Nancy and her friends are invited on a ghost-hunting tour, visiting various locations reputed to be haunted. They gather clues that point to a more mundane explanation.

Nancy uncovers a gang of thieves that are stealing rare shells from collectors. Some of these shells are no longer rare, such as Conus gloriamaris.

Helen, Nancy's friend from the earliest books in the series, makes a rare appearance. Previously Helen Corning, she is now married to Jim Archer and goes by Helen Archer.

The strange disappearance of Carson Drew's Turkish client and a strange gift of an oriental rug encoded with a message woven in the decorative border start Nancy on a difficult search for a missing mannequin. But then, a robber tries to steal the rug from the Drew home. Nancy, Bess, George, Ned, Burt, Carson, and Dave travel to Istanbul to search for more clues; but then, Bess disappears during the search after the chums meet a young Turkish woman.

Category:Nancy Drew books Category:1970 American novels Category:1970 children's books Category:Novels set in Turkey Category:Grosset & Dunlap books Category:Children's mystery novels

Nancy, Bess, and George spend an exciting weekend at a mysterious zigzag house with a crooked banister and an unpredictable robot. Nancy becomes involved in the mystery of the strange house and must locate the missing owner who is wanted by police.

Category:Nancy Drew books Category:1971 American novels Category:1971 children's books Category:Grosset & Dunlap books Category:Children's mystery novels

Ethics professor Jack Lambert's (Dan Aykroyd) neighbor Max Mueller (Jack Lemmon) is revealed on the TV news to be escaped Nazi war criminal Karl Luger, whom the courts sentenced to death. Pressured by the news media's allegations, Mueller plans escape to South America.

Angered that Mueller might never pay for his crimes, Lambert takes the drastic step of poisoning him by injecting cyanide into some of the fruit in Mueller's apple tree, from which he regularly makes freshly juiced apple juice. The police initially believe it's a suicide, greatly upsetting Lambert, who mails them a cryptic letter explaining that it was actually a murder to carry out the court sentence and to avenge all the lives taken.

Later, the TV news reveals that Mueller was misidentified and is innocent. Feeling guilty, Lambert atones by dumping his fiancée Gail (Bonnie Hunt) and marrying Mueller's daughter Inga (Lily Tomlin). However, after the wedding, Lambert receives information assuring him of Mueller's guilt.

The story plays out in realtime and is set in a rundown flat in Dagenham.

There a woman called Anita is moving in following the death of Vincent, her son who was killed in a homophobic attack which resulted in her discovering that he was a homosexual in the aftermath of his murder.

In the play we see her interact with Davey, a boy who claims to have been the first to find Vincent's corpse and who wants to know as much as he can about Vincent from Anita.

In an 1850s Paris courtroom, author Gustave Flaubert (James Mason) attempts to prevent the banning of his novel ''Madame Bovary''. His accusers have described the book's title character as shocking and immoral. Flaubert counters with a narration of Bovary's story from his own realist perspective. Thus, we are introduced to 20-year-old Emma (Jennifer Jones), a lonely woman who fantasizes a perfect life for herself. She falls in love with Dr. Charles Bovary (Van Heflin). The two are married and move into a small house in Normandy which Emma re-decorates lavishly, incurring much debt. Emma, bemoaning her lack of social status, tells Charles she wants a baby boy, someone not confined in accordance with restoration France's repressive cultural norms. Instead, Emma gives birth to a girl, Berthe. She soon tires of her role as mother and leaves Berthe's upbringing to her nanny (Ellen Corby). Unhappy with her life, Emma embarks on a relationship with Leon Dupuis (Alf Kjellin), but his mother (Gladys Cooper) induces him to move to Paris and enroll in law school.

After Charles fails to match her lofty expectations of "heroic country doctor", Emma succumbs to the advances of aristocrat Rodolphe Boulanger (Louis Jourdan), who then abandons her. A heartbroken Emma attempts suicide, but Charles intervenes. She endures several months of severe depression, but eventually recovers. Sometime after, Emma and Charles attend an opera in nearby Rouen. There, they encounter Leon, who has returned from Paris. Leon brags of attaining his law credentials and earning a lot of money. At first Emma rejects Leon's subsequent attempts to renew their affair, but she finally consents. When Emma returns home, she finds that the Bovarys' outstanding remodeling debts have come back to haunt them when their house is put up for sale to satisfy creditors. One of them offers to forgive Emma's debts in exchange for sexual favors. She refuses, deciding instead to approach Leon for money. However, Leon admits he has no money to lend her, confessing that he is only a law clerk. Finally, Emma turns to Rodolphe, but he flatly refuses to help. Rather than endure shame for what she has caused, Emma breaks into the village apothecary and swallows arsenic. Although Charles attempts to save her, Emma dies. The film then returns to Flaubert and the courtroom. In the end, it is decided the author's novel will not be blocked from publication.

The cartoon starts with Tom balancing on the edges of washtub, "rowing" amongst some docks using a broomstick, under a crescent moon. He is singing the ballad "Santa Lucia" as the title card and credits are shown. As he reaches the docks, he finds Jerry rowing a small cup with a spoon and mimicking him.

Sitting on a piling outside a nearby steamer, Tom steals some tea and sugar from a porthole in the steamer and pours them all over Jerry in the cup. As he begins sipping, an orange cat (the "Dupli-cat") pulls on Tom's tail through a porthole, points at an empty saucer and holds his hand out as if to say, "Mine." Tom politely gives him the teacup. Dupli-cat pulls on Tom's tail again, and Tom then returns the spoon. Tom then innocently sits on the piling until he hears Dupli-cat drinking the tea, and then after a few seconds Tom blows his top.

Tom enters the ship's galley through the porthole and sees the empty teacup. He races through the ship, and then sees Dupli-cat running through an open doorway, seemingly in parallel to himself. Tom continues walking back and forth, and the two cats mimic each other. When Tom crosses again imitating a train, Dupli-cat does likewise making a train whistle sound. Surprised, Tom repeats the sound, then tricks Dupli-cat into opening his mouth: Jerry is inside it. Tom walks away and then catches on.

Tom chases Dupli-cat off the ship and along a pier, where Dupli-cat is cornered and cowers, holding out Jerry for Tom to take. As Tom reaches out, Dupli-cat stomps open a trap-door, causing Tom to falls through it into the water. Tom angrily climbs up the ladder, but Dupli-cat drops the trap-door, knocking Tom back down. Dupli-cat then runs back along the pier and Tom is shown to be doing the same on the pier beneath. He snaps a loose board in Dupli-cat's pier, hitting Dupli-cat and smashing him back into another piling. Grabbing Jerry, who is making no attempt to hide his annoyance at the situation, Tom then runs along the pier, but fails to see another piling and runs into it. Dupli-cat steals Jerry and ties him to his tail, and then ties Tom's fingers together around the piling. Tom manages to pull out the piling and drop it on top of Dupli-cat, who falls through the pier and slowly sinks into the water as Tom grabs Jerry.

Tom goes aboard a ship in dry-dock that is about to be launched. Dupli-cat swings a bottle of champagne normally used for launching at his rival instead, hitting him in the head and causing the bottle to open. Some of the champagne spills on Jerry and inebriates him. The two cats then successively grab the mouse, but Jerry is propelled up to a yardarm on the mast. In an act of drunken bravado, the now-annoyed Jerry motions both cats to join him, ties the two cats' faces together by their whiskers and around the mast by their tails. Jerry resumes singing "Santa Lucia" once again, while drunkenly hiccuping, with bubbles emerging each time he hiccups, and finally forming the words "THE END".

Set in the 1940s, the plot follows Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's perpetually unemployed, alcoholic alter ego, who has been rejected from the World War II draft and makes his way from one menial job to the next (hence a ''factotum''). After getting into a fight with his father, Chinaski drifts through the seedy city streets of lower-class Los Angeles and other American cities in search of a job that will not come between him and his first love: writing. Much of the novel is dedicated to describing various menial jobs that Chinaski temporarily holds during the USA’s WWII economic boom. Even though some of Chinaski's jobs and colleagues are described with great detail, they all eventually end with him either abruptly leaving or being fired.

He is consistently rejected by the only publishing house he respects, but is driven to continue by the knowledge that he could do better than the authors they publish. Chinaski begins sleeping with fellow barfly Jan, a kindred spirit he meets while drowning his sorrows at a bar. When a brief stint as a bookie finds him abandoned by the only woman with whom he is able to relate, a fling with gold-digging floozie Laura finds him once again falling into a morose state of perpetual drunkenness and unemployment.

The film is set in Stephens Sanitarium, a secluded rural mental health institute whose chief doctor believes that the best way to deal with insanity is to allow the patients to freely act out their realities in the hopes that they will snap out of it, so to speak. The film begins with an elderly nurse in Stephens Sanitarium making her rounds. After a troubling incident in which a patient threatens her life, she decides to retire and goes out to visit the chief doctor, Dr. Stephens, to inform him of the decision. Unfortunately, in the process of therapy (which involves chopping wood with an axe), the crazed former magistrate, Oliver W. Cameron, known as Judge (Gene Ross), accidentally lands the axe in Dr. Stephens' back, apparently killing him. The shaken nurse returns inside to finish packing, where she is attacked by Harriett (Camilla Carr), a patient who accuses her of stealing her "baby" (actually a plastic doll). The patient kills her by crushing her head in the nurse's suitcase.

The only remaining doctor appears to be Dr. Geraldine Masters (Anne MacAdams), who is greeted by Charlotte Beale (Rosie Holotik), a pretty young nurse who informs Dr. Masters that Dr. Stephens had hired her a week ago. Dr. Masters begrudgingly allows her to settle in. The young nurse meets the patients, including a lobotomized and childish man named Sam (Bill McGhee), who enjoys popsicles and his plastic toy boat, a nymphomaniac and schizophrenic named Allyson (Betty Chandler), an emotionally dependent woman named Jennifer (Harryette Warren), an octogenarian woman named Mrs. Callingham (Rhea MacAdams) who spouts bizarre poetry and mistakes flowers in the garden to be her own children, a juvenile prankster named Danny (Jessie Kirby), a shellshocked Sergeant (Hugh Feagin) who lost his mind after accidentally killing his men in Vietnam, and the crazed judge, who seems incapable of speaking in anything other than courtroom jargon and the repeated phrase "My name... is... Oliver... W... Cameron..."

Dr. Masters becomes disturbed when a telephone man comes to investigate the faulty phone system at the institution. Mrs. Callingham's tongue is ripped out of her mouth during her sleep, although Dr. Masters tells Charlotte that Mrs. Callingham did it to herself. The audience later discovers that Dr. Masters is actually a patient at the institute and that Dr. Stephens had allowed her to pretend to be a doctor. After he disobeys her, Dr. Masters burns the Sergeant's hand and murders Jennifer for stealing medicine. After a frantic conversation with Allyson, Charlotte discovers Dr. Masters' secret. Mrs. Callingham indicates to Charlotte that it was Masters who cut out her tongue, apparently to prevent the elderly woman from disclosing the secret. Charlotte then discovers the body of the telephone man in the kitchen closet, presumably murdered by Masters, to make sure he would not report the institution's situation to anyone on the outside. Allyson is distraught, as she thought the man was going to marry her, but she convinces herself that the man is still alive and drags his body to her room so she can have sex with it.

Charlotte realizes that her life is in grave danger, and she tries to escape. The judge informs her that they all know Masters is a patient, but they think Charlotte is also a patient. Charlotte finds that all the windows and doors have been boarded up by Masters, preventing an escape. Sam then leads Charlotte to the basement, where she is startled by a man grabbing her ankle and beats him to death with a toy boat. She realizes that it is Dr. Stephens, but not before finishing him off. At the direction of Masters, Sam leads Charlotte upstairs, apparently, so the judge can axe her to death. Sam thinks Charlotte murdered Dr. Stephens on purpose, so he helps restrain her. However, he has a flashback from his lobotomy (which Masters had assisted with) and lets Charlotte go. He then leaves the room as Masters cowers in a corner. As Sam leaves, the other inmates enter with weapons, and the judge brutally axes Masters to death. Sam is deeply disturbed, grabs the axe, and kills all the other inmates except Mrs. Callingham, who is not in the room. Charlotte is already outside, having been told of a secret exit in the basement by Sam. She wanders around outside as the camera goes back to Sam, who cries to himself while eating a popsicle and viewing the carnage.

In 1934, Chicago sheet-music salesman Arthur Parker (Steve Martin) is having a hard time, both in his business and at home with his wife Joan. His business and marriage are failing, and Joan (Jessica Harper) refuses to give him the money she inherited from her father to start his own business.

Arthur's dream is to live in a world that is like the songs he tries to sell. He is refused a bank loan, although he fantasizes that he gets it. In his travels, Arthur meets schoolteacher Eileen (Bernadette Peters) and falls in love with her instantly. They embark on a short affair, but Arthur leaves her and returns to Joan, who is desperate to keep him and agrees to give him the money he wanted. Arthur denies having an affair, though Joan is sure he is lying.

Eileen gets pregnant by Arthur and is fired. With nowhere to go, she takes up with stylish pimp Tom (Christopher Walken). Eileen is attracted to Tom's "badness", and he arranges for her to have an abortion.

When Arthur meets Eileen again, she is now a prostitute calling herself "Lulu". They resume their romance, and Eileen leaves Tom and her sordid life. Impulsively, Arthur convinces her to run away with him. Having failed to sell his business, Arthur and Eileen break into the store one night and trash it, smashing its phonograph records (except for "Pennies from Heaven"). To supplement their income, Eileen keeps prostituting in spite of Arthur's objections.

A blind girl whom Arthur knew superficially is raped and murdered by an accordion-playing hobo to whom Arthur had given a ride earlier in the film. The police's suspicions are confirmed by Joan, who reveals to them Arthur's sexual predilections to get back at him for cheating on her. The police find Arthur trying to leave town with Eileen, and arrest him for murder; he is soon convicted and sentenced to death. At the gallows, he recites the lyrics from the song "Pennies from Heaven". In one final fantasy, Arthur and Eileen are reunited, with Arthur saying, "We couldn't have gone through all that without a happy ending. Songs ain't like that, are they?"

''Day on Fire'' tells the story of a singer, a model, an Arab woman journalist, and a physician as they criss-cross New York City over a 12-hour period. Their intersecting lives unfold against the backdrop of a ghastly suicide bombing in Israel, and the strange New York City wanderings of a malevolent Handsome Man, whose predatory intents lend an air of inevitable, horrific violence. Beautifully and hauntingly musical, this thriller also has a political and personal intrigue that mounts inexorably as the sun begins to set on this fateful day. By the time night has fallen in the city, the crossing of these individual fates is sealed. Each of these four women has found their destiny amidst the brutality that the film reveals.

While studying the archaeological records of the now-destroyed planet Sarpeidon, a scholar aboard the USS ''Enterprise'' finds pictures of an ice-age cave painting that depicts a Vulcan face. Spock realizes that his involvement with Zarabeth in the episode "All Our Yesterdays" resulted in the birth of a child. Along with Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy, he uses the Guardian of Forever (featured in the episode "The City on the Edge of Forever") to journey back into Sarpeidon's past and rescue his son. Due to a miscalculation, they find a young man of twenty-eight instead of a child, who tells them that his name is Zar and that his mother Zarabeth died in an accident many years before. Spock introduces himself but refuses to allow Zar to call him "Father."

Zar returns to the ''Enterprise'' and passes as a distant relative of Spock, who oversees his education and attempts to train him in Vulcan telepathic techniques. They discover that Zar is an unusually strong telepath for a Vulcan; he can establish contact without touching the other person. Zar becomes conflicted and hurt by his father's apparent refusal to acknowledge him.

The ''Enterprise'' is called back to the planet Gateway to protect the Guardian of Forever from a Romulan intelligence raid. It is imperative to the security of the United Federation of Planets that the Romulans not discover the Guardian's powers; if they cannot be driven away, Gateway must be destroyed. The Romulans, who have landed near the Guardian, have hidden themselves behind a ground-based cloaking device. Spock devises a plan to place a force field around the Guardian. Zar volunteers to help Spock place the force field, because he can sense whether Romulans are present even though, due to the cloaking device, he cannot see them. Their first try is unsuccessful, but when they rendezvous with Kirk the three discover they are trapped on the planet while the ''Enterprise'' with Scotty in command battles the Romulans. They decide to try again, but Spock disables Zar with the Vulcan nerve pinch, wishing to spare him from danger. Kirk and Spock are captured and tortured by the Romulans. When Zar wakes up, he is able to telepathically sense their danger. He also realizes that his father cares about him, since he chose to protect Zar instead of Kirk, his closest friend. The ''Enterprise'' defeats the Romulan ships and a rescue party beams down. Zar creates a diversion by causing an explosion, allowing the others to rescue Kirk and Spock.

Once the Romulan threat is over, Zar decides to use the Guardian to return to Sarpeidon's past, but to a more settled location than the one he originally inhabited. He has discovered evidence that he is crucial to the planet's unusually rapid cultural evolution.

''Swarm'' is set in the Praulac Nebula, which is inhabited by a strange insectoid race called the Clagnor. Negotiations between humans and the Clagnor have failed, leading to an all-out war between the two races. The story follows Rawl Masteson, a prison convict given the task of fighting the Clagnor for a year. After this, if by any chance he survives, his name will be cleared unless he takes an offer for another year on the job for twice the pay.

The story starts in the year 2032 with a squad of Tech-Com soldiers storming a Skynet facility in order to stop a T-X from entering a time displacement machine. However, they are no match for the T-X's superior capabilities and all are gruesomely killed.

Meanwhile, Katherine Brewster and the Human Resistance ambush the T-850 that was responsible for the death of John Connor. A Tech-Com technician reprograms the cyborg to be sent back to July 23, 2003 to protect Kate and John's earlier selves. The T-850, with the assistance of several Tech-Com soldiers manages to fight its way to the main gate of the Skynet bunker and it enters the time displacement machine.

In the past, the T-850 rescues John and Kate from the T-X, and informs them that Judgment Day is to begin within the next few hours. It plans to acquire a plane from a nearby military base, and fly the pair to Crystal Peak, a bunker that will ensure their survival during the nuclear blasts. As they arrive at the base, the T-X reappears, and hits the T-850 into a prototype time machine; it is sent back into the future, arriving in a new, alternate future where Skynet has triumphed.

The Terminator once again fights its way through Skynet and sends itself back to 2003. It appears just in time to fight off the T-X while John and Kate escape to Crystal Peak. At the bunker, the T-850 prevents the T-X from reaching John and Kate by blocking its route to them. The T-850 places its damaged fuel cell into the T-X's mouth, resulting in a large explosion that seemingly destroys both Terminators.

Following Judgment Day, John removes the CPU from the heavily damaged T-850's metal skull, deactivating it. The story then shifts further into the war, where John is leading the Resistance. He uses the CPU to reactivate the Terminator, who is revealed to have been rebuilt as an extensively modified FK Reaper. The Terminator then stomps out into battle, aiding John Connor once again, as the game closes with the final caption: "The battle has just begun...".

The Guardian of Forever has malfunctioned and is emitting waves of accelerated time that are causing premature star deaths throughout the galaxy. After Spock recalls that his son Zar was once able to communicate telepathically with the Guardian, the ''Enterprise'' is placed under the temporary command of Admiral Kirk and detailed to transport a powerful telepath to the Guardian. The telepath manages to partially restore the Guardian's time travel functions but collapses in a comatose state. Using the Guardian, Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy travel into the past of the planet Sarpeidon to find Zar, hoping that his powerful telepathy combined with Vulcan shield training will allow him to successfully restore the Guardian to its normal state.

They find Zar in charge of a small, technologically advanced settlement that is about to engage in a battle with an alliance of less advanced but more numerous enemy clans. His death in the coming battle has been foretold by the priestess Wynn, the daughter of one of the enemy clan chiefs, who declares that the alliance will be denied victory only if "he who is halt walks healed" and "he who is death-struck in battle rises whole." "He who is halt" clearly refers to Zar, who walks with a painful limp because of a leg injury he suffered many years before. In order to increase his city's odds of survival, Zar has Wynn kidnapped and betrothed, forcing her father to change sides. The ''Enterprise'' men manage to convince him to come back with them and deal with the Guardian, although he insists that he will return afterward to fight in the battle despite the prophecy.

Zar successfully melds with the Guardian and returns its consciousness to its physical structure, along with a burst of energy that turns out to be several beings of pure energy. The Guardian explains that it abandoned its duties to search for its Creators, who long ago evolved into beings of pure energy and entered another dimension. Its fundamental programming required it to answer their summons and bring them home, and the resource drain connected to the search resulted in its apparent malfunction. The Creators are immensely old and senile, and wish to find their home system to die there; but they have forgotten where it is. The Creators assume the form of people drawn from the memories of the ''Enterprise'' men in order to converse with them. While some of the beings act in a benevolent manner, a few seem capricious and cruel, and even completely deranged. Eventually, Kirk and the others manage to convince them that their search would endanger intelligent life throughout the galaxy, and they re-enter another dimension via the Guardian. The Guardian, with the assistance of Zar and Spock, is able to force the remaining, less rational Creators to comply.

McCoy convinces Zar to undergo treatment and physical therapy aboard the ''Enterprise'', healing his limp and giving him a greater chance of survival in the coming battle. Zar achieves peak physical condition and is able to walk normally again, fulfilling the first half of Wynn's prophecy. When he returns to Sarpeidon's past, Spock follows him, intending to help save him in the battle. Spock is unable to prevent the death-blow from landing, although he deflects it slightly, and Zar is unconscious but still alive. In order to fulfill the second half of the prophecy, Spock puts on Zar's armor and shows himself to the army, leading them to believe their leader has risen whole from being "death-struck".
Upon seeing this, most of the remaining clans surrender and Zar's army wins the battle. After ensuring that Zar will survive the blow and leaving him to Wynn's care, Spock returns to the present.

After a third world war, ending with only eight years of peace, Earth is attacked by the alien Kretons. Major Harrison Stryker, a World War III veteran, goes on a mission to wipe out the Kreton military installations on the three elemental planets within their galaxy. The only named characters are the eponymous hero and Fleet Admiral Yoshira, an attractive, often flirtatious woman who briefs Stryker between missions.

Chakotay's shuttle has been shot down, leaving him stranded alone on a jungle planet. He is captured by troops of the humanoid Vori species, led by Brone (Michael Mahonen), but they appear to release him when they determine he is not of the "nemesis". Chakotay and a Vori look for his shuttle the next day and encounter two of the "nemesis". They are known as the Kradin, who are fierce and technologically-advanced humanoids. Chakotay's shuttle is gone so he returns to the Vori. He bonds with them and immediately understands what they are up against. As he joins the Vori in the struggle against the Kradin, he sees evidence of the evil of the nemesis: they mock the Vori's religious rituals and send a peaceful Vori village to death camps.

Meanwhile, ''Voyager'' is orbiting the planet, unable to locate Chakotay. They contact the Kradin, who are amicable and agree to lend a jungle warrior team to retrieve ''Voyager'''s first officer. The Kradin explain that they are battling a relentless force called the Vori, whom they also refer to as "nemesis". Tuvok goes down to the planet and rescues Chakotay, who has actually been experiencing an elaborate training and brainwashing program to turn him into a Vori foot soldier. He has been thoroughly indoctrinated to believe the Kradin are monsters and is disgusted by the sight of them. Once Chakotay is back on ''Voyager'', he is presented with evidence that the Kradin are not necessarily the hate-ridden entities he thought them to be, as Captain Janeway confesses to uncertainty concerning the right and wrong of the conflict, and that it was in fact the Kradin who helped locate the commander and return him to ''Voyager''. As they depart the planet, the Kradin ambassador makes an appearance in sickbay where Chakotay is recuperating. Due to his recent experiences in the Vori simulation, an uncomfortable Chakotay leaves sickbay and privately confers with Captain Janeway about the difficulties in putting aside his hatred for the Kradin. He wishes that it were as easy to stop hating as it was to start.

Spot and Blasternaut are preparing for a journey aboard their spaceship, only to find that the ship is not functional. Blasternaut, jumping to conclusions, sends Spot to repair a mechanism known as the "polytronic combustion regulator" and the latter reluctantly begins repairs, while the former goes below deck. As Spot works, the Trash Alien flies by, captures Spot and departs, leaving garbage everywhere. Blasternaut, upon discovering this, contacts his superior officer, Galactic Commander, and notifies her of the situation. Galactic Commander immediately identifies the criminal and sends Blasternaut on a mission of four objectives.

In New York City, José works as a cook in a Mexican restaurant owned by his stern chef brother, Manny. The establishment is getting ready for the noon rush. Nina, the waitress, arrives late for the second day in a row and Manny fires her on the spot. As Nina leaves, she drops her teddy bear; José retrieves it and chases her into the subway to hand it back. When asked why she was late, she tells him she is pregnant and was ill from morning sickness. José offers her a stroll around the city, which she accepts. He takes Nina to Manny's colleague's restaurant to recommend her for a waitressing position. While they dine to wait for the response, Nina tells him she does not intend to proceed with her pregnancy and is seriously considering an abortion partly because the father is uninterested in supporting her and she is broke.

Nina agrees to go with him to the beach but José says he has to go back to the restaurant and get his wallet. When he returns, Manny rebukes him for flaking at work for Nina. After José argues with his brother over his oppressive demeanor, Manny fires him. José then boards a train with Nina to his home. During the trip he persuades Nina to give up the unborn child for adoption, but she argues in favor of autonomy over her body. José takes her to his parents' house and introduces her to his family. He takes Nina into the garage and shows her his old car which, a few years ago, he reveals he had been driving with his manager during the peak of his career as a soccer player, and accidentally hit and killed a little girl. His manager frantically suggested fleeing the crime, but he instead chose to take responsibility. José was then sentenced to four years in prison for involuntary manslaughter. After being released, he tried unsuccessfully multiple times to reconcile with the girl's single mother, and the tragedy has since left him depressed and suicidal.

José's parents invite Nina to have dinner, during which time she finds out that Manny was adopted. They tell her she is always welcome to stay at their house. José takes Nina to the nearby beach, where she tells him how her father's death when she was twelve caused her and her mother severe emotional pain. Because she had no siblings and spent her childhood taking care of her emotionally crippled mother, she tells José how fortunate he is to have a loving family, and hopes someday she would meet a man who loves her and is as capable of raising a family as her father was. The next day, before they each go their own way, Nina says she needs a friend to be there for her the next week. José walks back to the restaurant and reconciles with Manny.

Several years later, José is seen playing on a beach with a young girl. When Nina arrives she meets what is implied to be her daughter, Bella, whom she had considered aborting but then gave over for José to adopt. Mother and daughter exchange gifts, Nina tearfully giving Bella the teddy bear her father had gifted her as a child, while Bella hands Nina a seashell. Afterward, all three stroll down the beach together.

In 1986, 12 year old Justin "Rocketshoe" Schumacher and his breakdancing group, The Funky Fresh Boyz (Darnell "Prince Def Rock" Jackson, Aki "Chilly Chill" Terasaki, and Hector "Popcorn" Jimenez), are ready for the annual talent show. The somewhat shy Justin has a crush on Jennifer, who is giving her a Garbage Pail Kid card in exchange for her Smurfette figurine. His rival, obnoxious rich kid Kip Unger, shows up and gives her an expensive necklace. Justin and the Funky Fresh Boyz start the show, with his parents, Marty and Sylvia cheering for him. In an effort to impress Jen and win the contest, Justin uses a dangerous and untested headspin maneuver, which results in him flipping off the stage and falling into a coma.

Twenty years later, Justin is still comatose. Dr. Cameron Frye tells Marty and Sylvia that at this point, there is little sign that Justin will recover, and they decide to pull the plug. As his parents say goodbye and leave, however, a janitor rolls by with a radio playing the same song from the 1986 talent competition, "Rockit" by Herbie Hancock. It jars Justin's brain to function, waking him. As a result, Justin now finds himself suddenly 31 years old, going on 32. In addition, his parents were bankrupt from overdue life support payments. Jen, who has become a girls' dance instructor, is engaged to Kip. Kip is now an obnoxious promoter, and is set to host a breakdance contest broadcast on national television, with a grand prize of $100,000. Justin realizes that the money could help him repay his parents for what they've spent on his medical bills. Kip is sarcastic and still despises Justin, and schemes to keep him off the show and away from Jen.

Justin has difficulty adjusting to both his deteriorated physical condition and the severe culture shock after 20 years, and is nearly arrested as a child predator. He is rescued by a mall security guard, his old friend and Funky Fresh Boy, Darnell. Darnell is now a toy store employee and failed inventor, who is frequently slapped around by his wife. He explains much of what has changed in the past 20 years to Justin, before re-introducing him to the rest of the crew. Aki is an accountant, and has lost his old stereotypical Asian accent thanks to English classes. In addition, Aki is also trying to woo a colleague, Yun, who claims he might have a 2% chance of sleeping with her if he were a professional breakdancer. Hector is now an overweight meter maid. Despite their reluctance to return to the '80s lifestyle, they agree to try to retrain their faded breakdancing skills to help Justin.

Initially, the four are terrible, but their skills improve greatly with Justin's help, as Aki studies a Robosapien toy to reclaim his mastery of the robot. Justin and Jen begin reminiscing about the old days. He eventually asks her on a date, which she thinks is just still a harmless crush. However, with the help of the Internet and practicing on Hector wearing a bra, Justin learns how to please a woman quite well. A surprise appearance by David Hasselhoff allows the pair to go on a date in KITT from ''Knight Rider''. However, just as Justin has her shirt off and is making his move, Kip calls, leading Jen to be reminded that she is still engaged to him and runs off embarrassed.

During a rather sour birthday party celebration, Justin is confronted by the diminutive but talented Cole of the Iced Cole Crew, a group hired by Kip to ensure that the Funky Fresh Boyz lose. Cole challenges Justin to a dance-off in the parking lot. After Cole's impressive routine, along with some various flashbacks from his years in the coma, a nervous and depressed Justin vomits on Cole and runs off. He was too disillusioned to compete on the show. The rest of the Boyz decide to have a breakdancing homeless man stand in. Kip gloats to Jen about his psychological victory over Justin, which spurs her to finally break up with him. As the dance tournament progresses, the Funky Fresh Boyz and the Iced Cole Crew each progress in their individual brackets toward the finals. Jen finds Justin sulking in a local bar, and convinces him that she wants to be with him and to come back to compete in the show.

Justin convinces his worried parents that he will be all right, reciting the lyrics to the theme song from ''Diff'rent Strokes'' as an inspirational speech. Although Kip tries to prevent him from dancing, Jen stirs the crowd and Cole into letting him dance, and the FFB get the win when Justin is able to successfully complete the headspin maneuver from '86. An outraged Kip flips out, which leads him to be fired from the network. He is then knocked out by a man from earlier in the film for using the slur "retarded", and is urinated on by the homeless dancer. The Funky Fresh Boyz win the prize money, and Justin and Jen wed and saves his parents' house.

In an epilogue, Jen tries to teach Justin how to use an iPod, though he is having trouble finding where to put the cassette tape in. Darnell has invented the 98¢ store, but his wife continues to abuse him. Hector finds work as a Jennifer Lopez impersonator in Las Vegas, and Aki marries Yun in a lavish Jewish ceremony, which has increased his chances of sleeping with her to 3%. Kip never recovered fully from being punched, and is a judge on ''Dancing with the Stars''.

This volume details the story of a family zoo and aviary, believed to have been jinxed by people out to take their land for high rise development. Nancy Drew and her friends must get to the bottom of the mystery, before they are jinxed themselves.

The novel follows George Hall, a 57-year-old hypochondriac, and his family following George's retirement from a career manufacturing playground equipment. George has hypochondria, an excessive phobia for one's physical health. Certain that a skin lesion on his hip is a fatal cancer, George rejects Dr Barghoutian's diagnosis of eczema due to his previous misdiagnosis of Katie's appendicitis as stomach ache, and unsuccessfully attempts to remove the lesion with a pair of scissors. The resulting blood loss soon renders him unconscious, but not before he calls an ambulance and tries to get a chisel from the cellar to demarcate the incident as accidental. The resulting bloodied handprints he smears around the house in doing so horrify his wife Jean.

George and Jean's children confront problems of their own. Daughter Katie, a single mother, announces her plans to marry Ray, a competent but lower-class man of whom George, Jean, and their son Jamie disapprove. As the story progresses Ray worries that Katie wants to be with him only for his house and so he can act as a father to her five-year-old son Jacob. It is only when Katie visits George in the hospital that she realises she and Ray are meant to be together: she proposes to Ray herself, and the couple rearrange the wedding. Meanwhile, Jamie has an uneasy relationship with his boyfriend Tony. When Jamie fails to pass on to Tony an invitation to Katie's wedding, arguing about how he would not enjoy it, Tony leaves him.

George begins to suffer from extreme panic attacks. He is said to have wires ripped out of his head whilst observing a deer being killed on a TV discovery channel. And his mental state is exacerbated not only by the anxiety of his daughter's wedding but also due to his walking in on Jean having sexual intercourse with David, a former colleague, in his bed. Thereafter, George is delineated as frequently thinking about how he has wasted his life, and the notion of death starts to terrify him. Despite being told by Jamie to not give a speech at Katie's wedding, George decides to give one after deliberating that he may never get the chance to speak to a large crowd ever again. He exclaims how little time people have to value their lives, and divulges into his incredulity of how only he alone seems to see this fact. His words are met with a few uneasy laughs but mostly silence. At the end of his speech, despite having taken a few pills of Valium to calm him down, he notices that David is present. George launches himself at the man, drawing blood and forcing him to leave the wedding.

Jean thus finds out that George knows about her and David. George tells Jean that he was out of order, and even though he is deeply upset at her disloyalty, he explains that things would simply be too painful for them to break up after years of living together. Jean agrees, and sadly acknowledges that her love affair is over, and effectively her sex life too. The following morning, George walks downstairs and meets Tony, who reunited with Jamie after Jamie sent him a letter of his feelings. George realises that there is nothing wrong with homosexuals as long as they kept it clean, and furthermore, after reading an article about an upcoming surgery for conjoined twins which could possibly result in both their deaths, that he should "stop all this nonsense". The others depart, leaving George and Jean to return to a comfortable atmosphere and an ordinary, settled household.

Anjou follows Mendelson around Borough Park, his old neighborhood in Brooklyn. Mendelson, who carries a tuning fork with him at all times, is prone to burst into song. During their journey through Borough Park, Anjou finds that the neighborhood has a fair number of bakers with vocal talents as good as their knishes.

Mendelson also recalls when cantors were as popular as baseball players. "They had groupies," he tells Anjou, a strong incentive for a chubby teenager in high school.

Mendelson's mother, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, was almost obsessed that her son become a cantor. The film reveals an interesting link to celebrity on the part of Mendelson's father: the older Mendelson once co-owned a truck with the father of Steven Spielberg.

The movie's original title was ''Chazz'n'', after the profiled cantor's sobriquet "Chazzan Jack Mendelson." It has also been titled ''A Cantor's Story''.

''The Last Theorem'' is set in Sri Lanka in the early- to mid-21st century and follows the life of a mathematician, Ranjit Subramanian. While studying at Colombo University, he becomes obsessed with Fermat's Last Theorem, a conjecture made by Pierre de Fermat in 1637, for which he claimed to have conceived a proof that he never wrote down. The proof eluded mathematicians across the world for over 350 years, until in 1995 British mathematician Andrew Wiles published a 100-page proof of the theorem. But not everyone was "satisfied" with Wiles's proof because it used twentieth century mathematical techniques not available in Fermat's time.

In the novel's back-story, extraterrestrial sapients, the "Grand Galactics", are alarmed when they detect the photon shock waves from nuclear bomb detonations on Earth. The Grand Galactics monitor and control the destinies of a number of high-performance sapient races and order one of these races, the "Nine Limbeds", to send "cease and desist" messages to Earth. When these messages have no effect, the Grand Galactics order another race, the "One Point Fives", to launch an armada to Earth to exterminate the undesirable species.

Back on Earth, regional conflicts escalate and the United Nations struggles to contain them. In Sri Lanka, Ranjit unwittingly boards a cruise ship that is hijacked by pirates. When unknown security forces free the ship, Ranjit is arrested on suspicion of terrorism. For six months he is interrogated and tortured, but he cannot supply the information his captors want so he is locked up and "forgotten" for a further 18 months. During this period of incarceration, Ranjit dwells on Fermat's Last Theorem and, after several months, solves it with a three-page proof. Later Ranjit is rescued by a friend from University, Gamini Bandara, who will not reveal whom he is working for or where Ranjit was held captive.

Ranjit submits his proof for publication and achieves worldwide fame. He marries Myra de Soyza, an artificial intelligence specialist, and embarks on a speaking tour of the world. In the United States, he is briefly recruited by the CIA to work on cryptography. Gamini later reveals that he is working for ''Pax per Fidem'' (Peace through Transparency), an undercover United Nations organization established to bring about world peace. To achieve this end, ''Pax per Fidem'' has developed "Silent Thunder", a non-lethal EMP nuclear superweapon that renders all electrical equipment in its path inoperable. Silent Thunder is deployed in North Korea and later in South America, and regional conflicts subside. Gamini invites Ranjit to join ''Pax per Fidem'', but the authoritarian nature of ''Pax per Fidem'' and its "new world order" worry Ranjit and Myra, and Ranjit turns down the offer. He does, however, accept a position on the advisory board of an international consortium building a space elevator in Sri Lanka, chosen because of its position on the equator.

As the One Point Five fleet enters the Solar System, the Nine Limbeds orbit and observe Earth in cigar-shaped craft, sparking numerous UFO sightings. A Grand Galactic member, who happens to be passing by, stops to observe the effects of Silent Thunder and returns to the Grand Galactic collective, who immediately suspend the One Point Fives's destruct orders pending further investigation.

The space elevator is completed and, for the first time, people and materials can be lifted into Earth orbit without the need of rockets. Natasha, Ranjit and Myra's daughter, competes in the first solar powered space yacht race from Earth- to Moon-orbit. But soon after the start of the race, Natasha's yacht malfunctions and she is abducted by the Nine Limbeds, who use a projection of her to interrogate prominent people on Earth, including Ranjit and Gamini, about Silent Thunder. Satisfied that Earth has "reformed", Natasha is returned and the Nine Limbeds broadcast a message to Earth in which they announce that the Grand Galactics have decided not to sterilize Earth, and that the One Point Fives, with their Machine Stored navigators, cannot return home and will land and occupy unused areas of Earth.

The One Point Fives land in the desolate Qattara Depression in the Libyan Desert, which they find quite habitable compared to their ruined homeworld. The Americans send B-52 bombers to attack the One Point Fives' base, but the aliens electronically disable the aircraft, causing them to crash short of their target. When the US President demands reparations, the One Point Fives provide gold distilled from seawater by way of compensation. With the Grand Galactics absent, the aliens make decisions for themselves: the One Point Fives provide Earth with new forms of power and the Machine Stored reveal mind uploading technology. When Myra dies in a scuba diving accident, her mind is uploaded into cyberspace, with Ranjit joining her later.

After 13,000 years the Grand Galactics finally return to Earth and are astounded to see how fast the planet has developed. They had always interfered with the evolution of sentient species they had discovered, believing they could not be trusted to evolve on their own. Impressed with Earth's progress, the Grand Galactic relieve themselves of the burden of watching over intelligent life and hand the task over to Earth.

Graduating from police academy as a lieutenant, Antoine chooses a place on a detective squad in a busy quarter of Paris, leaving his young wife in their home town of Le Havre. Newly in charge of the squad is Caroline who, after losing her young son to meningitis, took to the bottle. Now on her own and recovering, she takes an interest in her keen young assistant and in a quiet moment the two even share a joint.

Two similar incidents are under investigation, involving a Polish man and an English man being beaten, knifed, and thrown into the river. The first man dies but a witness says the assailant was a Russian, while the second man survives and can confirm that it was a Russian. After detective work has narrowed down a possible address for a prime suspect, Antoine and a colleague go to investigate. When the colleague says he needs to go to the toilet in a bar opposite, Antoine proceeds alone and is knifed to death.

