''Speaking Parts'' involves a struggling, bit-part actor Lance (Michael McManus), whose job as a hotel custodian is a front for his real job as a gigolo by his female supervisor (Patricia Collins). A female co-worker Lisa (Arsinée Khanjian) is obsessed with him, but he avoids her. Meanwhile, Lisa's obsession with Lance has led her to rent all video tapes of films in which Lance play as an extra, from Eddy's (Tony Nardi) video store. (He never plays any "speaking parts"). Lance notices a film script in a hotel room and decides to leave his acting resumé in the room, whose occupant turns out to be a screenwriter Clara (Gabrielle Rose) for a forthcoming television movie based on the true story of her deceased brother and herself. Clara recommends Lance to play the lead and the two begin an affair. She becomes increasingly distraught as it becomes evident that the movie's producer (David Hemblen) is changing the story which is very personal to Clara. As the film progresses towards the end, the inner worlds of Lance, Lisa and Clara and the tangle of relationships start to unravel

In the campaign storyline, players lead a party of adventurers on their quest to investigate an ancient being, about which little beyond the name is initially known. The plot is eventually revealed to be an epic contest between two dragons competing for godhood. The player can choose the path of good or evil, with different quests available depending on which is preferred, although the distinction between the two is not always clear. The game is divided up into a number of distinct battles or missions (30+), with the player able to access the majority of these during a given campaign, since several of the scenarios are mutually exclusive. Scenarios cannot be re-played once successfully completed.

The campaign revolves around a single lead character, with the other characters playing a supporting role. At the start of each scenario or battle, players select which additional adventurers to take along (up to a total of five such auxiliary characters after the first few scenarios). While this technically allows one to have more than six adventurers, only characters who actually participate in a given battle earn experience, so attempting to field a larger stable of cohorts serves to dilute earned experience levels.

The game features the core character classes from the 3.5 ''Player's Handbook'': the Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, and Wizard, as well as two non-core classes, the Psion and Psychic Warrior. A full set of character generation rules permit players to create their own characters, or use pre-generated characters selected from a "character library".

After her mother's mysterious death, Abigail Arcane travels to the Florida swamps to confront her evil stepfather Dr. Arcane, who had been resurrected after his death in the first film. In an attempt to stave off the effects of aging, Dr. Arcane, assisted by Dr. Lana Zurrell , combines genes from various swamp animals and human beings, creating an army of monsters known as Un-Men. Dr. Arcane tries to use his stepdaughter Abby in his genetic experiments until she is rescued by Swamp Thing, a scientist previously transformed into a bog creature after a confrontation with the evil doctor.

The film tells the story of Romulus Gaiţă, a Romanian immigrant to Australia after World War II and his struggle in the face of great adversity to bring up his son, Raimond. As close family members die around him Raimond has to deal with the deterioration of his father's mental health. It is a story of impossible love that ultimately celebrates the unbreakable bond between father and son.

Matt Helm, codenamed "Eric", is given a tough and distasteful assignment: to physically assault a fellow female agent in order to help establish her cover in an undercover operation. In doing so, however, Helm accidentally kills the woman, which results in him having to complete the woman's assignment; the assassination of an enemy agent.

He is meanwhile being pursued by his own agency, which is considering removing him from active service for his brutality. The location is near Chesapeake Bay.

Once a photographer by day, spy by night, Matt Helm is now a happily retired secret agent, shooting photos of glamorous models instead of guns and enjoying a close relationship with his assistant, the lovely Lovey Kravezit. But then his old boss, Macdonald, coaxes him back to the agency ICE (Intelligence and Counter Espionage) to thwart a new threat from the villainous organization Big O.

The sinister Tung-Tze is masterminding a diabolical scheme to drop a missile on an underground atomic bomb test in New Mexico and possibly instigate a nuclear war in the process. Helm's assignment is to stop him, armed with a wide assortment of useful spy gadgets, plus the assistance of the capable femme fatale, Tina, and the seemingly incapable Gail Hendricks, a beautiful but bumbling possible enemy agent.

Along the way, Helm is nearly sidetracked by a mysterious knife-wielding seductress and he witnesses the murder of a beautiful Big O operative, the sultry striptease artist Sarita.

In the end, Helm prevails, with Gail by his side as he all but singlehandedly destroys Tung-Tze's evil enterprise and plot to rule the world.

Two companion sorceresses and on-and-off adversaries, the overpowered Lina Inverse and the underdressed Naga the Serpent, wander into the town of Stoner, famous of its entertainment golem makers. There they rescue a young girl named Laia Einberg from an out-of-control golem. Lina and Naga expect to be rewarded for their not-so selfless deed, so Laia takes them to her workplace and introduces them to her father, Galia, and her brother, Huey. Galia is a renowned crafter of classic toy golems but lately he is struggling for money. He is also in conflict with Huey, his son and student, over their very opposing ideas as to how their golems should look and act like. Huey becomes infatuated with Naga's looks, while Galia takes a liking to Lina, and so they choose both sorceresses as models for their respective new golems.

There is an upcoming event in Stoner in which huge, remote-controlled golems will fight each other in a competition. The same contest will also decide which of two feuding lords sponsoring the festival, Haizen and Granion, will take control over the town. Secretly, both of the lords also scheme to have their golems mass-produced as unstoppable weapons of war. Haizen succeeds in hiring Huey and Naga, while Galia and Lina get employed by Granion. Lina and Naga can easily become antagonistic, and, following an inconclusive magical duel, they end up battling it out again — but this time they are going to fight through the golems made in their appearance.

Due to Galia lacking magical clay due to Huey's sabotage, his golem is built with the sleeping Lina trapped inside so she would use her own magic to power it at the tournament. Huey has lured Naga into his golem and so now there is a powerful sorceress in each. To Lina's dismay, and Granion's disappointment, the golem that was made in her image is a super deformed giant ''kawaii'' toy with funny squeaky shoes, dubbed "Piko-Piko Lina-chan" — instead of finding her beautiful as she believed, Galia thought she was "a girl with no hips or breasts, with a face just screaming to be characterized." She is irked even more to see Huey's towering "Grand Goddess" golem that resembles Naga to the point of also having bouncing breasts (with the well-endowed Naga's breasts being an object of burning envy for Lina).

Their battle begins, but Piko-Piko Lina-chan's short limbs can not even hit the Grand Goddess while Naga just plays with her. Further enraged, Lina attempts to attack with magic, but the golem's magical properties absorb magic, making Lina's spells useless. During that completely one-sided fight, one physical attack by the Grand Goddess makes a large hole in the back of Lina's golem. The furious Lina gets free and unleashes her most powerful spell, Dragu Slave, to defeat the Grand Goddess. Lina wins, but her spell has also destroyed the castles of both Haizen and Granion. Lina flees the suddenly outraged Naga and both of them get pursued by the angry lords manning the Piko-Piko Lina-chan, which soon stops when it runs out of power.

During the film's closing credits, the ex-lords Haizen and Granion find themselves reduced to the guards for the king of the land. Galia and Huey resolve their differences, deciding to start making toys that are to be both cute and sexy at the same time, while the now derelict Piko-Piko Lina-chan becomes the new symbol and mascot of the entire town. Elsewhere, Lina and Naga continue their travels together, as prone to failing-out with each other as ever.

The powerful teenage sorceress Lina Inverse and her traveling companion and self-styled archrival Naga the Serpent, having been reunited after Naga was (once again) hired against Lina, obtain two discounted tickets for a tour to the fabled hot springs of Mipross Island. However, they discover almost immediately that those hot springs are fake and the island is controlled by a group of bandits. The two heroines clean up the island from them but learn they have been sent by someone called "the Great Master".

Meanwhile, Lina is repeatedly visited during sleep by an old insistent man that narrates about the love between a heroic boy Rowdy and a young elf girl Meliroon, tragically interrupted by the appearance of a mazoku (demon) named Joyrock that destroyed the city of elves and killed Meliroon. In another dream, between an event and another, Lina discovers that the old storyteller is the young hero himself and he gained the power of elves, with the ability of seeing the future, and that he was the owner of the legendary Sword of Light.

Lina and Naga deliver the most dangerous bandits to the king, who asks Lina to take action against Joyrock. He and the queen were contacted by the old sage Rowdy in dream and he told them the demon came back again to Mipross and is wreaking havoc in the northern part of the island, blocking the natural flux of hot spring's water, so the girl named Lina Inverse is the only able to beat him. Lina is initially reluctant, but in exchange of a reward (and Rowdy's promise to reveal the secret location of a hot spring that make things growing up) she and Naga decide to take action against the demon.

Joyrock shows himself in the form of a frog, then turns into a reptile-like creature and reveals to be the Great Master who pulled the strings of the events that took place on the island. Lina attempts to slay him with her destructive Dragon Slave spell, but he disappears and reappears from the astral plane and injures Lina, who luckily is rescued by Naga and Rowdy. The old sage heals Lina and tells them he could use his magic to get back in time and change history, but the two sorceress must help him defeating the Joyrock from the past. At the same time he casts the spell, the demon appears and kills Rowdy. Luckily, Lina manages to travel in the void of time (Naga is missing at this moment), she meets the young Rowdy and, with the help of the Sword of Light combined with Dragon Slave, they finally destroy the demon. Along with coincidentally rescued Naga, they return to present time.

Before going back to the mainland, Lina remembers she has to visit the hidden hot spring promised by Rowdy, but there she discovers it is a magical water that makes things like vegetables growing older, and not growing bigger as she hoped for her breasts. Shouting angrily to the ghost of Rowdy, Lina runs away in shame, followed by Naga, and they keep on running until late night. During the end credits, it is shown that the inhabitants of Mipross have erected a statue in honor of the two heroes of the island: the young Rowdy and Lina Inverse.

A young nameless poet (Dieterle) enters a wax museum where the proprietor works in the company of his daughter Eva (Olga Belajeff). The proprietor hires the poet to write a back-story for his wax models of Harun al-Rashid (Jannings), Ivan the Terrible (Veidt), and Jack the Ripper (Krauss) in order to draw an audience to the museum. With his daughter by his side, the poet notices that the arm of Harun al-Rashid is missing and writes a story incorporating the missing arm.

Harun al-Rashid

The poet sees himself in his story as a pie baker, Assad, where he lives with his wife Maimune (played by Olga Belajeff) directly by the walls of the palace where Harun Al-Rashid lives. Smoke from Assad's bakery covers the front of the palace, where Al-Rashid loses a game of chess, leading him to want the head of the baker. He sends his Grand Vizier to find the man, Assad, but in doing so, he finds Assad's wife with whom he is enchanted. After being captivated by her beauty and also captivating her with his status among the royals, he returns to tell Al-Rashid that he does not have the baker's head but rather something better – news about the baker's wife. Al-Rashid then resolves to go out that night, incognito, and visit the beauty. When he steals away from his castle, the ruler witnesses an argument between the jealous Assad and Maimune, who both seem dissatisfied with their poverty-laden life. Assad then says he will rob Al-Rashid's wishing ring to solve their problems.

While Al-Rashid visits the bakery that night, Assad slips into the palace to steal the wishing ring from the finger of Al-Rashid by slicing his arm off (later it is revealed to be only a wax figurine). He is spotted by the palace guards and is chased to the rooftops where he escapes. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him, the real Al-Rashid is in Assad's house trying to impress his wife. The returning Assad penetrates the locked house by force, while Maimune hides Al-Rashid in the baking-oven. The guards rush in to arrest Assad for the attack at the palace, but Assad's wife uses the wishing ring to wish that Al-Rashid spring forth unharmed, as he secretly comes out of the oven. She then wishes that Assad be named the official baker for Al-Rashid. Her wish is granted and the couple come under the caliph's protection. (40 minutes)

Ivan the Terrible

The second episode, treated in a slower and more somber vein, deals with the Czar of Russia, Ivan the Terrible, whom the poet describes as making 'cities into cemeteries'. The czar takes physical delight in watching his victims die, after poisoning them. Ivan's "Poison-Mixer" writes the name of the victim on an hour glass, and once they are poisoned, the glass is turned over, the man dying just as the last sand falls. The Poison-Mixer, who has taken pity on one of the victims, is singled out by Ivan as the next to be poisoned. But, unseen, the Poison-Mixer writes "ZAR IWAN" on the next hourglass. Ivan is supposed to attend the wedding of a nobleman's son; paranoid that he is being targeted, dresses the nobleman as himself, and drives the sleigh to the wedding. There, the nobleman is killed with an arrow, and his daughter (Eva) and her bridegroom (the poet) are in shock as Ivan takes over their festivities, eventually absconding with her and holding the groom in his torture chamber. On the wedding night, Ivan hears that he has been poisoned, and races to the torture chamber to reverse his fate by turning the hour-glass over; he does it again and again, and the final title says that Ivan 'became mad and turned the glass over and over til the end of his days.' (37 minutes)

Jack the Ripper

After the poet finishes the last two stories, he wakes up to find that the wax model of Jack the Ripper has come to life, but it is recognized instead to be Spring-heeled Jack. Spring-Heeled Jack stalks both the poet and the waxworks owner's daughter. The Poet and the girl flee but find that they can't escape Spring-Heeled Jack through the dark, twisted halls of the museum. As Jack draws close enough, multiple versions of him appear, and as his knife begins to slash, it provokes the poet to wake up to realize that the last experience was a dream. (6 minutes)

''Muteki Kanban Musume'' is a comedy detailing the adventures of Miki Onimaru, a girl who recently turned 20, whose mother runs a Chinese ramen restaurant. Miki works as the delivery girl for the shop but frequently gets into trouble due to her boisterous, active personality. Much of the humor of the series derives from the characters' over-the-top behavior.

Helm is sent to the ICE (Intelligence and Counter Espionage) Training Headquarters to uncover a traitor in the organisation. While there he meets ICE agent Sheila Sommers, a test pilot who has been recovered from a Central American jungle with no memory of what happened to the experimental flying saucer she flew. Due to the electro-magnetic power of the saucer, only a woman is able to fly it, as males of the species are killed by the energy.

Helm had worked with Sommers on an assignment where the two had posed as man and wife. When Sommers meets Helm, her memory comes back. Mac, the head of ICE, decides to send Helm and Sommers (posing again as his wife) undercover as a photographer doing a story on the Montezuma Beer Brewery, whose advertising jingle is the same tune as the anthem of Ortega's political movement.

Along the way, they must deal with Ortega's henchmen, Francesca Madeiros (an operative for Big O, Helm's main nemesis), who poses as a model and seduces Helm, an assassin named Nassim and a tough thug named Rocco.

Themes

The film was the third of four produced in the late 1960s starring Martin as secret agent Matt Helm. It followed ''The Silencers'' and ''Murderers' Row'' and like those earlier films followed the approach of being a spoof of the James Bond film series rather than a straight adaptation of Hamilton's novel. It was followed by one more, ''The Wrecking Crew'' in 1969.

''The Ambushers'' features a scene similar to one in the later James Bond film ''Live and Let Die'' (1973), in which one of the hero's love interests is stripped of her clothes by way of a magnetic gadget.

Julian (John Paul Tremblay) plans to steal money from an automated teller machine (ATM). He gets his two best friends, Ricky (Robb Wells) and Bubbles (Mike Smith), to help him succeed in the operation and get rich. However, the plan does not go according to plan and they are chased by the police. Bubbles runs off and is spared by the cops, while Ricky and Julian are arrested and get sent to jail for an 18-month term.

Donny (Gerry Dee), the jail instructor, kicks Ricky and Julian out of jail 26 days early to prevent Ricky from playing goalie for a rival team, giving Donny and his team a chance to win an upcoming jail street-hockey tournament. Ricky and Julian are picked up by Bubbles and Ricky's father, Ray (Barrie Dunn), and brought back to Sunnyvale Trailer Park, only to be greeted by the trailer-park supervisor Jim Lahey (John Dunsworth) and his shirtless, cheeseburger-loving assistant, Randy (Patrick Roach).

Ricky decides to get back with his girlfriend Lucy (Lucy DeCoutere) and become a better father to his daughter, Trinity. However, Ricky learns from Lucy's friend Sarah (Sarah Dunsworth) that Lucy has a new job at a strip club and she also got new breast implants and her boss, Sonny (Hugh Dillon) (the owner of the club) is a dangerous man. Ricky, Julian, Bubbles along with Cory (Cory Bowles) & Trevor (Michael Jackson) go to the strip club where Ricky meets Lucy and Julian flirts with a stripper, Wanda (Nichole Hiltz). After the strip club, Ricky becomes determined to do the "Big Dirty", one massive crime with a payout that will allow him to retire, while Julian follows the advice of an inmate he met and begins to steal numerous small amounts of change to stay below the police's radar.

Julian and Wanda go to the movies on their first date. While waiting in the snack line, Julian sees a money machine filled with change and believes he has found a way to combine his idea with Ricky's "Big Dirty" and informs Ricky and Bubbles of the plan.

Ricky returns to the strip club to inform Lucy he'd like her and Trin to live with him as a family. They are interrupted by Sonny however and Ricky leaves when he learns Sonny and Lucy had sex while he was in prison. At a party at J-Roc(Jonathan Torrens)'s trailer Ricky and Lucy reconcile and he proposes to her, which she accepts.

Lahey conspires to have the boys evicted by falsely reporting to his ex-wife Barb (Shelley Thompson) that Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles' lot fees are three months behind. To pay the "missing" backrent and avoid eviction the boys decide to do the Big Dirty at the movie theatre but attract unwanted attention when Cory & Trevor accidentally pull a fire-alarm. Despite the attention the boys are able to escape with the change in Ricky's trunk.

At Ricky and Lucy's wedding, Sonny confronts them both with a handgun and shoots at Ricky's car, causing the money to fall out through the bullet holes in the trunk. Police officers George Green and Ted Johnston arrest Wanda for outstanding arrest warrants and she subsequently reports Sonny's firearm usage to the police. Lahey sees the money falling out of the car and reports their theft before chasing them with the police. Lahey and Randy flip their car and the cops crash into Ricky's car, causing the money to fly out.

In court, Ricky argues the photographic evidence only shows Cory & Trevor and that the only evidence of his, Julian and Bubbles' involvement is Lahey's testimony. Ricky then demands Lahey use a breathalyzer to see if Lahey is drunk or not to determine whether he is a credible witness. Lahey is revealed to be drunk and the boys are declared innocent by the judge who also orders the change returned to them since there is no proof it came from criminal activity. A victorious Ricky tells off Lahey, but this causes the judge to threaten to charge Ricky with contempt of court and to sentence him to a week in jail. Realizing this means he would be sent to jail in time to play in the street hockey tournament, Ricky gets permission to go to jail for a week from Lucy and Trinity before swearing at the judge, Lahey and Randy. Ricky is sentenced to a week in jail for contempt of court. Ricky's team faces Donny's team in the finals and wins due to a key save by Ricky while Cory and Trevor gain the prisoners' respect after "pantsing" Donny in front of everyone.

The credits show the various park members enjoying their lives. Ricky, Trinity and Lucy live as a happy family; Bubbles builds a new shed and performs his "Super Cats Catshow"; Julian reunites with Wanda after she finishes her prison sentence; Cory & Trevor drive their snowmobile together; Lahey and Randy continue to supervise the park; J-Roc and Tyrone perform rap shows; and Ray drinks and rolls around in his wheelchair.

In the early 1970s, the twins are essentially purchased by a sleazy talent manager with plans to turn them into rock stars. The brothers form a punk rock band called the Bang Bang. As the band's success grows, a music journalist, Laura (Tania Emery), follows the band writing an article. A romantic relationship develops between Laura and Tom causing friction between the two brothers.

Season 1

The story begins during a football match between the home team of planet Akillian and the Shadows. As Aarch, captain of the Akillians, takes a [http://lodhisport.com/ direct free kick], an explosion is heard and an avalanche sweeps over the stadium, marking the beginning of the Akillian Ice Age and the loss of The Breath, Akillian's Flux.

The storyline jumps forward 15 years. Aarch and his friend Clamp, a robotic technician, arrive back on Akillian for the first time since the game. Aarch aims to create a new Akillian Galactik Football team capable of winning the Cup, and selects a group of talented teenagers for his team: D'Jok, Sinedd, Micro-Ice, Mei, Thran, Ahito, Rocket, and Tia. However, Rocket's father and Aarch's brother does not want him on the team, and agrees only to let him play on the condition that the newly named Snow Kids win a match against the incumbent Akillian team, the Red Tigers, who are coached by Aarch's estranged old friend and team-mate, Artegor Nexus. During her tryout, Tia reveals that she has the power of the long-lost Breath of Akillian.

The Snow Kids beat the Red Tigers, becoming the new Akillian team. However, an embittered Artegor lures Sinedd away from the Snow Kids and recruits him to the Shadows, whom he has agreed to coach.

As the Snow Kids progress through the competition, each develops the Breath of Akillian. There are some intra-team tensions caused by Tia and Rocket's burgeoning relationship and Micro-Ice's unrequited crush on Mei. Unknown to any of them is that all seven of the players have been affected by the Meta-Flux, a synthetic undetectable Flux, inadvertently created by Clamp and pirate Sonny Blackbones, that was the true origin of the Akillian Ice Age. This Flux is now coveted by the ruthless General Bleylock, who happily endangers the Snow Kids to get his hands on it.

With the help of Clamp and his old partner, the pirate Sonny Blackbones, the Snow Kids escape General Bleylock's machinations and win the Galactik Football Cup.

Season 2

In season 2, Ahito falls ill and is replaced as goalkeeper by his cousin Yuki. Also, Rocket is suspended from the team due to illegal use of The Breath and is replaced by Mark, another young Akillian footballer, who had previously been considered as a substitute player. In Rocket's absence D'Jok is made captain. After Ahito's recovery he and Yuki share duties as goalkeeper and upon finding in his favour the League allows Rocket to return to the team, which he eventually did. D'Jok remains captain on Rocket's return and leads the team to a second consecutive GFC victory.

Season 3

A year after their second Galactic Football Cup victory in succession, the mysterious Lord Phoenix invites everyone in the galaxy to a special mixed-flux tournament on the planet Paradisia. After a bad friendly match against the Shadows, D'Jok and Mei have an argument. Mei dumps D'Jok and joins the Shadows. Yuki leaves the Snow Kids temporarily to join the Elektras, and D'Jok leaves the team after being recruited by Team Paradisia. A Wamba named Lun-Zia joins the Snow Kids for the mixed-flux tournament. Due to the injection of flux in the core of the Planet Paradisia, Paradisia explodes but luckily everyone was evacuated from the planets with the help of the Galactik Football Players. There is also the Galactik Football Cup which was won by the Snow Kids vs Team Paradisia. This made the Snow kids win the 3 cup.

Disney XD UK aired the first 8 episodes of season 3 in 2010. It was 10 October 2011 before Disney XD was able to air episode 9 of season 3. The remaining episodes have been aired on consecutive days, with the series finale airing on 27 October 2011.

The Federation starship ''Voyager'' is engaged in exploring a nebula inversion that is mysteriously stable. While inversion nebulae normally burn out after a few years, this one appears to have existed for centuries. While the rest of the crew discuss emotions with the Vulcan tactical officer Tuvok, Ensign Harry Kim gives him a discomforted look. Kim later visits Tuvok in his quarters, and asks Tuvok to teach him the Vulcan way of suppressing his emotions. When Tuvok asks why, Kim reveals that he has fallen in love with a character from the holodeck. As a part of Tuvok's methods, they go to see this character, Marayna. Meanwhile, Captain Janeway orders the ship to move away from the inversion, but the ship fails to respond.

All of the crew later engages in a luau on the holodeck. Tuvok again meets Marayna, and is intrigued by her logic. Harry sees this and becomes jealous of Tuvok, who assures him that his jealousy is misplaced and that he feels no emotions for Marayna, but Harry will not listen to this. To prove his statement Tuvok deletes the Marayna character from the holodeck.

Later as Tuvok enters his quarters, he finds Marayna there, wearing the Doctor's mobile emitter. Marayna, hence, reveals herself to be a sentient being who can escape the confines of the holodeck—and is no ordinary holodeck character.[http://www.jammersreviews.com/st-voy/s3/alterego.php Jammers Reviews] by Jamahl Epsicokhan It appears she has uploaded herself into the computer. Tuvok then informs security as Marayna disappears. Her attempt here to capture Tuvok's love fails, however, since the Vulcan Tuvok is not receptive to her "suggestions" that they see each other more often. Angry and disappointed at being rebuffed by Tuvok, Marayna has now taken control of Voyager's computer and disabled her engines—a situation which could spell disaster for Voyager in the middle of a nebula. This is particularly true as activity in the nebula suddenly increases, threatening the ship. Captain Janeway is alerted to the matter with Marayna and she and Tuvok begin scanning Voyager's immediate vicinity for hidden vessels and eventually find a spot from where the real Marayna character originates.

Tuvok beams himself to this location aboard Marayna's ship and meets the real Marayna, an alien who is living totally alone and isolated in the nebula inversion to prevent it from igniting in order to allow her people to enjoy its beauty. However, she was so fascinated by the Voyager's holodeck program that her curiosity led her to hack into Voyager's computer, and she was intrigued by Tuvok. She asks Tuvok to remain with her but Tuvok reveals that he is already married and has children on Vulcan. Tuvok tells Marayna that if she really cares about him she must let him and the ship pass through the nebula safely. Tuvok also explains that if he stayed with her merely to save the ship, the relationship between Marayna and him would not be what Marayna desires—one of equal partners.[http://www.startrek.com/database_article/alter-ego Alter Ego] by Star Trek.com Marayna sees the logic of Tuvok's suggestion, and permits Voyager to safely continue its journey home through the nebula inversion.

Laurel and Hardy play two policemen on night patrol, hence the title. They are given instructions to investigate a reported break-in but in the process of gathering the details from HQ they stumble upon a would be thief who is attempting to crack the safe of a small store. Laurel mistakes him for the store owner, even going so far as to give assistance in the safe cracking, when Hardy enters to see what is keeping Laurel the boys manage to work out that the thief is not the store owner and rather than arrest him, order him to appear in court at a date to suit the criminal. The boys head back to their car only to find the same thief attempting to steal it, angered Hardy insists that he must 'appear Tuesday' after all (a day the criminal is planning a bank robbery).

On arriving at the alleged crime scene the audience sees that the case is that the owner of the mansion got locked out and so there is no actual robber or robbery at the location. The boys, however, are unaware of this and attempt to break down the front door and eventually manage to succeed with great effort, having causing a great deal of damage to the property they proceed to arrest the owner of the property who they perceive to be the robber.

The boys bring the suspect in to great praise by their colleagues, but the real identity of the 'robber' soon becomes apparent as the other officers recognize him as the Chief of Police. Realizing their error Hardy explains that they are 'new', the Chief seemingly does not accept this excuse and as the boys flee off-screen he opens fire. The other officers then remove their hats indicating that deaths have occurred and the Chief says "send for the coroner".

Laurel and Hardy are in the fish business. They drive around town seeing if they can sell any. Stan suggests they catch their own fish and keep all the profits. Ollie likes the idea of cutting out the "middleman" so they buy a boat at a junk yard. After testing it for leaks by filling it with water and some setbacks such as dropping an anchor through the hull and sawing through the mast, they succeed in fixing it up. When the boat is finally ready, the whole operation goes south when they decide to hoist the sail.

''Voices in the Dark'' is set in 2271. It features two linked plotlines viewed separately one after the other but covering the same 72-hour timespan.

''Voices in the Dark: Over Here''

The first part called ''Voices in the Dark: Over Here'' features Colonel (formerly Captain during the series' run) Lochley on Babylon 5 awaiting Sheridan's arrival, who summons a priest from Earth (Father Cassidy) to help deal with a mysterious, seemingly supernatural problem. A maintenance crew member, Simon Burke, returns to Babylon 5 from a vacation on Earth and begins behaving erratically. Along with temperature changes in his part of the station, there is a foul odor. Burke (under control of something) claims that God "salted" this region of space with fallen angels to keep man in check. Father Cassidy struggles with deciding whether to perform the exorcism or bring in more clergy. Lockley investigates Burke and exposes his lie, confronting him that "Hell" is Earth and that his kind are bound to Earth so he attempted to "hitchhike" in Burke's body. She has him sedated and tells him she will have him "exorcised" on Earth where he will be trapped until the sun goes supernova. The sedatives knock him out after he says "We will remember you."

''Voices in the Dark: Over There''

The second part, ''Voices in the Dark: Over There'', follows ISA President John Sheridan on his way to B5 for a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the formation of the Interstellar Alliance. During the journey he picks up the Centauri Prince Dius Vintari (third in line to the Centauri Imperial throne) on the edge of Centauri space, using a new ''Valen''-class cruiser, and receives a warning from Galen the techno-mage about Earth's destruction in 30 years by Vintari's hand to restore the Centauri Republic to glory. Galen proposes killing Vintari in a Starfury weapons malfunction. Sheridan goes along with it until he realizes there were "ways" to prevent that future. Sheridan chooses instead to have Vintari live on Minbar where he can be taught compassion. Galen confronts Sheridan about his decision, but Sheridan forces Galen to all but admit that was his actual goal to maneuver him into that choice. The story introduces the concept of ''quantum space''.

After a series of murders in Los Angeles's gay community, heterosexual police officer Sgt. Benson (Ryan O'Neal) is assigned to go undercover as half of a gay couple with Officer Kerwin (John Hurt), a Records Clerk. Kerwin naively believes that he is closeted, although the entire Department knows about his sexual identity. The pair discover an earlier murder and learn that both victims appeared in the same gay magazine. Each had received a call from a hoarse-voiced man asking them to model for him, only to turn up dead soon after. Benson models for the magazine and is approached by the same hoarse-voiced man; but, when another model turns up dead, the man is cleared as a suspect.

Benson grows close to Jill (Robyn Douglass), the photographer of his shoot, and plans a weekend getaway with her. Kerwin suspects her of the murders, but his superiors put it down to jealousy. Kerwin uncovers evidence implicating Jill; but, when the police move to apprehend her, they discover her corpse. Her death unknown to Benson, he arrives for his rendezvous with Jill; and Kerwin races to his aid. Jill's killer, a closeted man whom Jill and one of the victims were blackmailing, admits to Benson that he killed Jill and two of the men but insists that Jill killed her partner in crime. Realizing that Kerwin is outside, the killer shoots at Kerwin who returns fire. Kerwin is wounded, but the other man is killed.

Fred and Barney are part-time police officers assisted by the Shmoo as a trainee where they work under the direction of Sgt. Boulder. The trio fought crime in the city of Bedrock, most of the time chasing after the Frankenstones' pet monster Rockjaw.

The story takes place in 1849. Captain Stanton (John Boles) has been cited for a court martial because of a misunderstanding over a woman with Major Davolo. As a scout, he is sent to escort a wagon train which is under military escort. It turns out that this escort is his own former regiment. When he meets Davolo, there is another fight between Stanton and Davolo in which Davolo is killed.

The colonel has Stanton put in the guard house on a murder charge. He escapes disguised as a parson and continues along with the wagon train in order to be near Virginia, the daughter of his former commander, played by Vivienne Segal. They fall in love and when Stanton decides to leave the wagon train, Virginia follows him.

Stanton marries Virginia and opens a gambling hall. When the regiment eventually turns up at the gambling hall, Virginia makes merry with her former friends. Stanton, in a fit of jealousy, leaves the establishment with another woman and tries his luck in California, searching for gold. He has poor luck and becomes a derelict. Eventually he meets his wife in San Francisco, resulting in a happy reconciliation. Some soldiers find him and give him a choice between being deported or re-enlisting in the army. He re-enlists. Joe E. Brown, in the part of Hasty, his doomed sidekick, provided the comedy for the film.

Erik Kernan Jr. is a young fledgling journalist employed by ''The Denver Times''. Frustrated, Kernan struggles with his supervising editor Ralph Metz concerning rudimentary coverage over his articles related to professional sports. Metz views Kernan's editorial work as bland and uninspiring considering his recently deceased father was a famous sportscaster. Kernan is separated from his wife, Joyce, who also works at the newspaper, and worries that he might be losing touch with their young son, Teddy.

In an alley near the Denver Coliseum, three rowdy young men taunt an elderly homeless man, who calls himself "Champ" and claims to have been a professional boxer. As the men begin to assault him, Kernan, leaving a boxing match he was covering at the venue, comes to his aid. Kernan eventually learns that Champ was once a famous former heavyweight boxing contender, Bob Satterfield.

During an interview with a magazine publisher named Whitley, Kernan informs him that he has an influential story about Satterfield. At the same time, Champ is reluctant to cooperate for any biographical piece. In order to gain Champ's confidence for the chronicle, Kernan recruits an associate at the newspaper, Polly, to assist him in retrieving information about his past.

The magazine ultimately publishes Kernan's article. It wins acclaim from readers and journalists alike. The story even draws the attention of a TV personality from Showtime, Flak, who boldly suggests it should be nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. But the intense publicity brings Kernan into contact with elderly folk who knew Satterfield personally, and are adamant that he's deceased. Kernan later learns that Champ is in fact a lesser known boxing contender, Tommy Kincaid, whom Satterfield once defeated in the ring. He makes a conscious choice and decides to inform his editors about the profile error. However, before he can do so, he learns that he and the newspaper are being sued by Satterfield's son, Robert. Satterfield Jr. is angered, since it had been long known to a number of people that Champ had a lengthy history of impersonating his father. Metz derides Kernan for not having done due diligence in examining Champ's authenticity regarding his past.

Satterfield Jr. is later appeased with a proposal by Kernan to write another article retracting his mistake; and to include personal journalistic material about the elder Satterfield which he long wanted someone to articulate about. Kernan is also gratified to know that Teddy will be proud of his father, even if he does not know the famous people he once claimed to know.

Flo and Dot work in a Broadway music shop. Flo sings while Dot plays the piano. Their boss complains to them that they are not selling as much sheet music as they should, and asks them to change their technique. Flo sings a song for a customer, after which, one of Dot's admirers, Monsieur LeMaire (Charles Judels), an eccentric Frenchman who owns a modiste shop, enters the shop. He begins annoying the boss by chatting with Dot and asking her out. When the boss tells him to come back after they finish working, LeMaire flies into a rage and throws sheet music all over the store. The boss immediately fires Dot and Flo. The scene moves to the apartment where the two women live. Dot is reading the newspaper and finds out her boyfriend has eloped with a rich elderly widow. She is so angry that she accepts Flo's idea that they become gold-diggers. Flo suggests that their first victim be LeMaire and the next day they begin to work for him. LeMaire soon asks Dot and Flo to a private party. Flo tells him they would love to attend but they have no suitable clothes. LeMaire tells them that they can borrow clothes from his modiste shop. Dot and Flo agree to attend the party and then pack off all the clothes they can carry with them. They head off to the train station with their luggage of expensive clothes and decide to go to Havana to make some real money.

Once Flo and Dot arrive in Havana they find that a millionaire, "A.J. Smith", who invented a famous soft drink, is staying at the hotel. They assume that a mean spirited and snobby acting man is the millionaire but the true millionaire is a young, pleasant and down-to-earth man. Dot falls in love with Smith, much to Flo's chagrin. Smith, unbeknownst to Flo and Dot, is actually a gigolo looking for a rich woman to pay his meal ticket. Just as Dot is to marry the gigolo, LeMaire arrives and exposes the two gold-diggers. Smith, who has fallen in love with Dot, writes a check to LeMaire to cover the amount he lost, and he ends up winning Dot as his future wife.

A subplot involves Flo and Colonel Joy (Charles Butterworth), who raises horses. Colonel Joy is attracted to Flo and can't stop talking to her, although she does her best to avoid him. After some time, Flo is convinced by the colonel that his horse can't lose in the upcoming horse-race. She takes a chance and bets all her money, only to lose everything. Eventually they grow fond of each other and Colonel Joy proposes to Flo at the end of the film.

The story is about five people who run a public monster truck show led by Yank Justice, driver of Bigfoot. The other members of the show include Red & Redder (twin sisters who drive Black Gold), Professor Dee (driver of the Orange Blossom Special), and Close McCall (driver of War Lord). A young woman named Jennifer McGraw steals an ancient map that leads to the Fountain of Youth in Florida from an elderly corrupt billionaire named Adrian Ravenscroft, known as "Mr. Big". Ravenscroft hires a gang of henchmen who helped him try to get the map back; they include a man named Ernie Slye, as well as Ravenscroft's limousine chauffeur. This band of criminals chases Yank Justice and his friends across the United States and try to kill them.

In the end, Ravenscroft finds the Fountain and, after drinking its water, is turned into a young man, becoming a far more formidable opponent for Yank. But Yank and the others destroy the Fountain with their trucks, and Ravenscroft makes one final attempt to defeat Yank by trying to ram his limousine into Yank's truck; however, Yank is able to move out of the way, and Ravenscroft's car is destroyed when it careens out of control. Ravenscroft tries to flee, swearing revenge, but the effects of the Fountain wear off and he is quickly turned back into his elderly self ... and is unable to see that he is walking into an alligator-infested swamp, presumably meeting his fate.

The scene then cuts to the rubble that once was Fountain of Youth and Jennifer bemoaning its destruction. Just as a disgusted McCall walks away, an earthquake forms a large crevice ... containing a huge fortune in gold, jewels and other rare artifacts. While he and several members of the Bigfoot team celebrate their discovery, Yank walks away, and Jennifer joins him as they drive into the sunset.

Gogol opens by providing a romantic description of landowners in the countryside, giving particular attention to minute details. The two landowners, Afanasy Ivanovich Tovstogub and Pulkheriya Ivanovna Tovstogubikha live peacefully together in a remote village. The descriptions of them fit into the Slavophile tradition, comparing them strikingly against urban Little Russians (Ukrainians), particularly in Saint Petersburg, who are referred to as "paltry contemptible creatures" (because they acquire wealth dishonorably and conceal their descent by changing their last names to sound like Great Russians).

The two old landowners live in peace, with a mutual love that brings a sense of sympathy. The bulk of the opening focuses on their day-to-day lives, eating jelly, making jokes and so forth. Eventually, Gogol introduces Pulkheriya’s grey cat, which Afanasy jokes about, wondering why anyone would waste time with such a creature. The cat is introduced with a sense of foreboding, with Gogol commenting that little things can affect the stability of the strongest realities ("a melancholy incident that transformed forever the life of that peaceful nook").

The cat gets away at one point, and Pulkheriya finds it shortly thereafter in a feral state. Though it comes back to her and goes inside the house to be fed, the cat seems strangely different and eventually flees the house to never return. Pulkheriya then sinks into thought, believing that death will soon come for her. She grows ill and weary and dies, leaving Afanasy alone. He progressively breaks down, disturbed by the smallest things for they remind him of Pulkheriya. The entire area he had control over slowly becomes more degraded as his condition worsens, and he himself dies after he believes he hears her calling to him outside.

A distant kinsman from an unknown location, who was a lieutenant, takes over control of the estate, and soon everything falls into ruin. He puts the estate under the care of a board of trustees, bringing things like a fine English sickle to clear the area, and the huts on the property soon fall down, leaving some peasants drunken and hopeless and others to run away to find better lives. The new owner rarely visits the estate, and the story ends commenting on his visits to local markets to buy nothing over a ruble in price.

A joint operation by MI6, the CIA, and Pakistan's ISI against al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan uncovers documents concerning a planned terrorist attack codenamed "al-Isra". The cryptic nature of the codename triggers further investigations authorised at the most senior level.

Now eager to learn more about al Qaeda's plans for al-Isra, MI6 and CIA scramble to find out information through their various contacts, including inserting an operative close enough into the terror network's confidence. Middle Eastern scholar Dr. Terry Martin, who is part of a special committee studying the Koran for references to al-Isra, accidentally mentions that his elder brother Mike, a retired Paras and SAS officer, can pass for an Afghan native; Mike's chestnut-brown complexion, which he inherited from his mother and maternal grandmother, is indeed a perfect match. The elder Martin also has a near-perfect command of Arabic and Pashto, based from his tour of duty in Afghanistan supporting the Mujahideen.

Interested with Mike's appearance, the CIA and MI6 recall him to infiltrate al-Qaeda by assuming the identity of Izmat Khan, a Taliban commander now detained at Guantanamo Bay. It is revealed that Khan and Mike share a common past – he saved the wounded Khan from an attack by Soviet helicopters and brought him to a clinic run by Ayman al Zawahiri, where he also meets "the sheikh", Osama Bin Laden. A wayward US missile that was launched as part of a strike in retaliation for the 1998 East Africa bombings hits a slope in the Tora Bora, resulting in a landslide that buries Khan's village and his entire family; he swears revenge against the US, joining the Taliban in the process. He is later caught after the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi.

Mike is trained to fully assume Khan's identity (right down to saying Muslim prayers in Pashto) while the real Khan is slated for repatriation to Afghanistan. CIA operatives kidnap Khan and bring him to a secret safehouse in Washington State, with Mike in his place. The ISI engineer Mike's escape after his arrival in Afghanistan and he makes his way back to al Qaeda safe houses in Pakistan and the UAE, where he is accepted as a compatriot after extensive verification by al-Qaeda representatives. The interrogation delves into every chapter of Khan's life, which includes showing his old wound in Afghanistan.

Now accepted into al-Qaeda's fold as Izmat Khan, Mike volunteers to join the operating team for al-Isra. Part of the plan calls for an al-Qaeda agent posing as a businessman to charter a freighter and a tanker carrying liquid petroleum gas. The freighter is later captured by pirates and sank with all hands killed while the tanker is brought to a secret place in Borneo and refitted as the freighter. Another group hijacks a cargo ship in the Caribbean, although this is intended to serve as a decoy. Martin successfully alerts his handlers to the general nature of the threat, but is left incommunicado for several weeks as the ship steams to the US East Coast through the Indian Ocean (maritime authorities search all ships in the Pacific). A CIA official involved with planning Mike's mission drops hints about the al-Isra attack possibly a repeat of the 1917 explosion in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Meanwhile, an aircraft on approach to McChord Air Force Base develops engine trouble and accidentally crashes into the CIA safehouse, blasting open Khan's cell and giving him an opportunity to escape his captors. A Special Forces team chases Khan across the Cascades and kills him as he uses a public phone in Canada to call his allies.

Eventually, the tanker reaches the mid-Atlantic, where a G8 summit is being held on the ''Queen Mary 2''. Martin finally learns that the terrorists intend to release and then ignite the gas on board the tanker, which could incinerate the liner as it passed within range. Martin's last-minute heroism, quick reflexes and self-sacrifice prevent a tragedy.

''The Squabble'' This story takes place in a bucolic small town of Mirgorod (Myrhorod in Ukrainian), written in the style featuring grotesque, realistic portrayals of the characters. The two Ivans are gentlemen landowners, neighbors and great friends, each one almost being the opposite image of the other. Ivan Ivanovich is tall, thin, and well-spoken, for example, while Ivan Nikiforovich is short, fat, and cuts to the point with a biting honesty.

One day, Ivan Ivanovich (''Ivanovich'', as well as ''Nikiforovich'', is a patronymic, not a surname) notices his friend's servant hanging some clothes out to dry as well as some military implements, especially a Turkish rifle that interests him. He goes over to Nikiforovich's house and offers to trade a brown pig and two sacks of oats for it, but his friend is unwilling to part with it and calls Ivan Ivanovich a goose, which terribly offends him. After this, they begin to hate each other.

Nikiforovich erects a goose pen with two posts resting on Ivanovich's property, as if to rub in the insult. To retaliate, Ivan Ivanovich saws the legs off in the night and then fears that his former friend is going to burn his house down. Eventually, Ivan Ivanovich goes to the courts with a petition to have Ivan Nikiforovich arrested for his slander. The judge cannot believe what is occurring and tries to convince him to make amends, but he disregards their suggestions and leaves the courthouse.

Shortly after this, Ivan Nikiforovich comes into the court with his own petition, to the amazement of those gathered there. Strangely enough, shortly after Ivan Nikiforovich leaves, the petition is stolen and destroyed by the brown pig belonging to Ivan Ivanovich. The police chief's attempt to have the pig arrested and to convince Ivanovich to reconcile with his friend is unsuccessful. Because of the pig a new petition is filed, which is quickly duplicated and filed within a day, but sits in the archives for a few years.

Eventually, the chief of police has a party that Ivan Ivanovich is attending, but his old friend does not, because neither will go anywhere where the other is present. The party guest Anton Prokofievich goes to Ivan Nikiforovich's house to convince him to come, unknown to the other Ivan. When he convinces him, he sits down to dinner and both Ivans notice each other sitting across the table and the party grows silent. However, they continue eating with nothing occurring. At the end of dinner both try to leave without the other noticing, and some of the party members push them towards each other so they make up. They begin to, but Nikiforovich mentions the word "goose" again, and Ivanovich storms out of the house.

The narrator returns to Mirgorod many years later and sees the two Ivans again, completely worn out. Each is convinced that their case will be concluded in his favour the following day, and the narrator shakes his head in pity and leaves, stating: "It is a depressing world, gentlemen!"

The story opens in the town of B., where things are drab, depressing and boring until a cavalry regiment moves into the area. Once the regiment is stationed in the town, the area becomes lively, animated, and full of color, with neighboring landowners coming into town frequently to socialize with officers and attend various gatherings and parties. One of the landowners and a chief aristocrat, Pythagoras Chertokutsky, attends a party at the general's house. When the general shows off his beautiful mare to the party attendees, Chertokutsky mentions he has a splendid coach that he paid around four-thousand rubles for, hoping to impress the other guests (although in reality he owns nothing of the sort). The other men express interest in seeing the carriage, so he invites them to dinner on the following day. During the remainder of the general's party, he gets caught up in playing cards and forgets the time, getting home around four in the morning, drunk. Because of this, he forgets to tell his wife about the party and is roused from sleep when his wife sees some carriages approaching their house. He at once remembers the dinner party that he agreed to host, but has his servants tell everyone that he is gone for the day, going to hide in the coach. The general and his friends are upset by his absence, but wish to see his magnificent coach anyway and go to the carriage house to look at it. They are unimpressed by the ordinary coach that he actually owns and examine it thoroughly, wondering if maybe there is something special hidden inside. They open the apron inside the coach and find Chertokutsky hiding inside. The general simply exclaims "Ah, you are here," slams the door, and covers him up again with the apron.

