whole of Britain reacts to the effects of the spillage by talking and doing everything extremely fast — a cricket Test match between England and Australia takes only minutes to play, instead of days; a Royal car goes by very rapidly, carrying the Queen; and the British Prime Minister sounds like a cartoon chipmunk as he rushes through his speech in Parliament. The sleeping newsreader wakes up and takes a sip of water — followed by more sips — and, getting faster and faster with his speech, he finally jumps up and pounds his chest with his fists (like King Kong), before rushing off.

Windcheater arrives in a furious mood. His company has been forced to part with the entire quantity of Snooze free-of-charge, to counteract Graeme's antidote. Windcheater intends to take out his anger on the Goodies by shooting them — but, after drinking some of the antidote, the Goodies quickly run away.

The X-Men attempt to find the location of Professor Xavier, who has been missing ever since the authorities arrested him in the wake of the Onslaught disaster. Their quest for him leads them once again into the path of Cerebro, the mutant detecting device used by the X-Men which has now gained sentient life. This time, it has gained a new form, as opposed to mimicking Charles Xavier and creating a team of fake X-Men. Cerebro has begun kidnapping mutants left and right to "catalogue" them and has begun targeting members of the newly reformed Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, who reveal to have Xavier as their prisoner/reluctant mentor.

The X-Men split in two as they are joined by the young mutant Nina, who was Xavier's fellow prisoner during his time in jail. As they find out the location of Cerebro's lair, Cerebro says his plan is to catalog (IE digitalize and store) all humans on Earth, hence bringing about a perverted version of a mutant utopia for Xavier.

While the X-Men distract Cerebro and his drone units, Nina restores Xavier's mental powers (which were deactivated by Onslaught) and together, they force Cerebro to mindlink with all of humanity. Experiencing all the individual souls of humanity causes Cerebro to stop his evil scheme and literally fade away into oblivion. Xavier agrees to return home with the X-Men, reuniting the team with their mentor.

Bernice Summerfield is grieving since the death of Guy de Carnac (as seen in the previous novel, ''Sanctuary''). The Doctor takes her to a market on a planet called Crex in the Augon system. He quickly sets off, telling her he'll be back in an hour, and Benny finds a pub where she orders a beer and finds a group of female human drinking partners. After Benny's had several drinks with them, the Doctor arrives and places a patch on her cheek — a pad that disperses the alcohol in her system. He tells her that they need to leave immediately, and leads her back to the TARDIS. He hands her a scroll, tells her he'll see her in three months, and collapses.

Meanwhile, the genesmith Laylock meets with his associates. They plan to follow the Doctor. In a long, dark room, a teenager named Tim awakens from a dream, having had a premonition that everyone will die.

Unable to understand Benny's grief on a human level, the Doctor has purchased a device which alters his biodata, transforming him into a human named Dr John Smith. Smith lives as a history teacher at a public school in 1914 England, and falls in love with a fellow teacher named Joan. However, when alien Aubertides, hoping to acquire Time Lord abilities, attack the school, Smith sacrifices himself and becomes the Doctor once more; as the Time Lord, he is unable to love Joan in the way the human John Smith did.

''The World Jones Made'' is set in the year 2002 AD. On a then-future post-apocalyptic Earth, there was a devastating conflict that involved the use of atomic weapons. Many American cities were targeted, and the People's Republic of China (and Soviet Union) also collapsed, leading to the imposition of a Federal World Government (Fedgov).

In this particular dystopia, Relativism (a social and philosophical theory having originated with Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity in Physics) emerged as the governing political orthodoxy. Relativism is said to be an ethical philosophy that states everyone is free to believe what they wish, as long as they don't make anyone else try to follow that principle. Relativism has become established law after the destructiveness of the war unleashed by clashing ideologies. (However, dissidents from that orthodoxy do end up in forced labor camps.) This sacrosanct principle is challenged by a man named Floyd Jones, whose assertions about the future prove correct.

Relativism enables legal consumption of drugs like heroin and marijuana, as well as watching live sex shows with hermaphrodite human mutants. Due to the mutagenic effects of radiation from wartime nuclear exchanges, mutants earn their living within the entertainment industry, although one group has been subjected to deliberate genetic engineering, which later enables them to settle (an inhabitable) Venus.

Doug Cussick is an agent of Fedgov, and his involvement with Jones encompasses this book. Jones has precognitive abilities that let him see a year into the future, which allows Dick to explore questions of predestination, free will and determinism.

Fedgov encounters apparently unintelligent alien lifeforms named Drifters, which turn out to be one gamete of a spore-based migratory alien life form. Their apparently pointless destruction leads to a retaliatory alien quarantine of the human race to a few nearby star systems. The presence of the Drifters in the story is to give Jones an initial rallying-point for all of his xenophobic followers. The collapse of Fedgov and rise of Jones to become world dictator have some similarities to the historical fall of the Weimar Republic and rise of Hitler to power in Germany. Jones' ability to see the future a year in advance makes him a charismatic leader, whose followers see him as infallible - forgetting that seeing a year in advance leaves him just as blind as anyone to what might happen later than a year in the future.

In the event, the plot demonstrates, in the context of ensuing events, that Jones is far more susceptible to error than he was previously willing to admit. His whole approach has been one of an all-or-nothing gamble on the infallibility of his precognitive powers.

Jones foresees his own assassination one year before it actually happens. Not only does he not attempt to avoid his execution, but he actually facilitates it by leaping into the path of a bullet meant for a bodyguard. This does not occur, however, before he and his followers create a cult that overthrows Fedgov, leading to the resettlement of Doug, his wife Nina and their three-year-old son in an artificial habitat on Venus.

The novel addresses questions of Jones's agenda and trustworthiness as well as the decidedly ambiguous benefits of individual precognition.

'''Act One''' (Germany). At the end of ''Earth Spirit'', Lulu was imprisoned for the murder of her third husband, Dr Schön. ''Pandora's Box'' opens with her confederates awaiting her arrival after she has been sprung from prison in an elaborate plot. The lesbian Countess Geschwitz, who remains in love with Lulu, has swapped identities with her and takes Lulu's place in prison, hoping that Lulu will love her in return. Rodrigo Quast, the acrobat, plans to take Lulu away with him as a circus performer but when she arrives, emaciated from the prison regime, he declares her unfit for his purposes. Alwa Schön, the writer, succumbs to her charms, despite her having murdered his father. They leave together.

'''Act Two''' (Paris). Lulu and Alwa, now married, are entertaining in their lavish home. All are profiting from investments in the Jungfrau cable-car company. Two characters attempt to blackmail her, since she is still wanted by the German police: Rodrigo the acrobat and Casti-Piani, a white slave-trader who offers to set her up in a brothel in Cairo. The sinister Schigolch, who was Lulu's first patron and may be her father, reappears, and by offering to lure Rodrigo and Geschwitz to his lodgings, promises to "take care of" the threatening Rodrigo. As the police arrive to arrest her, Lulu swaps clothes with a groom and escapes. The Jungfrau share price has meanwhile collapsed, leaving her penniless.

'''Act Three''' (London). Lulu is now living in a garret with Alwa and Schigolch and working as a prostitute. Geschwitz arrives with the rolled-up portrait of Lulu as an innocent Pierrot which has accompanied Lulu throughout the action of this play and its predecessor. Lulu's first client is the pious mute Mr Hopkins. Alwa is killed by her next visitor, the African prince Kungu Poti. Another client, the bashful Dr Hilti, flees in horror and Geschwitz tries unsuccessfully to hang herself. 'Jack' (putatively Jack the Ripper), her final client, argues with her about her fee. Geschwitz vows to return to Germany to matriculate and fight for women's rights. Jack murders Lulu and Geschwitz; the latter dies declaring eternal love for Lulu.

Street tough Zamir has been in love with Kim ever since he rescued her from rapists, but the only way that he can express his affection is to attack any man who shows interest in her. Kim tolerates Zamir's infatuation, but keeps him at arm's length. When Max Kalba arrives in town to take vengeance on Kim's father, Zamir attempts to rescue her once again. Kalba overpowers Zamir and kidnaps Kim's father, who is the Master at the Korean martial arts school. Kim and Zamir flee and take refuge with a mystic dwarf named Nik Nak, who explains that Kalba will kill everyone linked to the "Sect" of martial artists to which Kim and Zamir's fathers belonged. A series of flashbacks reveal a love triangle between Kim's parents and Kalba, which resulted in her mother's suicide. While Zamir trains with a drunken Sect member named Jose Soto, Kalba's minions kidnap Kim. Zamir learns to fight in the "Zeta" style and is given a pair of bladed spurs for his feet. He arrives at Kalba's headquarters and easily cuts through Kalba's minions to fight the man himself. Kalba taunts Zamir with the fact that he has murdered Zamir's mother, and gains the upper hand. On the brink of defeat, Zamir takes strength from his love of Kim and kills Kalba. Later, Zamir checks up on Kim, and she grants him a second kiss in thanks. He departs to reunite with Jose Soto, whom he has learned is his father.

The film examines the mind of anthropologist Ethan Powell (Hopkins) who had been missing for a few years, living in the jungle of Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest with mountain gorillas. He is convicted of killing and injuring several supposed Wilderness Park Rangers in East Africa, and is sent to prison. A bright young psychiatrist, Theo Caulder (Gooding), tries to find out why he killed them, but becomes entangled in a quest to learn the true history and nature of humankind, stating that civilization has steadily destroyed the natural world, advocating that humans abandon this. Eventually it is revealed that during the course of Powell's stay with the gorillas, they accepted him as part of their group; he was attempting to protect his great ape family when the poachers arrived and started shooting them. He gets a hearing to reveal the truth, but an attack by a vicious guard on another prisoner causes Powell to be reminded of the killed gorillas, at which point he violently attacks the guard to stop him, is restrained and stops talking again. At the end of the film, Powell escapes from prison using a pen to dig out the lock on a window, and heads back to Africa.

Victor is a teenager growing up in the Lower East Side of New York City. He is a cocky young man who is very sure of himself in his love life. He lives in a small apartment with his strict grandmother, bratty sister Vicki, and his younger brother Nino, who is just coming into his own sexuality and looks up to his girl-crazy brother.

At the beginning of the film, Victor is found in the bedroom of Fat Donna, a girl that many in the neighborhood consider unattractive. Word quickly spreads throughout the community amongst his friends, although Victor continuously denies it happened. Seeing this as huge threat to his reputation, he sets his sights on the beautiful girl of the neighborhood, Judy.

Judy is a good-looking young woman who is continuously hit on by men in her neighborhood, which makes her very cautious in who she chooses in terms of her love life. When Victor comes on to her, she lies, telling him she already has a boyfriend. When Victor finds out this isn't true, he enlists the help of Judy's little brother Carlos, on the condition that Victor introduce him to Victor's sister Vicki, who Carlos is attracted to. Judy ultimately says yes to Victor's advances to keep her safe from the other boys that harass and follow her constantly.

During this time, we also see Judy's friend Melonie and her romantic dealings with Harold, Victor's friend. Their romance ultimately results in their sleeping together, and Melonie reveals to Harold the real reasons why Judy agreed to go out with Victor. Harold tells Victor, who goes to confront Judy. When Victor invites her over to dinner at his house, she believes he's doing so to impress his family and better his reputation. Things go wrong when Victor's grandmother recognizes the lipstick on the glass from Judy's earlier visit to their apartment, and becomes irate. Judy leaves, the grandmother tells Victor if he goes after the girl that she will change the locks. He goes after her, of course. Ultimately, they decide to stay together, with Victor saying that he invited her to see his family to see who he really is. When Victor returns to his apartment, the grandmother has not kicked him out. He makes peace with her, and the family is able to come together with a greater understanding of each other as individuals, and as a family unit.

Victor Frankenstein (Leonard Whiting) is a newly trained doctor, engaged to Elizabeth Fanshawe (Nicola Pagett). After Victor's younger brother, William, drowns, Victor renounces God and declares he would join forces with the devil if he could restore his brother to life.

Victor leaves the Fanshawe estate for further medical training. He meets Henry Clerval (David McCallum), who has discovered how to restore dead matter to life. Clerval reveals his ultimate plan: to create a new race of perfect beings created from corpses. Clerval persuades Frankenstein to help and the lab is soon completed.

Seven peasant laborers have been killed in a local mining accident. The doctors quickly dig up the bodies and stitch together pieces from them, producing a physically perfect body. Clerval is shocked to discover that a previously reanimated arm from weeks earlier has become unsightly and deformed. Clerval suffers a heart attack and dies before completing his journal entry.

The next morning, Victor finds Clerval's body and misreads the incomplete journal entry as a sign of success. Victor transplants Clerval's brain into their creation.

Victor soon introduces his creation (Michael Sarrazin) into high-class London society, passing him off as a friend from a far-off country with little grasp of English. Shortly thereafter, Victor discovers the now-repulsive arm in Clerval's laboratory cabinet and realizes there is a flaw in the process. He destroys the deformed arm, but sees the same problem affecting the Creature. Victor soon realizes the degeneration is irreversible. After Victor's landlady, Mrs. Blair (Agnes Moorehead), dies from shock from seeing the Creature, Victor retreats with him to the laboratory. He contemplates destroying the Creature, but cannot bring himself to do it. The Creature discovers his deformed appearance and unsuccessfully attempts suicide. He then flees the laboratory and jumps into the sea. Victor assumes the Creature is dead and realizes that perhaps it is for the best.

The Creature washes up on the beach, unharmed. He soon befriends an elderly blind peasant (Ralph Richardson). The blind man is eager to introduce his new friend to his granddaughter Agatha (Jane Seymour) and her husband Felix (Dallas Adams), but the Creature hides. He observes the family from afar and falls in love with Agatha. When Agatha and Felix return home unexpectedly one morning, they encounter the Creature and react in horror. Felix is killed by the Creature and Agatha, fleeing in terror, is struck by a carriage and is also killed.

The Creature takes Agatha's body back to the laboratory, intent on asking Victor to restore her to life. He arrives to find that Victor has left and the laboratory is now occupied by Dr. Polidori (James Mason), Clerval's former mentor. Polidori, aware of the Creature's origins, plans to force Victor to help him create another creature. In the meantime, Victor has abandoned his experiments and married Elizabeth. He is confronted by Polidori, who blackmails him into assisting with his procedure.

Polidori reveals that it was he who perfected the reanimation of dead flesh, secrets stolen by Clerval. He rejects Clerval's use of solar power in favor of his own chemical reanimation process. Victor attaches Agatha's head to a new body and they reanimate a female creature, whom Polidori names Prima. Victor leaves for his honeymoon with Elizabeth.