Caroline is mortified by the failure of her squad and the loss of a valuable young recruit, while the colleague is sacked. After a bad evening when she buys herself gin and goes to the home of an ex-lover, she recovers her energy and her determination to catch the killer. Long detective work identifies an associate, who is arrested and his mobile phone is monitored. Calls from the killer reveal that he is in Nice. Flying there, Caroline watches the local police storm the building. When the killer leaps from a window, with two shots of her pistol Caroline kills him.

Jonny Calvo (Franky G) served four years in Sing-Sing Prison for killing a man. After release, he is determined to stay out of the criminal life; however his old boss, Garrett (Ritchie Coster), tries to lure him back to crime. FBI Agent Stringer (Chris Bauer) wants Jonny to be his informant so he can arrest Garrett on numerous criminal charges. Upon his release from prison, Jonny tries to prove to his ex-wife and son that he is reliable, but his past catches up with him, causing him to have minimal contact with them. His parole officer, Gloria (Aunjanue Ellis), orders Jonny to find a job upon his release and soon Jonny ends up mopping floors at Captain Jack's, a pirate-themed restaurant for children. He soon meets another employee who calls himself, Random (GQ).

The two soon become friends and Jonny decides that he will use his street smarts to help other people in need by starting his own private eye business. Random follows suit and allows Jonny to stay at his apartment. However, being a small private business, the money from clients is minimal and Jonny reluctantly decides to work for Garrett again, but making sure that crime will play no part in getting him thrown back in prison. Jonny is soon sought after by a father looking for his daughter, Danni a.k.a. "Velvet" (Brennan Hesser) who works at strip joints and goth clubs. After much complications, she stops working at clubs and forms a friendship with Jonny and Random. The series concentrates on Jonny trying to redeem himself by helping other people in need, staying away from crime and proving to his ex-wife and son that he has changed.

Allan is an employee of the company run by engineer Narendra Sen. When sent to work in a rain-abundant region of India, Allan becomes ill with malaria. He is returned to Calcutta and admitted into a hospital. After treatment, Sen invites Allan into his own house. Shortly after the young guest falls in love with the host's daughter (Maitreyi), their forbidden love gradually grows, resulting in Maitreyi and Allan ending up together. Chabu, Maitreyi's sister, unwillingly witnesses the lovers hugging thus banishing Allan and isolating Maitreyi. Both suffer immensely. To rid himself of the suffering, Allan retreats into a bungalow in the Himalaya mountains where he meets Jenia Issac.

The violent junk yard deaths of Hugo DiFalco and Dennis Houlihan, two policemen from the NYPD Auto Squad, triggers an investigation led by detectives Becky Neff and George Wilson. The evidence shows nothing conclusive, except that the victims were quickly and brutally attacked by some kind of animal, in light of the gnawing marks on the bodies' bones and paw prints left on the mud near to the attack. Despite the fact that the two murdered policemen were healthy, they seemed to be unable to defend themselves or fire their service firearms. In addition, at the time of their death the bodies showed signs of disembowelment and of being consumed. One of the puzzling pieces of evidence is that the hand of one of the policemen, still holding his gun, was severed from his arm, having not had a chance to fire the weapon.

To the detectives' dismay, the Chief of Police, lacking a plausible explanation for the attack, has written into the official report states that the policemen were attacked by a pack of stray dogs after becoming intoxicated with carbon monoxide, in order to avoid raising public concern in advance of upcoming elections. The detectives pay a visit to the Medical Examiner, Dr. Evans, who informs them that there were no knife marks, that the victims were eaten, and that unidentified canine fur, bites and claw marks were found on the bodies.

Reluctant to leave the real cause of death of their colleagues unknown, Neff and Wilson decide to take some paw-print casts to Tom Rilker, a dog trainer, in an attempt to identify the breed of dogs that may have attacked the policemen, hypothesizing that someone might have trained and employed dogs to cause such harm as a kind of weapon. The conversation turns to the topic of corrupt policemen, including rumors of Dick Neff, Becky's husband - implying that he is receiving money from certain groups. Later on it is learned that Dick accepted bribes from a gambling ring so that he could place his father, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, in a nursing home that offers him proper care, rather than a state hospital.

During the search for a blind missing person, the police are led to an abandoned building, where they discover evidence of more bodies in different state of decay. Neff and Wilson search the building, where Neff hears the cry of a baby, and seeks to investigate, but is reluctantly convinced by Wilson to wait for police backup. The infant's cry, however, is revealed to be a lure by a pack of creatures living in the building, who react to the detectives' incursion by attempting to split up the two. After Neff declines to pursue the sound she leaves with Wilson, who tells Neff that he wanted them to leave because he felt they were being watched by something in the building, a feeling similar to the reaction of an old buck before being taken down by a pack of wolves. Wilson also confesses to Neff that he has romantic feelings for her.

Neff and Wilson consult another expert, Dr. Carl Ferguson, who works at the Museum of Natural History and has also examined the paw-print casts. Ferguson observes the paws' resemblance to canine paws, except for longer fingers and claws, and concludes they belong to a species not classified yet. Neff becomes concerned after developing the feeling, much as Wilson did, that someone observed her when she was near a window with a balcony, a location difficult to reach due to its height.

It is discovered that a pack of intelligent and savage canine creatures called the Wolfen are stalking the city. These predators are not werewolves, but are a separate race of intelligent beings descended from canids that live secretly alongside mankind. The Wolfen turned the decaying ghettos into their new feeding grounds, hunting the abandoned of humanity: the homeless, drug abusers, outcasts and any people whom the Wolfen believe would not be missed. They also quickly kill any who learn of their existence.

Eventually the Wolfen infiltrate a high-rise building, and attack Wilson and Neff who manage to kill several of their number. The rest of the pack flees as reinforcements arrive for the two police officers. The carcasses of the slain Wolfen will act as proof of their existence, and it is implied something will be done about the revelation humanity has a predator. Returning to their hideout, the Wolfen acknowledge their grim future, and let out a defiant howl which is answered by various other packs which begin to converge together.

Maigret is notified through Interpol that Peter the Lett, an international fraudster and leader of the notorious Baltic Gang, is travelling to Paris. Furnished only with a description he and a squad from the Police Judiciaire plan to intercept him at the Gare du Nord. However, after seeing a man who matches the description Maigret is called to a carriage of the train to find a body, also matching the description he has.

Tracking the first man to a hotel he is identified as Oswald Oppenheim, a businessman in town to meet an American, Mortimer Levington and his wife.

Meanwhile, forensic examination of the body leads Maigret to the sea-side town of Fécamp, and to the family of Norwegian sea-captain, Olaf Swaan, another man who matches Peter's description. While staking out the house, he follows another, identical, man, an itinerant Russian, later named as Fyodor Yurevich. Maigret follows him back to Paris, to a flop-house in the Marais district where he is found to live with a prostitute, Anna Gorskin.

So who is Peter? A vagrant, a seaman, a businessman, a corpse? Is he Russian, Norwegian, American or Latvian? Maigret's persistence is needed to unravel the mystery and track down the real Peter.Simenon, tr. Bellos

When Ned Nickerson is kidnapped, Nancy knows it has something to do with the code name "Cyclops", but she has to work out the connection with the glowing eye-shaped stone in the museum. The plot involves advanced technology for the 1970s including a robot helicopter and a paralyzing ray.

Nancy is also troubled by a young lawyer's romantic intentions toward Carson Drew.

Gold! There are rumors that long ago a treasure was hidden in a city now buried under the Nevada desert. Nancy Drew and her friends plan to join a dig sponsored by two colleges to hunt for the gold. Before she starts, the young sleuth receives an ancient stone tablet with petroglyphs on it. With this amazing clue, however, come a threat from a thief who also wants the treasure.

One harrowing adventure after another besets Nancy, George, Bess, Ned, Burt, and Dave in 102 degrees temperatures as they pursue Nancy's hunches above and below ground. They are assisted by a fine Indian woman and a young geology student, but both are unwilling participants in a strange plot. In the end Nancy and Ned nearly lose their lives, just after she has discovered the priceless hidden treasure of gold.

Nancy goes to the Excello Flying School in the Midwest to take lessons while her friends Bess and George perfect their horse riding. At once, the young sleuth is confronted with the mystery of a hijacked plane and a missing pilot. Then the rancher's prize pony, Major is stolen. Nancy becomes a detective in a plane and on horseback to track down the elusive sky phantom and the horse thief. A lucky find – a medal with a message to be deciphered on it – furnishes a worthwhile clue. Romance is added when Bess becomes interested in a handsome cowboy. Readers will spur Nancy on as she investigates a strange magnetic cloud, hunts for the horse thief, and finally arrives at a surprising solution.

A sheep farmer receives a mysterious telephone call shortly after he buys a series of pictures painted on parchment. "Decipher the message in the parchment and right a great wrong," the voice says. Puzzled, the owner asks Nancy to help.

With Junie, his daughter, Nancy tracks down a kidnapper and a group of extortionists. Clues weave in and out of several puzzles, two of which are linked with Italy. Is there a connection between the message in the parchment and a boy artist on another farm? And who is responsible for the atmosphere of fear in the neighborhood?

After several harrowing experiences, Nancy begins to tighten the net around a ruthless villain and calls on the assistance of her friends Ned, Burt, Dave, Bess and George to bring his nefarious schemes to a dead end.

Nancy responds to a friend's frantic call for help and she and her father travel to Crocodile Island in Florida with Bess and George to study the reptiles and try to uncover a group of poachers. Upon arriving, the group is kidnapped, but they escape and uncover a sinister plot involving many unsuspected victims.

Nancy Drew is asked to locate a missing pearl that is unusual, but very valuable. She soon learns that dangerous people are responsible for the theft. They begin harassing her at home and it intensifies when Nancy and her father go to Japan. They finally kidnap her and her boyfriend, Ned when they return to River Heights.

Through her clever sleuthing, Nancy is able to penetrate the rites of a pearl-worshipping cult, but some are far from devotional, and she uncovers underhanded dealings of certain employees of World Wide Gems, Inc., an international jewelry company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

The newly appointed Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger (portrayed by Simon Osborne as a petulant teenager), wants to declare war on Napoleon Bonaparte, give tougher sentences for geography teachers, and, most of all, strike the idiotic Prince Regent from the Civil List. Despite hearing this, the Prince is nonetheless convinced that the general public adores him because the day before he heard them singing "We ''hail'' Prince George!"; he is corrected by his butler, Mr. Blackadder, who says the people were actually calling out "We ''hate'' Prince George!" Since the House of Commons is evenly divided on the issue, Blackadder suggests to the Prince that they tip the scales in his favour by bribing a Member of Parliament (MP) named Sir Talbot Buxomley (Denis Lill) with the position of High Court judge. The Prince calls for Buxomley, who, after assuring the Prince that he will stand by him, promptly sits down in a chair and dies, due to his poor health.

Moving quickly, Blackadder realises that Buxomley represented the constituency of Dunny-on-the-Wold, a rotten borough in the Suffolk Fens consisting of a tiny plot of land with several farm animals – three rather mangy cows, a dachshund named Colin (whom the Prince assumes to be a human rather than a dog) and a small hen in its late forties. Blackadder schemes to elect Baldrick as the constituency's new MP to ensure that he votes in favour of the Prince.

Pitt hears about this and visits the Prince, the latter not recognising him at first. Pitt reveals that he once suffered "alone in a cold schoolroom, a hot crumpet burning my cheeks with shame" under the Prince's sort, before seeking and succeeding to become what he is today; Blackadder comments that Pitt was not "too busy to remove the crumpet." Pitt declares that he shall have his own brother, William Pitt the ''Even'' Younger, as a candidate on his side. When he leaves, Blackadder tells the Prince how they shall win the election: firstly, fight the campaign on "issues, not personalities"; secondly, be "the only fresh thing on the menu"; and thirdly, "we'll cheat". After an obviously rigged election, in which the single voter cast 16,472 votes for Baldrick, it is revealed that Blackadder is both the constituency's returning officer (whose predecessor died when he "accidentally brutally stabbed himself in the stomach while shaving") and voter (whose predecessor "accidentally brutally cut his head off while combing his hair"), Baldrick is made an MP in a landslide victory.

Once Baldrick enters the House of Commons, Pitt manipulates him into voting the wrong way, and the issue proceeds to the House of Lords. Blackadder then plans to get himself appointed to the House of Lords, where he will be able to vote against the bill, and he even purchases a ludicrously expensive catskin robe in preparation. However, his scheme is ruined by Prince George's stupidity and Baldrick is elevated instead. Baldrick is given £400,000 to bribe a few Lords, which he instead spends on a giant turnip. Once he finds out, Blackadder smashes the turnip over Baldrick's head.

Dr. Samuel Johnson (Robbie Coltrane) seeks Prince George's patronage for his new book, ''A Dictionary of the English Language'' (which was actually published more than fifty years before the Regency period in which the series is set). The Prince seeking to amend his reputation as an "utter turnip-head" is interested, but Blackadder tries to turn him against the idea, condemning the dictionary as "the most pointless book since ''How to Learn French'' was translated into French". It soon emerges that Blackadder resents Johnson for apparently ignoring his novel ''Edmund: A Butler's Tale'', which, under the pseudonym of Gertrude Perkins, he had secretly sent to Johnson in the hope that he would get it published.

Dr. Johnson has a meeting with the Prince, during which George fails to grasp the purpose of the dictionary because he thought Johnson's new book was a story about heroes, heroines and villains, while Blackadder annoys Johnson by continuously inventing and using new words to convince him that his work is incomplete. However, on learning that Dr. Johnson had also intended, if given the Prince's patronage, to promote ''Edmund: A Butler's Tale'' a book Johnson considers to be "the only one better than his" (which Blackadder sarcastically assumed to be named ''Dictionary II: The Return of the Killer Dictionary'') Blackadder persuades George that he should, in fact, support the dictionary.

When Blackadder seeks to retrieve the dictionary for Johnson, Baldrick admits that he has used it to light a fire for the Prince; Blackadder resolves to find out where a copy is kept and have Baldrick steal it, threatening all manner of hellish tortures "involving a small pencil that could rival an eternity in Hell with Beelzebub in five minutes" if he does not comply. Repairing to "Mrs. Miggins' Literary Salon", where Johnson and his drunken, drug-addicted admirers Lord Byron (Steve Steen), Shelley (Lee Cornes) and Coleridge (Jim Sweeney) are socialising (though in reality, these people were not contemporaries, Johnson having died ten years before Shelley was born), Blackadder attempts to find out where a copy is kept, but Johnson indignantly proclaims that there is none, and when asked what he would do if the dictionary were to get lost, Johnson and his devotees smugly respond that they would simply kill the one responsible. Returning to the palace, Blackadder desperately attempts to recreate the dictionary before Johnson discovers the truth, despite knowing it to be impossible. Baldrick and George try to assist, but their efforts are of no help at all. Blackadder falls asleep having defined only two words.

The next morning, Johnson arrives and Blackadder attempts to cover up the mistake, but a surprisingly calm Johnson deems the dictionary "a waste of time" and orders Blackadder to throw it into the fire. Overjoyed, Blackadder embraces Johnson, but as his aunt appears and Baldrick transforms into an Alsatian; Blackadder realises that he is dreaming. The real next morning, Johnson and his devotees indeed arrive at the palace, angrily demanding the dictionary. Dr. Johnson explains that he has worked on the dictionary for "eighteen hours every day for the past ten years" with a rather bizarre description of his devotion:

Backed into a corner, Blackadder finally admits that the dictionary has been burned. Just as the enraged literati are about to kill Blackadder, the Prince emerges from his room, holding the dictionary and offering his patronage. Delighted, Johnson declares his intention to find Gertrude Perkins, at which point Blackadder admits that he himself is Gertrude Perkins and asks Baldrick to bring out the manuscript to prove it by giving the same signature as the one on the book, but everyone then realises that the book which Baldrick threw in the fire was in fact Blackadder's novel, which Johnson had brought with him along with the dictionary and accidentally left behind. Blackadder is, of course, devastated (comically excusing himself for a second to shout "OH GOD, NO!!!"). Johnson, however, departs in a fit of rage on realising that his dictionary is missing the word "sausage" after he reads Baldrick's "semi-autobiographical" novel ("Once upon a time there was a lovely little sausage called Baldrick, and it lived happily ever after."), as well as the word "aardvark".

As Blackadder laments the loss of his novel and chance at wealth, the Prince attempts to console him and orders Baldrick to light another fire. The episode ends with Baldrick obliviously throwing the dictionary into the fire.

Edmund is disgusted with the English obsession over the Scarlet Pimpernel, the masked vigilante who has saved so many French aristocrats from the Revolution. After Edmund disparages the Pimpernel, two effete noblemen, Topper (Tim McInnerny) and Smedley (Nigel Planer), bet him a thousand guineas that he cannot go to France, rescue an aristocrat and present him at the French Embassy Ball. He accepts, but instead of actually going to France, he takes the far safer course of going to Mrs. Miggins' coffee house to find a French aristocrat willing to pretend he has been rescued. He convinces a French dandy, Le Comte de Frou Frou, to pose as his "rescued" aristocrat, in exchange for 50 guineas and an invitation to the Ball. Le Comte agrees, but laments "If only I had brought my mongoose costume!"

When they arrive at the embassy, however, they are arrested by a revolutionary (Chris Barrie) who has assassinated the ambassador. Blackadder, Frou Frou, and Baldrick are put in a cell. Frou Frou offers each of them a suicide pill, before he is taken away to be tortured. Later, "Madam Guillotine," a mad Frenchwoman, comes to torture Blackadder and Baldrick. Blackadder tricks her into drinking wine spiked with the suicide pill, before she dramatically reveals that she was Smedley, the true identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel, come to rescue them. After a sequence of absurd side effects from the pill, Smedley dies. Seeing that he left the cell door open, Blackadder and Baldrick escape, bumping into Frou Frou on the way out.

Blackadder returns to the Prince with Frou Frou, offering a spectacular account of the rescue, including being shipwrecked, tortured, and breaking into Maximilian Robespierre's bedroom to leave him "a small box of chocolates, and an insulting note." After the story, Frou Frou reveals himself to be Topper in disguise, and that he and the "mysteriously missing" Smedley are together the Scarlet Pimpernel. Moments away from exposing Blackadder's treachery, Topper accepts Blackadder's offer of a glass of wine, spiked with Frou Frou's other suicide pill, and also dies. Blackadder convinces the Prince that ''he'' is the Scarlet Pimpernel, and collects an "enormous postal order" intended for the hero.

Premise

The story begins with a prologue set in 2107, which was the present day in the ''Judge Dredd'' strip at that time. Scientists have just built the first ever time machine, called Proteus, which has been successful in short-range tests (journeys of hours or days). Chief Judge McGruder orders Judges Dredd and Anderson to use it to go thirteen years into the future to investigate a prophecy that Mega-City One will be destroyed in the year 2120. This prophecy, made by a dying Psi Judge in 2102, was first mentioned in the earlier story "The Judge Child". It foretells that the city will be destroyed unless Owen Krysler, also known as the "Judge Child", rules the city, since only he can save the city from disaster. In that earlier story, however, Dredd decided that Krysler was too evil to be allowed to rule the city, and left him behind on the planet Xanadu. In 2104 Krysler tried to kill Dredd in revenge, and McGruder ordered his execution. Without the city's prophesied saviour, McGruder now wants to find an alternative solution, and sends Dredd and Anderson to gather intelligence.

2120

In episode one, Dredd and Anderson arrive in the future city. They find the whole place to be deserted and in ruins, having arrived after the predicted catastrophe – whatever it was – happened. Exploring, they eventually find signs of life: an emaciated citizen dressed in rags, who flees in terror on seeing them. In spite of their reassurance that they mean him no harm, the citizen commits suicide rather than be taken alive. The reason why soon becomes apparent when Dredd and Anderson discover that the judges of the future have somehow become vampires who feed on the blood of the public. The two time-travellers readily slaughter dozens of vampire judges, including a vampire Judge Hershey (who normally appeared as Dredd's sidekick in stories at that time).

Dredd retrieves a computer record of events leading up to the disaster. It transpires that the city was conquered by a being with vast psychic powers, known only as 'The Mutant'. All weapons were ineffectual against it. It conjured up monsters which massacred almost everybody; caused buildings to decay and collapse; created phenomena which defied the laws of physics. The whole city was overrun in a matter of minutes. Dredd, Anderson and all of the psi-judges were killed. McGruder and the rest of the judges were turned into vampires and began to prey on the surviving citizenry. A huge cloud of darkness covered the centre of the city, where the Mutant made his lair in the Grand Hall of Justice.

Dredd blinded

Shortly after learning of the city's fate, which occurred months before their arrival, Dredd and Anderson become separated during an attack by a horde of monsters. Dredd is blinded when one of them impales both his eyes with its claws, but he still does not lose his determination to find The Mutant. In one of the most memorable scenes in the history of the strip, the blind and wounded Dredd crawls through every ordeal The Mutant can create for him, until – tortured to the limit of his endurance – he can take no more.

The Mutant then meets Dredd face to face, and it transpires that the tortures to which he subjected Dredd were not intended to kill him, but were only for The Mutant's amusement. Unable to harm him, Dredd asks who he is, as The Mutant's identity is a mystery.

The Mutant reveals himself to be the reincarnation of Owen Krysler, a clone taken from his DNA by the ruler of Xanadu who wanted a psychic of his own. Unexpectedly, the clone had all of the Judge Child's memories, and greatly enhanced power. However something had gone wrong with the cloning process and he no longer had human form, instead having multiple limbs and a misshaped head.

Lamenting the fact that he killed the 2120 Dredd too quickly, the Mutant decides to make up for the wasted opportunity by killing the 2107 Dredd much more slowly. The corpse of the 2120 Dredd is now a mindless undead zombie (unlike the vampire judges encountered earlier), and The Mutant sets it in pursuit of the living Dredd. The Mutant reunites Dredd with Anderson so that she can act as his eyes, and the two try to flee, with the unstoppable zombie in hot pursuit.

The Mutant had believed that there was no way back to the time machine, but Dredd proves him wrong, and Dredd and Anderson manage to escape back to 2107. The zombie comes back with them, but deactivates as soon as they leave 2120. The judges report the destruction of the city to McGruder, who despairs of ever preventing the disaster, since the proof that it has happened is before her eyes.

Dredd's solution

Dredd however is not so willing to accept defeat, and proposes a solution: travel immediately to Xanadu and stop the cloning from taking place. When McGruder observes that there is an inherent danger in altering the course of history, Dredd points out that the danger lies in ''not'' altering it. McGruder agrees to the mission, and surgeons fit Dredd with bionic eyes which are superior to the originals. These give Dredd perfect night vision and a 50% reduction in blinking time. Dredd remarks to Anderson that he should have had the operation years earlier.

Dredd and Anderson arrive on Xanadu just in time to witness the rebirth of Owen Krysler. They manage to kill him and also the Grunwalder who created his clone.Closing stage of "City of the damned" Dredd "Of course Grunwalder, you realise you must also be destroyed" Grunwalder "Yes, I feared as much" *Anderson "No offence buster, we just can't trust you anymore" However, since the zombie Dredd from 2120 still exists as a museum exhibit, and Dredd still has bionic eyes, they still cannot be sure whether they have succeeded in averting the disaster or not.

13-year-old Laura Chartoff is a girl in a large dysfunctional family. After her parents' divorce, her father, David, a flaky artist, has now accumulated three ex-wives, a 4-year-old daughter, Jessie (with fourth wife Barbara, one of the wives Laura actually liked), and is living with Stephanie – who is pregnant with his twins. Laura's mother, Melinda, had her own two-day marriage and is now married to her third husband, Keith Powers.

Keith is a successful and seemingly selfish businessman and a widower with three kids of his own – resentful adult son Josh, self-obsessed teenage daughter Corinne (who bonds with her similarly shallow stepmother), and teenage son Kurt, who seems to be Keith's favorite, as he does whatever he tells him to do and as a result adopts a rather militaristic personality and is away from military school. With Melinda also picking Corrine as her favorite, this leaves Laura unintentionally shut out. Added to the mix of siblings and stepsiblings is Laura's half-brother, 10-year-old genius Sam, the result of an unexpected pregnancy for Melinda and Keith.

Josh visits his mother's grave on the anniversary of her death and then confronts Keith for forgetting the date. Later, Laura gets in trouble with Keith for talking with Josh. Having felt incredibly hurt by her family, Laura decides to run away, going to see Josh at his lakeside cabin. And for a time, Laura's actually relaxed and happy spending time with someone who enjoys her company. Josh, however, attempts to reach out to one of Laura's family members without her knowing. Keith deduces that Laura will be with Josh ("brats of a feather"). But when the family arrives at the cabin, Laura concludes that Josh betrayed her trust and runs away.

At the same time, Barbara arrives with Jessie, as does Laura's father with Stephanie. It's during the search for Laura that all the family members are forced to live under the same roof. Laura meets a host of colorful characters along the way, including teen robbers and an all-too-happy family. Meanwhile, her family members each have their own experiences and realizations when it comes to themselves and their families. And as Laura is about to return, the police come with uncertain news and give her parents Laura's jacket.

The jacket has blood, though unknown to them, it's the blood of one of the robbers Laura punched. And it's this small development that brings both her parents and step-parents to the possibility that Laura could be hurt or worse. Laura arrives in time to see some of what's going on and gets surprised by Josh. She accuses him of betraying her to Melinda and Keith, but Josh reveals that he only called Barbara, knowing that Laura liked her. Josh helps her come to the conclusion that she can't escape family. Laura returns to the cabin to embrace the "weirdness" of her extended family, who have all sorted out their own lives a little more during their shared search for Laura.

Blackadder is ruefully preparing to attend the theatre with Prince George, who has no grasp of the concept of fiction; for example, at a performance of ''Julius Caesar'', the Prince shouted, "Look behind you, Mr. Caesar!" during the assassination scene. At the play, an anarchist (played by Ben Elton) makes an attempt on George's life. The Prince is shocked by Blackadder's revelation that he is unpopular and ignorant of the living conditions of the working classes: "Disease and deprivation stalk our land like two giant stalking things." Following this event, Prince George becomes anxious about anarchist attacks. Whenever the Prince encounters Baldrick cleaning, he accuses Baldrick of being an anarchist and attempts to strangle him.

Blackadder suggests that the Prince should improve his public image and writes a speech for the Prince to deliver at his father's birthday celebrations. The Prince then suggests that the two actors that they saw at the theatre (David Keanrick and Enoch Mossop, played respectively by Hugh Paddick and Kenneth Connor) be hired to give him elocution lessons. Blackadder has little respect for actors in the first place, often ridiculing them for their over-the-top, flamboyant acting style, and saying, "You mean they actually rehearse? I thought they just got drunk, stuck on silly hats and trusted their luck." Blackadder torments Keanrick and Mossop by having them repeatedly perform the painful Macbeth ritual (which comically consists of them playing pattycake and chanting "Hot potato, off his drawers, pluck to make amends!" before squeezing each other's nose). He says "Macbeth" six times in a row, making the actors continually repeat their ritual. Soon, he takes an additional dislike to the pair when they laugh at the speech he wrote, calling it "drivel", so he plans to quit being a servant and apply to become King of Sardinia (responding to an advertisement in ''The Times'' placed by Napoleon Bonaparte). However, he is distracted when, on the way out, Baldrick insults him, saying "Goodbye, you lazy, big nosed, rubber-faced bastard." Uncharacteristically, he does not touch Baldrick, but instead scathingly tells him "I wouldn't bet you a single groat that you could last five minutes here without me."

Soon after this, the actors rehearse their own play which they wrote themselves, ''The Bloody Murder of the Foul Prince Romero and His Enormously Bosomed Wife'', which consists mostly of long and very gory Shakespearean-style dialogue. Baldrick overhears them and thinks it is a real plot to murder Prince George and Blackadder. As Baldrick and the Prince are cowering in the sitting room, Blackadder returns, revealing that he had actually decided to take Baldrick up on his bet, saying "Four minutes, twenty-two seconds, Baldrick. You owe me a groat." He then takes advantage of George's inability to tell fact from fiction and accuses the actors of conspiracy, claiming that ''The Murder of Prince Romero'' is in fact "their entire conspiracy printed and published in play manuscript form". They are led off by the guards as Edmund adds insult to injury by again invoking the dreaded Scottish curse.

Blackadder then offers the Prince a lead role in a new play. The Prince agrees, but asks for the title. Blackadder replies, ''Thick Jack Clot Sits in the Stocks and Gets Pelted with Rancid Tomatoes''. The credits roll after George says, "Excellent!".

Mr. E. Blackadder is in serious debt. Baldrick suggests that he becomes a highwayman to make money to pay off his bills; however, Blackadder, having "no desire to get hung for wearing a silly hat", simply decides to ask the Prince Regent for a raise. Unfortunately, the Prince is also broke, having been tricked out of his money by his drinking buddies during games of "cards" (he was fooled into believing that the aim was to ''lose'' all of one's money). He is therefore forced to search for a rich wife and hence a sizable dowry. Unfortunately, of the 262 princesses in Europe, only two are possible matches (165 are over 80, 47 are under 10, and 39 are mad and married to a horse): Grand Duchess Sophia of Turin, who is unlikely to marry the Prince on account of the fact she has met him, and (his eventual real-world wife) Caroline of Brunswick, a woman with "the worst personality in Germany".

Amy Hardwood (played by Miranda Richardson), daughter of a powerful, yet bad-tempered, industrialist, seems the only option despite the fact that she is incredibly childish and soppy, or as Blackadder puts it; "wetter than a haddock's bathing costume". The Prince seems unlikely to succeed on his own, given his fixation on sex, so Blackadder helps out by wooing Amy for the Prince.

The flirtation and engagement seem to be going well until Blackadder discovers that Amy's father is broke, upon which he breaks off the engagement, though too late to prevent the Prince spending vast amounts of money on wedding gifts. Blackadder saddles up Baldrick and turns to the life of a highwayman. He soon discovers that Amy Hardwood is in fact herself the notorious highwayman, The Shadow. She pretends to be in love with Blackadder to steal the Prince's money and the wedding gifts, but after having the ruse revealed to him and being tied up by her to be shot, he is rescued by Baldrick and turns her in for a £10,000 reward. The Prince, now in love with Amy, is crushed to discover that she has been arrested and hanged, but is warmed by the fact that he discovered "so much money I don't know what to do with it!", having accidentally found Edmund's reward money. The episode ends with Blackadder convincing the Prince to play a game of "cards" with him.

Prince George has finally had a sexual encounter, but to Blackadder's astonishment, it emerges that it was with the two nieces of the Duke of Wellington (Stephen Fry). Blackadder warns the Prince that Wellington has always threatened to kill any man who takes sexual advantage of his relatives. The Prince believes that "Big Nose" Wellington will not find out because he is still fighting in Spain against Napoleon. Blackadder informs George that Wellington triumphed six months previously, and the Prince soon receives a message informing him of the Duke's intention to challenge him to a duel. Horrified, the Prince enlists Blackadder's help, and Baldrick suggests that the Prince finds someone else to take his place, as Wellington does not know what the Prince looks like. Blackadder prompts Baldrick to answer the Prince's objection that his face is known, due to portraits hanging on every wall. Baldrick replies that his cousin (who serves as Thomas Gainsborough's butler's dogsbody) told him that all portraits looked the same these days, because they were "painted to a romantic ideal rather than the true depiction of the idiosyncratic facial qualities of the person in question". In a second reply, Baldrick suggests that Blackadder fight the duel. Edmund is not keen on the idea, threatening to cut Baldrick into long strips and claim that he "walked over a very sharp cattle grid wearing an extremely heavy hat", but realises that his mad Scottish cousin MacAdder (also played by Rowan Atkinson), who has come down to London, could take his place.

Later, Wellington decides to visit the Prince, and Blackadder and the Prince are forced to impersonate one another so that Wellington will not become suspicious during the actual duel. During Wellington's brief visit, Blackadder proves a far more competent regent than the actual Prince Regent, and helps Wellington to mastermind the Battle of Trafalgar, by suggesting that the Duke moves Lord Nelson from Alaska to Trafalgar. The Prince proves less competent a butler than Blackadder does a regent, and finds himself on the receiving end of multiple assaults (both verbal and physical) from Wellington and Blackadder, who takes a certain amount of glee in helping maintain the illusion that he is the Regent, and the Prince a mere servant. After Wellington departs, Blackadder goes to see MacAdder, explaining his plan and offering MacAdder "enough cash to buy the Outer Hebrides" (14 shillings and sixpence) as a reward for aiding him; unfortunately, MacAdder is busy with his kipper salesman job on the day the duel is meant to take place, and goes back to Scotland with Mrs. Miggins. Blackadder tries to pull out of the duel, but the desperate Prince persuades him to continue with the plan in exchange for all of the Prince's possessions (such as large amounts of cash, a lewd cuckoo clock and a set of pornographic lithographs). Blackadder agrees, summing up his character by saying: "A man may fight for many things: his country, his principles, his friends, the glistening tear on the cheek of a golden child. But personally, I'd mud wrestle my own mother for a ton of cash, an amusing clock and a sack of French porn!"

The duel does not run along the traditional lines of swords or pistols; Wellington is a proponent of modern weapons, and so the duel is fought with Armstrong Whitworth four-pounder cannonettes. Blackadder survives the duel, as the cannonball Wellington fired at him merely bounces off a cigarillo case which was given to him by the Duke himself. The Duke, having grown to admire the "Prince", happily declares a draw as "God clearly preserves you for greatness!" At that point, Prince George enters and reveals that he is the real prince. However, Wellington is outraged at what he believes to be insolence and, unable to contain himself, shoots George.

King George III (Gertan Klauber), who has become increasingly eccentric and now believes himself to be "a small village in Lincolnshire, commanding spectacular views of the Nene valley", arrives on the scene and does not notice that Blackadder is masquerading as the Prince Regent. Having been ordered to marry a rose bush, Blackadder takes on the role of the Prince Regent, knowing the King will never be any the wiser and that Wellington already believes him to be Regent. He tells Baldrick to "clear away that dead butler" and leaves wearing an evil grin, presumably becoming King himself a few years later.

While Baldrick is lamenting the real Prince's apparent death, the Prince awakes, apparently unharmed, in Baldrick's arms. He sits up and mentions that he too had a case in his inside pocket, which shielded him from Wellington's bullet. However, after failing to locate it, he declares that he "must have left it on his dresser", and promptly dies.

Anachronisms

• Prince George compares Blackadder's plan to impersonate him to American author Mark Twain's novel, ''The Prince and the Pauper''. The novel was first published in 1881, 51 years after George IV's death. *The Duke of Wellington points out that Lord Nelson is stationed in Alaska to anticipate a move by Napoleon at the North Pole. When the episode is set, the region was not called Alaska. It was a possession of the Russian Empire called Russian America. The Department of Alaska would not be named as such until 1867. Furthermore, Wellington would not become a Duke until 1814, almost a decade after Nelson's death at Trafalgar. The two men did meet in 1805, but Wellington was still Sir Arthur and not well known in Britain.

A con artist named Harold Hill arrives in River City, Iowa where he is greeted with sneers from its citizens. He meets up with his friend Marcellus Washburn, who warns him about the town librarian and moral watchdog, Marian Paroo. Hill asks Washburn if there is any news in the city and Washburn tells him that the town bought a pool table for the billiard hall. Hill takes advantage of this to warn parents that the pool table will bring havoc to their town.

Marian teaches a piano lesson to her student Amaryllis and argues with her mother about her stubbornness to get married. Marian's brother Winthrop is mocked by Amaryllis for having a lisp, though Amaryllis reveals to Marian that she has a crush on Winthrop. Marian and Amaryllis both vow to say goodnight to their "someones" until they find someone to love.

Later, during a town meeting, Hill steals the spotlight to advertise for his new boys' band in River City. After the meeting, Hill sends town hooligan Tommy Djilas on a date with Zaneeta Shinn, unaware that she is the mayor's daughter. When the town's school board asks for Hill's credentials, he distracts them by pointing out that they could be a singing quartet.

Hill reveals to Marcellus that, along with gathering money from the entire town, he plans to woo Marian. He visits the library and flirts with Marian, who shuts down all of his advances, though she secretly admires him. Hill, then, visits Mrs. Paroo and she signs Winthrop up to play cornet in the band.

The Wells Fargo Wagon arrives with the instruments, uniforms, and instruction booklets for the band. When Winthrop gets his cornet, Marian sees how happy he is and she destroys the evidence against Hill.

On the day of the Fourth of July picnic, Charlie Cowell arrives in River City to tell Mayor Shinn about Hill's lies but Marian distracts him by kissing him, causing him to miss his train. Marian realizes that Cowell's claims are most likely lies and agrees to meet Hill at the footbridge later that evening. Marian and Hill head to the bridge and she assures him that she will always love him, even if he leaves her to travel to another town. He leaves her to meet with Marcellus, who has collected the money for the uniforms and they make a plan to leave River City. Marian admits that she knew he was lying about his education and they depart happily, deeply in love with each other.

Mayor Shinn interrupts the picnic to let Charlie Cowell speak. He tells the citizens that they've been swindled by Hill and that he plans to leave the town. The crowd follows Shinn to track down Hill and Marcellus goes to Hill's hotel room to tell him to leave. Winthrop angrily tells Hill that he hates him, but Marian convinces him that Hill brought happiness to the town. Though the Paroos try to get Harold to leave, he admits that he can't leave Marian and he is captured. Hill is brought in to be tarred and feathered, but Djilas and Marcellus interrupt the meeting with a group of boys in band uniforms with instruments. Though they sound awful when they play, the parents are so proud of their children that they forget their anger and cheer the band on. Hill is set free and leads the crowd down the street in a parade, joined by Marian.

In 1880, when bareknuckle fighting is still condoned. John L. Sullivan chooses boxing over baseball and becomes known as "the Boston Strong Boy" after his victory over established prizefighter John Flood.

Sullivan's sweetheart, Kathy Harkness, refuses his marriage proposal, unhappy about how he has chosen to make a living. After he wins the heavyweight championship, Sullivan buys a tavern and begins drinking too much of his own product. He also meets New York singer Anne Livingston, marrying her on the rebound from Kathy and traveling the world, meeting British royalty while fighting abroad.

Sullivan's ego and alcoholism grow out of control. Anne realizes he still loves Kathy and leaves him, but Kathy still disapproves of his life. Sullivan is defeated by "Gentleman" Jim Corbett, loses the heavyweight crown and also loses his saloon, due to growing debts. Anne, too, becomes bankrupt as well as terminally ill. Sullivan vows to turn his life around, speaking on behalf of temperance unions as Kathy sees a glimmer of hope for their future.

Squire Eudoric Damberson of Zurgau in the kingdom of Locania wishes to wed Lusina, the daughter of his former tutor, the magician Doctor Baldonius. The price is attaining the status of knight and supplying the magician with a portion of dragon hide for use in his magic. Dragons are locally scarce, so Eudoric and his trusty servant Jillo set out for Pathenia in the east to slay one. But once the two do manage to bring one down (by accident) they face legal complications for violating the local game laws. Returning, Eudoric finds his promised bride has run off with a minstrel, and his feudal lord Baron Emmerhard disinclined to knight him for his heroic exploit; he consoles himself by pursuing a scheme to establish a stagecoach line like those in Pathenia. (This material first appeared as the short story "Two Yards of Dragon".)

A subsequent rescue of Emmerhard from a magic spell finally secures him the knighthood, but he remains unlucky in love, as the baron's daughter Gerzilda also shuns his hand. (This material first appeared as the short story "The Coronet".)

Next Eudoric pursues Maragda, daughter of Rainmar, a local robber baron who has been raiding his coach line. Rainmar tasks him with slaying the giant spider Fraka, and once again matters go awry. While Eudoric's knightly reputation and stage line prosper, his marriage prospects remain nil. (This material first appeared as the short story "Spider Love".)

The pattern is repeated when he is commissioned to capture a unicorn for his ultimate overlord Emperor Thorar IX of the New Napolitanian Empire, intended as a gift for the visiting Grand Cham Gzik of Pantorozia. The emperor's daughter Petrilla, smitten with Gzik, weds the Cham instead. (This material first appeared as the short story "Eudoric's Unicorn".)