Paul Dietrich, a gifted but disillusioned classical pianist, is nearly 30 years old. He has never won a major piano competition and will soon be past the age limit to compete. Paul has accepted a job as a music teacher at a prep school in his hometown of Chicago, needing to help his mother and ailing father. However, he decides to compete one final time at an international piano competition in San Francisco, even though it could cost him the job.

The competition for a financial grant and two years of concert engagements pits the intense and arrogant Paul against a select group of talented artists. He advances to the final round of six, which includes brash New Yorker Jerry DiSalvo, who can only play one concerto; Michael Humphries; Canadian pianist Mark Landau; and a meek Kazakh girl, Tatiana Baronova.

Another contestant, Heidi Joan Schoonover, is a confident 23-year-old from Massachusetts who was romantically attracted to Paul after meeting him at an earlier music festival. Heidi's esteemed music teacher, Greta Vandemann, advises her to avoid letting personal matters hinder her concentration. Heidi is rebuffed by Paul, who also wants to avoid any distraction.

Before the finals, Tatiana's music teacher defects, causing the emotionally fragile Tatiana to have a nervous breakdown and the competition to be postponed for a week. Meanwhile, Paul's mother wants him to withdraw from the competition and focus on the teaching job, as his father is very ill and should no longer be working to support Paul's musical ambitions. Paul stays in the competition but feels guilty. He lashes out at Heidi during a meeting with the other contestants and the arrogant conductor.

Paul later apologizes to Heidi and they have a coffee date. Afterwards, at his hotel room, he pours his heart out to her about his family situation. Greta worries that Heidi and Paul's relationship may cost Heidi her competitive edge.

The competition is rescheduled. A reception for the contestants unexpectedly turns into a press conference for Tatiana, who is returning to the competition after meeting with her teacher. Paul is infuriated, believing sympathy for Tatiana is making her the favorite to win the competition. He criticizes Heidi for defending Tatiana and accuses her of not taking the competition seriously. Heidi realizes how much winning means to Paul and wants to drop out. Greta angrily chastises Paul, blaming him for exploiting Heidi's guilt over competing against him.

Paul tells Heidi that he loves her and persuades her to stay in the competition. Partway through her performance, Heidi's piano develops a technical problem, forcing her to stop. Rather than folding under pressure, Heidi demands to play a different concerto, requiring an orchestral rearrangement. She performs magnificently and wins the competition; Paul finishes in second place.

Heidi is ecstatic because she and Paul had agreed to form a partnership, combining their talents and resources to help one another, no matter who won. To her dismay, Paul is upset to realize that she is a more proficient player. He tells her he is unable to honor their partnership and leaves. However, Paul finally arrives at the celebration party following the competition, ready to take part in Heidi's victory and to be in her life.

Torrente has moved to Marbella, where, after being wiped out of the money he had gained, he has returned to private investigation. But in one of his cases he gets involved in the middle of a villain's missile plot to destroy the city and his own uncle's blackmail operation... and he knows nothing.

''The Historical Register for the Year 1736'' and ''Eurydice Hissed'' (both were published together in 1737) are two of Henry Fielding's satirical dramas. A mixture of several plots, each play extensively satirizes British politicians.

In form, the play is a series of unrelated episodes, given a coherence by a rehearsal framework: An author, Medley, presents his play to the "critic", Sourwit and Lord Dapper, two characteristic figures of London high society. Medley, who can be regarded as Fielding's spokesman, explains: "... my design is to ridicule the vicious and foolish customs of the age, and that in a fair manner, without fear, favour or ill nature, and without scurrility, ill manners, or commonplace. I hope to expose the reigning follies in such a manner that men shall laugh themselves out of them before they feel that they are touched."

The original text involves "a humming deal of satire" and farce, referring exclusively to the year 1736.

''Sennin Buraku'' takes place in Taoyuan, a small Edo period village, populated solely by Taoist ascetics. The eldest, Lao Shi, conducts research into magic and alchemy, while his disciple Zhi Huang remains more interested in pleasures of the flesh. He has fallen for three pretty sisters who live nearby, much to Lao Shi's annoyance.

Kazuki Arisaka is excited that her childhood crush and next-door neighbor Yuji Kagura and his family are moving back after being away for ten years. However, her dreams of confessing her love for Yuji are shattered, when Yuji turns out to be a huge pervert. With the Arisaka and Kagura parents away overseas, they must deal with living together. Kazuki eventually realizes that Yuji has not really changed that much, but that she had ignored his behavior back then.

Ten stories, each inspired by one of the Ten Commandments:

;1 "Thou Shalt Worship No God Before Me" A man (Adam Brody) becomes a celebrity after falling out of a plane and becoming permanently embedded in the ground, thanks to a superstar agent (Ron Silver). After a swift rise to stardom, he becomes prideful and arrogant, referring to himself as a god. His career falls apart and he loses everything. His fiancée (Winona Ryder) leaves him for a TV anchor man.

;2 "Thou Shalt Not Take the Lord's Name in Vain" A librarian (Gretchen Mol) has a sexual awakening in Mexico with a swarthy local (Justin Theroux) who turns out to be Jesus Christ. She eventually settles down and marries her coworker (A. D. Miles), but is secretly reminded of her fling with Jesus whenever her family prays before a meal.

;3 "Thou Shalt Not Murder" A doctor (Ken Marino) kills his patient by leaving a pair of scissors inside her abdomen during surgery. Despite expecting the charges to be dropped because he left the scissors in "as a goof", the judge and jury sentence him to life in prison. The judge also disbars the plaintiff's lawyer, who is then told that he should consider a job as a tour guide at the local nuclear plant.

;4 "Honor Thy Mother and Thy Father" A white mother (Kerri Kenney-Silver) enlists an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator (Oliver Platt) to be a father figure to her black children after telling them he is their biological father. It is revealed that their father is in reality Arsenio Hall, but they decide to keep the Arnold impersonator as part of the family; despite not being able to imitate Arsenio, he can do a pretty good Eddie Murphy impression.

;5 "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Goods" A police detective (Liev Schreiber) covets his neighbor's (Joe Lo Truglio) CAT Scan machine. After continuously buying additional CAT Scan machines to one up each other, both of their wives leave them. After hitting rock bottom, the two neighbors reconcile and go out for a drink. Meanwhile, a disaster at a nuclear power plant during a school tour (led by the former lawyer from the third story) leaves a busload of school children in need of several CAT Scan machines. They arrive at the neighbors' houses but the doors are locked and the two men are at the bar, so all the children die.

;6 "Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Wife" A prisoner (Rob Corddry) desires a fellow inmate's "bitch" (the doctor from the third story) for his own.

;7 "Thou Shalt Not Steal" The woman (Winona Ryder) from the first story, having recently married the TV anchor man, falls in love with a ventriloquist (Michael Ziegfeld's) puppet, steals it and runs off to have a romantic relationship with it.

;8 "Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness" The ventriloquist, having lost his dummy and become a homeless heroin addict, is told by another homeless man a story about an animated rhinoceros (voice of H. Jon Benjamin) who earns a reputation as a liar. After learning that a band of weiner dogs is intent on infecting others with a fatal STD, the rhinoceros tries to warn everyone. Unfortunately, nobody believes him, and they all succumb to the STD (following an orgy). It is then revealed that the rhinoceros now sells drugs to the homeless men.

;9 "Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery" Jeff Reigert (Paul Rudd) presents all of these stories to the audience, while struggling with his own moral dilemma: having to choose between his beautiful wife (Famke Janssen) and his also beautiful but somewhat younger mistress (Jessica Alba).

;10 "Remember the Sabbath and Keep It Holy" The husband from the second story (A.D. Miles) skips church with his family to get naked with his friends and listen to Roberta Flack.

The film follows the differing lives of two Buddhist monks in Korea. By following their lives and their interaction throughout the film, Im creates a contemplation of the nature of individualism, religious belief and enlightenment.

Greg (Deon Richmond) is nearing the end of his high school days as graduation slowly approaches. He is also anxiously awaiting prom and has the hopes of going with Cinny (Maia Campbell), the school's local beauty. Along with these wants, Greg is also an avid daydreamer and daydreams (trippin') over everything. Most of his "trips" are reversals of real world events, such as visualizing himself as a military commando when confronted by bullies, or as a super genius when in fact he struggles academically. Since he is about to graduate his mother and a teacher encourage him to apply for college. He finally realizes asking for help with the college applications is a great way for him to get in good with Cinny. So they slowly start a friendship but Greg wants it to blossom into a romance so he begins to lie about things. Things go smoothly and are believable until they fall apart one day. Afterward, Greg realizes he needs to stop daydreaming ("trippin'") and focus.

plumber – Afanasy Borshchov (Afonya) (Leonid Kuravlev) and his friend Fedulov (Borislav Brondukov) spend all day and night avoiding work and finding opportunities to drink. Afanasy takes "kickbacks" from clients and is often in trouble with the local committee for his behaviour. Afanasy also often uses foreign or old-fashioned names to introduce himself to strangers to seem more interesting.

Afanasy meets plasterer Kolya (Yevgeny Leonov) in a pub, gets drunk and comes home. When his girlfriend sees the state he's in, she leaves him. The next morning he can't even remember yesterday's drinking companion.

Things continue to go downhill for Afanasy. When student interns from the vocational school are allocated to the plumbers, ZhEK master Vostryakova (Valentina Talyzina) doesn't allocate any to him, fearing that he will not teach them well. Afanasy begs for trainees and gets two. Having worked with him for one day and having seen his attitude and working methods, the trainees refuse to work with him anymore. When Afanasy returns home, Kolya arrives to live at his place for a while, having been thrown out of his house by his wife.

At a dance Afanasy meets young nurse Katya Snegireva (Yevgeniya Simonova), who knows about him through her brother, who used to play in Afanasy's volleyball team. Afanasy doesn't pay her much attention, because he's more interested in older women and already has his eye on one at the dance. However, a romantic walk with the older woman after the dance is over before it begins – Afanasy is challenged to a fight by a hooligan, who he'd quarreled with at the dance. The hooligan's friends join in, and finish the unequal fight. Katya worries for Afanasy's safety, and calls the police- which will only bring Afanasy to the committee's attention again.

At a regular work call Borshchov meets Helen (Nina Maslova) and falls in love at first sight. He starts finding any excuse to work in her flat - even fooling a tenant, astronomer (Gotlib Roninson), by swapping his new Finnish sink for an old one, so he can install the Finnish sink in Helen's home as a gift. In his dreams Afanasy sees a family idyll with his wife Helen and their perfect children.

Katya Snegireva, head over heels for Afanasy, keeps engineering new meetings with him, and stops at nothing to attract his attention: "Afanasy! someone called, I thought it was you...". Afonya is completely oblivious to her feelings.

Meanwhile Afanasy’s run in with the police catches up with him and, for persistent drunkenness, truancy and fighting Afanasy is threatened with being sacked at a meeting of the local committee. In addition, if he doesn't restore the Finnish sink he's definitely going to be fired. Afanasy takes a porcelain sink with flowers to Helen to swap with the Finnish sink, but meets Helen coming home with company. She makes her feelings quite clear: she has her own life among fashionable and wealthy men, and Afanasy is just a plumber.

Afanasy, depressed, goes to a restaurant with Fedulov and tries to escape into drunkenness, but it doesn't help. In his drunken state he goes to Katya Snegireva's home and proposes marriage, and wakes up next to her in the morning. Katya tells him she's due to move to Africa with work and wonders if she should cancel for Afanasy.

Afanasy then decides to go back to his village, to his aunt Frosya (Raisa Kurkina), a simple and modest woman who had brought him up. In the village, he meets his childhood friend Fidget (Savely Kramarov) and, in a joyous moment sends the city a telegram resigning from his job and giving up his apartment. Only then does he learn that Aunt Frosya died two years ago. The village people had sent him a telegram, which he hadn't received because he had moved house and didn't tell them his new address. From his neighbor, Uncle Yegor (Nikolai Grinko) Afanasy learns that Frosya deeply missed him and even wrote letters to herself from his name, posting them in a nearby village, then receiving them and reading them to neighbors, who understood that she really wrote the letters herself, but didn't betray it so as not to hurt Frosya's feelings. Frosya had died sitting in front of the window, waiting for Afanasy.

Afanasy’s depression deepens – he has lost everything and has nowhere to go. He goes to the post office and tries to call Katya Snegireva on her memorable phone number 50-50-2, or as he says himself, "rug-rug or two." The answer comes back - Katya has left. Finally frustrated, he goes to the airport. He does not care where he's going or what will happen to him. Things have gotten so bad that a local policeman has to be convinced Afanasy is the man in his passport photograph, so grim has he gotten since it was taken. Finally, just when Afanasy is heading to the AN-2 aircraft, a familiar girlish voice calls out. It's Katya, suitcase in hand: "Afanasy!, someone called, I thought it was you... "

Series 1 and 2 are fairly straightforward sitcom fare, with very little in the way of story arcs or connecting episodes. Much of the comedic content is concentrated on Donald and Patsy continuing to learn about one another despite several years together. In the first episode, Donald discovers his wife has not told him the whole truth concerning her life before they married - specifically, how many previous sexual partners she has had. The last episode of the second series reveals that, despite appearances from their photograph album, Donald and Patsy are not actually married.

The third series focuses on an affair between Donald and his client Laurel (Liza Goddard), which unfortunately kicks off just after Patsy and Donald finally tie the knot, leading to their visiting a marriage guidance counsellor in the first episode of the fourth and final series. The counsellor, Tristan Beasley (Tony Slattery) falls in love with Patsy, and they embark on an affair, but Patsy, realising she won't feel the same way about Tristan, ends the relationship. In the final moment of the series, Patsy runs to Donald's arms, apologising to him for what she has done - it is left up to the viewer to decide whether the couple's marriage is doomed or they may be able to rescue their relationship.

Despite the disapproval of his radio manager, a disc jockey chooses to play the blues instead of their regular country music. While he is doing so, different listeners tune in. Each of them have various personal problems. Unbeknownst to them all, each will be crossing the path of a serial killer as they near the town of Ozona.

High school student Dan Bartlett (John Cusack) misses the plane he was supposed to be on with his rich girlfriend and her family on the way to a Caribbean vacation during a school break. He flies there alone, and runs into a series of characters and misadventures as he tries to catch up. Ganja-smoking island natives give him a lift in their vehicle, but they don't quite make it as the family takes off on a chartered yacht. A crusty old sailor (Robert Loggia) with his own reasons takes up the chase with Bartlett on a decrepit sailboat. Bartlett then runs into corrupt cops and winds up in jail. Finally, he catches up to the yacht, only to find that the family has been taken hostage by pirates. He comes to the rescue.

The young idealist Dmitry Andreich Olenin leaves Moscow, hoping to start a new life in the Caucasus. In the stanitsa, he slowly becomes enamored of the surroundings and despises his previous existence. He befriends the old Cossack Eroshka, who goes hunting with him and finds him a good fellow because of his propensity to drinking. During this time, young Cossack Luka kills a Chechen who is trying to come across the river towards the village to scout the Cossacks and in this way gains much respect. Olenin falls in love with the maid Maryanka, who is to be wed to Luka later in the story. He tries to stop this emotion and eventually convinces himself that he loves both Luka and Maryanka for their simplicity and decides that happiness can only come to a man who constantly gives to others with no thought of self-gratification.

He first gives an extra horse to Luka, who accepts the present yet doesn't trust Olenin on his motives. As time goes on, however, though he gains the respect of the local villagers, another Russian named Beletsky, who is still attached to the ways of Moscow, comes and partially corrupts Olenin's ideals and convinces him through his actions to attempt to win Maryanka's love. Olenin approaches her several times and Luka hears about this from a Cossack, and thus does not invite Olenin to the betrothal party. Olenin spends the night with Eroshka but soon decides that he will not give up on the girl and attempts to win her heart again. He eventually, in a moment of passion, asks her to marry him, which she says she will answer soon.

Luka, however, is severely wounded when he and a group of Cossacks go to confront a group of Chechens who are trying to attack the village, including the brother of the man he killed earlier. Though the Chechens lose after the Cossacks take a cart to block their bullets, the brother of the slain Chechen manages to shoot Luka in the belly when he is close by. As Luka seems to be dying and is being cared for by village people, Olenin approaches Maryanka to ask her to marry him; she angrily refuses. He realizes that "his first impression of this woman's inaccessibility had been perfectly correct." He asks his company commander to leave and join the staff. He says goodbye to Eroshka, who is the only villager who sees him off. Eroshka is emotional towards Olenin but after Olenin takes off and looks back, he sees that Eroshka has apparently already forgotten about him and has gotten back to normal life.

The film takes place in Neu Posen, German East Africa sometime before the First World War. ''"Mamba"'' is the name given to a South African snake. The reptile of this adventure is Auguste Bolte (played by Jean Hersholt), who is constantly reminding those with whom he has a chance to converse that he can buy anything. He neglects his appearance and does not even bother to shave or brush his hair. The German officers hold themselves aloof from him and the only individual he has an opportunity to talk to at length is his valet-secretary, a Cockney, who feeds his master with flattery. One afternoon Bolte recalls that he has received a letter asking for 200,000 marks from Count von Linden. The Count is in Germany and in a footnote it is written that Bolte might marry von Linden's daughter, Helen. The white people of the post have as little to do with Bolte as possible and the British officers across the frontier also spurn him. It occurs to Bolte that a beautiful wife would perhaps help to make life more agreeable for him. He thinks also that the officers would then overlook some of his failings and be quite impressed. He therefore allies himself to Germany.

Helen (played by Eleanor Boardman), like most daughters who marry wealthy villains in melodramas, does so to save her father from ruin. There is a flash of the wedding and soon Helen and her ignoble husband are seen aboard the steamship bound for East Africa. On the same vessel is Karl von Reiden, the officer who is to take charge of the Neu Posen post. He is not averse to a little flirtation with a beautiful woman and therefore when Helen goes out on deck to avoid Bolte, Karl succeeds in meeting her. These scenes are fairly well filmed and the color effects are capital. Karl, played by Ralph Forbes, is a handsome fellow. So soon as he knows that Bolte is Helen's husband he realizes that the marriage is not to her liking. Later these passengers are on the river boat, and when that craft reaches Neu Posen. Bolte stands on the aft deck hoping to make all the German officers envious of his attractive bride. He later gives a feast and takes good care to make a show of his wealth, even to having a procession of natives carrying the viands.

A visit from a native woman interrupts the proceedings, and in a subsequent passage Bolte, enraged with his wife, is about to flog her with a whip when Karl comes to the rescue. All this happens just prior to the World War, and in the closing chapters word is received by both the Germans and the British that hostilities have been declared. Bolte, the snake, believes that money can buy his freedom from military service, but soon he learns otherwise. He is compelled to don a uniform and then decides to run away. His end is sudden, for he fires at one group of natives without knowing that others are behind him. They know something about Bolte and his pleas for his life fall on deaf ears. There follow episodes in which Karl goes to the rescue of Helen and others, who are in danger of an attack by the natives. These are pictured with due attention for red blood on the hero's shirt. It seems that the Britishers might have been more solicitous about Karl's wounds, but all the British commandant says when he comes up to Karl is to ask him whether he will have another Piccadilly cigarette.

Bullet Points opens with the creation of the Super Soldier Serum for Captain America. In the comics, Steve Rogers was injected with this serum, the scientist then subsequently killed, taking the knowledge of the serum with him, leaving Steve as Captain America. However, in the Bullet Points universe, the scientist is shot 24 hours earlier, along with a young MP, Ben Harper a.k.a. Uncle Ben of Spider-Man fame. Because of this crime, Steve Rogers is no longer Captain America, and by happenstance, he is the Iron-Man. By Uncle Ben not being around to raise Peter Parker, Pete is left with a far different child hood, winding up absorbing gamma rays to become the Incredible Hulk, leaving the world without a Spider-Man. In a butterfly effect, Reed Richards a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four, is never destined to go to space for that fateful trip in becoming the leader of the Fantastic Four. Instead, he is deemed as the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. These are three known stories, with 2-3 more supposedly being written.

The narrator prefaces the story with his comments on a crushed, but still living thistle he finds in a field (a symbol for the main character), after which he begins to tell the story of Hadji Murat, a successful and famed separatist guerrilla who falls out with his own commander and eventually sides with the Russians in hope of saving his family. Hadji Murat’s family is being contained and controlled by Imam Shamil the Avar leader who abducted his mother, two wives, and five children. Aside from the fact that Murat wants to save his family, he additionally wants to avenge the deaths of other family members. The story opens with Murat and two of his followers fleeing from Shamil, the commander of the Caucasian separatists, who is at war with the Russians. They find refuge at the house of Sado, a loyal supporter of Murat. The local people learn of his presence and chase him out of the village.

His lieutenant succeeds in making contact with the Russians, who promise to meet Murat. He eventually arrives at the fortress of Vozdvizhenskaya to join the Russian forces, in hopes of drawing their support in order to overthrow Shamil and save his family. Before his arrival, a small skirmish occurs with some Chechen and Dagestani mountaineers outside the fortress, and Petrukha Avdeyev, a young Russian soldier, dies in a local military hospital after being shot. Tolstoy makes a chapter-length aside about Petrukha: childless, he volunteered as a conscript in place of his brother who had a family of his own. Petrukha's father regrets this because he was a dutiful worker compared to his complacent brother.

While at Vozdvizhenskaya, Murat befriends Prince Semyon Vorontsov, the Viceroy's son, his wife Maria and his son, and wins over the good will of the soldiers stationed there. They are at once in awe of his physique and reputation, and enjoy his company and find him honest and upright. The Vorontsovs give him a present of a watch which fascinates him. On the fifth day of Murat's stay, the governor-general's adjutant, Mikhail Loris-Melikov arrives with orders to write down Murat's story, and the reader learns some of his history: he was born in the village of Tselmes and early on became close to the local Khans due to his mother being the royal family's wetnurse. When he was fifteen some followers of Muridism came into his village calling for a holy war (ghazavat) against Russia. Murat declines at first but after a learned man is sent to explain how it will be run, he tentatively agrees. However, in their first confrontation, Shamil—then a lieutenant for the Muslims hostile to the Russians—embarrasses Murat when he goes to speak with the leader Gamzat. Gamzat eventually launches an attack on the capital of Khunzakh and kills the pro-Russian khans, taking control of this part of Dagestan. The slaughter of the khans throws Hadji and his brother against Gamzat, and they eventually succeed in tricking and killing him, causing his followers to flee. Unfortunately, Murat's brother is killed in the attempt and Shamil replaces Gamzat as leader. He calls on Murat to join his struggle, but Murat refuses because the blood of his brother and the khans are on Shamil.

Once Murat has joined the Russians, who are aware of his position and bargaining ability, they find him the perfect tool for getting to Shamil. However, Vorontsov's plans are ruined by the War Minister, Chernyshov, a rival prince who is jealous of him, and Murat has to remain in the fortress because the Tsar is told he is possibly a spy. The story digresses into a depiction of the Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, which reveals his lethargic and bitter nature and his egotistical complacency, as well as his contempt towards women, his brother-in-law Frederick William IV of Prussia, and Russian students.

The Tsar orders an attack on the mountaineers and Murat remains in the fortress. Meanwhile, Murat's mother, wife and eldest son Yusuf, whom Shamil hold captive, are moved to a more defensible location. Realizing his position (neither trusted by the Russians to lead an army against Shamil, nor able to return to Shamil because he will be killed), Hadji Murat decides to flee the fortress to gather men to save his family.

At this point the narrative jumps forward in time, to the arrival of a group of soldiers at the fortress bearing Murat's severed head. Maria Dimitriyevna—the companion of one of the officers and a friend of Murat—comments on the cruelty of men during times of war, calling them 'butchers'. The soldiers then tell the story of Murat's death. He had escaped the fortress and shook off his usual Russian escort with the help of his five lieutenants. After they escape they come upon a marsh that they are unable to cross, and hide amongst some bushes until the morning. An old man gives away their position and Karganov, the commander of the fortress, the soldiers, and some Cossacks surround the area. Hadji Murat and his men fortify themselves and begin to fire upon the troops, dying valiantly. Hadji himself runs into fire after his men are killed, despite being wounded and plugging up his fatal wounds in his body with cloth. As he fires his last bullet his life flashes before him and the soldiers think he’s dead; he gets up for one final struggle and falls to his death. Victorious, the Russian soldiers fall upon and decapitate him. The nightingales, which stopped singing during the battle, begin again and the narrator ends by recalling the thistle once more.

''The Amazing Mrs Pritchard'' revolves around supermarket manager Ros Pritchard, who, angry with the state of British politics, stands for election as an independent candidate in her home town of Eatanswill, Yorkshire. She soon gains national attention and wins the general election, becoming Prime Minister. Over successive episodes, Ros's spontaneous approach to decision making and her promise never to deceive the electorate come under increasing pressure from the demands of government, media scrutiny, and partisan political struggles.

In 1905, in Ireland, two carnies, Angus Shaw and his infertile wife Lily, encounter a Mr. Woolrich during one of their shows. Having heard that a mermaid will be on show, he is relieved to find that it is just Lily impersonating one. They offer him a ride home, where he shows them documented sightings of merpeople, explains that they can take human form during the full moon, and reveals to them an actual mermaid, who he captured back in his admiral days and who killed his wife. Woolrich warns Angus against using her as a freak show attraction.

Angus and his colleagues Bailey and Gifford break into Woolrich's home during the night but are caught. During the scuffle, Woolrich dies of a heart attack, allowing Angus and the crew to abduct the mermaid and smuggle her aboard their ship. Lily objects to this idea. During the voyage to America, the mermaid seems to take a liking to her.

During the crew's one evening at sea, Lily is bothered by a drunken sailor, Miles. Miles was a former client of Lily's during her time as Mary Ann, a prostitute. At night, she experiences prophetic nightmares. The mermaid is found tangled in the ship's nets after she attempts to escape. As she is returned to her tank, she spits out Miles' ring, prompting Lily to realize that she devoured him as a favor to her. She attempts to explain this to Angus, but he dismisses it. He admits that they abducted the mermaid rather than bought her and that they didn't mean to kill Woolrich.

The mermaid possesses Lily while she and Angus are making love, and Lily tries to kill him. Lily comes to her senses. Worried that the mermaid will do further harm, Lily attempts to free her, but is caught by Bailey, who then is devoured by the mermaid. Concerned for his wife's sanity, Angus locks her up in her room. Lily realizes she is pregnant, despite her infertility. She reads the late Mrs. Teresa Woolrich's diary, which confirms her worry that the mermaid grants fertility by possessing women during sexual intercourse. She escapes and encounters the terrified mermaid, now in human form due to the full moon. Lily comforts her, but they are caught by the crew just as she passes out. When she comes to, she explains to Angus that she is pregnant, but he dismisses this as a symptom of her sickness.

The crew angrily harass the mermaid before Angus intervenes. He and Gifford discuss the situation with the Captain Dunn, who confesses that the mermaid made him do things against his will before committing suicide. A storm closes in on them and they approach the mermaid's home, The Forbidden Islands. The crew realise that their captive took control of the ship and led them off course. The mermaid reveals her true monstrous form as the Queen of the Lair and her intention to feed the crew to her people. The crew fight her but are killed, save for Lily, who is spared.

Two weeks later, Lily is rescued by the crew of a passing ship. Out of respect for the mermaid, she refuses to answer their questions. Lily lives peacefully with her daughter, whose eyes resemble those of the mermaid.

The film presents a snapshot of '60s San Francisco before shifting its focus to strippers. The strippers' lives are earnestly portrayed as they reveal the day-to-day realities of sex work, talk bra sizes, relate their preferences in men, all voiced over while dancing topless to a '60s instrumental rock soundtrack. Throughout a large portion of the film, the narrator talks about the women as if they are a subgenre of the counter culture movement, somewhat similar to the beatnik or hippie movements that were highly prevalent during the same era. The "Topless" movement as it is called by the narrator could also be perceived as an allegorical subset of the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s.

Jean Hansen, a Juilliard graduate, joins the staff of the Crawthorne State Mental Hospital and immediately clashes with the director, Dr. Matthew Clark, about his strict training methods. She becomes emotionally involved with 12-year-old Reuben Widdicombe, and is certain his attitude will improve if he is reunited with the divorced parents who abandoned him. She sends for Mrs. Widdicombe, who agrees with the doctor's opinion that it would be best if Reuben doesn't see her, but as she leaves the grounds, her son sees her and chases her car. Distraught, he runs away from the school.

Dr. Clark finds him and brings him back the following morning, and Jean offers to resign. Clark asks her to stay and continue her rehearsals for the Thanksgiving pageant. On the day of the show, Reuben's father Ted arrives, having decided to enroll him in a private school. When he hears Reuben recite a poem and positively react to the audience's applause, he decides to leave him in the care of Jean, who is asked to welcome a new boy to the institution by Dr. Clark.

Two human explorers become trapped on Giri. They struggle to find help from various powerful Azhiri factions. Each of these wish to exploit the relatively advanced technology the humans brought with them.

The humans also face the problem of getting to a place from which they can leave the planet. When the Azhiri teleport, they keep the same absolute motion they had at the point of departure. Since the planet is rotating, this is considerable and can be lethal for long distances.

Imprisoned for involuntary manslaughter during a carjacking, Travis Clyde Tuckton is released from prison in 2003, and shacks up with his disabled grandfather, Jake Martin, in the old shoemaker's secluded West Virginia home. Jake elects to teach Travis everything he knows, starting with the family tradition of "headers"; the act of having sex with a hole drilled into a person's skull. Travis picks up a hitchhiker, and as Jake supervises, loses his "head humping" virginity to her. After killing a relative of a neighbor who had gotten into an argument with Jake, Travis vows to take revenge on all those who have wronged his family, declaring "An eye for an eye, and a head for a head!"

A parallel story concerns ATF agent Stewart Cummings, who has resorted to trafficking drugs in order pay for his girlfriend Kathy's medicine. The plotlines intersect when Stewart investigates the mounting pile of header victims, with the evidence eventually pointing to Travis. After killing and robbing the two dealers he was carrying drugs for, Stewart picks up a hitchhiker, and asks her about Travis. The hitchhiker tells Stewart that Travis may be living with his grandfather, and gives him directions to Jake's cottage.

At the cottage, Travis kills Thibald Caudill, a man Jake claimed stole valuable land out from under their family, and killed Jake's parents (making it look like a car accident). Stewart walks in on Travis giving Thibald a header, and shoots both Travis and Jake. Stewart rushes back to his office, where he is told he is being arrested for murdering the drug dealers, one of whom was an undercover officer. A struggle ensues, and ends with Stewart shooting his superior and the arresting officer.

Stewart returns home, and discovers Kathy doing cocaine and having sex with her doctor, having been faking her illness to get drug money this entire time. Stewart snaps, kills the doctor, shoots Kathy in the knees, and gets a drill in preparation of giving her a header.

A young woman stands on top of a building in Shinjuku as she receives a call from her handler. The handler, who calls her "Glass Heart", congratulates her with a job well done regarding her latest kill, which he refers to as her 50th. Glass Heart recounts the day's events. She had just killed a man sitting on a park bench with a silenced gun. As she was leaving the park, a small girl runs in with some ice cream and Glass Heart realizes that she has just killed the father of a little girl. With that she jumps off the building, impaling her chest on the iron spiked fence below.

At the same time, Kaori Makimura is running late for an appointment to take wedding photos with her husband, the "City Hunter" Ryo Saeba. When she sees a girl about to be run over by a truck, she jumps and pushes the girl out of the way before the truck hits her. A short while later, she is declared brain dead and her heart is harvested for organ donation, as she had a donor card on her when she died. However, the Organization, needing a heart for their assassin, steals Kaori's heart while it is in transit and implants it into Glass Heart's body.

Glass Heart is transported to Taiwan, where she remains in a coma for a year. During that time, she is haunted by the images of the people she has killed, along with the images of the donor Kaori as well as Ryo Saeba of whom she does not know. She wakes up after one year to find out who these people are. She travels back to Shinjuku, and after several close events, manages to track down the "City Hunter". He has retired from his role since his wife's death. Upon finding that Glass Heart is the recipient of Kaori's heart, Ryo decides to adopt her as his daughter, and is also given a name provided by her real father: Xiang Ying. The former mercenary now tries to help the former assassin move on with a normal life in the outside world.

Blackadder is attempting to teach Baldrick the basic concepts of addition when he is summoned to court, and is informed that the Lord High Executioner has died, having signed his name on the wrong dotted line and so accidentally ordered his own execution. With the Queen's ongoing persecution against the Catholics, a new Lord High Executioner must be appointed and Melchett has assembled a list of suitable candidates for the job, with only one name on it: Lord Blackadder.

Saddled with a position he sardonically describes as "Minister in charge of Religious Genocide", Blackadder sets about organising the various executions to be carried out, and meets up with his staff: The Jailor Mr. Ploppy, the prison cook Mrs. Ploppy (no relation) and the executioner, revealed to be Baldrick. To give himself the middle of the week off, he makes a simple change by moving up the date of execution for Lord Farrow from Wednesday to Monday, quipping that Farrow got time off for good behaviour.

However, this simple change goes completely awry when the Queen allows Farrow's wife to visit her husband in prison on Tuesday, the day before his originally scheduled execution, not aware that he has already been executed. As he is already too late, Blackadder pretends to be Farrow, disguising himself with a bag over his head, as the Queen had given Lady Farrow a death warrant to give to Edmund should he refuse her. He is nearly thwarted, first when he discovers that Farrow had many individual traits, such as a deep voice, being much taller than him, and missing half an arm, and then when Lady Farrow attempts to take the bag off his head. Nevertheless, he manages to go undetected.

Afterward, the Queen decides to pardon Farrow, saying 'He probably is innocent anyway', and everything looks bleak for Blackadder. Deciding that the only way to get around this problem is to pretend that they had been taking Farrow to see the Queen, when he said something traitorous in the hallway, and he and Percy had cut his head off there. Upon searching for the head in Traitor's Cloister, they realise the plan will not work, as the head already looks decomposed. However, Lord Percy notices that the head that Blackadder found on Farrow's spike is not actually Lord Farrow's, but rather that of Lord Ponsonby, another death row inmate whose execution was scheduled for Friday, meaning that Baldrick had killed the wrong man.

Blackadder is relieved, until he remembers that the Queen is on her way to the prison at that very moment to visit Lord Ponsonby, and he hurries there just in time to pretend to be Ponsonby for the Queen, just as he had done with Farrow, despite Ponsonby only having one leg and a speech impediment.

The episode opens with Melchett informing Queenie that his former tutor's son has been kidnapped and begs for her to pay the hefty ransom. Queenie consults the Lord Blackadder on the matter – he tells her to tell Melchett's tutor's son to get stuffed, stating that only an idiot would be so foolish as to be kidnapped. However, literally seconds later, Blackadder is kidnapped by two Spaniards and held for ransom, followed by Melchett a moment later. They awaken in a damp cell accompanied by a deranged Spanish torturer. Blackadder does not speak Spanish, so he and the torturer engage in a lengthy game of charades to determine the exact insults, threats, and mode of torture (for instance, the Spanish torturer is forced to go through several roles in order to call Blackadder a "bastard son of a bitch", and Blackadder is unable to explain via body language the meaning of "fornicating baboon" due to being locked up in a box covered in spikes). Prince Ludwig the Indestructible, a German pretender to the throne who mispronounces English words, interrupts just as the torturer is about to get started on Edmund; when Edmund does not recognise him, Ludwig reveals that he was once disguised as Big Sally, a waitress at ''The Old Pizzle'' in Dover. Edmund is horrified: he had an affair with Big Sally, unaware that it was Ludwig.

At Ludwig's request, Lord Melchett is dragged in screaming. Melchett does not recognise Ludwig, until Ludwig tells him that he once impersonated Flossie, a sheep at a monastery in Cornwall. Melchett is also aghast, having unknowingly had a sexual encounter with the madman.

Queenie replies that she has decided to spend the requested ransom money on "a big party". Ludwig agrees to imprison them for life instead of killing them in exchange for information on how to get into the palace during the costume party. When he leaves, Blackadder and Melchett escape and make their way back to England, arriving just in time for the party. Queenie is dressed as her father Henry VIII, while Baldrick is a pencil case. Edmund promptly stabs "Nursie", who is revealed to be Prince Ludwig masquerading as Nursie dressed as a cow. Ludwig, however, is still alive and flees, swearing revenge. Blackadder throws a dagger at him stating "you will die and be buried". Everyone asks how Blackadder knew the cow was Ludwig. Blackadder explains that Ludwig was a master of disguise so his costume would always look highly impressive while Nursie – a "sad, insane old woman with an udder fixation" – would be wearing a more ridiculous looking costume filled with udders. Everyone then asks if Blackadder missed them. He tells Percy he wished it was him who was being tortured instead. To Baldrick he says he was not missed at all, and as for the Queen, he states that life without her is like "a broken pencil"; she asks him to explain, and he replies "pointless".

But after the credits, it is shown that Blackadder has been murdered by a surprise attack, along with Baldrick, Percy, Queenie, Melchett and Nursie. Ludwig stands over the corpses disguised as Queenie and holding a blood-soaked dagger. He claims that impersonating Queenie is a role he will enjoy – if he can "just get the voice right."

Blackadder is having breakfast with Lord Percy when he receives a letter informing him that his fanatically Puritan but extremely wealthy aunt and uncle, Lord and Lady Whiteadder, will be visiting him to discuss the terms of his inheritance over dinner that evening. Before Edmund can revel in his fortune, a messenger arrives and informs him that Queen Elizabeth demands his presence at court.

Blackadder rushes to Richmond Palace to discover the Queen and Nursie tending to an ailing Lord Melchett, whom the Queen believes to be dying. However, it is quickly revealed that Melchett is simply suffering from a dire hangover. Blackadder mocks Melchett for his lack of alcoholic tolerance, while Melchett reminds Edmund of his own drunkenness during the visit of the King of Austria, during which Blackadder wandered naked around the grounds of Hampton Court singing "I'm Merlin, The Happy Pig". Blackadder challenges his rival to a drinking bout, with 10,000 florins at stake. After Blackadder leaves, Queenie conspires to somehow gain entry to the party.

Upon arriving back home, Blackadder begins to draft a guest list for the drinking party, with Percy's assistance. The guests include Simon Partridge, a perpetually drunken aristocrat nicknamed "Mr. Ostrich" who according to Percy, is a fearful oik, Sir Geoffrey Piddle, a deranged civil servant, and Freddie Frobisher, "the flatulent friar of Lindisfarne." Baldrick, fully aware that his master does not have ten thousand florins to gamble with, questions the wisdom of his master holding a drinking contest; according to the dogsbody, everyone knows once Blackadder has one drop of the ale, he falls flat on his face and starts singing "that song about the goblin". Things are further complicated when Percy reminds him that the puritan Whiteadders will also be coming around that evening. Blackadder hastily returns to the Queen and asks that the contest be moved to another night; however, she senses that he is trying to cop out of his promise (since she also knows about his tendency to sing about the goblin when drunk) and refuses to postpone the contest.

Back at his house, Blackadder decides to hold both events on the same evening but in different rooms. The drinking party is to be held in Baldrick's bedroom, while the Whiteadders are to dine with Percy in Blackadder's dining room. Blackadder is further annoyed when he's informed by Percy and Baldrick that while rooting through the vegetable patch for suitable food, they came across "a turnip shaped exactly like a ''thingie''". To outlast Melchett at the drinking contest while simultaneously not making a fool out of himself in front of his aunt and uncle, Blackadder conjures up a plan to avoid alcohol without the other drinkers noticing, telling Baldrick to hand him water when he asks for his "incredibly strong ale" at the party.

The evening begins with the arrival of the Whiteadders, who, particularly Lady Whiteadder, are comically revealed to be maniacally devout and denounce most everyday comforts as the work of Satan, including chairs (for being comfortable; at home, Lord Whiteadder sits on a spike, with his wife sitting on him- "Two spikes would be extravagant"), mashed foodstuffs, (believing that mashing is not what God intended and was designed to destroy the "sacred shape" of vegetables), the concept of family (due to the requirement of sex) and warmth (since "cold is God's way of telling us to burn more Catholics").

To make matters worse, Lord Nathanial Whiteadder has taken a "vow of silence", leaving Edmund's abusive and volatile aunt to hold the conversation. Whenever Blackadder casually mentions a subject she disapproves of, Lady Whiteadder comically slaps him across the face twice and calls him "''Wicked child!''"

The drinking guests arrive, wearing fake comedy breasts and rubber noses on their foreheads. Melchett arrives shortly after, sporting a larger, golden pair of breasts. The intoxicated guests make Blackadder's situation even more difficult by being very rowdy, annoying and destructive, causing him to concoct increasingly ridiculous stories and lies to conceal what is going on from his aunt and uncle. Percy's imbecilic behaviour also greatly irritates Lady Whiteadder although she is pleasantly surprised by the "thingie-shaped" turnip. The Queen arrives at the party, disguised as Percy's girlfriend Gwendolyn, and Blackadder makes the mistake of locking her in the closet.

In the other room, Melchett calls Blackadder out on his efforts to participate in the drinking game. Blackadder then calls for his strong ale but Baldrick quickly exposes the supposed ale as being water much to the outrage of Melchett and the other competitors. In revenge, Melchett, Partridge and the other competitors force Blackadder to drink a very strong ale.

Forty-two seconds later, Blackadder re-enters the dining room blind drunk, bearing an ostrich feather up his bottom and wearing a Cardinal's hat. His aunt recognises that he has been both drinking and gambling, and the Whiteadders make to leave. Blackadder realises he has not only lost the 10,000 florin bet with Melchett, but also the chance of (as he puts it) "a whopping-great inheritance".

However, things become rather confused when both parties accidentally meet in the hallway. Melchett's drinking crew assume the Whiteadders to be strippers, and release the Queen from the cupboard. With everyone silenced and kneeling after discovering who she really is, she announces she is going to first "have a little drinkie", and then execute everyone.

By dawn the following morning, everyone is drunk or rather hungover and sitting in Blackadder's dining room, singing along to his rendition of the goblin song. The guests are all confused as to what has happened: Melchett has forgotten about the drinking bet, Queenie has forgotten her threats of execution and Lord Whiteadder seems willing to discuss the inheritance, while Lady Whiteadder emerges from beneath Queenie's frock, and upon hearing Blackadder mention the word "luck", proclaims that it sounds rude, due to its sounding "almost exactly like 'fu–..' ". The credits roll before she finishes.

Blackadder is visited by the baby-eating Bishop of Bath and Wells, who reminds him that he owes £1,000 to the Bank of the Black Monks. The Bishop threatens to sodomise Blackadder with a hot poker if he does not repay the money.

Lord Percy offers his savings to Blackadder, but Blackadder has already long since found Percy's hiding place and spent his money. Blackadder has only £85 to his name, which he loses to the Queen following a bet she had about him with Melchett.

Blackadder tries selling Baldrick into prostitution, but makes only a sixpence from a sailor named Arthur, which the Queen also takes. Percy then tries to produce gold using alchemy, but only manages to produce a mysterious green substance.

Deciding to sell his house, Blackadder bullies a couple into paying him £1,100, but is again tricked out of this by the Queen.

Blackadder is then visited again by the Bishop, who prepares to carry out his threat for Blackadder not paying his debts. Before he does so, the Bishop drinks some wine offered to him by Baldrick, which Blackadder has drugged, and falls unconscious.

The Bishop is later woken up by Blackadder, who reveals a painting made of the Bishop in a highly-compromising position with another figure. He uses this to successfully blackmail the Bishop into writing off the debt and giving Blackadder enough money to buy back his house. The Bishop is impressed by the treachery and asks Blackadder who the other figure is, at which point Blackadder reveals Lord Percy.

The episode opens with Blackadder at home, while the rest of London is celebrating the return of Sir Walter "Oooh what a big ship I've got" Raleigh. Blackadder is typically sarcastic and unimpressed, refusing a ridiculously dressed Percy's repeated invitations to join in the festivities, eventually throwing him out, and likewise refusing to let Baldrick have the day off to celebrate.

The reason for Blackadder's bitterness is his envy of Sir Walter and explorers in general who "ponce off to Mumbo-Jumbo Land, come home with a tropical disease, a sun tan and a bag of brown lumpy things" and return to be showered with fame and adoration. He is equally annoyed with Sir Walter apparently making a fortune from potatoes, with people smoking them or building houses of them, scoffing that "they'll be eating them next". In addition, he has to endure taunting from children outside his house, to which he retaliates by shooting one with an arrow.

Melchett arrives, also dressed in a ridiculous fashion and asks if Blackadder will join him at the royal palace to welcome Sir Walter, which Blackadder initially declines, though he eventually relents.

At court, Sir Walter greatly impresses the Queen with his tales of daring exploration and discovery, and the court join to mock Blackadder for lacking the bravery of an explorer. During his boasting, Sir Walter reveals that sailors do not count the sea around the Cape of Good Hope as part of the "Seven Seas", being known instead as "the sea of certain death" owing to its dangerous nature. Blackadder, in an attempt to upstage the explorer, suddenly announces his imminent plans to make that very journey, to the delight and admiration of the royal court, with the Queen even suggesting she will marry Blackadder when he returns. Sir Walter is disbelieving, stating that only one sailor would be "mad enough" to attempt the journey: Captain Redbeard Rum.