While Victor and Elizabeth are away, Polidori persuades Elizabeth's family to take Prima in as a house guest. When the couple returns, it becomes evident that Prima is completely insane, and Elizabeth begs Victor to send her away. At the laboratory, Victor confronts Polidori, who agrees to leave with Prima as soon as she has become an established member of society. Before they leave the laboratory, Polidori attempts to destroy the original Creature by having two of his assistants push him into a vat of acid as he sleeps, but Victor stops them. The enraged Creature throws one of the assistants into the acid bath as the others make their escape. Polidori locks the Creature in the laboratory and sets the building on fire, resulting in a series of huge explosions.

A few days later, a lavish ball is held at the Fanshawe mansion to present Prima to the social elite. Prima delights the guests, and Polidori reveals his plan to use her as a courtesan to gain international political influence. Suddenly, the badly burned Creature bursts into the ballroom and confronts Prima, who attacks him. He rips her head off and throws it at Polidori's feet as the surviving guests flee. Weeping, Victor asks the Creature why he has done this. The Creature gently responds and exits into the night.

The next morning, Victor and Elizabeth are questioned by the local constable. They learn Polidori has suffered a nervous breakdown and admitted to reanimating Prima. Victor admits to fashioning the Creature from bodies, but Elizabeth convinces the constable that her husband is deluded and the police leave. Elizabeth persuades Victor to travel to America in order to begin a new life.

After setting sail, Victor and Elizabeth are dismayed to discover that Polidori is also on the ship. Polidori tries to convince Victor to resume the experiments. Unbeknownst to all, the Creature has stowed away and soon emerges from a lifeboat, looking for Victor. Elizabeth sees the Creature hiding in Polidori's cabin and locks the two of them together in the room. Clerval's mind has resurfaced in the Creature and he is determined to have his revenge on Polidori. Victor unlocks the door and as the ship's captain and crew become involved, the conflict moves to the upper deck. The Creature yards Polidori to the top of a mast, Polidori is struck by lightning and reduced to a skeleton. Victor, attempting to climb the mast to reason with the Creature, is knocked unconscious and falls to the deck. The crew members flee in a lifeboat and the Creature takes Victor below deck to care for him.

The Creature lashes the wheel of the ship on a heading straight for the North Pole. In Victor's cabin, Elizabeth cruelly repudiates the Creature, who (his mind now that of Clerval) then strangles her. As Victor remains unconscious below deck, the Creature maintains the course to the north. When Victor awakens, he finds the frozen body of Elizabeth on deck and the ship locked in ice. He follows the Creature to an ice cave, where he confesses that the entire tragedy was caused by his rejection of the helpless, deteriorating Creature. He also knows that, upon his death, the Creature will be utterly alone, cursed with an "iron body" that will keep him alive against his will. As Victor begs the Creature's forgiveness, the sound of his shouts sets off an ice avalanche. As tons of ice begin to fall upon them both, the Creature (in Clerval's voice) forgives his creator, who laughs as he realizes that their ordeal is at an end.

The game begins with Doctor Doom and the Masters of Evil launching an attack on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier U.N.N. ''Alpha''. Nick Fury sends out a distress call to all available superheroes for assistance. Captain America, Spider-Man, Thor and Wolverine respond to the call. Along with the other heroes, they save the Helicarrier from the forces led by Scorpion, Bullseye, Winter Soldier, Radioactive Man, and Fin Fang Foom. In the wake of the attack, Nick Fury is given permission to start a task force to confront the Masters of Evil and Iron Man allows them to use Stark Tower as their headquarters.

Fury asks the heroes to investigate an odd message received from Dum Dum Dugan on the Omega Base, a S.H.I.E.L.D. mobile research facility. The team defeats supervillains MODOK, Crimson Dynamo, and Mysterio as well as A.I.M. Agents and failed Super Soldier experiments to prevent the Omega Base from crashing into a dam and launching several gamma bombs.

With their mission successful, the heroes travel to Atlantis, where the inhabitants are being mind-controlled by Attuma, who has usurped Namor from his throne. With the help of nano-technology that enables them to breathe and move freely underwater, the heroes fight the mind-controlled Atlanteans, destroy the towers which are guarded by Warlord Krang and Byrrah, rescue Namor, and defeat Attuma and Tiger Shark. After defeating Attuma, the heroes encounter Mandarin, who unleashes the Kraken, which the team defeats by toppling pillars on it.

characters. They then travel to the Valley of Spirits to confront Mandarin in his palace. After his defeat, he reveals that he attempted to take command of the Masters of Evil and, upon failing, left the group. He suggests that the Mandarin they saw in the catacombs was actually Loki, god of mischief.

Upon returning to base, the team learns that Nightcrawler and Jean Grey have been kidnapped. Due to the involvement of mystical forces, Fury has the team relocated to the Sanctum Sanctorum, offered as a temporary headquarters by a grateful Doctor Strange, who they rescued in the Valley of Spirits. Professor X tracks Nightcrawler to Castle Doom, but upon trying to transport the heroes there they are sent to Murderworld by a spell from Baron Mordo. After defeating a mind-controlled Jean Grey, Rhino, and Shocker, the heroes battle a large mech, piloted by Arcade.

Victorious, the heroes learn that Doctor Doom has used Nightcrawler to access Mephisto's Realm, and the team is sent in pursuit. Upon arriving, minions of Mephisto kidnap Jean Grey and Nightcrawler. Mephisto's son Blackheart puts them in separate cages above the Infinity Vortex, stating one must be saved and the other sacrificed before the team can defeat Mephisto. During their battle with Mephisto the sacrificed hero returns, resurrected by Mephisto, but now under his control. As a final effort, the resurrected hero sacrifices their life to defeat Mephisto and allow the team to escape.

Meanwhile, in Asgard, a massive army of Super Soldiers attacks and imprisons the Asgardian gods. The heroes travel to Valhalla to liberate it from its invading force and free Heimdall (who is guarded by Rhino and Shocker), Tyr (who is guarded by Scorpion and Lizard), and Balder (who is guarded by Enchantress and Executioner). Then they fight the Wrecking Crew and undead soldiers unleashed by Hela to open Bifrost Bridge in order for reinforcements to arrive. Looking for Odin in Niffleheim following a fight with Kurse and Ulik, they find his shattered Twilight Sword and learn from Ymir that Doctor Doom and Loki have taken Odin to Raven's Spire. After Loki is seemingly defeated at Raven's Spire, the team frees the Destroyer Armor to use against Doctor Doom. Loki, disguised as Fury, reveals himself and his plot to have the heroes free the armor for nefarious purposes. As heroes defeat Loki and the armor, Doctor Doom appears and reveals that he has stolen Odin's power. He uses it to attempt to eliminate the heroes, but Uatu the Watcher saves them and transports them to the Inhumans' base on the moon.

Uatu reveals the only way to defeat Doom is to acquire a piece of the M'Kraan Crystal and steal the Muonic Inducer from Galactus (who is currently attacking the Skrull homeworld).

The team is sent to the Shi'ar Empire where they fight Deathbird and the Imperial Guard in order to restore Lilandra Neramani to the throne and gain a portion of the M'Kraan Crystal. After retrieving the crystal, the heroes travel to the Skrull homeworld. With the help of the Silver Surfer, the heroes disable Galactus and steal the Muonic Inducer.

Meanwhile, Doctor Doom conquers Earth, corrupting and creating clones of many of the heroes who attempted but failed to stop him, such as Colossus and Cyclops. In a final effort, the team travels to Latveria to confront Doom. The heroes use the M'Kraan Crystal and Muonic Inducer to weaken Doom. As the heroes weaken Doom, he is blasted by a bolt of lightning sent by a rejuvenated Odin, leaving nothing but his mask behind.

As the heroes meet on the repaired Helicarrier, Fury asks Thor to thank Odin for undoing the damages to which Thor states that Odin is currently busy punishing Doctor Doom and Loki. Fury informs the heroes that the team must disband and asks if S.H.I.E.L.D. can count on them when another threat happens. Captain America assures Nick that the world can count on them.

Meanwhile, Galactus vows revenge on the heroes who stole from him and plans to destroy Earth.

Characters

''Marvel: Ultimate Alliance'' features over 140 characters, and in addition the heroes battle evil versions of both themselves and other heroes throughout the game. Some heroes also appear as a villain under mind control, such as Jean Grey. In game each character has a set of four alternate costumes; however, three of these costumes must be unlocked. Furthermore, some of the character costumes are also other superheroes in the Marvel Universe. This includes Iron Man as War Machine, Thor as Beta Ray Bill, Spider-Woman as Spider-Girl and Julia Carpenter from ''Secret Wars'', Ghost Rider as Phantom Rider and Ms. Marvel as Sharon Ventura. Also, there are various upgrades that can be attached to characters for boosts in power, speed, defense, etc. Nintendo characters Link from ''The Legend of Zelda'' and Samus Aran from ''Metroid'' were to appear in the Wii version of the game, but were cancelled due to being presented to Nintendo in the PS2 version.

Playable characters

• Black Panther
• Black Widow
• Blade
• Captain America
• Captain Marvel
• Colossus
• Cyclops
• Daredevil
• Deadpool
• Doctor Doom
• Doctor Strange
• Elektra
• Ghost Rider
• Hawkeye
• Human Torch
• Hulk
• Iceman
• Invisible Woman
• Iron Man
• Luke Cage
• Magneto
• Mister Fantastic
• Moon Knight
• Ms. Marvel
• Nick Fury
• Nightcrawler
• Ronin
• Sabretooth
• Silver Surfer
• Spider-Man
• Spider-Woman
• Storm
• Thing
• Thor
• Venom
• Wolverine

In the game's backstory, a fallen angel became the Demon King Angra, whose demonic army invaded the world. However, a man holding the power of God within his arms defeated Angra, sending him into exile once again. The man was then given the title of "God Hand" by the people he saved. A clan of humans was established to protect the God Hands as it is said that anyone who possesses it will be "capable of becoming either god or demon". The main protagonist is Gene, a 23-year-old fighter who has one of the God Hands, which is sought after by a group of demons. Though he is outspoken and macho, he has a keen sense of justice. Gene is accompanied by Olivia, a 19-year-old descendant of the clan who once protected the God Hands. After the demons kill her family, she fled with one of the God Hands, grafting it onto Gene upon meeting him when he saves her from bandits attempting to take the God Hand from her and gets his right arm hacked off in the process.

The main villains are the Four Devas, a demonic society attempting to resurrect Angra for world domination. The members include the leader Belze, the cigar addicted officer Elvis, the circus ringmaster Shannon and Azel, also called the "Devil Hand", a human that also possesses one of the God Hands and earlier joined the Devas to achieve his own goals. The game features a number of recurring minor enemies whom Gene meets, including a pair of extremely flamboyant twins; the trio responsible for removing Gene's original arm; a gorilla wearing a lucha libre wrestling mask and outfit; an android warrior sent by Belze twice to stop Gene; an aspiring rock duo who were originally aspiring musicians that sold their souls to the demons in exchange for power; and a group of midgets dressed in Super Sentai-style clothing with playing card emblems on their costumes. Nearly all battles are revealed by comical gags and dialogue. Once Gene defeats Azel at the Tower of Angra, Angra awakens from inside Azel's body; Azel then rips off his God Hand and entrusts it to Gene, not wanting to be controlled. Now with both God Hands, Gene defeats Angra and rescues Olivia.

Llovizna is the name of a beautiful eighteen-year-old girl raised by Marhuanta Sánchez, a former prostitute and companion of Llovizna's grandfather, Caruachi del Río. Caruachi, an ex-convict and now a steel worker, gave baby Llovizna to Marhuanta, without revealing that she was his granddaughter. Llovizna's biological mother, Caruachi's daughter, Rosplandor, was murdered immediately following her birth in an effort to hide a relationship she had with Pio Heres, the owner of the steel mill. As Pio was hoping for a son, Llovizna's life was spared, and she was given to Marhuanta to raise as her own child. On his deathbed, Caruachi reveals to Llovizna that Pio robbed him of his investment in the steel mill 20 years prior, and that Pio is responsible for the death of her mother. As he breathes his last breath, he begs Llovizna, as his sole heir, to recover her share of the steel mill that was taken away from him years ago, before Pio had him unjustly imprisoned for the death of Llovizna's mother. Caruachi's tragic accident in one of the furnaces at the steel mill, compels Llovizna to seek his job, in order to keep the promise she made to her dying grandfather, to expose Pio Heres for all of his wrongdoing. Here, Llovizna will fall hopelessly in love with Orinoco Fuego, a handsome, young and rebellious steel worker. Jesus Ferrer, many years ago, left his humble family, and ambitiously studied under the tutelage of Pio Heres, who had many years awaited the birth of a son. Jesus changed his name from Caroni Fuego and left behind his mother and younger brother, Orinoco. Fate and circumstances will force Llovizna to set her feelings for Orinoco aside, when she leaves the furnaces and accepts a job with the new general manager of the steel empire, Mr. Jesus Ferrer. Here Llovizna begins to unravel the lies that the now seriously ill Pio has used to cover the death of her mother and the robbery of her grandfather's rights in the steel mill. When Pio is exposed for his crimes and threatens Orinoco's life, Llovizna, in an attempt to save her true love, marries Jesus.

Llovizna is the name of the story of youth who want to better themselves and the struggle to achieve their goals and lives. It is a story where honest work, education, solidarity and friendship are the moving forces that frame all of the characters. It is the impulse of such a powerful love that makes their conquest possible.

In the future, the United States has converted to an "electronic democracy" where the computer Multivac selects a single person to answer a number of questions. Multivac will then use the answers and other data to determine what the results of an election would be, avoiding the need for an actual election to be held.

The story centers around Norman Muller of Bloomington, Indiana, the man chosen as "Voter of the Year" in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Although the law requires him to accept the dubious honour, he is not sure that he wants the responsibility of representing the entire electorate, worrying that the result will be unfavorable and he will be blamed.

However, after "voting", he is very proud that the citizens of the United States had, through him, "exercised once again their free, untrammeled franchise" – a statement that is somewhat ironic as the citizens did not actually get to vote; even he himself did not vote for any candidate, law, or issue.

The idea of a computer predicting whom the electorate would vote for instead of actually holding an election was probably inspired by the UNIVAC I's correct prediction of the result of the U.S. presidential election in 1952.