Seeking to extend his stage line into Letitia, capital of the kingdom of Franconia that borders the empire to the west, his reputation for getting things done leads to him being deputed to rescue King Clothar's sister Yolanda, held captive in the rude neighboring realm of Armoria. There he is forced to save her from a sea monster and then wed her, after which he flees back to Franconia with his new bride. He finds her a less than congenial mate — Yolanda is both a control freak and an enchantress. Fighting with each other and dangers along the way, they encounter the restless ghost of a king cursed to endure eternal boredom in his tomb, an orthodox ogre who kills and eats those of the wrong faith, and the soldiers of the hostile duchy of Dorelia.

Nor are Eudoric's difficulties left behind on their return to Letitia. Mewed up as a prisoner in all but name in his princess bride's mansion by her supernatural servants, he soon discovers she is a female Bluebeard who regularly collects husbands and petrifies them as she tires of them. By calling on the aid of Dr. Tsudai, a Serican sorcerer whose life he had saved during his earlier stay in Letitia, Eudoric is ultimately successful in freeing his three predecessor-husbands from statuehood and escaping their lethal spouse.

Safe back in Locania, where his nuptials are not recognized, Eudoric receives a message from Yolanda pleading for him to return, as he is the only one of her husbands whose loss she regrets. He prudently ignores her letter, choosing instead to resume his courtship of his original intended, Lusina — she is also back, having grown disillusioned with her unreliable lover. Meanwhile, he and Dr. Baldonius hatch plans to incorporate his coach line as a limited liability company after the fashion of the hongs of Serica.

An Italian-Canadian butcher named Lupo is complaining about his job one day, while cutting meat in his shop. As each new slice falls to the ground, Lupo grows increasingly angry and swears at the meat. He then accidentally cuts off his own thumb, which inexplicably causes his entire body to fall apart. Blood gushes out onto the ground, and the various pieces of Lupo's body collapse into a pile. The screen darkens and closes in on Lupo's severed head, but before the scene can disappear entirely, Lupo's head jumps forward, still alive. It remains on the screen, shouting insults during the credits, before falling asleep.

After a whirlwind courtship, an Air Force staff sergeant who is a Korean War veteran, Joe Fitzpatrick, and his wife Maggie, a dancer, try to make their marriage work. Joe is posted to Spain; back in New York, his wife learns that he has won a raffle making them the owners of the custom-built 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car. The car is delivered to Spain, where it attracts attention from many people including a famous matador, who makes advances to Maggie and invites her to his estate. The car also comes to the attention of Joe's commanding officer, who insists he ship it back to the States to avoid promoting the image of Americans as snobbishly wealthy. This upsets Maggie. Joe is also told he will owe considerable income tax on the car, which he cannot afford. In the end, Joe sells the car to the matador, and he and Maggie are reconciled.

Emily "Jacks" Jackson is an American transplant living in London and working as an intern at British ''Vogue''. She shares an apartment with her gay friend Peter Simon, a screenwriter. Afraid to be disappointed by a serious relationship, Jacks prefers to spend her free time with her friends and sleep with her ex-boyfriend, James, whom she does not love.

Peter, who has never been in a relationship, spends too much time in his dreams and as a result cannot fall in love with a real person. It gets more complicated with the entrance of Paolo, a photography assistant for one of the photographers at Vogue. As the film develops, they come to realize their mistakes and eventually reach their happy endings.

High School student Kiri Koshiba uses her hairstyling talents to help brighten up the lives of girls often deemed as “ugly,” but she does so anonymously. Due to her skill, Kiri unintentionally becomes rival to the Scissors Project (also known as the SP), an infamous club consisting of self-proclaimed genius hairstylist Shougo Narumi, cosmetic expert Kazuhiko Ochiai, and nail artist Kei Minami. The Scissors Project is known for their showy performances where they give public makeovers to members of the student body, specifically already “beautiful” girls, and as a result attract an often-times overwhelming amount of attention.

After the rejection of Kiri’s friend Kanako Aoyama when she professes her love to Ochiai, Kiri gives her a makeover in order to help boost her self-esteem. Interpreting this as a challenge to the supremacy of the SP, Narumi issues a formal challenge to the offender, whom he refers to as “X” due to their anonymity to ensure that his club remains on top. After “X” defeats Narumi and is revealed to be Kiri Koshiba, Kiri eventually becomes a reluctant member of the SP, whether or not Narumi approves.

Throughout the series, the SP continues to grow and meet the challenges of becoming the top team of beauticians in Japan, unless their interpersonal issues get in the way.

Billy Collier (Sean P. Hayes) is an aspiring photographer in Los Angeles who has had little artistic success and much romantic frustration. He comes up with the idea of recreating iconic screen kisses from Hollywood movies (such as Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr's in ''From Here to Eternity'') using drag queens in the female roles. While out for coffee with his roommate Georgiana (Meredith Scott Lynn), he meets Gabriel (Brad Rowe), the server. That night at a party, Billy's friend Perry (Richard Ganoung) agrees to finance Billy's Screen Kiss project and Billy serendipitously runs into Gabriel. Billy recruits him to model and the two develop a friendship (although Gabriel says that he has a girlfriend in San Francisco).

Billy quickly becomes infatuated with Gabriel, but cannot figure out if Gabriel is really straight; Gabriel does little to help, continually sending ambiguous signals. At Perry's invitation, the two attend an exhibit by photographer Rex Webster, who tries to poach Gabriel as a model (and potential trick). Webster offers to take Gabriel to Catalina Island for an underwear ad shoot, sparking Billy's jealousy. Back at Gabriel's place, Billy and Gabriel seem to be getting closer but their rapport is interrupted by a phone call from Gabriel's girlfriend Natalie.

Billy shoots his first setup with Gabriel, the Lancaster-Kerr kiss. Following the shoot, Gabriel tells Billy that his relationship with Natalie is over. Billy mentions the Kinsey scale, on which Billy describes himself as a "perfect six," but Gabriel admits he does not know where on the scale he falls. Back at Billy's apartment, they continue to talk and drink and Gabriel asks if he can spend the night on the couch. Billy suggests that Gabriel sleep in his bed (ostensibly because of Gabriel's height), to which Gabriel eventually agrees. When the two are in bed, Billy makes tentative overtures, to which Gabriel seems to respond initially; however, Gabriel suddenly pulls away, after which Billy apologizes and gets up to sleep on the couch.

Gabriel gets the underwear modeling job and goes to Catalina. Billy follows after him to Catalina with Georgiana, who, on the rebound from her boyfriend, Andrew (Christopher Bradley), hooks up with drug-addled island resident "Gundy" (Carmine D. Giovinazzo). Billy crashes Rex Webster's (Paul Bartel) underwear shoot looking for Gabriel, but does not find him.

Billy eventually tracks Gabriel down at Rex's party later that night and the two talk on the beach. Billy relates to Gabriel how confused he was when he came out, saying, "I swore to myself that if I could ever be there for somebody, I would, so that that person wouldn't have to go through all the shit I went through. What I'm trying to say is, if you're having problems figuring out where you stand, even if you're not sure of what you're supposed to want-" Abruptly, however, before Billy can finish, one of Gabriel's fellow male models walks up to them. Billy instantly realizes that the two of them are in some kind of relationship with each other and Gabriel tells Billy straightforwardly, "Billy, I'm pretty sure what I'm supposed to want." Gabriel tries to soften the blow, but Billy rebuffs him. Billy feels hurt and humiliated and even wonders if Gabriel used him to get his modeling career off the ground. Later, Perry tries to console Billy, telling him that a few years earlier Perry had similarly fallen for someone who did not return his affections; Perry confesses that that man was Billy. The next morning, Georgiana has ditched Gundy. Billy and Georgiana then head back home.

The movie ends with the opening of Billy's "Hollywood Screen Kiss" series exhibition in Los Angeles, which includes his photos of Gabriel. The exhibit appears to be very successful and Billy receives many congratulations from various visitors. Perry shows Billy a magazine with an underwear ad featuring Gabriel and suggests that Billy give him a call. Billy demurs, saying he needs some time away. Toward the end of the night, after his friends have gone, Billy meets a handsome young man named Joshua (Robbie Cain) who enthusiastically admires Billy's photographic work. It is suggested that along with his newfound artistic success, Billy may at last find romantic fulfillment as well.

The film is punctuated with Billy's fantasy sequences of himself and Gabriel in pastiches of romantic film scenes, including the aforementioned ''From Here to Eternity'' and the films of Fred Astaire. Billy carries a Polaroid camera with him everywhere, and his reminiscences are illustrated with Polaroid photographs. The film in fact opens with such a monologue, with Billy relying on a series of Polaroids while relating how he grew up gay "in a small town in Indiana, where there's plenty of corn, fast cars, and straights. Lots and lots of straights. I mean, ''a lot.''" Billy's opening narrative demonstrates his awareness that he is in a film and breaking the fourth wall.

Several scenes in the movie are backed up by classic songs of bygone times sung by notable and lesser known divas; these are lip-synced by more or less the same troupe of drag queens, a running gag throughout the film.

The film opens on a dark film noir black and white scene where a 1940s style detective shoots a villain—for trying to return a late video. The lights come up, revealing that we are watching a commercial for Gumshoe Video, and the detective is Neil (Cillian Murphy), the store's owner, who is premiering the ad for friends at a party at his modest cinephile video store. His girlfriend Denise (Heather Burns), who appears in the commercial, does not show up at the celebration.

The next day, Neil meets Denise at a restaurant, but before he goes to the table, he gets a waiter (Steve Lemme) to spill a glass of water on her, just to watch her overreact. She is not amused by the prank, and tells him he needs to get his life together instead of just watching movies and playing immature games. He casually breaks up with her, telling her she is not enough like Katharine Ross in ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid''.

Back at the store, Neil is watching a film with his friend/employee Jonathan (Jason Sudeikis), when femme fatale Violet (Lucy Liu) makes her entrance, turning his head. Violet has no identification or credit card for her rental deposit, so she persuades him to take $50 cash, which he puts in an envelope under his antique cash register. When she returns, she surreptitiously steals back the deposit, making him think he lost it, but she says he can take her out for a $50 dinner to make it up to her.

At the date, Violet arrives first and pretends that she has already gotten really drunk. When Neil does not try to take advantage of the situation, she reveals her joke and they proceed with dinner. At her urging, they go to a Media Giant store – his corporate competitor – and hide in a closet until after the employees lock up for the night, then they switch a bunch of DVDs into the wrong cases and knock over some displays while fleeing. The next day, they spy on the Media Giant and see an employee talking to a police officer. Later, police detectives drop by Gumshoe Video to question Neil about the Media Giant break-in. Once they have completely scared him, Violet appears and she and the "cops" begin laughing hysterically at the ruse. A flummoxed Neil secretly trails Violet back to her house, where they end up in bed, falling in love. The following morning, they go for a romantic swim.

Sometime later, Neil is leaving to meet Violet at the park when he runs into friends (Callie Thorne and Michael Yurchak) who beg to come along and meet his new girlfriend. Violet feeds them another party's picnic meal and leaves them to answer for it. Neil tries to make their next date quieter, by watching a basketball game, but a bored Violet then does not want to stay the night. Later, he goes to see a band play at Jonathan's bar and spies her flirting with a musician. Jealous, he stages a rock guitar scene for her at their next date. After they have sex, she reveals that she just staged the club scene and, before going to sleep, tells him about all the musicians she has dated, including a bald, Polish, avant garde musician (Richard Waddingham) who stalks her from city to city. Paranoid, Neil imagines that every bald white guy he sees is the stalker until Violet stages a scene where she has been tied to a chair by her ex, the Bald Giant, who turns out to be her friend Denis (Richard Waddingham). Frustrated by Violet's tomfoolery, Neil breaks up with her.

Neil runs into Denise and realizes that he treated her somewhat like Violet has treated him, and that he misses Violet and the excitement she created. So when she calls and tells him to come to her workplace, he does. She tricks him into stealing money from her job at an illegal casino, thinking it is another one of her fake scenes. He is shot at and chased. Neil is exhilarated by the crime, but Violet takes the money and lets him know he has been used. Neil is very distraught at another breakup, but Violet returns to say that the breakup was a joke, too. Neil is initially infuriated, but Violet convinces him that his life is more interesting and adventurous with her in it. They make up and drive off to Graceland in the new car Violet bought with some of the robbery money.

When Stan tries to persuade Steve to go to summer camp, Steve refuses, wanting instead to stay home and spend time gardening. Stan does not give up, however; upon learning that a camping supply store is donating its equipment to a camp, he sends Steve along with it. Steve tells Stan that he was not in Boyz II Men. Francine then learns that Stan actually sent their son to an African refugee camp (which Stan mispronounces as "re-foo-gee") and demands that he bring Steve home. Wanting to help the refugees, Hayley also tags along.

Once in Africa, Hayley discovers the workers feasting while the refugees are starving, and tries to protest. However, after finding out that she will be staying in Africa for a while, she quickly joins them. Meanwhile, Stan turns the refugee camp into a summer camp so Steve can have ''some'' kind of camp experience. Steve meets Makeva, an African girl about his age, but then gets annoyed when his dad keeps bothering him. Just then, a group of rebels kidnaps Makeva. Stan then suggests a "Camp-a-lympics" to the rebels, saying that if his team wins, the refugees get Makeva and their land back. Back home, Roger and Francine amuse themselves in town, pretending to be a professor and his wife. They meet another couple and invite them home, and the subplot becomes a parody of ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'', resulting in a bloody fight which wrecks the living room.

At the Camp-a-lympics, the score is tied going into the final event, a foot race between Steve and the rebel leader. Steve wins the event, but Makeva runs into the arms of the rebel leader, whom she has already fallen for. Stan then tells a dejected Steve that his first camp love dumped him too. As they fly home, Hayley, who had spent all of her time eating at the UN headquarters there instead of helping the refugees, says she thinks she "gained the African twenty," while Steve thanks his dad for an "awesome" camp experience.

Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) from the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin, Josh Porter (Charles Esten) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), recently transferred, from the Stamford branch, and Jan Levinson (Melora Hardin) from the corporate headquarters all descend upon Philadelphia for the annual office supply convention. However, Michael is bitter that Jim left Scranton for Stamford and tries to one-up Josh at every opportunity. Michael also spreads the word that he is throwing a party in his hotel room that night. Later in the evening, Michael surprises everyone with the news that he has broken Staples' exclusive hold on Hammermill products. Meanwhile, Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) follows after Dwight wanting to spend time with him and waits in his hotel room. While hoping to prank Dwight, Jim acquires a key to his hotel room. Upon opening the door, he hears and sees Angela without realizing it is her; Jim instead thinks it's a hooker Dwight ordered, gleefully pondering who to tell.

Back in Scranton, Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) sets Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) up on a double date with her neighbor Alan (Robert Bagnell), a cartoonist for the local newspaper. However, Kelly is quietly disappointed that Pam intends to wear just her normal work clothes to the date. On the double date, Kelly appears to be the only one having a good time with Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak), who is annoyed by Kelly for feeding him french fries. Pam awkwardly chats with Alan, who at one point sneaks a peek down Pam's shirt; they fail to hit it off. At Michael's party, Jim attends as the only guest and explains that he did not leave Scranton because of Michael (whom Jim claims is a great boss), but rather because of Pam, who rejected Jim (twice); Michael promises Jim that he will talk to Pam about the situation, but Jim tells him not to. Finally, the two mend their friendship just as two other guests arrive.

The majority of the special is an animated vaudeville-style show featuring numerous comedians performing the greatest skits at the palace. * Flip Wilson's "Columbus" sketch (with audio taken directly from his 1967 Atlantic Records album ''Cowboys and Colored People'') is set to animation, as Queen Isabel Johnson sends Christopher Columbus to the New World to find, among other things, Ray Charles. * Jack Benny and George Burns take a trip in Jack's infamous Maxwell, where Jack attempts to weasel his way out of paying an increased bridge toll. * Groucho Marx recreates the Napoleon parody act from the Marx Brothers' 1925 Broadway revue ''I'll Say She Is'', with Groucho reprising his role as Napoleon, and animated representations of Chico, Zeppo, and Harpo playing his advisors Alphonse, Francois, and Gaston, respectively. * W. C. Fields (voiced here by voice actor and comedian Paul Frees) has trouble trying to prove that he is a sportsman and impress a woman to marry her daughter at the ski resort, while at the same time he also has a comical encounter with a Saint Bernard. *The Smothers Brothers try their best to cooperate in singing a song to woo a princess, but their attempt does not go as planned. In between the skits, various comedians including Henny Youngman, Jack E. Leonard, George Jessel, and Phyllis Diller tell a few funny jokes as the TV special progresses. Also making silent cameos in the special are Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Ray Charles, Charlie Chaplin (in silhouette form), The Beatles, Queen Elizabeth II, Ronald Reagan, the Munsters, Jed and Granny Clampett, and cartoon stars Popeye the Sailor, Charlie Brown, Tom Cat, Jerry Mouse and Yogi Bear.

''A Stainless Steel Rat is Born'' is a novel in which the young Slippery Jim DiGriz finds himself getting into jail and out again in search of criminal contacts.

''The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted'' is a novel in which the master-criminal's revenge plans involve him joining an army.

''The Stainless Steel Rat for President'' is a comic science fiction novel in which interstellar con man Slippery Jim DiGriz and his family clean up corruption on the banana republic world of Paraiso-Aqui.

After realizing that a planetary dictator is rigging elections, the rat decides to oust him by running as a competing candidate. As his Vice President, he chooses a fair man who should have been president if not for the corruption. Since the entire media, military, and political establishment is on the side of the dictator, DiGriz has few tools at his disposal. He uses political judo on his opponent. After deliberately angering the dictator into creating a blowout political election, DiGriz conducts a live interview in a precinct where 100% of the vote went to the incumbent. He then asks each villager to publicly state who they voted for and they all say DiGriz. This is clear evidence that fraud was committed, which forces a redo of the election with better balloting controls. After winning the (mostly) fair election, DiGriz feigns being assassinated so that the Vice President can take over.

''You Can Be The Stainless Steel Rat'' is a novel in which the reader can move to numbered paragraphs like a gamebook.

Setting

''Astro Battle'' has a consistent artistic theme, with heavy use of stylized icons. Beyond this consistency, details of the setting or a detailed plot are never established in-game.

Fulfilling an ancient prophecy that he would return when England needs him most, King Arthur is awakened accidentally from his resting place beneath Glastonbury Tor in the year 3000 by a young archeology student, Tom Prentice, whom Arthur makes his squire and later a knight. The two of them travel to Stonehenge, where Merlin lies sorcerously trapped by the fae creature Nyneve, and awaken him to help them retrieve Arthur's legendary sword, Excalibur.

Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot are presented more-or-less traditionally as the familiar doomed triangle of lovers; Guinevere is reincarnated as Joan Acton, an American military commander, while Lancelot is reborn as Jules Futrelle, a French industrialist and philanthropist. Sir Galahad is changed from an idealized version of the Christian knight to a samurai and devout adherent of bushido. Sir Percival, the ''foolish man slowly wise'' is genetically altered into a monstrous giant but retains his gentle manner. Sir Kay, the court churl, reveals to Arthur that his characteristic obnoxious demeanor was in fact an affectation intended to reduce tensions between the members of Arthur’s court, by uniting them in mutual dislike of Kay. Gawain is reincarnated as a South African family man.

Modred is not the son of Arthur's sister in this version, but the bastard child of Arthur by another woman. After Modred's birth, he had been taken away by a peasant woman to be hidden from Arthur, but she was intercepted by Sirs Kay and Tristan. Arthur then attempted to drown the baby among the other May Babies to keep him from becoming a threat to any legitimate heir; but unknown to Arthur, the baby survived. In the year 3000, Modred is reincarnated as Jordan Matthew, a corrupt United Nations official in league with Morgan le Fay, and who later fuses the recovered Holy Grail into a suit of armor.

The most original treatment in the work of any of the Arthurian characters is that of the figure of Sir Tristan, who is unexpectedly reincarnated in a woman's form. This forces him to reexamine his previous conceptions of gender roles and possibly his own sexuality. His relationship with Isolde – also reincarnated as a woman – is tested by his new body. Their enduring love for one another eventually triumphs, and the two become lovers.

In the year 3000, the Earth is facing a threat from an alien invasion of unknown origins. Reconstituting the Round Table at Lancelot's orbital habitat, Arthur and his knights battle both the invading aliens as well as intrigues from Mordred and Morgan. Their task is complicated by internal tensions including the renewed love triangle between Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere, Tristan's grappling with his gender identity, Tom Prentice's infatuation with Tristan, and Gawain's desire to see his family again. Eventually, the Knights track the origin of the alien invasion to a previously undiscovered tenth planet of the solar system. Flashbacks reveal that after her defeat in the Middle Ages, the spirit of Morgan traveled out into the solar system, eventually reconstituting herself on the planet where she enslaved the native population and led them in their invasion of Earth.

Arthur and his knights travel to the tenth planet to defeat Morgan. Galahad sacrifices himself so that they can gain entry to Morgan's citadel. In final combat, Arthur uses the supernatural aspect of Excalibur to slice into an atom, creating a nuclear explosion which destroys Morgan and her command center. Before Arthur sacrifices himself to stop Morgan, he forgives Lancelot and Guinevere, and wishes that they live together happily. With their leadership gone, the aliens are easily beaten back by the forces on Earth. The epilogue shows the fates of the remaining knights as Gawain returns to his wife and son, Tristan consummates his relationship with Isolde, and Tom Prentice leads a crew in rebuilding London. Guinevere finds out that she's pregnant, and when she tells Lancelot it may be Arthur's, he expresses similar hope and promises to love the baby no matter what. The final scene shows an alien on a distant world pulling Excalibur from a stone and being hailed as a leader.

Alex Decker, an agent of the International Espionage Service, is transporting an unknown cargo when he is pursued by NOSTRA agents. After escaping the agents, he meets with Karin, another IES agent. Alex and Karin engage in a gun fight against NOSTRA agents. The shipment Alex was carrying is confiscated by Gomez, the NOSTRA leader. Alex's Interceptor performance car is confiscated, and Karin disappears.

A year later, Alex traces his Interceptor to a freighter offshore. With the help of another agent, he downloads codes to recover his car and steal the ship's cargo. As Decker escapes the ship, he is pursued by NOSTRA agents. After a long and arduous chase, Decker escapes the agents and reaches the IES base safely. The base is attacked by the NOSTRA agents, but the IES successfully defend the base. The director of the IES is taken hostage, and the IES launches a counterattack on the NOSTRA base. Upon rescuing the director, Alex pursues Olaf in a lengthy chase, and eventually meets him upon a NOSTRA train. Alex defeats him by throwing him out of the train. The damaged train reaches a secret NOSTRA base, where Alex finds and defeats Cyrus and Marduk.

Decker sneaks onto a NOSTRA plane and tries to fight Gomez, but Gomez escapes. Karin and Decker use an Interceptor to fly out of the plane and pursue Gomez. The fates of the three characters are not revealed.

Ross drags the gang, including Tag, up onto the roof to look at the "Bapstein-King" comet, but no one is entirely interested. Two hours later, Rachel and Tag escape to go watch a movie together; and Phoebe, Chandler and Monica retire to get some sleep. This leaves Ross on the roof with Joey, who is far more interested in scoping out ladies through his binoculars. Joey, at one point, hands over the binoculars and starts looking through a pipe instead. This pipe turns out to be the one that was propping the roof door open; Joey and Ross are now stuck on the roof in the dead of night. The two attempt to climb down the fire escape, but discover that the bottom-floor ladder, which is supposed to slide down to the ground, will do no such thing; eventually, Joey serves as the bottom segment of the ladder, and Ross climbs down him so he can shimmy down and drop, but he is too scared. Joey scares him off by telling him his pants are falling off but that he is not wearing any underwear. Ross loses his grip, falls and sprains his ankle.

Monica falls asleep quickly, but Chandler cannot, and continually wakes her up in his attempts to put himself to sleep, first by reading one of Monica's books, and then by digging pots out of the cabinet to warm some milk for himself. Chandler then proposes that he and Monica stay up all night talking to each other like when they first started dating, to which she agrees. She finally warms the milk for him, only to discover him snoozing. She then slams the door shut to wake him back up so they can talk. Finally they end up in bed, and at Monica's suggestion they start to have sex... but Monica falls asleep halfway through it. After unsuccessfully trying to convince her to stay awake so they can try again, Chandler decides to make her coffee, but this turns out to be unnecessary: a mention that he will probably spill coffee grounds on the floor has her wide awake in moments. Finally, as the episode ends, a satisfied Monica notes that they have seven minutes before she has to get up for work. When Chandler implies that they can have sex in seven minutes, Monica misunderstands and breaks out the vacuum cleaner and furniture polish to clean the living room.

Rachel and Tag are about to retire for a night of similar festivities in her apartment when Rachel asks if Tag mailed out a set of contracts to Milan. She insists she placed them on his desk, while he insists they were nowhere in sight. Eventually they raid the office, where Rachel discovers Tag was right, but works out a subterfuge so that she can sneak them into his desk drawer. However, when she tells Tag to look there, the contracts are nowhere in sight—they have magically appeared back on Rachel's desk. Rachel asks how exactly that happened, inadvertently revealing that she had placed them there.

Phoebe is kept from sleep by the insistent beeping of a smoke detector. She is unable to get it to stop, despite taking out the battery and taking such drastic measures as beating it with a shoe and throwing it down a garbage chute wrapped in a blanket. It is from this misadventure that it is returned to her by a helpful fireman. When asked how to get the alarm to stop beeping, the fireman suggests the reset button on the unit's plastic case... which Phoebe finds, not on the case, but on the floor.

The episode begins with an ongoing artillery attack that is disturbing Blackadder's rest, an attack which Blackadder says is futile as "Jerry is safe underground". Shortly after it stops, an air raid begins. Believing it to be a German raid, Blackadder leaves an angry message for the head of the Royal Flying Corps ("Message reads 'Where are you, you bastards?'"), but is not thrilled to learn that it was simply a display ''by'' the Flying Corps. Shortly afterwards, the brash and egocentric Squadron Commander Lord Flashheart crash lands in the trench and punches Blackadder, believing him to be a "Boche". Baldrick and George are enraptured by Flashheart, though Blackadder is completely unimpressed, viewing Flashheart as a "prat". As Flashheart leaves with Bob, he offers George a place in the Flying Corps. Initially uninterested, Blackadder is more agreeable when he learns of the "Twenty Minuters" squadron, so named because new pilots only spend twenty minutes in the air.

At Staff HQ, Blackadder tries to join the Flying Corps; Captain Darling tries to stop him, but General Melchett allows the transfer. At basic training the next day, Blackadder learns that the flight instructor is Flashheart, and that the actual reason for the name "Twenty Minuters" is because the twenty minutes is the life expectancy of a new pilot. Darling at this point assures Blackadder that he will be fine as long as he has a good navigator. However, much to Darling's glee, the navigator is Baldrick.

Shortly after take off, both Blackadder and Baldrick are shot down by a German plane and captured by Baron von Richthofen, who wants to learn the subtleties of British humour. He informs them of their fate, which entails teaching home economics to young German girls in a convent outside Heidelberg, which the Baron thinks will be a "fate worse than death to a British soldier"; Blackadder feigns sorrow, but he is, of course, overjoyed.

George, in the meantime, attempts to rescue Blackadder with the help of Darling and Melchett, but is informed that it would be "pointless". He is shown a life size model of the land they have recaptured, measuring seventeen square feet. He is more successful in recruiting Lord Flashheart, who swiftly rescues Blackadder and Baldrick. Blackadder tries to stall them claiming he has "splintered [his] pancreas", but Flashheart is not fooled and forces Blackadder out the door. At that moment, Richthofen appears and confronts Flashheart, comparing the nobility and majesty of their calling. In response, Flashheart shoots von Richthofen and calls him a "poof".

Back at HQ, Blackadder confronts the cowardly Darling who as he steps backwards finds that Flashheart is standing behind him. Flashheart then headbutts Darling into unconsciousness onto his desk to get back at him for not rescuing them sooner. He then leaves, advising Blackadder to "take something if he wants it" (a principle he demonstrates with Bob). Melchett appears, at which point Blackadder asks for some time off to recuperate. Melchett agrees, stating that Blackadder's commanding officer would have to be "mad" to refuse. However, when Blackadder reminds Melchett that ''he'' is Blackadder's commanding officer and asks if he can have a week's leave to recuperate, Melchett replies "Certainly not", refusing Blackadder's request.

In faraway tropical Mosaque, as soon as American pilot Dan Kendall (Richard Arlen) joins the country's Air Corps, he is in trouble. Along with his mechanic Christmas (Mikhail Rasumny), he is thrown into the military prison. His troubles start at a cantina after buying exotic beauty Johanna Van Deuren (Eva Gabor) a drink, not realizing he has antagonized her fiancé, Colonel Jan Golas (Nils Asther). A fight breaks out, leading to the pilot's arrest.

Colonel Golas releases Dan from prison when he learns that his fiancée had nearly been run down by a car and Dan had come to her rescue. The bargain he makes with Dan is that the stranger has to resign from the military and take a job with the Mosaque Civil Airline. Golas has an ulterior motive for helping Dan, as he has been responsible for the airline being sabotaged on its last flights to bring payrolls to workers at the local fort. Unknown to him, Dan's pilot friend Petchnikoff (Harold Goodwin) lost his life in a crash engineered by Golas. Johanna, accompanied by Dan, flies to the fort to visit her sick father (Victor Varconi), only to find the disgruntled and penniless workers there are set to revolt.

Dan promises to have their pay flown to the workers within three days. When he spots his friend's aircraft on the ground, after landing and searching for Petchnikoff, Dan and Johanna are captured by Andros Banshek (J. Carrol Naish), a bandit who has been working against the government in Mosaque. Banshek is sure the two would reveal his hideout unless they are silenced. When Banshek's son Nando (Bobby Dillon) is shot during their attempt to escape, Banshek implores Dan to fly his son to a doctor. While Nando is saved, Banshek is captured in Mosaque and killed by the police.

Workers at the fort finally revolt, forcing Golas to react. Dan will fly with the payroll while Golas will fly as an escort. Johanna, afraid her father is in danger, stows away on Dan's aircraft. She is alarmed that the box containing the payroll is smoking. Dan dumps the box out of the aircraft just as it explodes. Golas then tries to shoot down Dan's aircraft but is himself downed by a box of metal parts that Dan throws out. When Golas crashes to his death, Dan brings the workers their pay and is able to quell the rebellion. The general (John Miljan) in charge of the military, absolves Banshek of his crimes and declares that he was a true patriot. Dan marries Johanna, with the newlyweds leaving Mosaque to go to the United States.

Soldier and aspiring scholar Thorolf Zigramson of Rhaetia is out fishing when he encounters the proverbial damsel in distress in the form of Yvette, fugitive Countess of Grintz from the neighboring kingdom of Carinthia. She is fleeing the forces of the avaricious Duke of Landai, occupier of her fief and aspirant to her hand. But Thorolf gains a burden rather than gratitude by rescuing the self-important peeress from her pursuers.

To hide the countess from her enemy Thorolf takes her to the Rhaetian capital of Zurshnitt, where his enchanter friend Doctor Bardi undertakes to magically disguise her features. The spell goes badly awry, mistakenly turning Yvette into an octopus instead. In order to reverse the spell Thorolf must resort to the more powerful wizard Doctor Orlandus, a shady cult-leader. But matters go from bad to worse; while Orlandus cures Yvette all right, he also makes her one of his spirit-controlled slaves to advance his scheme of taking over the government of Rhaetia. On top of that, his henchmen murder Doctor Bardi, leaving Thorolf under suspicion of perpetrating the crime.

The soldier flees and seeks sanctuary with the trolls, some of whom he has befriended in the past, only to find them more inclined to eat than succor him; he has managed to put himself among the ''wrong'' trolls, arch-foes of the band he knows. To gain their favor and protection he promises to rid his captors of a local dragon. Accordingly, he directs them in a successful effort to capture the beast and sell it to the director of Zurshnitt's zoo. But to bind him to them, his new allies insist he marry one of their number. The troll lass finds the hapless warrior as unattractive as he does her, and they settle by mutual agreement into a union in name only.

Parlaying his membership in the troll band into a bid to reverse his fortune, Thorolf uses their secret tunnels to spy on Orlandus and ultimately to kill the wizard and rescue Yvette. The two are pursued by the late cultist's followers and trapped between them and the forces of Yvette's lordly suitor, which contend over who will get them. The situation resolved only after the duke kills the new cult leader in single combat and is then in turn bested and taken hostage by Thorolf. Meanwhile, the latter's troll wife complication is resolved when the beauty in question elopes with her true love, a stalwart troll lad.

Sharing a mutual attraction, Thorolf and Yvette have during their adventures alternately quarreled and reconciled, coming close at times to a physical relationship only to be thwarted by circumstances. With the downfall of the countess's enemies, all chance of this is lost; able to act the aristocrat again, Yvette throws herself with a will into raising an army to reconquer Grintz. Thorolf, as a commoner, has no place in this picture.

Bowing to the inevitable, Thorolf leaves and enlists as a mercenary in the wars between the contending city-states of Tyrrhennia. Finding a more amenable bride there, he eventually returns to Zurshnitt to find Yvette much reduced in circumstances. Her bid to regain her county has miscarried, and she has had to settle for becoming the wife of a commoner after all – Thorolf's old friend the zoo director. But Yvette chafes in the role. Now seeing her former rescuer in a different light, she proposes they abandon their spouses and run off together. Thorolf, satisfied with his new bride and finally close to achieving his longed-for academic position, declines.

The film tells the tale of Mme. Stephanie Durossac, also known as Lafleur (played by Corinne Calvet), a fiery pro-independence leader, and Mark Douglas (Barrymore), a young man who discovers that Lafleur is his long-lost mother he believed to be deceased. The actions of Lafleur create problems since she is also the wife of the British governor of the province. Lafleur ultimately sacrifices herself to prevent Douglas from being taken hostage. The climax of the movie depicts a military assault on the British fortress.

The series documents the events on planet New Caprica after the invasion by the Cylons at the end of the second season. It shows the activities of the resistance to Cylon occupation, and collaborators for the Cylons.

The resistance is headed by Colonel Saul Tigh, formerly XO of ''Galactica'', and highest-ranking military officer on New Caprica. He is joined by new parents Chief Tyrol and Specialist Cally, former ''Galactica'' crewman Jammer, and Caprica resistance fighter Jean Barolay.

The series begins on the 67th day of Cylon occupation. It is learned that among the Cylons' first acts of occupation was the building of a detention center. The Cylons have also started recruiting for a human New Caprica Police (NCP) force. Former ''Galactica'' pilot Duck, whom Jammer has been courting for the resistance, condemns the NCP as collaborators but is reluctant to get involved with Tigh's group because he is newly married. As the series progresses, Duck's wife Nora is killed in a Cylon attack on a temple where Tigh and his team were storing weapons.

Although the tragedy kills 10 people, Tigh sees the opportunity to win support over to the resistance. Jammer is torn about the event, since he believed storing weapons in a temple was a sin. He is taken to a private meeting with an Aaron Doral Cylon, where he is asked to support the Cylons' plan for peace, by reporting on any more resistance movement.

Afterwards, Jammer is given a chip (to report Resistance activity) and along with other resistance operatives, attends the baptismal of Nicholas Tyrol. Colonel Tigh has started plans to manufacture explosives near a hospital due to increased size of the resistance. It is discovered that in an act of revenge, Duck has joined the New Caprica Police as a spy for the resistance. Meanwhile, it is assumed that Jammer has become a Cylon collaborator - both men, ironically, becoming the very things they resisted earlier.

In this series the protagonist is a gnome called Klaus, a judge (aka "wise man Klaus"), who travels with his assistant Danny on Henry the Swan, trying to solve disputes and lawsuits between animals peacefully and wisely.

Like in ''The World of David the Gnome'', the trolls also appear in this series. David himself appears in one episode.

The penultimate episode features Wil Huygen and his wife, the only pair of humans in direct communication with Gnomes. Klaus and Danny complain to Huygen of "inaccuracies" in his book, though what these errors are is not made specific.

In the radio and television series ''Club Night'', Dave Morris, the comedian, had developed a swaggering, work-shy, know-all character, and ''The Artful Dodger'' featured the same character. Sylvia was his wife.

Tony Stilano and Trev Spackneys both own, live over and work in adjoining take-away fish and chip shops in Melbourne. Although they have fallen into a habitual rivalry based on a cause long forgotten, the pair unite when the multinational fast-food outlet "Burgies" unveils a new store directly opposite the twin fish and chips shops.

Stilano (portrayed by Vince Colosimo) is an uptight store runner, demanding everything be in order including his drinks and food that are safe to consume – the coldest must always be at the front and preparing the food in a professional way. Spackneys (played by Stephen Curry), however is the opposite. His chips are made of dirty potatoes and he could not care less about health or safety precautions. Both owners are aided by their two romantically linked apprentices. Sonja Stilano (Tony's cousin, played by Rose Byrne) and Dave (played by Nathan Phillips).

Blodwen O'Reilly is a cook who works in many different establishments. She turns a transport café into a quality restaurant, works in an Army canteen and prepares meals in an old people's home.

The story begins with fourteen-year-old identical twin brothers Jamie and Scott Tyler, performing in a theatre in Reno, Nevada. The Nightrise Corporation is to kidnap the boys, who are part of the magic show that has performed at the theatre for the past six months. Their foster father, Don White, sells the twins off to them for $150,000, but Jamie escapes and is pursued. Scott is captured but Jamie is rescued by a woman. He awakens at a motel in which the woman is renting a room. The woman, who introduces herself as Alicia, says that her son, Daniel, was kidnapped by the same corporation after exhibiting clairvoyant powers. She takes Jamie to his foster parents' house only to realise they have been murdered by Nightrise, and that he and Scott have been framed for it; they escape only when Jamie uses his telepathic powers.

Alicia and Jamie go to Los Angeles where he reveals his backstory. He then tells her of his previous foster parents, with the alcoholic father committing suicide after threatening to separate the twins, and the weird and inexplicable "accidents" associated with them. He tells her about a strange, tattoo-like mark he has on his arm and that he thinks he is an American Indian. After these incidents, he and Scott refused to read or control anyone's minds, except for each other's. They find a lead to one of the men that kidnapped Scott, Colton Banes, and Alicia persuades Jamie to read his mind to find out where Scott is. Jamie manages to find out where Scott is being held: Silent Creek, a juvenile prison, where he is being tortured in an attempt to force him to side with Nightrise.

Alicia decides to seek help from her boss, John Trelawny, who is running for the presidency, and manages to convince him about Jamie's powers, and to help him get into Silent Creek. Trelawny affirms Jamie's powers and agrees to help him. Jamie is given a false identity and criminal history, those of juvenile crystal meth dealer Jeremy Rabb, and is imprisoned at Silent Creek, out in the desert. He finds that his brother is in solitary confinement there and that Alicia's son Daniel is there too, also in solitary confinement. One night, when he tries to use his power to demand that the power-hungry and abusive chief guard Max Koring take him to his brother, he realises that his powers do not work in the prison, because of some magnetic field that neutralises special powers. Koring puts him in solitary confinement for his rudeness, and secretly calls Banes to tell him he has found a Gatekeeper.

Jamie suffers a nightmarish vision during solitary confinement, triggered by the second gate opening, though he is unaware of what has happened. In Peru, Richard and Professor Chambers find Pedro by the helicopter. Pedro tells them that Matt went by himself to stop the gate from opening. Thinking Matt is dead, Richard runs until he finds Matt. Matt "looks like all the life was sucked out of him" and is in a coma. After seeing he has a pulse, Richard runs back to bring get help for Matt.

Joe Feather, the Native American intake officer at Silent Creek, knows of the mysterious tattoo on Jamie's shoulder, having seen all of the boys during the embarrassing strip search at intake. He explains to Jamie that the twins are two of the Five, but Scott has already left Silent Creek. They work out a convincing plan to save Daniel and escape, whilst at the same time, Colton Banes is on their way to Silent Creek to kill Jamie. A fight goes on between Feather's tribe and Banes' men, resulting in Jamie being shot in the shoulder and Banes killed by an arrow.