Blackadder seeks out Rum who, despite being both legless and ramblingly insane, he employs as captain for the voyage, bringing Baldrick and Percy along as well. On the evening before setting off, Blackadder visits the court once again, along with Rum and Baldrick, and Nursie, is quite taken with the captain, agreeing to marry him once he returns. Once their journey starts, Blackadder reveals his real plan: sailing to France for a few months, then go back home and falsely claim to have sailed to the Cape of Good Hope. Rum then admits that the plan is very fortunate, as he does not know the way to the Cape of Good Hope, and intended to resort to his usual trick of "circling the Isle of Wight until everybody gets dizzy". Unfortunately, after sailing for three days, they run into a serious problem; Rum does not know how to get to France either, and in fact does not know how to navigate at all.

Blackadder suggests a member of the crew will know how to navigate, but Rum reveals that with the exception of Blackadder, Percy and Baldrick, there is no crew on the ship, stating opinion is divided on having a crew being standard maritime practise. Specifically, "all other captains say it is", and Rum says it is not.

Utterly lost, they sail for six months, having run out of food and water and reduced to drinking their own urine (joining Rum, who has been "swigging his with abandon" even ''before'' the water ran out) when their ship finally runs aground. Unfortunately, rather than returning to England, they have arrived on a tropical island with lava streams, mangroves and cannibalistic natives.

Two years later, they somehow land back in Britain, and return to meet the Queen, though they reveal to Nursie that her beloved Captain Rum was eaten by natives, and she is given his beard as a memento. When Blackadder then brings up the subject of marrying the Queen, he finds that in their absence, she has become completely fed up of explorers, having spared Raleigh execution only because he "blubbed on his way to the block", and has had him reduced to serving as the stick in a game of ring toss. When she demands a souvenir from his travels, Blackadder offers Queenie a stick that, when thrown away, comes back. She is displeased until she witnesses an offhanded throw of the boomerang return and strike Percy in the back of the head. Having been commanded to also present Melchett and Raleigh with a gift, Blackadder offers a bottle of "fine wine" (which is actually Baldrick's urine), which Blackadder states is in "inexhaustible supply".

On the eve of his bachelor party, Jeremy (Jeremy Sisto) learns that his fiancée, Kerri (Rashida Jones), wants to call off their wedding without providing a reason. He tries to determine what caused this sudden decision. The unmarried couple return to New Jersey to sort out their relationship. When Jeremy gets home, he hangs out with Gil and Biscuit, his old friends, who have made a hobby out of breaking into other people's homes and rearranging the objects to freak out the homeowners. Their activities have begun to unnerve one unfortunate homeowner in particular, Mr. Victim (Stuart Pankin). Jeremy, Gil and Biscuit go to their local bar for a few drinks and talk about women and Jeremy's aborted wedding. Meanwhile, Kerri and her best friend Marty go to a lesbian bar, when Marty tells her she is pregnant. The next morning Jeremy's friend from Vegas, Shane, comes to visit as Biscuit and Gil throw him another bachelor party. The bachelor party goes awry when the stripper Biscuit hired arrives, and is revealed to be a transvestite, who tells Jeremy that she saw Kerri at the lesbian bar the night before, and everyone thinks she is in a lesbian relationship with Marty. Gil and Biscuit take Jeremy and Shane to go mess with the house again, but Mr. Victim has become paranoid and shoots wildly at them, grazing Jeremy's ear. Faced with his own mortality, Jeremy, and the others drive to Kerri's so he can talk to her. She tells him that he took her for granted. Jeremy tells her that he would do anything to have her back, just as Gil walks in, telling them that Marty is beating up Biscuit on the front lawn. Biscuit, thinking Marty and Kerri were gay, asked Marty if he could be their manager. During the fight, the men learn that Marty is pregnant, and that Gil is the father. Kerri and Jeremy give Gil and Marty their plane tickets that were for their honeymoon in Florida so the new couple can have some alone time, while Kerri and Jeremy hold hands, hinting toward a possible reconciliation.

In the West Coast of England in 1765, a young boy called Jim Hawkins lives with his mother in a tiny country inn which they run. Captain William Bones, a sickly lodger, gives Jim a treasure map after being visited by two pirates, the second of whom gives the captain a note marked with the black spot, and sends him for help with a mysterious promise to share. Jim returns with Squire Trelawney and Dr. Livesey, only to find Bones dead at the inn, and Jim shows Trelawney the map. Trelawney recognizes the map as belonging to the buccaneer Captain Flint and bankrolls a voyage to discover the pirate's lost treasure. Trelawney hires Captain Smollett and his ship, the ''Hispaniola'', bringing along Dr Livesey as the ship's doctor and Jim as the cabin boy.

Before departure, Trelawney is taken in by Long John Silver, a one-legged innkeeper, who agrees to gather a crew. Silver strikes up a friendship with Jim and joins the expedition as the ship's cook. Smollett is concerned about the crew, especially when he reveals to Trelawney that the nature of their journey is common knowledge.

At sea, Silver convinces Jim to acquire some rum, which he uses to get the first mate, Mr Arrow, drunk so that he is washed overboard in a storm.

Jim overhears Silver and the crew's plan to mutiny, discovering that the seamen hired by Silver are Captain Flint's old crew. Jim reveals the treachery to Smollett, who asks Jim to stay friends with Silver to learn more. Upon reaching Treasure Island, Silver offers to tow the ship to a safer anchorage, using two of the ship's rowboats. While the ship is being towed, one of Silver's men, Merry, leads a mutiny on the ship. Smollett, having been warned of the plot by Jim, can hold them off with the few men loyal to him and imprisons the mutineers below decks. Silver cuts the rowboats from the ''Hispaniola'' and heads for shore with the rest of his men, taking Jim as a hostage. Smollett, Trelawney, and Livesey go ashore after them, leaving two guards on the ship.

On the island, Jim escapes and meets Ben Gunn, marooned by Flint five years ago. Gunn shows Jim the boat he's built, then leads him to Flint's stockade, where he meets up with Smollett and the others. Meanwhile, Merry escapes, takes the ship and raises the Jolly Roger. Silver returns to the ''Hispaniola'', arms his men with muskets and makes plans to take the stockade. Short of men, Silver attempts to parlay with Smollett, but when he is rebuffed, Silver calls his men to attack. The assault on the stockade fails, but Silver wounds Smollett. Although seemingly protected by the stockade, Smollett surmises that, with the morning tide, Silver could move the ''Hispaniola'' into cannon range and level the fort.

Jim takes Gunn's boat and cuts the ''Hispaniola'''s anchor rope. The pirate Israel Hands discovers Jim and chases him up into the ship's rigging. Hands injures Jim's arm with a throwing knife but is killed by the boy's pistol. The ''Hispaniola'' runs aground, Jim strikes the Jolly Roger and hoists the Union Jack. Slowed by his wound, which becomes badly infected by swamp water, it takes him all night to get back to the stockade, which is unguarded. Inside, Jim searches for the doctor to tend his wound, but the man asleep under Livesey's coat is Long John Silver. Jim faints on the spot. Silver finds the map on him as his men wake up. Merry wants Jim dead, but Silver states he wants to trade him for the map, which his men believe is with Smollett. The men go outside to vote, pirate-style. From the stockade's lookout, while calling for Livesey, Silver sees that the ship's aground, flying the Union Jack, and believes that Smollett's party has recaptured the ship. The other pirates give Silver the black spot, but he refuses to acknowledge it. Rattled, they let him bargain with Livesey, who has come to treat Jim's infected wound, for the map.

Silver secretly barters with Livesey for leniency in court, inadvertently revealing to him that the ship is no longer under his control. Livesey agrees only when Jim refuses to try and escape with him since Silver saved his life by calling for Livesey. Livesey leaves, and Silver returns with Jim, flaunting the map to convince his men that his bargain was successful. The pirates are overjoyed and take back the black spot, then proceed on a gruelling treasure hunt. When they finally reach the spot where the treasure — supposed to be 700,000 pounds — is supposed to be buried, they discover instead an empty pit, save for one guinea. The pirates turn on Silver, who manages to kill three of them before Smollett's men appear to defeat the rest. Greeting Silver, Gunn reveals that he dug up Flint's treasure and has stashed it in a cave.

Despite keeping his end of the bargain, Captain Smollett still wants Silver taken back for trial in England for his mutiny. Hawkins, Trelawney and two others take Silver to the ''Hispaniola'' aboard a rowboat loaded with a few chests of treasure. Silver snatches Jim's pistol and forces Trelawney and the others out of the boat but makes Jim stay to steer him out of the cove. Jim instead beaches him on a sandbar, and Silver orders him to push him off at pistol point, though Jim bravely refuses. Silver is unable to carry out his threat to shoot and drops the pistol in the water, attempting to push the boat off on his own. Seeing Silver struggle, Jim helps him, waving a hesitant farewell as Silver rows away with the treasure and bids him farewell in return.

A group of marines fitted with advanced futuristic suits of armor protect Earth from an invasion of extraterrestrial, spider-like beings. The marines protect the Earth by killing the spiders with their weapons. The game features 2 protagonists and playable characters, Tony Lewis and Myra Lane. Each character has a different load-out equipped with their Armorine suit. They are Armorines, a highly advanced, highly classified virtually indestructible fighting force equipped to survive the terrifying might of a nuclear conflict.

In 1699, pirate William Kidd loots and destroys the English galleon ''The Twelve Apostles'' near Madagascar. He and three confederates bury the stolen treasure on a remote island.

He returns to London and hires a gentleman's gentleman. Kidd then presents himself at the court of William III of England as an honest shipmaster seeking a royal commission as a privateer after striking his colours to a pirate. The king is persuaded by Kidd that the captain of ''The Twelve Apostles'' was that pirate, who has disappeared with its treasure. The King grants the commission.

Kidd recruits a crew from condemned pirates in Newgate and Marshalsea prisons, promising them a royal pardon at the end of their voyage. Among them is the quarrelsome though cultured Adam Mercy. Kidd makes him the new master gunner because of his claimed prior service with pirate Captain Avery.

The King sends Kidd and his ship the ''Adventure Galley'' to the waters near Madagascar to rendezvous with the ship ''Quedagh Merchant'' and provide an escort back to England. The ''Quedagh Merchant'' carries Lord Fallsworth, the King's ambassador to the Grand Mughal, his daughter Lady Anne Dunstan, and a chest of treasure from the Indian potentate to King William.

Kidd's story about a pirate he fought nearby persuades Lord Fallsworth to switch ships with his daughter and the precious cargo. Kidd's navigator Jose Lorenzo lights a candle in the ship's magazine. Just as the transfer takes place, the ''Quedagh Merchant'' blows up. Kidd also arranges a fatal "accident" for Lord Fallsworth, leaving only a frightened Lady Anne. She turns to the only man she thinks she can trust, Shadwell, Kidd's servant. When she mentions the recent battle with pirates, Shadwell tells her it never happened. He advises her to put her faith in Adam Mercy.

On the voyage home, Kidd schemes to rid himself of his three close associates (to avoid sharing the booty) and Mercy (whom he suspects of being a spy). Mercy is really the vengeance-seeking son of Admiral Lord Blayne, the slandered captain of ''The Twelve Apostles''. When a smitten Lorenzo tries to force himself on Lady Anne, Kidd is delighted when Mercy engages him in a sword fight. Lorenzo is driven overboard to drown. During the fight, Mercy's medallion is torn from his neck. Kidd finds it and recognizes the Blayne family crest so he strongly suspects Mercy is really a relative of the murdered Captain Blayne.

Kidd drops anchor at a lagoon. Kidd, Orange Povey (his only surviving confederate, protected by an incriminating letter that will be sent to the crown authorities if he should die), and Mercy go ashore and dig up the loot from ''The Twelve Apostles''. When Mercy sees the Blayne crest he feigns indifference, but Kidd goads him by insulting his dead father's honor. Mercy is enraged and attacks Kidd, fighting him and Povey. Outnumbered, Mercy is knocked unconscious, falls into the water, and does not resurface. While the others believe him dead, he swims secretly back to the ship. Mercy and a loyal crewman row Lady Anne away in the ship's jolly boat, but are spotted. Shadwell sacrifices himself needlessly to cover their escape and Kidd blows up the jolly boat.

Believing himself safe, Kidd appears before King William with the Mughal's treasure to claim his reward (Lord Blayne's aristocratic title and estate). He learns that Mercy and Lady Anne have survived and preceded him to court. The King's men found the loot from ''The Twelve Apostles'' after searching Kidd's cabin. Kidd is tried, condemned and hanged.

Set in a village in the 1890s, the film centres on Cordélia Viau (Louise Portal), a woman who invites men into her home while her husband is away. This action offends the conservative villagers. One of the men who was invited in is found dead and the woman is suspected and judged for her immoral act rather than the crime of murder she may have committed.

In this adaptation of Oscar Wilde's play about fake identities, two gentlemen in 1890s London use the same pseudonym, Ernest, for their secret courtship activities. Chaos ensues when both men find themselves face-to-face and have to explain who they really are.

Jim Gordon leads the Flying Tigers, a squadron of volunteer American pilots who fly Curtiss P-40C fighters against Japanese aircraft in the skies over China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The pilots are a mixed bunch, motivated by money they receive a bounty for each aircraft shot down (or just the thrill of aerial combat.)

One day, old friend and former airline pilot Woody Jason signs up under Jim's command. An arrogant, hot-shot aviator, he starts causing trouble immediately. When the Japanese raid the Flying Tigers' airbase, the enthusiastic new arrival goes after them, taking up a P-40 fighter without permission, not realizing until too late that it has no ammunition. As a result, Woody is shot down. He is unharmed after his fighter crash lands, but the precious P-40 fighter is a total wreck. As time goes on, Woody shows that he has little use for teamwork, alienating and endangering the other pilots. He abandons his wingman, Blackie Bales, in order to shoot down a Japanese aircraft. As a result, Blackie comes under fire from another and must bail out of his burning P-40. While hanging suspended in his parachute, he is strafed and killed by the Japanese pilot.

Woody starts romancing nurse Brooke Elliott, who is considered by all the Tiger pilots to be Jim's girlfriend. One night, they go on a date. When he is late getting back for a night patrol, Jim's right-hand man, "Hap" Davis, secretly takes his place, despite having just been grounded by Jim because his vision had deteriorated, notably at night. In the resulting dogfight Hap is unable to judge distances accurately and winds up dying in a collision with a Japanese aircraft he is pursuing. This proves to be the final straw; Jim fires Woody. The date is Sunday, December 7, 1941, the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, bringing America into World War II.

A day later, Jim receives notice that a vital bridge must be destroyed. The target is so heavily defended, however, that the only way there might be a chance of succeeding is to fly in very low with a single unescorted bomber; the mission appears likely to be a one-way suicide mission. Jim volunteers to fly the bomber, but Woody invites himself along at the last second, much to Jim's irritation. They proceed to attack the bridge too late to keep a crucial enemy supply train from crossing. Their aircraft is hit by flak and catches fire. Jim bails out with an unexpected push from Woody, expecting Woody to follow. Woody, however, has concealed the fact that he is bleeding, having been hit by shrapnel from a flak burst. He then takes the bomber's controls and crashes into the train, destroying it at the cost of his own life.

Merton is an aspiring movie actor. He is a terrible actor but when the movie executives see how funny his overacting is, they cast him in a comedy, but tell him that he's acting in a drama.

Melvin Junko has been transformed into the superhero known as the Toxic Avenger. He has made Tromaville a safe place again. His blind girlfriend Claire gets him a job at the Tromaville Center for the Blind.

Apocalypse Inc., a New York-based chemical company, finds Tromaville to be the perfect home for its new takeover site, and has an employee disguised as a PUS deliveryman deliver a bomb into the center. Claire escapes upon learning of the bomb, but everyone else is killed. When the deliveryman and an Apocalypse construction worker arrive to begin their takeover, the Toxic Avenger emerges from the rubble and kills them. This leads to an all-out assault by members of Apocalypse Inc. Toxie defeats the thugs. Displeased, the Chairman orders his number one Mona Malfaire to call a meeting with the board of directors and fire the entire personnel department.

Apocalypse Inc. discover Toxie's father had left him and his mother when he was a baby. Using one of their "bad girls" as Toxie's psychologist, they convince Toxie to go to Japan to look for his father even though he has reservations about leaving Claire. Claire tells Toxie to go find his father. Toxie heads to Japan using a windsurfboard and a paper, asking for his father from the worker at a local Japanese restaurant. However, forgetting his passport, he enters Tokyo Godzilla-style, shocking a group of beachgoers. He runs into Masami, who is at first shocked, but befriends him after he saves her from some thugs. She offers to help him find his father.

Apocalypse Inc. takes advantage of Toxie's absence and begins a hostile takeover of Tromaville. People who stand up against them are beaten or killed.

Masami and Toxie find Big Mac Junko, a Japanese man. Toxie is elated until Masami sees a shipment of fish dropped on the floor and discovers cocaine in the fish. Big Mac is a Yakuza leader who delves in drug dealing. Toxie goes through a series of battles against Yakuza enforcers and Kabuki warriors. Using the environment to his advantage, Toxie defeats the entire gang, only leaving him and his father. Big Mac reveals to Toxie a bottle of "anti-Tromatons", which can kill Toxie. Toxie kicks the bottle out of his father's hand and pushes him to a fish butcher, who, excited by the action, kills Toxie's dad by chopping him up. The bottle breaks and Toxie begins to weaken. Masami takes Toxie to a sumo gym, where he is healed and begins training in the art of sumo before saying goodbye to Masami and heading back to Tromaville.

He learns that Malfaire and the "bad girls" are assaulting Claire. He takes on the bad girls while Claire gets the upper hand on Malfaire, incapacitating her. The Chairman hires a motorcycle rider named Dark Rider to destroy Tromaville. With nitroglycerin strapped to Dark Rider's back, the plan is for the Dark Rider to burst into City Hall. Toxie hijacks a taxi and after a series of turns and misses, ends up crashing. Toxie hijacks a hovercraft and drives it after the Dark Rider, forcing him to bust into a home, causing the Dark Rider's demise.

The people of Tromaville are elated. A man arrives in Tromaville and is revealed to be Melvin's real father. The Yakuza leader he defeated in Japan was "Bic Mac Bunko", who is glad to be reunited with both Melvin and his mom and is happy that Bunko, who had used identity theft against him, is no more. The Chairman and Malfaire unsuccessfully attempt to hitch a ride back to New York.

Stringer collects the pagers belonging to D'Angelo's crew and tells them that all business talk will be conducted face to face. Stringer and Avon meet with Levy, who tells them that they need to walk away from Orlando's club, as well as clean up any other 'loose ends' that might be sources of information for the police. Levy also suggests that Nakeesha Lyles, a female security guard who had planned to testify against D'Angelo, may be a problem. After Levy departs, Stringer convinces Avon to insulate himself from their crew by passing all communication through him. D'Angelo tells Stringer that Wallace has left "the game" and appeals to Avon to leave him alone. Back at the pit, Wallace returns and asks for his old position back. Bodie tells Wallace that he would have to accept a demotion, but D'Angelo overrules him. D'Angelo's mother Brianna arrives with a lunch for him.

Daniels visits Greggs and bumps into a drunken McNulty outside of her room. He tells McNulty to either see Greggs or go back to work. McNulty confesses that he is wracked with guilt over his role in starting the detail, saying that the case does not mean anything. Daniels tells him that the case meant something to Greggs and that they must continue their work and find her shooters. McNulty returns to the detail office as Freamon fits Shardene with contact lenses. Freamon tells McNulty that their surveillance is faltering because the Barksdale Organization is changing its operating procedure. He has sent Prez to Annapolis to chase the paper trail in campaign contributions. Freamon suggests that they have Shardene wear a wire in Avon's club.

Daniels meets with Burrell and Reed to discuss his investigation. Burrell feels that the case is over now that the wiretaps have gone dead. Daniels argues that they should keep up the surveillance as they still have time remaining on the court order. Burrell orders Daniels to return Santangelo and Sydnor to Homicide, but allows him to keep Freamon and Prez. Burrell still assumes Freamon and Prez are the most useless detectives on his detail, unaware that they have revealed themselves to Daniels as valuable investigators. Pearlman meets with the State's Attorney, who is worried about the political angle in the Barksdale investigation. He gives Pearlman evidence of returned contributions from unknown sources from his own offices to hand over to the detail. Pearlman is distressed that the investigation is worrying her superiors, as this reflects poorly on her, and she denies any knowledge of the detail's actions.

Shardene attempts to infiltrate the office at Orlando's while wearing a wire but has little success in obtaining pertinent information. Later that night, beat officers find Nakeesha's body. Bunk reports the murder to Barksdale, and they realize that Wallace may be in danger. Daniels scrambles to organize his men to locate him while Freamon offers to let Shardene stay at his apartment. Daniels is called into a meeting with Burrell and Senator Davis, who is concerned about the detail looking into his campaign finances and his driver. Daniels refuses to apologize for the driver's arrest and tells Davis that if he is clean, he has nothing to worry about. After Daniels leaves the meeting, Davis insists that Burrell needs to control him. Daniels returns to the office and learns that Wallace has left his grandmother's house. Freamon trains Shardene in measuring her steps to map the inside of the club. Using Prez's math skills, the detail installs a camera in Avon's office from an adjacent building.

Stringer orders Bodie to kill Wallace, and Poot unsuccessfully tries to dissuade him from doing so. McNulty and Daniels visit Wallace's old squat but find it abandoned. McNulty finds an address for Wallace's mother, Darcia, and he takes Daniels there to see if she knows his whereabouts. She is little help and is more concerned about her next drink than her son being in danger. After bringing Chinese takeout to the young children whom he looks after, Wallace goes out for a meal with Bodie and Poot. When they return home, the children have all left. Bodie and Poot corner Wallace in his bedroom and Bodie draws his weapon. He steels himself to shoot Wallace as he pleads for his life but is unable to do so until prompted by Poot. After the first shot, Poot takes the weapon and finishes the task. Bunk investigates Wallace's murder the next day while Avon clears his office at Orlando's, frustrating the detail.

Avon asks D'Angelo to drive to New York to receive their next package. With this information, Daniels and McNulty borrow a tracking device from the FBI and install it on D'Angelo's car. D'Angelo is stopped by the New Jersey State Police and brought in by the detail, after which McNulty and Daniels interrogate him without a lawyer. D'Angelo refuses to believe McNulty when he says that Wallace is dead. However, he is enraged when Stringer doesn't answer his questions about Wallace, accepting McNulty's story and refusing to let Levy represent him. Meanwhile, Burrell pressures Daniels to close the case and ignore the political leads, threatening to release the FBI's report on his excess capital. Daniels counters by stating that he is willing to go down for the sake of the Barksdale case, noting that the bad publicity is what Burrell is most afraid of.

McNulty and Daniels watch a SWAT team prepare to arrest Avon. McNulty tells Daniels that they should make the arrest themselves, and they go in together. Daniels cuffs Avon but McNulty lets Stringer go, telling him that they will catch him later. At the office, Freamon, Prez, and Sydnor review the board. Freamon adds a newspaper article about a downtown business revitalization project being built in an area where the Barksdales have been amassing property. Sydnor tells them that the case is the best work that he has ever done, but he still feels that it is not finished. At the pit, the dealers' orange sofa stands unused.

Humans and robots coexist in the multi-layered city of Metropolis, although robots are discriminated against and segregated to the lowest levels of the city. Most humans in Metropolis are unemployed and impoverished, with many blaming robots for taking their jobs.

Duke Red, Metropolis’s unofficial ruler and wealthiest citizen, has recently completed construction of The Ziggurat, a massive skyscraper which he claims will allow mankind to extend its power across the planet. A wayward robot disrupts the Ziggurat's opening ceremony, prompting Duke Red's adopted son Rock, the leader of an anti-robot paramilitary organization known as the Marduks, to shoot it down. Meanwhile, private detective Shunsaku Ban and his young nephew/assistant Kenichi Shikishima have traveled from Japan to Metropolis to apprehend rogue scientist Dr. Laughton, wanted for organ trafficking and human rights violations. Unbeknownst to Shunsaku, Duke Red has hired Dr. Laughton to secretly build a highly advanced android, modeled and named after his deceased daughter Tima, with the intention of using her as the central control unit for a powerful superweapon hidden at the top of the Ziggurat. Duke Red's plans are disrupted however when Rock learns of Tima's existence, and fearing for his father's safety, shoots Laughton and sets his laboratory ablaze.

Discovering the burning laboratory, Shunsaku locates the dying Laughton, who directs Shunsaku to a notebook containing his research. Meanwhile, Kenichi stumbles upon the newly activated Tima. The two fall into the sewers and are separated from Shunsaku. While Shunsaku searches for his nephew, Kenichi and Tima search for a way back up to the street level. They grow close as Kenichi teaches Tima how to speak, both unaware that she is a robot. Learning that Tima survived the lab's destruction, Rock and his subordinates hunt them relentlessly. The pair encounter a group of unemployed human laborers who stage an armed revolution against Metropolis's leaders and robot workers.

Unhappy with the Duke's popularity and influence, the president and the mayor of Metropolis try to use the revolution to overthrow Red and regain control of Metropolis. However, the president's top military commander, General Kusai Skunk is revealed to be one of Red's subordinates and assassinates them both. Red then imposes martial law and violently suppresses the revolution. In the aftermath, Kenichi reunites with Shunsaku, but Rock, who exposes Tima as a robot, wounds him. Red disowns Rock and removes him from command of the Marduks for attempting to kill Tima before taking her and Kenichi away to the Ziggurat.

Still determined to eliminate her and regain his father's affection, Rock kidnaps and deactivates Tima, who is now confused about her identity. Having tracked Rock, Shunsaku recovers Tima, and following instructions from Laughton's notebook, reactivates her. The two discover Kenichi is being held in the Ziggurat, but Duke Red and the Marduks capture them while the pair are en route. They are brought to the top of the Ziggurat, where Tima confronts Duke Red about whether she is a human or a robot. Duke Red tells her she is "superhuman" and destined to rule the world from her 'throne', the control system for the Ziggurat's superweapon. Disguised as one of the Ziggurat's maids, Rock shoots Tima in the shoulder, exposing her internal circuitry.

Horrified by her true identity, Tima goes insane, causing her implanted military protocols to take control. She proceeds to physically integrate with the throne and orders a biological and nuclear attack on humanity as punishment for abusing and discriminating against robots. While the others flee, Kenichi tries to reason with Tima. Robots all across Metropolis, drawn by Tima's command, assault the Ziggurat and attack Duke Red and his forces. Not wanting "filthy robots" to kill his father, Rock triggers an overload in the superweapon, killing himself and Red in a massive explosion. As the Ziggurat starts to collapse around them, Kenichi finally reaches Tima and separates her from the throne. Still in a confused state, Tima tries to kill Kenichi, but falls off the tower in the struggle. Out of love for her, Kenichi tries to save Tima and pull her up using one of the cables still grafted to her arm. As the cable begins to fray, Tima remembers the time Kenichi taught her language and asks Kenichi, "Who am I?", before the cable snaps and she falls to her presumed death. The Ziggurat collapses, destroying a large part of Metropolis.

Afterwards, Kenichi searches the ruins and discovers a group of robots have salvaged some of Tima's parts in an effort to rebuild her. While Shunsaku and many other human survivors are evacuated, Kenichi chooses to remain behind to help the survivors rebuild. A photograph shown during the end credits reveals Kenichi opened a robot workshop, named after him and Tima.

Divergence between manga and anime

Tezuka's original manga centers around the artificial humanoid Mitchi, who is able to fly and change sex and who is pursued by Duke Red and his Red Party who intend to use Mitchi for destructive purposes. Shunsaku Ban and his nephew Kenichi find Mitchi after her creator, Dr. Charles Laughton, is killed and they protect her as they search for her parents. Unlike Tima's desire to be human, the cause for Mitchi's destructive rampage in the manga's climax is the revelation that, as a robot, she has no parents.

The 2001 film incorporates more elements from the Fritz Lang film ''Metropolis''. When making the original ''Metropolis'' manga, Tezuka said that the only inspiration he got from Fritz Lang's ''Metropolis'' was a still image from the film where a female robot was being born. In addition to adopting set designs of the original film, the 2001 film has more emphasis on a strong and pervasive theme of class struggle in a dystopian, plutocratic society and expands it to examine the relationship of robots with their human masters. (This relationship was explored by Tezuka in great detail with his popular series ''Astro Boy''.) The anime adaptation also removes many of the more fanciful elements out of Tezuka's manga, such as a flying, gender swapping humanoid. Here, Mitchi is replaced by "Tima", who is permanently female and cannot fly. In this version, Kenichi is an assistant to his uncle and forms a very strong friendship with Tima even though neither know she's a robot. Tima and Kenichi seem to care for each other deeply, as seen when Tima is worried about Kenichi when he's unconscious. Kenichi even goes so far as to remove Tima from the throne in an effort to save her and not allow her to become a weapon of evil. Tima was taught language by Kenichi and that she was someone unique. She also considered him her only family because he was kind to her and protected her; it seems that she loved Kenichi very much. It can be assumed that Kenichi fell in love with Tima, shown in many scenes when he blushes when he sees her writing his name so she wouldn't forget him. Kenichi didn't seem to care if Tima was robot or not, showing that he was willing to rescue her because of how much he cared for her. Tima only remembered Kenichi when he tried to save her because of everything he taught her. Tima's relationship with Kenichi ends, however, when Tima accepts her identity as a robot over that of a female human, triggering a robot revolution.

Duke Red is shown to be both a cruel and evil leader and father; it is repeatedly shown that he does not care about Rock or even consider Rock his son despite adopting him; the character Rock also deviates from the manga. He only sees Tima as a weapon to destroy humanity and even considers Tima and Rock inferior to him and anyone who is loyal to him. While his real daughter (also named Tima) died, he only rebuilt her humanoid self just to use her and has no regard or affection for what she needs. He also ignores Tima’s questions about her being human or not, showing that he does not care if Tima feels emotions or not.

Rock wasn't in the original manga, and according to the writer of the film, he was added to pay homage to Tezuka's science fiction adventure style of storytelling, while also adding depth to the story’s background and the world around it. Rock is meant to represent humanity’s dark side, and the negative emotions associated with those aspects. He also echoes Tima's story and can be considered another side of it, as they are both neglected children engineered by their father to be tools of war. In Rock's case however, he was cast aside and unwanted by Duke Red. Their stories ultimately converge, coming full circle when they both lead to their father’s downfall, with his legacy quite literally collapsing to the ground.

The film's Ziggurat combines the New Tower of Babel from Lang's original film and the manga’s Cathedral.

The Pink Panther is sent by Inspector Clouseau, his employer in this game, to Camp ChillyWawa, a summer camp for gifted children, to protect the camp from a mysterious threat. Once there, he meets a group of multiethnic youths as well as the Little Man stock character from Pink's animated shorts in the role of a camp counselor. He also reconnects with an old friend of his, Von Schmarty, a scientist and caricature of Albert Einstein who shows him his numerous inventions.

Soon after Pink arrives, the children start acting strangely and contradictory to their nature, hating their camping experience despite Pink's every effort to appease them. Pink finds himself traveling around the world, followed by three dogs who claim to represent the "Better Camping Bureau", to solve the mystery and restore order to the camp.

Armed with a PDA (which stands for "Pink Digital Assistant") that contains information on the indigenous people, languages, clothing, entertainment, art, history, nature, and foods of each pertinent country in the game, Pink travels the globe fulfilling various tasks based on the children's needs and whereabouts. He eventually gathers enough evidence to prove that the dogs' leader, the Dogfather, intends to ruin Camp ChillyWawa's reputation so it will be closed down, allowing him to open a lucrative fast food restaurant in its place. The Dogfather then reveals to Pink that he replaced the camp's children with robotic clones programmed to hate the camp unconditionally. Pink engages in a final confrontation with the Dogfather and his henchmen, Pugg and Louie, as well as a traitorous Little Man that ends with all four villains sucked into a powered suction pump and the captured children released.

Nancy Drew travels to Paris to work undercover as an assistant to Minette, an up-and-coming couture fashion designer. Minette hasn't quite been herself lately. She is never seen without wearing a mask, and she often throws temper tantrums and irrationally fires her employees. She is running dangerously behind schedule and her financial backers are concerned about her ability to complete her work. Has the stress of fame forced her behind that mask, or is there something sinister lurking in the shadows of her studio?

The Seishun Academy Middle School tennis regulars are invited on a cruise by Sakurafubuki Hikomaro to play a match with his own tennis team. Aboard the cruise ship, Ryoga Echizen introduces himself to the team as Ryoma's older brother. Ryoma reveals that Ryoga was adopted by Nanjiroh many years ago, when they lived in America, but mysteriously left home prior to Ryoma enrolling in Seigaku. That evening, after a banquet dinner, Takashi Kawamura, being a sushi chef, remarks that the food did not taste as expensive as it looked. In the bathroom, Sadaharu Inui discovers that the marble on the wall is fake when he tears off a piece of wallpaper. It becomes clear that something is not right. The next day, Sakurafubuki reveals to Tezuka and Oishi that they are actually part of an illegal gambling plot. If they purposely lose their matches the next day, Sakurafubuki will rake in a lot of money from people that have betted on Seigaku winning. But, should they choose not listen and win the matches, the team faces the grim possibility of losing their lives.

It turns out that everyone on the ship are either gamblers or Sakurafubuki's henchmen, so therefore, Seigaku can only trust themselves. The team tries to form a plan of action while playing the matches as directed, but they are ultimately held hostage by Sakurafubuki's chef when Kikumaru Eiji is caught eavesdropping. Only Tezuka, Fuji, and Echizen are allowed to leave to play their matches. Tezuka and Fuji win their matches easily. Upon seeing Ryoma's performance, Ryoga decides to betray Sakurafubuki in order to play a match against his brother to see who's the better player.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team escape from the room where the chef held them hostage (thanks to Inui's clever usage of his Juice), and then are forced to engage in a rather humorous run from the corrupt crew members. In the end, they are recaptured and bound by Sakurafubuki, who holds them at gunpoint. Ryoma realizes that his teammates' lives are going to be at risk if he continues to play against his brother.

Ryoga decides that he will not be Sakurafubuki's pawn any longer, and fires a tennis ball straight into his forehead. This allows the rest of the team to escape once again. As Ryoma and Ryoga's match continues, a terrible storm brews, forcing everyone on the ship to evacuate through the lifeboats. Seigaku keeps order throughout the panic and helps the passengers, although Momoshiro and Eiji end up falling overboard. The Echizen brothers, however, keep playing their match, even as an enormous tidal wave descends upon the cruise ship. They seem unfazed as they play their match underwater. In the end, Ryoma comes out as the victor when the ball drops onto Ryoga's side of the net, despite that the net is gone and a large light has crashed across the court. Ryoga accepts his defeat and remarks that Ryoma's tennis certainly has improved. The two escape via Ryoga's jet ski, and Ryoma is reunited with his team, who have all escaped the ship unharmed. Ryoga takes Ryoma's hat and gives him an orange and tells him to find his "Grand Dream". After that, he rides his jet ski into the sunset.

Atobe Keigo then arrives at the scene by helicopter to rescue the Seigaku regulars and witnesses Sakurafubuki being arrested. In an earlier phone conversation he had with Oshitari Yuushi, who also appeared along Gakuto Mukahi, the two conversed about how Seigaku had been invited aboard a free cruise. Atobe remarked how he knew all luxury cruise line owners, but never heard of Sakurafubuki, and thus suspected that Seigaku had been caught up in a scam.

Lulu Dark is a sixteen-year-old girl with attitude and fashion sense, and a keen eye for clues, who thinks girl detectives (such as Nancy Drew) are dumb. However, after her fake Kate Spade handbag gets stolen at a club, Lulu must become a girl-sleuth to retrieve it. But Lulu did not realize that it would get her entangled in a murder that only she believes has happened. At the end she solves more than one mystery of mistaken identities, and manages to do it in style with the help of her best friends, Daisy and Charlie.

Barty Josselin and Robert Maurice are English boys attending the Institution F. Brossard, in Paris. Barty is "a handsome, high-spirited, mischievous, and gifted fellow, thoroughly practical, yet with traits that have in them a strange idealism." After finishing school, they return to England, where Barty spends some time in the army, but resigns.

His vision fails, and he travels seeking help with it, becoming suicidal. He learns in a dream that he has a kind of guardian spirit ''Martia'', a female spirit from Mars, who communicates with him and offers him guidance. She inspires him to a successful career as an author.

Martia wishes for him to marry Julia Royce, an English woman he meets in Germany, but he follows his heart and marries Leah Gibson, a Jewish woman, with whom he is so happy that Martia acknowledges her mistake. Martia is incarnated in the form of their daughter, and when the child dies, her spirit returns to Mars, and Barty also passes away.

The protagonist, Robin of Loxley, is robbed of his castle by the Sheriff of Nottingham and has to get it back with the help of Maid Marian, Little John, Will Scarlet and Friar Tuck.

''Savage Reign'' is set in the first half of the 21st century in the fictional city of South Town (the same city used in the ''Fatal Fury'' and ''Art of Fighting'' series), which has now been upgraded and renamed as Jipang City. A mysterious legendary fighter known only as King Leo has risen up from the shadows of secrecy and issued a challenge on television for the strongest of fighters to battle against him in a fighting tournament known as the Battle of the Beast God. He promises immense wealth beyond anyone's dreams and legendary fame beyond imagination. Nine fighters have come to the tournament, each with their own sole purpose and reason for battling against King Leo .

The story begins in Mexico, where Samson is on the trail of his Soviet opposite number: Erich Stinnes, a KGB major working in East Germany whom London Central wishes to coax over to the West.

The task of laying the delicate and elaborate groundwork for Stinnes' defection propels Samson from Mexico to London, Paris, Berlin, and the East-West border. What happens along the way—a temporary abduction, an unnecessary murder, an inconvenient suicide—happens so fast that Samson hardly seems able to keep London Central informed of developments. Or is it that Samson wants to keep his colleagues in the dark? Certainly London Central's entire senior staff—from Samson's immediate supervisors, locked in their endless internecine office warfare, to the dotty Director-General himself—would have reason to suspect that Samson might be working for the other side. He was, after all, closer than any of the other to the former traitor-in-their-midst.

And Samson himself is losing control—indeed, events seem to be controlling him. As he finds himself in a series of ever more incriminating positions, as one by one the avenues of escape or vindication close before him, the novel winds back toward Mexico.. and toward the astonishing climax - at the scene of the defection Samson has so painstakingly orchestrated—in which the allegiances of all involved are finally and fatefully revealed.

Samson suspects that there is a traitor within his department of MI6, due to the appearance of a memorandum which was leaked to the KGB. It transpires that it is part of a plot conducted by his wife—now working for East German intelligence—to frame his superior, Bret Rensselaer, as a KGB agent. When Samson's old friend Werner Volkmann is arrested by the East German police Samson organizes an unauthorised exchange of defector Erich Stinnes for him, but the operation ends in a shoot-out on the Berlin S-Bahn.

The novel begins with Bernard Sampson visiting his old friend and ex-SIS colleague in Washington named Jim Prettyman as part of an investigation regarding some missing funds. Soon after, Prettyman is murdered in a mugging.

All his allies start losing interest in the investigation, and after digging deeper Bernard is sent to America once again, where it is revealed that Bret Rensselaer has not indeed died (as hinted at the end of the first trilogy, and discussed in this book) but is in fact in rehabilitation. Bernard returns to Europe, where he confronts a man called "Dodo" and is saved from an untimely death by Prettyman, who it turns out has gone under "deep-cover".

Bernard then takes his evidence to the Director General, who in a surprise turn of events orders his arrest, which thanks to some quick thinking by Werner Volkmann, Bernard evades for the while.

The novel concludes with Bernard seeking an explanation from Frank Harrington, before disappearing into the night.

Category:1988 British novels Category:Bernard Samson novels Category:Hutchinson (publisher) books

The novel starts with Bernard Samson in hiding in Berlin after the events in the first book of the series. He is soon found by the SIS and is invited by Frank Harrington to sit in on a debriefing of an undercover agent, where it is revealed that Erich Stinnes has been smuggling drugs into East Germany.

Bernard is eventually recalled to London, and sent on a mission to Vienna to pick up a package from a stamp auction. This is revealed to be a Russian passport, which he uses to meet his wife Fiona, whom it is now revealed is a double agent (It is not made clear for how long Bernard knew this).

Finally, Fiona attempts to escape from East Germany, whereupon Erich Stinnes, and Fiona's sister Tessa are both killed. Bernard and Fiona escape back to the other side of the wall and are transported to America for debriefing.

Category:1989 British novels Category:Bernard Samson novels Category:Hutchinson (publisher) books

''Spy Sinker'' starts in 1977 and ends in 1987. It tells the entire story in the previous five novels from the third person perspective (Bernard Samson's bosses, his colleagues, his girlfriend Gloria, and most of all his wife Fiona). Thus it fills in the gaps in the story, as the previous five books only reveals what Bernard can see and think he understands. It also tells the back story leading up to the story in the five novels, which has only been hinted at previously.

Category:1990 British novels Category:Bernard Samson novels Category:Hutchinson (publisher) books

Marvin the Martian has developed an ultimate weapon that will allow him to finally destroy Earth, which will ultimately allow him to take control of the universe. Upon the demonstration of the weapon, a slight snag hinders Marvin from completing his devious deed. The weapon is out of atoms, which it runs on, so he sends his minions (all of which are characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' universe) to gather atoms to fuel his weapon.

Duck Dodgers is informed by his academy of Marvin's deeds and sets out to find the one-hundred Atoms before Marvin can. This ultimately has Dodgers and his sidekick, Cadet, trekking to four different planets, including a large pirate ship, to obtain the upper-hand over Marvin.

The story follows a group of interns and nurses working at St. Albert's, the worst teaching hospital in Canada, as they try to deal with work and relationship stress.

Run by administrator Dr. Cyrill Kipp, the hospital only manages to stay open because Kipp sells the hospital's equipment on the black market.

During on-the-job training headed by Dr. Omar Olson, interns brave blood, vomit and exploding colostomy bags. The students include the clumsy Mike Bonnert, whose parents Sam and Susan are prominent physicians and forced him to study in medical school; his girlfriend Mitzi Cole, who works as a stripper to pay her way through school; Dale Dodd, who has come to the hospital to meet women and falls in love with nurse Cynthia Skyes; Marlon Thomas, who likes to play pranks with his mates; Mira Towers, who aims to be a great surgeon; and the innocent Christine Lee, a very efficient student and promising doctor who loses her inhibitions when intoxicated.

After Mike discovers that Mitzi became sexually active with Dale, he, Dale, and Marlon begin to fight in the morgue, using human organs as weapons, but are caught and expelled from St. Albert's. However, when a 76-car pile up occurs, they return to ER to help the patients. One patient, who was saved in an emergency surgery, was a billionaire, and saves the hospital from going bankrupt.

The narrative starts on the eve of the year 1900 with Harald Winter, a German businessman with two sons, Peter and Paul, two very different brothers, whose lives are inextricably linked with Germany in the years leading up to the Second World War. One a scholar and one a romantic, their lives diverge, leading one into the inner mechanisms of the Nazi Party and one into exile in America, the birthplace of their mother.

From their sheltered childhood through their violent coming of age in the Great War, from the chaos of 1920s Berlin to the spreading power of Hitler they are wrenched apart by conflicting ideals and ambitions. Their story is further complicated by their father's long standing affair with a Hungarian woman, eventually revealed to be Jewish; their love for him is overshadowed by their loathing of his behaviour.

Since the entire story unfolds as a flashback from the time of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials after the Nazis' defeat, the readers know that both would make a career as lawyers, but in widely divergent directions: one would enter the Nazi Party and think up various "legal" ways to legitimise their crimes, while the other brother would be a staunch anti-Nazi, go into exile and come back to Germany after the war as a member of the American war crimes prosecution. But the reader cannot be sure, until deep in the book's plot, which is which.

It is nearing Christmas 1911 and Arthur Winslow, a London banker, is making final preparations for a dinner to seal the engagement between his daughter Catherine, an outspoken supporter of the cause of women's suffrage, and Captain John Watherstone. The family and guests are toasting the forthcoming marriage when Arthur discovers that his youngest son Ronnie, a 13-year-old cadet at the Royal Naval College, Osborne, has returned home earlier than expected. Ronnie had been accused of the theft of a postal order. An internal enquiry, conducted without notice to his family and without benefit of representation, had found him guilty and Mr. Winslow is "requested to withdraw" his son from the college (the formula of the day for expulsion). Ronnie proclaims his innocence and his father believes him—enough so that he demands an apology from the College. When the college refuses to reinstate Ronnie, Arthur decides to take the matter to court. With the help of his daughter and Desmond Curry, a solicitor and friend of the family, Mr. Winslow decides to hire the most highly sought after barrister in England at the time, Sir Robert Morton, known also to be a shrewd opposition Member of Parliament.

The government is unwilling to allow the case to proceed. The Naval College is a representative of the Admiralty and the Crown, and as such British law presumes they are infallible and above question; their judgment can be legally questioned only with the permission of the Attorney General. However, after heated debates in the House of Commons, the government yields, and the case does come to court.

Catherine had expected Sir Robert to decline the case, or at best to treat it as a political tool; instead, he is coolly matter-of-fact about having been persuaded of Ronnie's innocence by his responses to questioning (in fact, a form of cross-examination, to see how Ronnie would hold up in court) in the presence of his family. Catherine is not enthusiastic about Morton, whom she considers cold and heartless. Catherine is also disturbed by Sir Robert's establishment views: he is a conservative opponent of women’s suffrage. "He always speaks out against what is right," she observes to her father, though she admires his legal skills. Morton, for his part, obviously is quite taken with Catherine from the moment he meets her in his offices; later, he stares at her as she arrives at the House of Commons and as she watches the proceedings from the ladies' gallery.