Shelley Allen (Natasha Richardson) operates a hairdressing shop in Keighley with her domestic partner Sandra (Rachel Griffiths). Shelley has been battling cancer, a secret known only to Sandra and a few confidants. She receives a terminal prognosis from her oncologist and decides to hide the truth from Sandra.

When Keighley is chosen to host the British hairdressing championship, Shelley wants to participate one last time. She asks her ex-husband Phil (Alan Rickman) and her son Brian (Josh Hartnett), who operate a barber shop, to join her and Sandra as a team to enter the competition. Phil rejects the proposition: ten years previously Shelley had been his partner in the competition, and she ran off with Sandra (their model) the night before the third event; Phil has never forgiven them.

Meanwhile, defending champion Raymond Robertson (Bill Nighy) visits Phil to ensure that Phil is not competing. Brian is offput when Raymond belittles Phil's confidence and ability. When he is attracted to Raymond's beautiful daughter Christina (Rachael Leigh Cook), Brian offers to join Shelley's team.

Christina aspires to be a hair colourist, but lacks experience. Brian brings her to a funeral parlor where he works, where she can practice on one of the corpses after hours while Brian cuts its hair. Christina is startled when the corpse "groans" (expels trapped gas in the lungs) and flees into the street. Brian follows to console her and inadvertently allows the doors to lock behind them. The next morning the family of the deceased is displeased to find shocking pink spiky hair on their 95-year-old uncle. During the first round of the competition, Brian is cornered by the relatives of the deceased and is physically beaten.

Shelley reveals to Phil and Brian that she has terminal cancer. Phil reconsiders and agrees to coach but not to cut. After Raymond's team successfully cheats in the first round, Phil sabotages a second attempt in the second round, allowing the other top teams to narrow the gap to Raymond. Christina gains colouring experience using the sheep of the family that assaulted Brian. Brian however disowns her when he realises she is helping Raymond cheat.

The night before the third round, Sandra learns that Shelley's cancer is terminal. Angry that Shelley lied to her, Sandra quits the team. Shelley recruits one of her clients as the model for the third round and wins, moving the team into second place overall. Phil is congratulatory, but Shelley reveals that her motivation was not to win – she wanted the team effort to bond the four of them into a family before she dies. Phil agrees to participate in the final round; he also talks Sandra into rejoining the team. Christina cuts off most of her hair so that she cannot participate in her father's scheme for the final round, and she and Brian reconcile.

In the last round, Phil's novel design includes shaving Sandra's head to reveal an old scalp tattoo and applying body paint to her naked, winged body. The result snatches them the overall victory by one point. Shelley, Sandra, Phil, Brian and Christina leave the competition arm-in-arm as Keighley celebrates a hometown winner.

''We Can Build You'' is set in the then-future year of 1982. It centers on Louis Rosen, a small businessman whose company produces spinets and electronic organs. Rosen's partner wants to begin production of simulacra, or androids, based on famous Civil War figures. The firm completes two prototypes, one of Edwin M. Stanton and one of Abraham Lincoln. Rosen then attempts to sell the robot patents to Sam K. Barrows, an influential businessman who is opening up lunar real estate for purchase and colonization. Unfortunately, while the Stanton simulacrum proves able to adapt to contemporary U.S. society, the Lincoln simulacrum proves unable to do so, possibly because the original experienced schizophrenia. At the same time, Louis begins a relationship with Pris Frauenzimmer, the schizophrenic daughter of his business partner, who has designed both simulacra. This becomes an obsession and Louis himself begins to hallucinate about Pris.

At the same time, Pris defects to Barrows but then loses faith in the benevolence of their partnership when his objectives are disclosed as more prosaic than hers, with his plans to use simulacra colonists to entice human settlement on the Moon and other human interplanetary colonies within the solar system. After Pris's destruction of a John Wilkes Booth prototype simulacrum, the Stanton/Lincoln simulacra strand of the plot abruptly terminates.

The remainder of the book deals with Louis Rosen's admission of schizophrenia and his Jungian therapeutic treatment at the Kasanin Centre in Kansas from where Pris was originally released. Under the influence of his therapist Rosen creates a virtual hallucinatory reality of his own where he resumes his relationship with Pris, marries her, has children and grows old together with her, finally culminating with him hitting her hallucinatory doppelgänger in a fit of pique. This concludes his final therapy session and he is released from the Kasanin clinic after his doctor accuses him of malingering. The end of the novel posits the query of whether he was actually batty to begin with. The real-world Pris, however, has become unwell again, and she is returned to Kasanin following her short-lived career as a simulacra designer.

''The Tree of Hands'' tells the story of an affluent young woman, Benet, who has a two-year-old son named James. She is estranged from James' father. They live in North London. Benet's mother comes to visit them. She and Benet's father now live in Spain. Benet's mother has a history of mental illness, possibly schizophrenia, and Benet is rather fearful of her mother and what she may be capable of doing.

Unfortunately James becomes extremely ill and dies, Benet is distraught and spends a lot of time in a state of prostrated grief. Her mother tries to look after her. A sub-plot involves a young man on a council estate who is deeply in love with a woman, Carol, who has several children from previous partners. It becomes apparent to the reader that she is unfaithful to this young man, and she is abusing her children, in particular her little boy, Jason. A turn in events leads to Benet's mother kidnapping little Jason and "replacing" the dead James. Benet, at first horrified at what her mother has done, begins to realise that little Jason has been abused (she finds cigarette burns on his body) and grows to love him. As he refers to himself as Jay, this is what she calls him. However, she realises that she cannot continue to see the Doctor from the hospital because he knows that James has died, and he has been very kind to her. He may start to question Jason's appearance. Also Benet's ex begins to realise what may have happened and puts pressure on her. She realises that she and Jay must leave the country in order to start their new life.

The sub plot (Carol and her friends and family) evolves into murder and betrayal, and a very clever twist involving the sale of a house in Hampstead.

The title "Tree of Hands" refers to a piece of artwork displayed on the wall in the ward that James was admitted to when first taken ill.

Noel Meyerhof is a "Grand Master", one of a small cadre of Earth's recognised geniuses, who has the insight to know what questions to ask Multivac. But a computer scientist is concerned that Meyerhof is acting erratically. As a known joke-teller, he has been discovered feeding jokes and riddles into Multivac.

By computer analysis, the characters in the story investigate the origin of humour, particularly why there seems to be no such thing as an original joke, except for puns. Every normal joke is something that was originally heard from someone else.

The computer eventually tells them that humour is actually a psychological study tool imposed on the human race by extraterrestrials studying mankind, similarly to how humans study mice. They needed to isolate the responses to their jokes from original ones, so they "programmed" us to react differently to puns.

The characters of the story conjecture that figuring this fact out makes humour useless as a tool, so the aliens will cease using it. And suddenly nothing is ever funny again.

Three influential leaders of the human race meet in the aftermath of a successful war against the Denebians. Discussing how the vast and powerful Multivac computer was a decisive factor in the war, each of the men admits that in fact, he falsified his part of the decision process because he felt that the situation was too complex to follow normal procedures.

John Henderson, Multivac's Chief Programmer, admits that he altered the data being fed to Multivac, since the populace could not be trusted to report accurate information in the current situation.

Max Jablonski then admits that he altered the data that Multivac produced, since he knew that Multivac was not in good working order due to manpower and spare parts shortage.

Finally, Lamar Swift, Executive Director of the Solar Federation, reveals that he had not trusted the reports produced by Multivac, and had made the final decisions purely on the toss of a coin.

When humanity begins to chafe under Multivac’s benevolent tyranny, one man takes matters into his own hands to destroy the great computer. By appearing to betray his fellow humans, he places himself in a position to permanently destroy Multivac. It is implied that it is not until completion of the act that he and his peers suddenly realize the enormity of their actions and the consequences it will have on humanity.

In the 22nd century, the Earth is ruled by the "New Men", who have superhuman mental abilities, and the "Unusuals", who possess psionic abilities such as telepathy, telekinesis and precognition. (In its use of psychic abilities as a major plot element, this work is similar to Dick's novel ''Ubik''.) Thors Provoni, who has gone deep into space to find help for his resistance to the ruling groups, is returning with a sentient protoplasmic alien being, a "Friend from Frolix 8" known as Morgo Rahn Wilc, to fight for the "Old Men", human beings who have none of the rulers' powers. Nick Appleton is a tire regroover - a lowly, if skilled, job; his son Bobby fails a Civil Service examination that is deliberately geared toward failing "Old Man" applicants. At the same time, Terran authorities are holding the "Under Man" activist Cordon in prison and preparing for his execution. Appleton becomes politicised, and falls for Charlotte ("Charley") Boyer, a sixteen-year-old subversive. She is involved with alcoholic Denny (in this future, alcohol prohibition has returned as a social policy). After the authorities discover that Appleton has become "subversive", they attempt to apprehend him and Charley, whom Willis Gram is also obsessed with.

Meanwhile, Thors Provoni's craft has eluded Terran fleet defences and is rapidly nearing Earth, leading to paranoid fears among the ruling elite about the possibility of violent alien invasion. In the event, Provoni does land, but Morgo Rahn Wilc protects him from an assassination attempt. Provoni is actually a "New Man" and an "Unusual" at the same time, and, with the assistance of his alien companion, he strips all Unusuals of their psionic abilities, and all New Men of their advanced cognitive abilities, rendering the New Men intellectually disabled and capable only of childlike cognition.

Roger's father works with a supercomputer called a Multivac, which has been malfunctioning lately as it comes up with different solutions each time to problems it is asked to solve. After coworkers tell him to take a break, he takes Roger out to lunch. His father tells him what he thinks is wrong with the Multivac, and then from this Roger decides that it is like a child, and like one needs a break from work, saying that if you made a kid do work all day than it would get stuff wrong on purpose. His father reassure this inference with Roger, who confirms it saying, "Dad, a kid's got to play too."

"What Kind of Day Has it Been" begins with the president attending a town hall meeting at the Newseum in Rosslyn, Virginia. As the entourage exits the building, Secret Service Agent Gina Toscano seems to sense danger from the window of an overlooking building. The story is then told in retrospect starting with the day of President Bartlet preparing for the town hall question and answer session that evening. Meanwhile, the Secret Service are becoming increasingly concerned about threats on the life of the President's youngest daughter, Zoey, and her black boyfriend, the President's personal aide, Charlie, from White Supremacist groups. In addition to this, the military are performing a delicate rescue mission of an American pilot, stranded in Iraq, with Iraqi security forces trying to find him.

Toby is worried, because his brother is in a space shuttle orbiting Earth but unable to land due to some technical problems. Josh has to put some pressure on Vice President Hoynes, on the subject of campaign finance reform. C.J. has to lie to the press to keep the Iraqi rescue mission covert, but doing so she incurs the anger of reporter Danny Concannon.

Returning to the town hall meeting, the evening is turning into a great success for the whole Bartlet administration. The pilot was saved without any bloodshed and while Bartlet is answering questions, the news comes through that the shuttle carrying Toby's brother is safe. As the senior staff come out of the building laughing and joking, Gina tells Zoey to get in the car, made nervous by the sight of a young man who doesn't seem to fit with the crowd. Suddenly, the man looks up to a window and removes his hat, before disappearing. As Gina turns around, she spots two more men aiming guns out of said window, and yells a warning, screaming "GUN!". Suddenly shots ring out. Scenes show each member of the senior staff being thrown to the ground by agents and chaos erupting. As the scene pans out to show the carnage, a Secret Service agent can be heard on the radio, asking "Who's been hit?! Who's been hit?!"

His reputation brought into disrepute by Captain Bagshaw, a competitor for the affections of Lady Jane Ponsonby, Bertram Oliphant "Bo" West decides to leave England and join the French Foreign Legion, followed by his faithful manservant Simpson. Originally mistaken for enemy combatants at Sidi Bel Abbès, the pair eventually enlist and are helped in surviving Legion life by Sergeant Nocker, although only after they discover that when he is "on patrol" he is actually enjoying himself at the local cafe with the female owner, Zig-Zig.

Meanwhile, Lady Jane, having learnt that Bo was really innocent, heads out to the Sahara to bring him back to England. Along the way she has several encounters with men who exploit the fact that she is naive and travelling alone. After several such run-ins, including with the Legion fort's Commandant Burger (who coincidentally had once been her fencing instructor, and joined the Legion in self-imposed shame after he had inadvertently cut her finger during a lesson), she meets Sheikh Abdul Abulbul and ends up becoming a part of his harem and planned 13th wife.

Nocker and Bo are kidnapped by Abulbul after being lured to the home of Corktip, a belly dancer at the Café ZigZig. Simpson follows them to the Oasis El Nooki but is also captured. After entering Abulbul's harem and discovering Lady Jane, Bo and Simpson give themselves up while Nocker escapes (or rather is allowed to by Abulbul) back to Sidi Bel Abbes to warn Commandant Burger of Abulbul's plans to attack Fort Soixante-Neuf (i.e. 69, the sexual position). However, during this time Zig-Zig has told the Commandant about Nocker's true destination when on patrol, and therefore upon his return his story is not believed. It is only when Nocker mentions Lady Jane that they realise he was telling the truth and the Commandant organises a force to reinforce the fort.

Along the way they discover Bo and Simpson staked to the ground at the now abandoned oasis. The relief column marches on towards the fort but heat, lack of water and a sand castle building competition gone wrong decimates the force to a handful. The remaining members reach the fort to find that they are too late; the attack has already occurred and the garrison wiped out.

After learning that Abulbul's celebration of the successful attack includes marrying Lady Jane, Bo, Burger, Nocker and Simpson rescue her from his tent, leaving Simpson behind dressed as a decoy. When Abulbul discovers the deception, he chases Simpson back to the fort where, through the imaginative use of a gramophone and a German marching song, gum arabic, coconuts, gunpowder and a cricket bat, the group holds off Abulbul's army until a relief force arrives. However, Commandant Burger ends up as the sole casualty among the protagonists.

Back in England the group reunites for a game of cricket, with Nocker having been promoted to Commandant and Lady Jane having conceived a son by the late Burger. Bo is batting, but when he hits the ball, it explodes. The bowler is then shown to be Abulbul having gained his revenge, to which Bo, with a broken bat and burnt clothes, good-naturedly responds "Not out!"

Voschev, a machine factory worker, is berated by management for sitting around on the job. When asked why he stands idly for hours when he should be working, Voschev responds that he is trying to find the true meaning of life and that, if he succeeds, his happiness will raise productivity. They don't buy the excuse. Management asks rhetorically, "What if we all get lost in thought — who'll be left to act?" Voschev is subsequently fired. He leaves the factory in search of new work.