Feather manages to break out with Daniel and Jamie, but Jamie falls unconscious following his shooting, and a shaman is called on to bring him back. During this, however, Jamie is transported back in time to the height of the war between humanity and the Old Ones ten thousand years ago in what would later become England. It becomes clear that the original Gatekeepers are exactly the same as the Gatekeepers in the present, just with different names (except for Matt, who says "I prefer to use my name from your world"). Matt is obviously the leader, and most knowledgeable of the Gatekeepers. He tells Jamie that he sent fellow Gatekeeper Sapling to his death on purpose, as Chaos, the King of the Old Ones would then think he had won; however, if a Gatekeeper dies, his counterpart from the future/past would take his place, hence why Jamie is there. Jamie then participates in the battle against the Old Ones, in which the Old Ones are defeated and banished, having mistakenly thought that only four of the Five could come together and letting their guard down. At the place where the Five congregate, a gate is built on the battlefield, to be called Raven's Gate by future generations, whilst another gate is built in what will later become Peru. Jamie sees an eagle, which Matt explains is there to take him back to his own time.

Jamie wakes up in the present and, with Feather and Daniel, travels back to Reno to reunite Daniel with Alicia, parting ways with Feather afterwards. When he is asleep that night, he is spoken to again by a grey man in the dream world of the Gatekeepers (as he had been during the novel), who keeps saying "they're going to kill him". He finally realised what it means, originally mistaking that Scott was telling him that he was the one going to be killed, but he realises that Scott is the person going to kill John Trelawny. Throughout the book, Nightrise has always wanted Trelawny's rival, Charles Baker, to become President, as he will support the return of the Old Ones. However, when Trelawny became too popular, despite bad press created by Nightrise, assassination becomes the only option, as suggested by Nightrise's west American executive Susan Mortlake. It becomes apparent that this will take place during his birthday parade in his home town of Auburn.

Alicia, Danny and Jamie hurry to Auburn to stop the assassination. Jamie sees Scott with Susan Mortlake, in the crowd, and he tries to send a telepathic message to him, but it fails. Desperate, Jamie commands Warren Cornfield, Trelawny's chief bodyguard and would-be assassin (being controlled by Scott), to aim the gun at Susan Mortlake. Cornfield shoots and kills Mortlake, and in the chaos Jamie takes Scott and meets up with Alicia and Danny. They meet Natalie Johnson, a member of the Nexus and a friend of Trelawny's, who gives them her car to escape. Policemen immediately come after them and the twins bid farewell to Alicia and Danny. Jamie and Scott use a hidden doorway in a cave at Lake Tahoe, and emerge in Cuzco at the Santo Domingo Church. The twins find their way to the Nazca desert and meet with Matt and Pedro, the first and second Gatekeepers.

Meanwhile, Scarlett Adams takes an aeroplane to Hong Kong to meet her father, who works for Nightrise. As Scarlett is about to go she finds out that John Trelawny has lost the election and that it is suspected that Nightrise had rigged the ballots as a failsafe.

The game plays in the world of Tempest. The civilization had been overrun by an evil warlord and the last castle of the good is under siege. The player's character is then teleported in the already occupied and devastated land, where he strives to fulfill his quest to defeat the warlord and his minions.

After the communist era and during a time of weak government in a Russia ridden by crime, the Russian people vote to reestablish the monarchy and bring back a new tsar, who will be chosen among the closest relative of Nicholas II of Russia from the surviving Romanov clans. Miles Lord, the protagonist, is tasked to do a background check on the favorite contender to be tsar, Stefan Baklanov. After almost being killed in the center of Moscow, Lord starts to discover new facts and documents that could threaten Baklanov's aspirations. Based on the diary of Felix Yusupov and a prophecy of the famous Rasputin, Lord finds out that there could be a direct descendant of Alexis and Anastasia, children of Nicholas II, living somewhere in the world. In this novel, Lord travels to Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Starodub, Vladivostok, Atlanta and San Francisco trying to find the inheritor of the Romanov family. If he has success, Russia will find the real tsar; if not, Stefan Baklanov will obtain power, and nobody knows what he will do with the country.

In 1966, the refitted liberty ship ''San Marino'' is on its way from San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand. The ship is carrying more than eight million dollars' worth of titanium ingots as well as a mysterious passenger who goes by the name of Estelle Wallace. Wallace is actually Arta Casilighio, a former bank teller at the Beverly-Wilshire bank who embezzled more than $120,000 and is making her getaway. Unfortunately, a group of Korean seamen who came aboard as last-minute crew replacements have hijacked the ship and its cargo, and dispose of Wallace and the crew by paralyzing them with poison in their food and dropping them over the side into the depths of the ocean.

The story then flashes forward twenty-three years to the waters off of Augustine Island, Alaska where an extremely deadly poison is moving through the waters, killing everything it comes in contact with. The poison comes to the notice of the Coast Guard cutter ''Catawaba'' when it intercepts a derelict crab boat called the ''Amie Marie''. The men sent aboard to investigate discover that the entire crew has died horribly, bleeding from every orifice and their skin had turned black. The boarding party soon begins to exhibit symptoms themselves. The doctor sent aboard orders the captain of the ''Catawaba'' to quarantine the crab boat and calls off his symptoms as the poison overtakes him, hoping that this information will help others in their diagnosis.

It is later revealed that the symptoms of the mysterious poison are strikingly similar to those of a deadly biological weapon, called Nerve Agent S, developed by the Rocky Mountain Arsenal outside of Colorado as the ideal weapon for use on troops wearing gas masks and protective clothing. The agent clings to everything and is absorbed through the skin, resulting in almost immediate death. The weapon was eventually discontinued by the Army because it was as deadly to the troops deploying it as it was to the enemy. While en route to be buried in the Nevada desert, an entire boxcar carrying more than 1,000 gallons of Nerve Agent S disappeared.

Dirk Pitt and his friend, Assistant Projects Director Al Giordino are called away from their current project to assist the Environmental Protection Agency's Dr. Julie Mendoza in an effort to find the source of the poison in what is assumed to be a sunken ship. Pitt discovers that the liberty ship ''Pilottown'' is embedded into the shore of the island with only her stern exposed to the elements. They board her and discover the containers of the nerve agent, but while they are attempting to recover the barrels, the volcano on the island erupts, causing the barrels to shift. Dr. Mendoza is killed when her biohazard suit is punctured, exposing her to the poison. Pitt vows to get to the bottom of who was responsible for the poison being on the ship and to take his revenge for the death of Dr. Mendoza.

In his attempts to trace the history of the ''Pilottown'', Pitt discovers information on the wreck that leads him to the Alhambra Iron and Boiler Company in Charleston, South Carolina, and from there turns to NUMA computer expert Hiram Yaeger and St. Julien Perlmutter, a family friend and naval historian. They discover that the ''Pilottown'' has been part of a complicated web of bogus holding companies, insurance scams and piracy which saw her name changed several times, from ''San Marino'' to ''Belle Chase'', and finally to ''Pilottown''. Eventually, they tie the ship to Bougainville Maritime Lines, a powerful company owned by the ruthless and mysterious Madame Min Koryo Bougainville.

Bougainville and her grandson, Lee Tong, have entered into an audacious plan with the Soviet Union to engineer the kidnapping of the President of the United States, the Vice President, the Speaker of the House and the President pro tempore of the Senate, the next three men in the line of succession to the presidency, as part of a project code-named Huckleberry Finn. It is revealed that the Soviet economy is in ruins, a famine is spreading amongst the Eastern Bloc nations and the whole Eastern Bloc may be on the verge of collapse. The Soviets have devised a plan that calls for the President to undergo a top-secret Soviet mind control procedure, termed "mind intervention", which uses a combination of an implanted microchip and injected memories from a brainwashed Soviet dissident to allow the Soviet government to control the President's thoughts without his knowledge. The other three men are kept in reserve as the procedure only has about a 60% success rate. In return for carrying out the abduction, the Bougainvilles are to receive one billion dollars in gold; however, both the Soviets and the Bougainvilles intend to double-cross the other.

When the disappearance of the President (and those next in the line of succession) on the Presidential yacht is discovered, Secretary of State Douglas Oates, now the acting president, orders a cover-up of the disappearance while a massive search is under way to find the kidnapped men. Congresswoman Loren Smith, the on again-off again lover of Dirk Pitt, is on a fact-finding mission aboard the Soviet cruise liner ''Leonid Andreyev'' off the coast of the United States and inadvertently witnesses Speaker of the House Alan Moran smuggled onto the ship by a KGB agent. The Soviets learn of this and kidnap her as well. Pitt discovers that Loren is missing and he and Giordino sneak about the ''Leonid Andreyev'' to find her. But after the Bougainvilles detonate a bomb that sinks the ship (part of their double-cross) she is kidnapped by Lee Tong, disguised as a steward, aboard a rescue boat.

Meanwhile, the President, now under control of the Soviets, returns to the White House and announces that while he was gone, he was negotiating a secret disarmament agreement with the Soviet President and has agreed to loan them billions of dollars in hard currency which they may use to purchase food and previously banned American high-technology products. When he further announces his intention to pull the United States out of NATO and bring home all troops and missiles in Europe without the consent of Congress, Congress announces their intention to impeach him from office. The President sends the Army to keep members of Congress from meeting; it appears that the United States now has what the Founding Fathers feared worst, a dictator in the White House.

Using information from Yaeger and Perlmutter, Pitt determines that the secret lab the Bougainvilles are hiding the remaining captives in is on a barge along the Mississippi River near New Orleans. He and Giordino embark on unauthorized rescue mission with the aid of the local office of the FBI. The agents are ambushed by Bougainville's security guards and it's up to Pitt and Giordino to rescue Loren and the Vice President. In a last-ditch effort to intercept the barge before it can be sunk at sea, Pitt commandeers the riverboat ''Stonewall Jackson'' and enlists the help of 40 members of the Sixth Louisiana Regiment of Confederate re-enactors. Armed with smooth bore muskets, as well as two Napoleon cannons that fire improvised charges, they launch an attack against the Bougainville's crew of stone-cold killers armed with automatic weapons, while Pitt attempts to board the barge and rescue Smith and Margolin before it is too late.

The book starts with a historical prologue in which Julius Venator, a Roman, along with a group of Roman soldiers and slaves, sail in a fleet of ships ferrying the treasures from the Library of Alexandria before its destruction to a secret location to be buried in caverns. After the treasures are buried the people, the Roman soldiers, and slaves are all slaughtered by the natives. While one small ship manages to get away, they never reach land and the secret of the treasure is lost.

The story then shifts to the present day, where an envoy of the US President having a secret meeting with a would-be Aztec dictator, Topiltzin. Topiltzin kills the envoy, and sends his skin and heart back to the President.

Soon after, a Middle Eastern terrorist secretly hijacks a plane carrying Hala Kamil, the new United Nations Secretary-General. The hijacker bails out of the plane after ensuring that the plane crash lands in Greenland, where Dirk Pitt, Al Giordino, and Rudi Gunn are trying to locate a sunken Soviet submarine. Also in the area is Lily Sharp, who discovers an ancient coin. They rescue Hala from the plane wreck. As the plot unfolds, several more attempts are made on Hala's life, since she is trying to stop would-be dictator Akhmad Yazid from taking over Egypt. It is later revealed that both Topiltzin and Yazid are scions of a notorious crime family. Dirk is distracted by the promise of treasure, however. Locating a shipwreck in Greenland, they soon find a tablet detailing a mission to hide the treasure of the library at Alexandria. As Dirk, Al, and the Special Operations Forces rescue Hala Kamil from a hijacked ship in the Straits of Magellan, Hiram Yaeger locates the treasure — in Roma, Texas. The final stretch of the novel involves Dirk trying to hide the treasure from Yazid and his brother Topiltzin. Eventually, the treasure is discovered and Yazid, Topiltzin and their henchmen are killed.

After discovering a communication capsule from the lost submarine ''Starbuck'', Dirk Pitt is seconded from NUMA to the 101st Salvage Fleet and ordered to help get to the bottom of the mysterious disappearance of the top-secret submarine. Pitt discovers that the submarine went missing in an area of the Pacific Ocean north of the Hawaiian island of Oahu nicknamed the "Pacific Vortex". Similar in its mysterious reputation to the Bermuda Triangle, the Navy has documented 37 cases of ships vanishing without a trace with all hands in this area of the Pacific since 1956.

When the ''Starbuck'' originally went missing, the Navy conducted a massive and exhaustive search in the area of the Pacific where the submarine was last reported without finding a trace of wreckage. Pitt determines that it is suspicious that the Navy found no wreckage whatsoever, since the search pattern took them over the area that was reputedly the graveyard of the Pacific Vortex. Even if they did not find the wreckage of the submarine, they should have found some wreckage from any of the 38 ships rumored to have gone down in the area.

While doing research in an ongoing hobby effort to find the royal tomb of Hawaiian King Kamehameha, Pitt learns of the mythical island of Kanoli rumored to have existed north of the current Hawaiian Islands, and similar to the lost continent of Atlantis, rumored to have sunk into the sea killing the race of men who lived there. Pitt intuits that the Navy has been searching in the wrong direction and that they should turn around and concentrate their search for a sunken seamount in the area just north of the island of Oahu.

Pitt eventually discovers that in 1956 three respected men of science, Drs. Lavella and Roblemann, specialists in various areas of underwater science, and the renowned Dr. Frederick Moran met their deaths in the same area of the Pacific. It is revealed that Moran, a renowned anthropologist and pacifist, who believes that it is only a matter of time before the human race destroys itself with the atomic bomb, has been searching for a place where he and his followers can survive the coming Apocalypse. Pitt believes that Moran and his followers discovered the sunken seamount that was once the island of Kanoli and have been using it as a base to raid Pacific shipping for the last 30 years as a means of financing their project.

When Pitt finds the sunken submarine in good condition, he determines that it cannot be immediately raised and also reveals the existence of the sunken fortress of Kanoli. The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington, DC elect to destroy the submarine with a nuclear tipped missile in an effort to ensure that its top secret design and nuclear missiles do not fall into the hands of Moran, the Soviet Union or any other nation. In an effort to stave off the attack, Moran kidnaps Adrienne Hunter, a previous love interest of Pitt and the daughter of the commander of the 101st Salvage Fleet, Admiral Leigh Hunter. When Pitt discovers that Admiral Hunter will not tell Washington about the kidnapping of his daughter in order to delay the attack, he mounts a last-minute desperate rescue operation intending to personally rescue Adrienne and, using a team of submariners and SEALs, recover the submarine as well.

Milton Davidson is trying to find his ideal partner. To do this, he prepares a special computer program to run on Multivac, which he calls Joe, which has access to databases covering the entire populace of the world. He hopes that Joe will find him his ideal match, based on physical parameters as supplied.

Milton arranges to have the shortlisted candidates assigned to work with him for short periods, but realises that looks alone are not enough to find an ideal match. In order to correlate personalities, he speaks at great length to Joe, gradually filling Joe's databanks with information about his personality.

In doing so, Joe develops the personality of Milton. Upon finding an ideal match, he arranges to have Milton arrested for malfeasance, so that Joe can 'have the girl' for himself.

Jack lived with his parents in the forest, never seeing anyone else. He decided to leave one day, and his mother offered him a big cake with her curse or a little one with her blessing. He took the big one. He met his father on the way, and his father gave him a golden snuff-box, to open only when he was in danger of death.

He came to a house and asked for some food and a place to stay. The servant told the master, who asked him what he could do; he said, anything, meaning any bit of work about the house, but the master demanded a great lake and a man-of-war on it, ready to fire a salute, or Jack would forfeit his life. Jack opened the snuff-box, and three little red men hopped out. He told them what was needed, and they told him to go to sleep. In the morning, there was a lake and a man-of-war.

The master said that with two more tasks, he could marry his daughter. He felled all the trees about, and built the master a castle with a regiment, and married the daughter.

One day, as they went on a hunt, a valet found the snuff-box and with it carried the castle and himself over the sea. The master threatened to take Jack's wife from him, but agreed that Jack should have a year and a day to bring it back. He set out and met the King of the Mice, who summoned all the mice in the world. When none of them had seen it, he sent Jack on to the King of the Frogs, giving him a new horse. A little mouse asked to come with him, Jack tried to refuse on the grounds of offending the king, but the mouse told him it would be better. The King of the Frogs summoned all the frogs in the world. When none of them had seen it, he sent Jack on to the King of the Birds. A little frog asked to come with him, and again Jack was persuaded. The King of the Birds summoned all the birds, and last of all, an eagle came, and told of the castle. The eagle carried him to it, and the mouse stole the box back. They quarreled as they went back, and the box fell into the sea, but the frog retrieved it.

When he returned to the King of the Birds, he had the little men retrieve the castle. The men waited until everyone there but a cook and a maid had left for a dance; then they asked them whether they would rather go or stay, and when they said go, told them to run into the castle. Then Jack had them carry it to the King of the Frogs, and then next day to the King of the Mice, where he left it and rode home on his horse. There, he had the little men bring him the castle, and his wife showed him his new son.

Lelouch vi Britannia is an exiled Britannian prince, son of Emperor Charles zi Britannia and his royal consort Marianne vi Britannia. Lelouch has a sister, Nunnally vi Britannia. Marianne was brutally murdered in the palace and Nunnally, who witnessed the murder of their mother, was so traumatized she lost both her sight and ability to walk. Lelouch is furious with his father, believing his father failed his mother and sister by turning a blind eye to their mother's death and failing to pursue their mother's killer.

Lelouch and Nunnally are sent as political pawns to Japan to lull the Japanese government into a false sense of security. After the siblings are sent to Japan, Japan is attacked and defeated by Britannia. With the ruins of Japan as a background, Lelouch vows to his Japanese friend Suzaku Kururugi that he will one day obliterate Britannia as an act of vengeance against his father.

Seven years later, Lelouch (now going by the name Lelouch Lamperouge), is now a popular yet withdrawn student at Ashford Academy. Lelouch becomes involved in a terrorist attack and finds a mysterious girl called C.C. (C2), who saves Lelouch's life from the Britannian Royal Guard, by making a contract with him and granting Lelouch a power known as . This power, also known as the , allows him to command anyone to do whatever he wants, including bending their will to live, fight, or die on his behalf. This power can affect an individual just once and only through direct eye contact. Lelouch decides to use his Geass to find his mother's murderers, destroy the Britannian Empire, and create a better world where Nunnally can live happily. In the process, Lelouch becomes Zero, a masked vigilante and the leader of the resistance movement known as The Black Knights, gaining popularity and support among the Japanese on his way towards the rebellion of Britannia. However, this does not come without a cost. Caught up in a conflict where he does not know the full extent of his powers, Lelouch will have to battle Suzaku, a resistance member named Kallen Stadtfeld, the strongest army in the world, his own half-siblings, and many others in a battle that will forever change the world.

Set at the beginning of what the Wizard Shazam calls "the second age of the great heroes", after the debut of the Man of Steel, Batman and Shazam but before the coming of Wonder Woman, the Flash and Green Lantern, the story begins with Superman traveling to Fawcett City in pursuit of a group of criminals who have just robbed a museum from Metropolis and used magic against him. Upon arriving in Fawcett, he finds Shazam fighting the same group of thieves. Together Superman and Shazam dispatch a pair of monsters in a battle where Superman is impressed at how this new hero is able to ward off magic attacks that he himself is defenseless against; Shazam himself is a bit envious of Superman's additional vision and breath based powers. Afterward, they take a break from crime fighting to chat at Mount Everest, where they discuss their powers and professional lives as superheroes. Superman breaks off the more personal aspects of the conversation, remarking that he prefers to keep his two lives entirely separate. Shazam says he understands, but that he thinks "it kind of stinks". Afterward, they continue working together to thwart the villains Lord Sabbac (who the museum-robbing gang had been attempting to summon all along) and Eclipso. At the end, Superman notes he is glad to have an ally in Shazam who is better suited to battling the supernatural than he would ever be.

In a separate subplot, Shazam nemesis, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, has contacted his business rival Lex Luthor and asked for assistance in destroying Shazam. In exchange for Sivana selling Luthor back shares of LexCorp he'd been secretly buying, Luthor gives Sivana a man named Spec, a metahuman tracker-for-hire who eventually discovers that Shazam is the alter ego of 11-year-old Billy Batson. After learning this, Sivana sends a heavily armed hit men to the subway where the orphaned Billy is living with orders to kill him. Calling upon the power of ''SHAZAM'', Shazam dispatches his would be killers, but caught in the crossfire is Billy's best friend, Scott Okum; Shazam rushes Scott to the hospital, but they are unable to save him.

When Fawcett City police are unsuccessful in interrogating one of the killers (some sort of hired gun who seems to have no identity), Shazam storms into the police department, bursts into the interrogating room and, despite attempts by police to restrain him, assaults the suspect and threatens to kill him (by crushing his skull then displaying his corpse to his partners down in lock up) if he does not reveal who sent them to attack him. The killer buckles and reveals his employer as Doctor Sivana. Thirsting for revenge, Shazam travels to Sivana's office building, shatters the top floor and nearly chokes Sivana to death, but he can't bring himself to kill Sivana, even though he knows Sivana will attack him again, and leaves.

Back in Metropolis, Clark Kent, having just published an article on the encounter of Superman and Shazam, learns of Shazam's "rampage" in Fawcett City, and confronts Shazam at Mount Everest, demanding an explanation for his actions. The tearful, guilt-ridden Shazam tells Superman why he did what he did, explaining that Scott was his best friend. Echoing Shazam's words, an obviously-dubious Superman returns an accusing stare and a fierce snarl. Realizing how strange that this sounds (and the Man of Steel wants a response...''right now''), Shazam reveals his true identity, calling upon the power of ''SHAZAM'' to transform him back to Billy Batson, commenting that it might too dangerous to still be "Billy". "Who did this to you?" is Superman's demanding reaction.

Superman confronts Shazam and berates him for bestowing the power and responsibility of Shazam upon an 11-year-old boy; stating (or rather barking) that the biggest concerns of boys his age should be "homework assignments and school yard crushes — not if their best friends are going to be murdered by assassins!" Bearing such destinies, he snaps, should only be chosen by adults, and Billy "is just a little boy!" The Wizard sadly remarks that Billy is indeed a child, ".. a boy who could use... guidance". Superman's expression softens to one of sadness (as the reality of the situation hits home).

The scene changes to Billy's new home, an abandoned apartment building, and Superman, in his guise as Clark Kent, drops by for a visit (subtly using his X-ray vision to find Billy before even entering the building). Billy initially thinks that Kent is from social services, but then Kent reveals himself to be Superman, sits down next to Billy and tells him: "My real name is Clark". This seems to imply that Superman has agreed to become a mentor to Shazam.

A writer returns to Hollywood after finishing his novel in the wilderness. Still smarting from his girlfriend's suicide and his publisher's criticisms of his novel, he becomes intrigued by the neighbor couple's abusive relationship. Eventually he intervenes and becomes involved with the woman, basing a new book on their increasingly violent relationship sparked by his insane jealousy of her friends and her acting career.

The story is narrated through manga-style panel illustrations, similar to ''Phantasy Star IV'' or ''Gaiares''. The manual of the Virtual Console version includes translation of the Japanese voice and text of the first few narrations.

The story follows Lucia, a 16-year-old star fighter pilot in the Earth Federation. A war breaks out between humans and an unknown alien race in the year 2025. Lucia's father, Ken, a high-ranking admiral in the Federation Navy, is captured after his ship is warped out of the combat zone with 4 alien modules which have the ability of teleportation. Lucia, heart-broken after hearing her father's disappearance, decides to hijack the prototype fighter CSH-01-XA "Gley Lancer" with the help of her friend Teim and go after her father.

While recovering from his injuries suffered a month earlier as told in ''Shock Wave'', Dirk stumbles upon mysterious activities around a peaceful lake in Washington state. The coin of the realm for the wealthy, insatiably greedy Chinese smuggler is human lives: much of his vast fortune has been made smuggling Chinese immigrants into countries around the globe, including the United States.

Tracking the smuggler's activities leads Pitt from Washington State to Louisiana, where his quarry is constructing a huge shipping port in the middle of nowhere. Why has he chosen this unlikely location? The trail then leads to the race to find the site of the mysterious sinking of the ship that Chiang Kai-shek filled with treasure when he fled China in 1949, including the legendary boxes containing the bones of Peking Man that had vanished at the beginning of World War 1.

As Pitt prepares for a final showdown, he is faced with the most formidable foe he has ever encountered.

The film begins with the initial meeting between the then Duke of York and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. The television drama then moves on through their courtship, marriage, and succession to the throne after the abdication of Edward VIII. We also see the two royals dealing with the events of the Second World War, as Buckingham Palace is hit and partially destroyed by a Luftwaffe bomb.

The film portrays King George VI's struggle to overcome his stammer, the fear he felt towards his father and the punishing stress the King was placed under during the abdication crisis of 1936.

Stanley and Joan Stupid are convinced they are victims of a conspiracy that steals their garbage every week. In an attempt to uncover this, Stanley follows the garbage truck to the city dump, where he stumbles across Colonel Neidermeyer, who is selling contraband weaponry to a group of terrorists. He believes Stanley to be a secret agent who has uncovered their operation and orders him assassinated, and after several attempts on his life result in him unintentionally killing his would-be assassins, he narrowly escapes a car bomb and is presumed dead by Neidermeyer.

Meanwhile, Stanley and Joan's children, Petunia and Buster, believe they have been kidnapped by a Chinese restaurant and go in search of them. They reunite with Joan, who explains her theory that the police have turned against them and are responsible for Stanley being missing.

Once the Stupids are reunited at home, Joan tells Petunia and Buster about Stanley's last job for the postal service where he discovered all the letters being marked "return to sender", but was fired before he could find out who "Mr. Sender" was. He tells his family about the conspiracy theory he has invented that combines all the ideas their overactive imaginations have created, including the "Evil Mr. Sender" plotting to steal all the mail and garbage from America and employing the police to kidnap anybody who discovers his scheme. When they find local museum curator Charles Sender in the phone book they set off in pursuit, ultimately tracking him to a television studio where Stanley appears on a talk show and is spotted by Niedermeyer who has him kidnapped and brought to the army base.

While being held hostage at the army base, Stanley overhears the address of the warehouse being used for the illegal arms deals. Following an escape, the Stupids go to the warehouse, where they expect to find Sender and the stolen mail. They confront Neidermeyer and his terrorist associates in a battle, resulting in some explosions that cause the police to investigate the warehouse. The associates are arrested but Neidermeyer escapes. Stanley offers what he perceives to be heroic advice about how Sender can repent his evil ways, but he takes them as road directions. The Stupids return home, only to find a vengeful Neidermeyer waiting for them, armed with a handgun. Luckily, just as he is about to kill them, Neidermeyer is knocked out from behind the front door by a deli deliveryman that Joan had called round earlier. In the end, the Stupids celebrate their success with an outdoor barbeque.

Gambler Jason Sweet (Ford) wins a flock of sheep in a poker game and proceeds to take them by train into the middle of cattle country. Before long, the townsfolk take notice (and object), but Sweet is more than up to the challenge.

The first thing he does is pick a fight with the roughest, toughest man around, "Jumbo" McCall (Mickey Shaughnessy), and beats him up. He also reveals himself to be an expert with a gun. Dell Payton (Shirley MacLaine) does not know what to make of him, but is attracted to him, as he is to her. Her fiancé, local cattle baron "Colonel" Steven Bedford (Nielsen), is troubled by this and also because he and Sweet know each other. The newcomer recognizes Bedford as an old acquaintance named Johnny Bledsoe, a card shark and gunfighter gone respectable.

When Bedford finds himself losing their battle for domination, despite initially having the whole town behind him, he sends for professional gunman Chocktaw Neal (Pernell Roberts). Chocktaw and his two buddies all have grudges against Sweet. Chocktaw tries to goad Sweet into a shootout, but Sweet spots Chocktaw's friends waiting in ambush, aiming at him with their rifles. Dell and Milt Masters (Edgar Buchanan) are able to disarm them, and Chocktaw, suddenly aware he is alone in the plan, panics and draws on Sweet but loses and dies. The final showdown then comes down to Bedford and Sweet (who is faster and smarter) and Bedford ends up dead, followed by his henchmen surrendering.

Later, to Dell's utter astonishment, Sweet sells the sheep so he can buy cattle. He explains that he only kept them because he refused to be pushed around by anybody. The couple then rides away.

Luxo Jr. likes playing ball so after entering the screen, he kicks the beach ball with his head passing it to his dad, Luxo Sr, who passes it back to Luxo Jr. He tries to push his new bowling ball with his super strength but it’s not working, so he kicks the beach ball higher and pushes the bowling ball with much effort while it pushes Luxo Sr. away from the screen.

Steve, while attempting to escape from gym class, finds a hideout used by a gothic, overweight girl named Debbie, whom he finds fascinating and on whom he develops a crush. When Steve tells his father about his new girlfriend, Stan is delighted to hear the news and he even helps Steve to build up the courage to ask her out by using an explosive collar that will kill him within twenty-four hours if he doesn't. However, Stan messes up the programming while activating the device, accidentally setting it to kill Steve in just twenty-four minutes instead.

Eventually, Steve manages to ask Debbie out, and the two begin dating each other while making plans to invite Debbie to meet Steve's family. However, when Stan sees Debbie for the first time via security camera, he becomes appalled by the fact that she's fat, and he forces the family to hide in the safe room of their house until Debbie leaves. Francine and Hayley then berate Stan for his behavior, and they (along with Klaus) are even able to point out his hypocrisy in which he himself is somewhat overweight after letting himself go over time. When Stan realizes they're right after checking himself in the mirror, he decides to go on a crazy exercise program and starts to gain an unhealthy obsession with his weight. While working out, Stan is able to meet a personal trainer named Zack, who is depicted as being verbally abusive while also wearing a trucker's cap, and he's able to help him with his constant workout routine.

Steve continues dating Debbie, not realizing that Roger is secretly in love with her, especially while watching them kissing each other. Meanwhile, Stan becomes surprised to learn that the more he exercises and the less he eats, the fatter and fatter he gets; he then suspects that Francine and Hayley are tampering with his vegetables to make him fatter, which turns out to be true. Shortly after, he is eventually suspended from the CIA for his "weight problem" when he passes out during a physical after taking just a couple of steps past the starting line. Upon coming home, Stan's family is able to engage in an intervention with him over his weight problem, to which we realize that Stan wasn't getting fatter at all; Instead, he was actually getting thinner to the point where he was almost becoming like a skeleton, and the reason for him thinking that he was getting fatter was because of it being a symptom of anorexia. We also discover that Stan's personal trainer, Zack, isn't a real person at all, but rather a figment of Stan's delusional imagination.

Francine, Hayley, and Steve are then able to force Stan to attend an anorexia support group, which is mostly populated by teenage girls (and run by a man who either doesn't notice or care that Stan is actually a grown man). During the meeting, Stan is able to befriend an anorexic girl named Veronica, who teaches Stan how to consume food without actually eating it, which he's able to do when his family is able to feed him, and he's even able to get rid of some of his food by feeding it to Klaus, who starts to become so big that he outgrows his fishbowl shortly after. Steve then decides to dump Debbie due to him thinking that it will help make his father feel better after believing that she was the source of Stan's weight problem. Stan then decides to set Steve up on a date with Veronica, thinking that she is much more suitable for his son due to her not being fat like Debbie.

Meanwhile, as Francine is able to take out the garbage and drops an empty bottle onto the swimming pool cover, she accidentally falls into the pool while trying to get the bottle, to which she and Hayley both shockingly discover all the uneaten food that Stan had gotten rid of, realizing that he never actually ate any of it when they tried to feed him.

During Steve's date with Veronica, Roger ends up going out with Debbie in the same restaurant at the same time while pretending to be part of an Anne Rice fan club. After realizing that Steve is also in the restaurant with them, he decides to try to make Steve jealous by trying to make out with Debbie. Just then, Francine and Hayley both show up to confront Stan after they discovered his secret, and Steve becomes quite upset with his father after realizing that breaking up with Debbie didn't help him in any way. Steve then explains to Stan how much he loved Debbie, and that he didn't care if she was fat or thin while also expressing his displeasure of Stan's beliefs about how people look. Debbie, who was in the same room as Steve, is able to hear everything and the two are happily reunited again, much to Roger's unhappiness. When Stan realizes how happy the two of them are together, he starts to feel bad on both the inside and the outside, and he decides start eating for real by dining on some rolls in the restaurant, which also causes Zack to physically disappear, ending Stan's anorexia while being reunited with his family.

Ben Jones and Marion "Howdy" Lewis are two easygoing, modern-day cowboys who make a meager living breaking wild horses. Their frequent employer is Jim Ed Love, a shrewd businessman who always gets the better of them. After they bring him a string of tamed horses and spend the winter rounding up stray cows, he talks them into taking a nondescript roan horse in lieu of some of their wages.

To his great and frequent discomfort, Ben finds that the horse is unrideable. Rather than turning the horse into soap or dog food, he decides to take it to a rodeo and bet other cowhands that they cannot ride it, thereby doubling his and Howdy's earnings. Along the way, the duo stop to help two dimwitted strippers, Mary and Sister, with their car, which has broken down. Not knowing much about cars, they give them a ride to the nearest garage, but end up getting to know them better (going skinny dipping with them) and taking them along to the rodeo.

Everything goes as planned; nobody is able to stay on the horse. However, the horse suddenly collapses and although Ben and Howdy are willing to spend all the money that they have won on veterinary help, the vet tells them it is hopeless: the horse should be destroyed. Ben walks into the stable, cocks the pistol and closes his eyes. A shot is heard. Ben comes flying out, and the roan kicks the stable to pieces, They give Tanner $475, all they have (the vet charged them more than $100). Tanner demands $200 more. Love steps in with the rest of the money, tells the boys they can work it out at his ranch and drives. They consider the benefits of life on Love's ranch. Ben muses that the definition of a bronc rider is “a cowboy with his brains kicked out.” They drive away, and a police car makes a U-turn to follow them.

This book, a Ruritanian romance for children, is about Marco Loristan, his father, and his friend, a street urchin called "The Rat". Marco's father, Stefan, is a Samavian patriot working to overthrow the cruel dictatorship in the kingdom of Samavia. Marco and his father come to London where Marco strikes up a friendship with a crippled street urchin known as The Rat. The friendship occurs when Marco overhears The Rat shouting in military form. Marco discovers he had stumbled upon a club known as the Squad, where the boys drill under the leadership of The Rat, whose education and imagination far exceeds their own.

Stefan, realizing that two boys are less likely to be noticed, entrusts them with a secret mission to travel across Europe giving the secret sign: 'The Lamp is lighted.' Marco is to go as the Bearer of the Sign while The Rat goes as his Aide-de-Camp (so-named at his own request). The boys encounter many dangers while on this journey.

This brings about a revolution which succeeds in overthrowing the old regime and re-establishing the rightful king. When Marco and The Rat return to London, Stefan has already left for Samavia. They wait there with his father's faithful bodyguard, Lazarus, until Stefan calls. The book ends in a climactic scene as Marco realizes his father is the descendant of Ivor Fedorovitch and thus the rightful king of Samavia.

Throughout his life, Rod Kimble has believed his dead father was a successful and respectable stuntman working for Evel Knievel. He aspires to follow in his father's footsteps and become a famous stuntman himself. Meanwhile, his stepfather, Frank, does not respect Rod as a man, often going out of his way to beat him in sparring sessions and mocking his stuntman dreams. Rod makes many attempts to land jumps with his Tomos moped, most of them unsuccessful. After another failed jump attempt at a public pool, he returns home and learns that Frank is in urgent need of a heart transplant that the family's health insurance will not cover. Angered at the thought of Frank dying without getting a chance to gain his respect, Rod runs into the woods to let out his fury and tumbles down a steep hill, where he sees an inspirational billboard and gets an idea. Rod quickly meets with his childhood friends Rico and Dave and his half-brother Kevin, and tells them he plans to jump over 15 school buses and use the proceeds to fund Frank's surgery. Later, Denise, his neighbor and love interest, joins his team.

To promote his stunt and raise funds, Rod works parties, corporate get-togethers, and other events, performing activities such as taping pillows to his body and having a washing machine suspended by a crane swing to hit him. One day, he gets curious about what Kevin is working on as he hears music coming from his computer. Kevin says he was experimenting with editing footage, and shows Rod the video. Impressed by Kevin's work, Rod gets the idea to release a stuntman film to raise money. Kevin releases the movie using his footage of Rod's stunts and sells several tickets to the screening, where the audience laughs at Rod as the film depicts his failed training attempts. Rod gets angry and throws the theater's projector out of a window, smashing the projectionist's car below. He gives the projectionist all the money he has raised to cover the damages and avoid arrest. Upset, he returns home, where his mother reveals that his biological father was not the stuntman he thought he was. Humiliated, Rod quits the team and his dream to beat Frank, despite his friends' objections, but is reinvigorated when Dave gives him advice that inspires him to apologize to Kevin. As Kevin accepts his apology, he reveals that Rod's stunt footage has grown popular online and that a show on a local AM radio station, hosted by Barry Pasternak, has offered to cover the planned jump's expenses.

Rod gets his friends back together, and they start setting up for the jump. On the day of the event, his friends give him a new suit, a rock representing Rico's extensive pyrotechnic work, and a motorbike. He also receives a kiss from Denise, who broke up with Jonathan, her insensitive and callous boyfriend. As Rod jumps off the ramp, his bike's speed enables him to jump over the buses, but the motorcycle smashes through a stage and goes flying. Rod lands squarely on the ground and has an unconscious out-of-body experience. When he wakes, Rod, with Kevin and Denise's help, triumphantly gets up to applause and sees that the donations have accumulated over $50,000. Six months later, Rod once again spars with Frank, finally gaining the upper hand and Frank's respect.

After the credits, Rod is seen bowing down to his moped with the sunset in the background.

An intergalactic witch named Aguira has been captured and sentenced to death for her dreadful crimes, but a spaceship transporting Aguira to her execution was struck by an asteroid. To her surprise, the asteroid was rich in Xyanide, a mythical substance known for its abilities to make an exposed person's thoughts become reality. Taking advantage of the situation, the witch uses her new powers to create her own alternate universe as a tool to aid her escape and spread her destructive influence. It is up to the escort pilot Drake to try and stop the evil Aguira from accomplishing her goals and to carry out the sentence.

Humans are living in an underground colony which is the only place where they can live now. Ura, a member of "Archive Excavation Department" is a person who does his job to lengths more than required. He does extra analysis than his job of restoration of records of the lost world. He is quite intrigued by the images that he gets from the records and stores some of them, a lot with green, which he wishes was there somewhere. A co-worker of his passes the records for restoration to him and once even tells him that they should probably leave their jobs.

Riko, a member of Analysis department, spends time after her work lying at a place connecting to stairs that seem going infinitely upward in darkness. Ura meets Riko often at this place. Ura receives a record to be restored, which contains audio to his excitement. He passes a simple restored copy to Riko who says she cannot make anything out of it. Both of them see a girl sitting on stairs saying something with a book in her hands surrounded by bookshelves. Both of them think what a book is to which Riko tells him that it was way of preserving and passing information in the past. They think then the place must be a record preserving place.

Later Ura meets Riko at her usual place where she tells him that initially people used to live at the upper levels of the colony which had no maintenance or support systems. Later even when people regarded to the upper levels as inhabitable some still continued to live there and her grandmother was one of them. She used to tell her of the green lands of the world lost. She fell one day from that upper level down to the place she is laying now. Ura thinks what she might be looking to when she fell down. Riko says that the records should never have been excavated as it shows only the stupidity of humans and there is only sadness which better forgotten to which Ura says he understands and accepts what she is saying though he wishes that it was wrong. He wishes that even a small patch of place of green is existing somewhere on the surface and says maybe the world can be restored if they knew more about the world of the past.