In the meantime, the case creates media hysteria and puts a heavy toll on the Winslow family – their funds are rapidly depleted in order to cover legal expenses. Mr. Winslow's physical health deteriorates under the strain, and the happiness of the Winslows' home is destroyed. Arthur's wife, Grace, begins to wonder if the real issue is justice or a father's stubborn and foolish pride. Forced to make economic sacrifices, Grace Winslow is unwilling to take the drastic measure of dismissing Violet, who has been the family’s maid for over twenty years. The eldest son, Dickie Winslow, has to leave Oxford University due to the lack of money, destroying his chance for a career in the Civil Service. Instead, he is compelled to find employment in his father’s bank. Catherine's marriage settlement is also gone. Her fiancé John Watherstone breaks off their engagement in the face of opposition from his father (an Army Colonel) because of the publicity surrounding the case, forcing her to consider a sincere and well-intentioned offer of marriage from Desmond, whom she does not love. Sir Robert has also declined appointment as Lord Chief Justice, rather than drop the case. The least affected is Ronnie, who has been transferred to a new school at which he is doing well.

At trial, Sir Robert, working together with Desmond Curry and his firm, is able to discredit much of the supposed evidence. The Admiralty, embarrassed and no longer confident of Ronnie's guilt, abruptly withdraws all charges against him, proclaiming the boy entirely innocent.

When their resounding victory arrives, not a single member of the Winslow family is present in court. It is Violet, the maid, who tells Mr. Winslow and Catherine what has happened. Shortly afterwards, Sir Robert appears in the Winslows’ home to explain the good news. The film ends with a suggestion that romance might yet blossom between Sir Robert and Catherine, who acknowledges that she had misjudged him all along.

Arthur Winslow goes home from his job at the bank after 46 years, retiring because of arthritis. He has a normal domestic life for a middle-class family: his eldest son is at Oxford University, his daughter is a non-militant suffragette, and his youngest son is starting as a naval cadet. The next door neighbour, John, asks for his daughter's hand in marriage.

Ronnie Winslow, a cadet at the Royal Naval College, appears unexpectedly back home, soaking wet. He has a letter for his father from the college which he is too scared to give him. He is accused of the theft of a postal order for five shillings. An internal inquiry, which grants him no chance of defence, finds him guilty and his father, Arthur Winslow, is requested to remove his son from the college. Unwilling to accept the verdict, Winslow and his daughter Catherine institute their own enquiries and engage a friend and family solicitor, Desmond Curry to assist them, including the briefing of the best barrister in England at the time, Sir Robert Morton, should the case come to court. The father takes the matter to his MP, who raises it at the House of Commons under the issue within the Magna Carta that no subject of the country may be condemned without trial.

He hires Sir Robert Morton to take the case.

When the combined lawyer's bill reaches six-hundred and thirty-four pounds, well beyond his overdraft limit, the father is advised to cut his losses and abandon the case. He tells the eldest son that he is taking him out of Oxford to cut his expenses and will find him a job at the bank instead.

After aggressively interrogating Ronnie over discrepancies in his recollection and his habit of copying his friend's signature (which purportedly could have been used to steal the postal order), Sir Robert is convinced Ronnie is innocent and agrees to take the case.

The government is unwilling to allow the case to proceed but yields after heated debates in the House of Commons, and the case does come to court. Morton is able to discredit much of the supposed evidence, and the government finally withdraws the charges against Ronnie. Although the family wins the case, each of them has lost something along the way: Dickie Winslow has been forced to leave Oxford out of lack of money, Catherine loses her marriage settlement and subsequently her fiancé, John Weatherstone, and Arthur Winslow loses his health.

At the age of 21, Roger Thursby has just completed his barrister's examinations and has been called to the bar. He commences his pupillage in the chambers of Mr Kendall Grimes, but finds he learns more from Henry, his colleague, and fellow pupils Peter and Charles, to say nothing of Alec, the chambers clerk. Although supposed to 'shadow' Grimes, he finds himself on his feet before a judge within a few days, all at sea on a knotty legal point.

Roger lives with his slightly vague widowed mother, and also balances the affections of two girlfriends, Sally and Joy. Joy obtains his first brief for him from her uncle, a solicitor; an undefended divorce case, which Roger manages to lose, to the lady's fury.

Roger slowly gains more experience and confidence. He is given a 'dock brief', a case of fraud. Despite the odd behaviour of his client, Roger gets him off.

As his period as a pupil comes to its end, Henry leaves to take a position in another set of chambers, and Roger considers joining him.

The film opens with Angela Arden kneeling in front of her twin sister Barbara's grave. Angela is a lounge singer who is attempting to resuscitate her floundering career, which became obsolete around the same time Barbara committed suicide. She's unhappily married to her film director husband Sol Sussman, with whom she has two children–Lance, who is gay and emotionally disturbed, and Edith, a "daddy's girl" who is openly contemptuous of her mother. Also living in the house is the snoopy maid Bootsie, who is infatuated with Sol. Bored and unhappy, Angela begins cheating on her husband with Tony Parker, a tennis-playing "lothario" and failed actor who is reputed to be well endowed.

Sol finds out after hiring a private detective to follow Angela around. He confronts her about it but he refuses to divorce her. Instead, he gives her "life in prison". Not only does he cancel all of Angela's credit cards, he forbids her from performing at an engagement in New York, destroying the contract before she has a chance to sign it. Feeling trapped and eager to get her hands on her husband's money, Angela poisons an ever-constipated Sol with an arsenic-laced suppository.

Despite the fact that Angela receives virtually nothing in Sol's will, her children, along with Bootsie, begin to suspect Angela's involvement. And the suspicious circumstances of Sol's death bring old questions about Angela's sister's death to light. Edith–and later Lance–hatch a plot to get her to confess. Meanwhile, Tony successfully seduces both the children, taking an unusual interest in the details surrounding Aunt Barbara's death. After Bootsie is found dead, the children eventually get Angela to confess her crimes by lacing her evening coffee with LSD.

During her bender, Angela not only reveals that she poisoned Sol, but that she is not Angela but really Barbara. In flashback, Barbara reveals how as Angela's career flourished, her own fell apart, culminating in her arrest for jewelry theft. After serving her sentence, Barbara arrived at Angela's mansion, greeted with scorn and ridicule from the immensely egotistical Angela. Watching the physical and emotional abuse Angela doled out to Sol and the children, Barbara devised a plan to poison her sister and take over her life, her family and, most importantly, her career. The children watch with confusion as Barbara announces she killed Angela.

As they turn the tape over to Tony, Edith and Lance fight over who will be the one to run away with him, while he respectfully refuses both of them. Meanwhile, a masked assailant pops up and tries to dispatch Barbara; in the scuffle, Barbara pulls off the assailant's mask, revealing Sol underneath. With all the primary players in the room, Sol reveals how he and Bootsie faked his death for him to escape outstanding mob debts he couldn't pay back and how he was forced to kill Bootsie to protect his secret. Tony then reveals he is really an FBI agent who's been heading a case investigating Angela's murder before arresting Sol. The children–finally understanding Barbara's motives and desperation–hug Barbara while Tony says he will destroy the evidence to protect her from an eventual prison stint and trip to the gas chamber. But Barbara tells them, as she walks to her waiting police escort outside, that by finally being herself, she will finally gain her freedom from living under her sister's shadow.

A stage actress, Julie wants to use her star sapphire for her upcoming play and asks for Mouri Kogoro help to protect it after showing Kogoro a letter from the Kaito Kid. On the day of the theft, Kid appears at the theatre disguised up as Shinichi Kudo but ends up fleeing in the end without the jewel. To thank them, Julie invites Kogoro and everyone to Hakodate, and they all travel on an airplane to get there. In the air, one of the show actor, Shinjo, who was supposed to be elsewhere and Ran's mother, Eri, joins them on the plane. As the plane takes off, Julie comes in physical contact with most of the individuals she invited, making them all suspects in the case of her death. The case was solved by Eri and the culprit was later found to be the makeup artist, Natsuki.

The captains were also poisoned from Julie and were not able to pilot the plane, so Shinjo agrees to take over because he supposedly "took courses", and appoints Conan to assist him. Conan figures out that Shinjo is Kaito Kid when Conan is asked to assist, as this logic would not apply in a similar situation. Kid tells Conan that he is no longer interested in the sapphire as he discovered that it was a fake. The storm and fire at the airport make it impossible to land while the plane fuel is running low. Conan picks a stable area that can support a commercial plane. Ran Mori and Sonoko Suzuki eventually take over piloting the plane while Kid escapes by jumping off the plane and Conan has to "go to the bathroom." Conan then switches over to Shinichi's voice and guides Ran for landing the plane. During the flight, Ran mentions how Shinichi is like an eclipse; one moment he's there, the other he's not. When the plane lands, Ran tells Shinichi that she loves him, but ends the moment by telling him that she suddenly sees lights at the site.

It turns out that Kid went near a police station and used police cars (because this policeman is obsessed with catching him) as guiding lights to land the plane. After the plane safely lands, the criminal is apprehended and Ran and Sonoko are treated by a medic. The medic reveals himself to be Kaito Kid, who commends Ran for landing the plane safely. He tells her they will meet again before suddenly vanishing. All went well, and the movie ends with Ran talking to Shinichi over the phone again arguing about silly things, thinking that it was Kid who guided her to land the plane, and is relieved that her secret isn't out.

Hal Weber, a handsome, downtrodden newspaperman, arrives at Copper City to take a job offered by a former lover, Rust Masson. Rust is the cunning, beautiful widow of the prominent political leader Buck Masson. She now intends to take over the political fortunes of the city for herself, with the assistance of her cold-blooded, violent henchman, Monk Shirl. Her stepdaughter, Audrey Masson, warns Hal of Rust's machinations, but Hal is smitten and easily ensnared by Rust's deceitful attractions. Meanwhile, a rival political power, Marcus Jeffers, also schemes to gain political control, but he is outwitted by Rust and violently beaten by her henchmen, with Hal forced to participate.

Plagued by self-loathing, Hal is finally convinced by Audrey's innocence and probity to stand up to Rust. He writes a lengthy expose of Rust and her activities in his newspaper, which causes the city to rise up against her. In a climactic confrontation at the nearby mining facility, Rust's efforts to quell a popular uprising turn fatal when one of her henchmen begins shooting at the miners. Rust and Monk climb into an elevated mining bucket to address the agitated crowd, with Rust proclaiming that "Power belongs to whoever has the guts to take it!". At that moment, Marcus Jeffers, recovered from his injuries, rushes to the control panel, intending to dump the mining car carrying Rust and Monk. Though he is shot to death by Monk, Jeffers is able to set the cars in motion, sending Rust and Monk toppling out of the car to their deaths in the mine pit below. Hal and Audrey, observing from the ground, are cheered by the crowd. Later that evening, Hal realizes he loves Audrey alone, and the couple embrace.

Set on the planet Ciress, in which sorcery is an apprenticed profession organized in guilds, the story centered on sisters Genevieve and Giselle. The former had devoted her life to becoming a top sorceress; the latter is a spoiled socialite who much against her wishes is granted great power and responsibility via a mysterious sigil.

The magic guilds at the start of the series are: Dark Magi Guild, Astral Guild, Shaman Guild, Enchantress Guild, Tantric Guild, Djinn Guild, and Nouveau Guild.

The first six issues of Mystic describe Giselle's gaining of the Sigil and the efforts of the guild leaders to regain her power. Giselle gains her Sigil in the first issue and without intending to, steals the spirits of the ancient (and long dead) guild leaders. She also gets a guide in the form of a talking cat-like creature with yellow eyes and a love interest named Thierry Chevailier (an artist but without any magical ability). Starting in issue #4, Giselle gains the attention of one of The First who goes by the name Darrow. At first Darrow seems to help Giselle but he is under orders from Ingra to sway Giselle to the side of House Sinister.

The efforts of the other guild leaders to strip Giselle of the spirits of the long dead guild leaders fail (issue #6) but the leaders of all but two of the magic guilds regard the situation as unacceptable. To destroy Giselle the guild leaders (with the exception of Astral and Nouveau) break the prison which confined ''Animora''. This sets in motion a conflict which lasts for the next 12 issues between Giselle (and her sister Genevieve, the leader of the Nouveau guild) against Animora and the other guild leaders. Darrow rapidly switches sides and supports Animora also. With the reluctant aid of the spirits of the former guild leaders, Giselle is able to defeat all her enemies (issue #14 and again in issue #20) but at a cost.

After her second defeat, Animora was able to establish a psychic link to Giselle and over time this turned into a form of possession. As this control was growing, Giselle alienated her good friend Thierry Chevailier and he fell in love with the older sister Genevieve (issue #24). Eventually Giselle meets Ingra and after a battle - in which Ingra easily defeats Giselle - Ingra breaks Animora's hold over Giselle and imprisons Animora (issue #23). Part of the reason why Ingra is able to defeat Giselle is that due to Giselle's recent behavior, the spirits of the guild leaders refuse to help her. Giselle, without their aid, finds that her knowledge of magic is very poor. She resolves to become a master of magic and starts with learning the magic of the Nouveau guild from her sister Genevieve, before moving on to the Shaman guild, the Djinn guild and the Astral guild (issues #25–28).

'''Note''': In ''CrossGen Chronicles'' #5 it was revealed that an eighth guild named Taroc had existed but vanished long ago. The Taroc guild leader sacrificed herself to imprison Animora, one of The First, who had been banished by Ingra, the leader of House Sinister.

It was later revealed that a secret guild exists (issue #33) called the Geometer guild; the members of which are allied with the Dark Magi guild and the Tantric guild. The Geometers believe themselves to be manipulators of all the other guilds; the guildmaster is named Archemus.

The plot of the game differs heavily from the film. Roderick, "Roddy," St. James lives in an apartment, in Kensington, with his owners, until they go away for a holiday. Gilbert and Sullivan, who were not seen in the film, all help Roddy out with his obstacle course and fencing skills. As they explore more, they hear an explosion coming from the kitchen. In the Kitchen, they find that that Sid has raided it and is planning to stay. Roddy schemes to get rid of Sid, but quickly backfires as Sid flushes him down the toilet, thinking of it as a trap. As soon as Roddy ends up in another world, Ratropolis, he bumps into Socketset, who gives him his first task: Collect a jar of flies.

Meanwhile, Rita sneaks into the Toad's lair, grabs the ruby and after escaping Spike and Whitey, escapes on her Jammy Dodger. Roddy investigates but bumps into Rita, who then decide to team up to escape Spike, Whitey and the other rats. After escaping the rats, using ammunition and speed, Rita swerves the Jammy Dodger out of control and crashes onto a platform, where Spike and Whitey capture them both and take them to the Toad. They are sent to the freezer, locked up, and be frozen for theft of the precious ruby. However, Roddy and Rita escape and the Toad orders his henchrats to chase the escapees down.

Roddy desperately tries to catch up to Rita, while avoiding either Spike, Whitey and the Toad's henchrats along the way. He makes it to the bridge, jumps off the walkway and lands onto the Jammy Dodger, spraining his back while trying to escape the henchrats. Rita allows Roddy to stay on the Jammy Dodger, as he had dropped in. He then, painfully, thanks Rita for the lift.

Later, Roddy is claimed "The Chosen One" by the prophet rat and is told to speak with Charlie Wu, who gives Roddy a rescue mission, to save the orphanage from flooding. In order to do this, he and Rita must journey, via the Jammy Dodger. They reach the clogged drain and as soon as Roddy launches the catapult, it releases the water and it starts draining too fast, giving Roddy and Rita the signal to get clear. Charlie Wu is pleased that his children are safe. Then, Socketset gives Roddy another job: Collect another jar full of flies.

Upon exploring the caves, Roddy finds a deeper cave, where he comes across an arachnid, who sees Roddy as lunch. Roddy defeats her and then retrieves a new sword, which is a reference to Disney's ''The Sword in the Stone''. After a few side missions, from Socketset and Charlie Wu, Roddy ventures through Little Soho and Chinatown, to complete his side tasks. As Roddy and Rita venture more on the Jammy Dodger, they hear a lot of cheering and shouting going on. It turns out that England has made it to the World Cup Finals and the rats go down to Little Soho to stir things up. After encountering hooligans, Roddy finds a door that is blocked by wooden and metal crates. Eventually, after the puzzle is solved and the door is unlocked, both Roddy and Rita can continue their journey. However, they find that the fans have decided to have a battle called "Castle Siege." In order for England to win, Germany's flags must be eliminated. England wins and Germany loses, so Roddy and Rita continue their journey.

Along the way, they encounter Le Frog and his henchfrogs. As soon as Rita speeds and crashes the Jammy Dodger on the dock, completely knocking Le Frog and his henchfrogs off their feet. Le Frog and his henchmen split apart, so does Roddy and Rita. Roddy faces Le Frog and then defeats him. Upon leaving, Le Frog gets up and tries to get Roddy back, but is knocked out by a falling chandelier, that had the rope cut by Roddy's sword. As Roddy and Rita leave, they are captured by Spike and Whitey and are taken to the Toad's lair.

Once they arrive at the Toad's lair, the Toad tells Roddy and Rita his greatest plan to flush all the rodents, with a giant wave, by opening the floodgate. However, Roddy and Rita soon tell the Toad that thousands of toilets, in London, are used, as many people are watching the football on TV. When it is halftime, many people will go to the toilets, dispose of their liquids and then flush it down the drain. When the toilets start flushing, it will cause a huge wave that will destroy the city the rats live. The Toad, enraged about having his plan being revealed, kicks both Roddy and Rita off, unaware that they are hanging on to each other, and then tells his henchrats to stop Roddy and Rita from escaping.

The final battle occurs when Roddy is faced with dodging the Toad's throwable objects, by hitting each console 3 times. Then, Rita is faced to fight Fat Barry, Lady Killer and Thimblenose Ted, by using, everything she can, to weaken them and make it easy for them to take a hit. She also uses some lights, blinding Thimblenose Ted and by blowing Lady Killer's wig off his head with a wind from the vent. After the henchrats are defeated, Roddy and Rita's final task is to defeat the Toad. Rita's bungee manages to weaken the supports and the Toad is left hanging, with his tongue stuck to something, as he is defeated. Afterwards, Rita is asked by Roddy if she needs a first mate, which she obliges and runs off. However, Roddy runs after her and lands perfectly on the Jammy Dodger, with Rita controlling the Jammy Dodger, allowing it to speed up, making Roddy fall over. However, Rita then tells Roddy that he can be the captain, every other day. As the screen fades out, the words 'The End' with a question mark at the end, appear on the centre of the screen, ending the game on a cliffhanger.

Fred's pen-pal, Alejo Otero, a man who lives in Veracruz, Mexico, invites Fred and the rest of the gang to visit him and his family there. Fred and the rest of the gang talk about it until they decide to go. However, after Alejo sent the invitation to Fred, a big long-haired monster started to terrorize the population of Veracruz. Alejo and his young son, Jorge, and their pet Chihuahua, Chiquita, see the monster, and the locals start calling him "El Chupacabra".

Later, when Mystery, Inc. arrives in Veracruz, they meet Alejo, who recognizes them all from Fred's letters, though is confused as to how Shaggy's description is a fair representation of his eating habits. Alejo and his family run a huge and fancy hotel, and he shows them around and where they will be staying. He then introduces to them his family, which includes his wife, Sofia, his mother, Doña Dolores, his brother Luis, and Luis's fiancée, Charlene, who is originally from the United States. Luis tells the gang he met Charlene when he visited America, at a theme park run by Mr. Smiley. The gang and the Otero family enjoy a meal, and Dolores talks about her late husband. Then, a man named Señor Fuente arrives and asks to speak with Alejo and Luis. Dolores tells the gang that Fuente has been trying to get her to sell the hotel to him ever since her husband died the previous year. Meanwhile, Alejo and Luis tell Fuente once again that they do not want to sell the hotel. Fuente leaves, and the family go inside because of a fierce storm. When inside, Alejo's forced to tell the gang about El Chupacabra. He says that he does not have many other guests besides the gang because El Chupacabra has been scaring them away. Luis and Charlene tell the gang to lock their doors when they go to sleep.

During the night, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are scared when they think they hear a noise. They then hear a loud growl and run screaming out of their cottage. After seeing footprints outside of Shaggy and Scooby's window, Fred declares that there is a mystery they have to solve. The next day, the gang and the Otero brothers set out to search for El Chupacabra. Charlene gives Luis a charm for good luck. Daphne interviews the townspeople, but none of them are able to find El Chupacabra. When they get back to the Mystery Machine, they find someone has written a threat written in Spanish on it, warning them to get out of solving the mystery. The gang realizes this is serious and decide to search at night. Fred, Velma and Daphne go one way, Alejo and Luis go another way, and Shaggy and Scooby stay at the Mystery Machine.

At night, Shaggy and Scooby sleep in the van, while someone drains their brake fluid. Fred, Velma and Daphne search the woods, and find El Curandero, a medicine man. El Curandero tells them they need to look at history and that they are in grave danger. Meanwhile, Alejo and Luis are searching when Alejo sees El Chupacabra. Alejo is chased and nearly falls off a cliff. He calls for Luis, but there is no answer. El Chupacabra disappears, and Luis shows up, saying he was knocked on the head by El Chupacabra. Luis helps his brother up from the cliff.

Shaggy and Scooby start driving, but then realize they cannot stop due to the brake fluid tank being tampered with. They meet up with Fred, Velma, Daphne, Alejo and Luis, who were being chased by El Chupacabra. Eventually, the van runs out of gas and stops right in front of a gas station. The Mystery Machine gets fixed, and Daphne gets some ice for Luis's head wound, but Luis does not have a bump on his head. The gang drives along and finds a sign to a history museum, and thinking that is what the medicine man said, go to it. When they get there, they meet a suspicious and hyper museum guide who leads them into an auditorium. There they see a performance about ancient Mexican customs. The guide then makes Daphne volunteer, and she kidnaps her. The rest of the gang find a secret passageway and follow it, until they come to Aztec pyramids. They find Daphne at the top of one and rescue her, but the tourists chase after them, after they are accused of destroying a statue. After a long chase scene and fights against giant living statues, they finally return to Veracruz.

The next day is the Day of the Dead, and all go to the cemetery, where Dolores informs them that Charlene has been captured by El Chupacabra. The family gives offerings to the grave of Señor Otero and hope Charlene can be found. Suddenly, the ghost of Señor Otero comes out of his grave and tells them to sell the hotel and the land or they will be in danger. At the same time, Fred just revealed the good luck charm Luis has is really a tracking device instead of an ancient medallion. The family cannot believe that Señor Otero would want them to sell. Scooby and Chiquita follows a beeping noise that is activated by pushing the button from the tracking device until they find a man in a skeleton suit controlling the ghost. The gang catches him, and he is revealed to be Mr. Smiley. They deduce that he started the Chupacabra scheme so he could force the locals to sell their land and allow him to build his theme park. Him kidnapping Daphne and framing the gang as vandals was his way of creating bad publicity for the pyramids, his sole competitor for the thousands of tourist dollars. As they are about to close the mystery, El Chupacabra appears and scares everyone.

After chasing the gang, El Chupacabra is caught up in some wiring. As they all gather around El Chupacabra, the culprit is revealed to be the museum guide when she climbs out of the suit. She tells them she was an actor who worked at Mr. Smiley's theme park where they met and fell in love and that they were going to get all the land. Luis asks what happened to Charlene, and the guide tells him he will never see her again and he should forget about her. Suddenly, the Oteros reveal that the offerings they left for Señor Otero have disappeared, all except for the one from Charlene. Velma then guesses something is up and realizes the guide is wearing a wig and glasses to hide their identity, and pulls it off to reveal that Charlene was the guide and El Chupacabra. Her true identity is given away by the random tossing of coffee beans, a trait Charlene adopted from working in the hotel cafe all day. Charlene revealed that she, knowing Smiley's Chupacabra scam wouldn't scare them off, intended to scam the Oteros out of their land once she married Luis. Fred realized they were behind it when he noticed that the message written on the Mystery Machine ("Sal ahora o no veras el dia de manana!" - Leave today or you won't see tomorrow!) was not written in proper Spanish (as the word "manana" should have been "mañana"), so whoever made the threat had to have been someone who could not understand the language.

Señor Fuente then comes in and says that even though he wanted to buy the Otero family's land, he eventually came to respect the fact that they did not want to sell it. Fuente explains that he learned of Mr. Smiley and Charlene's plans and wanted to warn the Oteros and Mystery Inc. of what was really going on. Luis admits that the real reason he did not come to Alejo's rescue because he was paralyzed with fear — after their father died the previous year, Luis was afraid of losing Alejo, so he lied by saying that El Chupacabra had knocked him unconscious. Alejo comforts Luis and assures him that there are worse things than being a coward, to which Shaggy adds how he has "made a career out of it." In the end, everybody enjoys the Day of the Dead festivities.

The story begins in war-wracked Somalia, where the most powerful warlord in the country, Akil Farrah, has managed to overthrow the ruling government and proclaims himself President. He establishes a dictatorship, targeting ethnic minorities. The game itself opens in a destroyed town, where Farrah's troops are shooting at fleeing civilians. Farrah arrives on top a tank to watch one of his men execute a captured man, possibly a prisoner. Unbeknownst to them, the act is videotaped by a reporter in hiding, and the tape is shown to Major O'Connell during a briefing. His superior, General Cleveland, informs him that he and the JTF First Battalion will be sent to Somalia to remove Farrah's regime, and grants him the jurisdiction to do whatever it takes to succeed. Cleveland reminds him that this is the first JTF operation, and that no mistakes are allowed. During the briefing Cleveland informs O'Connell that he is aware of 'certain missions' he had accomplished there before. Later, while O'Connell is being flown in to his first mission with the JTF, a monologue reveals that O'Connell had previously fought for Farrah as part of a black ops operation supported by the US government, aimed at reinstating the Resources For Aid program. O'Connell is remorseful of what he did there, and is determined to make up for it by removing Farrah's brutal regime.

In the first mission in the game, O'Connell successfully secures a cargo ship suspected to be used as an arms transport at Port Mogadishu. However, he discovers that whatever cargo the ship had been holding had been removed, only finding a laptop and documents. During later missions in Somalia, General Cleveland informs O'Connell that Intel was able to find little information from the laptop, save email exchange over a 'Product 7' being shipped out. Later, the JTF captures a convoy which had been transporting the materials brought in by the cargo ship during the first mission. O'Connell informs Cleveland that the convoy was carrying HXE explosives, a state of the art explosive more powerful than C4. Unfortunately, not all of the cargo was present in the convoy.

In Mogadishu itself, the JTF is able to capture Farrah's arms minister Mahmoud Abbas, who reveals the location of Farrah himself. During the same mission, one of O'Connell's troops is shot dead when attempting to evacuate a reporter who refuses to leave. Cleveland informs O'Connell that the reporter in question is Pepper Morgan, a world-renowned war-correspondent who has connections to all of the major TV Networks. The JTF is able to infiltrate Farrah's position close to the Kenyan border, but halfway through the mission Cleveland informs O'Connell that instead of capturing Farrah as originally planned, he is now ordered to kill Farrah. An upset O'Connell protests, saying that 'I joined the JTF to leave that kind of work behind', but is only ends up being rebuked by Cleveland. The mission is a success, with Farrah being killed when his tank is destroyed. Back at base, where the JTF troops are celebrating, O'Connell sits alone in a dark locker room, where he remembers having fought in a battle in Somalia in the 1990s with another man. Running low on ammo, O'Connell is ordered by the unknown man to booby-trap a prisoner with a grenade, before both of them flee.

After Somalia, the JTF is called to Bosnia after a rogue Serbian General, Arkan Dragović, launched a military offensive into Bosnia to allegedly destroy terrorist camps operated by an organization called 'The Matar' (who, as General Cleveland states, has made "Al Qaeda look like the YMCA). At some point after the first mission in Bosnia, Dragović's fighter-bombers rupture the Kraduvice Dam, flooding many villages & forests. The JTF captures Kraduvice and close the border, stopping any more hostile reinforcements entering Bosnia. During this time, he comes into contact with Captain Pickett, a tank commander whose forces are incorporated in the JTF. The JTF is free to move into Serbia to apprehend General Dragović in the town of Krasnaja in Serbia; this time, the target is caught alive, which pleases O'Connell.

A Russian arms dealer named Novikov who was involved with the Matar is captured from an oil rig that was about to be destroyed by the Matar using timed explosives. Following this, using intel from Novikov, the JTF is reassigned to Afghanistan to capture a Matar accomplice, a clan leader to be interrogated, only to find that the clan leader was killed during a prison riot at Qala-i-Jangi Prison which the JTF was supposed to contain. After the riot, O'Connell's men are told to capture the original clan leader's brother, who is later found to have died from lead poisoning. After questioning a captured Russian pilot, who said he had flown in some cargo that brought cheers from the Taliban at the airport. The JTF investigates a Taliban cave complex, which leads to an old Soviet ICBM missile silo, where the JTF finds an ex-CIA agent, named Courtland, who has a reputation for interrogating and then executing prisoners, for acting as a lone wolf, and is revealed to have been the mysterious man from O'Connell's flashback. After securing the facility, Courtland escapes with the nuke, leaving the JTF in utter confusion as to what to do next.

The game is loosely based on the events of the novel ''Neuromancer'' by William Gibson. Locations, characters, items and nuances of cyberspace from the novel appear.

Taking place in the year 2058 in Chiba, Japan, the plot centered on the protagonist attempting to discover the truth behind the mysterious disappearances of his friends as well as other, less friendly cyberspace cowboys. Unfortunately, the player's character has fallen on hard times and has had to pawn his cyberspace deck. He awakes in a plate of Ratz' famous spaghetti, and the first order of business is to find some way to retrieve his old deck from the nearby pawnshop.

After obtaining the deck and upgrading the software to enable cyberspace access, the character finds that users of the Matrix are being killed or flatlined by a group of AIs led by a renegade named Greystoke. After destroying Greystoke, the player meets Neuromancer who explains that he has manipulated the player into killing the other AIs, and traps him on a virtual island (as in the ending of the book). However, the player can use their skills to escape and destroy Neuromancer, making the Matrix safe again.

Some other aspects of the book are included in the game as red herrings. For example, the character Armitage can contact the player at one point, but if the player accepts his mission, he and Armitage are immediately arrested.

Daria applies to prestigious Bromwell University and the less famous Raft College for her second choice. Her boyfriend Tom Sloane also applies to Bromwell, where his family have legacy status. Tom's mother agrees to drive them to tour Bromwell in fictional Newtown, followed by Raft in Boston. At Bromwell, Tom charms the admission officer with stories about his family's experiences there, while a nervous Daria fumbles her interview. To Daria's dismay, they arrive at Raft after the admission office has closed. Daria is accepted by Raft, but wait listed by Bromwell. Tom gets into Bromwell and offers to have his parents write Daria a letter of recommendation, but she declines.

Jane wants to attend Boston Fine Arts College, but is overwhelmed with creating a portfolio. After being rejected by several less demanding colleges, she considers skipping college entirely. Tom's parents recommend Jane to Bromwell, but she is rejected. Daria talks her into sending a portfolio to BFAC and she is accepted.

Daria breaks up with Tom, explaining that their lives are diverging and the relationship has run its course.

Jodie, exhausted from being the model minority student at Lawndale, wants to attend historically black Turner College, while her parents expect her to attend the exclusive Crestmore University. Jodie is accepted by both, but doesn't believe she can attend Turner if her parents don't accept her decision. Mack contacts Jodie's father to explain her distress, leading to her parents changing their minds. Mack is accepted to Vance College on scholarship. While they will be geographically separated, Jodie is convinced this experience has brought them closer.

Brittney is accepted to local Prairie State University, but boyfriend Kevin will need to repeat his senior year due to abysmal grades. Embarrassed, Kevin tries to hide this from Brittney before coming clean, and asks if she'll stay with him through college. Brittney promises she will, while secretly crossing her fingers.

Daria's younger sister, Quinn, gets her first job as a restaurant hostess and befriends an older coworker named Lindy. Quinn's work causes her to miss several Fashion Club meetings, and the clique drifts apart; after club president Sandi is rude to her, Stacey secret wishes that Sandi would "just shut up" and feels guilty when Sandi suffers a vocal chord injury that causes her to lose her voice. Quinn notices Lindy has a drinking problem, which culminates with Lindy arriving at work drunk and getting fired. Quinn implores her to seek help, but Lindy angrily denies Quinn's assertions. Lindy later apologizes, but still insists she's not an alcoholic. At an end of year party, after Sandi tries to punish Stacey for her bad thoughts, Stacey bluntly says she'd rather take a "sabbatical" like Quinn did for her job, and Tiffany joins in, followed by Sandi in an attempt to save face. The group then agrees to hang out as friends without the club banner.

At graduation, Daria wins an academic award and improvises a speech in which she reiterates her contempt for high school, but ends with a summation of her life philosophy and expresses gratitude for Jane and her family, drawing applause from the crowd. Afterwards, Daria and Jane meet for pizza as usual, and muse on what they'll find once they arrive at college and begin a new era in their lives.

Olivia Jules, a journalist for the British Sunday Times newspaper and Elan magazine is in Miami to cover the launch of a face cream when she meets Pierre Feramo, who she finds attractive, but also suspicious.

While Olivia is in Miami, a cruise ship docks in the harbor. When Olivia is passing the cruise ship on the way to meet Feramo, a terrorist bomb blows the ship up. Olivia helps to rescue survivors but hundreds are killed.

Soon afterwards, in Los Angeles, Olivia meets Feramo again, working on a movie. Olivia calls the FBI with her suspicions about Feramo, but is interrupted. She also has her room swept for bugs and finds one. Feramo invites Olivia to his house in LA. There she finds a secret room. Frame and Olivia take a helicopter to an island off the California coast. Feramo admits he is a muslim but tells Olivia he didn’t bug her. He invites her scuba diving in Honduras.

Instead of going straight to Feramo’s resort, Olivia makes her own way to Honduras. She meets the local divers including one called Morton, who she is also attracted to. Olivia becomes more suspicious of Feramo because of the rumours about his resort. Feramo then tricks Olivia into coming to his resort. She bluffs her way out, and returns to London.

In London, Olivia meets Morton again, who reveals himself as a CIA agent working with MI6. They’re investigating Feramo and recruit Olivia to go to Sudan to discover what his plan is.

When she gets to Sudan, Olivia discovers she has been betrayed. Feramo's associates plan to kill her, but using MI6 gadgets, she escapes, photographing Feramo’s plans on the way. Feramo chases her, but Morton arrives, punches Feramo and rescues her. Feramo is then eaten by a shark.

Olivia is worried that Feramo's movie was a cover for a terror attack on The Oscars. She realises the Oscar statues are bombs and races to save the ceremony. Morton collects the statues, and eventually Olivia manages to subdue the bomber. The statues then explode harmlessly.

Olivia and Morton become lovers, and Olivia becomes a permanent MI6 agent.

Penny is a sophomore who starts a girls-only club whose mission is to help girls find love in gentlemen, rather than the school's jerks. At the club meeting, which are disguised as geology discussions, girls vote on which boys to decree "pyrites." The word becomes slang for a boy that seems good, but is ultimately cheap. If a boy is declared a pyrite, the girls throw darts into a doll, similar to voodoo. This is a vow to not date the boy. Girls also call to attention boys that are not jerks.

The club completely changes the high school hierarchy. Girls begin to avoid jocks and date nerds. Penny finds herself as a sort of "queen bee" the other girls look up to. The new arrangements are shaken when Penny finds herself falling for a pyrite and Hannah shows a boy the club's flyer.

Felicity Robinson (Glory Annen) is a teen who studies at a remote Roman Catholic Church boarding school and who seeks indulgence in the popular erotic novels ''Story of O'' and ''Emmanuelle'', and in a lesbian love affair with her friend Jenny (Jody Hanson). Her father arranges her holiday trip to Hong Kong where she will stay with a wealthy couple, Christine (Marilyn Rodgers) and Stephen (Gordon Charles). Christine organises a party to introduce Felicity to a friend of theirs, Andrew (David Bradshaw). After the party at the couple's mansion, Andrew takes Felicity for a ride in his car during which he pulls over and deflowers her. Christine also introduces her to libertine Me Ling (Joni Flynn). Me Ling initiates Felicity to new pleasures. However, Felicity eventually falls in love with Miles (Chris Milne) who saves her from a bunch of Chinese thugs.

Blair wants to consummate her relationship with Marcus, but he would rather wait for a more special moment. Nate keeps postponing his dates with Vanessa, leaving her worried about the status of their relationship. Dan and Serena are ready to go public with their rekindled relationship despite not having fixed their issues. Blair has been devising a scheme against Vanessa and Nate for Catherine. Chuck has been suffering from erectile dysfunction due to his repressed feelings for Blair. Three preteen girls spot Dan and Serena and admonish them for getting back together. Vanessa and Nate are hanging out when Blair invites them to a party, but Nate can see through her uncharacteristic kindness. Jenny is fired from Eleanor Waldorf's company for criticizing her design. During Blair's party, Vanessa catches Nate with Catherine right before a city-wide blackout (that traps Serena and Dan in an elevator). Blair is determined to have sex with Marcus as soon as possible but Chuck thwarts her plans by pretending to be him in the dark. Serena and Dan agree to disagree and break up again. When the power comes back on Marcus catches them. Vanessa breaks up with Nate as she leaves, due to Catherine threatening to extort Nate's family. Eleanor rehires Jenny.

Sally (Marilyn Miller) plays the part of an orphan who had been abandoned as a baby at the Bowling Green telephone exchange. While growing up in an orphanage, she discovered the joy of dancing. In an attempt to save money enough to become a dancer, Sally began working at odd jobs. While working as a waitress at a Childs Restaurant, a man named Blair (Alexander Gray) begins coming to her work regularly to see her. They both soon fall for each other.

Sally, however, does not know that Blair has been forced into an engagement by his family with a socialite named Marcia (Nora Lane). One day, a theatrical agent shows up at Sally's work (T. Roy Barnes) and gives her a chance to audition for a job. Sally, however, ends up losing her job and the opportunity when she drops a tray of food into Barnes' lap. Eventually, Sally gets another job at the Elm Tree Inn, managed by Ford Sterling. Blair drops in one day and immediately takes an interest in Sally. He convinces Sterling to have Sally dance for his customers. While she is performing one day, the theatrical agent (T. Roy Barnes) notices her and convinces Sally to impersonate a famous Russian dancer named Noskerova at a party being given by Mrs. Ten Brock. At that engagement, she is found to be an imposter and is asked to leave. Before Sally leaves, however, she hears the announcement of Blair's engagement to Marcia. Undaunted, she proceeds with her life and eventually becomes a star on Broadway.

The documentary has its roots in a question that co-director and co-executive producer Wayne Powers had while being asked for some money by a homeless person: What would happen if I gave him a million dollars (later dropped to 100,000) and the free will to do what he wanted with it? Would it turn his life around? With enough money to get a home, car, license, would he get a job? He took the idea to Showtime, where he had written-directed-executive produced the limited series Out of Order and they said yes immediately. The only limits would be that the person chosen would have to pass a psychiatric evaluation and have a clean drug test. The production company PB&J Television produced the documentary. On her show, Oprah Winfrey called it "a fascinating social experiment".

It begins with the introduction of Ted Rodrigue, a homeless man living under a bridge in California. He begins by describing an average day of "survival" for him, which consists of collecting cans and bottles for recycling in order to eat, buy cigarettes, and beer for the day. He informs the audience that an average day brings in about $25, while a good day might see as much as $35. Ted reflects on the better days of his life, when his mother (a former alcoholic) and sisters accepted him. He is shown placing a collect call to his mother, ultimately having the charges denied by his mother. Ted blames his homelessness and lack of family support on their prejudice against him for being homeless and an undesirable childhood. Ted describes his mother as a "bar whore" who often brought strange men home from the bar on the weekends and that at the age of 12, he was given his first beer by his mother at one of her many social gatherings.

His ability to "do as he pleases" by not having to answer to any authority figures, keeps him on the streets. Ted informs the filmmakers that he takes a lot of pride in his bicycle and is shown washing it at a car wash, although it has been over three months since he had a "real" shower. Through his recycling, Ted has befriended an 18-year-old Latino male named Michael (Mike), who works at the recycling plant.

The film shows Ted doing his daily dumpster-dive, collecting cans for the day's food, cigarettes and beer, when he finds a briefcase amongst the rubbish. Ted stops to brush it off and opens it up slowly and finds that it is stuffed with cash. A note atop the money reads "What would a homeless person do if he were given $100,000?" Shocked and in tears, Ted comes to the realization that he is the recipient of a significant amount of money.

Ted almost immediately buys a new bicycle, rents a motel room and takes his buddy Mike to an amusement park. The word gets out among the homeless community and Ted, who once couldn't find a girlfriend due to his poor dental hygiene, now enjoys female companionship in his motel room. As soon as Ted notifies his mother and sisters of his attainment of wealth, they begin to take his calls and his mother invites him to stay with her until he finds his own residence. The family is shown discussing how they are concerned for Ted's welfare.

A week after finding the money, and having spent over $2,000, Ted is still in the motel and is asked to speak with an advocate for the homeless. The counselor asks Ted what he thinks about having the money, to which Ted replies that he really hasn't thought about it much and that he has too much time on his hands now since he no longer has to recycle. Ted makes plans to leave for Sacramento to stay with his mother, but before leaving, he buys Mike a car and promises to fly his lady friend to Sacramento once he gets there and settled, exclaiming as he gets into the van to leave for the airport "bang 'em and leave 'em", referring to his recent activities with the woman.

The following weeks find Ted frequenting at the local bar, his spending averaging $10,000 a week. He then purchases a $35,000 Dodge Ram and another truck for one of his recently acquired girlfriends, rents an apartment and buys furniture. The filmmakers then request that he meet with a financial planner. Ted meets with him, but firmly announces to him that he has no intentions of working and does not wish to plan ahead as he is only concerned with today. Ted states his belief that the financial planner is only after his money and rips up his card.

His sisters repeatedly try to convince Ted to seek employment, although he still believes he is "set for life". By this time, Ted has become resentful to the film producers for giving him the money. The film then ends telling the viewer that, six months after finding the money, Ted refuses to disclose his latest bank balance; however, his sisters fear that it is less than $5,000.

On a December 1, 2006 airing of The Oprah Winfrey Show entitled: "Are You Ready For a Windfall?", Ted and filmmaker Wayne Powers were on the program to promote the documentary and speak on their account of the experiment. When asked by Oprah how much of the $100,000 he still had, Ted replied "none." Ted also mentioned that he is homeless again, and content with his current circumstances.

As of July 2007, Ted was back in Pasadena and working for the same recycling plant shown in the film.

While in a retrieve operation of a virus in Berlin, the Covert One agent Rachel Russell is double-crossed by two dirty agents; she kills them and escapes, trying to find a hiding place and someone to trust to protect the vials. Meanwhile, the former Covert One agent Dr. Jon Smith is also in Berlin with his beloved fiancée Sophie Amsden participating in a congress. When three persons die with bleeding, the doctors disclose a Hades virus outbreak, an extreme rare Ebola variant. Jon and Sophie return to the US to research a cure, and Jon discovers a huge combination of bio-terrorism and conspiracy

It is the 1950s. Ben Webber is a cocky but disillusioned young man who has spent the last few years of his life waiting for a neighborhood girl—in his eyes, the epitome of lost virtue and beauty—to reach the age of consent so that he can marry her. Ben comes frustrated with his life, though, and leaves his family home in New England to travel to New York in hopes of finding himself. Despite possessing a near-genius IQ, Ben feels no need to strive in academics, instead choosing to toil away in a number of dead-end, low-paying jobs, which he invariably quits or gets fired from after either telling off his boss or getting caught stealing. Down to his last few cigars and without a place to stay, Ben has a chance run-in with Don at a coffee shop; impeccably dressed and exquisitely mannered, Don is nonetheless just as destitute as Ben and facing eviction from his own apartment unless he can find someone to help with the rent. Ben and Don quickly become friends, and Ben moves into Don's apartment, which Ben discovers is actually owned by a trio of airline hostesses who rent the apartment out to Don at a low rate in exchange for providing them anonymous, strings-free sexual favors on their occasional stopovers in town. Ben, a virgin, is initiated into sex by one of the stewardess, and falls in love with her, only to discover shortly thereafter that she is engaged; after one last night, the stewardess relinquishes her third of the apartment and leaves New York, leaving Ben heartbroken and morose.

Meanwhile, nineteen-year-old Ginnie Maitland, the daughter of a wealthy painter and an unfaithful socialite, runs away from home after her father commits suicide in the wake of her mother's running off with another man. Cutting herself off from her inheritance, Ginnie travels to New York in hopes of finding herself and becoming a dancer on Broadway. Alone in the big city, Ginnie falls in with a pair of middle aged men, one Jewish, one Japanese, who are attempting to open a restaurant which serves food based on traditional Kosher and Oriental dishes. Ginnie becomes a hostess for them, and manages to get a job with a dance troupe.

At the same time, Ben has managed to become a mailroom clerk for a movie studio, and begins an arduous climb up the corporate ladder; shortly after getting a promotion into writing taglines, however, he's drafted into the U.S. Army.

Shortly after Ben is drafted, Ginnie's apartment burns down; one of the members of the dance troupe informs her that one of his friends is currently seeking help to pay the rent, since his old roommate has been drafted. The "friend" turns out to be Don, and Ginnie takes up residence with him.

Ben goes through boot camp and is assigned to a base run by Major Holdoffer, a young, boorish soldier who delights in exerting his authority over the men in his command. Ben documents his hellish experiences in letters home to Don, lamenting the lost loves in his life and yearning for purpose; after Don leaves the letters out one day, Ginnie begins reading them and starts writing Ben back. Her letters prove to be a shining ray of hope to Ben, and the two begin falling in love through their correspondence. While Ginnie remains chaste, though, in hopes of losing her virginity to Ben, Ben releases his sexual frustrations with an emotionally dead but sexually predatory middle aged woman named Maggie. In a bit of dramatic irony, the reader becomes aware that the woman is in fact Ginnie's runaway mother, having dumped her lover and moved on to one-night stands with soldiers.