Along the way, Voschev comes across a couple fighting in front of their children. He yells at them for not respecting the ideals of youth, but they tell him to go away. He then sees a cripple named Zhachev, who Voschev thinks is about to harass a group of Pioneer girls. Zhachev responds, "I look at children for memory." He claims that Voschev is "soft in the head" due to never having been at war.

Eventually Voschev joins a group of workers, all of whom are much stronger than him, a fact that Voschev attributes to his exhausting quest for truth. He learns that the group will be digging an enormous foundation pit in which they will later construct a housing complex for the country's proletarians. Voschev also works at a slower pace than everyone else except for one man, Kozlov, whom the others make fun of for masturbating so often. Safronov, the most politically active worker at the foundation pit, complains when managements tells them to stop working for the day.

The group’s supervisor quietly climbs out of bed in order to take a walk outside. His name is Prushevsky and, like Voschev, he feels that something is missing in his life. "People make use of me," he says to himself, "but no one is glad of me." He contemplates suicide but determines he will first write a letter to his sister.

Chiklin, a typical worker at the site, discovers a gully that he feels the group can use for the foundation pit without having to dig so far into the earth. However, Safronov condemns him for thinking outside of the box and asks whether he received "a special kiss in infancy" that allows him to make better decisions than the government's experts back in Moscow. Prushevsky orders the men to take soil samples, but, after they are returned to him, he sadly admits that he doesn’t know anything about soil analysis because no one ever taught him how to look at the inside of things.

Prushevsky and Chiklin have a conversation about the days before the Russian Revolution. He tells Chiklin about a girl who spontaneously kissed him. She was the factory owner's daughter, and, while he regrets not stopping to talk to her, he's sure that she has grown old by now. Safronov and Kozlov begin to fight. Both claim that the other is trying to undermine the workers' goals, but Safronov leaves when Kozlov recalls the time he "incited a certain poor peasant to slaughter a cock and eat it."

Voschev continues to spend his days picking up leaves and other pieces of nature as proof that the world was created without purpose. He then recycles an old excuse, telling Safronov that he would like to take some paid time off in order to search for the meaning of life, which will increase productivity. Safronov counters that proletarians live for the enthusiasm to work. Chiklin walks through an old tile factory and finds Julia, the boss's daughter whom Prushevsky — and he, too, it is realized — kissed so many years earlier. She is about to die and is being taken care of by her daughter, Nastya. Julia tells her daughter to never reveal her family's wealthy origins, lest she be punished by class enemies. Chiklin kisses Julia one more time before she dies and then brings Nastya back to the barracks. He returns to the factory with Prushevsky, who does not recognize the dead woman. "I've always not recognized people I love," he explains, "though in the distance I’ve yearned for them." They leave her body in the room. Chiklin blocks the doorway with heavy bricks and tells Prushevsky that her death has given his life a new meaning.

All of the workers meet Nastya. Zhachev, the cripple at whom Voschev yelled during one of the opening scenes, decides that he will kill of the local adults once Nastya has grown up. Safronov asks Nastya about her family, and, remembering her mother’s warning, she tells him that she waited a long time to be born in fear that her mother may belong to the bourgeoisie class. "But now that Stalin's become," she adds, "I've become too!" Safronov is pleased at this answer. When Nastya goes to sleep, the men resolve to start working early in the morning so that the housing complex will be completed for any other underage visitors in the future.

The next morning, the workers find 100 empty coffins buried in the ground. Chiklin gives two of them to Nastya, who sleeps in one and keeps her toys in the other. Yet a peasant named Yelisey tells the group that the coffins belong to his village. Yelisey carries away the coffins, which are tied together by a long strand of rope. Voschev follows the peasant's trail. Kozlov unexpectedly shows up at the worksite wearing an expensive suit, the result of having been appointed chairman of the labor union council. Pashkin, who is now Kozlov's driver, tells the group that the peasants in a nearby village are looking to collectivize their farms. The workers decide that Kozlov and Safronov, even though they hate each other, will lead the collectivization process.

The workers complete the foundation pit and are happy about the success. Pashkin tells them that it will have to be at least four times bigger in order to make room for pregnant women, though, and he convinces management to give the order. Voschev, who followed the peasant claiming ownership of the empty coffins, returns to the worksite to announce that Kozlov and Safronov are dead. The workers steal Nastya's empty coffins and bury the men in them. She doesn’t understand why someone who is not alive is given preference. "It's the way things are done," Chiklin explains to her. "The dead are all special — they're important people."

Chiklin and Voschev travel to the village in order to retrieve the bodies but discover that Kozlov and Safronov have been brutally murdered. The peasants say that they do not know who murdered the men. Chiklin kills one of them out of anger, and a second peasant turns up dead under suspicious circumstances. A union organizer known only as “the activist” tells everyone that the latter peasant was the murderer. They bury Kozlov and Safronov before receiving a letter from Prushevsky, who says that Nastya has begun attending nursing school. Nastya's working class rhetoric, which she first used in order to fit in, is now violent in nature. She writes, "Liquidate the kulaks as a class. … Greetings to the collective farm, but not the kulaks."

The activist rounds up all of the peasants but is terrified to make a mistake. He has not received any mandates from management and is worried about both underachieving and overachieving, fearing that the peasants will use smaller animals like goats in order to prop up capitalism. Chiklin and Voschev find an old man lying on the ground. He is trying to will himself to death, claiming that his soul disappeared when his horse was taken into collectivization. They leave for a literacy class taught by the activist, who teaches women and young girls how to write socialist words and slogans. Chiklin finds out that the local priest has been providing the activist with a list of names of the people who enter the church to pray. He punches the priest on principle.

A few days later, the activist announces that the kulaks will be exterminated as a class, and then their bodies will be sent down the river on a makeshift raft. Many peasants were expecting this to happen and stopped taking care of themselves long ago. One woman, for instance, is alive only to the pain she feels when stray dogs chew on her feet. Others rip their plants out of the ground by the roots, refusing to let their property be taken into collectivization. The rest of the peasants spend the night involuntarily vomiting.

Zhachev and Nastya visit the village, and Yelisey introduces them to the local blacksmith: an anthropomorphic bear who touts a keen ability to sniff out and kill kulaks. The bear takes Nastya and Chiklin hunting for the kulaks who were not liquidated. Before dying, one of their victims shouts out, "The only person who’ll ever reach socialism is that one important man of yours." They send the last of the corpses down the river and set up speakers for music and dancing. Zhachev isn't having a good time and keeps knocking peasants onto the ground for fun. He tells Chiklin, who begins feeling sorry for the people they've killed, that Marxism, along with scientific advancements, will resurrect Lenin one day.

In the early morning, the bear inexplicably begins to hammer away at iron. He's roaring loudly, almost as if in song, and no one understands why. However, the men join him and, in essence, lose themselves in the hard work. Prushevsky does not follow suit. A girl asks him to teach her knowledge, and he leaves the worksite with her. The activist receives a letter from the Soviet government stating that any peasants who seem too willing to have their property collectivized should be treated with suspicion as undercover agents.

Nastya wakes up with a cold. She mutters about spiritual complexities similar to those of Voschev. Chiklin drapes three coats over her body for warmth, but the activist, still upset about the intelligence letter from management, steals one of them from her. Zhachev tells Chiklin about the aforementioned letter, and Chiklin becomes suspicious of the activist's optimism and energy. Chiklin kills him with a sledgehammer. The activist's body is sent down the river like the kulaks were. The bear begins to weep, feeling isolated from the group. Voschev explains the bear feels that way because he has no purpose in life except to work. Nastya's condition is also worsening. "Bring me Mama's bones," she continues to say. "I want them." The workers decide to bring her back to the worksite. Prushevsky, however, stays in the village in order to teach the children. Nastya dies the next morning.

Voschev returns to the worksite with all of the collectivize property, including its previous owners. He doesn't know how to react to Nastya's death but tells Chiklin that the peasants would like to enroll as regular workers. They realize this means that the foundation pit will have to be built even larger. Zhachev, who at the beginning of the novel vowed to kill all of the adults at Nastya's coming of age, refuses to help reconstruct the foundation pit. "Communism's something for the kids," Zhachev says. He leaves the worksite and never returns.

Chiklin spends 15 hours digging a grave for Nastya in order to ensure she will be disturbed by neither worms nor human beings. The bear reaches out and touches Nastya one last time.

Jamie Douglas is a beautiful, successful news writer and anchor in Los Angeles, in a stable relationship with her long-term boyfriend, Brandon. Jamie begins receiving anonymous phone calls and flowers from a man named Derek, a psychotic photographer who is obsessed with her. Initially, Jamie dismisses them as harmless flattery from an "admirer," until Derek retrieves her phone number and begins calling her house in the Hollywood Hills, as well as that of her neighbor, a fashion model named Robin. Derek manages to access Jamie's dressing room at the office, and gives her a box of candy, apologizing for his pestering calls. Jamie is sympathetic toward him, and thanks him for the gift.

Derek continues to obsessively stalk Jamie, who is unaware that his home is adjacent to her property. One afternoon he accosts her in her living room, maniacally photographing her as she fends him off. Brandon arrives and stops the attack, beating Derek significantly. Bloodied, Derek thanks Jamie, and leaves. Jamie visits Maxwell, a police officer friend, seeking advice. Maxwell explains that Jamie has few options, as Derek has technically not committed any crimes. Meanwhile, Derek follows Robin to one of her modeling jobs. He introduces himself as a friend of Jamie's, but Robin realizes he is the man who has been calling her and Jamie's homes. Derek pleads for Robin to convince Jamie to go on a date with him, but Robin forces him out.

Later, Derek confronts Jamie and Robin at the mall, where Jamie sternly tells him she despises him, and to leave her alone. Brandon consults a doctor about Jamie's situation, and the doctor advises him that Derek likely suffers from erotomania, a delusional disorder in which he believes his affections for Jamie, a stranger, are reciprocated. One night, Derek breaks into Jamie's house and watches her from her bedroom closet, fondling himself while she takes a bath. After realizing Derek is in the house, she retrieves Brandon, but Derek flees through a window and escapes. Later, one of Derek's coworkers at the photo studio, Julie, attempts to ask him on a date. He politely declines, telling her he is engaged to be married.

As part of a news story, Jamie attends a funeral for a female victim of an unknown serial killer, dubbed the "Sweetheart Killer." While reviewing the footage, Jamie notices Derek standing behind her in the cemetery. Derek breaches the news station posing as a newsrunner, and brings a "last-minute addition" for Jamie's broadcast. During the live taping, a message from Derek runs on Jamie's teleprompter. Distraught, Jamie pleads on air for help, telling her viewers that she has a stalker who is going to kill her. That night, Brandon comforts Jamie, and the two relax in her hot tub. The two begin to have sex, but Derek emerges from the shadows and stabs Brandon to death. Jamie flees into the house to phone police, but is put on hold. Meanwhile, Derek buries Brandon's body in his yard.

Dejected and at a loss for what to do, Jamie phones Derek at his home, begging him to come back. When he returns to the house, she begins firing at him with a rifle, and he crashes through a window to escape. Jamie phones Derek again, and tauntingly offers herself to him. Meanwhile, Julie arrives at Derek's to warn him that the police questioned her about him; during their conversation, Maxwell arrives at Derek's home and warns him to leave Jamie alone, stating that in exchange he will keep him from going to jail for harassment. After Maxwell leaves, Julie professes her love to Derek, but he grows enraged when she tells him Jamie does not love him. Julie storms out to her car, and notices Derek sneaking into Jamie's backyard moments later. Derek enters the house and threatens Jamie with a knife. She manages to force him off her, and the two fight in her bedroom. Derek wrests her to the bed, and begins attempting to rape her. In response, Jamie begins to aggressively offer herself to him, unbuttoning his shirt and pants, but he quickly shows cowardice, unwittingly revealing he is impotent. Disgusted at Derek's hypocrisy, Jamie attempts to leave, until an enraged Derek attacks her and prepares to kill her, only to be shot dead by Julie, who stumbles in on the scene.

''The Hollowing'' shares the third person narrative viewpoint as does its predecessor, ''Lavondyss.'' The narrative begins in the 1950s, merely one year after the events that take place in ''Lavondyss,'' but the majority of the story takes place in 1968. Inside Ryhope wood, Tallis Keeton's young friend, Alex Bradley, remains an adolescent when he would otherwise be twenty years old. This is possible because the rate of time inside the wood is not synchronized with the rate of time outside the wood. The story's protagonist is Alex's father, Richard Bradley. Richard is on a quest to locate his lost son in the wood, a very dangerous task because Alex’s overactive imagination generates mythagos dangerous to both himself and others.

The day Tallis Keeton disappears into Ryhope wood in ''Lavondyss,'' her father, James Keeton, disappears into the wood to locate her. While he spends only four days in Ryhope wood, over one year of time passes in the outside world. When he turns up, he is clutching Moondream, one of Tallis’ masks, and is placed in a mental hospital. He is kept close company by Alex Bradley, a young playmate of Tallis’, who alone can calm James. James Keeton has a number of episodes in which he appears to communicate with Tallis through the mask. In a dramatic scene, Richard Bradley sees James Keeton collapse and die. At the same time, his son Alex is physically traumatized by a mythic force. This compromises Alex’s mental faculties and he is confined to the same mental hospital. Alex escapes the mental hospital and his highly decayed remains are subsequently found, so he is presumed dead.

After six years Alex’s father, Richard Bradley, receives evidence that Alex may yet be alive in Ryhope wood. Richard joins a scientific expedition to locate his son in the wood, rendered all the more dangerous by the mythagos feeding off Alex’s imagination.

During his quest in the wood, Richard Bradley develops a romantic relationship with Helen Silverlock, a Native American. In addition to introducing Native American culture into Ryhope wood, mythagos about Jack (as in ''Jack and the Beanstalk''), the Tower of Babel and Jason and the Argonauts appear, the last two of which involve variations on myths that are uncharacteristically non-English in origin.

Steve Walker (Dean Jones) arrives in a New England seacoast fictional town, called Godolphin, to take the position of track coach at Godolphin College. The night of his arrival coincides with a charity bazaar at the hotel where he will be boarding—Blackbeard's Inn, named after the notorious English pirate Captain Edward Teach and now run by the Daughters of the Buccaneers, elderly descendants of the pirate's crew. The inn had been built from timbers of ships that had run aground in the bay. The owners are attempting to pay off their mortgage to keep the inn from being bought by the local crime boss, Silky Seymour (Joby Baker), who wants to build a casino on the land. Steve quickly discovers his track team's shortcomings and runs afoul of the dean of Godolphin College, its football coach, and Seymour. He also makes the acquaintance of attractive Godolphin professor Jo Anne Baker (Suzanne Pleshette), who is anxious to help the elderly ladies save Blackbeard's Inn.