Later Riko does not come to work for somedays. Ura's co-worker tells him that and also tells him that he is quitting from his job. At this point the record which is being completely restored is seen by Ura, where the girl Yoko Yamaguchi is singing a song with a book in her hands about hope. Ura drops a digital book (something of that kind) from the stairs to the place where Riko is lying. Riko sees the book which shows the restoring record where Yoko Yamaguchi is singing. Ura gets onto an elevator where he is shown forcing himself onto the top of an elevator using a torchlight. Riko comes to his office cube where the record is being restored and sees the video of Yoko Yamaguchi singing. The elevator breaks while moving up and stops at the top where Ura sees what seems like the bottom part of a space shuttle. The entire place is enclosed in a transparent enclosure. He is standing a little above what seems like clouds. Meanwhile, Riko sees the entire song after which the record recovery completes. After the song is a small video in which Yoko Yamaguchi addresses to viewers on Earth in a live telecast of the past. This is the part which Ura has not obviously seen. She tells them she has arrived to the first colony on Moon called the Sea of Tranquility a week before and it is much more comfortable than what she had initially imagined. When looked from there all she sees is rust colored Earth. She tells them not to lose hope for the people still waiting on the Immigration Ships. At the end of the video she tells them to pray for the mother star (referring to the Sun) to wake from her slumber and for the dawn to come again, and for the people down there, for Yoko and Pale Cocoon (referring as an analogy to the Moon). Ura looks at Earth from there which appears blue and says "It's blue", at which point the anime ends.

Miranda Presley is an aspiring singer/songwriter from New York City who loves country music and decides to take her chances in Nashville, where she hopes to become a star. After arriving in Music City after a long bus ride, Miranda makes her way to the Bluebird Café, a local watering hole with a reputation as a showcase for new talent. The bar's owner, Lucy, takes a shine to the plucky newcomer and gives her a job as a waitress.

Before long, Miranda has gotten to know a number of other Nashville transplants who are looking to land a gig or sell a song, including sweet and open-hearted Kyle Davidson, moody but talented James Wright, and spunky Linda Lue Linden. As the four friends struggle to find their place in the competitive Nashville music scene, both Kyle and James display a romantic interest in Miranda, but she is drawn to James in spite of his moody temperament. Miranda pursues James, and they end up getting married, but they soon realize marriage takes work. James leaves Miranda behind to make his album, what he always wanted to do, but realizes he left his heart with her. He comes back to the Bluebird Cafe but discovers that Miranda has left town. Miranda returns and sings a new song, before tentatively reuniting with James. Kyle joins them as Linda Lue leaves for New York, and the remaining three discuss writing a song together.

The story has the great horror author Edgar Allan Poe (Jeffrey Combs) suffering from writer's block and short on cash, tormented by a black cat that will either destroy his life or inspire him to write one of his most famous stories. The 1843 short story of the same name by Poe is woven in with fictional happenings and details from his life.

Five college students spend the weekend in an abandoned cabin in the woods, accidentally unleashing an evil terror. In this comedic take on the 1980s horror franchise, characters and demons sing and dance to songs written specifically for the musical. And, as in the films, Ash is there to dish out his various one-liners and fight the neverending demons.

The musical takes creative liberty with the plot line of the movies, mixing together the characters and concepts of all three, as well as changing sequences for the sake of the stage and comedic intent. Roughly, the first act adapts the original ''The Evil Dead'' while the second act adapts ''Evil Dead II''.

In the Story mode, the player takes the role of Cheerful White, who is invited by his friend Giant Gold, along with his other pals - Cute Pink, Cool Black, Bookworm Green and Kid Blue - to the Bomber Pirate Island. The Story mode itself revolves around a multi-themed theme-park, with caves, aquariums, and mountains that divide the five zones present in the game, and the constant theme for Cheerful White being to become the "Pirate King" of Bomber Pirate Island.

The setting is almost entirely on a train travelling between Paris and Trieste after World War II. Two rather mysterious people, Zurta (Albert Lieven) and Valya (Jean Kent), are at ease in sophisticated society. Zurta steals a diary from the safe of an embassy in Paris while they are guests at a reception there, killing a servant who walks in on the robbery. Poole, an accomplice, is passed the diary, but he double-crosses them and attempts to escape with it on the Orient Express. Just in time, Valya and Zurta board the train.

They start looking for Poole, who seeks to conceal himself and the diary. Other travellers become involved, including a US Army sergeant with an eye for the ladies, an adulterous couple, an idiot stockbroker, a wealthy, autocratic writer and his brow-beaten secretary, an ornithologist, and a French police inspector. Staff and other passengers provide light-hearted scenes. The diary passes through the hands of several people while the police investigate a mysterious death.

In the year 3956 AD. Kana Karr, Arch Swordsman, Third Class, newly graduated from combat training, has come to Prime to obtain his first assignment. He signs up to join Yorke's Horde, which is headed for action on the planet Fronn. In the library adjacent to the Hiring Hall he checks out a record-pak, takes it into a booth, and goes into an induced sleep while the mechanism impresses all that is known of Fronn directly into his brain. As he leaves the library he notices, reflected in a polished surface, a Mech taking the record-pak off the return conveyor, which is strange because the Mech will never be allowed to go to Fronn.

On the troop ship to Secundus Kana shares a cabin with Swordtan Trig Hansu, who seems pleased that Kana has had special training in extra-terrestrial contact. From Secundus Yorke's Horde proceeds to Fronn, where Kana is paired with Deke Mills, a veteran close to being promoted to Swordtan. While the Horde is marching to meet their employer, a Llor prince contending for the throne of a kingdom, Kana and another swordsman detect a spy hidden in a caravan of Venturi merchants. Kana and his companion are obliged to shoot the spy dead when they see that he is armed with a flamer, a Mech weapon that is absolutely forbidden on Fronn.

In their first battle the Terran combatants see the prince who hired them killed by a flamer. Uncertain that they have safe passage back to the spaceport at Tharc, Yorke marches his men along the mountain front to camp by a river. At a meeting with Mech officers and a Galactic Agent, Yorke, two of his top Swordtans, and Deke Mills are burned down by flamers. Mills survives his burns long enough to summon Kana and tell him what happened. Told of the treachery, Hansu takes command of the Horde and leads it, stripped to its bare essentials, into the mountains.

In the mountains the Horde encounters the Cos, a people similar to the Llor but physically smaller. At first the Horde must bypass various booby traps, but then the Cos attack. The Horde fights back and conquers a Cos fortress. Then the Cos melt away and the Horde meets no further resistance as it marches through the mountains, across a wide valley, and over a range of coastal mountains.

The adventures of York's horde on Fronn until they get away from the Llor are based on ''The Anabasis of Xenophon''.

As they cross the valley the Terrans become aware that the Llor have declared war upon the amphibious Venturi. Because the Horde has rescued several Venturi from Llor captors, the Terrans find that the Venturi are willing to give them some help. As they have always done when the pogroms start, the Venturi abandon the continents and retreat to their islands, where the Llor cannot follow, so they invite the Horde to occupy the small port that they have just abandoned. The Horde moves into its new quarters just as Fronn enters the season of nearly constant hurricane-force winds.

During a lull in the winds the Archs find the wreckage of a six-man crawler, a small, tank-like vehicle, that was carrying Mech weapons to an unknown receiver. This discovery implies the existence of a ship nearby and the Venturi tell Hansu where to find it. After sending the rest of the Horde to stay with the Venturi on one of their islands, Hansu takes Kana and several other men to find the ship. After several days of riding the Fronnian equivalent of camels, the men arrive at the ship just in time to see a squad of Mechs and their Llor helpers finish setting up a disturbing tableau around what turns out to be a Galactic Patrol vessel.

With the stolen ship emptied of its cargo of weapons, the Mechs lay out the bodies of half a dozen Patrolmen who had been shot with Arch rifles. An alien among them takes pictures, clearly intending to blame Yorke's Horde for an atrocity against the most respected institution in the galaxy. Once the Mechs and their Llor helpers leave, Hansu takes his men down into the scene and they give the Patrolmen a proper burial. They find that the ship, appearing to have been looted, is still spaceworthy, so the four men strap themselves into the acceleration seats and the Horde's engineer lifts them into space, setting course for Terra. The men need to get their message of betrayal to Deputy-Commander Matthias.

As they approach Terra the men must resort to using the ship's lifeboats, Hansu and Kana taking one and the other two men another. Hansu and Kana land close enough to Prime that they can get there in a hopper stolen from an automated agricultural depot. They infer, correctly, that they are being hunted by highly placed authorities and they take appropriate evasive actions, even entering Prime through one of the old subway tunnels from before the nuclear wars. In spite of their caution, they are captured.

Interrogated under drugs, Kana tells his interrogators all what happened on Fronn. Nonetheless, he is convicted of several serious charges and sentenced to life in a labor camp. Later, seizing an opportunity, he escapes, but is soon recaptured. This time, though, he is taken to an underground room on the outskirts of Prime, where he sees Hansu and Matthias waiting for him. The sentencing had been a scam, worked for the benefit of the Galactic Agent who had been present. Now Kana can go to the stars as a free man, to settle on one of the worlds that Terrans have been secretly colonizing for ten generations.

The town of Barrow, Alaska, is preparing for its annual "30 Days of Night", a period during the winter with a month-long polar night. As the town gets ready, a stranger rows ashore from a large ship and sabotages the town's communications and transport to the outside world. Barrow's sheriff, Eben Oleson, investigates and also learns that his estranged wife, Stella, missed the last plane out of town and must stay the 30 days. That night, a band of vampires, led by Marlow, attacks and slaughters most of the townspeople, forcing Eben, Stella, Eben's younger brother Jake, and several other survivors to take shelter in a boarded-up house with a hidden attic. Marlow finds the stranger, who believes the vampires are going to turn him into one of them as a reward for his help, locked up in the station. Marlow thanks him for doing what he asked, and then snaps his neck.

Eighteen days later, when a blizzard hits, the group uses the whiteout to go to the general store for supplies, but is stranded after it ends. While the group heads for the station, Eben creates a diversion by having the vampires chase him to his grandmother's house, where he uses one of her ultraviolet lights to burn the face of Marlow's lover, Iris, so badly that Marlow is forced to kill her. As he escapes, the town snowplow operator, Beau, creates another distraction with his tractor, killing many of the vampires, before trying to blow himself up; when he fails, Marlow crushes his head. Eben arrives at the station, where he is then forced to kill Carter, who was bitten and has become a vampire.

On Day 27, Stella and Eben see the deputy, Billy, signaling them with a flashlight, and bring him back to the station, after finding out he killed his family to save them from a more painful death. The trio find the others have made for the utilidor, a power and sewage treatment station that still has power, and head over there, but are separated after Stella saves Gail Robbins, a young girl whose family was slaughtered by a vampire named Zurial, who was stalking her. Eben and Billy make it to the utilidor, but are attacked by the vampire Arvin, who bites Billy; Billy knocks Arvin into the heavy-duty shredder, and in doing so, grinds his own hand to a stump by accident, before being killed by Eben because he is starting to turn.

As the month comes to an end, with the sun due to rise, the vampires start to burn down the town to destroy evidence of their presence, including survivors. Realizing Stella is trapped and that he cannot beat the vampires in his current state, Eben turns himself into a vampire by injecting himself with Billy's infected blood. He confronts Marlow and they get into a vicious fight, before Marlow is finally killed by having a hole punched through his mouth and head, causing the remaining vampires to flee. Knowing he will die soon, Eben and Stella go off to watch the sunrise together, sharing one last kiss. As the sun comes up, Eben's body burns to ash in Stella's arms.

While on a routine patrol in United States airspace west of Alaska, pilots Doug "Thumper" Masters and Matt "Cobra" Cooper test the g-forces of their F-16C fighter aircraft. Their antics get them carried away, and they stray over Soviet airspace. As they are being escorted back into U.S. airspace, one of the Soviet fighters (actually F-4 Phantoms because MiG-29s were unavailable) locks onto Doug, resulting in a dogfight where Matt loses control of his plane and is too late to save Doug, who is shot down by the Soviets. The next day, the U.S. Secretary of Defense publicly denies the incident, claiming a training accident caused by a fuel system malfunction killed Doug.

At the United States Air Force Museum in Arizona, Col. Charles "Chappy" Sinclair is taken out of reserve duty and promoted to brigadier general to lead "Operation Dark Star", a top-secret military operation. He meets up with Matt and the rest of the operation's selected pilots and soldiers at an undisclosed military base in Israel. The group is shortly joined by a group of Soviet pilots that comprise the other half of the operation, much to their dismay. During their briefing, it is revealed that an unnamed Middle Eastern country has completed construction of a nuclear weapons compound capable of launching warheads towards both the United States and the Soviet Union. Their mission is to destroy the compound, as its nuclear arms will be ready within two weeks. Both the Americans and Soviets have difficulty cooperating with each other. The situation is further complicated when Matt realizes that ace pilot Yuri Lebanov is the one who shot down Doug. At the same time, he slowly develops a relationship with female pilot Valeri Zuyeniko.

After a mock dogfight followed by a fist fight that gets them grounded, Matt and Lebanov settle their differences. However, Major Bush, the lead American pilot, is killed during a training exercise due to his claustrophobia. Chappy is later informed that the joint operation is canceled. He realizes that as both the American and Soviet teams consist of delinquent soldiers, the operation was doomed to fail from the beginning. Nevertheless, he is grateful that both factions have the courage to cooperate with each other. His pep talk encourages the entire operation to continue with the mission against General Stillmore's orders.

For the mission, the F-16 units are to fire their missiles at the compound through the ventilation shafts while the MiGs provide high-altitude cover against enemy aircraft. Ground units are also necessary to take out the anti-aircraft defenses. Upon entering enemy airspace, the transport plane carrying the APCs is shot down. Chappy orders the pilots to abort the mission, but Matt and his wingman Graves disobey and provide air cover to the ground units. Both pilots are outnumbered by the opposing fighters, but Valeri and Lebanov arrive to even the playing field. Meanwhile, the enemy prepares to launch a warhead while the U.S. and Soviet forces order bombers on standby in case the operation fails. Chappy and the ground forces manage to destroy the guidance tower controlling the SAM launchers, but Hickman is killed in the process. They reach the target point, but Graves is shot down by an anti-aircraft gun. Valeri takes over while Matt provides cover. She fires her two remaining missiles, one of which penetrates through the ventilation shaft, obliterating the compound completely.

After the joint operation is congratulated, Chappy is offered continued service under General Stillmore, but he adamantly declines the offer. Matt and Valeri bid each other farewell, but Chappy reveals to him that they are flying to Moscow on Tuesday as part of a pilot exchange program.

The will of well-known practical joker Henry Russell leaves £50,000 to each of his four surviving relatives, all unmarried, provided they first perform prescribed tasks that are completely contrary to their natures.

Law-abiding retired army officer Deniston Russell, who writes lurid crime novels under several fictional names, has within a week to get himself arrested and jailed for exactly 28 days. Difficult, snobbish Agnes Russell has to find employment as a domestic servant in a middle-class home, again within a week, and keep her position for a month. Simon Russell, a penniless womanising con man, has to marry the first single woman he speaks to. Timid Herbert Russell has to hold up the bank manager he works for in his office, using a mask and a toy pistol, and obtain the bank keys for two minutes.

Deniston is thwarted repeatedly in his attempts, but finally manages to complete his task by smashing a shop window and assaulting a policeman. It costs him his fiancée Elizabeth when he is brought up before the magistrate, Elizabeth's father, but his secretary Sheila reveals her love for him and promises to stand by him.

Agnes finds work with the irascible Gordon Webb who, since she is so surly and incompetent, is suspicious of her motives and hires a private detective, Roger Godfrey, to find out what she is up to. The handsome Roger falls in love with Gordon's long-suffering daughter Joan, who is unwilling to marry him as her father depends on her. After Agnes persuades the girl to seize the chance of happiness, Gordon first sacks her and then calls round to take her out to dinner.

Though the first single woman Simon speaks to is Frieda, a cigarette girl in a club he frequents, being in search of richer prey he breaks his promise. An attractive but suspiciously available young woman called Lucille scoops him up and, once they are married, reveals that she is the penniless niece of his butler, in whom he unwisely confided.

When Herbert finally gathers the nerve to go through with his assignment, he inadvertently foils an actual robbery and becomes a hero, plastered across the front pages of the press. Rewarded with a branch managership, his fellow employee Susan is proud and happy to be his girl.

When the executor gathers the four heirs together, he informs them that there is in fact no money left. The whole exercise was Henry's last practical joke. Agnes, Deniston and Herbert burst into laughter. Simon is annoyed at first, until he happens to look out of the window at his conniving and equally unscrupulous wife, who is waiting for him with a bottle of champagne. Then he too joins in the merriment.

Barrister Humphrey Proudfoot attempts to discourage his Cherrie's infatuation for Fred, a philanderer, by revealing Fred's past. The plan backfires when Alfred Gilbey, the daughter's would-be father-in-law, threatens to reveal the barrister's own shady background.

During the post-World War II housing shortage, Bruce and Mary are a married couple who both have professional jobs and own their own house, and they let out rooms, including to another married couple, Rodney and Sabina, because Sabina is a friend of Mary. Both couples have an infant child, and the presence of a nanny for the two children exacerbates the problems caused by the crowding. Another young female lodger and Sabina's persistent old beau intensify the tensions.

In 1930, Maria Brentano (Valentina Cortese) and her younger sister Nora (Audrey Hepburn) flee to London as their father is about to be executed by his country's dictator. Seven years later, Maria unexpectedly meets Louis (Serge Reggiani), her childhood sweetheart, who is engaged in a plot to assassinate the dictator. Maria is persuaded to play an active part in the plan, but it all goes horribly wrong when the bomb they plant kills an innocent waitress, causing Maria much distress.

The disappearance of Dr. Larry Pettifer, a British intelligence operative, from his teaching position at Bath University should not have concerned a great many people, especially a retired Treasury boffin like Tim Cranmer. But when Detective Inspector Bryant and Sergeant Luck of the Bath Police call upon Cranmer at his Somerset manor house and vineyard late on a Sunday evening, Cranmer finds himself facing repercussions from his secret and not-too-distant past. Pettifer was a British Secret Intelligence Service operative during the Cold War and Cranmer was his handler for twenty years.

The Cold War is over; the Berlin Wall has come down; and SIS has put Cranmer and his agent Pettifer out to pasture. Pettifer turns to teaching at Bath University and Cranmer is content to settle at Honeybrook, his inherited estate in Somerset, making wine and making love to his beautiful young mistress de jour, Emma. Not content with staying cloistered in Bath, Larry begins paying visits to Honeybrook and soon becomes a permanent fixture in their lives. At least, that is, until both Larry and Emma disappear into thin air.

Panicked by his encounter with the Bath Police, Cranmer contacts his former employers and is summoned to London where he learns that, not only has Larry disappeared, he has absconded with some £37 million milked from the Russian Government with the help of a former Soviet spy. Cranmer finds himself suspected as Larry's accomplice by the Bath Police—and, later, by "The Office", or SIS—and decides to track down his protégé and his former mistress.

But why would a quixotic intellectual like Larry, a man who had no interest in money, suddenly wish to steal £37 million from the Russians? To solve this mystery, Cranmer begins calling on old contacts from Oxford to the arms trade to find out what his former agent and his purloined mistress have been up to in their disappearance. He also visits his secret archive of Office files, stashed away in the abandoned church of St. James the Less, bequeathed to him by the same Uncle Bob who left him Honeybrook. As he peruses his cache of documents, he begins to uncover the plot between Larry and Constantin Checheyev, also known as "C.C.", the former Soviet handler of Larry (the latter one pretended to work for the Soviets during the Cold War). Checheyev, it seems, is not Russian but an Ingush, a native of the North Caucasus and begrudged of the Russians who have displaced him and his people from their rightful homes. The Ingush are primed for an uprising against their Russian oppressors and Larry's the man to arm them.

Cranmer begins his journey, first to an arms dealer in Macclesfield, whom he finds murdered along with his assistants by an Ossetian group called "The Forest"; then to find Emma, who has sought shelter in Paris; then to Russia to track down his former Soviet contacts in hopes of finding Larry; then to Ingushetia to find his friend and try to save him—from the Russians, the Ossetians, and from himself. Finally, Tim Cranmer grabs his AK-47 and joins the Ingush rebels.

Steve Sherman, a womanizing American newspaper columnist, is exiled to Paris after unwittingly sleeping with his publisher's wife. On the plane, Steve meets Samantha "Sam" Blake, whom he mistakes for a man due to her tomboy appearance, and the two instantly dislike each other. A career woman, Sam works as the head buyer for a large department store in New York City, copying designs from high-end fashion houses to be recreated and sold at her store for a fraction of the cost. Accompanied by her boss Joseph "Joe" Bergner and colleague Lena O'Connor, Sam travels to Paris in order to scour ''couture'' houses and fashion shows for inspiration.

During the St. Catherine's Day celebration, where young unmarried women pray for husbands, an intoxicated Sam has a vision in which St. Catherine advises her on how to attract potential men. Following a complete makeover at a beauty salon, Sam emerges donning a blonde wig, red lipstick, and glamorous clothes. Meanwhile, Lena, who is secretively in love with Joe, forlornly watches him become romantically involved with Felicienne Courbeau, the store's French agent.

Steve runs into Sam at a café, but fails to recognize her, mistaking her for a high-class prostitute. Sam plays along with the charade, as a means of revenge for the way he treated her on the plane, and adopts the alias Mimi. Steve decides to interview Sam as she feeds him fabricated tales involving sexual dalliances with some of Europe's most powerful men. He then publishes her scandalous tales in his new column, which proves an instant success. As the two spend more time together, they begin to develop feelings for each other.

When Felicienne's sordid past resurfaces in Steve's column (after Sam appropriated one of Felicienne's tales and relayed it to Steve), Joe ends their engagement—which later brings him and Lena closer together. Running into a desolate Joe, Steve decides to introduce him to "Mimi" in order to cheer him up, unaware that Joe is her boss. Although humiliated, Sam admits to Lena and Joe that she loves Steve. At Lena's suggestion, Sam convinces Steve that she wants to change her life by leaving prostitution. Steve takes Sam to see a priest in order to save her, but she runs away screaming.

While observing a photograph of "Mimi", Steve finally realizes she is actually Sam. Despite feeling betrayed, Steve confesses to Lena that he is in love with Sam. Determined to expose Sam's ruse, Steve invites her to his apartment, pretending to offer her money to spend the night with him before he leaves Paris the following day. When Sam leans in to kiss Steve, he pulls her wig off and reveals he already knew the truth. Sam sobbingly insists she did not plan to accept his money and apologizes for deceiving him. Steve forgives her, and the two kiss while professing their love for each other. He then pulls out the money he originally planned to give to Sam and declares he will now be her sales manager, angering her. In a fantasy sequence, Steve, wearing a football uniform, chases down Sam in a wedding dress and carries her to a nuptial bed.

The plot is loosely based on the popular Arizonan legend of the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine.

The game's protagonist, Al Emmo, is stranded in the barren desert land of Anozira after being stood up by a mail-order bride whom he had hoped would impress his parents. Following this, Al misses his train back to New York and is stuck in the wild west for a whole week—without money, housing, or any knowledge on what to do next.

Later, Al develops feeling for another woman, Rita Peralto, a beautiful singer at the local saloon. Al believes he has a chance with her until Antonio Bandanna, a dashing Spaniard, arrives and begins upstaging him at every turn. Al soon hears a legend of a lost gold mine in the nearby desert. Al sets out to find it, believing that if he can cure Rita's financial troubles, he can win her affection. It's only upon arrival that he discovers the mine's haunted nature.

Brothers Ben and Clint Allison are on their way to the goldfields of Montana after serving with the Confederate Army's Quantrill's Raiders. In need of money, they decide to rob wealthy businessman, Nathan Stark. At gunpoint, they force him to go with them to a hideout where they tell him he will be allowed to leave the next day, minus his money. Stark talks them into becoming partners with him on a cattle drive from Texas to Montana using Stark's money and the Allisons' expertise. While the three are on their way to buy the cattle, their pack horse loaded with supplies falls in an icy river. They come upon a party of starving settlers who give them shelter from a blizzard. Among them is Nella Turner, whom both Ben and Stark find intriguing.

The next day the Allisons and Stark continue on their way but discover Sioux Indians are likely to attack the settlers. Ben heads back to help, while Clint and Nathan head to an army post from which they can embark to San Antonio. All the settlers, except Nella, have been killed; she goes with Ben and they find a cabin where they wait out the storm. They begin to fall in love but become estranged when they discover that their dreams for life do not match; Nell had a hellish childhood on a farm and now wants more than that narrow world, Ben merely wants his own ranch. Once the storm subsides, a rescue party of soldiers arrive. Ben learns that his brother and Stark have taken the stagecoach to San Antonio. Nella wants to go to California but she is told that, due to the weather, the only road open is the one to San Antonio.

Once they arrive in San Antonio, Ben and Nella go their separate ways, after sniping at each other as they disembark from the stagecoach. As Nella is checking in at the hotel, Stark comes down the stairs and is delighted to see her. He romances her with a fancy meal and champagne; afterwards she shows up where Ben is staying, tipsily picks a fight with him and behaves jealously toward a Mexican woman whom she thinks is talking about her and trying to take Ben somewhere, though she is really looking for help to find Clint.

Ben recruits a gang of loyal vaqueros for the rugged 1,500-mile trek to Montana. On the journey, Nella demonstrates a romantic interest in Stark - he has the bigger dreams she prefers - but she flirts with Ben. They harp and snap at each other so much, though, that Stark has the impression that the two truly dislike each other. Nella occasionally sings "The Tall Men" but varies the lyrics depending on her mood. When she sings, she always makes sure that Ben is listening.

Along the trail, the cattle drive is confronted by a gang of Jayhawkers demanding $5,000 for permission to cross into Kansas; Ben refuses and a gunfight ensues. Many Jayhawkers are killed. After several instances of losing his cool with Stark and general volatility, Clint asks Ben to let him scout the route ahead. There is a likelihood of attack by the Sioux. One day, Clint's horse returns without him and he is found tied to a tree, with about half a dozen Sioux arrows in his chest. For days, Ben scouts the movements of the Sioux then returns to present a strategy of using the cattle and horses in a stampede against the Indians. After the ensuing battle, only about 100 to 150 head of cattle are lost.

When they arrive in Mineral City, Montana, Stark is paid $170,000 for the herd. Ben goes to Stark's office, in the rear of the saloon, to receive his portion and the bonus for the drovers. Stark gets a dig in at Ben, telling him that he is in a hurry to get to the hotel where he and Nella will be celebrating. Then he announces that there is another reason, beyond the money, that he has been waiting for "this day", and that is to exact revenge on a man who shoved a gun in his belly. Stark calls in members of the "vigilante committee", who are set to hang Ben; Ben, however, having deduced that something like this might happen, has had his men hold everyone in the saloon at gunpoint and be ready to act against Stark. Stark changes his mind. Ben magnanimously only takes $16,000 for his men, $10,000 for himself and $100 which he gives to the saloon-keeper toward a bottle of champagne for Stark's and Nella's wedding. Stark remarks to his henchmen that he is not certain he would have let them hang Ben. He is the only man he has ever respected - "He's what every boy thinks he's going to be when he grows up, and wishes he had been when he's an old man."

Ben returns to his camp and, as he unwraps his sleeping bag, Nella begins singing her song from inside his wagon. This time, her words reflect her love for him - "The only one for me".

Bill Brown is a former engine driver who is now a landlord. His wife is Sal and he has two children, Rose and Percy. His regulars are Alf Hall, a milkman, and Wally Binns, who has a stammer.

Askey himself appears at the beginning and end of each episode.

''Living It Up'' was a TV version of the BBC radio comedy ''Band Waggon'', and a film had also been made starring impresario Jack Hylton. In ''Living It Up'' Arthur Askey and Stinker were living in a flat on top of the A-R's Television House in Aldwych. Askey's daughter appeared as herself, as she had done in ''Love and Kisses'' in 1955. The characters would often speak directly to the studio audience, and Leila Williams, who would later become ''Blue Peter's'' first female presenter, made a guest appearance, as did Valentine Dyall.

Moscow based newspaper reporter Philip Sutherland (Clark Gable) is in love with Marya (Gene Tierney), a ballerina. He and radio broadcaster Steve Quillan (Kenneth More) go to see her perform ''Swan Lake'' with the Bolshoi Ballet, and a pleased Philip learns that Marya wishes to marry him and accompany him home to San Francisco.

They are married in the U.S. embassy, where they are warned that obtaining an exit visa is often quite difficult. On their honeymoon, they meet Christopher Denny (Richard Haydn), an Englishman married to Marya's good friend Svetlana (Anna Valentina), who is pregnant. But when he is seen taking innocent photographs, Denny is taken into custody and banished from Russia.

Svetlana gives birth to a son in Philip and Marya's apartment. Cold War tensions are heightened, and when the Sutherlands attempt to leave, Marya is detained. Philip flies home alone and is unable to get permission to return.

He travels to London, where he and Joe Brooks (Bernard Miles), an experienced boatman, hatch a scheme to sail to Tallinn where the Bolshoi is scheduled to perform, in order to clandestinely leave with Marya. At first, he asked Christopher to sail with him so that they could also spirit away Svetlana. But, Christopher declines, as he does not want to subject his young son to the rigors of the sea. Before sailing off, Christopher shows up at the dock ready to join the journey, explaining that his son died after becoming ill with a fever just a few weeks prior. Quillan offers to help by giving them coded instructions on his radio broadcasts as to what time they will meet Marya and Svetlana in the Gulf of Finland. At their rendezvous point, Svetlana swims out safely to the boat, but says an added ballet performance has forced Marya to stay behind.

Philip swims ashore. Stealing a medical officer's clothes, he attends the ballet. During the bows at the end of the ballet, Marya pretends to faint after seeing Philip in the audience. After examining her in a backstage room, Philip departs with her (apparently to the hospital). But, dancer Valentina Alexandrovna (Belita) recognizes him as her husband and informs the authorities. The couple flee. In the pursuit their car goes off a pier. They leap safely into the water, and swim together to the dinghy. Philip and Marya embrace as Joe rows them to the boat.

Matthäi, a senior detective with the Zürich police, is about to take up a post in the Middle East when a call comes in that a peddler has found the body of a little girl in the woods. With the peddler he inspects the site and, when none of the other police volunteer, says he will tell the parents. Distraught, the mother asks him to swear that he will find the killer.

He goes to the little girls' school, where another child points out a picture the dead girl had drawn. It shows a tall man in a long black coat, a large black car, a little girl, a horned creature, and some black hedgehogs. The villagers think the peddler was the murderer, as does Matthäi's successor who, after a long hard interrogation, gets a confession. That night the peddler hangs himself in his cell.

The police consider the case closed. Matthäi, however, believes the peddler was innocent and that the culprit is a serial killer who has murdered two other little girls and may strike again. As he takes his seat in the airliner, the man next to him is eating chocolate truffles which look just like the hedgehogs in the drawing. Realising that the killer may have befriended the little girl with chocolates, he leaps off the plane, but his successor is uninterested. Deciding to solve the case on his own, a psychiatrist friend suggests that the drawing is true. Such a killer is intimidated by grown women, and gets his revenge by murdering little girls. He must be childless himself.

Plotting the three murder sites on the map, Matthäi sees that they were all beside the main highway from Zürich to Chur. The heraldic animal of Chur is the horned chamois, which appears on its vehicle number plates. He rents a filling station on the road, where he takes the numbers of cars from Chur, traces their owners, and under various pretexts rings up to find out if they have children. Seeing a lonely little girl in the village, he befriends her, learning that her name is Annemarie and that her mother is alone and unmarried. He invites mother and daughter to live in the filling station and encourages the child to play beside the road.

Driving from Chur to Zürich in his large black car, a businessman named Schrott sees Annemarie playing and stops at the filling station, though his tank is nearly full. Matthäi finds out his home number, where his wife says that her two sons are out in the world. A few days later, Schrott hides his car in the woods and in his long black coat entices Annemarie with a glove puppet. He tells her nobody must know of their encounter.

When Annemarie is late back from school one day, Matthäi sees chocolate stains on her hands and finds hedgehog truffles in her pocket. He orders the mother to take the child somewhere safe and, buying a shop window dummy, dresses it in Annemarie's clothes. Laying his bait in the woods, he alerts the local police and they keep watch for the killer.

Schrott, who is only the stepfather of his wife's sons, has a row with her and drives off with murder in mind. Thinking the dummy is a dead Annemarie, he screams in terror. When Matthäi approaches, Schrott attacks and wounds him, but is felled by a shot from the police.

Libby Meredith and her law-professor husband, Roger, 52, move from New York to a small house in the Tennessee backwoods during a snowy winter. Their married neighbor, Will Cade, is attracted to Libby and very helpful and friendly to them. While her intellectual husband is busy writing a book, Libby comes to like the country life and finds herself attracted to Will's rural sensibilities, culminating in a brief affair.

Libby is surprised when her daughter, Ellen, arrives to ask them to return to New York so Libby can help raise grandson Bucky while Ellen attends Harvard Law School. Will's erratic son, who had seen his father and Libby embracing in the woods, molests her when she is out walking. Will rescues her but accidentally kills his son in rescuing her from his clutches. After attending the funeral, the disillusioned Merediths decide to return to New York because they have drifted apart, Roger has failed to finish his book, and Ellen needs Libby for Bucky. When Libby bids the Cades goodbye, he follows her for a private conversation and says he will wait for her to return, but she says she no longer believes in miracles. The last scene, very similar to the first one, shows Libby wearing the same clothes and picking up Bucky from school, and part of the song "A Walk in the Spring Rain" plays over the end credits.

The film is not a remake of the 1929 film Disraeli, which depicted only one incident late in Disraeli's career. Instead, ''The Prime Minister'' is an episodic biography of Disraeli from his early career as a novelist through his political triumphs as an elder statesman. The film is almost a hagiography, depicting Disraeli as a lifelong social reformer and a Tory democrat dedicated to "England" and to "democracy". TCM.com describes the film this way—

The Prime Minister (1941) is the legendary Benjamin Disraeli, played by the legendary John Gielgud in a tour-de-force performance that takes Disraeli from a foppish young novelist, to a neophyte member of Parliament, to prime minister of England and confidante of Queen Victoria. Along the way, "Dizzy" woos and weds his wife Mary Anne, who provides shrewd support for his career. He also battles political opponents, helps the poor and working class, buys the Suez Canal, expands the empire, and foils the imperialist plans of the German-Austrian-Russian political alliance.

The story follows seven children and their teacher who are trapped inside a cave while a fierce cyclonic storm destroys the fictional town of Hills End. They face a struggle to survive as well as having to deal with their loss. A mystery also surrounds ancient aboriginal art found in the cave.

Set in 1818, the story is a sequel to the events seen in Jane Austen's novel ''Pride and Prejudice''. Fitzwilliam Darcy embarks for Constantinople to begin a diplomatic post, accompanied by his wife Elizabeth Bennet. In their absence, the couple's five wealthy daughters stay in London with their cousin, Mr Fitzwilliam. Aged 21 to 16, the sisters are prim and proper Letitia, witty Camilla, frivolous twins Georgina and Isabelle, and musical prodigy Alethea. Two younger brothers remain behind at the Darcy estate, Pemberley.

Letitia is dismayed to learn that her former fiancé, a man she thought dead for three years, is alive and married but apparently with no memory. Her emotional reaction, highly unfashionable, attracts unwanted gossip among London's elite. Meanwhile, Camilla befriends Sir Sidney Leigh and believes herself in love. Perceiving that he is not attracted to her, Camilla is shocked when he asks Fitzwilliam for her hand in marriage. However, she breaks off the engagement when a friend warns her that Leigh is a homosexual. Leigh flees the country for Italy due to laws banning sodomy, while negative rumours spread about Camilla's too obvious attachment to the man.

Camilla meets Mr Wytton, the fiancé of her rich cousin Sophie Gardiner. Wittily sarcastic, he enjoys archaeology and travelling to the continent, interests Sophie cares little for. Camilla finds him intelligent but saturnine and intolerant of clever women. Over time it becomes clear that he and Sophie are ill-matched, as she prefer frivolous subjects like fashion.

Alethea begins learning from an Italian maestro, to the dismay of Letitia who believes her sister is going too far with her musical interests. Later, Camilla catches Alethea among musicians at a ball, dressed as a boy and playing the flute. With the help of Wytton, they are able to avoid scandal by quietly sending Alethea home in a carriage.

Caroline Bingley, now known as Lady Warren, spreads the malevolent rumour that Camilla desires to marry Wytton herself. Soon after, Georgina elopes to France with Sir Joshua Mordaunt, causing Camilla and Mr Gardiner to follow in the hopes of bringing Georgina home before scandal arises. They are surprised to encounter Wytton, who helps them find the eloping couple, now married. Camilla and Gardiner return home, only to discover that Isabelle has also eloped. Sophie angrily assumes that Isabelle is going to marry a Captain Allington, revealing that she is in love with Allington. Sophie releases Wytton from the engagement, leaving him free to marry Camilla whom he has gradually come to love throughout the story.

Jeanne is a milliner courted by aristocrats. She first has an affair with René, a young writer for Count du Barry. She then marries the Count in order to become Louis XV's mistress.

While traveling in a shuttle to the planet Ledos for a conference on Warp Field Dynamics, Chakotay and Seven of Nine take a small scenic detour to admire the natural landscape. There they find themselves unintentionally scraping an ancient energy barrier that begins to break the shuttle apart. Seven manages to blast a temporary hole in the barrier. The shuttle falls through but still threatens to break apart. Moments before it explodes, the two beam to the surface, Chakotay's leg being hurt in the process.

They find themselves in a lush jungle. In spite of Chakotay's leg injury, they decide to search for the shuttle's debris in hopes of constructing a distress beacon. While searching, they encounter a tribe of primitive humanoids (the Ventu) living in the jungle. Because of the Prime Directive, Chakotay and Seven agree to limit their contact with them as much as possible.

While in contact with the Ledos authorities, Paris performs an illegal flying maneuver within Ledos space. Despite his years of training as a pilot, the Ledos authorities insist he undergo one-on-one flight training to teach him how to fly safely. Janeway agrees to this, partly as a way to maintain good relations, but Paris is chagrined at a long and painstaking course under a Ledosian 'remedial instructor'.

Seven is forced to proceed alone as Chakotay is too injured to continue. As Chakotay rests from his injury, he is found by three Ventu and taken to their camp, where they begin healing his injuries. He begins to communicate with them using their sign language, and becomes impressed with their hospitality and culture. Out of necessity, Seven must affect their culture also, in order to watch out for Chakotay. The primitives come to emulate the two, even copying Chakotay's facial tattoos. One copies Seven's implants with debris taken from the shuttle.

When Seven heads off alone to look for the shuttle debris, she becomes lost after dropping her tricorder down a deep hole. But a young Ventu woman has followed her, and the next day helps her find the crashed main body of the shuttle. Chakotay catches up to them and reluctantly recruits some Ventu to help carry a deflector array to a more optimum site.

Chakotay and Seven eventually disable the ancient energy barrier using the deflector. ''Voyager'' learns the barrier was erected by an alien species in order to protect the Ventu from the Ledosians, who had been at war with the Ventu in the past. These aliens were eventually assimilated by the Borg (which is why Seven had the knowledge needed to penetrate the field during the crash). The shield going down opens up the habitat and its primitive inhabitants to the Ledosians, who quickly send an expedition to research and exploit the Ventu habitat. The Ledos authorities promise Janeway that the Ventu would be well-treated, but the crew are unconvinced. But when they try to remove the shuttle deflector to close the barrier again, they are attacked by a craft from Ledos that disables ''Voyager's'' transporters. Paris, despite the protests of his flight instructor, uses dramatic and skillful piloting to remove the Ledosian team and reestablish the barrier, freeing the Ventu at least temporarily from cultural contamination by the outside world. Seven is apprehensive that the Ledosians scanned her deflector modifications and may eventually construct their own device to disable the barrier.

Mickey and Minnie meet in ''The Nifty Nineties''

Set in the springtime, sometime in the 1890s, Mickey and Minnie Mouse happen to meet each other in a public park one day. Minnie attracts Mickey by intentionally dropping her handkerchief so Mickey will return it to her.