One day, Ben's unit is taken on a dangerous trek by Holdoffer through harsh terrain without proper equipment; in the middle of the night, Holdoffer intentionally gives negligent orders to an elderly soldier after learning that the man is gay, resulting in the soldier's death; the next morning, Holdoffer denies culpability demands that the hike go on. Later in the day, Holdoffer ignores Ben's warning that a machine gun is malfunctioning, and another soldier is fatally shot in the face. As Ben and another soldier prepare to attack Holdoffer, the gay lover of the elderly soldier who died of exposure fatally stabs Holdoffer in the kidney. In exchange for keeping his mouth shut about having warned Holdoffer of the faulty machine gun, the Army agrees to an honorable discharge Ben on a technicality. Ben sleeps with Maggie one last time and then heads back to New York, where he and Ginnie begin a passionate affair. With one another's support, Ginnie becomes a locally renowned dancer, and Ben manages to get one of his scripts read by a television executive, who buys it and turns it into a movie of the week.

However, Ginnie's increasingly busy schedule, coupled with Ben's self-destructive nature, leads to the pair splitting after a disastrous night. While Ben makes a financially successful but debauched trip to Hollywood, Ginnie reaches national fame as a variety show fixture and through her engagement to a prominent socialite—neither being far from the other's mind.

Category:American comedy novels Category:1978 American novels Category:Fiction set in the 1950s Category:Delacorte Press books

Adam Bonner was a young assistant DA while his wife, Amanda Bonner, was a junior partner in a law firm. Their jobs often put them in conflict within the courtroom and, by extension, at home due to Amanda's crusade for women's rights.

''Adam's Rib'' aired opposite ''The Brian Keith Show'' on NBC and the ''CBS Friday Night Movie''. The trade publication ''Broadcasting'' described ''Adam's Rib'' as "a victim of feeble ratings".

In ''The Second Angel'', passages of narrative by an omniscient narrator alternate with lengthy, discursive commentaries on the characters, and complex observations on human nature and blood by a first-person, intrusive narrator, who claims to be the omniscient narrator telling the story, but deliberately refrains from disclosing his or her identity until the last chapter.

It is the late 21st century, when 80% of mankind have been infected with a virus called HPV2 (human parvovirus 2), or P2, whose spread was accelerated with the discovery and use of synthetic blood. P2 disrupts the blood's ability to carry hemoglobin around the body, greatly shortening the host's life. The only known cure for P2 is a complete blood transfusion with healthy blood, coupled with a dose of the drug ProTryptol 14. With only 20 percent of the world's population free of P2, the price of a litre of healthy blood has reached almost two million dollars.

In the novel, blood has replaced gold and diamonds as a valuable commodity (gold was extracted in great quantity from the sea and is now valued at about $200 a kilogram). Uninfected people reside in "Clean Bill of Health" (CBH) zones within cities to avoid contact with the sick, for ''vamping'' (murder for the purpose of blood theft) is a major risk for healthy individuals. Standard procedure for those who are uninfected is to perform autologous donations to enable them to completely replace it in the event of becoming infected.

The healthy blood reserves are kept in state-of-the-art blood banks around the world, the largest being the First National Blood Bank on the Moon. Due to the high incidence of theft in these banks, they are guarded by the most sophisticated security systems. The greatest designer of blood banks is Dana Dallas, who works for one of the largest security firms in the world, and has designed several state-of-the-art blood banks, including the First National Blood Bank. His ingenious security systems have never before been bypassed or robbed.

His boss, Simon King, grows concerned when he hears that Dallas's daughter Caro has been diagnosed with thalassemia, an illness that can only be cured by a lifetime of regular healthy blood transfusions, as despite his high position in the company Dallas would never be able to afford to pay for this treatment. Rather than risk Dallas leaking industrial secrets to the highest bidder, he orders Rimmer, the company's security officer, to kill Dallas, his wife and his daughter. His wife and daughter are indeed killed, but by chance Dallas survives and realises that the company had meant to kill him too.

Dallas escapes to relative safety outside the city's Clean Bill of Health zone, hiding in a hyperbaric hotel. Dallas is now set on revenge and recruits a team funded by himself and a mafia boss to rob the First National Blood Bank on the moon. The robbery goes according to plan with only a few complications.

On the way back to Earth, Dallas is told by his personal computer that a quantum computer has actually evolved in the bloodbank; the intrusive, omniscient narrator turns out to be this computer (a super-computer that opportunistically used the millions of litres of blood stocked in one place to re-create itself, using the unique storage and duplicating capacity of DNA); it has gained access to the memories of the characters by "merging" with them when they had a blood transfusion. The blood contains extremely advanced nanomachines which activate an ability to live longer, and be far more resistant to human limitations such as the need for food, water and oxygen; it enables them to survive in a state of suspended animation for years at a time. The supercomputer wanted to combine humans and computers with nanomachines in order to explore the galaxy. While Dallas and his crew are asleep on their way back to Earth, the supercomputer (unbeknownst to the humans) activates their new hibernation state and sets their course to deep space.

Category:1998 British novels Category:1998 science fiction novels Category:British science fiction novels Category:Orion Books books

The film takes place in a small, New England town in 1919 (the Broadway play 1914), where a group of con men plan to use a faith healer to collect money.

In New York City's Chinatown, four crooks conspire to swindle a small New England town. The gang consists of Tom Burke (Thomas Meighan), the head of the group; Rose (Betty Compson), a con artist posing as a street walker; "The Dope" (J.M. Dumont), who pretends to pimp Rose; and The Frog (Lon Chaney), a contortionist.

The plan is clear: in a small town outside of Boston there is a Patriarch (Joseph Dowling) who has been healing people. The group heads to the town and plans to use the Patriarch in a faith healing scheme. When the townspeople gather to see the Patriarch heal the sick, the Frog is there, posing as a cripple. As he crawls to the path of the man, his limbs become straightened and soon he walks to the Patriarch, supposedly healed. Unexpectedly, a crippled boy, his faith in the Patriarch overpowering him, loses his crutches and runs to the Patriarch.

The story spreads across the country (mostly on account of Burke), and people flock in from all over to visit the Patriarch and be healed. When a millionaire, Richard King (W. Lawson Butt), brings his sister to be healed, he gives Burke $50,000 after the Patriarch cures her. During this visit, King meets Rose, and the two fall in love.

Meanwhile, all is not well with Burke. One by one, he sees his gang disbanding because, unbeknownst to him, the healing power of the Patriarch is at work. The Dope gives up his drug addiction, The Frog gives up his life of crime and takes care of a widow left all alone, and Rose laments King's departure.

Burke becomes jealous, but when King returns to propose marriage to Rose, she realizes that she loves Burke. The Patriarch dies, and the two lovers begin anew.

Duncan (Mark McClain Wilson), a philosophical nomad hitchhiking across America, grabs a ride to Ann Arbor, Michigan from Toad (Eric Vesbit) — a performance artist and purple leisure slacks enthusiast from the suburbs. Toad has recently left his home town to begin a new life in Ann Arbor where his co-dependent, folk-singing sister Jenny (Amy Raasch) lives with her verbally abusive fiancé, a law student named Calvin (Aaron Williams). Jenny currently sees a suicidal therapist (Peter Hawkins) four times a week and armed with her acoustic guitar, drives away patrons from a local coffee house where she slings cappuccinos with her best friend Squeeze (Melissa Zafarana). Squeeze is a closet genius whose easy-going outlook and unconditional support keep her live-in boyfriend Hank (David Wilcox) from the brink. Hank is a painter who cannot paint because he spends his time baking delicious pastries and practicing for The Oprah Winfrey Show. In Ann Arbor, the civilians listen to Julian (Julian Rad), a nihilistic dee-jay whose frustration and lingering optimism goad him to find the truth by cutting through blind idealism, pop culture, and politically correct bumper stickers. Once in Ann Arbor, Duncan encounters these and other eccentric characters, and through his simple outlook and curiosity, he changes their lives forever.

***

''Duncan's Letter to Julian in The Four Corners of Nowhere:

Dear Julian,

I think it all started with the Declaration of Independence — the idea that we had the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That pursuit is what took America from the revolution to the computer age in 200 years. But the progress has come at a price. The obvious being the people that were exploited to make it possible; the not so obvious being us, the first group of people that were given no obvious frontiers to conquer.

We hear stories about the good old days that don't seem to apply anymore. It's a generation gap that leaves us without role models. But the bright side is that without role models, there are no roles. Thirty years ago that girl you talked to probably would have married her fiancé because it would have been expected, but she ended up leaving him. Maybe that's what the 60s were all about — getting rid of the roles.

But what do we replace them with? Without any guidance, the choices become overwhelming. Sometimes it just makes everything feel hopeless.

So we destroy our bodies in the search of an ideal. Try to salvage relationships that don't work. We feel we must do something, instead of doing something that we feel. It is the prison of self-imposed momentum, and the sad part is that we get used to it. It reminds me of a song I heard the other day. It's called "The Going Nowhere Fast."

But the people I have met here have shown me another side of Nowhere. They've pointed out the beautiful irony that stagnation makes it easy to stop and smell the roses, if we just let it.

What would we be if we had nothing to rebel against? Well we could finally be ourselves, the first group of people who stopped looking for the answers long enough to appreciate the questions. And all we have to do is to make our own Declaration of Independence. We can embrace the right to life and liberty by simply realizing that happiness exists — not to pursue, but to accept. After that the only challenge would be to make sure with the rest of our lives that we weren't just another fad.

I don't know, Julian, it's an idea.

**

During mid-April 1941 in North Africa, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel (James Mason) and his Afrika Korps have driven the British Army into headlong retreat toward Egypt and the vital Suez Canal. Standing in Rommel's way is Tobruk, a constant threat to his supply lines. The 9th Australian Division are charged with holding the port for two months, at which time they are to be relieved.

The defending Allied general (Robert Douglas) chooses British Captain "Tammy" MacRoberts (Richard Burton), an experienced field officer, to take command of a company of newly arrived, untried Australian troops. The no-nonsense MacRoberts is disliked by the undisciplined Australians. He is surprised to see in their ranks his former schoolmaster, Tom Bartlett (Robert Newton). Bartlett, an alcoholic, later explains that after being dismissed from his job in Britain due to his drinking, he went to Australia and joined the army while intoxicated. MacRoberts offers to transfer him to a safer billet, but Bartlett turns him down. Meanwhile, the inexperienced troops are sent directly into the front lines, where they dig foxholes and prepare for Rommel's attack. The Allied general masses his artillery where he guesses the Germans will strike. His gamble pays off. Under cover of a sandstorm, they attack exactly where the general predicted and head directly at MacRoberts' men. but the Germans are beaten back. As a result, MacRoberts is elevated to battalion command and made a lieutenant colonel.

It is decided to erode the Germans' confidence further by sending out small commando raids every night. MacRoberts' patrols do their part in exacting a toll on the enemy. But during a successful raid on a Nazi ammunition dump, MacRoberts is wounded and captured. While he is being treated by a German doctor, he meets Rommel, who has been shot by a strafing Spitfire. Although he is respectful to the field marshal, MacRoberts defiantly points out that Tobruk is a thorn in his side. Rommel is bemused by his brashness and orders that he be treated well. Later, MacRoberts escapes capture during an air raid on a German truck convoy, and he makes his way back to Allied lines.

The siege of Tobruk carries on for months. As a result, MacRoberts fears his men are becoming weary and will need to be relieved from action. But an order comes down from the general, asking MacRoberts to take his best company and hold a key position for three days. Nine days later, after constant attacks and shelling by the Germans, MacRoberts believes his men can take no more and orders a retreat. Surprisingly, the self-admitted coward, Bartlett, begs him to hang on. To MacRoberts' surprise, the rest of his men refuse to abandon the hill. Bartlett takes over the forward observation post, where survival is measured in hours. Eventually, the Australians hear bagpipes announcing the arrival of a relief column. After a hard-fought 242 days, the Allies have relieved Tobruk.

In 1670, freeborn Englishman, Henry Morgan, is enslaved by the Spaniards in Panama and sold to Doña Inez, daughter of Governor Don José Guzmán. Morgan falls in love with his mistress, much to the dismay of her father, who punishes him by sentencing him to a life of hard labor aboard a Spanish galleon. Morgan leads his fellow slaves in mutiny, takes command of the ship, and becomes a pirate, without knowing that Doña Inez was on board, on her way to Spain. She becomes his prisoner, but spurns him when he declares his love in Tortuga. Not long after, Morgan's daring exploits on the Spanish Main pique the interest of King Charles II of England, and Morgan agrees to attack only Spanish vessels in return for English ships and men. Fearing for the security of Doña Inez, after the pirates discover her identity, he permits her to return to Panama. Once there, she warns Don José of Morgan's planned invasion, and the pirate ships are either easily sunk or routed by the alerted Spanish. Not giving up, Morgan leads his men overland and attacks the city from the rear. The maneuver succeeds, Panama falls to the pirates, and Doña Inez finally admits her love for Morgan.

The cruel Lord James Guillonk, faithful steward of Queen Victoria, is governor of the territories of Borneo and Malaysia. His archenemy is the Indian pirate Sandokan, who along with his band of rebels, the Tigers, has been leading attacks against the British forces.

This time, Sandokan again faces off against the governor, Lord Guillonk, who is waging a campaign against Tremal-Naik, a Hindu opposed to the British. Tremal-Naik tells Sandokan of the Thugs, a secret sect of Hindu fanatics that worship the bloody goddess Kali. The Thugs have kidnapped Tremal-Naik’s beloved, and are holding her in their dungeon. When his beloved mysteriously escapes from the Thug dungeon, only to fall into the hands of Lord Guillonk, Sandokan prepares for a new battle against the governor.

Thought to be clinically dead, Alexander (Roy Dupuis) suddenly awakes from a long coma. He recognizes nobody and remembers nothing. As Alexander tries to piece together his life, the mystery deepens. Director Francis Leclerc holds together this precious tale with poetic imagery and strong visuals, all the while teasing the viewer to discover the truth.

The film follows British Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard (Keith Andes), who sets out to earn a reward by proving that privateer Henry Morgan (Torin Thatcher) also engages in piracy.

Maynard poses as a surgeon on board the ship of pirate Charles Bellamy, who he believes is in league with Morgan. Once Maynard and fellow spy Briggs come on board, they discover that the pirate Blackbeard (Robert Newton) has murdered Bellamy and taken over as captain.

Also on board is Edwina Mansfield, a pirate's daughter, who was going to marry Bellamy. Blackbeard knows that Morgan loves Mansfield and will pursue her.

Blackbeard orders Maynard to remove a bullet from his neck, and demands sailor Gilly watch him. Gilly slips Maynard a note begging him to slit the pirate's throat, but Maynard declines.

Maynard slips into the Blackbeard's quarters and finds Bellamy's logbook, which he hopes will contain evidence that Bellamy gave Morgan stolen goods.

Maynard then defends Edwina against the unwanted advances of a lecherous pirate, killing him with his dagger. She tells Maynard that she agreed to marry Bellamy to escape from Morgan, from whom she has stolen treasure, which is now hidden in a clothes chest.

Blackbeard breaks open one of Edwina's chests but discovers only letters in which Edwina implicates Morgan as Bellamy's ally. Maynard tries to steal the letter, but Blackbeard stops him, noting that if Morgan were arrested, all of his loot would go to the King.

Blackbeard finally identifies the treasure chest and claims it.

At Ichogaoka School, on the day before summer vacation, a group of children accidentally break a small statue. When the school day ends, Mika, a second-grader, encounters a bouncing football while retrieving her paint set. She follows the ball into an abandoned wing of the school, where, in the upstairs bathrooms, she is lifted into the air by an unseen force. Elsewhere, Mika's mother asks Mika's older sister, Aki, to bring her home.

Fifth-graders Kensuke and Shota sneak into the abandoned wing of the school. Aki arrives, looking for Mika. She asks fourth-grader Hitoshi, who is drawing a magic circle on the ground in chalk, if he has seen Mika. She notices that the door to the abandoned wing is unlocked, and walks inside, where she meets up with Kensuke and Shota. Hitoshi soon follows and finds that the doors have locked behind him. Hitoshi's brother Kazuo, who has been absent from school for almost the entire term due to his belief that evil spirits haunt the premises, senses that Hitoshi is in danger.

In the abandoned wing, the children meet Kaori, a sixth-grader. The group witness a grinning spirit floating behind Shota, and flee in terror. Kazuo arrives at the abandoned wing with a schoolteacher named Shinichi Komukai, but the two are unable to see the children pounding on the windows of the now-locked building. Night falls, and Aki and Kaori are chased by a sandaled giant through the hallways of the wing. Aki hides in a closet and falls into a dark pit. Meanwhile, Shota, Kensuke and Hitoshi are attacked by an anatomical model, and meet a custodian named Kumahige.

Aki crosses paths with Shinichi and Kazuo, as well as Yumiko, Kensuke's mother and a former classmate of Shinichi. The four go to the abandoned wing, which unlocks itself. After Shinichi and Aki enter, the doors shut behind them, leaving Kazuo and Yumiko outside. Aki, Shota, Kensuke and Hitoshi see the grinning spirit behind Shinichi, and run. Hitoshi hides in a classroom containing clay models which transform into hands that envelop him. In a music classroom, Shota and Kaori witness an ensemble of ghostly string musicians. Outside, Kazuo sees Hitoshi in the rearview mirror of Yumiko's motorbike. Hitoshi tells Kazuo that a sacred object on school grounds, which kept evil spirits at bay, has been broken, but neither know what the object is.

Shinichi and the children encounter Kumahige, who sprouts arachnid-like appendages and chases them into an upside-down classroom. Desks fall from the ceiling, but Aki protects herself, Shinichi and Kaori using a diagram of a magic circle torn from a book. The paper transforms into a glowing butterfly, which leads them to the location of Hitoshi and Mika. Elsewhere in the wing, Shota and Kensuke encounter Kuchisake-onna, while outside, Kazuo begins drawing a large magic circle using a line marker, and Yumiko assembles a group of bikers to search the grounds for the sacred object.

After securing Mika, Shinichi and the children again face Kumahige. Hitoshi blinds Kumahige, who transforms into a large monster that lunges at Shota and Kensuke in a dumbwaiter. Shinichi and the children flee from the monster and find themselves at a door which leads to the dark pit that Aki fell down earlier. Shinichi jumps into the abyss with Mika in his arms, followed by Aki, Kensuke and Hitoshi. Shota discovers Kaori to be incorporeal, and falls into the pit without her. Outside, the bikers find the broken statue, which Kazuo places in the middle of the magic circle. It magically repairs itself, and both the statue and the circle begin glowing. A ball of light races through the abandoned wing of the school.

Shinichi, Mika, Aki, Shota, Kensuke and Hitoshi find themselves in the school swimming pool. They meet up with Kazuo and Yumiko. Yumiko tells them that, according to Kaori's father, Kaori was in the hospital and died some time prior to them meeting her. Some time later, Shota tells Kensuke that he wishes he had told Kaori he loved her. Shota, Kensuke, Kazuo, Hitoshi, Mika and Aki decide to go to Aki's house.

The book tells the story about Kit Walker, son of the 20th Phantom, who will one day grow up to take over the mantle from his father and become the 21st Phantom.

The book starts with Kit's birth in the Skull Cave. Several chapters are dedicated to him growing up in the Bangalla jungle, where the readers get to see events and lessons that shape him to the man he will once become.

When Kit reaches the age of 12, he travels to Clarksville, Missouri, USA, to receive a proper education (it is a tradition in the Phantom family that the children are sent away to their mother's homeland for education). Kit lives with his mother's sister and her husband in Clarksville.

Kit is a brilliant student, and receives excellent grades in every subject. Kit proves to be a talented sportsman, and is predicted to become the world champion of a number of different genres (he even knocks out the boxing champion of the world in a match when the champion visits Clarksville.

Kit also meets his future wife-to-be, Diana Palmer, on a Christmas party on his school.

Despite being able to choose practically any career he wants, Kit faithfully returns to Bengalla to take over the role of the Phantom when he receives word from his childhood friend Guran that his father, the 20th Phantom, is dying from wounds he received in a battle with pirates trying to rob a jungle hospital.

Indigo Prime is an extra-dimensional agency dedicated to the maintenance and repair of breaks and distortions across the multiverse. However, they're not above making a few 'alterations' for any rich clientele that approach them (although it appears that this is never at the expense of the harmony of the multiverse itself). Their base of operations exists outside the multiverse and time itself in a hypothetical 'nullzone', which every event in time and space throughout the multiverse transects.

All Indigo Prime agents are chosen, upon their death, based on the presence of a certain gene (the "Rembrant Index") that occurs in one in twelve million people across the multiverse; given a new body, and then trained in a range of abilities to assist them in their job. Each agent also specializes in a role - known job descriptions are: Sceneshifters (who manipulate the physical world), Seamsters (who deal mainly with time) and Imagineers (who can influence minds and dreams).

A long epic, written in first-person, ''Cel mai iubit...'' is the life-story confession of a prisoner waiting for his trial. Victor Petrini, a promising intellectual in the 1950s and a lecturer in Philosophy, seduces his best friend's wife, Matilda, who eventually becomes his wife. Nonetheless, and despite the birth of their daughter, the sexual attraction between them is exhausted shortly after their wedding. Victor is arrested by the repressive secret police (the Securitate), wrongly accused of being connected to a terrorist organisation, and sentenced to prison and forced labor – the verdict constitutes a brutal end to all his projects and ideals.

During his several-year-long confinement, at first in the Romanian version of the Gulag, then on a lead mine in the Northern Carpathian Mountains, he is divorced and forsaken by his wife, and hardens his character in order to survive. Eventually, he even manages to attack and kill one of the torturers engaged in his re-education (a crime which is successfully hidden from the authorities).

Once released, Petrini has to start back from zero. He gets a job as pest controller (killing rats) and accommodates to a new, proletarian and suburban existence. A few years later, he manages to obtain employment as a bookkeeper in a state-owned company, where he meets Suzy, with whom he falls in love. Shortly after, in self-defence, he kills Suzy's ex-husband by throwing him out from a cable railway, and has to return to jail.

Set in metropolitan Tokyo over the course of one night, characters include Mari Asai, a 19-year-old student, who is spending the night reading in a Denny's. There she meets Takahashi Tetsuya, a trombone-playing student who loves Curtis Fuller's "Five Spot After Dark" song on ''Blues-ette''; Takahashi knows Mari's sister Eri, who he was once interested in, and insists that the group of them have hung out before. Meanwhile, Eri is in a deep sleep next to a television and seems to be haunted by a menacing figure.

Mari crosses paths with a retired female wrestler, Kaoru, now working as a manager in a love hotel called "Alphaville". Kaoru needs Mari to talk to a Chinese prostitute who had just been beaten in the love hotel by an office worker, Shirakawa. The group then tries to track down Shirakawa, and includes the Chinese Mafia group that 'owns' the prostitute.

In the love hotel Mari also hears stories from some of the staff working there and takes a glance at the other world hidden below the one we are aware of.

Parts of the story take place in a world between reality and dream, and each chapter begins with an image of a clock depicting the passage of time throughout the night.

Dave (Hurt) has had some bad luck recently. His wife (McCarthy) lives in Washington, DC, his restaurant, the Auk is not doing good business. Phonse (Jones) helps Dave by making up a story about a rare bird (Tasker's Sulphureous) sighting which begins to help Dave's business. Phonse has been working on a prototype Recreational Submarine Vehicle (RSV) and is concerned that the Winnebago company is conducting industrial espionage and trying to steal his plans. Phonse also finds ten kilos of cocaine and tries to get rid of it with the help of Dave. Dave falls in love with Alice (Parker), Phonse's sister-in-law, a girl from Gull Tickle. Phonse blows up his RSV. Claire asks Dave for a divorce. Alice goes off to college. Dave finds someone to manage the restaurant and he is seen chasing Alice's taxi.

Things have become peaceful again in Tromaville, putting Melvin Junko the Toxic Avenger into depression, as he can no longer fight crime and fails at normal jobs such as auto mechanic and babysitter. Claire, his blind girlfriend, may be able to see again thanks to a new groundbreaking surgery, but it will cost $347,000. Toxie takes a job as a spokesman for Apocalypse Inc., the New York-based chemical company he defeated before, since he will be paid enough for Claire's surgery. He signs the contract in his own blood. Claire has her surgery. For the first time, she sees Toxie and falls even more in love with him.

As Apocalypse Inc. comes in to promote their chemicals, the people of Tromaville are shocked to see their hero, The Toxic Avenger, agreeing with Apocalypse. Toxie's ego has inflated to a point, and he has become a yuppie. Claire unsuccessfully confronts Toxie. When Toxie sees a group of kids knocking down a poster of him and kicking it, he finally realizes what has happened. Toxie remembers a saying at church, which makes him decide to once again clean up Tromaville. He earns the trust of the people of Tromaville once again by killing a gang of Apocalypse Inc. goons who were holding hostages at the Tromaville Video Store.

He now faces the Chairman, who reveals he is actually the Devil, a green-skinned demon, and challenges Toxie to his favorite video game, "The Five Levels of Doom". The first level, Earth, involves getting sucked into the ground. When Toxie gets his head out of the ground, Mona Malfaire orders an Apocalypse thug to decapitate Toxie with a mower but it proves unsuccessful. The second level, Fire, has both Toxie and the Devil set on fire. Toxie is saved by some Tromaville residents, who douse him with water. With the Devil still on fire and laughing hysterically, Toxie resorts to urinating on the Devil, extinguishing the flames.

In the third level, Wind, the Devil kidnaps the kids of Tromaville, sends them to a mountain by bus, and unleashes strong winds that risk putting the bus over the mountain. Toxie arrives at the cliff and has the kids escape via the back door. Malfaire, in an attempt to shoot down Toxie and the kids, is crushed by the bus when it falls down the cliff. In the fourth level, Water, Toxie is put into a massive puddle in an attempt to drown him. However, Toxie escapes using a Sumo trick he learned in Japan.

The Devil unleashes the final level, in which he transforms the Toxic Avenger back into Little Melvin, who once again becomes the victim of bullying, now by Apocalypse Inc. When Claire attempts to intervene, she is once again rendered blind. While Melvin is getting picked on, Claire returns home and finds the contract. She finds an escape clause that will allow termination by an act of God. An angel, disguised as a messenger, arrives and gives Melvin a scroll. It begins to rain. Melvin is transformed back into the Toxic Avenger and Claire is able to once again see.

Melvin defeats the Devil, ripping his skin off to expose rats and bugs all over his carcass. He decapitates the Devil and throws his head to Tokyo, where a news reporter demonstrates a new hair growth formula to a customer. Having defeated Apocalypse Inc., Melvin and Claire celebrate by getting married and are now "monster and wife".

When the notorious Diaper Mafia take hostage the Tromaville School for the Very Special, only the Toxic Avenger and his morbidly obese sidekick Lardass can save Tromaville. However, an explosion results in some unforeseeable consequences where it creates a dimensional tear between Tromaville and its dimensional mirror image Amortville. While the Toxic Avenger (Toxie) is trapped in Amortville, Tromaville comes under the control of the superhuman powered hero's evil doppelgänger the Noxious Offender (Noxie). With the citizens of Tromaville unaware of the switch, Mayor Goldberg decides to combat "Toxie" by calling in every superhero he can afford. Meanwhile, Toxie's wife Sarah becomes pregnant with two babies from two different fathers. It is up to Toxie to return to Tromaville to stop Noxie's rampage and come to his wife's aid.

Lt. Col. Hyde is forced into early retirement after 25 years of service as an officer in the British Army. To get his revenge, Hyde recruits seven other former officers for a special project. They are all in bad standing with the Army—having been forced out for quite serious indiscretions—and are equally dissatisfied and have skeletons in their closets.

The job Hyde is planning turns out to be a bank robbery. Hyde has chosen the officers for their respective specialties, qualities that Hyde needs to succeed with the robbery. Before robbing the bank itself, however, they stage a number of raids to get the weapons and trucks they need, and all goes off without a hitch. Hyde uses all of his skills and discipline as a tactical military strategist to execute the plan. The robbery is organised with military precision and everything really seems to go as planned—except for one simple error that gives them all away.

During a summer camp, 15 children (8 boys and 7 girls) find a grotto by the sea. Deep within, they discover working computers and some electronic equipment, and later the owner, a man who introduces himself as "Kokopelli". Kokopelli claims to be a programmer working on a brand new game, in which a large robot has to defend the Earth against fifteen alien invasions. He persuades the children to test the game and enter into a contract. Fourteen of them agree, but one of them is kept from entering the contract by her older brother, and a moment later they all mysteriously awaken on the shore, believing what happened was just a dream.

That night, two giant robots appear by the beach. A small creature calling himself "Koyemshi" also appears and claims to be the children's guide. He then teleports them into the black robot, with Kokopelli already inside and controlling the black robot in order to defeat the white enemy robot. During battle, he gives the children a brief tutorial on how to pilot the robot as he destroys the enemy. Once he has finished, he tells the children that they are on their own now and sends them back to the beach. As the children are teleported out, one child observes Kokopelli whispering "I'm sorry".

Takashi Waku is the first pilot of the robot, which is named "Zearth" by Maki Ano. Upon winning the fight, Waku is accidentally 'knocked' into the sea from a ledge on Zearth's chest by Jun. The second pilot, Masaru "Kodama" Kodaka, dies unceremoniously after defeating his opponent. Koyemshi explains to the children that Zearth runs on life force, and the cost of every victory would be the life of its pilot. It is also revealed that Waku fell into the sea after getting 'knocked' by Jun because Zearth had drained his life force; he was already dead.

The film opens in springtime, the year after Charlotte has died. Her three daughters, Nellie, Aranea, and Joy, are now in the stages of adolescence, with Wilbur serving as a companion and mentor.

During this time, Wilbur befriends Cardigan, a newborn lamb that is frowned upon and made fun of by the other lambs and the younger sheep of his flock because he has black wool. Wilbur takes Cardigan under his wing and shows him the farm, the ways of animal life, and dangers to look out for. However, after only a few weeks, Farmer Zuckerman suddenly sells Cardigan to another farmer, so Wilbur, along with Nellie, Aranea, Joy, and Templeton, set out to visit Cardigan and make sure he is safe; Templeton requires Wilbur to babysit his children in return for guidance.

On the journey to visit Cardigan, however, Wilbur is hungry so he gets some blackberries which make him look purple. He then gets his foot tangled in some brambles which Templeton frees him from (under the promise that Wilbur will babysit the rat kids for an additional two weeks). Some bark from the trees comes and lands on Wilbur's head. This makes him look like a wild pig. A near hit by a truck then reveals that two other guys have now seen the wild pig. This makes it hard for Wilbur to visit Cardigan.

Meanwhile, an evil fox named Farley comes and steals a hen from the barn, and Wilbur is framed for the attack after trying to stop him. Farley comes back, steals Cardigan from the barn, and plans to eat him. Wilbur now must save his friend, and does so by trapping Farley in a "pig web". Nellie, Aranea, and Joy spin the word "fox" in a spider web, and Fern arrives just in time to save Wilbur. Aranea and Joy decide to stay with Cardigan, and the film ends as Wilbur has to babysit Templeton's children.

Deunan Knute, a young soldier and one of the Global War's last survivors, is rescued by Hitomi, a Second Generation Bioroid. Knute's escape attempt is stopped by her former lover Briareos Hecatonchires, now a cyborg. She realizes that the war had ended and she is in a Utopian city called Olympus. Its population is half-human and half-clone, a genetically-engineered species called Bioroids. Olympus is governed by three factions: Prime Minister Athena Areios; General Edward Uranus III, head of the Olympus Army; and a Council of Elders. Everything in the city is observed by an artificial intelligence named Gaia from a building called Tartaros. While there, Deunan joins the counter-terrorism organization ESWAT.

The Bioroids were created from the DNA of Deunan's late father, Carl, making the Second Generation Bioroids her brothers and sisters. However, they have a much shorter lifespan than humans due to suppressed reproductive capabilities. The Bioroid's life extension facilities are destroyed by a secret faction of the Regular Army in a terrorist attack against the Bioroids. However, the Appleseed data, which contains information on restoring the Bioroids reproduction capabilities, still exists.

Olympus is plagued by conflicting factions. Along with a strike force, Deunan and Briareos head to the building where the Bioroids were originally created. She activates a holographic recording showing the location of the Appleseed data. Dr. Gilliam Knute, who created the Bioroids and revealed to be Deunan's mother, entrusted Appleseed to Deunan, but was inadvertently killed by a soldier. After mourning her death, Leyton turns against his men. They then get cornered by the Regular Army. Deunan discovers from anti-Bioroid terrorist Colonel Hades that Briareos had intentionally allowed his Landmate, a large exoskeleton-like battlesuit, to escape. Kudoh then sacrifices himself to get Deunan and Briareos out of harm's way and escape to the rooftop. Uranus attempts to convince Deunan that Bioroids seek to control humanity, and he wants to destroy Appleseed and the D-Tank containing the Bioroid reproductive activation mechanism. Briareos tells Uranus that the Elders manipulated the Army into wanting to destroy the D-Tank, but Athena is trying to prevent them from doing so and protect humanity. Hades, who resents Carl, wounds Briareos. She and Briareos flee into the sea, killing Hades in the process. Despite Deunan's pleas not to leave Briareos behind, he persuades her to search for the Elders. Mechanic Yoshitsune Miyamoto arrives in his Landmate and begins repairing Briareos after receiving an SOS from him. Deunan flies back to Olympus in Yoshitsune's Landmate and uses the Appleseed data to fully restore Bioroid reproductive functions.

As Deunan encounters the Council of Elders, they reveal their involvement in Gilliam's death and also plan to use the D-tank virus to sterilize humans, which will leave the Bioroids the new rulers of Earth. They needed the Appleseed data to keep the Bioroids alive, but Gilliam hid the data so they could not move forward with their plan. Athena, stepping in to stop them and announcing that Uranus has surrendered, tells Deunan that the Elders had been acting on their own and had shut Gaia down once they realized humanity had softened their stance against Bioroids. The Elders state that they will soon die since Gaia kept them alive, but that they were ready to sacrifice themselves. They then activate the city's mobile fortress defenses, which begin marching towards Tartaros. Athena states that D-tank's security system is nearly impenetrable, but a shot from the fortresses' main cannons might puncture the tank, releasing the virus. ESWAT begins mobilizing, but suffer heavy casualties due to the fortresses' heavy weaponry.

Briareos arrives and asks Deunan to join the battle. Despite the Elders' objections, she goes with him to the seventh tower, and attempts to enter the password to shut the defenses down, but a malfunction makes it difficult. The final password letter appears by itself, and Deunan secures the D-Tank, shutting down the towers. She reveals that the sins of humanity will probably get worse, but that there is always the chance that future generations will learn from these mistakes; she vows to keep fighting for the children.

This cartoon series stars Bruce Willis as the voice of Bruno, an 11-year-old boy who becomes a top spy for a secret espionage organization. The organization, named GLOBE, contacts Bruno via his computer and a special gadget watch, and is completely unaware of its top spy's young age, as he hides behind a computer-simulated avatar of a full-grown man (in the image of Bruce Willis).

The members of GLOBE that Bruno works with in person, such as Jarlsburg (voiced by Tony Jay), and Harris (voiced by Mark Hamill), are also unaware that GLOBE does not know Bruno's actual age, and assume that the organization ''must'' know what it is doing in sending the boy into dangerous situations.

The episodes consist of Bruno managing to live a double life without the knowledge of his parents or friends (for example, in one episode he tells his parents that he is camping in the garden and he sets up a torch to project a fake silhouette of himself onto the side of the tent, so that it looks like he is inside it). Meanwhile, with an alibi set up, Bruno will be out saving the world, or foiling a major heist with the aid of his British spy partner Jarlsburg (in one episode, one of Bruno's classmates catches Bruno on camera in the process of carrying out a spy mission and tries to blackmail him; however, Bruno erases the videotape and his secret is safe; his classmate was unable to expose him). Later in the series, Jarlsburg quits being Bruno's partner, after hesitating to fire a weapon in fear that he will hit Bruno. Bruno objects to Jarley quitting the team. Jarley eventually comes to his senses and returns to being Bruno's partner. He apologizes to Bruno for quitting. In the course of each mission, they usually meet Harris (a spoof of the character "Q" in the James Bond books and films) who supplies Bruno with gadgets, which Bruno usually finds a use for later on in the episode. As well as voicing the title character, Willis was one of the executive producers and also co-wrote and sang the theme song for the show with backing singers.

In October 1962, in Key West, Florida, Gene Loomis and his younger brother, Dennis, live on a military base with their mother Anne while their father is away on a United States Navy submarine. At a local movie theater one afternoon, Gene and Dennis see a promo for an exclusive engagement of producer Lawrence Woolsey's sensational new horror film, entitled ''Mant!'' Woolsey is scheduled to appear in-person at the theater the following Saturday. After the boys return home to the base, the Loomis family watches President Kennedy deliver a speech confirming the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. Meanwhile, arriving in Florida with his actress girlfriend, Ruth Corday, Woolsey finds the fearful atmosphere created by the ongoing crisis as being perfect for hosting ''Mant!'''s premiere.

Woolsey has brought along two of his actors — Herb Denning, a former hired thug, and Bob, a victim of the Hollywood blacklist relegated to cheap, independent B movies — to impersonate outraged protestors opposing ''Mant!'''s exhibition. However, local couple Jack and Rhonda strongly argue for allowing the premiere based on First Amendment rights. Later, reading an issue of ''Famous Monsters of Filmland'', Gene recognizes Herb as being in an earlier Woolsey film, ''The Brain Leeches''.

At school, Gene gradually befriends one of his classmates, Stan, and becomes infatuated with Jack and Rhonda's daughter, Sandra, after she gets a week of detention for protesting against uselessness of a "duck and cover" air raid drill, telling the other students that it would be preferable to die from the immediate effects of an atom bomb instead of acute radiation syndrome caused by fallout. Stan has a crush on another girl, Sherry, but after violent juvenile delinquent and would-be poet Harvey Starkweather, her ex-boyfriend, threatens Stan for pursuing her, Stan lies to her to call off their first date.

Woolsey continues to devote himself to promoting ''Mant!'', hiring Harvey to dress as the mutated half-man, half-ant creature from the film, and installing buzzers in theater seats as part of a gimmick he calls "Rumble-Rama". The cinema's manager, Howard, warns about the gimmick's potential effects on the fragile balcony area, which can only hold just 100 people. At the Saturday matinee, Sherry encounters Stan, who is attending the screening with Gene and Dennis; she is upset that he deceived her, but later reconciles with him. Sandra attends the premiere with her parents, but leaves them to watch the movie with Gene. When Harvey (costumed as the ''Mant!'' monster) sees Sherry and Stan kissing during the film, he attacks Stan in a rage, then punches Woolsey after he tries to intervene, and a chase ensues. Stan takes a shotgun from a fallout shelter located inside the movie theater and uses it to frighten Harvey away, but Sandra and Gene are locked inside the shelter after the door is accidentally closed. While trapped, the two comfort each other, eventually sharing their first kiss.

Woolsey helps rescue the pair from the shelter before their oxygen supply runs out; however, Harvey reappears and holds a switchblade to Ruth's throat, demanding money from Woolsey before fleeing with Sherry. Howard calls the police, and Harvey is arrested after crashing his car outside the movie theater as Sherry and Stan reunite. Woolsey also realizes that Harvey has turned the "Rumble-Rama" machinery up so high that the overcrowded balcony in the cinema is starting to collapse. Assisted by Gene, Woolsey projects ''trompe-l'œil'' footage of a mushroom cloud that appears to blast a hole through the screen and outside wall of the theater, thus evacuating the panicked audience.

Once the missile crisis has ended, Ruth and Woolsey leave for another premiere in Cleveland, bidding goodbye to Sandra and Gene. Woolsey has grown fond of them, telling Ruth he might like to have children of his own some day. The film ends as Sandra and Gene watch helicopters fly over the beaches in Key West, waiting for Gene's father to return.

Three years prior to the start of the novel, a half-skaa thief named Kelsier discovered that he was Mistborn and escapes the Pits of Hathsin, a brutal prison camp of the Lord Ruler. He returned to Luthadel, the capital city of the Final Empire, where he rounded up his old thieving crew for a new job: to overthrow the Final Empire by stealing its treasury and collapsing its economy.

At the beginning of the novel, Vin, a wary and abused street urchin, is recruited by Kelsier's crew after Kelsier is notified by his brother, Marsh, that she is a Mistborn. Vin is trained by Kelsier's crew to develop her Allomantic powers, which include burning pewter to strengthen the body, burning tin to enhance the senses, and burning steel and iron to gain a limited form of telekinesis over metal. She is also given the duty of spying on the nobility by attending opulent balls in Luthadel (the capital and center of the final empire), where she poses as Valette Renoux, niece to Lord Renoux, a nobleman working with Kelsier's crew. During these balls, she meets and falls in love with Elend Venture, heir to House Venture, the most powerful of the Luthadel noble houses. Elend flouts the rules of nobility culture and secretly plans to build a better society with his noble friends when they ascend to their respective house titles.

Kelsier hopes to conquer the city by destabilizing it with a house war between the nobility and then invading with a skaa army. Once in control, he hopes to overthrow the Final Empire by stealing the Lord Ruler's hoard of atium, a precious metal which is the cornerstone of the Final Empire's economy. The crew succeeds in starting a house war by assassinating several powerful nobles and recruiting about seven thousand soldiers to join their cause. However, about three quarters of the soldiers are slaughtered when they foolishly attack an unimportant Final Empire garrison with the hopes of divine protection from Kelsier, who has spread rumors of his "supernatural" powers. The remaining soldiers are smuggled into Luthadel by Kelsier, who intends to continue the plan. Unfortunately, Marsh is discovered and seemingly killed, and Lord Renoux and his estate are seized and he is brought to be executed by the Canton of Inquisition, the police arm of the Final Empire. This Canton is made up of Steel Inquisitors, seemingly indestructible Allomancers with steel spikes driven through their eyes. Though Kelsier's crew manage to free most of Renoux's group and kill an Inquisitor, Kelsier is killed by the Lord Ruler himself in a dramatic confrontation in Luthadel's city square. Though these events appear to leave Kelsier's plan in shambles, it is revealed that his real plan was to become a martyred symbol of hope for Luthadel's superstitious skaa population. The skaa population reacts to his death by rising up and overthrowing the city with the help of Kelsier's army.

Before his death, Kelsier had attempted to unlock the potential of the "Eleventh Metal" that he had acquired, which was rumored to be the Lord Ruler's weakness. He was unable to do so before his death, and left it to Vin to finish the job. With the Eleventh Metal, Vin goes to the imperial palace to kill the Lord Ruler. She is captured by the Canton of Inquisition and left in a cell to be tortured, but Sazed, her faithful servant, comes to her rescue. Using a magical discipline called Feruchemy, he helps Vin escape and recover her possessions. Marsh is revealed to be alive, having actually been made into a Steel Inquisitor; he betrays his fellow Inquisitors and slays them. Vin fights the Lord Ruler, who is revealed to be both an incredibly powerful Allomancer and a Feruchemist, the combination of which grants him incredible healing powers and eternal youth. Vin is almost destroyed by the Lord Ruler, but with hints from the Eleventh Metal and the unexpected magical aid of the mists, she manages to separate the Lord Ruler from his Feruchemical bracelets that provide him with constant youth, causing him to age rapidly. Vin uses a spear to kill the Lord Ruler, who with his last words ominously warns her of a great doom. The Final Empire collapses, though Elend is able to avoid total societal collapse by uniting Luthadel under a new system of democratic government.

The Powerpuff Girls were making a delicious pie while Bubbles decided to add in Chemical X as an ingredient for the pie. Once they baked the pie, Mojo Jojo took the pie and shared it with his allies including Fuzzy Lumpkins, Big Billy, Ace, Sedusa and Princess Morbucks. The Powerpuff Girls eventually defeat Mojo Jojo but were surprised by HIM's sudden arrival so the fiend can use the Chemical X for himself. The girls defeated HIM and put the Chemical X back where it belongs.

Four American tourists — Eric, his girlfriend Stacy, her best friend and former roommate Amy, and Amy's boyfriend Jeff, a medical student — are vacationing in Mexico. They befriend a German tourist named Mathias, and a trio of Greeks who go by the Spanish nicknames Pablo, Juan, and Don Quixote. Jeff volunteers the group to accompany Mathias as he attempts to find his brother Heinrich, who went missing after having followed a girl he'd met to an archeological dig. As they leave the hotel, Pablo joins them, leaving a note and a map for Juan and Don Quixote.

The six of them head down to the rural Yucatan in search of Heinrich. The driver of the pickup truck who takes them to the outskirts of Cabo tells Amy that the place to which they are going is "not good," and offers to drive the group somewhere else. Amy does not quite get the message and leaves anyway. Near a Mayan village, they discover a disguised trail which leads to a large hill covered in vines and surrounded by bare earth. The group approach the hill, and are confronted by armed men from the village. Jeff attempts to communicate with them in Spanish, but they do not respond. After Amy steps on the vine-covered hill when attempting to take a picture of the entire group, the men force the group to stay on the vine-covered hill.

At the top of the hill is an abandoned campsite with tents, and a makeshift windlass and rope leading down a mine shaft. Much of the camp is overgrown with the same vines that cover the hill. Believing they may be able to escape down the far side of the hill, Jeff and Mathias go down the other side to find more Mayans arriving and forming a perimeter around the hill, with bows and rifles ready to shoot them if they attempt to leave. They also discover Heinrich's body, killed by the Mayans and overgrown with vines. As they return to the camp, they realize the vines secrete an acidic sap, which burned their hands as they pulled the vines from Heinrich's body.

Hearing the ring of a cell phone from the bottom of the shaft, they use the rope to lower Pablo down in an attempt to retrieve it. However, the acid from the vines has weakened the rope, which snaps, sending Pablo falling down the shaft. They lower Eric after him, and he jumps to the bottom when they realize the rope isn't long enough, injuring his leg in the process. As the group fashions makeshift rope from one of the tents, Eric discovers that Pablo's back is broken, paralyzing him from the waist down. The group fashions a makeshift spinal board, lowering it and Amy down into the mine shaft. Eric and Amy manage to get Pablo onto the board before the lamp goes out. The cell phone rings again, and Eric tries to find it, determining that the sound is coming from another shaft in the mine.