After a bidding war with the football coach at the charity auction, Steve wins an antique bed warmer once owned by Blackbeard's 10th wife, Aldetha Teach, who had a reputation of being a witch. Inside the hollow wooden handle of this bed warmer is hidden a book of magic spells that had once been the property of Aldetha. Steve recites, on a lark, a spell "to bring to your eyes and ears one who is bound in Limbo", unintentionally conjuring up the ghost of Blackbeard (Peter Ustinov), who appears as a socially-inappropriate drunkard, cursed by his wife to an existence in limbo unless he can perform a good deed.

Steve and Blackbeard are bound to one another by the power of the spell, and only the very reluctant Steve can see or hear the ghost. As a result, Steve must deal with the antics of the wayward pirate while attempting to revive Godolphin's track team and form a relationship with Jo Anne. Steve is falsely arrested for drunk driving when Blackbeard attempts to drive Steve's automobile, steering it like a pirate ship. Because the arresting officer can't see Blackbeard, and because Blackbeard crashed the cop's motorcycle into a tree, Steve spends a night in jail. While in jail, Steve reminds Blackbeard that if he does a good deed, his curse will be broken. Steve asks Blackbeard for his treasure to help the Daughters of the Buccaneers save the inn, but Blackbeard admits that he spent all of the money. Steve decides not to trust Blackbeard.

Steve is released from jail the next morning due to lack of evidence but is put on probation with the college, forced to win the big track meet or be fired from his position. The problem is that Steve's team is sorrowfully weak and ordinarily do not stand a chance at winning. Blackbeard is firmly told by Steve, more than once, not to interfere with the boys on his team or the opposing team either. But Blackbeard creates further complications by stealing one of the Inn's mortgage payments and betting it on Steve's track team. Blackbeard's intention is to use his ghostly powers to help Godolphin win the track meet, and then use the winnings to pay the mortgage in full. Steve is at first outraged by the pirate's interference, but he decides the greater good is to win the money for the sake of the Inn. He also accepts the pirate's help in shaking down Silky Seymour and his thugs after Seymour refuses to pay out the winnings from the bet.

With the mortgage paid, Blackbeard has performed his good deed and is released from the curse. After Steve asks the ladies and Jo Anne to recite the spell, thereby rendering Blackbeard visible to them, Blackbeard bids them all a cordial goodbye and departs to join his former crew, leaving Steve and Jo Anne to pursue their future together.

''Bloody Bones'' begins on Saint Patrick's Day, shortly after the events of the previous Anita Blake novel, ''The Lunatic Cafe''. Like the previous novels, the novel opens with Anita considering a possible job. This time, her manager, Bert, is calculating a possible bid for a mass zombie raising in Branson, Missouri. Bert explains that a law firm is soliciting bids to raise an entire graveyard in order to determine who owns a piece of land needed for a resort complex. The graves are unmarked and may contain corpses at least 100 years old, Anita finds out later there are some that are much older than that, which will make the raising very difficult. In Anita's opinion, she is the only person in the world who might be able to raise that many ancient unmarked graves without a human sacrifice. She agrees to take the job, and takes Larry along to boost her powers, and as a training experience. (She and Bert agree that although John Burke also has the power to make a good second, his pride is such that it's best that he not even learn that Anita took a job that he was not strong enough to take on his own).

Arriving in Branson, Anita meets Raymond Stirling, the lawyer in charge of the development project and his assistants, Lionel Bayard, Ms Harrison and Beau, and learns that Stirling is in a dispute with Magnus and Dorcas Bouvier, two siblings who claim to own the land at issue and refuse to sell. If the corpses on the land confirm that it belongs to the Bouviers, Stirling's project will be unable to continue.

After reviewing the site and making plans to explore the site further that evening, Anita receives a call from Dolph. Dolph asks Anita for advice on a crime scene back in St. Louis and also asks her to assist the local police with a nearby crime scene. Anita and Larry drive to the scene and meet Sergeant Freemont, who appears to want to crack the case herself and resents their intrusion. Anita inspects the murder victims—three teen-aged or younger boys cut apart with a blade. Each of the boys' faces have been disfigured or removed, and Freemont reveals that a teenaged boy and girl were murdered earlier, with similar wounds. Anita warns Freemont that in her opinion, the boys were cut apart by a sword wielded by something as fast and strong as a vampire, with enough mental power to hold two of the boys motionless while killing the third. Larry is seriously shaken by viewing his first murder scene.

Anita and Larry then go to the Bouviers' restaurant, named "Bloody Bones," to investigate the land dispute and to get dinner. There, they meet Magnus and Dorrie, each of whom is part-fey. Magnus is using glamour to host a date night. By touching the restaurant patrons, he makes them irresistibly attractive for one night, in return for drawing some power for himself. After trying unsuccessfully to seduce Anita, Magnus is coy about why the Bouviers refuse to sell their land. Magnus also admits to destroying several trees outside the restaurant while in a drunken rage, causing Anita to consider him as a suspect for the recent killings.

During dinner, Dolph pages Anita again, and asks her to assist on another possible local vampire crime. Anita tells Dolph that Magnus is part-fey and a potential suspect, then Anita and Larry drive to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Quinlan. There, they meet Sheriff David St. John, his wife Beth, Deputy Zack Coltraine, Mr. and Mrs. Quinlan, and their son Jeff. Jeff's older sister, Ellie is lying in her bed, dead of a vampire bite. Anita and Larry eventually deduce that her death was probably voluntary, and learn that Ellie's boyfriend Andy recently disappeared. They guess that Ellie's boyfriend has recently been raised as a vampire and turned her as well, but Mr. Quinlan refuses to believe them and demands that Anita stake Ellie to prevent her from rising. Anita asks him to wait twenty-four hours to "cool off" and promises to stake Ellie if her father demands it after that time.

After instructing the Quinlans to place the Host at each doorway to prevent any vampires from reentering the home, Anita explains that the vampire that turned Ellie probably has a resting place nearby, and that they may catch it if they attempt a nighttime hunt. She heads out into the woods after it, together with Larry, Sheriff St. John, Deputy Coltraine, and two other police officers, Wallace and Granger. During the hunt, Anita learns that Wallace was a survivor of a vampire attack and shows him her own scars in an effort to put him at ease.

During the hunt, Anita and the others are ambushed by a pack of vampires. In the fight, Anita kills two vampires, but Granger is bitten, Wallace's arm is broken, and Xavier kills Coltrain with a sword. While the hunters regroup, Granger, now under vampire control, attempts to shoot Larry, and Anita is forced to kill him. The group then hears screams from the Quinlan home, and St. John and Anita run for the house, leaving Larry and Wallace to bring up the rear.

When Anita gets to the house, Beth St. John is dead and Jeff has been taken. (Apparently, Xavier was able to shapeshift and fit through a pet door). Sheriff St. John kills a brown haired, female vampire. Anita shoots at Xavier, but he's too fast to hit.

Later, Sergeant Freemont arrives at the scene. She explains that after Dolph told her that Magnus was part fey, she went to arrest him. Mangus used glamour to escape, and is now wanted for using magic on police officers during the course of his escape. FBI agents Elwood and Bradford arrive and speak to Anita, who agrees to attempt to identify and contact the Master of the City.

Anita calls Jean-Claude for information. Jean-Claude explains that he thinks he knows the vampire Anita saw, and that it is an "exotic" vampire of a sort concealed from humans. Among other things, it is a pedophile. Jean-Claude offers to come to Branson to set up a meeting with the Master of the City. With Jeff Quinlan in the hands of a monster, Anita is forced to accept Jean-Claude's help.

With no way to pursue the Quinlan case, Anita and Larry return to the graveyard to "walk the graveyard" and attempt to sense the location and identities of the corpses in preparation for a later attempt to raise the dead. Anita and Larry experiment with combining powers, and are surprised at the degree to which they are able to magnify each other's abilities. However, their powers attract Magnus, who appears and insists that they not raise the dead in that graveyard. Stirling orders Beau to shoot Magnus for trespassing, but Anita, realizing that Stirling intended the evening as a trap for Magnus, draws her own gun and buys Magnus time to escape.

Anita and Larry return to their hotel suite to find Jean-Claude and Jason. Jean-Claude has flown in on his private jet, but it is now too late in the night to track down the Master before dawn. Jean-Claude informs Anita of Xavier's name, then retires for the morning in her bed. Jason visits with Anita and Larry, and challenges Anita for dominance. Anita wins, of course, and figures out that Jean-Claude has ordered Jason to show his lycanthrope side in an effort to dissuade Anita from marrying Richard. Jason acknowledges Anita as dominant and goes to bed.

Later that morning, Dorcas Bouvier bursts into Anita's hotel suite and demands to see Magnus. After Dorcas bursts into the bedroom and sees Jean-Claude and Jason, she accepts that Anita has not fallen victim to Magnus's charms and explains why the Bouviers refuse to sell their land. Centuries ago their ancestor, a member of the fey, emigrated to colonial North America with a more powerful fey, Rawhead and Bloody Bones trapped in a magic box. While Rawhead was trapped, Bouvier was able to create a potion from its blood and increase his own powers, but eventually, Rawhead escaped and went on a murderous rampage. After a pitched battle, Rawhead was sealed beneath the ground, and the Bouvier family has remained in Branson in order to prevent Rawhead from escaping. Anita convinces Dorcas to take her to see the mound where Rawhead is trapped, and they agree to go to the mound the following day.

That evening, Jean-Claude prepares the group to meet Seraphina, the master of Branson. He explains that his visit raises issues of vampire politics. Although vampires' interactions with one another are somewhat constrained by the laws of the Vampire Council, conflicts are still possible, and he has negotiated a delicate truce with Seraphina. Although the group must be prepared to fight, they may not strike the first blow. Jean-Claude and Anita, accompanied by Larry and Jason, visit an apparently ruined and abandoned home, cloaked in magical shadow, and meet Ivy, Bruce, Kissa, Janos, Pallas and Bettina.

The Branson vampires engage in a calculated plan to force Jean-Claude's party to break the truce. Without offering violence to his group, they threaten to torture two young women, then sexually harass Jason. Jean-Claude is forced to challenge Janos to a contest of power, which he begins to lose. Ultimately, Anita escapes the trap by baiting Ivy into attacking her, allowing the group to use violence in their own defense. In the ensuing battle, Larry kills Bruce, and Pallas and Bettina are first shot, then torn apart. (However, because they are rotting vampires, they are almost impossible to kill.) Anita is forced to give blood to save Jean-Claude's life.

Once Jean-Claude is stabilized, Magnus appears and offers to convey the group to see Seraphina under a flag of truce. Seraphina toys with the group, but ultimately agrees that a murderous pedophile master vampire in her territory is a threat, and agrees to track down Xavier. Jean-Claude is astounded that Seraphina has somehow become powerful enough to assert mastery over vampires as formidable as Janos.

The group returns to the hotel to clean up. Anita learns more about Jean-Claude's history and momentarily surrenders to her lust and kisses Jean-Claude, but stops when he draws blood (though he claims it was by accident). She stays with Jean-Claude as dawn comes and he "dies" for the day and is surprised at her growing sympathy towards him. Anita then falls asleep herself and is visited in her dream by Seraphina, who promises to reunite Anita with her deceased mother if Anita agrees to serve Seraphina. Anita wakes, and begins planning to kill Seraphina.

Anita and Larry meet up with Dorcas Bouvier, who takes them to the mound where Bloody Bones is imprisoned. When they arrive, they surprise Magnus in the act of drinking Bloody Bones's blood, and Dorcas realizes that Magnus has been using Bloody Bones to boost his power for years. Anita proposes that instead of raising the entire Bouvier graveyard, she raise just enough zombies to confirm the Bouviers' claim to the land and prevent Stirling from digging up the graveyard and freeing Bloody Bones.

That evening, accompanied by Stirling, Bayard, and Harrison, Anita and Larry combine their powers to animate a few of the ancient corpses in the Bouvier graveyard. Just before Anita completes the circle of blood needed to activate their power, she feels Bloody Bones stir and realizes that raising even a few zombies will free the monster. She stops, but Ivy flies from the darkness and attacks. Anita kills Ivy in self-defense, but Ivy's blood falls on the remaining span of the circle, closing the loop and activating her power. Similar to Anita's inadvertent human sacrifices in ''The Laughing Corpse'', Ivy's death supercharges Anita's power, forcing her to animate every corpse in the graveyard.

At that point, Stirling and Harrison draw guns, and Stirling shoots Bayard. Apparently, Seraphina and Bloody Bones promised Stirling the land in return for Bloody Bones's freedom, and Stirling had planned on killing Anita once she raised the Bouviers and freed the fey. Anita orders the zombies to attack Stirling and Harrison and incapacitates them both. While she considers whether to kill them, Janos arrives with a newly risen Ellie, accompanied by Bettina, Pallas, Kissa, Xavier and their hostage, Jeff Quinlan. The vampires feed on and kill Stirling and Harrison, and inform Anita that Xavier has been serving Seraphina since her arrival in Branson.

Seraphina's vampires fly away, and Anita goes to confront them and attempt rescue Jeff, with the help of Jean-Claude, Larry, and Jason. Bloody Bones arrives and demands its freedom, but Seraphina breaks her word to the fey and announces her intent to continue drinking its power forever. With her oath broken, Larry and Anita are able to break her spell over Bloody Bones, and it draws a sword and impales Seraphina. Bloody Bones admits to Anita that it has been able to manifest its form as a result of Magnus's interference, and that it killed the teenagers for being bad children. Realizing that Bloody Bones is mortal as long as it continues to share power with Magnus, Anita shoots the boggle, slowing it down long enough for Xavier to kill it with a greatsword forged of cold iron. Anita infers that Xavier is a fey raised as a vampire, although Xavier denies it. Seraphina regains control, and decides that Anita's blood might make an acceptable second choice for Bloody Bones's. In return for Anita surrendering herself, Seraphina agrees to let the others go.