They attend a vaudeville show where they first see a slideshow presentation called "Father, Dear, Father", which features the song "Come Home, Father" by Henry Clay Work. In the show, a daughter attempts to get her father to leave a local tavern because he had not come right home from work as promised and got drunk at the tavern. In the fourth picture in the slideshow, we see the clock tower, which reads 1:00 am. With the mother home watching since tea and her son very sick in her arms, there can only be hope that the father comes home. Unfortunately, the father is too drunk to listen to the daughter, eventually forcing her to bring her father home herself. The slideshow causes Minnie to cry, but Mickey tries to comfort her saying "Don't take it so hard. It's only a show". The final slide shows a postcard with the words P.S. "He came home!", indicating that the father and daughter had made it back home.

The next act is "Fred & Ward, Two Clever Boys From Illinois" which features two song and dance men. Fred and Ward are caricatures of Disney animators Fred Moore and Ward Kimball who also voiced the characters.

After the show is over, Mickey and Minnie cruise the roads of the countryside in a Brass Era car. Goofy rides by on a penny-farthing bicycle (which topples over), and Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Huey, Dewey and Louie ride on a bicycle built for five. At last, in a scene reminiscent of ''Plane Crazy'', the car crashes with a cow. Mickey and Minnie emerge from the wreckage unhurt, but when they try to kiss each other, the cow pops her head up between them.

Margaret Hall (Tilda Swinton) and her family live an upper middle class life in Tahoe City, California. Her husband is a pilot on the aircraft carrier USS ''Constellation''. She is startled to discover that her son Beau (Jonathan Tucker), a high school senior, has been having a sexual affair with 30-year-old Reno, Nevada, night club owner Darby Reese (Josh Lucas). Margaret visits Reese's nightclub, The Deep End, to demand that he stay away from her son. That night, Reese secretly visits Beau and the two meet in the boathouse. Beau confronts him about asking his mother for money. The two argue, eventually coming to blows. As Beau returns to the house, Reese leans on a railing, causing it to collapse, and falls into the water, impaling himself on an anchor.

The next morning, Margaret discovers Reese's body on the beach. Margaret removes the body and dumps it in a cove but it is soon discovered and the police investigate it as a homicide. Soon after, a man named Alek Spera (Goran Višnjić) confronts Margaret with a tape of Darby and Beau having sex. Alek demands $50,000 in 24 hours or he will turn the tape over to the police, which would implicate Beau in Reese's "murder".

Margaret struggles unsuccessfully to get the money. Alek calls Margaret the next day and tells her that she needs to get only $25,000 but Alek's partner, Nagle (Raymond J. Barry) is convinced she is lying about not being able to raise the money. Nagle corners and beats Margaret but Alek arrives and the two men scuffle, and Alek strangles Nagle. Margaret attempts to take responsibility for Nagle's death, but Alek takes the body away in Nagle's car. As Margaret and her son drive looking for Nagle's car, they see it overturned in a ditch. Margaret attempts to free Alek, who is critically injured. Alek pleads with her to leave before the police arrive. Margaret stays until Alek dies. Back at home, Margaret, in a state of distress, is comforted by Beau. The camera then pulls back, as the scene shifts to the exterior of the house, the audience hears another phone call coming in from the absent husband, which Beau's sister answers. The Halls' normal life resumes.

In 1825, off the islands of Guam on a passage from Spain, Lieutenant Martinez, and his associates plot a mutiny on board of two Spanish warships. Conspirators murder Captain Don Orteva, take command of the ships, and plan to sell them to the republican government in Mexico. On arrival in Acapulco, Lieutenant Martinez and Jose embark on a cross-country trip to Mexico City to effect the sale. Martinez becomes increasingly fearful that he is being pursued by Ortega's loyal followers, and during a stormy night in the mountains murders Jose in a moment of madness and is then toppled to his death in a mountain torrent by the men he feared.

To tackle misbehavior, Principal Skinner opens a CTU – Counter Truancy Unit – at Springfield Elementary School with Lisa heading up the operation over Milhouse, Martin and Database. When the bullies Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney play truant, Milhouse is assigned on a mission to spy on them. At the Power Plant, Homer is found to be the owner of a container of expired and highly pungent yogurt and is ordered to dispose of it. Homer tries to return the yogurt to Apu, but Apu refuses to take it due to its unbearable stench and, desperate to get rid of it, takes Homer to the yogurt section and offers him whatever he wants there. While Homer and Apu are distracted, the bullies take the yogurt. Outside, Homer unwittingly breaks Milhouse's cover, and the bullies throw them both into a dumpster and send it rolling down an avenue.

Meanwhile, Marge discovers that there is a bake sale at the school that day, and realizes she has just 27 minutes to make a cake. In order to save time, she drastically increases the oven temperature to 1,200 degrees, quickly burning the cake and making it rock-solid. Marge desperately attempts to cover it up with pink and white frosting before rushing to the bake sale.

Lisa suggests that Bart help them, though he only agrees after negotiating immunity from punishment for all his past and future pranks (and making Skinner teach him a new swear word). At Jimbo's house, the bullies make a powerful stink bomb (which resembles the canisters of Sentox Nerve Gas from season 5 of ''24'') from the expired yogurt and a variety of other putrid items, and plan on detonating it at the bake sale. During his investigation, Bart's phone call is accidentally crossed with a call from Jack Bauer of ''24'', who is busy in a gun battle, and turns it into a prank call against him ("Ahmed Adoudi").

Bart finds out about the stink bomb and informs Lisa. Upon returning to school, he discovers that Martin is a double-agent working for the bullies. Before Bart can tell Lisa about Martin's double-dealing, Martin knocks him unconscious and takes him to the ventilation room, where the bullies tie up Bart. When Willie stumbles upon the bullies, they overpower him and tie him up too. The bullies then return Martin's ant farm, which they had used to blackmail him into working for them, but Martin is devastated to learn one of their ants has joined the bullies' cause. Later, he hangs himself by his underwear on a clothing hook, giving himself a wedgie after putting on his hall monitor sash (as a homage to the suicide in ''A Few Good Men'' as well as that of the character Walt Cummings on Season 5 of ''24,'' who is murdered and has his death framed as a hanging).

At the bake sale, the bullies start the three-minute timer for the bomb. Bart, still tied up, manages to contact Lisa by his cell phone, telling her to have Skinner dump the hot dog water to short circuit the ventilation fan. Skinner starts filling up the room with the water. Running out of air and floating dangerously close to the sharp ceiling fan blades, Bart swims down with the chair tied to his back to the room's only window, which faces the bake sale room. Chief Wiggum is unable to shoot through the bulletproof glass, but Marge then throws her burnt cake like a discus through the window, breaking the window and allowing Bart, Willie, the bomb, and all the water to flood into the room. Lisa defuses the bomb with one second to spare. Bauer and his CTU SWAT Team then arrive to arrest Bart for prank-calling him, having diverted all CTU's resources into finding him. As he says that, a nuclear bomb explodes in the distance, but to the crowd's relief Bauer assures them that it went off in neighboring Shelbyville.

Part I

Joey works at Caesars Palace as a costumed "atmosphere" character, as the film that was going to be his "big break" has been placed on indefinite hiatus. Chandler, following his fight with Joey about the film, has been trying to apologize by phone, but is repeatedly rebuffed by Joey, particularly since he does not want to admit Chandler turned out to be right. When Joey calls Phoebe on the apartment phone, Chandler decides to fly out and visit Joey in person, which Joey overhears, so he allows Chandler to talk to him, forgiving him for the incident but telling him not to come to Vegas.

Monica reveals to Phoebe that she had lunch with her old flame Richard; she has not been able to tell Chandler because their first anniversary is coming up and she does not want him to get jealous. When Chandler arrives, Monica reveals her gift to Chandler: two tickets to Vegas for their anniversary. Phoebe buys in to make up for missing Ross's wedding in London due to her pregnancy. Finally, she invites Ross and Rachel as well, but they decide to fly out a day later due to work commitments.

On the plane, as Phoebe goes to the restroom, Chandler realizes he forgot his anniversary present to her, but Monica immediately forgives him. Chandler says it is the worst thing that can happen on their anniversary the minute Phoebe returns, making Phoebe assume that Monica told him about Richard, which causes tension between the couple. When Monica, Chandler and Phoebe arrive at Caesars Palace, they find Joey, who admits that he is working there while his movie is on hiatus, and apologizes to Chandler for not telling him. Chandler and Monica then quickly get into a huge fight over whether she would see Richard again, and split off. Phoebe counsels Monica to tell Chandler that she loves him and not Richard. Monica sets out to do so, but gets sucked into a craps game by accident and then starts winning. Meanwhile, Phoebe tells Chandler to look for Monica to receive her apology, only for him to walk away silently when he finds her hugging a bystander in joyous celebration at the craps table.

Rachel takes advantage of the empty apartment to act on Phoebe's suggestion and wander around the apartment completely in the nude. However, Ross sees her from across the street and assumes she is coming on to him. This leads to an awkward conversation in the hall, and then escalating attempts to embarrass each other on the plane the next day. After inconclusive attempts to out-embarrass each other, Rachel falls asleep on Ross's shoulder, and Ross draws a beard and mustache on her face with a pen.  

Part II

Rachel is oblivious to the beard and mustache Ross drew on her face until they meet Phoebe and Joey in the Caesar's Palace lobby; she storms off to the restrooms, where she discovers that the marker Ross borrowed is permanent. She refuses to leave the hotel room but still demands the Vegas experience, leading her to eviscerate Ross's mini-bar and leading him to "lose" to her repeatedly at blackjack. Eventually they both get drunk, and parade happily around the casino in alcoholic equality: Ross with cat whiskers doodled on his face by Rachel.

Phoebe has to deal with an elderly female "lurker"—someone who takes slot machines Phoebe has just abandoned and manages to land jackpots with them. She attempts to antagonize the woman into leaving her alone. Meanwhile, Joey discovers his "hand twin"—a man whose hands are identical to Joey's; this man immediately gets drafted into Joey's get-rich-quick scheming. Both Phoebe and Joey are eventually thrown out of the casino.

While Monica plays another game at the craps table, Chandler is towing his luggage behind, preparing to go home alone. Monica quickly apologizes to him, saying she will never see Richard again. After she proclaims that Chandler is the love of her life, he forgives her and joins her at the craps table, calling the numbers she should bet on. He makes increasingly extravagant promises to the crowd, culminating in him betting to Monica that they get married immediately if she rolls a hard eight. Monica rolls a four with one die, but the other goes wild and lands beneath the table on-edge, showing a four on one side and a five on the other. Chandler decides it is a four, and Monica agrees. They arrive at Las Vegas wedding chapel to get married but have to wait as the chapel is currently in use. Finally, its occupants burst out in joyous celebration: Ross and Rachel, still drunk and doodled-on, and now legally married. They charge out into the night while Chandler and Monica stare in shock.

In 2000, a series of unknown attacks on Labors have led to two police detectives, Shinichiro Hata and Takeshi Kusumi, being assigned to investigate these string of events, assisted by members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's SV2 unit.

As they begin to unravel the mystery behind the attacks, the two detectives find reason to suspect that the attacks may have something to do with the American military stationed in Japan, elements of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces, and a female scientist involved in a biological weapons program known as Wasted XIII.

The story is told using a framework or "story within a story", a method used by Hodgson in many of his stories. It is learned in the framework story that a strange new explosive has been developed. Invented by a man named Baumoff, this substance has the effect of creating a temporary area of darkness, into which light does not readily pass.

The main body of the story describes the narrator's meeting with Baumoff, who is described as a scientist who is also profoundly Christian and obsessed with the crucifixion. Baumoff believes that events following Christ's death (the darkening of the sky, the rending of the temple curtain, and shaking of the ground, as described in the gospels) have a rational, scientific basis. This basis is the ability of the human psyche to affect the aether and impede the transmission of light. Baumoff displays a tiny quantity of a chemical compound which, when crushed and burned, creates a region of temporary darkness.

Baumoff then goes on to demonstrate what happens when the substance is "burned" (metabolized) within his own body. While the narrator watches in horror, Baumoff's heart rate and respiration increase dangerously, and he begins driving metal spikes into his hands and feet to simulate the pain of Christ's crucifixion. The narrator begs him to stop his demonstration, but Baumoff insists that the narrator only observe and take careful note. The flickering darkness returns, and the house begins to shake. Baumoff begins to imagine that he is reliving Christ's final hours, which by putting himself in the place of Christ, verges on blasphemy; as he describes what he is imagining, the narrator himself sees a vision of Christ carrying the cross. Baumoff screams some of Christ's last words on the cross, "''Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani?''" ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?")

As the pain of his self-inflicted torture reaches its maximum, a gasping Baumoff cries out Christ's words again. The cry is repeated a second time, but this time by a mocking, demonic voice. In the darkness, the building shakes, and the narrator is knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds Baumoff dead, his face distorted. The rational explanation is heart failure, but the narrator cannot help believing that Baumoff's blasphemy may have invited in a demonic force. We are left to ponder the implications of this strange weapon, wondering if other (willing, or unwitting) "soldiers of Christ" are being readied for torture and death.

Suzuhara Mugi is a 15-year-old on a mission. She is determined to somehow get onto the campus of Shoukei high school, one of those super, super elite high schools. This school is huge and private and has tight security. Mugi is searching for her missing sister—her only remaining family—and she has been led to believe that someone or something on the campus of that school will help her in her search. Unfortunately the strict school security is preventing her from getting onto the school grounds.

However, her luck changes when she literally runs into Midou-kun, the son of an insanely rich mega-corporation president, and elite person at the school. Midou is not impressed with Mugi's sob story about needing to get into that school. He is a very smug and arrogant rich guy. But he can be reasonable, and he eventually strikes up a deal with Mugi—he will get her onto the school grounds in exchange for some labor on her part, that she must come to his house and work as a maid! He lives with 3 other guys, known as the La Princes in the super elite school.

Her brave optimistic cheerfulness holds an attraction for all. As the manga progresses, the romance starts surfacing. While striving to unravel the mystery of her sister who eloped, she becomes a darling of the four. Hanekura has revealed his feelings many times indirectly, unlike Sei who is very straightforward and was the first person to ask her out. Kazuya is not sure about his feelings, but has always been protective of her. It was revealed that Iori has feelings for her too: when Mugi asked him if he is in love with someone right now, Iori answered by giving her a peck on forehead and telling her that he will try not to get mixed up in that.

The main character is a high school girl trained in classical piano who has just transferred to a new high school, Aobadai Gakuen. On her first day, she gets lost and meets 4 boys there who are secretly practising as a band. She eventually becomes the songwriter for the band, using her classical background to create fresh melodies for the band to build on.

There's a rival band, Kamui, that also plays a couple songs during the game and provides some plot devices regarding a big band contest with a recording contract as the prize.

A young (maid in a brothel) is sold into the red-light district of and is put under the care of the of the house, , who names her . The girl is very rebellious, leading to the heads of the household considering her potential future as a successful , as a high-ranking courtesan needs not only beauty and talent but also the tenacity to maintain their position in order to be successful.

later takes the name as a (or courtesan-in-training), and later takes the name , and is considered the most beautiful girl in the household. Her popularity threatens the position of the household's other , , which creates great tension between the two. 's rivalry with is not the only challenge she faces, as the appearance of a young man named faces her with the impossibility of finding love in her position.

Part 1

Three years after the documentary that made them famous, a different documentary crew revisits the office to see what the staff members are doing now. After being made redundant from Wernham Hogg, David Brent (Ricky Gervais) is now a travelling salesman who, following a failed single release of a cover of "If You Don't Know Me By Now," leeches off what little fame he has in a series of demeaning nightclub appearances alongside minor celebrities (such as Howard from the Halifax ads and former ''Big Brother 2'' housemate Paul "Bubble" Ferguson). Dawn Tinsley (Lucy Davis) lives in Florida, trapped in a miserable existence with fiancé Lee (Joel Beckett), who is bouncing from job to job as they live with his sister rent-free and hidden from immigration authorities. In the office, Gareth Keenan (Mackenzie Crook) is now the general manager and Tim Canterbury (Martin Freeman) is still trapped in a job he hates with an obnoxious, pregnant desk-mate Anne (Elizabeth Berrington). Despite leaving Wernham Hogg three years ago, Brent still visits the office to see the staff and "keep up the morale". This does not sit well with Gareth or David's former boss Neil Godwin (Patrick Baladi), and it appears to the viewer that Brent misses his old job. When the programme makers offer to fly Dawn and Lee back for the office Christmas party, along with the appearance of David Brent, the scene is set for a reunion.

Part 2

Brent tells Neil that he has a date for the Christmas party, when he really does not. With Gareth's help, he searches Internet romance websites for suitable women, and lines up three possible candidates for blind dates. He takes the first to dinner, but accidentally steers the conversation to breasts. He calls from his car to arrange a meeting with the second woman (voiced by Julia Davis), who does not realise who Brent is, and mocks the manager from ''The Office'' documentary. Brent hangs up. On the third date, Brent immediately finds the woman unattractive and boring. Dawn returns to Britain and arrives at the office. She and Tim immediately recreate old times by winding up Gareth. Brent pushes Neil's patience too far when he brings his dog into the office to show to the staff. Neil bars Brent from the office and later stops anyone who does not work for Wernham Hogg from going to the Christmas dinner. At the party, Brent anxiously awaits his fourth blind date. When the woman, Carol, arrives, she and Brent hit it off straight away. Lee tells Dawn that it is time to leave. She and Tim say awkward goodbyes and she leaves with Lee.

In the taxi, Dawn opens her "Secret Santa" present: an oil painting set from Tim with the words, "Never give up" written next to Dawn's sketch of Tim, which she had made earlier in the day. Brent walks his date to her car and she gestures through the window for him to call her. Returning to the office, he is subject to yet another offensive comment from Chris Finch (Ralph Ineson) about his date, and Brent, in a moment of anger, and having finally been pushed too far with the insults, tells him bluntly, "Chris. Why don't you fuck off". In the final scenes, Dawn returns to the office and kisses Tim, indicating that she has left Lee. The whole office staff gather for a group photo. Brent asks to have a group photo of just him and the "old gang". While David, Tim, Dawn, Gareth, and the rest of the office members gather round for the photo, David finally manages to make his colleagues laugh, with an impersonation of Frank Spencer.

The story begins with Oscar, a dachshund who is half-a-dog tall and one-and-a-half dogs long, and tired of the other dogs making fun of him because of his wiener-shaped body. He is happy because it is Halloween, and he cannot wait to get a costume. At obedience school, he daydreams of Halloween. When he comes home from school his mother has a surprise for him: a hot dog bun with mustard in the middle and Oscar is supposed to fit in the middle. He thought he would get laughed at, but wears the costume anyway, because he does not want to hurt his mom's feelings. He sees the other dogs showing off their costumes and when they see Oscar's costume they howl in laughter.

Oscar's costume is so heavy that it slows him down. Meanwhile, the dogs are getting their paws on all the candy and when Oscar comes to the houses there are no more treats left. The dogs go to a graveyard and they hear a noise, scream very loud and run, diving into a river because they see a scary monster. When Oscar comes to see the monster he notices something strange. He bites the cover of the monster, pulls it off with all his might, and discovers two cats hiding underneath. The cats scream and run away. Then Oscar jumps into the water and uses his costume as a life raft, and rescues the other dogs. The dogs thank Oscar by sharing their candy with him. They become friends forever and Oscar is never made fun of again, for he is then known as "Hero Sandwich". Oscar also makes an appearance in one of Dav's other books, called Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants.

The film begins in a boat on a river, where a couple find an idyllic riverside cottage to let, but know they cannot afford it. They marry and years pass. The war begins.

Struggling composer Richard Wilder (Michael Denison) becomes an RAF Observer in the Second World War. His aeroplane is shot down over the Italian Dolomite mountains, and he is found unconscious face down in the snow by Alida (Valentina Cortese), who consequently saves his life. She nurses him back to health. She tells him a local legend about two lovers - one a ghost who leads her faithless partner to his doom over a precipice on the Glass Mountain. The legend also says if you shout the name of the person you truly love, an echo will return.

When the war ends, Richard returns to England and his loving wife Anne (Dulcie Gray). He begins composing an opera based on the legend of Dolomite, the Glass Mountain, which has begun to haunt him.

On his wife's birthday, he sees a photograph of Alida on the cover of a magazine. Inside, a caption states that Alida Morisini has come to London to receive an honour. He tries to get in touch with her, but she has already left the country. From then on, he becomes more and more miserable. Anne eventually guesses he is in love with someone else; he confesses he loves Alida.

Richard returns to Italy - alone - and to Alida. The Teatro La Fenice is looking for an opera for their festival, and Tito Gobbi has told them about Richard's (unfinished) one. Meanwhile, Gino, a local man in love with Alida, asks Richard to leave. When he refuses, they fight, but nothing is settled. Richard tries to break up with Alida, but she persuades him not to. Richard's opera is chosen for the festival, so he sends for his lyricist, Bruce McLeod. Bruce tries to convince Alida it is best if she and Richard part.

Anne persuades her friend Charles to fly her to the premiere of Richard's opera ''La Montagna di Cristallo'' (''The Glass Mountain'') in Venice. When they pass near the real Glass Mountain, she asks Charles to show it to her. He obliges, but they crash on the mountain.

The opera tells the tragic tale of Antonio and Maria. Antonio promises his beloved Maria that someday they will climb the Glass Mountain together. However, he goes away to the plain and does not return. Finally, Maria climbs the mountain alone and is never seen again. At Antonio's wedding to another woman, he hears Maria's voice and goes to the mountain to be reunited with her. He climbs and then falls to his death.

Richard conducts his own work and receives a standing ovation at its conclusion. Afterwards, Richard is told of Anne's accident by Alida. He must then choose between his muse and his wife, as the mythical and modern levels of the legend coincide. Alida sees that he has chosen Anne and bids him goodbye. Richard races to the mountain and insists on going out to meet the rescue party. Gino guides him. The doctor tells him that Anne is badly injured, but should recover. He decides life is meaningless without her.

GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions

This game primarily features Piglet going into his friends' dreams and scaring "Heffalumps" & "Woozles" to help his friends collect valuable items.

The game starts with Piglet observing Pooh reaching for a bee hive, Roo reaching for a ball that is caught in a tree, Owl trying to remember where his memory book is, Rabbit planting his carrots, Eeyore having his usual gloomy days, and Tigger painting his house to look like him.

Piglet sees a shadowy monster called the Granosorus and is scared of it, but it disappears before his friends can see it. Even Christopher Robin does not believe him. Christopher tells Piglet to overcome his fears, but Piglet says that heroes are supposed to be big and brave, and since he is the opposite, he realizes that he will never be a hero. Piglet leaves the Hundred-Acre-Wood as his friends start to fall asleep doing what Piglet saw them doing. Piglet discovers a mysterious telescope which causes him to magically enter their dreams and begins to help them find their missing items.

After helping them all, the Hundred Acre Wood gets flooded and Piglet attempts to save his friends, who are trapped on islands with Heffalumps and Woozles. Once Piglet rescues everyone, the Granosorus appears, but Piglet is able to scare it off. Christopher Robin comes and after learning of Piglet's bravery, he gives everybody a picnic to celebrate Piglet's bravery.

Game Boy Advance version

After having a nightmare involving a monster called the Granosorus, Piglet runs towards his friends warning them of the monster before Christopher Robin calms him down. He explains that the nightmares can teach him how to be brave, so Piglet leaves to find out how to do so while his friends begin to fall asleep. Piglet discovers several dream portals, allowing him to enter their dreams and help them find their possessions. After helping everyone, a flood covers the woods, forcing Piglet to face his fears rescue his friends while dealing with many Heffalumps and Woozles, and eventually the Granosorus. Once everyone is rescued and the Granosorus is scared away, Christopher Robin arrives and after finding out that Piglet has faced his fears, he gives everyone a picnic to celebrate Piglet's bravery.

Microsoft Windows version

In the Windows version, Piglet pays a visit to Rabbit's house, where Rabbit is busy making soup for his friends. He decides to help collect the soup ingredients from his friends to help Rabbit finish it. The ingredients list consists of honey, thistles, milk, pepper, haycorns and a random vegetable from Rabbit's garden. Pooh was supposed to bring the honey, Eeyore was supposed to bring the thistles, Kanga and Roo were supposed to bring the milk and Owl was supposed to bring the pepper, but none of them have come back with the ingredients. After Piglet brings all the ingredients to Rabbit, everyone (except Kanga and Roo) arrives for the party, so Rabbit leaves Piglet in charge of preparing the soup. Once the soup is finished and ready, everybody gathers at a picnic table to eat, where they thank Piglet for his help.

Sam Archer (Amos) and his assistant Milo Jackson (Conway) are coaches at Merrivale College. They have lost every game in every sport which they have coached, raising the concerns of the head of the Alumni Association. With only one year left on his contract, Archer decides that he is in need of a vacation. Together, Archer and Jackson head to Zambia in Southern Africa.

While out on a safari, the pair catch sight with their guide Morumba of the Tarzan-like Nanu (Jan-Michael Vincent), who can outrun a cheetah in full bound. Seeing this, the coaching staff quickly whip out their recruitment pen and papers, but soon fall (literally) into the clutches of Nanu's godfather, spiritual leader Gazenga (Roscoe Lee Browne). Because Nanu is an orphan and an innocent child of the bush, Gazenga believes that throwing Nanu into the world of competitive United States college athletics would interfere with his spiritual development.

Despite Gazenga's concerns, the ambitious coaches persuade Nanu to join the Merrivale College program. From this point forward, the plot is driven by a combination of slapstick and suspense, for Nanu's destiny as the ''World's Greatest Athlete'' will annoy several powerful people who are used to getting their way.

Nanu's innocence, Archer's scheming, Jackson's ineptitude, Gazenga's outraged wisdom, and the Machiavellian plotting of the villains all play roles in the action as the film heads toward the final track meet. The atmosphere of American competition does indeed threaten Nanu, but he is saved from disintegration by love interest Jane Douglas (Dayle Haddon). Jane and Nanu's budding relationship angers rival Leopold Maxwell (Danny Goldman), whose attempts to sabotage the budding star build toward a crescendo as the ultimate competition approaches. The climactic track meet is peppered with commentary by ABC-TV sportscaster Howard Cosell, playing himself.

The film ends with a framing device in which the hapless coaches are depicted trying to recruit a new athletic phenomenon, this time in China.

In an enigmatic, alien landscape, Jerzy Colsowicz (John Huston) experiences a vision of a powerful and destructive storm brought about by a young human girl. His colleague, an enigmatic Christ-like figure (Franco Nero), tells his bald pupils about the centuries-long cosmic conflict between Zatteen, an evil inter-spatial force of immense magnitude with powerful psychic abilities, and his benevolent arch-rival Yahweh. Zatteen escaped to the planet Earth centuries ago, and though he was eventually tracked down and killed by Yahweh, his spirit lives on in the minds of mankind, waiting for an opportunity to reemerge and wreak havoc. The figure tells his disciples that Zatteen had produced dozens of children with human women before his death, and these descendants continue to populate the Earth.

During a professional basketball game at The Omni in Atlanta, home team owner Raymond Armstead (Lance Henriksen) sits courtside and promises an interviewer that the team will win at all costs. Since Raymond is a new owner and the source of his wealth is unknown, the interviewer presses him on the source of his wealth. He eventually answers that the money comes "from God". Raymond is in league with a secret group of Satanists who wish to bring about the resurgence of Zatteen. His associate Dr. Walker (Mel Ferrer) reminds him that his girlfriend Barbara Collins can be used as a conduit to distill Zatteen's powers into a corporeal, human form. Her 8-year old daughter Katy (Paige Conner) has already displayed psychokinetic abilities, and it's the Satanists' goal to have Raymond father a male child with Barbara, who in turn will mate with his half-sister and produce the physical embodiment of Zatteen.

Katy is only partially aware of her powers, and she experiments with them throughout the film, most notably helping Raymond's basketball team to victory. Colsowicz, who possesses powers similar to Katy, is sent to Earth by the Christ-like figure with several of his disciples, where at first they survey her from a distance. He's also acquainted with Barbara's new maid, Jane Phillips (Shelley Winters), who instantly sees the potential evil inherent in Katy, as she had once had a child with the same abilities. Katy begins using her powers to facilitate the Satanists' goals, causing a series of fatal accidents to happen to their enemies. Barbara is inadvertently paralyzed by a gunshot wound, and becomes relegated to a wheelchair. A police detective, Jake Durham (Glenn Ford), investigating the deaths is killed in a car accident facilitated by the Satanists.

Raymond fails to seduce Barbara, and the Satanists decide to proceed with other, more violent methods. Barbara does get pregnant after the intervention, but is still afraid of having another child and has her ex, Katy's biological father, Dr. Sam Collins (Sam Peckinpah), abort the baby. When she returns home, she is attacked for her actions by Raymond and Katy, who attempt to execute her by tying a wire around her neck and sending her down the stairs in her chair lift. Before they can succeed, Colsowicz intervenes and summons an army of birds that thwart Katy and kill Raymond. The next day, the other Satanists are found dead at their round table, presumably by Colsowicz's intervention.

Colsowicz returns to the Christ-like figure and his apostles. He reveals that he has brought Katy with him. She is now bald and cleansed of her malice, and the film ends with her smiling and embracing Colsowicz, who insists that children are not to be harmed.

The game begins where Gnarl and the Brown minions awaken the Overlord from his tomb. From here they suit him in his armour and proclaim him Overlord in his old and dilapidated tower – the previous Overlord having been killed by heroes, ready to reconquer the lands. The Overlord first turns to the Mellow Hills, where the Halflings and their leader Melvin Underbelly are using the townspeople of Spree and Red minions as slave labour. The Overlord storms the Halfling Homes, slaying Melvin and reclaiming the Reds and Spree (to the peasants’ delight or disgust depending on whether the Overlord returns their stolen food). Castle Spree however has come under attack by bandits. After flushing them out, the castle mistress Rose offers her service to the Overlord. At Evernight Forest, the roots of a tree where Oberon Greenhaze sleeps cover the Elves' home, nearly extinct after being ransacked by Dwarves. The Green minions are found and Oberon is slain. The Elves' sacred statue, however, has been stolen by the Dwarves, angering Jewel, the Thieving Hero, who wanted to steal it for herself. At Heaven's Peak the town is overrun by zombies and demons. Here the Overlord gains the Blue minions. At the town's inn, it is discovered that town leader Sir William the Black had fallen for a Succubus, calling off his wedding to Rose's sister Velvet. Killing Sir William in Angelis Keep, Velvet offers her services to the Overlord and he must choose between her and Rose.

The Overlord turns to the Dwarven Golden Hills and their leader Goldo Golderson, who has become greedy for gold. Here the remaining enslaved Elves claim the last of their women are being held in the Royal Halls of the Dwarven Keep. Meanwhile, at the Dwarf construction site, Gnarl recommends that the Overlord stash a few minions inside the Elf sacred statue and allow Jewel to take it in order to follow her to her homeland, the Ruborian Desert. Back at the Royal Halls, where Goldo is defeated, the Overlord can either take his stash of gold or free the remaining Elf women before the halls collapse. The Ruborian desert is found and Jewel is captured and interrogated. An enraged Kahn the Warrior, protective of Jewel, strikes back and the Overlord now has to save Spree and Heaven's Peak from his wrath.

Back at the tower the minions submit to the previous Overlord who has secretly possessed the Wizard, originally father to Rose and Velvet, and who lays claim to his previous title. The old Overlord tells the current one that he was originally the eighth hero who came to slay him, yet fell from a great height and was left for dead by his companions while they looted the Tower. The Old Overlord put him in the sarcophagus to heal his wounds in order to use him to defeat the other heroes. The Overlord battles the old Overlord, during which the old Overlord brags of being responsible for the corruption of the heroes. Upon the old Overlord's death, the Overlord reclaims his tower and minions. Depending on the Overlord's corruption and choices throughout, the ending will show 4 of 8 different ending cutscenes where either the Overlord is met with bliss and praise or he pillages and scorches the land and tortures the inhabitants. Regardless of the player's unique ending, the Jester is shown performing some sort of ritual, with Gnarl narrating "Evil will always find a way", opening up the events for ''Raising Hell''.

Mildred (Gena Rowlands) is a widow living with her rebellious, irresponsible twentysomething daughter Annie (Moira Kelly) in Salt Lake City. One day after a fight, Annie goes to live as a vagrant with her boyfriend, leaving Mildred alone for the first time in her life. Her wayward neighbor Monica (Marisa Tomei) knocks on Mildred's door, begging her to watch her young son, J.J (Jake Lloyd) so she can go to her work shift. Monica has kicked her abusive husband, Frankie (David Thornton), out of their house.

Mildred agrees to watch J.J., and offers to babysit and take him to school whenever Monica needs her to. Mildred establishes a close relationship with J.J. and Monica, and J.J. eventually comes to refer to her as "Auntie Mildred." Mildred reads to him, takes him to the park, and educates him on history by reading from her encyclopedias. At Thanksgiving, Mildred has Monica and J.J. over for dinner as well as her yuppie son Ethan (David Sherrill) and his wife Jeannie (Bridgette Wilson). Jeannie is perturbed by Monica's brash behavior and cursing, though Ethan and Mildred seem disaffected by her personality. Ethan suggests that Mildred should move to San Francisco with him and Jeannie.

Mildred spends Christmas with Monica and J.J., and babysits him on New Year's Eve. On Valentine's Day, Frankie comes to Monica's house in the middle of the night and begs to reunite with her, but she quietly listens to his pleas and does not open the door. Monica gets a babysitter for J.J. so she can go out for a night with Mildred, taking her to a local pub where she introduces her to her friend Big Tommy (Gérard Depardieu), a truck driver who expresses interest in Mildred. Monica leaves the bar without telling Mildred, and Big Tommy gives Mildred a ride home.

Mildred goes to visit Ethan and Jeannie in San Francisco, where he invites her to live on the top floor of their luxurious house overlooking the Bay Area, and reveals that Jeannie is pregnant. Mildred ultimately refuses Ethan's offer, which enrages him. Mildred returns home to find that Monica and Frankie have reconciled, and J.J. begins spending more time with his father, leaving Mildred depressed and alone.

One night, Mildred returns home to find Annie there. Annie asks Mildred if she could return home, saying that she now has a job and is applying to college. Mildred tells Annie that she has sold the house, and has to be out by the end of the month. Mildred goes on a date with Tommy, and confesses she doesn't know where she's moving to.

While Monica helps Mildred pack her house, she tells her how much Frankie has improved as a husband, but senses Mildred being distant. Frankie brings J.J. over, and he asks to talk to Mildred in private. J.J. gives her a drawing and thanks her for taking care of him, and the three say their goodbyes. Annie drives Mildred to the airport, though Mildred refuses to tell her where she's going, saying it's a secret.

After receiving a well-earned certification from a sheltered boarding school, Carla Tate, an ambitious and mildly mentally disabled young woman, returns home to her overprotective and slightly snobby mother Elizabeth. Elizabeth seems to behave as if she is embarrassed about her youngest daughter's disability. During family discussions, Elizabeth adopts an uneasy attitude because her daughter was humiliated by those mean people as a child. Carla's father Radley is a dentist and recovering alcoholic. Carla's ambition is to seek more independence from her family by earning a diploma from a polytechnic school. When Carla meets another mentally disabled student, Daniel McMahon (nicknamed "Danny"), they become friends and soon fall in love together. Envying Danny's freedom, Carla convinces her parents she is capable of living on her own and moves into her own apartment. After a time, Carla and Danny become sexually active together.

Danny's independence is financially compromised when his wealthy and emotionally detached father abruptly stops sending subsistence money. Danny begins to realize that the independence he enjoyed comes with a staggering cost. Danny gets drunk, then seeks solace and insight (and a joyride in a vintage Ford Mustang convertible) from his landlord and friend, Ernie.

During a Christmas party at the country club, nervous about his personal lot, Danny drinks too much to build up his courage to declare his love for Carla. He also tells everyone about their first time making love. A humiliated Carla bursts into tears, screaming at everyone to stop laughing at her. Although Daniel did not intend to embarrass Carla, she nonetheless refuses to see him. Over time, Carla realizes she still loves Danny and wants to see him again despite her mother's advising her otherwise. At her older sister Caroline's wedding, Danny surprises Carla by showing up at the church and asks her to marry him, in a scene mimicking ''The Graduate'', the couple's favorite film, to which she accepts.

Everyone supports their wishes except Elizabeth, who is unsure Danny can take care of himself, let alone Carla. Carla angrily tells her mother off that she is sick of her combination of three behaviors: dominance, negativity, and doubt. Also, Carla is sick of her mother constantly treating her like two things at once: an embarrassment and a handicap. Radley and her sisters, Heather and Caroline, support her decision, and the wedding is planned. At first, Elizabeth is determined not to attend, but Radley admonishes her. He said that he will walk Carla down the aisle. Finally, after realizing how selfish she has been behaving, Elizabeth relents. Outside the church, Danny surprises Carla with their school's marching band playing "76 Trombones" from ''The Music Man'', and they are chauffeured away to their honeymoon in Ernie's prized Mustang.

An unknown entity has decided to eradicate mankind due to its capacity of violence.

At the end of the Korean War, United States Air Force pilot Hal Jordan and his wingman, Kyle "Ace" Morgan, are attacked by enemy pilots but survive. In Gotham, J'onn J'onzz – the last survivor of the Green Martian race – is teleported to Earth; unable to return, J'onn disguises himself. In Las Vegas, Iris West is on the telephone with her fiancé Barry Allen – also known as the Flash – at a casino when Captain Cold arrives to commit robbery; he races from Central City to confront Cold. Flash finds the five bombs hidden by Cold and captures him, before Cold is possessed by an entity.

Two years later J'onn (as John Jones) is now working as a detective with the Gotham City Police Department, investigating a doomsday cult that worships the "Centre" and has kidnapped a child for a sacrificial ritual. J'onn and his partner Slam Bradley join Batman in battling the cult, but a fire renders J'onn powerless. The cult leader is possessed by the entity, and warns of impending judgement. Hal is training under Col. Rick Flag at Ferris Aircraft for a U.S. government project to build a spacecraft for travel to Mars. Special agent King Faraday oversees the project.

Batman suggests to J'onn that they work together in investigating the Centre-worshiping cult. After being attacked and nearly subdued by the US government, a disillusioned Flash announces his retirement. J'onn interrogates former Ferris employee Harry Leiter, apprehended for murder while under The Centre's influence, who tells them about the launch to Mars. When Faraday arrives, J'onn briefly reads his mind and learns Leiter is telling the truth. Seeing the contemptuous response to the Flash's announcement, J'onn gives his research to Batman and plans to return to Mars on the rocket. J'onn and Faraday fight on the launchpad; the rocket is damaged and malfunctions after leaving Earth's atmosphere. Hal wants to attempt a landing but Flag reveals weapons of mass destruction are on board, intended to destroy all life on Mars. Hal is ejected from the cockpit and saved by Superman; Flag detonates the rocket as J'onn is held prisoner.

On Paradise Island, Wonder Woman is training with Mala when the Amazons are attacked by The Centre. As a result of Flag's rocket explosion, a fatally wounded Abin Sur crash-lands on Earth, gives his ring to Hal and tells him of The Centre, a monstrous creature that seeks the destruction of humans. Meanwhile, Superman and Batman review J'onn's research. Wonder Woman's invisible jet crashes at Cape Canaveral and she warns Superman that The Centre is coming. J'onn decides to help save Earth after his hope for humanity is renewed. The Centre, a massive flying island with an army of mutant dinosaurs to guard it, begins its attack on America. The Flash, Green Arrow, Adam Strange, the Challengers of the Unknown, and the Blackhawks join forces with the US forces to defend the Cape. Superman reconnoiters the Centre but is seemingly killed. Moved by his efforts, the heroes plan a frontal assault to provide cover for Hal and Ace while they fly a bombing mission into the creature. At the same time the Flash, equipped with Ray Palmer's reduction ray, will crisscross the island, hoping to destabilize the island's atomic structure.