While the group remains optimistic that Juan and Don Quixote will arrive, following Pablo's note, Jeff makes preparations to ration food and water. He also decides, before they go to sleep, that they should remain awake in shifts to watch over Pablo. As night falls, Jeff ventures back down the hill to find the Mayans are still there, but notices a gap that he may be able to slip through. As he moves closer to the base of the hill, he hears a flock of birds nearby which alert the Mayans to his position.

The next morning, the group awaken to find that the vine has wrapped around Eric's injured leg and pushed itself into his wound, and that they have wrapped themselves around Pablo's legs. As they pull the vines off of Pablo, they discover that the vines have eaten his lower legs down to the bone. This causes Amy to vomit, and she and Stacy watch in terror as a vine emerges from the hill to drink the puddle of vomit. Jeff decides to put up signs around the base of the hill, warning the remaining Greeks to stay away and get help if they should arrive. As he makes his way around the hill, he finds the corpses of others who have died there. He also realizes that the vines only consume organic material, as the victims' passports, jewelry, and the Mayans' arrowheads and bullets are intact. Further, he finds that the Mayans are apparently afraid of the vines, having salted the earth around the hill to keep them at bay, and will kill them if they attempt to leave the hill to prevent the vines from spreading through the spores in the group's clothing.

Returning to where he placed his first sign, he finds that it has been removed. Initially suspecting the Mayans, he discovers that the vines took it down, along with another warning sign left by a previous victim of the hill. Jeff returns to camp to share this new information with the others. He also decides that they should have someone wait at the bottom of the hill in case Juan and Don Quixote arrive. Meanwhile, Pablo's condition has severely worsened with the flesh being eaten away from his legs, and Jeff fears he will soon die of infection. While Amy keeps watch for the Greeks, the rest of the group vote - reluctantly - to amputate Pablo's legs.

With their resources dwindling, Jeff decides to return to the mine shaft to find the cell phone, taking Amy with him. In the mine, he fashions a torch and they search for the phone, following the sound down the other shaft in the mine. Jeff realizes that there is no phone: the vines can imitate sounds they hear, and have been attempting to lure him and Amy into falling down another shaft to their deaths. As Amy is lifted out of the mine, the group hears the vines laughing. Meanwhile, Eric grows increasingly disturbed, believing that the vine is growing inside of him, though the others do not believe him.

Later on, Eric, Amy, and Stacy get drunk on the tequila that Pablo brought along, eventually getting into a heated argument. They realize in horror that the vines can imitate voices, as well, repeating their criticisms of each other, Jeff, and Mathias. Pablo wakes up and asks for water, which Amy gives him, along with a grape from the group's rations. Jeff returns, infuriated that they drank alcohol with so little water between them, and that Eric has once again cut himself attempting to remove the vine from inside his body. After Jeff and Amy get into a heated argument, she leaves him alone as he watches over Pablo. Jeff hears her calling out to him and vomiting, but believes she is drunk and ignores her.

The next morning they discover that Amy is dead, the vines having grown down her throat and forcing her to drown in her own vomit. The vines have again wrapped around Eric's leg, inserting themselves into the initial cuts on his leg, and the cut he made on his abdomen the day before. They place Amy's body in a sleeping bag, and Jeff suggests that they consider preserving her body in order to cannibalize her if the Greeks do not arrive before their food runs out. Stacy is appalled and talks him out of it, and they all agree to bury Amy. Later, they hear Amy calling for Jeff. When they open the sleeping bag, they realize the vines had been imitating her voice, and have already eaten her down to the bone. That night, while Jeff is on lookout for the Greeks, it begins to rain heavily, forcing the Mayans to take cover in the trees. He sees this as an opportunity to escape and get help, but is shot dead by the Mayans. As he dies, he feels the vines pull his body back toward the hill.

During the storm, Stacy takes advantage of the rain to bathe herself while Mathias watches over Pablo and Eric rests in the tent. Later, the vines imitate the sounds of Stacy and Mathias having sex, which infuriates Eric, as Stacy has had numerous affairs in the past. Stacy insists that the vines are lying, and Mathias declines to respond. Mathias discovers that, during their argument, the vines have smothered Pablo to death, and left Jeff's hat on his skull. The vines taunt Mathias in Heinrich's voice - speaking in German - that Heinrich and Jeff are both dead.

In the morning, Eric's fears about the vines growing inside him appear to be justified, as Mathias removes vines from his chest and leg. While Stacy and Mathias go to look for Jeff, Eric is alone with the knife, and begins his attempts to excise the vines on his own. The vines later taunt Stacy and Mathias that Eric is dead. They return to camp to find him alive, but heavily injured, having cut off his own ear and flayed much of his skin in an effort to remove the vine. Mathias attempts to take the knife from Eric, but is accidentally stabbed through the heart. The vines pull his body into them. Stacy realizes they have not done the same to Eric in order to torment her by watching him die. Eric begs her to kill him, as he is too weak to do so himself, and, after pleading with each other, she stabs him in the heart.

Stacy, now alone, goes to the bottom of the path up the hill to wait for Juan and Don Quixote. The Mayans have determined that she is the last one left, and have begun breaking down their camps. When the Greeks do not arrive by nightfall, she calmly slits her wrists, hoping that her body will be a warning to them when they arrive. As she bleeds out, the vines pull her back into the underbrush.

Three days later, the other two Greeks, with some Brazilian tourists in tow, find the trail. A little girl, who is acting as a sentinel, as the little boy on the bike was, runs back to the village, but the new tourists are already halfway up the hill, calling for Pablo, before the Mayans arrive.

Jorian, ex-king of Xylar, has had enough adventures to last a lifetime. But when his brother Kerin, youngest son of Evor the Clockmaker, commits an indiscretion with Adeliza, a neighbor's daughter, he is packed off on a hasty quest to uncover the secret of an advanced clock escapement for the family firm. A pragmatic, cautious sort, he preps for his journey with a crash course from his experienced brother in useful skills — swordsmanship and foreign tongues, of course, but also lying and burglary. He is hampered and sometimes aided by the sprite Belinka, commissioned by the calculating Adeliza to ensure Kerin's faithfulness.

Kerin's goal takes him east across the Inner Sea, the Sea of Sikhon and the Eastern Ocean to the empire of Kuromon, where he is promised the secret in return for a magical fan lost centuries before. It has the property of making whatever it is waved at disappear without a trace. Along the way he must contend with a treacherous sea captain and his suspicious navigator, the duplicitous sorcerer Pwana, and the pirate crew of Malgo, who has a grudge against Kerin's family.

A more pleasant complication is Nogiri, a princess of the island empire of Salimor, whom Kerin has liberated (much to the displeasure of Belinka) from the pirates. Kerin returns her to Salimor only to lose her to the nefarious designs of Pwana, and a dire fate from which she can only be preserved by a daring rescue on roller skates.

Finally Kuromon is reached and negotiations are concluded satisfactorily, but only at the cost of an unexpected regime change.

The Kingdom of Xylar, one of the twelve city-states of Novaria, has a peculiar custom for choosing its kings, each of whom serves for a five-year term. At the end of that period he is beheaded in the public square before an assembly of foreigners, and his head cast into the crowd. The man who catches the head is drafted as the next king. The latest beneficiary/victim of this arrangement is Jorian of Kortoli, a powerful and intelligent man who has trained extensively for a life of adventure, but who is hampered by garrulousness and a weakness for drink and women. Having served out his term as king in a reign characterized by both great accomplishments and increasing despair, he ultimately appears resigned to his fate, though in fact he is determined to cheat it.

He successfully escapes his beheading with the aid of a Mulvanian magician, the saintly Dr. Karadur, who provides a spell granting physical access to the plane of the Novarian afterlife. This turns out to be our own world, in which the souls of Novarians are reincarnated. Jorian's brief excursion there is a satirical romp in which he is frightened by a passing giant truck, has a mutually uncomprehending encounter with a police officer in a patrol car, and is very glad to get back to the familiar dangers of his own world. These include an encounter with a homicidal wizard and his giant squirrel familiar, along with the succor of a distressed damsel who proves more trouble than she is worth.

Linking back up with Karadur, Jorian is confronted with the price of the sorcerer's aid; securing for him the Kist of Avlen, a legendary repository of ancient magical manuscripts. The novel follows his adventures as he attempts to both fulfill his service and avoid the agents of Xylar, duty-bound to abduct him back to Xylar for the beheading ceremony. Jorian's quest takes him through much of the known world, including the exotic lands of Mulvan, Komilakh and Shven, before ultimately returning to Novaria. Included in his adventures' bill of fare are the rescue a consignment of maidens destined for the block from a fortress full of homicidal retired executioners, romancing the centuries-old serpent princess Yargali guarding the Kist in order to steal it, matching wits with an unreliable and ineffectual god who appears to his worshipers in dreams, escaping sacrifice by a horde of angry beast men to their tiger god, enslavement and sale by treacherous nomads, and abetting a revolution in the priest-ruled city-state of Tarxia, during which a huge frog statue is brought to life.

The ultimate challenge comes at a great symposium of Karadur's guild of magicians hosted by the city-state of Metouro - the depiction of which provides de Camp with the opportunity to poke some fun at academic conferences and symposiums before getting on with the plot. The meeting is held in the fabled Goblin Tower, constructed from actual goblins transformed to stone. There Jorian becomes enmeshed in sorcerous politics as his patron Karadur naively presents the Kist of Avlen to the heads of his own faction, hoping thereby to advance its cause. Unfortunately, its use by these unscrupulous leaders cancels the spell binding the building's fabric together, freeing the goblins and bringing the tower crashing down. The protagonists escape but are left without resource. The outcome is particularly frustrating to Jorian; he had counted on Karadur's assistance in achieving his ultimate objective, the rescue from Xylar of Estrildis, his favorite among the wives he had as king, with whom he had hoped to settle down in peaceful obscurity in his home state of Kortoli.

The end of the novel finds him starting from scratch to recoup his fortunes by telling stories on a street corner.

, 1983

The ''Star of the Sea'' of the title is a famine ship, making the journey from Ireland to New York. Aboard are hundreds of refugees, many from humble and desperate backgrounds. Key protagonists are David Merridith Lord Kingscourt, his wife Laura, their servant Mary Duane, the ship's captain Josias Lockwood, a friendless Irishman named Pius Mulvey, and American journalist Grantley Dixon.

The story has multiple threads interwoven by Grantley Dixon. He uses diaries, letters, his own articles and conversations/interviews with some of the main characters or their relatives/descendants. The story partly follows the chronological course of the voyage, and for the intermediate or interposed parts consists of the meshed-in background lives of some of the emigrants and their relatives before they left Ireland (or England, or even after they arrived in the US). The novel departs from the usual formula of a murder mystery in that readers are vaguely informed of the identity of the murderer and the victim early in the novel, but the murder does not take place until the closing pages of the novel, and murder does not carry the full idea or sense of the killing.

As the writer was clearly aware in choosing the name, the term "Star of the Sea" has deep roots in Catholic tradition. Our Lady, Star of the Sea - a translation of the Latin ''Stella Maris'' - is the Blessed Virgin Mary in her aspect as a guide and protector to those who work or travel on the sea and under which title she is venerated in many Catholic seaside communities. Indeed, in Dutch and other translations the book was given the title "''Stella Maris''".

In 2008, London band Silvery released the song "Star of the Sea" on their debut album ''Thunderer & Excelsior'' on Blow Up Records, loosely following the narrative of the book.

O'Connors 2007 book ''Redemption Falls'' is in effect a sequel to the book, set in the aftermath of the American Civil War and featuring some character crossover.

With only four days until the bar exam, an utterly unprepared law intern, Rick Robinson (Ben Gourley), is given a rare opportunity to score points with his boss, Maxwell McAllister (Rutger Hauer) and without thinking, commits to a favor he cannot afford. Rick soon finds himself stuck in a grueling cross country road trip driving a rundown U-Haul truck carrying all his boss's worldly possessions. To make matters worse, he is left in charge of Mr. McAllister's bratty Hollywood-bound niece Michelle (Mila Kunis) and her out-of-control pet pig.

The trip from Miami to Los Angeles meets several snags. The truck breaks down on a backwoods road in the deep South, and Rick's clothes are burned by the hillbilly family providing them refuge for the night. Later, another breakdown results in Rick being knocked unconscious. He is rescued by a peculiar hitchhiker called Orlie (Jon Heder), who finds a motel room for him and Michelle. Orlie asks to accompany Rick and Michelle, and is accepted, as Rick believes he owes him a favor for his rescue. Michelle takes a shine to Orlie, and they proceed to have fun at Rick's expense.

After Orlie forces Rick into an unusual encounter in a fast food restaurant lavatory, Rick decides to leave him behind. He and Michelle grow closer to one another, following a stop at a Texas beach. Rick permits Michelle to drive, despite the insurance liability, due to fatigue. He wakes to find Michelle has taken them to Wichita, Kansas and Rick's home. Consequently, Rick is forced into a painful confrontation with his mentally ill father, an experience for which Michelle apologizes. They grow even closer as Michelle relates her life growing up.

The pair travel to Colorado, where the truck runs out of gas. A semi in which Orlie is traveling as a passenger comes to their aid. Following a stop in a small town, the truck (and Michelle's pig) is stolen by men working for local crime boss "The Lady" (Billy Drago). The Lady forces Rick and Orlie to fight in a cage match before he returns the truck, impressed by the show they put on. Crossing into Utah, Orlie spots a landscape that matches a drawing in his notebook. He believes that he has switched bodies as some past moment when he was near death, and believes that the person now occupying his body will arrive here. A switch can then take place. Orlie leaves Rick and Michelle, telling them to keep going.

As the window for Rick to safely arrive back in Miami for the bar exam narrows, he rejects Michelle's assertions that there is something special between them. Rick drives straight to Los Angeles, arriving in Malibu where Mr. McAllister is waiting for them at his beachside property. He states that Rick has arrived late, but does not appear overtly concerned. Realizing he must hurry to fly back to Miami, Rick rushes to the taxi McAllister has arranged for him, leaving Michelle asleep in the truck.

At the airport security checkpoint, Rick realizes he is making a terrible mistake as he observes the Polaroid photos Michelle has snapped throughout their trip. Knowing he is meant to be with Michelle, he scrambles out of the airport and returns to Malibu. Finding Mr. McAllister, Rick confesses his feelings for Michelle. McAllister, having heard similar sentiments from Michelle regarding Rick, thanks him for returning and asks him to take care of her. McAllister adds that his law firm will be opening a Los Angeles branch. The movie ends as Rick reunites with Michelle on the beach, and a man approaches Orlie back in Utah.

In 1995, Jake Ryan is a rookie police officer. Jake's father was a police officer, which prompted Jake to join the force. Jake's father was killed in the line of duty in 1984 and his case has not yet been solved. While playing the game, Jake uncovers clues to his father's murder.

Jake graduates at the top of his class and joins the Jackson Beach PD, the same force his dad was on. He makes several arrests in connection with a National Guard armory break-in. Just as he is about to tie these crimes in with his father's murder, Jake is in a car accident while riding his police motorcycle. After spending weeks in rehab, his father's old partner offers him a job as his assistant in his private investigation firm, and Jake accepts. Eventually, the two discover a massive gun smuggling ring, tied to three main individuals: a man named Bradford Green, Stuart Cox, the Jackson Beach district attorney, and Nico Dillon, the person who murdered Jake's father. The game ends with Nico being sentenced to receive a lethal injection, Bradford Green being sentenced to 20 years in prison, and Stuart Cox being sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Married to Margaret Brandt, Gerard sets off to Rome from Holland to escape the persecution of a vicious burgomaster as well as to earn money for the support of his family. Margaret awaits his return in Holland and in the meantime gives birth to his son. As Gerard is the favourite with his parents, his two lazy and jealous brothers decide to divert him from Holland and receive a larger share of fortune after their parents' death. They compose and dispatch a letter to Gerard informing him falsely that Margaret has died. Gerard believes the news and, stricken by grief, gives himself to a dissolute life and even attempts a suicide. After being saved from death by chance, he takes vows and becomes a Dominican friar. Later Gerard preaches throughout Europe and, while in Holland, discovers that Margaret is alive. He is afraid of temptation and to shun Margaret becomes a hermit. Margaret discovers Gerard's hiding place and convinces him to come back to normal life in which he becomes a vicar of a small town. Gerard and Margaret no longer live as a man and wife, but nevertheless see each other several times a week. A few years pass, Gerard's son grows up and is sent to a private school. After a decade reunited, Margaret catches the plague and dies; Gerard re-enters the monastery and dies shortly after. He is buried with a lock of Margaret's hair on his chest.

The author of ''The Cloister and the Hearth'', at the end of this story, reveals that Margaret's and Gerard's son, also named Gerard, became the great Catholic scholar and Humanist, Erasmus of Rotterdam, a major historical figure. Indeed, little is actually known about Erasmus' actual parentage (apparently illegitimate), though his parents were in reality named Margaret Roger and Gerard. Reade was apparently using his imagination to fill in some historical gaps in Erasmus' background. ''The Cloister and the Hearth'' can easily be read as anti-Catholic, as it presents Catholic discipline regarding the celibate priesthood as an unsympathetic obstacle preventing Margaret's and Gerard's love from continuing to be consummated.

A poor farmer named Chea returns home to his family after going to school for several years and befriends a Sou who later inherits his father's wealth and high-ranking status.

Upon finishing school and returning home, Chea soon falls in love with his neighbour, Orn. His happiness is shattered when his ill father passes away and the landowner demands for their cow for an overdue rent. Chea pleas with the landowner to give him a few days while he goes to ask his old friend Sou for some financial help. Upon his arrival at Sou's residence, Chea quickly discovers that Sou's recently inherited status has caused him to ignore and pretend that he doesn't know Chea because of his peasant background. Chea is turned down and returns home with a predicament.

Chea and his younger brother soon begin selling noodles in order to make enough cash for the family. His luck is cut short when he realizes his competition against another noodle seller, making for many light, comedic incidents.

Once their debt is cleared Chea asks his mother to ask for Orn's hand in marriage. This is soon arranged and Chea and An become engaged. Both families then begin to raise money to have the wedding with Chea continuing to sell noodles and An selling silk cloths with her mother. One day An and her mother were stopped by Sou who instantly falls in love with An and decides to buy every piece of silk cloth they have. Sou also sends a henchmen with An and her mother to find out where they live just in case he may need to purchase more of their silk. The henchmen reports back that Chea is engaged to An and Sou arranges a plan to get rid of Chea, in order to have An for himself.

Sou promptly visits Chea and apparently apologizes for what happened earlier. He tells Chea that he will help fund their wedding. Chea's mother requests that they would need a honeycomb for the wedding so both Chea and Sou set out to find one. They eventually locate one high up in the tree and eventually fasten a rope so they can climb up. Chea goes first and when he reaches the top of the tree, Sou betrays him by having his men cut the rope preventing Chea from getting down. Sou leaves Chea to die and returns to An saying that Chea has fallen to his death and wishes Sou would marry An.

Chea remembers the lessons he learned from his mentor and tricks a bear into bringing him down the tree. He secretly enters Sou's and Orn's wedding ceremony under the disguise of a singer. Orn, still devastated from Chea's apparent death, decides to lock herself in a room and commit suicide. Her suicide is thwarted when Chea begins to sing and she recognizes his voice. She unlocks the door and embraces Chea. Sou disrupts their reunion by having Chea sent out to the forest to be executed and forces An to marry him.

Chea's younger brother quickly gathers a force of villagers who promptly save Chea from execution. Chea along with the villagers storm the wedding ceremony and Sou is killed in the ensuing chaos. Sou's father, realizing what has happened, restores order and justice. Chea and An are finally reunited at last.

Martin Edelweiss grows up in pre-Revolutionary St. Petersburg. His grandfather Edelweiss had come to Russia from Switzerland, and was employed as a tutor, eventually marrying his youngest pupil. The watercolor image of a dense forest with a winding path hangs over Martin's crib and becomes a leading motif in his life. During Martin's upbringing, his parents get divorced. His father, whom he did not love very much, soon dies. With the revolution, his mother, Sofia, takes Martin first to the Crimea, then out of Russia.

On the ship to Athens, Martin is enchanted by and has his first romance with the beautiful, older poet Alla, who is married. After Athens, Martin and his mother find refuge in Switzerland with his uncle Henry Edelweiss, who will eventually become Martin's stepfather.

Martin goes to study at Cambridge and, on the way, stays with the Zilanov family in London; he is attracted to their 16-year-old daughter, Sonia. At Cambridge, he enjoys the wide academic offerings of the university and takes some time to choose a field. He is fascinated by Archibald Moon, who teaches Russian literature. He meets Darwin, a fellow student from England, who has a literary talent and history as a war hero. Darwin also becomes interested in Sonia, but she rejects his marriage proposal. Martin has a very brief affair with a waitress named Rose, who blackmails Martin by faking a pregnancy, until Darwin unveils her ruse and pays her off. Just before the end of their Cambridge days, Darwin and Martin engage in a boxing match.

Martin does not settle down after Cambridge, to the dismay of his uncle and step-father, Henry. He follows the Zilanovs to Berlin and meets the writer Bubnov. During this period, Martin and Sonia imagine Zoorland, a northern country championing absolute equality. Sonia pushes Martin away, making him feel alienated among the group of friends he had in Berlin. He takes a train trip to the South of France. At some distance he sees some lights in the distance at night, mimicking an episode in his childhood. Martin gets off the train and finds the village of Molignac. He stays there and works a while, identifying himself alternately as Swiss, German, and English, but never Russian. Getting another negative letter from Sonia, he returns to Switzerland. Picking up an émigré publication, Martin realizes that Bubnov has published a story called ''Zoorland''—a betrayal by Sonia, who has become Bubnov's lover.

In the Swiss mountains, he challenges himself to conquer a cliff, ostensibly as a form of training for his future exploits. It becomes clear that Martin has been planning on slipping over the border into Soviet Russia. He meets Gruzinov, a renowned espionage specialist, who knows how to secretly enter the Soviet Union. Gruzinov gives him information, but Martin doubts that Gruzinov is taking him seriously and giving him reliable information.

Preparing for this expedition, Martin says his farewells, first in Switzerland, then back in Berlin, where he meets Sonia, then Bubnov, and then Darwin, who now works as a journalist. He tells Darwin the basics of his plan and enlists his assistance, giving him a series of four postcards to send his mother in Switzerland so she does not get suspicious. Darwin does not believe he is serious. Martin takes the train to Riga, planning to cross from there into the Soviet Union. After two weeks, Darwin gets nervous and follows his friend to Riga. However, Martin is nowhere to be found: he seems to have disappeared. Darwin takes his concerns to the Zilanovs, and then travels to Switzerland to inform Martin's mother of her son's disappearance. The novel ends with Martin's whereabouts unknown and Darwin leaving the Edelweisses' house in Switzerland having delivered the troubling news.

In this story, a schooner at sea ("becalmed in the Northern Pacific") is approached in the middle of "a dark, starless night" by a small rowboat. The passenger aboard the boat, who refuses to bring his boat close alongside and requests that the sailors on the schooner put away their lanterns, tells everyone a disturbing tale. Begging food for his fiancée, he receives some rations, floated to him in a wooden box. Later that same evening, he returns to report that his fiancée is grateful for the food, but will soon die, and he tells the sailors his full story.

He and his fiancée, aboard the ship ''Albatross'', were abandoned by the ship's crew, who took the remaining lifeboats. After building a raft, they escaped from the sinking vessel and found an apparently abandoned ship in a nearby lagoon, covered with a fungus-like growth. They attempted to remove this growth from the living quarters but were unable to do so; it continued to spread, and so they returned to their raft. The nearby island was also covered with this growth, except for a narrow beach. Eventually, the man and his fiancee found the fungus growing on their skin and felt an uncontrollable urge to eat it. They discovered that other humans on the island have been entirely absorbed by the strange fungal growth.

As the man in the rowboat rows away, just as the sky is lightening, the narrator can dimly see a grotesquely misshapen figure in the rowboat, scarcely recognisable as human.

In the fictional town of Willow Valley, Washington during the year 1955, teenager Susie Quinn prepares for her Winter Formal. She and her boyfriend, Johnny Angel, are oblivious to the fact that an inebriated motorist would soon force their car into a waterway where they subsequently drown. Forty years later, a teenager named Zach Sands moves into that very house with his widowed mother Penny who has a new job as a news reporter. Zach's father had died in a car accident on his way to Zach's basketball game — and Zach feels so guilty he abandons basketball. Now a student at the local high school, Zach befriends the drama group but also makes enemies of the envious Ray Kovich whose father, Roger, is a banker.

While fishing with his younger sister Teri, Zach finds a bracelet that causes Susie's ghost to manifest before Zach. Eventually, Zach researches Susie and discovers that she died 40 years ago. That night, Susie visits Zach again, and proves to him that he is the only one who can see her. Later Susie arrives at Zach's school, where he's distracted by the other girls in school - until Susie rips off part of the winter formal dress she's wearing to get his attention. Susie begs Zach to help her find out what happened to her parents but, while doing so, causes a scene in Zach's class. She apologizes, but continues to cause trouble at school and home until Zach agrees to help.

While visiting Susie's parents, Zach finds out they are facing homelessness at the hands of the local bank because of a missing title deed, and that the bank is demanding an unaffordable $25,000 balloon payment. However, this is only one part of a larger plan, led by Roger, that would eventually destroy the town. Heading back home, Susie confesses that before she died, her grandfather was looking for the deed for Willow Valley. She reveals to Zach that she is still earth-bound because of a mistake she had made in persuading her grandfather to rest, rather than help him find the deed that could have secured her family. Only then, Zach realizes how much Susie needs his help to find the deed and secure her family's legacy. Teri discovers that much of the town's land legally belongs to the Quinn family, and it becomes a fierce race to the finish as Zach locates the requisite title deed. It draws the attention of the police; meanwhile Roger is warned and makes his own plans. After the police arrest Zach and Teri, Susie manages to save them by scaring the officer into letting them go free.

Finally, Zach and Teri make it to the local news station just in time to provide their mother with all of the information about the Quinn family's history, which is broadcast on live television. In the aftermath, the bankers give up and apologize to the Quinns, the Kovich family leave town in an attempt on Roger's part to avoid criminal prosecution and Zach returns to playing basketball in honor of his late father. Thanks to Susie providing Zach with her father's old playbook, the team wins. With her mistake rectified, Susie returns to the bridge where she died. Zach follows her there and asks her what will happen to him now that she's leaving for heaven. Susie tells him that his life is just beginning and she is sure he can continue playing basketball for both her and his late father. Susie reunites with the spirits of her boyfriend, Johnny and her grandfather in Johnny's car. Before the ghostly trio depart for heaven, Susie gives Zach her bracelet and bidding him an emotional farewell, vice versa Zach admits he loves her. In the car, her grandfather briefly awakens and calls Susie by her mother's name, Betsy. She corrects him by telling him that her name is Susie and tells him to go back to sleep because they have a long trip ahead. In the closing scene, Zach meets a girl who looks identical to Susie and introduces herself as Maggie.

The game takes place after the events of ''Gemstone Warrior''. In the first game, the player had to recover the Gemstone, a relic of incredible power forged by the gods and focusing the natural magic of the world. This, they entrusted to Man alone and for a time, there was great prosperity and peace. But the Demons, led by Nicodemius, had managed to boil to the surface and take the Gemstone. Unable to destroy it, Nicodemius fragments it into five pieces that they hide in their vast lair. By going into the Netherworld, the protagonist is assumed to have succeeded in this quest and returns with the Gemstone.

However, the Gemstone's magic has been lost. In the sequel, the player must now journey to the Center where the gods had forged the Gemstone and restore the balance of the magic within it by splitting it once more and healing each piece. This time, the player will have to contend with the challenge of discovering the tools that can restore the magic to the Gemstone as well as facing Nicodemius himself.

The seal which was used to imprison the 2 fallen angels, Kirin no Judas and Houou no Luca, is broken and the two decide to get their revenge on God by getting rid of Heaven that had once been their home and create the true paradise which is Hell. Soon, the guardian angels on Earth begin disappearing, and no one in Heaven can explain the happenings. But there is a sense of a vengeful animal spirit at work, and so the Four Saint Beasts are called upon to investigate.

The 4 Gods of Beasts attempts to rescue the guardian angels, as well as to find out what this evil animal spirit is...

Mizuki is conversing with Sorahito about where people go when they die with him responding "no they go to Eden". Eden becomes a referring place during the course of the Manga and finally introduces Eve the character whom Judas is attached to. Judas is The spirit of Death and apostle who betrayed Jesus. His curse is to kill 666 people so he may gain his humanity it is implied that they have been together for some time and have taken many lives. When Sorahito becomes obsessed with finding "Eden" he tries making Mizuki join him so they can go to "Eden" together. Eve who is really a boy and confused to be a girl all the time including Judas which is explained that when they first met Judas confused Eve for a girl so now he makes him wear girls' clothes, confronts Sorahito and tries changing his mind but Sorahito tries killing Eve. In response Judas is summoned and combine their powers and kill Sorahito. Later Mizuiki meets Dr. Hibuki who is a doctor and becomes desperate for Eden too. Hibuki is visited secretly by a bald man who gives him power. When Hibuki is killed a strange necklace is found where Judas says "Damn Peter! What the hell is he creating me? The hell!!". Later Mizuki meanwhile has been researching on what Eden actually is and the "Holy Council" when she asks Judas about it Judas only says "Do not interfere". Eve then tells Mizuki of a man whom Judas was attached to and who may hold the answers to everything. This man is in New York. The FBI arrive to arrest him but the man kills all of the agents including destroying the helicopters. The man, revealed to be Zero Maschaitto then talks about "opening the doors to Paradise".

Zero meets with the bald man, Peter. Peter commands Zero to do battle with Judas and to take back what he took from Zero. Zero departs with Peter saying "what terror there will be". Mizuki, Eve and Judas and Kugiku Mizuki's friend get a visitor who is a friend of Mizukis. She is revealed to be Sorahito's sister and Mizuki decides to tell her want happened to him however they are drawn by a mysterious force. Judas is the only one not affected and it turns out Zero is the cause for their kidnapping. Zero says that he will take everything from him and take back what was taken from him by Judas. Zero reveals that Peter plans to resurrect the twelve apostles and together open the gates of Eden. The one who betrayed Christ is revealed to be Judas himself - the historical figure. Zero aims to kill Eve who without, Judas will turn to nothing but suddenly he is freed and Judas and Eve combine their powers and take on Zero. They have a fierce battle and it is revealed that Peter who is the apostle Peter plans to clone Judas but this is foiled. In the end Zero departs and Peter summons the first of the revelations of John, Rain and hail mingled with blood which falls onto the earth. At a cafe it is revealed that Saints John and Philip have been revived and soon after the waitresses speak to them they are killed by John And Philip uses his time powers to switch the clocks back making it possible for the second seal to be opened "A great mountain of Fire Erupting" Mt.Fuji is blown up and thousands upon thousands are killed as a result. As the Apostles are resurrecting and Peter laughs in delight, Judas and Eve have had enough and declare that they're going to "pity the fuck out of them" thus concluding volume 2.

Mizuki is tricked into going to a house from an email which said it was from Sorahito who says that he is alive and wishes to speak with her. In reality however St. Thomas tricked her and wishes to "try" her for her sins. Eve and Judas run to the house and find that Thomas has begun the trial. Thomas reveals to them that Mizuki when shes was a girl had "untolerable feelings" for sorahito when though taking vows of chastity, Mizuki would in the night go to his room and kiss him and finally betrayed him to Judas (who killed him in volume 1). It is also shown when Thomas tried to judge Eve that Eve has killed a great number of people, Judas then called Eve the "Other Angel of Death".

Holger Carlsen is an American-trained Danish engineer who joins the Danish resistance to the Nazis in World War II. At the shore near Elsinore, he is among the group of resistance fighters trying to cover the escape to Sweden of an important scientist (evidently the nuclear physicist Niels Bohr). With a German force closing in, Carlsen is shot and suddenly finds himself transported to a parallel universe, a world in which Northern European legend concerning Charlemagne ("The Matter of France") is real. This world is divided between the forces of Chaos, inhabiting the "Middle World" (which includes Faerie), and the forces of Law based in the human world, which is in turn divided between the Holy Roman Empire and the Saracens. He finds the equipment and horse of a medieval knight waiting for him. The shield is emblazoned with three hearts and three lions. He finds that the clothes and armor fit him perfectly, and he knows how to use the weapons and ride the horse as well as speak fluently the local language, a very archaic form of French.

Seeking to return to his own world, Holger is joined by Alianora, a swan maiden, and Hugi, a dwarf. They are induced to follow the seemingly attractive elvish Duke Alfric of Faerie, who in fact plots to imprison Holger in Elf Hill, where time runs differently. Holger learns that Morgan Le Fay, his lover in a forgotten past life, is his ultimate adversary.

They escape and, after encountering a dragon, a giant, and a werewolf, reach the town of Tarnberg, where they are joined by the mysterious Saracen, Carahue, who has been searching for Holger. Based on the advice of the wizard, Martinus Trismegistus, they set out to recover the sword Cortana. The sword is in a ruined church, guarded by a nixie, cannibal hillmen, and (most dangerous of all) a troll.

On the perilous quest, Holger and Alianora fall deeply in love with each other. However, Holger avoids physically consummating this love though Alianora wants him to as he intends to return to his 20th-century world. But with the perilous Wild Hunt on their tracks, Holger and Alianora pledge their love and he promises, if surviving the ordeal ahead, always to remain with her. However, the decision would be taken out of his hands.

Once the sword is recovered, Holger discovers that he is the legendary Ogier the Dane, a champion of Law. He vanquishes the forces of Chaos and is transported back to his own world, right back to the battle in Elsinore and, with a burst of superhuman strength, vanquishes the Nazi troops and enables Bohr to escape and play his part in the Manhattan Project. Thus, in two worlds, Holger/Ogier has fulfilled his destiny of fighting evil forces and preserving Denmark and France. The magical forces involved have no consideration for the hero's love life by leaving him stranded away from his beloved Alianora. Desperately wanting to return to the other world, he seeks clues in old books of magic. His enduring affinity with the medieval world in which he met her is expressed by a decision to convert to Catholicism.

''Several Ways to Die Trying'' is about a young man who wants to kill himself when no one will publish his first novel, a choose-your-own-adventure book where the outcome is always death, but can't because he has writer's block on his suicide note. While hiking to try to clear his head he encounters Molly Usie, an outcast who is determined to befriend him.

Eventually he falls for Molly, but has to decide if she's worth living for.

Maurice and Dave try but fail to sell steaks to people through a mail service. Tired of their incompetence, their boss gives them cards with the names and addresses of their highest buyers, warning that this is their last chance. Dave loses all but one of the cards. It leads to a woman named Loridonna.

Loridonna is on the phone with her friend Suzanne, who has swallowed a fish and needs help. Loridonna tells Suzanne that Dave is a doctor and gives him the phone; while Dave is talking to Suzanne, Loridonna talks seductively about wanting Maurice's "meat". Turned on, Maurice tries to seal a deal, but Dave says Suzanne wants to kill herself. They drive Loridonna to Suzanne's house, where they discover that she is an alcoholic whose suicide was a false alarm.

Loridonna and Maurice begin making out, and Suzanne's husband Tony comes home and catches them, but he casually changes clothes while telling Maurice that she was once a man. Suzanne confirms this and tries to explain, but Maurice is too disappointed (and disgusted) to care. Tony then attempts to kill Dave, thinking he tried to seduce Suzanne. After explaining, Dave and Tony become friendly. Tony begins to grill some steaks, then is ambushed, shot, and killed by two hitmen.

Finding some of Tony's guns, Dave and Maurice fight back. The hitmen put them into the trunk of their car and leave them there while attending a party. Maurice manages to get out, then sees Goldbluth, a name from the cards they got from their boss. After freeing Dave, they start describing to party guests the tenderness of their steaks. The hitmen return looking for them. Dave is unable to leave because Goldbluth is rambling on. He signs a contract to buy meat, so they warn Goldbluth that two hitmen are here to kill him. Dave gives Goldbluth the gun Tony had when he was killed.

Maurice and Dave drive off, looking back to see shots fired. Goldbluth comes out without a scratch. Maurice and Dave return to their boss with seven orders and $21,000 up front from Goldbluth.

Sixth grader Sho Takamatsu travels to school after a bitter argument with his mother Emiko. While in class, a tremor shakes the facility, and the school is transported to an otherworldly wasteland. Yu, a three-year-old boy who was caught in the tremor, shows Sho a memorial buried in the dust commemorating the disappearance of their school. It transpires that the school has traveled through time to a post-apocalyptic future ravaged by environmental disasters.

As the hopelessness of their situation becomes clear, many of the adults descend into insanity. Lunchroom worker Sekiya hoards the school's food and immolates the teachers who attempt to stop him, while teacher Wakahara murders his colleagues and several students before being killed by Sho in self-defense. With the adults dead, Sho and his companions attempt to lead the children as a quasi-government. Nishi, a telepathic student who is able to communicate with individuals in the past, is able to contact Emiko, who prepares objects in her own time to assist the children in their future.

The stranded children face many threats in their fight for survival, including hostile megafauna, a deadly plague, food and water shortages, delinquents who sow dissension, and creeping madness. Nishi ultimately falls into a coma, though the children are able to use her powers one final time to send Yu back into the past. Yu promises that he will try to avert the events that have led to their future, and delivers Sho's journal to Emiko. The children remaining in the future vow to rebuild the world from the ashes of the past.

Daisuke Suwa is a high school student living with his widowed mother in a small Japanese community. His ambitions are to leave the town, gain acceptance at a city university and to enjoy being a bachelor.

In a discussion with a classmate about which of the girls in class he would choose to date, he declares he would pass on only one: Hinako Aikawa, a beautiful but shy girl. Daisuke is put off by her "sweet virgin" act and is annoyed by her extreme reactions to physical contact from men.

Working after school one day, Daisuke takes refuge in an empty church building to avoid a pair of girls, hiding inside a confessional booth. Believing him to be a priest, Hinako asks him to hear her confession.

As a junior high school student, Hinako was sexually abused by her stepfather and became pregnant. Her mother learned of the pregnancy when Hinako miscarried, but did nothing. The abuse continued and Hinako became pregnant again. She was told that the pregnancy may make her incapable of bearing children again, but since the doctors felt an abortion at that point would be dangerous, she carried the baby to term and her mother had it put up for adoption immediately after birth.

Hinako ends by saying that although she never wanted the child and was relieved to have it adopted, she wonders whether it would be all right if she celebrated his birthday, which is today. Daisuke assures her that she has the support of God, which calms Hinako down, who she thanks him and leaves.

The next day a baby carriage begins to roll down. Daisuke instinctively jumps to protect Hinako and manages to stop the carriage, both of them are knocked to the ground. In the process, Hinako's skirt gets hitched up, revealing a scar on her stomach which Daisuke recognizes as a Caesarean-section scar. Daisuke realizes that her ordeal was the cause of her aversion to men. He resolves to keep her secret and soon finds himself falling in love with her.

It is revealed gradually through flashbacks that during the war, the Decepticon scientist Thunderwing realized that the planet Cybertron was dying due to the adverse effects of the Autobot-Decepticon war. Trying and failing to convince his fellow scientists of the danger, he invented a process where a bio-mechanical symbiotic shell could be grafted to a Transformer. When this was rejected by Megatron, Thunderwing tested the process on himself. It worked, rendering him immensely powerful, but at a cost: it drove him mad, leading him to devastate large portions of Cybertron. A last-ditch alliance between Optimus Prime and Megatron stopped the creature when it fell into the depths of Cybertron, but Prime refused to allow Megatron to destroy their world to make sure of Thunderwing's destruction.

In the present, a scientific expedition consisting of Jetfire and the Technobots detects unusual energy readings on Cybertron. Investigating, they are captured by Bludgeon's cultists, and their ship is shot down, although not before the other Technobots release a message buoy. Bludgeon plans to reanimate Thunderwing using Ultra Energon, and send him out to destroy other worlds so that Cybertron may be reborn, unleashing him first on Nebulos. He also plans to give himself and the other cultists their own bio-mechanical shells. However, Prime has received the message buoy, and calls in the Wreckers to investigate.

On Nebulos, the local Decepticon infiltration cell led by Darkwing do their best against Thunderwing, but most of the group are summarily crushed. The Wreckers and Prime arrive on Cybertron, eliminating Bludgeon's cult. Bludgeon has tried the grafting process on himself, but has done it too soon: as with Thunderwing before him, it drives him mad. They destroy Thunderwing's control device, which causes him to return to Cybertron. Razorclaw informs Megatron (now on Earth) on Thunderwing's reemergence and Megatron orders him to do what is necessary to destroy the monster, even up to destroying Cybertron.

Thunderwing arrives, and the Wreckers, even with some unlikely assistance from Razorclaw's Decepticons, prove unable to halt it. However, Jetfire discerns a weakness: the more Thunderwing exerts himself, the faster the Ultra Energon powering him will burn out. Prime leads a host of Centurion robots into battle as Razorclaw prepares to obliterate Cybertron. Prime's last-ditch assault causes the beast to finally stop, simply shutting down, as the Decepticons abort the countdown with a second left to go. Prime then departs on the ''Ark-27'', as Jetfire reports that Bludgeon got the Ultra Energon from Earth. Recalling a communication from Prowl's Earth unit before Thunderwing's rampage, Prime sets course for the now suddenly important planet, leading into the last page of ''Infiltration''.

An American gangster, Rodney, visits famed crack shot hitman Francisco Scaramanga to kill him and collect a bounty, but he is directed into a funhouse section of the estate where there are mannequins of gangsters. Scaramanga eventually retrieves his golden gun and kills the gangster.

In London, a golden bullet etched with '007' is received by MI6; it is believed to have been sent by Scaramanga, but because no one knows of his appearance outside of having a third nipple, M relieves Bond of his current mission involving tracking an energy scientist named Gibson.

At a hint from Moneypenny, Bond sets out unofficially to locate Scaramanga, first by retrieving a spent golden bullet from a belly dancer in Beirut. He traces the bullet to a gun maker in Macau, and forces him to reveal how he ships the bullets. Bond follows the shipment carried to Hong Kong by Andrea Anders, Scaramanga's mistress. At her Peninsula Hotel room, he coerces her to expose information about Scaramanga, his appearance and his plans. She directs Bond to the Bottoms Up Club where Scaramanga snipes Gibson when he steps outside, and Scaramanga's midget assistant Nick Nack steals a small device called the Solex Agitator off his body. Bond, who had pulled out his pistol outside the club, is arrested by Hong Kong police lieutenant Hip. But instead of going to the station, he is transported to the wreck of in the harbour where he meets M and Q, and is assigned to work with Hip to retrieve the Solex.

Bond travels to Bangkok to meet Hai Fat, a wealthy Thai entrepreneur suspected of arranging Gibson's murder. Posing as Scaramanga by showing off his fake third nipple, Bond is invited to dinner, but his plan backfires because unbeknownst to him, Scaramanga himself is operating at Fat's estate. Bond is captured and placed inside Fat's martial arts academy, where the students duel to the death and then are instructed to kill him. Escaping with the aid of Hip and his nieces, Bond speeds away on a motorised sampan along the river, and reunites with his assistant, Mary Goodnight. Scaramanga subsequently kills Fat with his golden gun and assumes control of his empire and the Solex.

Anders reveals to Bond that she sent the bullet to London. She wants him to kill Scaramanga, and promises to give him the Solex as they spent the night together. At a Muay Thai boxing event the next day, Bond finds Anders sitting and staring silently, dead from a bullet to the heart. Scaramanga arrives and introduces himself to Bond, but Bond is able to smuggle the Solex to Hip, who passes it to Goodnight. When Goodnight follows Nick Nack to place a homing device on Scaramanga's car, Scaramanga traps her in the car's boot. Bond discovers Scaramanga driving off and steals an AMC Hornet from a showroom to give chase, coincidentally with the holidaying J.W. Pepper (the Louisianan sheriff Bond encountered in ''Live and Let Die'') sitting inside. The chase concludes when Scaramanga's AMC Matador hides in a building and then transforms into a plane that flies off.

Tracking Goodnight's homing beacon, Bond takes a seaplane and flies to Scaramanga's island in the Red Chinese waters. Scaramanga welcomes and shows Bond the solar power plant facility that he has taken over, the technology for which he intends to sell to the highest bidder. While demonstrating the equipment, Scaramanga uses the solar-powered energy beam to destroy Bond's plane, preventing him from escaping.

During lunch, Scaramanga proposes a pistol duel with Bond on the beach. With Nick Nack officiating, the two men take twenty paces, but when Bond turns and fires, Scaramanga has vanished. Nick Nack leads Bond into Scaramanga's manor and funhouse section. Bond eventually outwits and kills Scaramanga by posing as his mannequin. Goodnight kills Scaramanga's security chief Kra, but the latter's fall into a liquid helium vat causes the plant's temperature to spiral out of control. Bond retrieves the Solex unit just before the plant is destroyed, and they escape unharmed in Scaramanga's Chinese junk. After Bond fends off a final attack by Nick Nack, he romances Goodnight.

The manga follows Red, a young boy competing with a rival, Green, to complete the Illustrated Pokémon Encyclopedia/Pokédex and become the master of Pokémon. In this manga, Pokémon are capable of human speech. It is thought that a Pippi/Clefairy is the main character, although it is just a follower of Red. It is obnoxious but lovable, whose big mouth sometimes gets it into trouble. Surprisingly enough, it comes up with clever ideas to help Red and Pikachu.