The next morning, Anita wakes up next to Seraphina in her coffin. She forces her way out and learns that the coffins of Seraphina's vampires have been moved to the Bloody Bones bar and grill. (Ellie does not have a coffin and is sleeping on the floor.) Anita tries to escape, but Magnus stops her. In the course of the fight, Anita drips some of her blood on Ellie and realizes that she can raise Ellie as if she were a zombie. She does so and orders Ellie to hold Magnus while she makes her escape. With Ellie clinging to his waist, Magnus chases Anita outside and is burned to death when Ellie burns in the sunlight.

Anita contacts Agent Bradford and tells him where the vampires are resting. With Anita, Larry and the local authorities, Bradford douses the Bloody Bones restaurant with gasoline and prepares to set it on fire. Anita feels Seraphina in her mind and forces the agents to handcuff her and lock her in a car so that Seraphina cannot use her control over Anita to interfere. As the fire consumes all of the vampires inside, including the now-dead Jeff Quinlan, Seraphina forces Anita to relive the death of her own mother, renewing her earlier trauma.

In the epilogue, Anita explains that Dorcas, now free of the family curse, sold the Bouvier land and left Branson with her children, that the Quinlans are suing Animators, Inc. because of Anita's refusal to stake Ellie when asked, and that Anita herself is continuing her life in St. Louis, notwithstanding the fresh emotional wounds.

As the episode begins, Toby gets called by the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia to identify a dead homeless man. It turns out the man (a Korean War veteran from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines who received the Purple Heart) was wearing a coat that Toby donated to Goodwill, and Toby had left his business card in it. The event stays with him, and he tracks down the man's next of kin. The only relative he can find is a brother, also homeless. Using the influence of the president's office, he arranges a military funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. President Bartlet is informed about Toby’s transgression, but can only muster limited indignation and jocularly asks if the country is still in NATO. To the president's concern that this could create precedent for other veterans to come forward, Toby replies "I can only hope, sir." Mrs. Landingham, who has just told Charlie Young about losing her twin sons in the Vietnam War, joins Toby and the veteran's brother at the funeral.

Meanwhile, Josh Lyman – who is worried that Rep. Peter Lillienfield (R) may disclose information the Congressman has about Leo McGarry's past treatment for alcohol and Valium abuse – approaches Sam Seaborn and proposes using Sam's prostitute friend to dig up dirt as leverage against Lillienfield's allies when the time comes. Leo objects strongly to the plan, calling it unethical.

C. J. Cregg gets emotionally involved in a story about the deadly assault on a homosexual youth. She sees this as an opportunity to push hate crime legislation, but the suggestion finds little support among the others. Reporter Danny Concannon also disagrees, but this encourages her to finally accept his offer of a date, to have him convince her.

Bartlet sneaks out to go shopping at a rare book store and refuses to take photographers along, much to Mandy Hampton's chagrin. Donna Moss has at this point been pestering Josh about her Christmas gift all day. While he doesn't follow the list submitted, he picks up a book for her at the shop and writes a message in it that leaves her tearful but happy.

In the 1990s, World War III has at last ended. The people are left to pick up the pieces and rebuild their civilizations. However, vicious gangs that prey on these defenseless citizens are obstructing the reconstruction.

The main protagonists are Boris, Wade and Kyle, three brave fighters who protect the fearful and helpless. Their largest problem is the corrupt, incorrigible, ruthless and lethal gang known as The Geld Gang. They have commissioned an array of thugs: purple-haired, leather-clad, chain-wielding, lead-pipe swinging, masked, martial artists, orange-mohawked, and men who use manhole covers as shields.

One day, when the trio is patrolling the streets, alert, ready and able to help those in need, they see a woman named Sheena (a friend of theirs) waving at them as she walks across the street from a supermarket with groceries. A moment later, Lord Geld's right-hand man, Red Freddy, snatches her away on his motorcycle. Now, the three braves must save Sheena from the grips of Lord Geld.

Dan Burns is a newspaper advice columnist, widower, and single-parent to his three daughters, living in North Jersey. The family takes a trip to the oceanside Rhode Island home of his parents for an annual family gathering. Also in attendance are Dan's brother and sister with their families, along with Dan's younger brother Mitch, who is known for his carefree lifestyle.

The morning after their arrival, Dan meets Marie in a bookshop. They share a muffin and a heart-felt conversation, although Marie gently warns Dan that she has a boyfriend. Dan returns to his parents' house and announces that he has "met someone". Mitch introduces his new girlfriend, who turns out to be Marie. Dan is disheartened and resists his father's relationship advice about finding someone of his own.

Dan reluctantly agrees to a double date with their once unattractive childhood friend, Ruthie "Pig Face" Draper. Marie jealously watches Dan and Ruthie. The next morning, Dan endures her 'punishment' for his late night with Ruthie by eating the burnt pancakes which she serves him. Tension grows between Dan and Marie, culminating at the family talent show. Dan accompanies Mitch on the guitar as Mitch sings, "Let My Love Open the Door". During the bridge, Dan begins to sing too, seemingly to Marie. The next morning, Marie breaks up with Mitch. However, Marie and Dan meet to talk at a bowling alley. The meeting evolves into a date and finally a passionate kiss, interrupted when Dan's entire family arrives to bowl. Mitch punches Dan in the face, and Marie hurries out. Meanwhile, Dan's middle daughter, Cara, grows more frustrated because of his meddling in her relationship with her boyfriend, Marty.

Dan and his daughters travel to New York City, where they finally find Marie at her gym. As he makes eye contact with her, Dan, in voice-over, tells the readers of his advice column that instead of merely planning ahead in life, they should "plan to be surprised."

The film ends with Dan and Marie celebrating their wedding at his parents' Rhode Island home, Mitch happily dancing with Ruthie, and Cara happily dancing with Marty, whom Dan has now accepted.

A largely autobiographical film about director Phil Joanou, covering his early film career, his relationships, including a very short-lived marriage.

Ollie's house is a mess after a wild party from the previous night. Ollie receives a telegram from his wife (who is on vacation in Chicago), which tells him that she is returning home in the afternoon. Fearing his wife's wrath, he calls Stan over to help him clean up. Things go downhill and they make more mess not less. Ollie becomes frustrated and lights the oven the wrong way, turning on the gas first instead of lighting the oven. The result is an explosion that trashes the living room and kitchen, as well as Ollie's hat.

Ollie's suits get stained with soot, soaked with dirty water, and covered in flour, until he has no choice but to go meet his wife at the station in his lodge uniform (a comic version of an Odd Fellows Lodge uniform). Stan miraculously manages to restore the house's interior to its proper look and decides to light a fire in the fireplace for Ollie and his wife to come home to. When the logs fail to ignite he soaks the fireplace with gasoline, lights a match, and moves it towards the logs. Ollie returns from the train station with a black eye, a bent sword, and without his wife. The house is a smouldering ruin, Stan has burnt it down. Stan leaves Ollie seated on the only remaining chair looking bemused, then to cap it all, a huge rain storm pours down on him.

John Glames (James Bond in the U.S.), a CIA secret agent, has been assigned a mission to locate a newly designed high-tech F-19 type stealth plane in Latin America, which was stolen from NAS Miramar.

The protagonist visits the banana republic of Santa Paragua to investigate; upon meeting his contact, the agent is apparently assassinated and hands Glames the key to a bank slot where the case documents are kept. Once he retrieves an envelope, it turns out that the man he met was Colonel Karpov of the KGB; he explains that they captured the CIA contact and manipulated Glames to open his briefcase as he would know the combination. Karpov and Ostrovitch apprehend the documents and take Glames to a cave where he is left to die. However he escapes and swims back to town in one of the game's arcade sequences.

Wandering in an hotel, Glames is mistaken and welcomed as someone who happens to resemble him; a woman even attempts to assassinate Glames, but she is stopped when that person, Otto, shows up. Glames and the woman are captured by Otto's guards and thrown into the sea but Glames's actions save both of them.

The two are rescued and taken to a military base in a jungle. Glames learns that the woman is Julia Manigua, the niece of President Manigua; her uncle was replaced by Otto with an impostor figurehead, and a Liberation movement attempts to overthrow the puppet government. They enter the presidential palace during a festival posing as entertainers.

There, they are discovered and Julia is arrested, but Glames passes a series of mazes, while avoiding guards, and reaches Otto's office. He reclaims the documents from a safe (which Otto had recovered from the KGB agents), and once more he is apprehended by the two agents; that moment Otto emerges. Karpov escapes with the envelope and Glames pursues him on a water scooter chase, and then evades Otto's henchmen.

He is rescued by an American submarine. Inside, the chief debriefs him and explains that the Stealth fighter was stolen by the global criminal/terrorist organization Spyder led by Dr. Why and threatens to attack major cities around the world. The recovered documents indicate that the Stealth landed in a subterranean base, and Glames dives in a scuba gear to discover its underwater entrance.

Inside, Glames is arrested but escapes using some of his gadgets and reaches the base's headquarters where Dr. Why and Otto expect him, holding Julia as a hostage. The base surfaces as an artificial volcanic island and the Stealth is launched. Glames creates a diversion and destroys the base's computers, causing it to collapse, and the Stealth to become vulnerable. Dr. Why escapes with Julia on a helicopter which is hijacked by Glames.

He causes the helicopter to explode, but not before saving himself and Julia on an inflatable boat. In the end, he is honored as a national hero by General Manigua, with Julia on his side.

At the opening of the episode, Sam Seaborn tells Josh Lyman that the President's nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States, Roberto Mendoza, has been arrested for drunk driving and resisting arrest. Sam Seaborn stresses that Mendoza doesn't drink alcohol, telling C. J. Cregg that Mendoza was arrested for "driving while being Hispanic". Sam and Toby fly to Westchester County Airport to drive to Wesley, Connecticut, where Mendoza is being held.

Josh, finishing his conversation with Sam, sits down with an interviewer at a lecture hall to speak about his time working in the White House in front of an audience. Asked to describe a typical day at the White House, he narrates a story from two days before, with flashbacks interspersed throughout. Josh begins his story with Sam, C. J., and Toby Ziegler preparing for a press conference to promote President Bartlet's new initiatives for public education. Sam and C. J. want to push the press conference to 1 pm, after a bill signing, but C. J. has a dentist appointment at noon. Sam moves the briefing anyway.

Meanwhile, the secretary for Housing and Urban Development, an African American woman, called a prominent congressman racist while testifying before Congress. Secretary O'Leary told Congressman Wooden that he and his Republican colleagues more interested in "scoring political points on the backs of poor people and minorities" than he was in solving the problems facing public housing. At the bill signing for the President's education initiative, the President was asked by ''Washington Post'' reporter Danny Concannon whether he thought Congressman Wooden was also a racist, and whether or not O'Leary should apologize for her remarks. The President initially sidestepped the question, but eventually remarked that "O'Leary had gone too far in assigning motive", and agreed that she should apologize. O'Leary was summoned to the White House to talk to Leo McGarry, where he tells her that she has to apologize. O'Leary objects, arguing that she was right and that apologizing would be contrary to her role as the highest-ranking African-American in the government. McGarry counters that the White House needs Republican support to pass legislation, and that her primary role is to serve the President. McGarry tells O'Leary that the President has to fire her if she doesn't apologize.

Meanwhile, C. J. has cotton put in her mouth that renders her unable to speak clearly and brief the press, due to an emergency "woot canal". Instead of cancelling the briefing, Josh convinces C. J. to let him conduct the briefing. Danny Concannon, seeing Josh enter the press room, warns Josh not to conduct the briefing, but Josh brushes him off, telling him that the reporters have been "coddled". Josh makes several disastrous blunders during the briefing, including calling a reporter's question "stupid", inventing a "secret plan to fight inflation" from the President when no such plan existed, and stating that the President had not smoked a cigarette in years, when he in fact had borrowed a cigarette from a reporter a few days prior, while on Air Force One. Josh is briefly excoriated and mocked for his performance in the press room by C. J., Toby, and Sam, before Sam informs the group that Mendoza had publicly rebuked the President for asking Secretary O'Leary to apologize. Mendoza was summoned from his vacation in Nova Scotia to come to the White House, but Mendoza informed them that he would be taking several days to arrive, driving down from Nova Scotia to Washington, D.C., stopping to go antiquing in Connecticut, where he was arrested.

Sam and Toby, meanwhile, have gotten lost on their way to find Mendoza. Sam had been attempting to use celestial navigation, using the North Star as a fixed point, although the star in question turned out to be the Delta Shuttle from LaGuardia Airport. When they do find the police station, Sam and Toby speak to the officers, explaining that they are from the White House and that Mendoza needs to be released. The officers are skeptical, but a newspaper clipping with an image of Toby next to the President proves their story. While Toby is talking to Mendoza, the sergeant on duty tells Sam that Mendoza's driving was faulty, and that he wasn't sure that Mendoza hadn't been drinking alcohol. Sam responds by informing the officers that Mendoza has a chronic illness that would render any significant drinking fatal. During Toby's conversation with Mendoza, he expressed frustration at how he'd been treated by the police, telling Toby that he'd been searched and handcuffed by police in front of his wife and nine-year old son. Mendoza vowed to use the criminal justice system to acquit himself, instead of letting the White House get him out, but Toby countered that Mendoza could make a much bigger difference on the Supreme Court, and that he would be unable to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate if the story circulates. Toby also sympathized with Mendoza's desire to not face his wife and son after what had happened to him. Mendoza agrees to be released, and Toby tells the officers on duty that in exchange for Mendoza's release, and the officers' apologizing to Mendoza and to his son, the incident will remain off the record and no lawsuit will be filed against the county. Mendoza gets in the car with Sam and Toby, and Josh finishes his interview by beginning to take questions from the audience.

When a damaging memo which is critical of the President is discovered, the White House press cover it with zest, much to CJ's dismay. Later it is revealed that Mandy wrote it when she was working for Lloyd Russell. Sam, Toby and Josh are involved in a series of meetings which go nowhere and result in nothing; Sam knows no progress is possible on getting a policy in place so that gays and lesbians can openly serve in the military; Josh confronts a group of Republican Congressional staffers who threaten him with poison-pill legislation if he even thinks about pushing for campaign finance reformers on two newly opened Federal Election Commission seats; and Toby tells Leo that they have had only one victory in office and that was putting Judge Mendoza on the Supreme Court. The staffers and the President feel listless and ineffectual in their jobs, and worry that they will be unable to achieve anything meaningful due to the constraints of the political system.