The aerial assault is nearly outmatched, and as a herd of dinosaurs ambush Faraday's ground forces, the Centre's psychic force briefly overwhelms J'onn. Faraday is captured by a dinosaur and both perish after Faraday sets off hand grenades. Hal and Ace shoot their way into The Centre's core but a hallucinogenic attack disorients them. Hal's ring relays instructions from the Guardians of the Universe on its use. Ace detonates his payload as Hal rescues him. The Flash races across the ocean, leaps onto The Centre's surface and covers it on foot, shrinking the island. Hal envelops the island in green energy, towing it into space where it explodes. As the team celebrates their victory a glowing light emerges from the water and Aquaman emerges from a submarine carrying Superman.

The world celebrates the Centre's defeat with a ceremony. The film ends with a montage of various heroes and villains, including the birth of the Justice League set to the titular John F. Kennedy speech.

A bacteriologist in the cancer research hospital, waiting for lab results, sees a blond-haired man move something from his car to a pick-up truck parked in an illegal space. She sees a tow truck pull the pick-up away; within seconds, the truck explodes, killing the operators of the tow truck. A few months later, Jim Chee is asked by Mrs. Vines to find a box stolen from her house, wanting to hire him off-duty. The box contains mementos and she would like it back before her husband returns; she thinks Emerson Charley is the thief. Mr. Vines returns, telling Chee not to bother with the task his wife asked him to do. Sheriff Sena is angry at Chee for talking with Mr. and Mrs. Vines. Sena shares the story of the six Navajo men in the crew under Dillon Charley who did not go to work at the oil field years back because Charley had a vision saying something bad would happen that day, which was true. Chee learns that the man whose truck exploded a few months back was Emerson Charley, son of Dillon and head of the People of Darkness church, who has been in the hospital at the University of New Mexico since that day, ill with cancer. Sena believes the motion sensor bomb in the pick-up truck was meant for Emerson, despite his fatal disease.

When Colton Wolf learns about Emerson Charley's death, he goes to the hospital morgue to find, steal and bury his body, which the cancer group wants to autopsy. At a local rug auction, Tomas Charley tells Jim Chee that his father's body was stolen from the hospital. Tomas tells Chee where the stolen box is and that it contains rocks and military medals. Chee meets Mary Landon and asks her out. Next day, they go to fetch the box from the malpais, and encounter Tomas Charley's dead body, killed a minute before. The killer is the same man who met Tomas at the rug auction after Chee did. Colton, the killer, does not like witnesses, so he shoots Chee and sets fire to his vehicle.

Chee is recovering in the hospital after surgery for his gunshot wound, visited by a string of lawmen. Sheriff Sena is driven by the loss of his older brother in that oil field explosion. Sgt. Hunt of the Albuquerque Police Department tells Chee of the history of killings attached to the man who shot him. A sketch of his face from what the bacteriologist saw matches the face Chee saw. Martin from the FBI visits next. Knowing about this man and his methods proves useful when Chee awakens about 3 am to find he has a roommate, and that the blond haired man is in the hospital corridor. Chee hides in the false ceiling space, coming down to find that the other patient was killed by the silenced weapon in his stead, and the nurse is killed as well. Chee calls the Albuquerque Police, but they do not find the killer, who drives off in a stolen car. Chee and Mary Landon research the events of the oil field explosion and what happened to the six Navajos who did not go to work that day. So far, four of the six died of leukemia and one of another cancer, within 5 years of the explosion, highly unusual. They hope to find the body of the sixth, to see what an autopsy might reveal. They realize that is why Emerson Charley's body was stolen from the hospital.

Chee and Mary Landon learn where the sixth man is buried from his sister, up in the Bisti badlands. Colton pretends to the NTP that he is Martin, the FBI agent, so that the NTP will put out radio calls for Chee, which Colton can hear with his police band radio. Chee and Landon find the long-interred body of the sixth man, and can see abnormal bone growth on his skeleton below his pouch, still carrying the mole amulet. Chee puts a note on Colton's car. The note is written on the check Vines gave Chee, saying that Vines will give Colton up to law enforcement. Chee tosses a boulder in his pick-up truck, which explodes from the bomb Colton placed in it. Colton drives away. Mary and Chee wait until daylight when a pipeline company helicopter rescues them. Chee reaches Vines mansion by helicopter just after Colton arrived through the heavy snows of the night. Colton kills Vines, and Mrs. Vines shoots Colton in self-defense.

Vines gave mole-shaped amulets to the six Navajo men on the crew, meant to symbolize their religion, but made of pitchblende. The radiation brought early death by cancer, as the men carried the amulets in a pouch worn on the body. Vines was not a newcomer to the area, but the geologist Carl Lebeck. Lebeck was not killed in the explosion because he rigged it. He revealed himself to Chee by what he failed to note on the reports 30 years earlier – uranium is being mined now, above the level where oil was expected in the core samples Lebeck analyzed, but was not noted. Vines did not want an active oil field in someone else's ownership when he could make a fortune by buying the lease for the land and selling the rights for the uranium. That white man acted like Navajo witch, in a twist ending.

Ross and Rachel wake up in bed together, immensely hung-over and unaware that they got married the night before. Joey joins Phoebe for breakfast, telling her his movie has been canceled. Monica and Chandler arrive and, at the buffet, Chandler tells Joey he and Monica were also planning to wed and expresses worry that the relationship is moving too fast. Monica shares the same concern with Phoebe but they are interrupted when Ross and Rachel arrive. When the others tell them they are married, they decide to get an annulment, leading to a large number of jokes about Ross' failed marriages, much to his anger.

Joey encourages Phoebe to go with him on the long drive back to New York, to stop him from being lonely. She agrees but she is annoyed when Joey spends the whole first day asleep while she drives, and they switch over. As Phoebe sleeps, Joey picks up a hitchhiker. Initially outraged, Phoebe soon strikes up a friendship with the man, and gives him her number when he leaves. Joey asks for her forgiveness and they play car games.

Monica and Chandler are still undecided about where their relationship is going, and look for signs that they should get married. They grow increasingly alarmed when all the signs are positive, and eventually Chandler suggests he just move into Monica's apartment with her, which she agrees to. Ross tells Rachel that he does not want three failed marriages and attempts to convince her to change her mind about the annulment, but she refuses and pressures him to get the annulment. He concedes and later tells her he took care of it, but reveals to Phoebe that he lied: They are still married.

''Love Bites'' was originally set to focus on Annie (Becki Newton) and Frannie (Jordana Spiro), two single women exploring the ups and downs of dating, love, and sex, while dealing with the fact that all their other friends have married.

Off-camera complications, including Spiro's commitment to another show and Newton's pregnancy, delayed production, and the show was eventually retooled as an anthology series, focusing on three short vignettes per episode similar to ''Love, American Style''. Each story was often intertwined by a common theme or character, and was related to the three main protagonists: Annie (Becki Newton), Judd (Greg Grunberg), and Colleen (Constance Zimmer/Pamela Adlon in the pilot).

The film opens with the image of a sailor holding a lifeless body. A sleeping man wakes up in bed and gets dressed. The dreamer walks through a door labeled "Gents", to find himself in a bar. He admires the body of a muscular sailor and offers his cigarette, only for the sailor to attack him. The sailor uses a flaming bundle of sticks to light the dreamer's cigarette.

His smoking is interrupted by a group of sailors who chase the man and pin him to the ground. They beat the dreamer and reach into his chest to find a ticking meter inside him. White liquid pours down his body. A sailor unbuttons the crotch of his pants to reveal a Roman candle, which shoots sparks into the air. The dreamer appears with a Christmas tree as a headdress, moving toward a fireplace in which several photographs of the opening shot are burning. The dreamer then appears asleep in bed, next to a man whose head is radiating light.

Andrea Marr (Dominique Swain) is a bright, straight-A, 18-year-old high school senior living a sheltered life in rural Washington. She has 2 close friends, bookish Darcy (Selma Blair) and rebellious, aspiring rock star Cybil (Tara Reid). Andrea is insecure and confused at her budding sexuality.

In pursuit of becoming "women", Andrea and Darcy attend a frat party in attempts to lose their virginity. Both are unsuccessful, and Andrea ends up passing out and waking up with a frat boy masturbating on top of her. Upon learning of her acceptance to Brown University, Andrea realizes that she hasn't had many life experiences. So she ventures into the local rock scene with classmate and groupie Rebecca (Summer Phoenix) to watch Cybil and her band, which is made up of two other classmates Richard (Christopher Masterson) and Greg (David Moscow). There, she meets local rock singer Todd Sparrow (Sean Patrick Flanery) and becomes enamored with him. Andrea loses her virginity to a guy named Kevin (Channon Roe) whom she also met at the show, but found the experience disappointing. Later, she finds Todd at a record store and accompanies him back to his sister Carla's (Portia De Rossi) apartment where they have sex. After, Todd leaves abruptly to go to band practice, leaving Andrea upset, but also obsessed with him. Andrea begins to neglect her friends, particularly Darcy, who is suffering from an eating disorder, in her pursuit of Todd.

In the meantime, Cybil reveals to Andrea that she's dropping out of high school because she got a record deal. However, the record deal was only offered to her and not to Richard and Greg. Richard is upset, but ultimately accepting of it, whereas Greg becomes severely depressed. Cybil and her new band open for Todd's band, and Andrea goes to the show. At the show, Andrea and Todd reunite and Andrea becomes Todd's groupie, and they get together often to have sex. Todd eventually breaks things off to go on tour, leaving Andrea heartbroken.

Graduation comes along, and Andrea is very somber. Unbeknownst to her, Todd came to the ceremony and watches her from the parking lot before driving off. Andrea finds a crying Richard at graduation and learns that Greg died by suicide. Andrea goes to the class graduation party. At the party, Andrea goes upstairs and finds Darcy making herself throw up in the bathroom. Andrea apologizes to Darcy about neglecting her and makes her promise to seek treatment for her eating disorder which Darcy agrees to. Darcy reveals that she was very jealous of Andrea because she appeared to have everything. Andrea helps Darcy clean up. When they leave the bathroom, Andrea and Darcy get accosted by a classmate who often used to bully Richard and Greg. Richard intervenes, reveals his longtime crush on Darcy, and asks her to dance, which Darcy agrees. Andrea watches Darcy and Richard dance, then gets approached by Cybil, who showed up to the party. Cybil expresses regret and sadness over Greg's suicide and says that she feels responsible. Andrea consoles her, and Cybil reveals her feelings for Andrea by kissing her on the lips. Andrea is surprised, and even though she doesn't reciprocate those feelings, she allows Cybil to kiss her anyway. Andrea leaves the party.

After the party, Andrea walks around for a while thinking about everything that's happened and encounters Todd. They go back to his apartment to talk, and Todd opens up to Andrea. He apologizes for treating her so badly and tells her that he can't go on tour without her and that he needs her. Andrea reveals to him that she's going to Brown in the fall and Todd is surprised at how smart she actually is. They attempt to have sex, but they can't because Todd is unable to get an erection. Andrea leaves, breaking things off with Todd for good.

Andrea leaves for college, declaring herself a woman, and hopeful for her future.

. Moscow, 1882. When Fandorin returns from Japan with his manservant Masa, he enters the service of Moscow governor Prince Dolgorukoi. Later that day, the White General Mikhail Sobolev, nicknamed the Russian Achilles and an old friend of Fandorin's, is found dead in the same hotel. Officially, he died of a heart attack, but Fandorin becomes suspicious when he talks with the body guards of the general. Fandorin had befriended these cossacks when he rooted out a Turkish spy during the siege of Plevna (see ''The Turkish Gambit''). But the same cossacks now treat him with hostility.

Fandorin finds out the reason for their hostility as he discovers that the general had not really died in the hotel, but was moved there from the apartment of his mistress. Found dead in a compromising situation, the cossacks tried to prevent a scandal and protect the reputation of the general. But Fandorin looks even deeper and finds out that a large sum of money is missing. He learns that Sobolev is trying to raise funds to begin a political campaign, and Fandorin begins to suspect foul play. He finds that the general has been poisoned in a very clever manner, and the killer anticipated the cover up, which would ensure his safe getaway. Fandorin further discovers that the plot leads up to the highest levels of the Tsar's government, and that he himself is now viewed as an enemy of the state for his efforts to catch the killer.

The killer is Achimas Welde, a formidable hired assassin, who has only failed three times in his career. One of those times was his assignment to kill Fandorin, when he just managed to kill Fandorin's wife, as Fandorin himself was chasing him (see ''The Winter Queen''). The second half of the novel is told from Achimas' point of view and recounts his life story, up to the plot to kill Sobolev and the investigation. By chance, Achimas discovers that the man who hired him to kill Sobolev was Grand Duke Kirill Alexandrovich, the younger brother of Tsar Alexander III. Apparently, the royal court came to perceive Sobolev as dangerous due to his Napoleonic ambitions, while his immense popularity among the people makes an open trial impossible. In the concluding chapters of the novel, Fandorin kills Achimas, and prepares to flee Moscow (believing himself to be a target of the plotters), but Prince Dolgorukoi's assistant meets him at the train station and tells him that everything has been covered up and he can continue in the service of the state.

After World War III, the General Management Control Office constructs an experimental city known as Olympus. It is inhabited by humans, cyborgs, and bioroids. Bioroids are genetically engineered beings created to serve Mankind. They oversee all the administration duties of Olympus. Olympus was meant to be a utopian society, but for some, it feels more like a cage. Charon Mautholos, an Olympus city police officer, is one of the many who feel that way.

Charon secretly conspires with a terrorist, A. J. Sebastian, to destroy Gaia, a super computer that runs the various utilities and networks of Olympus. Out to stop them are Olympus City ESWAT (Enhanced SWAT) team members Deunan Knute and Briareos Hecatonchires. Deunan and Briareos are determined to stop the terrorist plot by any means necessary.

A.J. Sebastian and Charon have plotted to disable Gaia, the computer system which controls Olympus' infrastructure, including the override circuits which safeguard Multi-ped Cannon.

To do so, they stage a raid on the facility where bioroids are created, creating havoc by killing and by arson. However, it is discovered that the attack is just a cover for stealing information on one particular bioroid, Hitomi, a friend of Deunan and Briareos, whose DNA is the genetic key which will cause Gaia to shut down. The "locks" are a handful of kiosks, scattered across the city, and the city director orders all but one destroyed, and a heavy guard placed around the one which remains.

Sebastian converts to his full-military configuration and steals Multi-ped Cannon, while Charon—wearing a Cadmos suit which has been made faster through the removal of half the armor—takes Hitomi to the one surviving kiosk. With his faster suit, he is able to get her to the portal, through a hail of gunfire which goes through the decreased armor. As Charon dies, a terrified, confused Hitomi backs into the kiosk, launching the shutdown process.

To cover his theft of the Multi-ped Cannon, Sebastian uses the tank and its weapons to cause damage in the city, while the director and Deunan rush to try to restart Gaia, by destroying the circuit module which keeps the system offline. However, Deunan's pistol is damaged and her right (shooting) hand is injured by the databank defense system. The director hands over her own pistol, trusting Deunan's skill more than her own, even with an unfamiliar weapon and shooting left-handed.

With her last round of ammunition, Deunan is able to hit the module with pistol fire, and Gaia immediately disables the Multi-ped Cannon. Sebastian is killed, Charon is mourned, and life goes on.

Sir William Mainwaring-Brown, a British Government Minister, puts forward a bill to battle ''filth'' (permissive behaviour) in the UK. However, that does not stop him having an affair with Wendy (the wife of a high-up reporter), as well as planning a one night stand with his secretary Miss Parkyn, when he discovers her boyfriend has gone away. Opponents to the bill - mainly some hippies, led by Johnny - decide to kidnap the Minister's best friend and co-sponsor of the bill, Barry Ovis, just as he is on the way to the church to marry his fiancée, Jean.

The intention is to discredit Barry Ovis by making it appear that he was involved in an orgy and therefore, remove any credibility that the Law and Order Bill might have had. Following a tip off by Edith, one of the conspirators, the police raid the hippies' flat. Thankfully (for Barry), he escapes before the police discover him and dashes back to Sir William's flat followed by Edith.

Meanwhile, the Minister is also trying to use the flat to carry on his seduction of Miss Parkyn, only for Wendy to also appear by surprise. The Minister, Barry and Jean try to keep the truth from Inspector Ruff (Who is searching for the missing Ovis), Wilfred Potts (an ancient anti-sleaze MP, who is staying temporarily in the adjoining flat) and Birdie (the Minister's wife). Not only that, but they have to try to deal with the hippies who do their utmost to discredit Mainwaring-Brown and Ovis. Naturally this causes no end of trouble.

King Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon is troubled as she has not produced a living male heir to the throne, having only one surviving child, Princess Mary. Mary Boleyn marries William Carey. After the festivities, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk and his brother-in-law Thomas Boleyn plot to install Thomas' eldest daughter, Anne, as the king's mistress, with the hope that she will bear him a son and improve the family's wealth and status, much to the disgust of Anne's mother, Lady Elizabeth. Despite knowing that being a mistress will damage her chances of a high-ranking marriage, a reluctant Anne agrees to please her father and uncle.

While visiting the Boleyn estate, Henry is injured in a hunting accident indirectly caused by Anne. Urged by her scheming uncle, Mary nurses Henry. Henry becomes smitten and invites her to court, to which Mary and her husband reluctantly agree, fully aware of what will be expected of her. Mary and Anne become ladies-in-waiting to Queen Catherine, and Henry sends William Carey abroad on an assignment. Separated from her husband, Mary begins a passionate affair with the king and finds herself falling in love with him. Anne secretly marries the nobleman Henry Percy, although he is already betrothed to Lady Mary Talbot. Anne confides in her brother, George Boleyn, about the marriage. Overjoyed, George proceeds to tell Mary. Fearing Anne will ruin their family, Mary alerts her father and uncle. They confront Anne, forcibly annul the marriage, and exile her to France.

Mary eventually becomes pregnant with Henry's child. Her family receives new grants and estates, their debts are paid, and Henry arranges George's marriage to Jane Parker. When Mary nearly suffers a miscarriage, she is confined to bed until the child is born. Norfolk recalls Anne to England and is tasked to keep Henry's attention from wandering to another rival while Mary is confined. Believing that Mary betrayed her solely to increase her status, a revenge-driven Anne starts seducing Henry herself. When Mary gives birth to a son, Henry Carey, Thomas and Norfolk are thrilled, but the celebration is short-lived as Anne tells the king that the boy is still a bastard who can never inherit the throne. She also states that for her to accept his advances, he must no longer bed his wife and stop talking to Mary completely. This infuriates Norfolk, as Henry refuses to acknowledge the baby as his heir, but later changes his mind when Anne reveals her intent to give the king a legitimate son. At her request, Henry has Mary exiled to the countryside, leaving her heartbroken. Her grief only grows when her husband dies of the sweating sickness, leaving her a widow.

Anne further manipulates Henry into breaking from the Catholic Church when the Pope refuses to annul his marriage to Queen Catherine. A smitten Henry succumbs to her demands, declares himself Supreme Head of the Church of England, gets Cardinal Thomas Wolsey to annul the marriage and Catherine is banished from court. Having fulfilled her requests, Henry comes to Anne's chambers, but she still refuses to have sex with him until they are married (not wanting to give birth to a son out of wedlock). Overcome with both rage and lust, Henry brutally rapes her. While deeply traumatized by the assault, a now pregnant Anne marries Henry to please her family and becomes the new Queen of England. Mary is recalled to court to serve Anne and the sisters form an uneasy truce for the sake of their family. Later on, Mary meets William Stafford, a financially modest, but kind soldier and a romance eventually blossoms between the two.

Despite the birth of a healthy daughter, Elizabeth, Henry blames Anne for not immediately producing a son. As queen, she is greatly hated by the public who denounce her as a witch while as a wife, Henry starts to despise her and begins courting Jane Seymour in secret. As her marriage falls apart, Anne becomes increasingly depressed and paranoid.

After she miscarries a son, a hysterical Anne begs George to impregnate her again out of fear of being burned at the stake for witchcraft. At first, George reluctantly agrees, seeing it not only as Anne's only chance for survival, but their entire family's. However, the pair do not go through with the act. Unbeknownst to them though, George's neglected wife, Jane, under orders from Norfolk to spy on Anne, witnesses enough of the encounter to become suspicious. She reports her findings and the two are arrested. Despite the lack of any solid evidence, Anne and George are immediately found guilty by a biased jury and sentenced to death for treason, adultery and incest. A devastated Lady Elizabeth disowns both her husband and brother, vowing never to forgive them for the pain and destruction they brought upon all of her children solely out of their own quest for power.

Leaving her children with Stafford, Mary rushes back to London but arrives too late to save George, who is beheaded in front of their horrified father. Henry agrees to meet with her and she pleads with him to spare Anne's life, stating that her sister is her other half. Due to him saying he would never harm any part of her, Mary believes Anne has been spared and leaves to see her right before the scheduled execution. The two sisters truly reconcile and Anne asks Mary to look after Elizabeth if anything should happen to her.

As the execution begins, Mary watches Anne make her final speech, waiting for the cancellation. A messenger then delivers a letter from the king to her, revealing his decision to have Anne executed after all and warning her to never return to his court again. Mary can only watch in horror as her sister is beheaded. She fulfills her final promise to Anne and immediately leaves court with the toddler Elizabeth.

A textual epilogue reveals Thomas died two years after Anne and George's executions while Norfolk was imprisoned and the next three generations of his family executed for treason; Mary married Stafford and lived out her days away from court, and Elizabeth went on to rule England for over forty years as queen.

In autumn 1943, the unnamed narrator befriends Holly Golightly. The two are tenants in a brownstone apartment in Manhattan's Upper East Side. Holly (age 18–19) is a country girl turned New York café society girl. As such, she has no job and lives by socializing with wealthy men, who take her to clubs and restaurants, and give her money and expensive presents; she hopes to marry one of them. According to Capote, Golightly is not a prostitute, but an "American geisha".A March 1968 interview with ''Playboy'' contains the following exchange:

'''''Playboy''''': Would you elaborate on your comment that Holly was the prototype of today's liberated female and representative of a "whole breed of girls who live off men but are not prostitutes. They're our version of the geisha girl..."? '''Capote''': Holly Golightly was not precisely a call girl. She had no job, but accompanied expense-account men to the best restaurants and night clubs, with the understanding that her escort was obligated to give her some sort of gift, perhaps jewelry or a check ... if she felt like it, she might take her escort home for the night. So these girls are the authentic American geishas, and they're much more prevalent now than in 1943 or 1944, which was Holly's era.

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In the plot of the novel, Hadon journeys to Khokarsa to compete in the "Great Games", in which he triumphs. The prize being that he is entitled to marry the ruling high priestess, should she choose to accept him, and thus become high priest and king of the Khokarsa. However, King Minruth is unwilling to relinquish power and schemes to be rid of Hadon.

The novel deals with the expedition of Hadon, a young Oparian warrior, to the Wild Lands and as far as the mysterious Ringing Sea, which would one day be called the Mediterranean, with the strange woman whom he meets and brings with him, and with the cataclysmic civil war which breaks out on his return and which he partly (and completely unintentionally) helps touch off.

The ancient Khokarsan society of which Opar is a part is a matriarchy (a reasonable inference from the culture of the later-day Opar encountered by Tarzan). A delicate balance between the genders is maintained, symbolized by the co-rule of the high priestess and the king (whose main authority is command of the army), which corresponds to some theories of sociologists and historians on the way actual matriarchal societies may have worked. The same scheme is repeated on a smaller scale on the local level, where towns are co-governed by a local priestess and the commander of the local garrison.

The current king, Minruth, tries to subvert this immemorial system and establish exclusive male power, which incidentally would force an incestuous relationship upon the current high priestess, Awineth, who happens to be his daughter. Lalila, the foreign "White Witch from the Sea," whom Hadon brings with him and with whom he falls in love, is used as a pawn in King Minruth's power game; the xenophobic suspicions aroused about her are used in an attempt to undermine the position of women in general.

Hadon and his male and female friends rally to the high priestess' banner against the king's evil schemes.

Cassie and Tobias are having strange dreams about a presence in the ocean. Jake sees a news item on television about debris with what looks like Andalite lettering on it that has washed up on the beach, and when he shows it to the others, Cassie and Tobias have such strong visions that they momentarily pass out. The Animorphs decide to investigate, and acquire dolphin morphs to do so.

While out in the ocean, they find a humpback whale under attack by a group of sharks. The Animorphs fight the sharks and drive them off, and Marco is nearly killed in the process. Marco is able to morph back to his human form, and the whale, grateful, saves him from drowning. The whale speaks to Cassie through song, telling her about a strange place of grass and trees under the ocean. Cassie has a feeling that this place is of Andalite origin, and the Animorphs wonder if Cassie's and Tobias's visions are a sort of distress call from an Andalite trapped in the ocean. They decide that the distress call is connected to the morphing ability, and Cassie and Tobias feel it the strongest because Cassie is the most in control of her morphing ability and Tobias is trapped in a morph. They also figure out that Visser Three could be receiving the message and that the Yeerks are probably looking for the lost Andalite as well.

The Andalite's location is too far from the shore for the Animorphs to reach under the two-hour morphing limit, so they (except Tobias) morph into seagulls and stow away on a large container ship (called the ''Newmar'', from Monrovia, headed towards Singapore) that is heading in the right direction. They abandon ship and morph to dolphin when they are in range and discover the dome of an Andalite Dome Ship deep beneath the ocean's surface. They enter through an airlock and meet Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill. Marco quickly gives him the nickname Ax, and the Animorphs tell him that he is the only survivor of the Andalite-Yeerk battle in Earth orbit and that they met and received the morphing power from Prince Elfangor. Ax reveals that Elfangor was, in fact, his older brother. Ax is also a youth, which is why he was left in the separated Dome ship during the battle.

The meeting is brief however, as the Yeerks discover the sunken Dome ship and begin to drop depth charges. Ax had previously acquired a tiger shark, and he and the Animorphs escape. They are pursued by Visser Three in Mardrut morph; as they tire, Visser Three gains on them. The Animorphs decide to make a last stand, but are saved when Visser Three is attacked and chased off by a pod of sperm whales. The whales give the tired Animorphs a ride back to the shore.

Ax pledges to fight with the Animorphs and adopts Jake as his prince. He acquires Jake, Rachel, Cassie, and Marco and mixes the DNA from each to create his own human morph. The Animorphs decide to hide him in the woods near Cassie's farm.

The story starts with William Fletcher, a young man who is in love with his cousin, Alice. Her father has forbidden her marriage to Fletcher on account of religious difference. After he thwarts Alice's attempt to run away with Fletcher to North America, Alice's father forces her to marry Charles Leslie instead. In despair, Fletcher decides to leave England and relocate to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In the Bay colony, Fletcher marries an orphan girl named Martha although he is still in love with Alice. He founds a household several miles out of town, and has children; Everell, and three others. He receives word that Charles and Alice Leslie have both died, and that their children, who will be renamed Faith and Hope, will be coming to live with the Fletchers.

To address the increase in household work that the new children will bring, they family is supplied with two young Native Americans as servants. They are Magawisca and Oneco, the children of one of the Pequod chiefs, Mononotto. They have been displaced due to the Pequod War of the previous year, in which the Pequod settlement was attacked and burned by the white settlers. Most of the household is suspicious of Magawisca, especially since she occasionally talks to Nelema, an old native woman living nearby. Everell, however, always maintains that she is trustworthy and only has the family's best interests at heart.

Everell maintains his faith in Magawisca when he and Digby, the faithful family servant, are keeping watch at night; they see Magawisca slip out of her bedroom and go to speak with Nelema. At this point, William Fletcher has gone to the coast to conduct business; he has sent Faith Leslie to live with the family, but has kept Hope Leslie with him because she reminds him of his former love Alice. Magawisca is conflicted, unsure whether she ought to tell Everell that her father is preparing a surprise raid on the household to reclaim his children; she feels a strong love for the family which has treated her with kindness, but ultimately says nothing as she is unwilling to betray her father. Digby goes away on an errand that Mrs. Fletcher insists on, and so Everell is left to defend the house in the event of an attack.

The Native Americans do attack and Everell wounds one but is unable to stop the ensuing bloodbath. Mrs. Fletcher and the young children are killed and Mononotto captures Everell and Faith Leslie, and reclaims his children Magawisca and Oneco.

Mr. Fletcher returns with Hope Leslie to his home later from the coast several hours after the fight only to find his entire family dead or missing; he mourns privately for a few days, and then begins to act normally.

Meanwhile, the Native American group are attempting to reach their allies before they are caught by the settlers in pursuit. There are several close calls, but they eventually escape and reach the settlement. Magawisca attempts to help Everell escape, since she does not agree with her father's capture of the two white children, but she is unable to do so.

The natives prepare Everell for sacrifice; Mononotto is thrilled at the brave spirit with which he fought the invasion at the Fletcher home, and believes that he is a fitting sacrifice to avenge the death of his own son in the Pequod War, who was interrogated by white settlers before being killed in cold blood. Magawisca attempts to aid him, but is sent to an old woman's domicile and kept there by a stationed guard as the night wears on and the time for the sacrifice draws nigh. She is able to put the guard to sleep using an herbal sleeping tea that the old woman has in her hut, and escapes to help Everell. Everell, meanwhile, has been encircled by natives at a large rock. A moonbeam strikes his face; the natives interpret this as a sign that the sacrifice has been accepted and exult in the moment. Everell is resigned to his fate and bows his head to be killed. As the final blow is about to be struck, Magawisca leaps from the large rock which she has secretly scaled into the path of the blade. Mononotto, instead of killing Everell, cuts off his daughter's arm. In the ensuing shock of the natives, Magawisca and Everell embrace, and Everell escapes the circle and flees the encampment.

Meanwhile, Old Man Craddock gets bitten by a snake and refuses to let Hope Leslie near him so Hope calls on the old Indian servant, Nelema. Nelema cures Craddock's snakebite through a concoction that she made using Native American rituals. Jennet calls it witchcraft and Nelema is made to stand trial. Hope frees Nelema from jail and Nelema promises to send her sister Faith to her.

Hope is sent to live with the Winthrops in Boston for a while. Everell returns to America and stays with Mr. Fletcher, who now lives in Boston. Esther Downing, a niece of Mrs. Winthrop’s, becomes good friends with Hope. She seems to be everything that Hope is not: faithful, prudent, and studious. She is also kind. She tells a story of how Everell came to her death bed and her ensuing recovery. Esther is infatuated with Everell, which saddens Hope greatly. Everyone hopes Esther and Everell will marry, except Mr. Fletcher, who hopes to match the two children he raised.

The Winthrops want to pair Hope with Sir Philip Gardiner, a stranger who arrived in town on the same boat as Everell, and who has developed an interest in Hope Leslie. Sir Philip's page, Roslin, seems very odd indeed. It is later revealed that Roslin is Rosa, a former lover of Sir Philip's whom he has disguised as his male page. One evening, Hope and Esther attend a lecture pertaining to the case of Mr. Gorton. Uncharacteristically, Hope appears quite anxious. We later learn that Hope had that day received a visit from Magawisca, whom she had made plans to meet in the cemetery at 9pm that night. On the way home from the lecture, Hope impatiently leaves her escort, Sir Philip, and takes a detour to the burial ground. Hope briefly meets Roslin, who tells her that she must not trust Sir Philip. Unknown to Hope, Sir Phillip follows her and overhears the conversation with Magawisca that night. Magawisca explains that Faith has married Oneco and tries to warn Hope that her sister is very different from the sister she remembers. Nelema managed to tell Magawisca that Hope had saved her and wanted to repay her with a visit from her sister. Magawisca also explains that her sister is now a Catholic.

To facilitate her meeting with Faith, Hope arranges for the party to stay on an island belonging to Winthrop, of which Digby is the guardian. While there, she implies to all present that Everell and Esther are going to get married, and puts their hands together. She never notices that Everell longs to be with her. Sir Philip comes, too, and she tells him that she never intends to marry him. Sir Phillip is upset by this.

Everyone else agrees to leave the island and Hope goes out to meet her sister on the shore. Hope embraces Faith and tries to talk to her only to realize that Faith no longer speaks English. Magawisca must interpret for them. Hope tries to get her to come home with her, but to no avail. As they are meeting, a trap is sprung upon them by Sir Philip. Magawisca and Faith are taken by English soldiers. Magawisca is imprisoned. Hope is taken captive by Oneco and meets up with Mononotto.

Mononotto is struck by lightning as Oneco is trying to get away. He stops to take care of his father and while he does so, Hope escapes, but then runs into a group of sailors who chase her. She climbs into a boat and the Italian sailor Antonio believes first that she is the Virgin Mary, and later that she is his patron saint. Hope does nothing to disabuse Antonio of this belief, and convinces him to row her to shore.

Sir Phillip goes and visits Magawisca in jail. He gives her tools to escape with a promise that she take Rosalin with her. She refuses. Sir Phillip gets choked by Morton, whom he had claimed to be visiting. Sir Philip's true nature is momentarily revealed.

Everell attempts to save Magawisca, but fails. Hope takes Cradock with her to the jail and cleverly disguises him to look like Magawisca. She is so pleasant that the guard, Barnaby Tuttle, doesn’t notice the deception. Hope and Magawisca escape from the jail and Everell meets them on their way to the river where Digby is waiting in a boat to take Magawisca anywhere she wishes to go. They say their goodbyes and Hope gives Magawisca the necklace that Everell had made for her while he was away so Magawisca will remember them both. Magawisca gets away safely. The Winthrops all realize that Hope is gone. Everell returns Hope to her home in what he believes will be the last time he sees her.

Esther has realized that Everell and Hope love each other and she decides to return to England for a few years and remain unmarried. As if to right the original wrong of separating William Fletcher from Alice, their children, Everell Fletcher and Hope Leslie, are finally united.

The story centers around a homeless Vietnam veteran known only by his last name, Rambo. He wanders into Madison, a town in fictional Basalt County, Kentucky, and is quickly intercepted by the local police chief, Wilfred Teasle, who drives him to the town limits and orders him to stay out. When Rambo repeatedly returns, Teasle finally arrests him on charges of vagrancy and resisting arrest and gets permission to hold him for 35 days in jail. Kept inside a claustrophobia-inducing cell, Rambo experiences a flashback to his days as a POW in Vietnam, and he attacks the police as they attempt to forcibly cut his hair and shave him. Rambo forces his way out, steals a motorcycle, and hides in the nearby mountains.

Teasle, not wanting the state police to capture Rambo before he does, gets a helicopter pilot to search the woods and organizes a posse consisting of himself, his officers, and Orval Kellerman, an experienced hunter with a pack of highly trained dogs, to hunt Rambo down. Meanwhile, Rambo stumbles across an illegal still and persuades the moonshiners operating it to provide him with clothes and food; he also talks them into giving him a lever-action rifle. The posse catches up with Rambo, who is cornered by the helicopter and fires on it in self-defense; the pilot panics and loses control, causing the chopper to crash and explode. When the posse arrives, Rambo shoots two of Orval's dogs; the frightened animals leap off a cliff, taking an officer with them, and Orval is fatally wounded when he goes to check on them.

After Teasle's officers start firing wildly and waste most of their ammunition trying to kill Rambo, several desert their posts and try to make their way back to town as a violent cloudburst stirs up. Rambo obtains a hunting knife, canteen, and pistol by looting the bodies of the dead, and ambushes the fleeing officers, killing them one by one until only Teasle remains. The chief loses his gun, but Rambo's caution, the rain, and Teasle's own determination not to die enables him to escape with his life. He is rescued by the state police and, once his condition is stabilized, gets the National Guard to send several detachments of troops to assist with the manhunt.

It is eventually revealed to Teasle that Rambo was a member of an elite Green Beret unit in Vietnam; he has extensive experience in guerrilla warfare and survival tactics and received the Medal of Honor for actions above and beyond the call of duty while in Vietnam. Since his discharge from the Army, he has been unable to hold down a job, thus forcing him to live as a drifter. Teasle, bitter over the deaths of his men but also finding himself sympathetic to Rambo's plight, insists on helping capture him even though his health is beginning to deteriorate from the injuries he suffered while pursuing Rambo. Rambo also finds himself torn between his instinct to keep fighting and his sense of self-preservation; he refuses to take the opportunity to escape because the rush of battle is simply too much for him to resist.

Teasle meets Colonel Sam Trautman, the director of the Green Beret program; Trautman helps reorganize the National Guard units to better track Rambo, who is struggling with his wounds and starving. Two civilians hunting him alert the Guard to his presence before being killed, and Rambo seals himself inside an abandoned mine, where he is badly bitten and scratched by a bat colony while looking for a way out. Teasle finally collapses and is taken back to town, where he wakes up in his office after having a vision that reveals where Rambo is headed next: Madison. Having stolen a police car and a supply of dynamite, Rambo starts blowing up most of the town, including the police headquarters, and sets fire to two gas stations.

Teasle, anticipating his path, manages to surprise Rambo and shoots him in the chest, but is himself wounded in the stomach by a return shot. Rambo flees town, and Teasle follows. Both men are essentially dying by this point; the only thing keeping them alive is a mix of pride and a desire to justify their actions. As Trautman and the Guard arrive, Rambo makes his way out to a shed, where he prepares to take his own life using his last stick of dynamite. Seeing Teasle walking towards him and deciding that it would be better to die fighting, Rambo fires at him to get his attention, but to his surprise and disappointment, Teasle is hit and falls over. For a moment, Rambo reflects on how he had missed his chance of a decent death because he is now too weak to light the fuse, then suddenly feels the explosion he had expected — but in the head, not the stomach. Rambo dies, satisfied that he has come to a fitting end. Trautman returns to the dying Teasle and tells him that he managed to finish off Rambo with a shotgun. Teasle relaxes, experiences a moment of affection for Rambo, and then dies.

''Iakhovas'' has caused more destruction than any force since the Time of Troubles, but his true objective has been a mystery until now.

While on vacation in Scotland, Sally Morton learns that her lover of only two weeks, the painter Geoffrey Carroll, is married to an invalid and ends their romance. Before returning home to his pre-teen daughter, Beatrice, and his ill wife, Geoffrey buys a package from chemist Horace Blagdon, giving a false name when he signs the register. Geoffrey is painting his wife's portrait, depicting her as an "angel of death."

Two years pass and Geoffrey's first wife has died, leaving him free to marry Sally. They settle into her mansion (inherited from her father). Although Geoffrey's career is doing well, lately he has been unable to paint anything of quality. Sally, the new Mrs. Carroll, entertains her old boyfriend, Charles "Penny" Pennington, and some wealthy American guests who include the icy but beautiful Cecily Latham. Geoffrey begins painting Cecily's portrait and becomes romantically involved with her. Sally begins to suspect her husband's illicit romance. Several weeks pass and Sally has fallen ill, recovered, and become ill again. The bumbling, alcoholic local physician, Dr. Tuttle, believes that she is recovering from what he misdiagnoses as "a case of nerves."

Geoffrey goes out to call Horace, who has made a demand for money. As Beatrice packs to begin her journey to a boarding school, Sally leaves bed, surprised to discover that Beatrice is leaving. Beatrice reveals to Sally that the "first Mrs. Carroll" was not an invalid, but began to suffer from a series of illnesses very similar to her own immediately after Sally's trip to Scotland. Sally suspects that Geoffrey is gradually poisoning her via her nightly glasses of warm milk. Under the ruse of traveling to London regarding a potentially lucrative commission, Geoffrey visits Horace to make a blackmail payment but ends up beating the chemist to death. Meanwhile, Beatrice implores Sally to open the art studio so she can see Geoffrey's new portrait of Sally before she leaves for school. Sally is shocked to discover that the portrait depicts her as deathlike.

That night, during a terrific rainstorm, Sally disposes of her nightly glass of milk, rather than drinking it, and retires to her bedroom. She calls Penny and asks him to come at once, just before Geoffrey, having discovered the spilt milk by the window, cuts the telephone connection from downstairs. Inspired by a newspaper article about a local burglar who may be strangling his victims, Geoffrey ransacks the living room before going outside into the rain and breaking into his wife's bedroom. He confesses that he murdered his previous wife and tells Sally that because she no longer inspires his work, she must be killed so he can move on to Cecily. As Penny and the police arrive, Geoffrey chokes Sally into unconsciousness. Penny enters the room and rushes to Sally, helping revive her. As the officers escort Geoffrey outside, he offers to get them a drink namely a glass of milk.