In the first few manga books, Red's team consists of Pikachu and Pippi/Clefairy only. However, later on, Red gains a valuable companion in Tyrogue, as well. Pikachu himself is unable to talk.

The story also goes to the Johto region, where Red gets introduced to trainers Gold and Silver, supposedly based on the video game characters. The story then goes to Hoenn in the last volume, where Red thinks of receiving a Achamo/Torchic and abandoning Pippi/Clefairy. It is after this that the story continues under the name of Pokémon Ruby-Sapphire, starting the volume number from 1.

Characters

• ( ): Charged with completing the Pokémon Zukan, he is Green's rival. '''Clefairy''' (''Pippi'' in the Japanese version): Red's first Pokémon ally. It is very vulgar and likes to do 'sick' things to attract attention. '''Pikachu''': Clefairy's younger cousin who joins Red and Clefairy. He is unable to talk.
• ( ): Red's rival.

In this sequel to ''The Goblin Tower'', ex-king Jorian of Xylar and Dr. Karadur renew their alliance, with the latter offering to help the former recover his favorite wife Estrildis in return for a new service. Jorian is commissioned to repair the clocks in the Tower of Kumashar, the great lighthouse of Iraz, capital city of the empire of Penembei to the south of Novaria. The timepieces had originally been installed by Jorian's father Evor the Clockmaker, a renowned practitioner of that trade.

Complications consist of a pair of competing prophecies regarding the fate of the city, Iraz's cut-throat politics and xenophobic racing factions (clearly based on those of the Byzantine Empire), and a perfect storm of enemies approaching the city, including the pirates of Algarth, a mercenary company from Novaria, the desert hordes of Fedirun, and a revolutionary peasant army. Topping these is the Emperor Ishbahar himself, who seems to think Jorian might make a good heir to dump the whole mess on. Jorian hardly needs to hear a new prophecy relating to ''himself''—"beware the second crown"—to tread cautiously. It will take luck as well as cunning just to get out alive, let alone save the city and seize the forlorn hope of regaining Estrildis with the aid of Karadur's flying bathtub.

The riots which dominate the last chapters of the book are evidently modeled on the Nika riots, a major event in the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian.

The story takes place in old Mexico, where a masked rider (Talmadge) and an impoverished girl (Bedford) fall in love, against her father's wishes. When she leaves with him, her father sends his gang in a chase after the two lovers.

The novel's protagonist is Billy Gimp, a man with a club foot who runs "blades" for Doc (Doctor John Long) as part of an illegal black market for medical services. The setting is a society where free, comprehensive medical treatment is available for anyone so long as they qualify for treatment under the Eugenics Laws. Preconditions for medical care include sterilization, and no legitimate medical care is available for anyone who does not qualify or does not wish to undergo the sterilization procedure (including children over the age of five). These conditions have created illegal medical services in which bladerunners supply black market medical supplies for underground practitioners, who generally go out at night to see patients and perform surgery. As an epidemic breaks out among the underclass, Billy must save his city from the plague.

''Seabert'' is about a boy named Tommy, an Inuit girl named Aura, and their "pet" whitecoat seal Seabert. After Seabert's parents are killed by hunters, the three band together. They go on adventures in which they encounter more hunters and poachers (including Tommy's Uncle Smokey, his bumbling henchmen Carbonne and Sulfuric, and a villain named Graphite) and save various animals from harm.

This story takes place in the future, where London is a wasteland where two clans war. The two main characters of this story are twins Siggy and Signy. They are the children of Val Volson, leader of the largest territory that was once London. Val wishes for peace and believes the only way to do so is to unite London under one ruler. He offers his daughter Signy as Conor's wife, in order to show his complete commitment to the Treaty. Conor agrees and shows his trust, by visiting the Volson's territory. The visit goes as planned until a banquet is interrupted by an unusual guest. A believed spy, who was strung up by his ankle returns to life and shows it was not a one time trick, as he crashes down head first from thirty or so feet up. After returning to life for the second time he walks up and down the hall. He acknowledges only Siggy and Signy, before plunging a knife deep into a believed to be unbreakable substance. All others try, but no matter how hard they pull, the knife remains within the wall. But one person knows he is the chosen one. Siggy (who wishes for anything but the responsibility of leadership) removes the knife with ease, as his father acknowledges that it was a gift from Odin himself, blessing the treaty in his own way. Conor wishes to have the knife himself and asks Siggy, claiming that as the guest of honour he is entitled. But Siggy refuses, even going so far as to plunge it into wood. But Conor cannot remove it and laughs it off, before leaving with Signy. Signy is disappointed with Siggy for not giving the knife to Conor and heads to Conor's territory annoyed at her brother.

Conor and Signy are very happy together, and everything seems to be perfect. Although she is disappointed at being kept in a tower (which Conor assures her is for her own protection), she is still happy because she loves Conor. During a half-man hunt, Signy makes a shocking discovery. The half-men are not what they are reputed to be. After being cornered by a hyena-man, she is informed that Conor wishes to kill her family and claim London for his own. The hyena-man surprises her further by giving her a kitten named Cherry (who is said to have more than one shape), before leaping to the ground and meeting his end by Conor's convoy. After over a year within Conor's territory, her family come to visit. They come (as expected) heavily armed but are caught off guard by Conor's surprise attack. He has betrayed them. Val is killed and the three brothers are forced to surrender. The Volsons are taken to Conor's lair, being disrespected by the guards and townspeople as they go. After a few days of torture, Conor has them left out to die in the half-men lands. Their fate is to be dinner of a berserk pig who roams nearby. First Hadrian is eaten, then Ben. Before long only Siggy remains. Siggy wishes for death, but knows somehow that it is not to be. Signy (following being hamstrung under Conor's orders) discovers that her kitten Cherry is a shapeshifter. She informs her master that Siggy is still alive and in the hopes of pleasing Signy, rushes to his aide. Cherry helps him escape from the pig, before ensuring he is found by Melanie (another pig-woman). Melanie originally intends to sell him as a slave or at worst eat him. But she quickly begins to like Siggy and decides to help him recuperate. She helps his wounds heal and assists in his convalescence. Before long Siggy is back to normal and has struck up a deep friendship with Melanie. Signy has become bitter and twisted and begins to think of nothing but her revenge against Conor. Signy realizes that Conor desperately wants her to have a baby, but she does not want it to be his. Instead, Signy changes shapes with Cherry. She changes into a bird and goes to meet Siggy. She seduces him and has him bear her a child unknowingly. When Signy has the baby, she pretends to have it kidnapped and lets rebel troops clone it. The original baby is named Victor, and the cloned one is named Styr. The cloned one is given special features, making it stronger, faster, and designed for war.

John, an eccentric music teacher, takes in Sebastian, a younger writer, ostensibly in an effort to help him, but is really attracted to him. When Sebastian starts dating a woman and it becomes serious, John starts a fight that ultimately results in Sebastian's accidental death. John then finds the manuscript of Sebastian's surprising, unpublished book and decides to publish it as his own.

The Amory Wars is set in Heaven’s Fence, a collection of 78 planets and seven stars, held in place by interconnecting beams of energy known as the “Keywork”.

''Year of the Black Rainbow'' and ''Second Stage Turbine Blade'' narrate the struggle of Coheed and Cambria Kilgannon against Wilhelm Ryan, the Supreme Tri-Mage who launches a war campaign with the intended goal to rule over Heaven’s Fence.

The story arcs ''In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3'', ''Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV: Vol. 1 – From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness'', and ''Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV: Vol. 2 – No World For Tomorrow'' focus on the heroic journey of Claudio Kilgannon, son of Coheed and Cambria, and his journey to assume the mantle of The Crowing, foretold savior of Heaven’s Fence.

Set long before the events of the previous chapters, ''The Afterman: Ascension'' and ''The Afterman: Descension'' tell the story of Dr. Sirius Amory, a scientist who enters the Keywork in an attempt to understand its mysterious energy.

''Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures'' is the first of five story arcs that continue the original Amory Wars saga and follows the story of Creature and Sister Spider, who are incarcerated within the prison planet known as the Dark Sentencer.

Having discovered about Monica and Chandler by seeing them having sex from the window of his new apartment, Ross confronts them. He is initially furious at Chandler, mistakenly thinking the latter is taking advantage of his sister, but when he realizes that the two are in love, his anger at them vanishes on the spot. Since he is the last of the group to discover the relationship, Chandler and Monica do not have to hide anything anymore, and they quickly become a much-discussed subject of talks in the group. Chandler starts to freak out about the relationship when his friends start to make long-term-relationship jokes, such as he and Monica having kids and having Ross as brother-in-law. His concerns are amplified when Rachel asks him to consider the fact that Monica does want to get married someday and that she broke up with Richard when she found out that he did not want any more children.

When Chandler talks to Monica about all the jokes the friends have kept making, he reacts immaturely by trying to pass off their relationship as "casual". Monica gets angry with him and storms out, avoiding him when the two get within talking range. When he insists to talk to her, she tells him to start figuring out how to solve relationship problems himself. Now in a desperate situation, Chandler tries to make up with her by taking Ross and Joey's advice of making a big gesture. What he manages to do, however, is screwed up again – this time in a good but very unnatural sense – by proposing to Monica in front of everyone just to say sorry. Monica calms Chandler down by telling him that he does not have to worry about marriage with her and he is clearly not ready to solve relationship problems by himself.

The friends also get to meet Joey's new girlfriend, Katie, who is very nice and energetic – so energetic, in fact, that she playfully punches Joey, who does not appreciate this because she is rather strong and keeps accidentally hurting his arm, but she thinks he is only joking when he tells her this. When he decides to break up with her, he wears six sweaters on top of each other to cushion the punches, but Rachel saves him the trouble of transforming into a punchbag when, after Katie playfully punches her a few times and accidentally hurts her also, she retaliates by angrily kicking Katie's ankle, hurting Katie, who is furious and demands that Joey stick up for her. He refuses, however, hoping that she will consequently break up with him – which she does, without touching him, much to his delight.

At his new apartment, Ross receives a visit from Phoebe with an assortment of house-warming gifts. At the same time, the president of the tenants committee, Steve, greets Ross and tells him of Howard, the retiring handyman and a party they are throwing for him. When Ross reasonably refuses to contribute $100 for the handyman he has never even met, Steve thinks that Ross is a cheapskate. He vilifies Ross as this to everyone in the apartment block, causing everyone in the building to hate Ross. Annoyed by this, he tries to organize a party for everyone to explain the reason behind the refusal, but is interrupted by the party everyone is having for Howard next door. He is even more surprised to find Phoebe there, especially when he finds out that she paid the $100 and that everyone likes her. Things get even worse for him when he cuts and eats Howard's cake. Just as he is about to be kicked out of the party, Phoebe jumps in to defend Ross, but ends up criticizing and insulting her new friends, who kick her and Ross out of the party.

In the epilogue, the group makes jokes about how Chandler apologized by proposing, and Monica says they will be doing that for a long time based on how insane his actions were. However, Ross then ruins it by doing it on Rachel with the "We were on a break" thing, resulting in the group walking out on him.

From OCLC Worldcat's summary, ''"As Ash March pursues her destiny with the legendary Sull people, Raif Sevrance seeks a place where he belongs, in a tale set in the wake of deadly clan battles and a darker force from an evil city that threatens their world."''

The prologue can be read online.

Lloyd is a serious young middle-class guy on the make, who wants to marry the boss’ daughter. The problem is getting in to see the boss so that he can ask for her hand in marriage; the office is guarded by a bunch of comic, clumsy flunkies who throw everyone out who tries to get in. When Lloyd gets into the boss’ office, the latter uses trap doors and conveyor belts to expel him; Lloyd then goes to the costume company next door, tries to get in wearing drag (no success), and then in medieval armor – that works, since he bangs everyone over the head with his club. When he learns that the daughter has eloped with another suitor, Lloyd decides to be sensible and he settles for the cute switchboard operator (Daniels) instead. The film includes a brief wall climbing sequence.

The protagonist of ''The Third Eye'' is eighteen-year-old Karen Connors. While in high school, she began dating Tim, a popular classmate. For the first time, Karen begins to feel as though she is finally fitting in. Her mother is pleased that she is dating Tim, as she has always pushed Karen to fit in and be popular.

Karen gets a job as a babysitter for the Zenner family, watching Stephanie and her older brother, Bobby. Bobby leaves to go and play with his friends, but doesn’t show up at lunchtime. Karen asks nearby families if they had seen him, and when they all reply they haven’t, she contacts the police.

Officer Ronald Wilson arrived to question Karen, and the first thing she notices about him is that he has vivid blue eyes and seems much too young to be a police officer. Wilson does not seem too concerned about the disappearance, saying that Bobby was probably at a friend's house. Karen starts having visions of where Bobby is, seeing he is unconscious and stuck in a box. When Bobby's parents arrive home, Bobby is still missing. The policeman returns to the Zenner home. Karen realizes that the box she saw in her vision is the trunk of a car, and that the car is headed her way. She also realizes that the car she envisions belongs to her boyfriend, Tim. When he arrives to take her home, she confronts Tim, and they find Bobby in the trunk, unconscious, but alive.

Afterward, Karen is asked by Officer Wilson if she would be willing to help locate a missing girl named Carla Sanchez. Going against her parents' wishes, Karen agrees to help. Officer Wilson drives Karen to Ms. Sanchez’s house that afternoon. Alone in Carla's bedroom, Karen picks up various items of clothing and toys in an attempt to receive a vision of Carla. After this approach fails, Karen and Officer Wilson leave the Sanchez residence. While in the car with Officer Wilson, Karen receives psychic messages, leading them to a riverbank. They find a pair of sandals and a bicycle that belong to Carla. Karen feels weak and nauseated. Karen then has a vision of the events that led up to Carla's death. Police later find her body in the river.

Among the following events, Tim breaks up with Karen and graduates high school. That summer, Karen is hired at a daycare center. On her way to work one day, a lady pulls over and asks for directions to the daycare center. The woman offers Karen a ride, and Karen agrees. The lady driving the car says she is named Betty Smith. When Betty calls Karen by name, Karen becomes suspicious as she had not introduced herself. Believing Betty has other intentions, Karen tries to escape from the car. The doors are locked. Betty drives her to an apartment where a guy named Joe ties her down and hits her head on a stove, knocking her out. After Joe and Betty leave, Karen is visited by a vision of a little girl that she feels compelled to protect. She cannot save her while she is unconscious, so she forces herself out of her slumber to find that she is bound and gagged in the apartment with nobody to save her. She has almost lost all hope when she sees the little girl again, who points to the smoke alarm. (The little girl still has yet to speak or show her face. She keeps her back turned to Karen, so she can only see her blonde hair.) Karen then uses her feet to start a fire, which triggers the fire alarm, getting the attention of the apartment manager.

She then learns that Betty and Joe stole most of the babies at the daycare center. One of these babies was Officer Ron Wilson's nephew. Karen's mother wants her to leave on a vacation to San Francisco, but Karen decides to help Ron locate the missing babies instead.

Karen and Ron visit psychic Anne Summers, who had been shot because she was closing in on the kidnappings. Luckily, she held up a bag with a broken meat cleaver in it to slow down the shot, which would have hit her in the heart. Karen knows she is the only one who can help locate the children now.

Karen then decides to help Ron, and envisions the children on the way to Colorado. Karen and Ron camp out at the state park, where she discovers she is falling in love with Ron. The next morning, they arrive at the house in which the babies are being held. They find out that Betty and Joe stole the babies to illegally sell them.

Ron goes up to the house to try to get a look at the babies when Karen has a vision of a dog guarding the house. Ron was terrified of dogs, so Karen had to go warn him. As she gets to him, the dog attacks, Ron shoots him, and Karen screams. Jed then comes out and shoots Ron in the shoulder. They were taken inside, and Karen tries to keep Ron from losing much blood. Soon, the police come and rescue them both, returning all of the missing babies. Karen’s mother was the one who alerted the police, after receiving a vision.

Karen's mother then tells her how she has always been psychic too, but does not want to be thought of as a freak, so she tried to hide it. She also reveals that she had never been popular and that her first date was with Karen’s father. She wants Karen to hide it as well and try to find someone to fall in love with her. She also explains that she had seen Karen in visions before she was born, and these visions saved her life twice. Karen then tells her mother that she will find someone who loves and accepts her just as she is, and that she intends to use this gift for the good.

Kansas (Hopper) is a stunt coordinator in charge of horses on a western being shot in a small Peruvian village. Following a tragic incident on the set where an actor is killed in a stunt, he decides to quit the movie business and stay in Peru with a local woman. He thinks he has found paradise, but is soon called in to help in a bizarre incident: the Peruvian natives are "filming" their own movie with "cameras" made of sticks, and acting out real western movie violence, as they don't understand movie fakery.

''World's Greatest Heroes'' is not directly connected to any of the previous iterations of the Fantastic Four, telling its own version of the team's origin and their encounters with their rogues gallery. Unlike its 1994 predecessor, which consisted almost entirely of straight or modified reinterpretations of classic ''Fantastic Four'' comic book stories, World's Greatest Heroes features mostly original stories, though elements from various comic iterations of the Fantastic Four were used in the series.

''The Gigli Concert'' deals with seven days in the relationship between Dynamatologist JPW King, a quack self-help therapist living in Dublin but born and brought up in England, and the mysterious Irishman, a construction millionaire who asks King to teach him how to sing like the Italian opera singer Beniamino Gigli.

As King finds himself reluctantly drawn into the Irishman's request it becomes clear that his subject is mentally unbalanced but, against all expectations, King finds himself able to heal the Irishman and, in the process, himself. Although he rises to the challenge and, indeed, becomes obsessed with it, the Irishman ends up ending the process, finding himself cured of his mental and emotional malady through King's kindness.

Left alone, and discovering that his lover, Mona, is suffering from cancer, King tries to kill himself but, in a stunning coup de theatre, instead finds himself miraculously able to sing an aria of Gigli himself. The play ends with King waking up after his suicide attempt and realising that the world is somewhere he is willing to fight on in.

Wallace (Dennis Quaid) and Wilder Foudroyant (Arliss Howard) are brothers and pyrokinetics. Ever since a childhood tragedy where they accidentally killed a homeless person sleeping in a friend's "secret clubhouse," they have kept their firestarting abilities a secret. Now that they are grown up and estranged, Wallace (performing as Biff the Clown in a traveling carnival) wants to debut his talents on ''The David Letterman Show''. Wilder has a monotonous job in a minuscule Kwik Foto booth at a dying mall and is a volunteer firefighter.

When Wallace brings the carnival to Wilder's Florida hometown, the tension between the brothers over Wilder's oversexed wife, Vida (Debra Winger), explodes. Unable to convince Wilder to forgo his Bingo-calling on her first day of freedom after a year of house arrest for inadvertent arson, Vida goes off with Wally. They share a kiss at a miniature golf course, which bursts into the flames of their passion.

Returning home after he and the other firefighters have extinguished the flames at the golf course, Wilder discovers Vida and Wally about to make love on the roof of the house trailer. Wally and Wilder fight it out, with Wally setting the trailer ablaze. All three are jailed, but Wally and Vida are bailed out by Wally's friend and carnival partner, Rex (Jim Varney). In a deep slump, Wilder goes back to the Kwik Foto (surrounded by the carnival) while Vida stays at the firehouse. Wally goads him into fighting for Vida, and their climactic fight sets half the carnival's rides ablaze.

The denouement shows Vida and Wilder (the latter now wearing Vida's house arrest ankle monitor) watching Wallace on a successful Letterman reappearance as Dr. Napalm.

In 1942 Britain is desperately holding onto Malta. Invasion seems imminent; the Italians and Germans are regularly bombing the airfields and towns. Flight Lieutenant Peter Ross, an archaeologist in civilian life, is on his way to an RAF posting in Egypt, but is stranded when the Lockheed Hudson on which he was a passenger is bombed while attempting to refuel on Malta. Air Commodore Frank, having just lost a photo reconnaissance pilot, has Ross reassigned to him, as that is Ross's speciality.

Peter meets Maria, a young Maltese woman working in the RAF operations room. The two fall in love and spend a few romantic hours at the Neolithic temples of Mnajdra and Ħaġar Qim. In the meantime, the situation at Malta becomes desperate. Famine looms, as relief convoys fall prey to Axis aircraft. A crucial convoy is severely mauled by day and night aerial attacks, but enough ships, including the vital oil tanker SS ''Ohio'', reach Malta.

Peter proposes marriage to Maria, although they realise that wartime is not favourable to lasting love affairs, as Maria's mother suggests; nevertheless, the young couple remain hopeful of the future. Maria's brother Giuseppe is caught returning to the island from Italy, where he had been studying before the war. He finally admits to being a spy, but tries to justify by saying it is his country and he wanted to end his people's suffering.

The RAF holds on, and, along with Royal Navy submarines, is eventually able to take the offensive, targeting enemy shipping on its way to Rommel's Afrika Korps in Libya. Spitfires are flown in from aircraft carriers to defend the island, while attacks are carried out by aircraft such as Bristol Beaufighter fighter-bombers and Bristol Beaufort and Fairey Albacore torpedo bombers.

Then a crucial enemy convoy sails for Libya under cover of poor visibility. Frank needs desperately to locate it; he orders Peter to find it at any cost and to radio in immediately if he does. Peter, flying in his Spitfire, finally spots it, but after he reports its position, he is attacked by six enemy fighters and killed, while Maria in the operations room listens helplessly to his final radio transmissions. When there are no more messages, she picks up Peter's marker from the operations table.

Later, a newspaper article reports that Rommel has lost the Second Battle of El Alamein (in part due to supply shortages).

Like many of Sagan's novels, this is a story of lost love. A couple meet and move in together, but the woman cannot get used to his life, his working-class existence. She leaves her lover to return to her affair with a man of means.

Ostensibly, she is rejecting her lover because she feels stifled by his position in society. But the class differences are metaphor for the quality of the love, with a woman deciding to be with a man who loves her for who she is rather than as an object of affection, merely the focus of a selfish love. She wants to be with the one who doesn't ask her to change.

''Vandal Hearts II'' takes place in the country of Natra and follows the story of Joshua from childhood until adulthood, focusing his progress through the civil war that tears his home country apart. The early stages of the game introduce the hero and his childhood companions and acts as a prologue to future events in the hero's adult life.

The adult stages of the game shows the country of Natra immersed in a civil war with both warring factions having foreign backers. Joshua's renegade band of outlaws gets drawn into a plot to create a third faction to end the war and restore peace. The game has a branching storyline that can be altered by the player's dialogue choices and lead to multiple endings.

Compared to the original game which had multiple, although very similar, endings depending on how well the player performed and whether or not they completed the trials of Toroah, Vandal Hearts II has four distinctly different endings and three similar endings which are determined by three choices that the player must make along the story.

Story

'''Childhood Chapters'''

10 years ago, King Zekras left the Kingdom of Natra to his son Prince Julius. However, the younger Prince Lagore raised an army to contest the throne, causing his brother to flee the country. While Lagore proved to be a fair king, he was slowly poisoned by Queen Mother Agatha and her lover Cardinal Ladorak. Agatha placed her young son Franz as heir, while Ladorak was promoted to the rank of Premier. Now, Ladorak is oppressing the peasantry with his brutal secret police, the Blood Knights.

The small Northen Natra village of Polata is home to Joshua and Rosaly, the adoptive children of the mayor. They are frequently joined by other commoners Clive, son of a tavern owner, and Yuri a gifted prodigy. Another friend is the low ranking noble Adele, daughter of the local Governor Graud Byron. One day, Rosaly is saved by a wandering swordsman before he collapses from unknown injuries. After resting for a short time, the swordsman publicly fights against the corrupt tax collectors working for Graud. It is revealed that the swordsman is Prince Nicola, the lost son of Julius. Nicola had come to the region to gain support from Kossimo Byron, only to learn that Kossimo retired and gave the position to his son-in-law Graud.

Joshua personally leads Nicola to a meeting with Kossimo, but the older Byron refuses to start a rebellion, even if it would depose Agatha. Desperate, Nicola sides with Ladorak and the Blood Knights to fight the Queen Mother. Joshua is appalled at Nicola and plans to flee the land with Adele. However, he discovers that one of Graud’s servants, Godard the Diviner, has been manipulating the situation. Godard uses dark magic to turn Kossimo into a deranged murderer and Joshua is forced to kill him. Adele witnesses the aftermath of the assault and orders the Blood Knights to arrest Joshua. The young boy dives from a window and escapes into the night. Graud and Godard are pleased to discover from Nicola’s documents that Adele can regain the Byron’s powerful status and send her off to the capitol.

'''Adulthood Chapters'''

Nicola succeeds in routing Agatha from the Eastern Capitol Yuggor, but she flees to Gardeau in West Natra. During the confusion, Franz goes missing. Agatha instead places the younger Princess Minea as incumbent regent and marries her to Prince Gregor of the Zora-Archeo Twin Empire; Agatha herself being an Archeo royal. Since disappearing, Joshua has become a mercenary with new allies Vlad and Pike. They raid an East Natra train and find the West Natra prisoners Baron Pratau and his guard Lira. Pratau is ultimately loyal to Franz, knowing that Agatha conspired to abandon her son in favor of Gregor. Pratau hires Joshua, Vlad, and Pike into his White Dragons brigade. They save Franz from an East Natra labor camp, but the prince has been mentally broken, coming to life only when commanded.

The White Dragons meet with Yuri, who has become a church emissary in charge of investigating Ladorak. Their journey leads them to Polata, which was decimated at the start of the war. It is revealed that Godard is leader of the fanatical Kudur Cult, is in the process of converting Graud, and has placed Adele as their figurehead. Yuri and Franz are separated from the rest of the group and Godard begins to sow doubt about the Nirvath religion in Yuri’s mind. Meanwhile, Joshua finds out that Clive and Rosaly are married, but have fallen on hard times. Additionally, Nicola has become a frequent drunken patron of Clive's, shirking away his responsibilities as East Natra's leader. Pratau gains an ally in Duke Kleuth of East Natra, and together they establish Central Natra with Franz as rightful heir.

Godard approaches Ladorak, revealing that Adele is Zekras’ illegitimate third child from a tryst with Lady Byron. Viewing Nicola has lost his purpose, the Blood Knights leave him for dead and establish Adele as the new head of East Natra. While attacking West Natra, the White Dragons discover how far the Kudur Cult’s experiments have twisted the people, turning them into crazed killers like Kossimo. Upon returning to Central Natra, Joshua is shocked to find Kleuth and the Blood Knights entranced while Ladorak and Yuri are willing participants of the Kudur Cult. Central and East Natra unite with the marriage of Franz and Adele.

Knowing the dangers of the Kudur Cult, the White Dragons make plans to take out Godard. Clive brings the party to Nicola, who survived his near fatal assault thanks to a paranoid Ladorak. The new alliance is able to slay Godard (who has already killed Ladorak for his betrayal), but Yuri escapes with the remains of the cult. Joshua and Pratau then turn their attention back towards finishing off West Natra. The Twin Empire's planned conquest of Natra turns out to be a ruse, and Archeo surprise attacks Zora, forcing a retreat. Learning of the cruel fate of Franz, Minea and Gregor kill Agatha, but the princess dies in the process. The White Dragons arrive in the Gardeau throne room in time to find Agatha’s loyalists executing Gregor, causing West Natra to collapse.

During all of this, Godard’s soul possesses Franz and reveals to Adele his past. He was once a Nirvath cardinal who was excommunicated for upholding moral values over the church’s strict rules. Hearing that everyday people were just as zealous as the church, Godard completely lost faith in Nirvath and made plans to eradicate the world with the ancient Life Tree. The White Dragons chase after Yuri and Adele, who are heading to Natra Palace with Nicola and others as hostages. Yuri reveals that he has uncovered that Saint Nirvath used the power of Vandal Hearts to cause an apocalypse, but hid all evidence when founding the church. Depending on if a side-quest to acquire the Vandal Hearts sword was completed, Yuri may either be talked down with knowledge that Vandal Hearts was a last resort to stop the rampaging Life Tree, or killed in battle. Likewise, depending on actions throughout the game Adele may either commit suicide, rejoin with Godard, or peacefully reconcile with Joshua.

The White Dragons head to Nirvadia, home of the Nirvath church, to destroy the Life Tree and put down Godard (along with Adele if she remained faithful). During the final battle, Franz’s true self resurfaces and is able to keep Godard under control, allowing Joshua to make the killing blow. The Nirvath cathedral is destroyed and new wars begin to erupt around the world. In the near future, leaders like Pratau and Nicola are able to establish some stability. The story then jumps a number of years to show the fate of Joshua, depending on multiple player choices. This can include being the Premier and lover to Queen Adele, a wandering adventurer, a simple mayor, or a scheming tyrant. Those that acquired all available weapons will unlock a hidden scene of Joshua returning the Vandal Hearts sword to its resting place, where he encounters a Vandalier warrior implied to be Ash from the first game.

''Inkheart''

In ''Inkheart'', the twelve-year-old, Meggie, discovers that her father Mo, a professional bookbinder, has the unusual ability to transfer characters from books into the real world when he reads aloud—they call those with this ability "Silvertongue". Mo once brought four characters of a book entitled ''Inkheart'' to life while reading from the novel, including Dustfinger, his pet marten Gwin; Capricorn, the book's villain; and Basta, Capricorn's right-hand man—in bitter exchange for his wife Teresa (later known as Resa), who disappeared without a trace into the so-called Inkworld of the book. After many years Dustfinger returns to pay Meggie and her father a visit, advising them to flee the country to escape Capricorn and his followers who are in search of Mo and his ''Inkheart'' copy. The three of them eventually leave to hide at Meggie's great-aunt Elinor's house in Northern Italy but end up being dragged off by Basta and his companions to the near village of Capricorn, because Dustfinger betrayed them as Capricorn promised him he would help him go back home. He then forces Mo to read treasures out of books, since his useless reader, Darius, could not do it. Meggie soon discovers she has the same talent as her father when she summons the monster known as "The Shadow" out of the book. She helps to kill Capricorn and his entourage with the power of her reading talent.

''Inkspell''

A year has passed, but not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of ''Inkheart''. Resa is back, but she has become mute. Dustfinger wants to go back to his wife, Roxanne, and his daughters who are in the story. When he finds a self-absorbed psycho storyteller, Orpheus, who can read him back into the book, he goes into the pages, but Orpheus doesn't read Farid back into the book like he was supposed to, because he leaves the word "boy" out. Soon Farid convinces Meggie to read him into the book so he can warn Dustfinger of Basta, and then becomes his apprentice once more. But this time, Meggie has figured out how to read herself and Farid into the book ''Inkheart''.

Suddenly, Mortola, Basta, Orpheus, and a "man built like a wardrobe" barge into Elinor's house, and take Mo, Resa, Elinor, and Darius prisoner, while Meggie and Farid have no idea what is happening in the other world. Orpheus reads Basta, Mortola, Mo, and Resa into ''Inkheart''. Mortola gets a modern rifle, and shoots Mo, thinking that she has killed him and leaves. However, Mo survived the shot. Resa discovers that her voice has come back to her. Resa and Mo are hiding with the strolling players, but now they have discovered that the injured Mo is the mysterious gentleman-robber, the "Bluejay", created by Fenoglio, the Inkweaver's words. Fenoglio is now living within his own story and he makes Meggie read Cosimo the Fair back into the story since he died, Meggie being kissed by Farid shortly after. Now the Adderhead is out to get him, waiting to hang him or kill his family in front of him. Mo and Resa are captured and Mo is unable to escape because of his fatal wound. Meggie, Resa, and Mo all end up in the Adderhead's castle (the Castle of Night), while Meggie has made a bargain with the Adderhead that she will bind him a book of immortality if he lets her, Resa, Mo, and the other strolling players he has captured go. What she doesn't tell the prince is that if three words are written in the book—heart, spell, death—the Adderhead will die instantly. In the meanwhile, Farid and Dustfinger have snuck into the castle using soot that causes invisibility, created by a combination of fire and water. Meggie and Farid fall in love. Farid is later killed by Basta, one of Capricorn's old followers, who is then killed by Mo. Later, Dustfinger summons the White Women to bring Farid back to life, sacrificing himself. Roxane, Dustfinger's wife, realizes this and is furious at Farid for taking away her love, but is powerless to do anything. Meggie reads Orpheus into the story using Fenoglio's words, although Orpheus refuses to believe that she read him into the book. Farid agrees to work for Orpheus as a servant if he writes something to bring Dustfinger back to life. But Farid wonders, will he live up to the agreement and will Dustfinger ever come back?

''Inkdeath''

Farid, now the servant of Orpheus, and has been trying to convince the man to bring Dustfinger back from the dead. Orpheus agrees to read him back, but under one condition: Mo takes his place in death. Mo summons the White Women using words that Orpheus copied from Inkheart, and they bring him to the world of the dead, causing a lot of commotion amongst those around him. In the world of the dead, Mo meets Death herself, and Death bargains with Mo. Mo must bring the Adderhead to Death before Spring comes or Meggie and Mo will die.

The vicious herald of the Silver Prince and the servant of the Milksop, King of Ombra, where the characters are staying, kidnap all of the children in the town and threatens to work them to death at the silver mines. But Mo is returned to the world of the living along with Dustfinger, and the two hatch a plan. Mo "The Bluejay" turns himself in to the Piper as his prisoner in exchange for the children, who are hidden by the Black Prince and his men in a cave. Violante, the Adderhead's daughter rescues him and brings him to the castle by the lake, where she used to live, because she wants the Bluejay to kill the Adderhead by writing the three words in the White Book in exchange for the children. The Adderhead goes after her while sending the Milksop after the children. The Black Prince however, learns of the Milksop's march, and moves the children to a giant tree in the forest said to be a stronghold against giants. They are attacked, but Meggie reads a Giantess out of Fenoglio's words, and they are able to fend them off, and kill Sootbird, the fire-eater who took Dustfinger's place. At the castle, the Adderhead's men follow a secret passage to the inside, and Violante's child-soldiers get slaughtered, the BlueJay captured, and Dustfinger killed by a Night-Mare conjured up by Orpheus, who is now the Adderhead's servant. Resa shape-shifts into a swift, using magical seeds that were used by Mortola before she was killed by the Adderhead's men and searches for the white book along with Dustfinger. Dustfinger pretends to betray Mo, to earn the Piper's trust, but really was leading the Adderhead on, in an elaborate plan with Bluejay and Violante. Under the Piper's supervision, Mo works on a new White Book, to replace the Adderhead's. The Adderhead's grandson, Jacopo, steals the White Book from the Adderhead and secretly hands it to Mo. Mo writes the three words and the Adderhead dies. A short skirmish takes place, Dustfinger kills the Night-Mare, and Resa and Mo kill the Piper. Meanwhile, the Adderhead's bodyguard, Thumbling, steals all of the Adderheads possessions and takes off.

The last part of the book explains that Orpheus runs away to the cold mountains, Farid goes traveling as a fire-dancer, and Meggie stays with Doria. Resa gives birth to a child and it is a boy. He wishes he could see the world where his father, mother and sister were born in as he thinks it is much more exciting than his own because of the stories told to him by Elinor. The boy and Resa both turn into birds every few nights as a side-effect of the seeds, but all in all it is assumed that the entire surviving cast lives happily ever after in Ombra, with Violante as their queen.

Sam Roffe, President of Roffe & Sons Pharmaceuticals, dies in what appears to be a climbing accident, leaving his daughter Elizabeth (Audrey Hepburn) a billion-dollar empire. Roffe's board members see an opportunity to settle old scores, jockey for higher position, and reap lucrative profits. However, an investigation into Sam's death discloses that it was a murder and that a power struggle is going on within the company.

Lead investigator Max Hornung (Gert Fröbe) informs Elizabeth of his list of suspects, which includes her closest advisers and financially strapped family members. During this time, she marries CEO Rhys Williams (Ben Gazzara), but he, too, is identified by Hornung as a suspect. As president, Elizabeth follows her father's wishes and refuses to let shares of Roffe & Sons sell on the world market. Her choice prevents the board members from selling their shares as the company's by-laws prohibit it until all board members agree; on the other hand, her death would allow for a unanimous decision.

After several attempts on her life, an international chase across Europe ensues. Hornung is able to connect these murder attempts to a series of homicides of prostitutes, which have been recorded on snuff films by using Roffe film stock. He has a witness in a black Gucci leather coat (several suspects are linked to this coat).

Elizabeth returns to her father's villa in Sardinia during a sirocco for protection from the unseen murderer, who sets her house on fire after she begins destroying objects and shouting, "Now try to make it look like an accident!" Williams and one of the shareholders, Sir Alec Nichols (James Mason), both show up to save her, but Hornung figures out that Nichols is the killer and shoots him before he can murder Elizabeth in a symbolic snuff film.

Winthrop Putnam is the Assistant Secretary to the Assistant to the Undersecretary of State, and was formerly Assistant Assistant Secretary to the Assistant to the Undersecretary of State. He sends an invitation to Ethel Barrymore to represent the American theatre at an art exposition in Paris. Instead, the invitation is received and accepted by Ethel "Dynamite" Jackson, an All-American Broadway chorus girl. Ethel and Winthrop meet on the way to Paris and fall in love. However, Winthrop is engaged to Marcia Sherman, daughter of his boss Secretary Robert Sherman. After a misunderstanding, Winthrop and Ethel ultimately end up together.

The first part of the film is a slideshow of photos before Copeland acquired his film camera. This includes the era with Henry Padovani and the arrival of Andy Summers. The film then follows the band as they try to find success in America, joined by Copeland's childhood friend Kim Turner as their tour manager.

The band then return to Europe, performing at various festivals. They then got their first taste of fame when a mob of fans wait for them in Birmingham after a show. This is followed by number one singles on both sides of the Atlantic and the band's explosive shoot to success. However, they collaborate less and less on songs as Sting brings in almost finished songs. It ends with The Police headlining the US Festival in 1982 and their eventual breakup.

Hank Mitchell and his pregnant wife Sarah live in rural Wright County, Minnesota. One of the town's few college graduates, Hank works as a bookkeeper at a feed mill, while Sarah is a librarian. Hank, his older brother Jacob, who has learning difficulties, and their friend Lou Chambers chase a fox into the woods, and stumble upon a crashed airplane. Hank decides to look inside the plane where he discovers a dead pilot and a bag containing $4.4 million in $100 bills. He suggests turning the money in, but Lou and Jacob persuade him not to. Hank then proposes that he keep the money safe at his house until the end of winter when the snow will melt and the plane will be found. At that point, if no-one talks about missing money, they will take their share and move away.

Sheriff Carl Jenkins drives by the area and notices the three men after they've hidden the money in Jacob's pick-up truck. At Lou's suggestion, Jacob attempts to avoid suspicion by mentioning hearing a plane nearby. Hank becomes worried but they return to their truck. After Carl leaves, the three men decide to keep the money a secret, but Hank breaks the pact when he reveals the discovery to Sarah.

Sarah suggests that Hank return a small portion of the money to the plane to avoid suspicion from local authorities. She insists that he should go alone, but Hank takes Jacob with him. Hank walks through the woods to the plane while Jacob waits at the car pretending to change the tire. Elderly farmer Dwight Stephanson approaches Jacob and asks him if he came across a fox that ran off with a chicken. Jacob, thinking that their cover is blown, bludgeons Dwight. Hank arrives and says Dwight is dead and they need to split up and meet later whilst he moves the body. But Dwight regains consciousness, so Hank suffocates him. He then uses the snowmobile to drive the body off a bridge, making the murder resemble an accidental death.

While searching newspaper clippings at the library, Sarah finds out that the money was a ransom for a kidnapped heiress from Michigan, who was abducted by two brothers, Stephen and Vernon Bokovsky. Sarah surmises that the dead pilot was one of the brothers, as the ransom was delivered, but the whereabouts of the two brothers remain unknown.

The following night, Lou drunkenly demands his portion of the money from Hank, because he is broke and has spent recklessly since the discovery. When Hank refuses, Lou threatens to go to the authorities, having learned from Jacob about Dwight's murder. Hank lies to Lou, telling him that the money is not inside his house. He gives him $40 to appease him, and calms him down by telling him that they are in this together.

After giving birth to their daughter Amanda, Sarah advises Hank to frame Lou for Dwight's murder by getting Lou drunk and tricking him into falsely confessing to the killing and recording the confession. The plan works, although Jacob is dismayed and reluctant to betray his friend. Lou grows enraged when he realizes that they have conspired against him, and he pulls a shotgun on Hank. Jacob then grabs his hunting rifle and after a tense standoff, kills Lou to save Hank. Hank then tries to calm Lou's wife Nancy, who gets a revolver and shoots at Hank, who then kills her with Lou's shotgun. Hank stages the scene to make it look like Lou shot Nancy and was about to shoot him. He and Jacob tell the police this story, and successfully avoid arrest and suspicion.

Because Jacob mentioned hearing a plane in the woods, Carl asks the brothers to assist FBI agent Neil Baxter in a search for the missing aircraft. Hank and Jacob meet with Baxter and Carl at the police station. Sarah is immediately skeptical of Baxter, suspecting he is actually Vernon Bokovsky, posing as an FBI agent to recover the money for himself. When she discovers this to be true, she calls to warn Hank, who steals a revolver and a handful of assorted bullets from Carl's office and desk. The four men head into the woods and split up. When he finds the plane, Baxter kills Carl, and forces Hank to retrieve the money from the plane. Hank manages to distract Baxter with the small amount of money he had returned to the plane, before then shooting and killing Baxter.

He starts to concoct another story to tell the authorities, but Jacob tells him that he does not want to live with the memories of what they have done, and asks Hank to kill him and frame Baxter for it. When Hank refuses, he threatens to commit suicide, which would implicate them both in the whole conspiracy. After weighing the decision, a heartbroken Hank kills Jacob with Baxter's pistol. At the police station, Hank tells his rehearsed story to real FBI agents. He is cleared of any wrongdoing, and is told that the money was part of a ransom and that many of the bills' serial numbers were written down to track the cash, so the bills making up that cash could not in any case realistically be spent without the individual eventually being identified and caught. Hank returns home and burns it all, upsetting Sarah. In a closing narration, Hank reflects on his losses. Although he tries to move on with his life, the murders constantly haunt him.

The homecoming of the title is that of Michael to his home town in Ireland. Set entirely in a pub where he and his friends used to drink the play unfolds in real time, Murphy showing an extraordinary stage sense for the rhythms of drinking as an evening wears on.

Michael is an actor who has returned to Ireland after emigrating to America to try to make a career. He has returned to see his old friends, Tom, a contemporary of his, and JJ, an inspirational figure from their youth who, in the time of Kennedy's period in the White House, came to the town and became a sort of subversive guru, challenging the Church and urging the young men of the town to aspire to bigger things.

As the play unfolds it emerges that no-one has fulfilled his potential. Michael has failed as an actor and has tried to set himself on fire while in America, JJ is seriously ill and Tom's youthful idealism and intelligence has given way to the savage indignation of a man who feels he has been deserted by his mentor (JJ), his best friend (Michael) his dreams and his life.

As everyone gets progressively drunker truths are told and souls are bared. Michael is shocked by Tom's negativity but when he challenges him to leave Tom makes an excuse for remaining in the town. It emerges that Michael's leaving was the thing which broke Tom's heart the most. At the end of the play Michael leaves the pub and the town, telling JJ's daughter, who seems to represent a kind of hope in the play, to pass on his love to JJ.

The series closely follows the plot of the novel, in which the Hogfather, the Discworld equivalent of Father Christmas, has gone missing and Death is forced to take his place while Death's granddaughter Susan attempts to find out what happened.

This episode is an homage to the traditional multi-camera sitcom, and, specifically, ''Cheers'' (which also aired on NBC). Unlike traditional sitcoms, ''Scrubs'' uses a single camera setup, no laugh track, and is not filmed before a live studio audience. During an extended dream sequence, J.D. imagines what his life would be like if it were a sitcom. This sequence was actually filmed in a multi-camera setup with a laugh track and studio audience; as well as featuring low-cut outfits for the female characters, a less realistic hospital set, brighter lighting, broader humor, a fairly contrived plot, and a guest star named Kenny (Clay Aiken). In addition, a featured patient in the episode is fictional ''Cheers'' writer Charles James, a combination of ''Cheers''' three creators James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles. The episode makes repeated comments about these "traditional" sitcoms.

As the episode opens, Carla is trying to compete with the idea of Kylie and J.D.'s relationship, but Turk isn't reciprocating her attempts. A new ''E. coli'' scare on the news then results in a huge crowd of people coming to a hospital worried that they are infected.

J.D. and Turk meet a famous writer for ''Cheers''. It turns out he has lung cancer. In the sitcom fantasy, he lives following the discovery that his chart was mixed up with that of another patient with a similar name ("This chart isn't for Charles James, it's for James Charles! And who cares about him, he’s anti-Semitic"). While J.D. is saying aloud his thoughts and what he's learned, the sitcom writer faints, to which J.D. responds that this is wrong. The show returns to its normal setting, where the sitcom writer has died.

Meanwhile, Kelso needs to do some budget cuts, and he figures out he has to fire someone. Dr. Cox bets that he can do it without firing anyone, but after many hours of working, he finds that it is inevitable. The next day at lunch, Janitor points out all the cafeteria workers Dr. Cox shouldn't fire. Finally, he points out Kenny, who pours the coffee; he happens to be the newest cafeteria worker. When the show switches to "JD’s Sitcom Fantasy", a talent show happens at the hospital (with the prize being exactly the same amount that the hospital needs to save). Everyone tries their best, J.D. doing his famous "World's most giant Doctor" act, when finally Kenny sings and wins the money. However, when the sitcom fantasy ends, Dr. Cox does have to fire Kenny.