The memo and news coverage of how Bartlet too often compromises his positions to placate his opponents and avoid controversy result in Bartlet's popularity going down in the polls. On seeing Bartlet's job approval rating dropping five points in a week to 42 percent, the staff comes to realize that the Bartlet administration has been ineffective because it has been too timid to make bold decisions, focusing instead on the exigencies of politics. Finally, Leo confronts President Bartlet about his timidity, challenging him to be himself and to take the staff "off the leash." – in other words, he seeks to "Let Bartlet be Bartlet". The President and his staff resolve to act boldly and "raise the level of public debate" in America by moving forward with a more liberal agenda.

As the last days of the lame-duck Congress roll forward, Sam Seaborn outlines a long list of Senate committee reassignments that are going to take place under the incoming GOP-led body of law, finishing with the news that a Republican opponent of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty is going to head up the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has made it clear he will not allow the Treaty to come up for voting. Sam's idea that they should try to call a lame-duck session of Congress to pass the Treaty before this happens gets the OK. Communications Director Toby Ziegler leads the effort but is stunned when he learns that recently defeated Senator Marino (D-PA) will not vote for the Treaty, because he was its primary sponsor during his Senate days. Senator Marino meets with Toby and explains that he will respect the views of the voters who sent him home, and the White House simply gives up on the Treaty for now.

Chief of Staff Leo McGarry and Press Secretary C.J. Cregg have to do some fancy diplomatic footwork when a very pro-Western but equally pro-alcohol Ukrainian politician shows up at the White House demanding to meet with the President. Leo's tip about how the Dalai Lama was able to "accidentally" have a meeting with a former President sets up a quick discussion between the President and the Ukrainian, who leaves the White House happy to know that they look forward to working with him if/when he becomes his country's leader, and leaves the President and Leo happy that they have avoided a major international incident.

Sam responds to Leo's new guideline for shorter policy summaries by working with Ainsley Hayes on a plan to prevent small-business fraud, but she impresses Sam so much he adopts all of her ideas and sends the plan forward to Leo and the President.

Due to his colleagues' growing concern over his behavior Josh spends the day with Stanley Keyworth, a psychotherapist from the American Trauma Victims Association (ATVA). Stanley notices Josh's bandaged hand and asks about it. Josh insists that he cut his hand on a glass, even though Stanley makes it clear that he doesn't believe him. Josh recounts the last few weeks:

His behavior began to change on the day that he was assigned to review the personal and military history of an Air Force pilot who had broken away from his fighter jet's training formation. Josh had discovered that the two shared the same birthday, and that the pilot had been shot down and injured over Bosnia. Before Josh had a chance to report on this, the pilot radioed in to say, "It wasn't the plane," and killed himself by crashing into a mountain in New Mexico. Days later, while discussing a political situation, Josh raised his voice to the President in the Oval Office, at which point Leo called in ATVA to talk to him. During the congressional Christmas party, Yo-Yo Ma performed Bach's ''Suite No. 1 in G major'' and Josh was overcome with panic. When he went home, he slammed his hand into his window and cut himself on the broken glass.

Stanley asks Josh if, given what he had in common with the pilot – their common birthday and injuries – he wondered if he himself might have been suicidal. Josh initially denies this, but eventually admits that during the party he found himself reliving the attack at Rosslyn and that he felt out of control. Stanley tells him that his increasing stress and the episode at the party were triggered by the presence of a brass quintet at the White House, which subconsciously reminded Josh of police and ambulance sirens, thereby transporting him back to his own shooting and near-death in Rosslyn. He is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and is concerned that it will endanger his job ("That doesn't sound like something they let you have if you work for the President") but Leo promises him "as long as I got a job, you got a job" in a moving speech which aligns Josh's trauma with Leo's own difficult past.

In another story, C.J. is told by a reporter that a woman saw a painting on the White House Tour and began screaming. C.J. does some research and finds out with the help of Bernard Thatch, the White House's snobbish but competent Protocol Chief, that the painting was owned by a Jewish family in Europe, seized by the Nazi collaborationist French Vichy Regime, and eventually given as a gift to the White House by the French government. The woman's father owned the painting, and C.J. returns it to the grateful woman and her son.

Sam is interested in a measure to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to reduce high gas prices, and the staff decides to review the issue when the new year begins. Finally, the President wants to sign all of his holiday cards by hand, until he is told the total number of cards is 1,110,000.

"The roar of the helicopters overhead snaps us back into reality. We will never forget the nightmare of that summer..." these were the phrases that started the story of Silver and Brown, two soldiers who were recalled back to the Natorm headquarters in the summer of 1975, during the final months of the Vietnam War, in order to rescue the ex-U.S. army scientist Dr. R. Muckly, who was kidnapped and presumably imprisoned in the interior of Vietnam by North Side terrorists, as part of an organized special forces unit. The team proceeds with the mission by going up to Yan river on a boat in order to deceive enemy guard, but their operations are quickly sighted by the terrorists. As a result, the team abandons the boat and they get across Do Nang city to continue the operation, wondering how their plan was figured out by the enemy and after doing so, the team receives a new strategy plan from the headquarters, informing them to aboard an allied plane in order to invade the enemy airport by parachuting, however, the enemy intercepts them in the air and the soldiers begin defending themselves by shooting at the upcoming enemy planes.

Once the team arrive safely into the airport, the soldiers proceed to continue the mission by assaulting the complex, now realizing that there is a spy among them but after the assault of the enemy airport, their communication systems were intercepted by the terrorists and the captain of the unit informed to the soldiers that Nancy Muckly, the daughter of Dr. R. Muckly, was also taken away alongside his father and gave the team new orders to enter into enemy arms factory. Soon after, the team come across with Nancy, who tries to inform them about the true head of the operation before she is killed by an enemy shot on her back.

After capturing an enemy commander, the soldiers proceed to interrogate him about how their plan was quickly found out but the commander is then killed by a sniper, but not before informing the armies that Dr. R. Muckly is a madman who is constructing a gigantic laser cannon to take over the world himself. Despite the intense firepower of the weapon, the troops defeat Dr. R. Muckly and save the world, with the special forces now being regarded as heroes but the war continues in Vietnam.

In the film, Arenas is born in Oriente in 1943 and raised by his single mother and her parents, who soon move the entire family to Holguín. After moving to Havana in the 1960s to continue his studies, Reinaldo begins to explore his ambitions, as well as his sexuality. After receiving an honorary mention in a writing contest, Arenas is offered the chance to publish his first work. Through his work and friendships with other openly gay men (such as Pepe Malas and Tomas Diego), Arenas manages to find himself.

The political climate in Cuba becomes increasingly dangerous, and in the early 1970s Arenas is arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting minors, and for publishing abroad without official consent. In the next decade, he is in and out of prison, attempting and failing to leave the country several times.

In 1980, Arenas finally leaves Cuba for the United States, starting a new life with his close friend Lazaro Gomez Carriles. A few years later, Arenas is diagnosed with AIDS, and after spending several years suffering he dies in 1990.

Stan Minton (Rob Schneider) is a wealthy real estate con artist, married to Mindy (Jennifer Morrison). One day, he is arrested for conning elderly people out of their savings. His lawyer Mal (Richard Kind) defends him at the trial presided over by Judge Perry (Richard Riehle) as the forewoman (Sally Kirkland) finds him guilty where the sentencing will be tomorrow.

Mal refuses to bribe Judge Perry since he doesn't practice that kind of law and states to Stan that any shyster on the street would do it for him. Inspired by the bench advertisement outside, Stan hires Lew Popper (M. Emmet Walsh) as a replacement. Judge Perry sentences Stan to 3 years at the Verlaine State Correctional Facility while giving him 6 months by Judge Perry to "reorganize the charity" Stan established to teach music to retarded children.

As he can't go on a permanent vacation to Brazil on Lew's advice due to his assets being frozen, Stan's fear of jailhouse rape strains his marriage to Mindy. This leads him to hire the mysterious guru known as "The Master" (David Carradine) who helps transform him into a martial-arts expert.

During his incarceration, Stan befriends an elderly inmate named Larry who is serving a life sentence for murdering his partner. Stan also befriends a sympathetic prison guard named Bullard (Kevin Gage), and learns more about the cliques and gang activities formed inside the prison. He then uses his new-found skills to bring peace and harmony to the prison yard by intimidating his fellow inmates like Big Raymond (Bob Sapp) into preventing them from harming each other. With this, peace is restored in at Verlaine State Correctional Facility and Stan gains their respect, eventually becoming their leader.

However, the corrupt warden Gasque (Scott Wilson) has plans to force its closure with a riot and sell off the property as valuable real estate. Stan helps him with the real estate aspects in exchange for early parole. However, his peacemaking efforts threaten the warden's plan for a riot and he is persuaded to bring back violence.

In a last minute attack of conscience, he deliberately blows the parole hearing to rush back and prevent the deaths of his fellow inmates only to discover that his message of peace has sunk in and the prisoners are dancing instead of fighting. Warden Gasque orders the guards to open fire on the dancing men. When they refuse, he grabs a gun in front of the Board of Governors and shoots wildly. Warden Gasque attempts to shoot Stan, but he is stopped by Mindy and the Master, who had snuck in. Stan was surprised that the Master had trained Mindy during his incarceration when he thought they were having an affair during an earlier phone call.

Three years later, Stan leaves the prison where Bullard had been sworn in as the new warden of Verlaine State Correctional Facility. Gasque becomes the new inmate following his arrest for his illegal activities as Big Raymond intimidates him to say goodbye to Stan. Lew is also an inmate after he had foreseen that he would be arrested for having slept with a member of the jury. Stan is met by his wife, his young daughter Mindy Jr., and the Master outside the prison. While the Master has become Mindy Jr.'s nanny, Stan is annoyed that he has been smoking near her.

Church bells begin to ring and the parish priest (Sir Cedric Hardwicke) knows it means only one thing. The 'green glove,' a miraculous gem-studded gauntlet, the churches' holy relic, has returned to St. Elizar. The town folk pour into the abbey to rejoice.

Mike Blake (Glenn Ford) is an American paratrooper who travels to France after the end of World War II to try to recover the jewel-encrusted glove that had been stolen from a country church during the war. His quest leads him to a beautiful young tour guide in Paris named Chris (Geraldine Brooks). A man who has been mysteriously following Mike is found dead in Mike's hotel room. The man has a sketch drawing of Mike in his pocket. Mike tells the police he does not know the man and he is innocent. Chris has fallen for Mike and joins him when he did not ask for her help.

Count Paul Rona (George Macready) is a Nazi collaborator and art dealer and is searching for the glove to sell it. Mike and the Count had a run-in near the end of the war. A French Resistance Countess helped Mike escape and as a thank you he left her his valise. Despite being followed by the police and Rona's henchmen, Mike and Chris retrieve the glove in Monte Carlo. It was in the valise. The countess kisses the glove and her madness is lifted.

Mike takes the jeweled gauntlet back to the church as he is pursued by Count Rona. The mountain chase was dark and dangerous. Chris diverts the police inspector. Mike shoots and kills Rona in the bell tower, he rings the bells, and lastly he returns the glove to its rightful place on the altar. The French police clear Mike. Mike and Chris embrace and kiss.

On July 1, 1916, in New Jersey during WWI, local lifeguard Alex Trednot (Colin Egglesfield) watches over one of the beaches. After grilling fellow lifeguard Danny Bruder (Jean Michel Joubert), Alex is approached by best friend Stanley Fisher (Mark Dexter) and ex-girlfriend Alice (Jenna Harrison) on his opinion for a wedding cake. Meanwhile, beachgoer Charles Van Sand is attacked by an unseen force. Alex and four other lifeguards rush to save Charles, however his left leg is injured. Alex believes it was a shark, but because he didn't see it clearly, his story is dismissed and the beaches remain open. However, a local boat Captain "Cap" (John Rhys-Davies) believes Alex, having hunted sharks much of his life. Alex tries to convince Mayor Perillo (Patrick Lyster) to close the beaches, but he says he cannot unless experts confirm it is a shark. This disappoints Alex.

Later that evening, President Woodrow Wilson visits the Jersey Shore and gives a speech about change and safety from war. Commissioner Meel (Paul Ditchfiel), Alex's boss, once again assures Alex the attack won't happen again. Alice comes to Alex and asks him that, despite being happy for both her and Stan, if he has any regrets, to which he asks her the same. On July 7, after Charles Van Sand died, many more people come to the beaches. When Danny goes out to retrieve two swimmers venturing too far from shore, he too is attacked. Alex and other divers rescue him, but both his legs are gone and he quickly dies. Now knowing it's a shark, Alex approaches Meel and berates him, reminding him of what he said and how wrong he was. Alex quits as a result.

In New York City, wild animal wrangler Michael Schleisser (Jamie Bartlett) reads about the shark attacks and decides to go to New Jersey. At a press conference, Museum Director Dr. Frederick Lucas (Roger Dwyer) and Ichthyologist Dr. John Nichols (Colin Stinton) address they're investigating the shark attacks as well as attempting to prevent another. Meanwhile, Stan finds Alex in a restaurant and tries to convince him to retake his job. But Alex refuses, saying he won't work for someone willing to let people get hurt for good business. After Stan leaves, Cap comes to Alex and offers him a job to help put up steel nets to prevent another shark attack. While putting the fence together, one person on Cap's boat thinks he sees the shark and fires into the water, unintentionally hitting one of the divers.

With the steel net in place, the beaches reopen. A group of boys ask Stan to play baseball with them. Alex and Stan have a talk and the two forgive each other. Dr. Nichols meets with Alex and asks him about the shark. Elsewhere in a basket factory, Lester works on putting baskets together. His friends ask him to join them in the river, but Lester is working and isn't off yet until his dad says so. Cap stands atop a bridge and notices the shark swimming into Matawan Creek. He makes a call about it, but is deemed crazy.

Cap goes up the river, eventually reaching a small town and tries to warn everybody to stay away from the river. However, Lester and his friends are attacked by the shark. Stan and his friends run to the river to save Lester. However, they do not find him. Cap finds Alex and warns him about the shark. Hours pass and even when putting a net to catch Lester, they still don't find him. The shark is still around and scrapes one of the men searching for Lester. Stan's friends give up, but Stan stays to find him. After a few moments, he finally finds Lester. The next instant, the shark attacks and Stan drops the boy. Alex beats the shark with a pebble, causing it to let go of Stan. The shark swims away. While Cap follows the shark, Alex rushes to get Stan to a doctor.