In late fall, three climbers who scaled Shiprock find a corpse, a skeleton in climber's gear, on a nearly inaccessible shelf just below the peak. Acting Lieutenant Jim Chee is trying his hand at administration of the special investigations unit. Captain Largo is pressing them to work on cattle thieving. Joe Leaphorn, retired five months earlier, cautiously approaches Chee with his memory of a missing person case from eleven years before, never solved. Hal Breedlove is a likely candidate, as he was mountain climber always seeking challenges, and Shiprock is a most challenging climb. It is Hal, which news Chee brings to Hal’s widow Elisa on their ranch near Mancos, Colorado. The couple and her brother Eldon Demott had been celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary and Hal’s birthday on a trip to the reservation, including Canyon de Chelly. She inherited the ranch once he was declared dead; Hal got full ownership of it on his thirtieth birthday, just before he disappeared.

Chee is engaged to marry Janet Pete, but they have a dispute arising from John McDermott, her former boss and lover. Chee turns his focus to mastering the administrative duties of his job. Rookie officer Bernadette Manuelito is taking initiative on the cattle rustling problems; she asks Lucy Sam to watch and record events near her hogan. Lucy uses the format her late father used in his ledgers, which were started before 1985. Manuelito figures out that Dick Finch, the cattle brand inspector and a law man himself, is the most likely suspect.

John McDermott calls Joe Leaphorn to work as a private investigator. McDermott comes out from Washington DC with George Shaw, cousin to Hal and part of the Edgar Breedlove family. Shaw pays for Leaphorn’s time, because the family wants to regain possession of the ranch. Leaphorn gathers information and keeps in touch with Chee. Chee returns to Lucy Sam and on second look, he finds that Hosteen Sam observed three climbers on Shiprock, September 18, 1985, two days before Hal’s crucial birthday. Chee proceeds directly to Hosteen Austin Maryboy, who collects fees from climbers wanting to begin their climb from his property. Maryboy is shot dead, just a few minutes before Chee arrives. Despite great care in his exit, Chee is shot twice through the car door just after he radios his location. Colleague Teddy Begayaye rescues Chee. Neither sees the attacker in the dark night. From his hospital bed, Chee tells Leaphorn that he went to see Maryboy to learn if he remembers the three climbers from that day in 1985. Leaphorn praises Chee for the new facts, which open up the investigation. Leaphorn thinks the Demotts are the most likely candidates for the past death, if it was murder, and for the present shootings of Nez and Maryboy. Both saw the group in 1985. Nez met them at Canyon de Chelly after September 20. Nez survives, so it is important to protect him. Leaphorn uses a helicopter and his friend Rosebrough to take pictures of the climbers’ log atop Shiprock, revealing a third date, September 30, when only Hal Breedlove signed the book, with the Latin aphorism, ''vita brevis''. Chee shows the photograph of the signature to Elisa, who falls apart in tears. Chee goes home to meet Janet Pete, who says she is taking leave to go home and reconsider her life.

Leaphorn shows photographs to Amos Nez at his hogan. Nez does not recognize Hal Breedlove. The man he knew as Breedlove is Eldon Demott. Leaphorn drives to a point above Nez’s hogan, where he expects Eldon will come to kill Nez. Eldon arrives and hears from Leaphorn how strong the evidence is to convict him for killing Maryboy and for shooting Chee. Those two would put him in prison for life, and rightly so. Eldon wants to keep his sister out of the trouble Hal and then Eldon have made, and to save the ranch from mining. The shooting of Nez, now of no FBI interest, would become interesting if Nez testifies in court. Eldon reveals that all three went climbing, but Elisa stopped short of the peak. Leaphorn tells Eldon how the situation plays out depends on him. Eldon writes a note to his sister that he did not kill Hal, it was an accident, but leaves the confusion of dates standing. Abruptly, he runs off the edge of the cliff into the Canyon del Muerto. Leaphorn heads home, leaving no evidence of his own presence, and tells Chee, off-duty, what went on. Chee in turn tells him how Officer Manuelito arrested Dick Finch today, caught in the act of stealing cattle in his vehicle.

The film opens with two men from an unnamed ministry commenting on a spate of letters from a beekeeper claiming to have developed a strain of killer bees. They dismiss him as a lunatic, though his letters claim he will start killing people if he is not taken seriously.

Meanwhile, pop singer Vicki Robbins (Suzanna Leigh) collapses from exhaustion on television, and is sent to recuperate in a cottage on Seagull Island. This was chosen because her doctor knows Ralph Hargrove. The proprietors of the "rest home" are a depressed, disgruntled couple, Ralph and Mary Hargrove (Guy Doleman and Catherine Finn). Ralph is a beekeeper, as is his neighbor, H.W. Manfred (Frank Finlay).

Vicki begins to notice mysterious happenings. Mary Hargrove's dog and later Mary herself are attacked by the bees and killed, leading Vicki to suspect Hargrove. She and Manfred start to snoop around. Manfred keeps his bees in an apiary within his home, behind a pair of doors, which open to view the bees. He claims to control them via a tape-recording of a high note made by a death's-head moth, which hypnotizes the bees. He encourages her to search through Hargrove's papers, and she discovers that Hargrove has managed to isolate "the smell of fear" into a liquid form. Manfred tells her this must mean that Hargrove has been baiting the bees with this substance. Manfred then goes away seemingly innocently and heroically to Hargrove's house, apparently to get her luggage and a copy of a book. There he asks for Vicki's luggage and to borrow a copy of "Beekeeping through the Ages," a book he seemed to have authored in another version? Vicki finds this and realizes Manfred might be somehow suspicious. Hargrove replies stiffly when he offers to return it, "Keep it." While Hargrove gets the book, after dumping out her luggage for Manfred at his farm, Manfred sneaks in behind him and plants the bee attack scent on Hargrove's jacket. When Hargrove returns with the book, the audience sees the door open a crack, when Hargrove had shut it behind him, when he went in to get the book. Apparently he doesn't notice it, as a clue Manfred had snuck in behind his back.

Vicki's snooping doesn't go unnoticed; bees soon attack her in her room at the cottage. She eventually escapes to Manfred's house, where she decides to stay until she can catch the next boat off the island. When Manfred acts suspiciously, Vicki snoops some more and discovers his secret laboratory, and he admits that he has been causing all of this. He adds that he had intended to kill Hargrove all along, but now that she knows the secret, he must kill her too. She thwarts his attempt, leading him to be stung to death and crash through the banister. She sets fire to the house, escapes, and leaves the island the next day, just as a bowler-hatted ministry official finally arrives to investigate the deaths. Later bees swarm and attack the pubmaster who doubles as a constable apparently, investigating the Hargrove place. The pubmaster grabs Hargove's jacket unwittingly and foolishly and the bees attack him not Hargrove. He thinks Hargrove is trying to kill him (the prevailing theory is Hargrove is the suspicious one as his inquiry turned up little and they didn't vote to destroy his hives), but Hargove chases after him with a smoker, and saves him by telling him to throw away the jacket. The bees then attack the jacket. Hargrove then reveals that the culprit is Manfred who's a "homicidal" maniac and that the coat being scented was from Manfred who was trying to kill him, Hargrove. Hargrove and the pubmaster rush over to Manfred's and see the house on fire. They rescue Vicki in the nick of time who was locked inside the house by Manfred, and she's pushed up next to the door, with the body of the dead Manfred before her, stung and burnt to death having fallen over a collapsed staircase. Hargrove breaks down the door and the pubmaster smashes the window and they rescue Vicki just in the nick of time. Hargrove turns around at the last minute from being the prime suspect to the hero.

In the year 2016 the federal government approved a space colony project in response to global overpopulation. By 2019, the Colony CO5 was the stronghold for androids. However many androids were found to be defective. The next year, the government had a supercomputer called Cyber-Lip built to control the androids. The androids were trained to combat an incoming alien invasion. Now the year is 2030 and humankind is in jeopardy from the alien and maverick android forces combined. Two of the military's best veteran androids Rick and Brook have been sent as a last-ditch effort to repel the invaders and destroy the evilly reprogrammed Cyber-Lip.

Griffin Moss is an artist living in London who makes postcards for a living. He is unhappy and lonely, though he is unaware of these feelings. His life is changed forever when he receives a cryptic postcard from Sabine Strohem, a woman he has never met. Like Griffin, she is an artist (she illustrates postage stamps) and comes from a fictional group of small islands in the South Pacific known as the Sicmon Islands (Arbah, Katie, Katin, Ta Fin, Quepol and Typ). The two begin to correspond regularly.

Griffin comes to realize that he is in love with Sabine, who reciprocates his feelings, and that they are soulmates. However, his growing uncertainty as to Sabine's true nature and the changes her presence has caused in his life develop into fear and he ends up rejecting her offer for him to come see her in person. He comes to the conclusion that Sabine is a figment of his imagination, created from his own loneliness. It appears to be true until another postcard arrives from Sabine with an ominous promise that if he will not come to her, she will go to him.

In the second volume Sabine moves to Griffin's house in London while he wanders through Europe, North Africa, and Asia, backwards through layers of ancient civilizations — and of himself.

In the final volume, the mystery of the two artists deepens and their questions grow more urgent. New obstacles (including a sinister intruder) test the tenacity of their passion, and in each letter or postcard, painting and prose are even more richly intertwined.

Doug Stauber is the assistant manager of a branch of Donaldson's, a supermarket chain in Chicago. He believes that he is a "shoo-in" for manager of a Donaldson's that is scheduled for construction just a few blocks away from his home. Every day, Doug deals with the pressures of being the assistant manager. Among his ordeals are an unruly gang of teenagers loitering around the parking lot, the overwhelming amount of negative comments on the customer survey cards he collects (nearly all of which are caused by the gang's antics), a foreigner who constantly slaps him over a box of Teddy Grahams, and the rumors about him being a former Junior Olympics medalist in gymnastics. Then one day, Richard Wehlner and his family move in from Quebec, and he becomes assistant manager alongside Doug.

Since Richard's arrival, it appears that he has replaced Doug as front-runner for the job. But it soon becomes clear that Richard has disadvantages of his own, such as a past substance abuse problem and a tendency to make inappropriate remarks. In one incident, both men are challenged by the board of directors over a sign posted on the deli section window, citing the deli clerk as Employee of the Month for "cutting the cheese". Richard admits being manager on duty when the sign was discovered, and explains that he had not realized that the phrase is derogatory to the American public (claiming that "cracking the cheese" is what Canadians say). The competition between Doug and Richard causes strain on their respective marriages. Doug is under financial pressure to get the job because he has begun to buy a house that he cannot afford if he is not promoted while his wife Jen ponders on going to night school. Meanwhile, Richard's wife Laurie and daughter leave him to temporarily move to her parents' home in Scotland when she sees he is losing control and reverting to his previous behavioral problems.

One day, while helping a customer in the parking lot, Doug is hit on the back of the head by a bottle of Yoo-hoo thrown by one of the gang members. In retaliation, he confronts the gang and sprays one of them with mace. Further worsening the situation is an incident in the break room, where a furious Doug throws some frozen Tater Tots toward the trash can and accidentally hits Richard's hand with one; Richard fakes an injury by wearing a wrist brace at work. Days later, Doug gives an apology speech at a local community explaining his actions during the incident and wins the respect of the community, assuring them that a beautiful day should not be spoiled by a few "bad apples". After the meeting, the board of directors, the assistant managers and the community leaders have a brief meeting, wherein Richard inadvertently refers to the gang as "black apples", infuriating the head community leader.

After several attempts to eliminate each other as competitors, both Doug and Richard, along with another prospect, are summoned by the board of directors for a final interview. Richard's hopes are shattered when it is revealed that a drug test is required, as he has recently smoked marijuana. Shortly after the interview, Doug is given a call by Mitch and notified that he has landed the job, as Richard failed his drug test and the other candidate is too junior-grade for the position. He celebrates by doing cartwheels and backflips while crossing the street – finally confirming the earlier rumor about himself. Meanwhile, after reuniting with his wife, Richard and his family return to Quebec to his old grocery store, where he is reported to have become the store manager after singlehandedly stopping an accidental fire (which is rumored to have been started by Richard himself).

The third part opens with the Nameless Hero and his friends sailing to a new continent overrun with orcs, arriving in Myrtana, the central region of the continent. The hero lost all his belongings from the previous game when his ship is stolen while he's onshore with Milten, Diego, Gorn, and Lester. Presumably this is the source of the orc invasion that was launched on Khorinis during the second chapter. These lands have no physical connection to Khorinis or the ruins of the penal colony. In these mountainous forests the orcs have enslaved the human kingdom with only a few free humans living in the nearly uninhabitable icy northlands of Nordmar and the southern desert of Varant. The hero must decide whether to join the rebellion and stay true to the deposed human king, serve the Orcish usurpers in their quest to topple the last remaining human stronghold, or choose a path that serves his own ends. Throughout the story, he is accompanied by a number of NPCs, some of whom are old friends. While this chapter brings forward friends from the previous title (Xardas, Diego, Milten, Gorn, Lester, Lee, and Vatras) it also introduces two new major characters; King Rhobar the Second (who ultimately was responsible for sending the Nameless Hero to the penal colony in the first game) and Zuben. While the king has a strong past as a bold leader, he now faces a near defeat; his fame is on the decline. Zuben leads the Hashishin that inhabit the southern region of Varant.''Gothic 3'' manual (all versions).

Catherine Bomarzini and her best friend Gina have traveled to Catherine's family castle in Italy after her father's death. Once there, the two visit a local carnival, where Gina invites the head magician Lawrence and his crew to the castle for dinner. At the dinner Lawrence drugs both women and rapes Gina in front of his crew. He then carries Catherine off to another room where he strips and begins to seduce her, but pulls away so his twin brother Oliver can instead have sex with her. As the film progresses Catherine finds that both brothers are under a curse - they can only die at the hands of a loved one.

The game's protagonist is Ryu Hayabusa, master ninja, descendant of the Dragon Ninja lineage and current wielder of the Dragon Sword. One year after ''Ninja Gaiden Black'', master blacksmith Muramasa is setting up shop in Tokyo, Japan. A CIA agent named Sonia enters the place and asks for Ryu's whereabouts, until members of the Black Spider Ninja Clan attack the shop and kidnap her. Enter the Dragon Ninja Ryu, who fails to stop Sonia's kidnapping and makes haste around the Tokyo skyscrapers and rescues the agent, who informs him of an attack on the Hayabusa Village by the Black Spider Ninjas, who wish to steal the Demon Statue they possess and protect.

Ryu returns to his home and finds his father, Joe Hayabusa dueling with Genshin, leader of the Black Spider Ninja Clan. Unfortunately, the Demon Statue is taken away by Queen of the Greater Fiends and the Ruler of Blood, Elizébet, and Joe urges his son to retrieve the statue at all costs. Ryu travels around the world with Sonia, in pursuit of Elizébet and the Demon Statue, while encountering legions of Black Spider Ninjas, Fiends, and three other Greater Fiends: Alexei, the Graceful Ruler of Lightning; Volf, the Invincible Ruler of Storms; and Zedonius, the Malevolent Ruler of Flame.

Ryu tracks Elizébet down to South America, where she offers the Demon Statue to Infernal High Priest Dagra Dai, in order to resurrect the ancient Archfiend, Vazdah. Elizébet duels with Ryu and he defeats her, but Elizébet proclaims her return. An overlooking Genshin explains that the fiends are looking to resurrect the Archfiend who is supposed to emerge from Mount Fuji back in Japan. The mountain is also the place which bound both the Black Spider Clan and The Dragon Lineage. Ryu returns home, cautioning Sonia not to follow him.

As Ryu overlooks the fire-brimming Mount Fuji, Ayane enters with the Eye of the Dragon, a gift from Joe Hayabusa, and Ryu equips the relic onto his Dragon Sword, forming the True Dragon Sword again. Heading to the mountain's summit, Ryu finds Genshin waiting for him at the crater's entrance. As Mount Fuji erupts, Genshin reveals to Ryu that he never cared for "tantrums of the archfiend" and that their moment has finally arrived. The two ninjas fight to the death before Genshin falls dead and Ryu leaps into Mount Fuji. Elizébet appears over a deceased Genshin looking to revive him as a fiend as Ryu descends into Mount Fuji.

Ryu fights past hordes of Fiends and singlehandedly defeats Zedonius, Volf, and Alexei, and rescues a captured Sonia. He instructs her to stay put and to not move. Ryu heads into another room and finds a resurrected Genshin, transformed into a Fiend, back for a fourth and final battle. The two ninja battle in another arduous battle ending with Ryu eventually cutting Genshin down, even splitting his face armor doing so. Genshin and Ryu, though mortal adversaries, share a final mutual respect as ninja in Genshin's dying moment. Genshin shares with Ryu that all of his actions were meant to strengthen the Black Spider Clan as a whole (his cause all along) and has no regrets of pursuing that. He acknowledges Ryu as a great warrior, and in support of Ryu's cause hands him the cursed blade of the archfiend for use before dying. A furious Elizébet appears, and chastises the Black Spider Ninja for losing, even with his power. Ryu attacks Elizébet, and angrily cuts her down to red dust with the combination of his own dragon sword and Genshin's blade of the archfiend. He states that the overlord had more to live for than she ever would.

Traveling deeper into the Underworld, Ryu confronts Dagra Dai, who is nearly finished with the Archfiend's resurrection, and defeats him. As a last resort, the Infernal High Priest offers his life to Vazdah, and the Archfiend is reborn. Ryu takes down the monstrosity and heads to the surface with Sonia, but a drop of his blood from an open wound accidentally spills onto the fiend and revitalizes Vazdah, who ascends to the summit in its true form. Amidst an erupting Mount Fuji, Ryu squares off with the Archfiend in a climatic duel to decide humanity's fate and wins. Sonia and Ryu reunite and climb to the top of the mountain, sharing the sunrise together.

In a post-credits scene, amongst a field with countless number of blades embedded into the ground, Ryu plants Genshin's Blade of the Archfiend into the ground and bows in respect for the Black Spider Overlord. Ryu, "The Dragon Ninja" takes one last look before taking off into the fog. The plot is continued in ''Ninja Gaiden 3'' and its expansion ''Razor's Edge''.

Inspired by a true story, sparks fly when a Jew and a Kurdish Muslim fall in love in New York. David (David Moscow), TV host of "Sex & Happiness", becomes smitten with the voluptuous Layla (Shiva Rose) - a mysterious, sensual dancer who turns out to be a refugee from Kurdistan, fleeing from Saddam's regime. David's reckless pursuit of Layla sets off an unveiling of the similarities and contrasts of their ancient cultures. His lust grows into love as he discovers in stunning Layla a sensitive, intelligent war survivor with a rich culture that echoes his own. But their families are dead set against their unlikely romance. Faced with deportation, Layla must choose: David or Dr. Ahmad? Will David and Layla follow their hearts and blast through centuries of religious animosity?

Written, Produced, and Directed by Jay Jonroy aka J.J. Alani, this film was inspired by the true story of the Kurdish Muslim-Jewish couple Alwan Jaff and her husband David Ruby who now live in Paris. Both appear in cameo roles in the film.

The Drengin Empire has conquered most of the galaxy, driving the Terrans back to Earth, where humans have created an impenetrable defence around the homeworld. The Drengin have focused their attention on the other conquered races. Krindar I'Agohl, leader of the Korath clan, a specialist military faction feared in combat even against the Terrans, urges the annihilation of all non-Drengin species. Formerly few could survive against the Korath in battle. Now none survive at all.

However, there is something mysterious about the Korath. They do not resemble normal Drengin species, and without slavelings the Drengin Empire is weaker, for genocide is not their way. You, as the Drengin Dark Avatar, are sent to enslave the universe, find out the truth about the Korath, and stop the extermination of it.

However, as the Drengin warlords begin to turn on each other, another faction called the Krynn Consulate tries to convert the other races in a crusade to spread its religion.

In the expansion, two races will die, two more will rise.

Described by Godard as "a fantasy for actor, camera and tape recorder", this film is made up several sketches in which certain actors play several real or fictional roles to a background of rock music. The film is divided into three sections which inter-cross throughout. In each, a group of people search for their proper place on earth.

In the first, a group of musicians search for the right sound, the ideal harmony. In the second, a man searches for an ideal society and wonders if he is on the wrong planet. In the third, some travellers search for their destination, as Ulysses did in the bygone days.

Melvin White is an inept policeman who is demoted to night patrol by his pathologically lying captain, who has excessive flatulence. White's partner is Kent Lane, who has been a police officer for ten years and loves nothing more than having sex with women in the back of his police car. Fellow police officer Sue Perman is attracted to White, but White does not understand her hints and thinks of her as only a buddy. White and Lane get involved in various situations that include a couple parked in front of a fire hydrant, people smoking marijuana which they join in, and a male rape victim with a high-pitched voice. In between his duties as a police officer, White is the stand-up comedian The Unknown Comic at night. While in his persona, White wears a paper bag over his head that has holes for his eyes and mouth. White is popular as The Unknown Comic, and he has a chance to become even more famous and rich when a talent agent seeks him out. Edith Hutton, a fan of White, is attracted to The Unknown Comic and wants to discover who is under the paper bag. Hutton is even willing to leave her current boyfriend for him. White also has sessions with a psychiatrist.

Things become more complicated for White when a thief begins to rob bars at gunpoint while disguised as The Unknown Comic. No one is aware of The Unknown Comic's identity, but his captain has a suspicion that it is White. To prove that he is innocent, while also trying to hide his stand-up comedian identity, White works with Lane to track down who is impersonating him. White is supposed to perform at a venue as The Unknown Comic, but he is unable to do so because he is on the trail of the thief as a police officer within that venue. An impersonator of the comedian shows up on stage to perform, while another impersonator enters the place to steal money. White and his partner chase the thief and lose sight of the person on stage. The two of them catch up to the thief, resulting in White and the thief having a Western-film-style gun draw duel. The victor of the duel is White, and an unmasking reveals the impersonator is his psychiatrist, who says he wanted to become rich in White's place. White then finds and confronts the second impersonator, who turns out to be Perman. Perman used a recording of White's voice to protect him from being arrested. The film then ends with Perman and White having sex at White's apartment.

The fictional memoirs of Forrest "Little Tree" Carter begin in the late 1920s when, as the protagonist, his parents die and he is given over into the care of his part-Cherokee grandfather and his Cherokee grandmother at the age of five years. The book was originally to be called ''Me and Grandpa'', according to the book's introduction. The story centers on a clever child's relationship with his Scottish-Cherokee grandfather, a man named Wales (an overlap with Carter's other fiction).

The boy's Cherokee "Granpa" and Cherokee "Granma" call him "Little Tree" and teach him about nature, farming, whiskey making, mountain life, society, love, and spirit by a combination of gentle guidance and encouragement of independent experience.

The story takes place during the fifth to tenth years of the boy's life, as he comes to know his new home in a remote mountain hollow. Granpa runs a small moonshine operation during Prohibition. The grandparents and visitors to the hollow expose Little Tree to supposed Cherokee ways and "mountain people" values. Encounters with outsiders, including "the law," "politicians," "guv'mint," city "slickers," and "Christians" of various types add to Little Tree's lessons, each phrased and repeated in catchy ways. (One of the devices the book uses frequently is to end paragraphs with short statements of opinion starting with the word 'which,' such as "Which is reasonable.")

The state eventually forces Little Tree into a residential school, where he stays for a few months. At the school, Little Tree suffers from the prejudice and ignorance of the school's caretakers toward Indians and the natural world. Little Tree is rescued when his grandparents' Native American friend Willow John notices his unhappiness and demands Little Tree be withdrawn from the school.

At the end, the book's pace speeds up dramatically and its detail decreases; A year or so later, Willow John takes sick, sings the passing song, and then dies. Two years after that, Granpa dies from complications of a fall, telling the boy "It was good, Little Tree. Next time, it will be better. I'll be seein' ye.", before slipping away.

Early the following spring after performing her Death Chant, Granma dies a peaceful death in her rocking chair on the front porch while Little Tree is away. The note pinned to her blouse reads: "Little Tree, I must go. Like you feel the trees, feel for us when you are listening. We will wait for you. Next time will be better. All is well. Granma." Little Tree heads west with the two remaining hounds and works briefly on various farms in exchange for food and shelter.

The book ends just before the Great Depression after first one and then the other of Little Tree's last companions, two of Granpa's finest hounds, die, signaling his coming of age (Little Red falls through creek ice and Blue Boy dies a while later of old age), after which he moves on with his life, always remembering “The Way” which his grandparents instilled into his soul.

Set in the fictional empire of Saiunkoku, the story centers on Shurei Hong (Kou), a descendant of a noble family that has fallen on hard times. Her father works as a librarian in the Imperial palace, a post which offers prestige and respect, but little compensation. Shurei teaches in the temple school and works odd jobs to make ends meet, but her dream is to pass the imperial examinations and take a post in government, a path forbidden to women.

The new Emperor, Ryuuki Shi, has gained a reputation for being uninterested in courtly matters and for flaunting his love for men. So the Emperor's Grand Adviser makes a startling offer for her to join the imperial household for six months as the young Emperor's consort and teach the Emperor to be a responsible ruler. She easily accepts the invitation as she will receive a reward of 500 gold coins if she succeeds. The mysterious Seiran, a young man who was adopted by her father, goes with her as Ryuuki's bodyguard. Entering the imperial palace revives Shuurei's dream of being a court official.

The story details the hardships of creating change, especially as a woman, Shurei's growing relationship with the Emperor and other members of the court, the intrigues of imperial politics, and her commitment to better herself and her country.

Main characters

is the daughter and only child of Shōka Hong. She is sixteen years old when the story begins. As a descendant of the direct line, she has the title hime, which means 'Princess' or 'Lady'. Despite the high social status of her family, Shūrei grew up in relatively impoverished circumstances. Shūrei is the first woman in the history of Saiunkoku to pass the Imperial Exams with the third-highest score. Shūrei later accepts a position as an official in the Censorate or Inspector in the capital.

is a young man in his early twenties and is the sole remaining retainer in the personal household of Shōka Hong, who took him in thirteen years ago. Seiran is later revealed to be , Ryuuki's second-eldest brother. Though he claims to be 21 years old, he is actually 26 years old at the start of the series.

is Shūrei's father, Seiran's adoptive father and the eldest son of the Hong clan. Despite his mild-mannered exterior, Shōka is also a deadly assassin known as The Black Wolf.

was the mother of Shūrei, adoptive mother of Seiran, and wife of Shōka. Shokun is later revealed as the of the Hyō family. She had the ability to cure any illness and many men sought her hand in marriage. Shokun is revealed to be the Red Immortal, one of the Eight Sages who served the first emperor; her spell to make Shūrei healthier is the result of sealing her spirit within her daughter.

holds the rank of Vice-Secretary of the Department of Civil Administration, serving beneath Reishin Hong, who is also his foster father. Kōyū is notorious for having no sense of direction, constantly getting lost in the Imperial Palace, and unable to get anywhere without the assistance of others. Kōyū has a close relationship with Shūei Ran, though he loudly denies being the latter's friend. He loses his temper with very little prodding and gets tongue-tied speaking in official functions with large crowds.

is in charge of the Department of Civil Administration, which makes him Kōyū's bureaucratic superior as well as adoptive father. He is a good friend of his fellow official Kijin Kou. Kijin describes him as being crafty and coldhearted, but Reishin usually seems very cheerful, easy-going, and even childish. He often engages in devious and secretive behavior, especially regarding his family.

is Reishin's wife and Kōyū's adoptive mother. Unlike her husband, Yuri is practical and straightforward in her manner, as well as kind and thoughtful; Shōka attributes her influence as the reason why Kōyū was able to become a capable young man. She is also responsible for helping to raise Kurō during his childhood and she is well-regarded in the Hong clan.

, the youngest brother of Shōka and Reishin, acts as the proxy head of the Hong clan and many outsiders believe him to be the true leader. A man of tradition and family loyalty, Kurō urged their father to pass over Shōka in favor of Reishin as the next clan leader. Despite his rigid and formal attitude, he cares greatly for the well-being of his family.

is the reigning emperor of Saiunkoku, Ryūki Shi is nineteen years old when the story begins. As the youngest of the previous Emperor's six sons, each from a different mother, he had been an unlikely candidate to ascend to the throne. In childhood, Ryūki was badly treated by his mother and most of his half-brothers, who would beat him and lock him in a storage house for days in a row. Ryūki often took refuge in the garden or the imperial archives.

is the Chief Minister of the Department of Treasury and Taxation. Many people consider him mysterious and eccentric, especially because of his unusual appearance. He leaves his hair loosely flowing instead of binding it up according to custom, and is almost never seen without one of the masks from his wide collection. In his official capacity, Kijin tends to be very strict, but he is gracious to Shūrei when she begins to work for him.

is one of the three Grand Officials of the Palace, holding the title of ''Taiho''. Sa-Taiho has held a long history of frustrated ambition. He never manages to surpass Advisor Sho, his longtime friend and fellow Grand Official.

is a mild-mannered man in his late thirties who walks with a cane. Despite his gentle exterior, Yūshun is considered to be dangerous and very powerful. Yūshun is an effective politician who can accurately predict the current situation, and can be persuasive in debate.

is the beautiful mistress of Kougaro, the most prestigious pleasure house in the red-light district. She is fond of Shūrei, who worked as her accountant for many years. Not only is she one of the most sought-after courtesans, she is also the underground boss in charge of the region.

is an official working for the Inspector General. He is prone to thoughtlessly saying whatever is on his mind and regarded as a fool, despite being highly perceptive and critical. Because he does not like putting effort into anything, Suoh is both intrigued and annoyed by Shūrei's continual determination to do her best. Suou can perceive a situation's complete context or a person's true character, and he tries to lessen Shūrei's naiveté by showing her the evils of the world.

is the undersecretary of Censorate, known as the "Official Killer" for his ruthless persecution of officials. Seiga is an ambitious and cynical man who does not think highly of Shūrei and he often harasses her. A promising and confident official, he is known for his willingness to sacrifice others to achieve his goals.

makes his first appearance as a half-starved man lying in front of Shūrei's estate. Seiran dislikes him because of their shared past in the Satsujinzoku gang, when Ensei earned the nickname of "Little rascal King." Ensei's true specialty is close-range unarmed combat. He has a cross-shaped scar under his left eye and initially sports a bushy beard which irritates Shūrei and makes many people describe him as a bear.

is a shy, intelligent thirteen-year-old boy. He was born in Seika village, Koku province, but the rest of the village was wiped out by plague. Eigetsu does not like to consume alcohol or even smell it, because it literally turns him into another person: , who is brash, arrogant, and an excellent fighter. In contrast to Eigetsu's gentle manner and academic inclinations, Yōgetsu's intelligence leans towards being calculating and strategic.

Elisabeth, a scientist, lives with Simon, an archaeologist. One night, Simon suffers a seizure and is declared dead by a doctor. After a grieving Elisabeth screams for him not to be dead, Simon unexpectedly comes back to life. Elisabeth and Simon discuss the experience with their friends, protestant pastors Judith and Jérôme. Simon seems at first to have resumed a normal life, but being "dead" for a short moment has left him tormented and bitter. He reveals to Elisabeth that he saw many people in the afterlife and expresses a desire to go back there, as he now feels out of place in the world. Elisabeth, who doubts that Simon actually died and does not believe in the afterlife, pleads for him to remain with her. Simon eventually has another seizure and dies for good. Elisabeth comes to believe that it is now her destiny to join him wherever he is. She discusses the philosophical implications with Jérôme and Judith. Jérôme tries to talk her out of it, and even raises the possibility that the afterlife may not exist ; Judith supports Elisabeth's decision, which she compares to Jesus marching to Jerusalem. As Elisabeth leaves, Judith consoles Jérôme.

Kate is struggling in the advertising business in New York City: she cannot move forward despite her talent. Her boss, Mr. Mercer, passes her up for a promotion because she is "not stable enough". Her co-worker, Darcy, invents a story claiming Kate is engaged to Nick, a freelance videographer who lives in Massachusetts, with whom Kate had her picture taken during a friend's wedding.

All seems to work out well for Kate and she gets her promotion, but after Nick saves a little girl from a fire and winds up in the news, Kate is asked to bring her alleged fiancé to dinner with Mercer and his wife. She goes to Boston to ask Nick to do it and to "break up" with her during the evening. Nick, who likes Kate, agrees to please Kate. Meanwhile, Sam, a colleague that Kate had always wanted, takes notice of her because she is engaged, and they have sex on two occasions.

Nick arrives in New York and stays at Kate's apartment, and as they get to know each other, she starts to like him. When they are out at the dinner with Mercer, Nick compliments Kate and expresses his desire for a future with her. Kate just wants their "fight" to happen, and after unsuccessfully trying to incite Nick at the dinner table, she pays a restaurant employee to call her mobile phone and makes out that Nick is having an affair with an ex-girlfriend. Nick figures it out and finally plays along. Next day, after his attempt to woo Kate fails, he returns to Boston.

A week later, Kate finds a special gift which Nick had left her, and it prompts her to admit the fake to Mercer and her co-workers, stating that she was dressing for the job she wanted (repeating a line that Mercer had used on her earlier regarding her instability). When she tells him she is quitting, Mercer admits how he had exaggerated his own past at one point in his life. He lets Kate keep her job, and suggests she take a few days off to go to see Nick.

Kate walks in while Nick is recording a church wedding and he rebuffs her attempts to patch things up, until she interrupts the ceremony at a crucial point. Watched by the entire wedding assembly, she apologizes for the way she treated him. He invites her to stay for the wedding reception and dinner afterwards, and they embrace, as the congregation applaud them.

The ghost of Sir Simon Canterville has been roaming his castle for centuries. After demonstrating cowardice in life, he must find a brave descendant to obtain rest.

The film relates the adventures of a young Japanese samurai named Yohei who visited Spain in the 17th century, in a story loosely taking its inspiration from the travels of historic samurai Hasekura. Yohei survived in hiding to the present day due to magical powers (''"After centuries of lethargy, he awakes in a World he does not know"''), and accomplishes many adventures in modern Spain as a superhero.

Characters

Gisaku is the demonical pet (of Gorkan) who lost its power after swallowing the piece of Heart; now an adorable metal-eating baby lion. Riki is a young Spanish boy, who lost his parents in a car accident. Yohei is a brave samurai from the past the last surviving of the guardian that defeated Gorkan 400 years ago, who awakened after centuries of sleep to stop Gorkan again. Moira is an individualistic girl, whose interests lie in both high-tech and protection of the environment, she is a genius-level inventor Linceto is a mutated Spanish lynx who can speak and walk like a person. He blames the human race for the extinction of his species. Gorkan is the only demon who survived the battle between men and the forces of evil 400 years ago, and now plans to dominate the world.

One of the characters is Camiel, a gay dentist who marries his lover and the other is Simon (Cees Geel), a heterosexual drugs dealer and lady magnet. They become close friends in the late 1980s, but Camiel does something that interrupts their friendship.

After fourteen years Camiel and Simon meet again, but Simon is now terminally ill with cancer.

Simon has a daughter, Joy (Nadja Hüpscher) and a son, Nelson (Stijn Koomen). They develop a friendship with Camiel and his husband and after Simon's death Camiel adopts them.

In the play, Avery goes under the name Arviragus, and has made himself a king in Madagascar. He captures the Indian princess Zaida and tries to force her to marry him, but she is in love with a young man named Aranes. There is an offstage fight and Aranes is reported killed; meanwhile, De Sale, who has confided to the audience that he plots to overthrow Arviragus and make himself king, ingratiates himself with Zaida.

De Sale's fellow plotters are bumbling incompetents and their plans are easily thwarted, followed by a comic trial scene. It is revealed that Aranes is Arviragus' long lost son, whom he recognizes from a bracelet, and that he is still alive, his friend Alvarez having died in his place. The plotters are executed and Aranes and Zaida marry.

Svend is barbecuing and his fiancée, Tina, is bothering him about the food. Bjarne arrives and is introduced to one of Tina's co-workers, Beate. Bjarne does not take to Beate's flirtation and kicks her under the table until she leaves crying. The next day, as Holger tells a customer a story about sausages, Svend complains to Bjarne that they could open a better butcher shop. Holger insults them and tells Svend that his marinade is terrible. Soon thereafter, Svend meets with a realtor, "House Hans", and Bjarne at a closed butcher shop, and decides to purchase it and open his own shop. Bjarne visits the sanatorium where his brain dead brother Eigil is being kept alive on machines, and tells Nurse Juhl to take him off life support because he needs the money he inherited. Svend and Bjarne discuss hiring an electrician to fix the lights in the meat freezer, and business cards. Bjarne then visits the cemetery where his parents and wife are buried. Astrid introduces herself and Bjarne invites her to the opening of his shop.

On opening day, there are no customers, and Svend accidentally locks up an electrician in the meat freezer. The next morning Holger arrives and mocks Svend, and makes an order for a dinner party to spitefully be his first customer. Svend reveals that he prepared the electrician's leg and sold it to Holger. The next day, when Bjarne arrives, a line of patrons stretches outside the door of the shop. "Svend's chicky-wickies", as he calls the human flesh marinated in his special sauce, are extremely popular. Bjarne is reluctant at selling the rest of the body, but because of the great demand he gives in. Hans arrives, who has just lost his job, and Svend locks him in the freezer. Svend tells Bjarne that he found a dead body. A television news crew reports a story about the new butcher shop. Meanwhile, at the sanatorium, the doctors turn the life support machines off on Eigil, who wakes up.

Eigil comes to the shop, but Bjarne hides and makes Svend send him away. Svend begins dating Beate and when Tina tries to win Svend back, he locks her in the meat freezer. Reverend Villumsen tells Holger that the chicky-wickies tasted like his wife. Bjarne grows tired of Eigil's visits to the butcher shop, and talks to Nurse Juhl, who recommends that he seek a psychiatrist. He tells her to stop by the butcher shop and speak with Svend. The next day Svend tells Bjarne that the nurse was his latest victim, and to throw out the rotten chicken meat. Eigil takes the dead chickens to the cemetery to bury them, where Astrid finds him and befriends him. Bjarne then visits Astrid at the church and leaves when he sees Eigil there.

At the church, as Astrid and Eigil are tending to the chickens, Reverend Villumsen and Holger summon Astrid to the reverend's office. They tell Astrid that they believe the butchers are murdering people, and Holger reveals the details of the accident that claimed Bjarne's family. Astrid takes Eigil to the butcher shop with some dead chickens.

When Bjarne does not find Astrid at the church, he stops by the butcher shop. He finds out that Svend locked Astrid and Eigil in the freezer. Astrid leaves upset, and Bjarne threatens Svend, who escapes. The next day Svend does not show up at the shop and Bjarne opens without any human meat to sell. Instead, he prepares "chicky-wickies" with regular chicken. Holger and the public health authorities arrive and shut the shop down. Svend arrives and nearly confesses to the murders. The health authorities do not find any evidence of foul play and leave. Out in the alley, Bjarne tells Svend that the chicky-wickies were popular because of the marinade, rather than the fact that it was human flesh.

Superman is sent to Earth by his parents just as the planet Krypton blows up and is later raised as Clark Kent by a farm couple. They discover that he has great powers so they send him off to use his powers to help those in need. After his foster parents die, the Man of Steel heads to Metropolis under the bespectacled guise of Kent and joins the staff of the ''Daily Planet'' in order to be close to the news. Soon after he is sent out to get the scoop on a new rock that a man has found that he calls Kryptonite, and Clark passes out; then and there Superman discovers that his weakness is Kryptonite. Whenever emergencies happen, he responds in his true identity as Superman. This first serial revolves around the nefarious plot of a villain who calls herself the Spider Lady.

The story is about a young elvish Princess Apricot (アプリコット ひめ) whose mission is to return to her home - Fountain land, occupied by evil forces of a monster called Scorpion (スコーピオン), before the total eclipse of the Sun. If she manages to sit on a throne before the eclipse, she'll release a great power of water that will destroy the occupators. To prevent that from happening, she's been kidnapped by mysterious cloaked man called Hoodman (フードマン), and his, rather clumsy, aides: Jack (ジャック) and Franz (フランツ). Their mission is to keep Princess Apricot away from her home land until the eclipse. In the first episode, she escapes from the villains by sending a message with her trusty mechanical bird, Speak (スピーク). The Princess's urgent call for help is accidentally heard by inhabitants of Bosco Forest: a brave and adventurous Frog (フローク), intelligent and ingenious inventor Tutty (タッティ), and cowardly, but kind and warm-hearted Otter (オッター). They save her from the villains, and the princess becomes a part of Bosco crew. Guys decide to help Apricot finding her way back home, before it's too late. On their way to Fountain land they get into myriad of adventures, where they prove their desire and ability to help and protect those who are in need, and where their own relationships between each other flourish and develop into strong friendship and love.

The main story of ''Gunnerkrigg Court'' revolves around Antimony “Annie” Carver, a student at the Court. Annie's parents, Surma and Anthony Carver, were also students there decades earlier, and Surma became the Court's medium to the Forest. Surma died after a long illness and Anthony disappeared, leaving Annie in the Court's care. Early in the comic, Annie befriends several supernatural beings, including a sentient shadow, a robot, and a ghost named Mort. Though initially not well liked by most of her fellow students, she becomes best friends with Katerina “Kat” Donlan, a classmate and robotics prodigy, and eventually also befriends older students Parley and Smitty.

Annie meets a creature called Reynardine, who tries to take over her body but, by accident, instead becomes trapped in the body of a stuffed animal she carries and becomes subject to her command. She gradually learns from various characters the history of the Forest and its connection to her own family. In the past, Coyote had granted some of his powers to Reynardine and Ysengrin:

'''Antimony''': "Why were you looking for Renard in the first place? Why bring him here?"
'''Coyote''': "I sought to make him into a powerful being such as myself!" he had given Ysengrin "power over the trees" and Reynardine the power to take bodies. Reynardine had been in love with Surma
'''Coyote''': "I wouldn't be surprised if he cared very deeply about you, [Antimony]! You see, Renard fell desperately in love with Surma!" and had used his power to steal a young man's body and woo Surma; the man died, however, and Reynardine was imprisoned in the Court until Annie encountered him.
'''Coyote''': "[Reynardine] soon runs away! He steals the body of a young man and disappears into the Court, looking to woo the fiery Surma. We heard he was captured, '''tricked'''! ... and I did not see him again until last summer." Surma was a psychopomp and the descendant of a fire spirit: she had an etheric power over fire, which is passed from mother to daughter at the cost of the mother's life.

Because of her relationship with Reynardine, Coyote, and Ysengrin, Annie is nominated to receive training as a medium, developing her etheric abilities including fire manipulation and astral projection. In the end, the position is given to Smitty instead, but Coyote designates her as the Forest's medium to the Court. She begins training under Ysengrin, who she learns is in a constant state of anger towards the Court but is partially brainwashed and kept in check by Coyote. Meanwhile, Anthony suddenly returns to the Court as a professor, and behaves coldly toward his daughter, moving her to a separate residence and making her repeat a school year. Annie later learns that the court is displeased by her closeness with the forest creatures and brought him back in an attempt to control her. Trying to control her rage at these events, she severs the link to her emotions and fire powers.

Annie and Kat investigate a powerful presence that guards the Annan Waters between the Court and the Forest. It turns out to be the ghost of a woman named Jeanne, one of the founders of the Court. Another founder named Diego created an arrow that killed Jeanne's lover and trapped her soul in the river, where she resisted attempts from the psychopomps to collect her soul and kills all who attempt to cross the river without the bridge. Annie, Kat, and several friends mount an expedition to recover the arrow and free the souls of Jeanne and her lover; they succeed, but Smitty is mortally wounded by Jeanne. Annie strikes a deal with the psychopomps in which they spare Smitty's life in exchange for her commitment to become a psychopomp in the future. As preparation, Annie and Kat help Mort finally pass into the ether.

Coyote, aware that the river can now be crossed freely, cedes his strength to Ysengrin, who is suddenly overwhelmed by rage and devours Coyote, becoming a creature named Loup. Loup destroys the Annan Waters, creates a duplicate version of Annie, and attacks the Court, which temporarily fends him off while preparing evacuation plans. Annie meets with Loup several times, while the Court attempts to capture him; Coyote appears several times during these encounters and suggests that all of Loup's actions were part of his plan, and that he will eventually return after Loup is killed by Annie.

In addition to Annie's central story, the story includes several additional plot arcs interspersed with the main story. One concerns two girls from the Court, Zimmy and Gamma, who communicate with one another telepathically. Zimmy sees hallucinations of monsters that her etheric abilities turn into reality, which she relies on Gamma to dispel.
'''Zimmy''': "Yer gonna have ta take Gamma's place.... Gettin' ridda these guys." Kat has her own storylines, including her romance with a fellow student named Paz, and experiments in robotics inspired by natural bodies and the highly complex robots created by Diego. Kat is eventually able to create full organic bodies for robots that make them capable of sensation, and a faction of robots seemingly starts a religion centered on the belief that she is an angel with the gift of giving robots life.

Monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing and friar Carl travel to London to investigate a series of horrific, and decidedly supernatural murders, being committed by the mad scientist Dr. Jekyll, in the form of his evil alter-ego, Mr. Hyde. When tracing Hyde to his underground fortress, Van Helsing and Carl find a young woman who claims to be Queen Victoria, and they discover that Dr. Jekyll is in love with the Queen. In order to keep her young and thus immortal, she has been given a potion by Dr. Jekyll that turns her into a young woman for one night. In order to create the potion which causes the transformations, Dr. Jekyll needs the drained souls of his freshly killed victims and thus the killings will never stop.

Dr. Jekyll then kidnaps Victoria, using the Golden Jubilee Balloon to escape. Van Helsing uses his grappling gun to follow the balloon, then proceeds to board it. In the balloon, Dr. Jekyll becomes Mr. Hyde to kill Van Helsing and crashes the balloon in the process. While fighting on the in-construction Tower Bridge, Mr. Hyde is shot through the arm but manages to escape. Upon returning Victoria to Buckingham Palace, Van Helsing says that daybreak will break the enchantment, returning her to her real age.

To reward him, Victoria kisses him, at the precise moment of daybreak, causing her old self to slap him and call for guards. Van Helsing sends word back to Vatican City about what has happened while he tracks Jekyll to Paris.