A mother having a picnic with her daughters notices the shark coming downstream towards a group of boys swimming. She tries to warn them, but one of them is attacked. Cap arrives in time and rams the shark, forcing it to release the boy. The shark swims downstream back to the ocean. While on a train on his way to a hospital, Stan dies from shock and bloodless. This event saddens both Alex and Alice. Later, townsfolk launch dynamite and fire winchesters into the river to kill the shark. Later, on July 12, Cap apparently "captures" the shark. Alex goes into a hotel and consults with Dr. Nicholes, who confirms that Alex is looking for a juvenile great white shark, although he considers the possibility of a bull shark since it swam upriver. Nicholes tells Alex to find the shark where it has been successful, but not to find it alone.

Alex meets Michael Schleisser and the two talk about the shark. Alex confirms that he is not willing to kill the shark for money nor revenge, only that he doesn't want anyone else killed. Alex approaches Cap and confirms with him the shark he killed is the wrong shark. Feeling sympathy for the Cap since people called him crazy, Alex says that they can find the real shark. Alex and Cap go together to kill the shark. While searching for and even encountering the shark itself (a 12-plus-footer), Cap and Alex meet with Schleisser, who has a net under his small boat to capture the shark. The shark reappears and gets itself caught in the net. It tows Schleisser in its net, hoping it will tire itself out and die. At one point it stops and tips Schleisser over. Alex and Cap manage to save Schleisser and Alex traps the shark even more before it can escape. After several hours, the shark dies from exhaustion.

The group takes the shark back to land and hang it up for everybody to see. Dr. Nichols confirms it to be a juvenile great white. Alex asks Dr. Nichols about becoming an ichthyologist and says to meet him in his office. After that, Alex and Alice get back together. After the shark was finally captured offshore, an autopsy was performed, and it is said that 15 pounds of human flesh with bones were found in its stomach. In the end, four people were killed, a fifth badly injured, and Lester's remains were recovered. Because a propensity for human flesh is unnatural in sharks, scientists are still investigating why this shark did what it did.

The narrator introduces the audience to the happy and content locals at the local poultry farm: Cocky Locky, Henny Penny, Turkey Lurkey, Ducky Lucky, Goosey Poosie and the titular Chicken Little (a yo-yo wielding simpleton)-all well protected. But little do they know, outside the yard, hungry fox Foxy Loxy has happened along and is intent on catching himself a chicken dinner. However, he cannot hop in and help himself due to the high fence, locked gates and a well-armed farmer. But Foxy Loxy is cunning, knowing there are other ways to steal a chicken. So taking advice from his psychology book, he states: "Why should I just get one, when I could get 'em all." He reads aloud a passage telling him that the best way to manipulate the whole flock is to begin with "the least intelligent" (identifying Chicken Little after searching the yard).

Loxy then breaks off a piece of wood from a fortune teller's sign, and then disorients Little with the suggestion of a thunderstorm before dropping it on his head pretending to be "the voice of doom". Loxy tells Little that the sky is falling, and a piece of it hit him on the head and then goes on to tell him that he should run for his life. Little panics spreading the word to everyone thus bringing a crowd to where he believes the sky piece hit him, but the leader of the flock Cocky Locky inquires about the ordeal he immediately proves the story to be false and afterwards, the crowd disperses leaving Chicken Little humiliated.

Miffed that his plan did not work, Loxy refers to his book again to find something to deal with Locky finding a passage that tells him to "undermine the faith of the masses in their leaders". He heads over to Henny Penny's, Turkey Lurkey's, and Ducky Lucky's and Goosey Poosie's circles of friends to plant rumors about Locky's intelligence and leadership. This starts another rush of panic among the avians as they spread the rumor.

With Locky's leadership in question, Loxy uses it to flatter Little, convincing him to stand up and challenge Locky's right of leadership as (filled with confidence) Little announces to a crowd that he is their new leader and states that he will save all their lives. Locky argues against him stating the sky is not falling. The two argue about it until Locky states, "if the sky is falling, why doesn't it hit me on the head?" From his hiding place, Loxy uses a slingshot to shoot a star shaped piece of wood at him in the head, knocking him out. This shocks everyone and are convinced that Little was right about the sky all along. When they ask him what they should do, Foxy Loxy whispers to Little to lead them to "the cave" believing this is the right thing to do. Little leads the panicked masses out of the farm, through the woods and into the cave (which is actually Loxy's den) and once everyone is inside, Loxy goes in after them and seals up the entrance. The narrator reassures the audience that everything will be alright, but the cartoon closes with a stuffed Loxy picking his teeth and arranging the wishbones of the devoured birds in a row resembling a war cemetery. The narrator is shocked and insists that this is not how the story was supposed to end. Foxy Loxy breaks the fourth wall by reminding the narrator not to believe everything he reads.

Two years ago, the angel apprentice Flonne was sent from her homeland of Celestia to the Netherworld with a mission to assassinate King Krichevskoy, the ruler of the Netherworld. However, when she arrived at the overlord's castle, it was covered in flames. For the next two years, Flonne searched for her target, narrowing her search to a local dump. She found a coffin with Krichevskoy's emblem on it and tried to carry out the assassination. However, it turned out that it was not Krichevskoy, but his son Laharl. Learning that his father has died, Laharl set out to claim the title of overlord for himself. Flonne and another demon by the name of Etna followed after him.

Set the same future (the "Boutique Economy") as Marusek's ''We Were Out of Our Minds with Joy'', the story is about Zoranna – an affluent, attractive journalist who visits her elderly sister Nancy, who is the only other surviving member of her family. Unlicensed procreation has been outlawed to prevent overpopulation; biotechnology has advanced to the point where immortality is possible, but only granted to people who have the means and are considered useful to society. Nancy is one of the people who are considered obsolete, as she was forced out of her teaching career after the Procreation Ban; she now works as a hospice caretaker from her apartment, where she tends to holographic projections of dying patients.

A subplot of the story involves Zoranna's "belt valet", an artificially intelligent accessory that can mentally communicate with its wearer and perform a wide variety of tasks. A representative of the company that gave her the belt valet (which she names "Bug") to field test urges that she return it, due to an unspecified defect; she refuses in spite of her annoyance with it, as she needs it for progressively more tasks.

When she finally visits Nancy, Zoranna finds out that she is living with a man who is using her as a fall guy for a fraud. She forces the man to leave under threat of turning him in, a loss which causes Nancy's condition to deteriorate. Zoranna's attempts to get Nancy to go to a rejuvenation clinic on her dime are rebuffed, until Bug – having unexpectedly changed into a suave, powerful entity named Nicholas that knows every aspect of her life and personality – tricks Nancy into taking Zoranna to the clinic by making it appear as if she were gravely ill. Angered at first, Zoranna at last comes to terms with the machine.

Zoranna and Nicholas are also minor characters in Marusek's first novel, ''Counting Heads'', while Zoranna herself is mentioned in obliquely in "We Were Out of Our Minds With Joy".

The novel features the continued adventure of the heroine Alias and her companion Dragonbait from the novel ''Azure Bonds'' and takes place after the events in the ''Finder's Stone'' trilogy. The novel takes place in the city of Westgate and follows the struggle against the Night Masks and their mysterious leader known only as The Faceless.

The story of the newly ascended god Finder continues in ''Finder's Bane'' and ''Tymora's Luck''.

Porky is a police officer, who is in a police car that is named 6 7/8. He gets a call from his chief to go investigate goings-on at a haunted house. The house is haunted to the core, and the fun loving ghost plays a series of pranks on the unsuspecting pig. As Porky knocks on the door to enter the haunted house, the ghost does a lady voice "Come in." Porky enters, already frightened.

He enters again, the ghost places Frogs into a pair of shoes to look like a person walking, as Porky doesn't notice, the laces of the shoes get stuck to a coat hanger pole then rips off a curtain to make it look like a person with a cloak on. It immediately scares him and then the ghost scares him. Porky runs upstairs and lands in the ghost's arms with realizing, until that famous line comes as the ghost says it very goopy. "What the matter baby?".

Porky is finally scared out of the house, but he has the last laugh when his back-firing car leaves the ghost in blackface (and the surprised ghost doing a Rochester imitation: "My oh my, tattletale grey!").

The subpoenas are handed out in the hearing over Bartlet's concealment of his multiple sclerosis. The special prosecutor, Clement Rollins (Pryor), appears to be both fair and responsible, but C.J. believes the White House will be better served in the public eye if investigated by a partisan agent. She therefore decides—against the strong objections of White House counsel Oliver Babish—to present Rollins as an ally of the administration, thereby forcing Congress to take control over the investigation. Meanwhile Donna, unwittingly, becomes entangled in potential problems over the hearings. Ainsley Hayes sets her up on a date with the Republican House Government Oversight Committee counsel Clifford Calley, but even though the date seems to go well, Calley then leaves her quite abruptly in the middle of the street. Donna later realizes the reason: his congressional committee is the one that will be in charge of the investigation, and a relationship between the two could constitute a conflict of interest.

While Sam and Bruno are concerned about the loyalty of a powerful California union official (Sandoval), Toby and Josh are preparing for a meeting with the congressional opposition to re-negotiate the estate tax—or the "death tax" as the Republicans have labeled it—but are then surprised by a last-minute cancellation. It soon becomes clear that the Republicans are planning to repeal the estate tax altogether, and might have the votes to do so. An attempt to win over the black caucus, led by Congressman Mark Richardson (Barry), fails. At a loss over what to do, an initiative comes from unexpected quarters. The previously over-cautious political strategist, Doug Wegland, suggests the president responds by doing something he has never done before: veto the bill.

President Bartlet himself is confronted with a forest fire in Wyoming, and decides to follow the counter-intuitive advice of his experts, and let the fire burn. Meanwhile, he is still struggling to deal with the death of his perennial personal secretary, Mrs. Landingham. Charlie insists that it is necessary to appoint a new person to fill the position, but the president is reluctant to take the step. As the episode ends, Bartlet is searching for a good pen, and realizes the full depth of his dependence on Mrs. Landingham.

The White House is hosting a dinner for Nobel laureates but the staff keep getting interrupted by various domestic and international crises. As President Bartlet vetoes the bill to repeal the estate tax, it appears that the Republican Party might have the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto. A representative of the dissenting Democrats is brought in to negotiate a deal with Toby and Sam. Meanwhile, Josh is meeting with Indiana Governor Jack Buckland (Tighe) to talk him out of a potential primary challenge against Bartlet. Leo is at this point getting exasperated by their own partisans taking advantage of the administration's weakness due to the impending hearings over the president's concealment of his multiple sclerosis. He tells Josh to "throw an elbow" and threaten to leak the fact that Buckland tried to blackmail the president. In the end, Josh ends up striking a compromise, while it is Toby and Sam who "throw an elbow" by turning down Democratic Congressman Kimble and offering the same deal to moderate Republican Congressman Robert Royce instead.

A Palestinian suicide bomber in Jerusalem causes the death of several Israelis, as well as two American nationals. National Security Advisor Nancy McNally and Leo consider the potential implications of possible retributions and are relieved when the Palestinians respond to American pressure by arresting a leader of a militant group. As Leo points out, however, the solution is likely to be only temporary.

Other staff members have their own problems to deal with. Charlie has been offered immunity from the special prosecutors and Leo, among others, suggests he take it. Charlie, however, insists that he will "stay with [his] team". Donna, who in the previous episode ("Ways and Means") went on a date with a Republican congressional aide involved in the investigation, comes clean with Josh. It turns out she met him not only once, but also on another occasion after she had found out what position he held, and Josh is not pleased. C.J. is provoked by an inexperienced lifestyle reporter, Sherri Wexler (Mara), trying to put her in a bad light and responds by embarrassing her in front of a full press room.

Throughout the various cutscenes, the story is narrated by Albert Genette, a reporter sent on assignment to cover the conflict. This is the same reporter who covers the Osea-Yuktobania conflict of ''Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War''.

In the year 2020, after years of civil war and internal struggle, the Democratic Republic of Leasath ( ), under the command of Diego Gaspar Navarro invades its peaceful neighboring country, the Federal Republic of Aurelia. Owing to their Gleipnir Flying Fortress, Leasath overwhelms most of Aurelia within ten days. The remainder of the Aurelian military bands together at Cape Aubrey Airbase and manages to achieve a Pyrrhic victory: they destroy a flight of Leasath bombers, but Gleipnir in turn wipes out most of the deployed Aurelian aircraft. Among the survivors of Gleipnir's attack is the ace pilot Gryphus One, who bears the symbol of "Southern Cross". Following the battle of Cape Aubrey, Gryphus One spearheads an offensive to recapture Port Patterson, a critical supply base and landing area for Leasath's forces. Gryphus One distinguishes himself by inflicting heavy damage on the enemy air force, navy and ground forces.

After the liberation of Port Patterson, the Aurelians set out to liberate the city of Santa Elva and destroy Gleipnir. Depending on the players choice, either the Aurelian navy or ground forces engage Gleipnir. Gryphus One downs Gleipnir over Santa Elva, earning the nickname of "Nemesis" among Leasathians. The demoralized Leasathians hastily withdraw towards Griswall, the occupied capital of Aurelia where the Leasathians have established a defensive ring with Meson Cannons capable of firing particle beams. The player has two choices on the strategic level: One is to destroy the enemy Skylla unit by surprise and face Meson Cannons (at full or half potential) in Griswall. The other is to sneak under the enemy radar jamming coverage, destroy their Meson Cannon components and instead battle the enemy units outside Griswall perimeter. By the time Griswall is liberated, however, Navarro has escaped, but the turn of the battle changes irreversibly.

Albert Genette and the Aurelian intelligence discover the true motives of the war: General Navarro is revealed to not only be Leasath's commanding officer, but also in control of the country's arms industry. Before the war, Navarro stole foreign aid sent by Aurelia to Leasath, and millions in arms deals during the war to fund the development of Fenrir, a next-generation advanced prototype V/STOL multirole aircraft, simultaneously claiming to Leasath's populace that Aurelia was taking advantage of them, turning public opinion against Aurelia. Following Leasath's expulsion from Aurelia, Navarro continued production in Archelon Fortress on a group of islands off the coast of Leasath. In the advance towards the Archelon fortress, the player has the choice of either preventing enemy elite pilots or a cargo of high-power microwave weapons from reaching the fortress. Depending on the player's choices, the siege of Archelon Fortress can end two ways: Either the Aurelian army destroys the fortress while Gryphus One destroys the last Fenrir prototype, or Gryphus One destroys a shock cannon mounted atop the fortress resulting in its destruction. With the world having witnessed the Battle at Archelon, and Genette's publication exposing the war's true nature, Leasathian citizens, infuriated by Navarro's deception, kill him in a mob, or he flees the country before they arrive. Soon after, the war officially ends.