The novel, set in 1861, described adventures of British expedition led by Captain John Hatteras to the North Pole. Hatteras is convinced that the sea around the pole is not frozen and his obsession is to reach the place no matter what. Mutiny by the crew results in destruction of their ship but Hatteras, with a few men, continues on the expedition. On the shore of the island of "New America (Actually New Foundland)" he discovers the remains of a ship used by the previous expedition from the United States. Doctor Clawbonny recalls in mind the plan of the real ice palace, constructed completely from ice in Russia in 1740 to build a snow-house, where they should spend a winter. The travellers winter on the island and survive mainly due to the ingenuity of Doctor Clawbonny (who is able to make fire with an ice lens, make bullets from frozen mercury and repel attacks by polar bears with remotely controlled explosions of black powder).

When the winter ends the sea becomes ice-free. The travellers build a boat from the shipwreck and head towards the pole. Here they discover an island, an active volcano, and name it after Hatteras. With difficulty a fjord is found and the group get ashore. After three hours climbing they reach the mouth of the volcano. The exact location of the pole is in the crater and Hatteras jumps into it. As the sequence was originally written, Hatteras perishes in the crater; Verne's editor, Jules Hetzel, suggested or rather required that Verne do a rewrite so that Hatteras survives but is driven insane by the intensity of the experience, and after return to England he is put into an asylum for the insane. Losing his "soul" in the cavern of the North Pole, Hatteras never speaks another word. He spends the remainder of his days walking the streets surrounding the asylum with his faithful dog Duke. While mute and deaf to the world, Hatteras' walks are not without a direction. As indicated by the last line "Captain Hatteras forever marches northward".

Beginning with brightest day, the Young Man is performing calisthenics (which he continues to do until the very end of the play) near a sandbox (or sandpit) at the beach. Mommy and Daddy have brought Grandma all the way out from the city and place her in the sandbox. As Mommy and Daddy wait nearby in some chairs, the Musician plays off and on, according to what the other characters instruct him to do. Throughout the play, the Young Man is very pleasant, greeting the other characters with a smile as he says, "Hi!". As Mommy and Daddy cease to acknowledge Grandma while they wait, Grandma reverts from her childish behavior and begins to speak coherently to the audience. Grandma and the Young Man begin to converse with each other. Grandma feels comfortable talking with the Young Man as he treats her like a human being (whereas Mommy and Daddy imply through their actions and dialogue that she is more of a chore that they must take care of). While still talking with the Young Man, she reminds someone off-stage that it should be nighttime by now. Once brightest day has become deepest night, Mommy and Daddy hear on-stage rumbling. Acknowledging that the sounds are literally coming from off-stage and not from thunder or breaking waves, Mommy knows that Grandma's death is here and weeps heavily. As daylight resumes, Mommy talks about how they must move on while standing by the sandbox before quickly exiting with Daddy. Although Grandma, who is lying down half buried in sand, has continued to mock Mommy and Daddy, she soon realizes that she can no longer move. It is at this moment that the Young Man finally stops performing his calisthenics and approaches Grandma and the sandbox. As he directs her to be still, he reveals that he is the angel of death and says, "...I am come for you." Even though he says his line like a real amateur, Grandma compliments him and closes her eyes with a smile.

Lancelot is King Arthur's most valued Knight of the Round Table and a paragon of courage and virtue. Things change, however, when he falls in love with Queen Guinevere. A sub-plot concerns Arthur's effort to forestall a challenge from a rival king, a problem that will inevitably catch Lancelot up in a personal conflict.

In order to marry Guinevere, King Leodogran's daughter, King Arthur must find a knight to defeat Leodogran's champion. Arthur chooses Lancelot, who mortally wounds his opponent. On the way back to Camelot, Lancelot foils an attempt on Guinevere's life by Sir Modred, Arthur's illegitimate son; and before the end of the journey, Lancelot and Guinevere realize their love for each other. Though Lancelot is loyal to Arthur and Guinevere's marriage to the King takes place as planned, it is not long before the two become lovers.

Modred spies on them and informs Arthur of his wife's infidelity. Lancelot escapes, but Guinevere is condemned to be burned at the stake. He returns in time to save her and then offers to give himself up provided there will be no retaliation. Nevertheless, Arthur banishes him and sends Guinevere to a convent. Years later, Modred murders Arthur for his throne, and Lancelot returns to defeat him, thus ending the civil war that has been raging in Britain. He then finds Guinevere about to take the vows of a nun.

Novelist Eric Weiss, critically celebrated but unsuccessful, "arrives" when his new, autobiographical novel becomes a best-seller. An outsider all his life, he is suddenly on the inside of everything: town cars, television studios, the Sunday book review. But as his career takes off, his personal life stutters.

His father lies ill in Maimonides Hospital, Jewish Brooklyn's version of the river Styx, wondering when Eric will produce his first grandchild. His former friends and neighbors in Brooklyn celebrate his success while simultaneously being suspicious about his attitude toward them–in life and in his novel. And his success, rather than oiling the waters of his marriage, troubles them for him and his writer-wife.

"This novel is fiction, except for the parts that aren't."

Frank Burnet has contracted an aggressive form of leukemia, and undergoes intensive treatment and four years of semiannual checkups. He later learned the checkups were a pretext for researching the genetic basis of his unusually successful response to treatment, and the physician's university had sold the rights to Frank's cells to BioGen, a biotechnology startup company. As the book opens Frank is suing the university for unauthorized misuse of his cells, but the trial judge rules that the cells were "waste" and that the university could dispose of them as it wished. Frank's lawyers advise that the university, as a tax-funded organization, can still claim the rights to the cells under the doctrine of eminent domain.

Ruthless venture capitalist "Jack" Watson conspires to steal or sabotage BioGen's cultures of Frank's cells. As part of his terms for financing BioGen, Watson previously forced the company to accept his irresponsible nephew Brad Gordon as its security chief. After Brad's carelessness nearly allows one of Watson's sabotage attempts to succeed, the company takes advantage of Brad's attraction to teenage girls, and engineers his being accused and convicted of raping a minor. Watson's price for providing a defense lawyer is that Brad must contaminate BioGen's cultures. Brad's lawyer plans to claim in defense that Brad has a gene for recklessness and instructs him to engage in various high-risk activities. As a result, Brad gets into a fight with a pair of martial arts experts and is finally shot by the police.

After Brad's sabotage, BioGen consults lawyers, who advise that under United States law they have the rights to all of Frank's cell line and thus the right to extract replacement cells, by force if necessary, from Frank or any of his descendants. When Frank goes on the run, BioGen hires bounty hunter Vasco Borden to obtain such cells, regardless of whether the donors consent. Vasco plans to snatch Frank's grandson Jamie from his school but is foiled by Jamie's mother Alex, whom he tries to seize instead. After escaping, Alex and Jamie also go on the run.

Henry Kendall, a researcher at another biotech company, finds that his illegal introduction of human genes into a chimpanzee a few years ago while working at the NIH primate research facility unexpectedly produced a transgenic chimpanzee, who can talk and whose behavior is generally childlike but reverts to chimpanzee patterns under stress. The agency intends to destroy the chimp-boy, Dave, in order to cover up the unauthorized experiment, but Henry sneaks him out of the lab. Henry's wife Lynn strongly opposes bringing Dave into their home, but their son, also named Jamie, becomes close friends with him. Lynn becomes Dave's most determined defender and, to explain Dave's odd appearance, publishes online reports of a fictitious genetic disease. She grooms him as a senior female would groom a very young chimpanzee in the wild. Dave is sent to the same school as Jamie and gets into trouble after biting the leader of a gang of bullies who attack Jamie. The chimp-boy becomes increasingly isolated at school; academically, he is backward in some areas such as writing, while in sports, his classmates regard him as unfair competition.

Paris-based animal behavior researcher Gail Bond finds that her two-year-old grey parrot, Gerard, into which human genes were injected while he was a chick, has been helping her son produce near-perfect homework. While she is testing Gerard's abilities, the bird becomes bored and mimics the voices and other sounds of her husband having sex in their home with another woman. After a quarrel, Gail's husband, an investment banker, gives Gerard as a "money can't buy this" present to an influential and lecherous client. The client finds Gerard an embarrassment and passes him on to another owner, and so on. Eventually, Gerard ends up in the hands of Stan Milgram, who loses patience with Gerard's loquacity while delivering the parrot to yet another owner three days' drive away and leaves the bird by the roadside. Gerard flies out off in search of more pleasant surroundings.

After a few more narrow escapes, Alex and Jamie head for the home of Lynn, who happens to be a childhood friend. Vasco anticipates this move and tries to snatch Jamie – but abducts Lynn's son Jamie instead. Dave saves Lynn's Jamie, biting off Vasco's ear and damaging the ambulance in which Vasco planned to extract the tissue samples. However, Vasco's associate snatches Alex's son while everyone is celebrating the rescue of Lynn's. While the hunt is going on, Biogen's lawyers apply for a warrant to arrest Alex, on the grounds that she had stolen the company's property, namely her and her son's cells. She has to go straight from the fight to the courtroom, where her lawyer outplays Biogen's, and the judge adjourns to check details of the relevant laws and precedents overnight. Alex and Henry discover that Alex's son is being moved to a private clinic where the tissue samples are to be taken. As they move in to retrieve him, Gerard, now a resident of the clinic's gardens, reminds Jamie to shout for his mother, who rescues him. Vasco gives up after Dave attacks him, and Alex threatens him with a shotgun. The next day the judge rules in Alex's favor and rejects the precedents as attempts to abolish normal human feelings by decree, a violation of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which forbids slavery. The ruling will likely hamper research in the long run, and prevent patients from selling their tissues rather than donating them for research.

Gerard is welcomed into Lynn's home. After he mimics telephone dial tones Lynn contacts Gail, and he is reunited with her. Press commentators praise the household as a trend-setting inter-species transgenic family, and Henry is honored by some scientific organizations.

In other plot threads: BioGen researcher Josh Winkler's drug-addicted brother, Adam, accidentally exposes himself to a "maturity" gene that the company is developing for the control of irresponsible and addictive behavior. After Adam reforms within a few days, their mother pressures Josh to administer the gene to friends and relatives who also behave irresponsibly. By the end of the book all of his rat and human subjects die of accelerated old age. The staff at a hospital provide samples from corpses for use by unscrupulous relatives in lawsuits, sell corpses' bones for medical uses, and destroy records and samples to cover their tracks. Henry Kendall's boss Dr. Robert Bellarmino, a mediocre scientist but skillful manipulator, is also a lay preacher and slants his comments to journalists, schoolchildren and politicians according to whether his audience has religious or pro-science inclinations. He is ultimately shot by Brad Gordon at an amusement park. Ironically, Bellarmino was only at the park to look for people who might have the gene for recklessness, and Gordon was only there to bolster the evidence for his lawyer's case that he has the gene. An orangutan in Sumatra becomes famous for its ability to speak obscene statements in Dutch and French. An adventurer overdoses the orangutan with tranquillizer while trying to capture it, and has to give it mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. As a result, the orangutan catches the adventurer's cold and dies from a respiratory infection. An expert who dissects its corpse finds that its throat is very human-like but concludes from the shape of its skull that its brain is pure orangutan. An avant garde artist uses genetic modification to change the appearance of animals, while another self-named "artist/biologist" is falsely accused of modifying turtles so that females laying eggs are less vulnerable to predators because the turtles' genetically engineered bioluminescence attracts tourists. An advertising agency proposes to make genetically engineered animals and plants carry advertisements, and claims that this would be a very effective conservation strategy. Billionaire "Jack" Watson becomes the victim of an extremely aggressive form of genetic cancer, and is very nearly unable to receive treatment due to others' patents on the relevant genes, giving Watson "a taste of his own medicine". He eventually procures experimental treatment, which fails to save his life. *In a meeting, several prominent US Senators begin discussing various issues related to genetic modification, and realize that the science is outpacing the ability of the political system to introduce laws dealing with it.

The book also features news reports, many about the genetics of blondes and of Neanderthals. These two themes combine into reports that Neanderthals were the first blondes, were more intelligent than Cro-Magnon humans and interbred with Cro-Magnons out of pity, and that "cavemen preferred blondes". At one point three successive reports feature a scientist's press release that Neanderthals had a gene that made them both behaviorally conservative and ecologically conservationist, an environmentalist's interpretation of that press release that modern humans need to learn from the Neanderthals lest they too become extinct, and a business columnist's interpretation that over-caution caused the Neanderthals' extinction.

''Boys in the Sand'' is composed of three segments set on Fire Island. * ''Bayside'': Dark-haired, bearded Peter Fisk walks along the wooded paths of the island until reaching a beach. He strips and sits on blanket, watching the sea intently. Suddenly, out in the water, blond naked Donovan appears and runs up onto the beach to Fisk. Fisk performs oral sex on Donovan, who then leads Fisk into the woods. Fisk grabs the blanket and follows, catching up to Donovan in a clearing. They kiss and touch each other, then Donovan takes a studded leather strap from Fisk's wrist and attaches it around Fisk's genitalia. They continue the scene, with each performing oral sex on the other and Donovan penetrating Fisk. Following Donovan's climax he returns to servicing Fisk orally and, as Fisk is climaxing, momentary flashes of previous scenes are intercut. The scene ends with Fisk taking the strap from his genitals and attaching it around Donovan's wrist. Fisk runs into the ocean and vanishes, mirroring Donovan's entrance. Donovan dons Fisk's abandoned clothes and heads off down the beach. * ''Poolside'': The segment opens with Donovan on a pier, holding a newspaper. He returns to his house, strips by the pool and begins reading. Intrigued by an ad in the back of the paper, Donovan writes a letter in response. After a number of days pass (marked by fluttering calendar pages), he receives a reply in the form of a package. Inside is a tablet, which he throws into the pool. The water starts to churn and dark-haired Danny Di Cioccio emerges to Donovan's delight. The two couple by the pool, with each performing oral sex on the other and Donovan penetrating Di Cioccio in a variety of positions. Di Cioccio turns the tables and tops Donovan until Donovan's climax. The scene closes with the two engaged in horseplay in the pool and then walking off together down a boardwalk. * ''Inside'': This final segment opens with shots of Donovan showering, toweling off and wandering idly around his room, intercut with shots of African-American telephone repairman Tommy Moore checking various poles and lines outside. Donovan spots Moore from his balcony, and Moore sees Donovan as well. The remainder of the segment consists of Donovan's fantasized sexual encounters with Moore throughout the house intercut with shots of Donovan sniffing poppers and penetrating himself with a large black dildo. The segment ends following Donovan's climax with the dildo, with the real Moore coming inside the house and closing the door behind them.

The novel begins as life is seemingly returning to normal for the Jarretts of Lake Forest, Illinois, in September 1975. It is slightly more than a year since their elder son Buck was killed when a sudden storm came up while he and their other son Conrad were sailing on Lake Michigan. Six months later, a severely depressed Conrad attempted suicide by slashing his wrists with a razor in the bathroom. His parents committed him to a psychiatric hospital from which he has only recently returned after eight months of treatment. He is attending school and trying to resume his life, but knows he still has unresolved issues, particularly with his mother, Beth, who has never really recovered from Buck's death and keeps an almost maniacally perfect household and family.

His father Calvin, a successful tax attorney, gently leans on him to make appointments to see a local psychiatrist, Dr. Tyrone Berger. Initially resistant, he slowly starts to respond to Dr. Berger and comes to terms with the root cause of his depression, his identity crisis and survivor's guilt over having survived when Buck did not. Also helping is a relationship with a new girlfriend, Jeannine Pratt.

Calvin sees Dr. Berger as the events of the recent past have caused him to begin to doubt many things he once took for granted, leading to a midlife crisis. This leads to strain in his marriage as he finds Beth increasingly cold and distant, while she in turn believes he is overly concerned about Conrad to the point of being manipulated. Finally the friction becomes enough that Beth decides to leave him at the novel's conclusion. Father and son, however, have closed the gap between them.

''Frritt'' expresses the sounds of a roaring hurricane and ''flacc'' the sound of falling streams of water during a rainstorm.

Dr. Trifulgas, a physician, lives in Luktrop, at a building known as the "Six-four", due to having six openings on one side and four on the other. The "Six-four" is described as one of the richest and most comfortable houses in Luktrop. Due to his medical career, Trifulgas owns a fortune consisting of "millions of " (the local currency). He reportedly lacks compassion and insists on receiving advance payments before treating any patient. He lives alone with his pet dog Hurzof, a mongrel.

On a stormy night, Trifulgas is visited at home by a young girl, who asks him to tend to her dying father. Trifulgas enquires on the name of the father. When he learns that the father is Vort Kartif, a man who trades in salted herring at a location called Val Karnion, he refuses to help the girl. Trifulgas knows Kartif, and knows that he is a poor man. He does not expect to receive sufficient payment from him, so chooses not to bother and goes back to sleep.

Twenty minutes later, Trifulgas is visited by a woman claiming to be Vort Kartif's wife. She wants him to travel to Val Karnion with her and tend to her dying husband, and offers a payment of twenty . Trifulgas rejects her offer, as he finds the offered payment insufficient. He does not wish to travel in a storm and risk catching a cold or to suffer from lumbago. He also expects to soon visit Edzingov, a rich patient suffering from gout, and he charges the man fifty for every visit. Trifulgas goes back to sleep.

Later than night, Trifulgas is visited by a woman claiming to be Vort Kartif's mother. He is annoyed and wishes for Kartif's daughter, wife, and mother to perish with him. The woman claims to have money, from the recent sale of their house to "camondeur Doutrup". Trifulgas asks for a payment of two-hundred , but the woman only has a hundred and twenty . Trifulgas initially turns down the offer, but changes his mind after figuring that "a small profit" is better than nothing.

Trifulgas receives his payment in advance, and follows the old woman by foot. His trained dog carries a lantern to light their way. Trifulgas can hear the bells ringing, but ignores the bad omen. He does not believe in superstitions. Shortly before they reach Kartif's house, the volcano explodes and Trifulgas is hurled to the ground. When he rises from the ground, the lantern has been extinguished and the old woman has disappeared. Trifulgas walks alone towards Kartif's house. Having already received his payment, he is determined to fulfil his part of the bargain.

When Trifulgas reaches Kartif's house, he realizes that it resembles the "Six-four" in many ways. He strangely feels as if entering his own house. He enters the house alone, through an unlocked door. Hurzof, his dog, stays outside the house and starts howling. Inside the house, Trifulgas recognizes the rooms, furniture, and books from the "Six-four". He even finds a book open at page 197, the same book he left open at that page earlier in the story. Trifulgas suddenly feels fear. He approaches the bed, and finds himself lying there. His patient is not Vort Kartif, but Trifulgas himself.

Trifulgas quickly recognizes symptoms in the patient: heart failure, cerebral apoplexy, paralysis of the body. Soon there is organ failure, both the heart and the lungs cease to function. Desperate for a cure for his patient-self, Trifulgas decides to try bloodletting. But no blood flows from the open veins. As the doctor tends to the patient, he starts demonstrating signs of poor health. First the patient dies, then the doctor. Both versions of Trifulgas are dead, as he has failed to heal himself.

The following morning, Trifulgas' copse is discovered in the "Six-four". The locals arrange his funeral at the cemetery of Luktrop, where he is buried alongside former patients whose lives he had failed to save. Hurzof the dog has disappeared, but the folklore of Luktrop and Volsinia speaks of the dog haunting the country, a long time after the death of its master. Hurzof is still transporting Trifulgas' lantern, and reportedly keeps howling like a lost dog.

''Arthur's Treasured Volumes'' was a series of one-episode sitcoms. At the beginning of each episode, Anthea Askey, Arthur's daughter, takes down a book from a shelf and the story begins. All the 'books' are in fact scripts written by Dave Freeman. In each episode, Arthur Askey, Sam Kydd and Arthur Mullard play different roles. Amongst those who made guest appearances were Wilfrid Brambell, Patrick Newell, June Whitfield and Geoffrey Palmer.

Setting

The primary setting is at a private all-girls school named Seio Girls' Academy, also called Seio Jogakuin Christian Education, which was founded in 1886 by Mizuho's ancestor. Seio was originally named , which was used in original Windows version, the drama CD of the visual novel, and for the ''Caramel Box Yarukibako'' fan disc. This name was later ascertained to be similar to a name of an actual school, and the school's name was changed to . Seio is used in the PlayStation 2 version, DVD Windows edition, ''Caramel Box Yarukibako Fukkoku-ban'' and anime series. The secondary setting is at a dormitory building named , which Mizuho, Mariya, Yukari and Kana are boarding at. There are four other former dormitories named Tsubaki-yakata, Enoki-yakata, Hisagi-yakata and Hiiragi-yakata.

Main characters

The player assumes the role of Mizuho Miyanokouji, the protagonist of ''Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru''. He is a kind high school student who impersonates a girl at an all-girls school, which he transfers into per his grandfather's will. He spends his time with many fellow attendees, some of which live in the nearby dormitory, and enjoys helping them with any problems they may have. His childhood friend Mariya Mikado attends the school with him, and helps in his female transition. She has a spirited personality with a bit of a temper, and has been a support for Mizuho in the past. Mizuho meets a classmate named Shion Jujo who has a silent voice and demeanor; she quickly figures out that Mizuho is actually a boy, but tells no one. The previous year, she had to be hospitalized soon after she was elected as the Elder due to an illness.

At the dormitory lives an energetic first-year student named Yukari Kamioka. She is on the track and field team along with Mariya, who is her , and has low confidence in her ability to run. Another first-year at the dormitory named Kana Suoin meets Mizuho on the day he moves in, and soon after Mizuho becomes her ''Oneesama''. Kana is more than happy to serve Mizuho any way she can, since she admires him immensely. A hyperactive ghost resides in Mizuho's room named Ichiko Takashima and is shown to speak very fast when excited. She says that Mizuho looks very much like her previous Elder love interest, who turns out to be Mizuho's deceased mother. The student council president at Seio is Takako Itsukushima who tends to have a serious personality.

Story

''Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru'' revolves around the main protagonist Mizuho Miyanokouji, a male high school student. After Mizuho's grandfather dies, his will is reviewed, which explains his desire to have his grandson transfer to Seio Girls' Academy, the same one his own mother attended and his ancestors founded. Abiding by the will, Mizuho cross-dresses to attend the school. The headmistress, the deputy head teacher (visual novel only), Mizuho's homeroom teacher Hisako Kajiura and Mariya Mikado initially know his secret; Shion Jujo and Ichiko Takashima also eventually find this out. Mizuho is very popular among the other students, who often talk about how pretty, nice, and athletic Mizuho is. This rampant popularity escalates to him even being nominated against his will to join in on the Elder election. By these terms, the current student council president, Takako Itsukushima, runs against Mizuho.

The Elder election is an old tradition at Seio Girls' Academy where every June one of the students is elected by her peers to be the "Elder", who is seen as the number one "Elder Sister" in the school. Until her graduation, she is referred to by her peers as . To become an Elder, a candidate must gain at least 75% of the votes. If none of the candidates get at least 75% in the first round of voting, one of the candidates hands over her votes to another candidate, and the candidate who finally obtains at least 75% of the votes becomes the Elder. If there is no one else in the election, the current year's student council president becomes the Elder. In ''Otoboku'', Mizuho gains 82% of the votes in the first round, effectively becoming the 72nd Elder in the school's history. After becoming Elder, Mizuho progressively gets more popular among the student body, since he is now a symbol of the school's excellence. In the following months, Mizuho starts to get to know some of the girls better and helps them with their problems.

''Futari no Elder''

''Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru: Futari no Elder'' is written from the viewpoints of main character Chihaya Kisakinomiya and secondary character Kaoruko Nanahara. ''Futari no Elder'' begins about two years after Mizuho's graduation. The main protagonist Chihaya Mikado was truant at his school because of harassment in the school and of a distrust in men. His mother cannot bear to watch him be in trouble, so she makes him transfer to Seio Girls' Academy, her old school. He dresses as a girl and introduces himself as Chihaya Kisakinomiya. Chihaya meets another protagonist Kaoruko Nanahara, who once rescued him from a playboy, and he begins to live in the dormitory building. He becomes the focus of public attention due to his attractive face and figure, and due to high grades at studies.

In the 75th Elder election, there are four finalists; Hatsune Minase hands over her votes to Kaoruko and Makiyo Shingyouji hands over her votes to Chihaya. Then Chihaya and Kaoruko gain the same votes of 368 together. Though a candidate which gains 75% or more of the votes becomes the Elder, Hatsune, as the student council president, proposes that both Chihaya and Kaoruko become the Elders; the motion is adopted unanimously. This is the first time there have been two Elders in the history of Seio Girls' Academy.

Twilight Dancers offers a disturbing yet a humorous look at the country's social realities through the eyes of three macho dancers or male strippers.

One of them is Dwight (Tyron Perez), young and at the peak of his trade, who loses the girl he loves to a politician's son. Then there is Alfred, who at 28 is past his prime and is kicked out of the club. Finally is Bert, 30, who has long since given up dancing and is now the bodyguard-driver of a corrupt businesswoman. But Bert's boss, Madame Loca (Cherry Pie Picache), manipulates the events that push the three dancers to fight for survival, and to finally confront issues of love, friendship and betrayal.

Adding to these conflicts are a deaf-mute wife who refuses to go back to her macho dancer husband, a director who keeps promising stardom to a male dancer named Michael (Terence Baylon), a transvestite performer who fakes being a virgin as well, a tyrannical mayor who cross-dresses at his birthday party, and a union leader who gets shot by an assassin in broad daylight.

But as their club's manager Taurus always says, "They are only here to serve the carnal desires of men. The show has to go on." ''Twilight Dancers'' is the third movie from director Mel Chionglo about Philippine's macho dancer industry.

The eponymous "Brotherhood of Justice" begins as a well-intentioned attempt by students to stamp out violence and drugs in their high school, but this "solution" gradually becomes worse than the original problem. As the Brotherhood's targets expand to include all who irritate them for any reason, the group's actions escalate to arson and attempted murder. Its original leader, Derek, seeing what the group has become, turns against his comrades.

Tarzan leaves Africa and goes to present-day New York City to seek vengeance for the murder of his Ape mother Kala, and to rescue Cheeta who was taken by hunters working for B. B. Brightmore (Jan-Michael Vincent) and his Brightmore Foundation. Soon Tarzan discovers this supposed philanthropic organization is conducting illegal tests on animal brains in an effort to transfer the thoughts and knowledge of one creature to another, and he sets out to rescue the animals and expose Brightmore. He is aided by Jane Porter (a cab driver, played by Kim Crosby) and her father, Archimedes "Archie" Porter (Tony Curtis), a retired police officer, now the head of his own security agency.

With Brightmore's operations shut down, Jane joins her father's security agency, and both talk Tarzan into coming on board at minimum wage, but with all the bananas Cheeta can eat.

Rosario, a philosophy professor in crisis for the end of his marriage, begins - pushed by the Virgin Mary who appears to him constantly - to enjoy life by committing all sorts of crimes. Thanks to his personality change, Rosario will be able to reconnect with his beloved wife.

Harry went to Manila with his friend James to exact vengeance on his abusive father who used to pimp him and killed his mother. He ended up working as a Macho dancer in a gay club and became involved with a gay writer and a hooker. When he set out to look for his father to avenge his mother's death, he found him dying of AIDS in a shack in squatter's area and told him that his mother was alive after all. He looked for his mother and got reunited with her who taught him to forgive his father. His father eventually dies.

The story revolves around the lives of three brothers who work as strippers in a gay bar in Ermita, Manila. The oldest, Joel, has a wife and a boyfriend. Dennis, the middle brother, steals car radios with his friends. The youngest, Sonny, dropped out of college and has a transsexual lover.

Set 10 years prior to the events of ''Valhalla and the Lord of Infinity'' as the player takes control of the character of Infinity from the first game's mentor. The game is set in a castle named Valhalla which contains many puzzles to solve. Infinity is jealous of his brother, the Good King Garamond as he has taken, in Infinity's opinion Infinity's place as king. Infinity's rage brings him to the decision to destroy his brother so that he will take the place as King.

In the Wołyń Voivodeship in eastern Poland, the German minority is oppressed by the Polish majority. The physician Dr. Thomas does not have any hospital available and his daughter Marie, who teaches at a German school, and needs an important operation, watches when her school is seized by Polish authorities and demolished by an angry mob. Dr. Thomas protests to the mayor, noting the constitutionally guaranteed minority rights; however his protest falls on deaf ears. Marie and her fiancé, Dr. Fritz Mutius, drive to the provincial capital, in order to put their protest to the Voivode (governor), but they are not even received there either. Deciding to stay in the capital in order to call on the court the next day, that evening they go to the cinema. They are accompanied there by her friend Karl Michalek, who has been pressed into service by the Polish Army. When they refuse to sing the Polish national anthem ''Mazurek Dąbrowskiego'' with the rest of the audience, Fritz gets grievously hurt by the furious Polish crowd. Marie tries to take her betrothed to a hospital, but he is refused admission and succumbs to his injuries.

Back home, the acts of violence against the German minority continue to increase: Marie's father too becomes the victim of a Polish attack and is blinded as a result; the wife of innkeeper Ludwig Launhardt, Martha, dies after being struck by stones thrown by Poles. When during the Invasion of Poland the German villagers meet secretly in a barn, in order to hear Hitler's speech of 1 September 1939 before the Reichstag, they are discovered, arrested and imprisoned. Marie keeps up their spirits with the promise that they will escape, that Germans are deeply concerned about them, and that they will be able to return home and hear neither Yiddish nor Polish, but only German. They are abused by the prison guards, but escape through an underground cellar and, scarcely avoiding a massacre, are saved by invading Wehrmacht soldiers. The German escapees ready for their resettlement into the "homeland", while widowed Ludwig Launhardt asks for Marie's hand. At the end of the film the German trek crosses the border into the Reich. The conclusion shows an enormous picture of Hitler set up at the checkpoint.

The Federation starship ''Voyager'' is orbiting the Mari homeworld, a race of telepaths. As the ship's crew trade for supplies, they find it difficult to haggle and bargain with mind readers. While all of this is happening, ''Voyager'' s Vulcan Security Chief, Lt. Commander Tuvok, and the city's Chief Examiner, Nimira, talk about security and maintaining order. Nimira states that her job is slowly becoming obsolete with their methods of crime prevention. There has been no violence in their society for years, and she is one of the last security officers among the Mari. Sharing a curiosity regarding crime and punishment in their own society, Tuvok offers to transport her aboard Voyager to demonstrate their ways of security enforcement. While Captain Janeway and her half-Klingon Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres are negotiating for a resonator coil, someone bumps into Torres, momentarily irritating her. She calms herself, shrugging it off as an accident. Moments later they run over to find the man who bumped into Torres beating another man bloody. The beaten man is severely injured as Janeway stops the aggressor. The aggressor seems surprised at himself and says he does not know why he did that.

While aboard Voyager, Nimira is puzzled about the ship's brig and the concept of incarceration as a form of punishment, only to be called back to the surface regarding the attack. After questioning the crew, Nimira determines that B'Elanna's angry thought earlier that day was transmitted telepathically to the aggressor, and thus she is the more guilty of the two. She is sentenced to undergo memory modification to remove the thought, as is the aggressor. Janeway protests, as the modification process carries the risk of neurological damage. Before Janeway can unearth enough evidence to try to get Torres out, another attack occurs with the same memory, indicating that it is still in circulation. Unfortunately this attack ends with an old woman plunging a knife into the body of an attractive young woman whom Neelix had become enamored of. Tuvok goes undercover and finds an illicit memory trade in which the salesman of the resonator coil is a key figure. He determines that B'Elanna's memory was goaded from her in order to be resold, but it was too violent for the illicit Mari tradesmen to contain, and this caused the outbursts among the Mari. Torres is released due to this new evidence, just moments before her brain was to be probed. Nimira herself is shocked to find that all thoughts of violence have not disappeared from her people.

Later at the end of the episode, Seven of Nine urges the Captain not to visit these foreign worlds to avoid such dangerous complications in the future. Janeway, however, turns down her suggestion and remarks that ''Voyager'' was built for the purpose of human exploration, and that the crew will continue to visit new worlds and take in new experiences because this was a part of the ship's mission.

Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe is hired by a Kansas woman named Orfamay Quest, who desperately wants him to find her brother, Orrin. After Marlowe searches Orrin's former hotel room, he finds the desk clerk, Haven Clausen, murdered with an ice pick and a page torn out of the register book. Soon afterwards, Marlowe receives a call from hotel guest Grant Hicks, who nervously implores him to hold onto something for a day. When Marlowe arrives at his location, he finds Hicks with an ice pick buried in his neck and is confronted by a masked woman, who knocks Marlowe out and flees. Marlowe searches the room and finds a claim ticket for a photographic film.

Marlowe traces the masked woman to a movie star, Mavis Wald, and her friend, exotic dancer Dolores Gonzales. He suspects Wald of having a role in the murder of a blackmailer who had photographs showing her having a rendezvous with mobster boss Sonny Steelgrave, and offers her his help, which she rejects. Steelgrave makes several unsuccessful attempts to scare Marlowe off the case.

With help from Wald's agent, Marlowe is able to clear Wald and Steelgrave of the ice pick murders. Orfamay tells him her brother is staying at the clinic of Dr. Vincent Lagardie. Marlowe confronts the doctor, who tranquilizes him with a drugged cigarette. Marlowe comes around during the night and, still groggy, searches the clinic. He hears gunshots and stumbles upon a mortally wounded Orrin. Marlowe finds a photograph that reveals that Wald, Orrin and Orfamay are siblings. This convinces Marlowe that Orrin was the blackmailer and murderer.

Orfamay blames Marlowe for having taken too long looking for Orrin. Marlowe destroys the pictures and the negatives, and then gets a visit from Dolores, who tells him that Wald wants to see him. During their ride to Steelgrave's mansion, Marlowe learns that Dolores and Steelgrave had at one time been romantically involved. Marlowe finds Steelgrave dead and a disconsolate Wald beside him; she tells him she killed Steelgrave because he had her brother killed. In order to protect Wald's reputation, Marlowe sets things up to make it look as if Steelgrave committed suicide, though the police are not fooled.

Marlowe catches Orfamay searching his home and he tells her he has already destroyed the photographs and the negatives. Wald arrives and a heated confrontation reveals that Orfamay knew about Orrin's blackmailing scheme and wanted to stop him for his own safety, for which she hired Marlowe. She subsequently told Steelgrave, in return for one thousand dollars, where to find Orrin. Marlowe breaks up the fight and tells Orfamay to go back to Kansas. In a tender discussion with Wald, she admits she pretended to have killed Steelgrave to protect Orfamay, who she thought had killed him.

With Wald's secret safe, Marlowe confronts Dolores with his suspicion that she was Orrin's partner in crime and once married to Dr. Lagardie. Still in love with Steelgrave, she wanted to force Wald away from him. Orrin murdered Hicks and Clausen because Hicks wanted to take over the scheme, and the drug-addicted Clausen was too unstable. Dolores admits to everything but believes that Marlowe is too fond of Wald to tell the police what he knows. As Marlowe phones the police, Dolores is shot dead by Lagardie, who then kills himself. Marlowe leaves the club before the police arrive.

In ''Black Powder War'', Captain William Laurence and Temeraire - along with the surviving members of their crew - are ordered to make all haste and return from the mission to China via Istanbul, where they are to take custody of three dragon eggs purchased from the Ottoman Empire by the British Government. Laurence and his first lieutenant John Granby are confused at the provenance of these orders, as there must surely be some British dragon nearer to Istanbul than they, but the promise of the eggs spurs them on. In a prologue, Laurence also observes the burial of Prince Yongxing, the primary antagonist of the previous novel, and the mourning of his much-distrusted albino dragon Lien. She is seen in company with the French diplomat de Guignes, which Laurence feels cannot bode well.

Deciding to eschew the ''Allegiance,'' which suffers fire damage at the opening of the novel, Laurence takes the services of a guide named Tharkay, the well-bred but ostracized child of a British diplomat and a Nepalese woman. With his help, the group survives ambush in the Central Asian deserts, befriends a pack of feral dragons in the mountains of Turkestan, and makes its way to Istanbul. Once there, however, they face clear betrayal; the Sultan has chosen to ally himself with Napoleon, probably at the urging of Lien, who is now present in his court, and has seized the exorbitant payment offered him by the British Crown whilst simultaneously reneging on any intent to hand over the eggs in return. Lien makes a private visit to Temeraire and announces that she has set herself to his destruction; as opposed to merely killing him, she wishes to see Temeraire deprived of all he holds dear, and live out the rest of his life in squalor and despondency. In the end, Laurence and his crew simply steal the promised eggs, especially once they discover that one of them is a fire-breather of the Kazilik breed, something England has been trying to get into her Aerial Corps for hundreds of years. She hatches before the end of the book, naming herself Iskierka and accepting Granby as her captain.

Temeraire and company escape to Europe, making an eventual landing in Austria. Laurence, who has been out of touch for over a year, learns more details of Napoleon's crushing victory at the Battle of Austerlitz, which he had only received scant details of during the voyage to China. The only good news to emerge from that battle is a Prussian declaration of alliance against Napoleon for what history today calls the War of the Fourth Coalition, and Laurence routes his travel through that nation. However, upon landing, Temeraire is immediately requisitioned: the Prussians were promised twenty dragons by the British Aerial Corps and have received none of them. Temeraire integrates into their ranks without much complaint, but the Prussian tactics, developed by Frederick the Great, are outdated and easily countered by the creativity of not only Napoleon but of Lien, who has once again made common cause with Temeraire's enemies. Despite the personal presence of King Frederick William III of Prussia and his wife Queen Louise, the Prussians are soundly defeated in the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, and Temeraire is forced to ferry the royal family away. Thereafter the British crew find themselves at the fortress of Danzig, soon about to fall under siege.

Though Laurence's main goal throughout the novel is the transport of the dragon eggs back to England, Temeraire's is to spread the word of what he observed in China. Britain's attitude towards dragons is that they must be harnessed by a human rider and put into service in the Aerial Corps as something of a steed, kept far away from human society and treated as well (or poorly) as the handler sees fit; as seen in the previous novel, Chinese dragons are instead full citizens who can own property and hold office in and of themselves. Temeraire's disappointment at Napoleon's victories is thus deeper than mere patriotism: Laurence has impressed on him the fact that the war must be prioritized over any consideration of equal draconic rights. His most unlikely ally, however, is Laurence himself: He has seen the material and significant benefits of human-draconic co-operation, which cemented the French triumphs. If Britain is to survive, Laurence confirms grimly, her human population ''must'' overcome their fear of dragons.

The turning-point of the siege is the arrival of Tharkay, now at the head of the flock of Turkish ferals. Using these dragons and techniques observed in China, Laurence is able to rig out the entire flock as public transportation and evacuate the city, dropping the civilians into the waiting arms of the Royal Navy. Despite a harried exfiltration under fire and the loss of the city, Temeraire and Laurence are relieved to finally be returning to Britain.

Paul Wyler is a successful sculptor best known for sculpting nude young girls. When he encounters an old flame, Sarah, he is so smitten by her beautiful daughter Laura that he asks Sarah if she will pose for him. Sarah, married but still jealous of the fact that her former lover is more attracted to her daughter, tells Paul that Laura is not interested, even though she is actually quite enthusiastic about doing it. As an alternative to live posing, Sarah takes photos of Laura posing nude and gives them to Paul so that he can sculpt Laura. After a fire at an art exhibit, Paul goes blind and cannot complete the sculpture. In the end, Laura, when going to say goodbye to Paul, allows him to finish his work by feeling her body and sculpting by feeling. This leads to a sexual encounter between the two, and the next morning Laura's mother comes to take her away.

Pu is a young woman who is having some bad dreams. Her father, meanwhile, has fallen in love with a karaoke bar hostess girl named Yok who's the girlfriend of a mobster. A hitman named Noi is then dispatched to kill the father, and Pu ends up falling in love with Noi.

A New York policeman is charged with finding a Jew who is reported to have suddenly appeared in the city decades after all Jews are thought to have been exterminated. There is a reference to a kind of second Wannsee Conference, held at Buckingham Palace in German-occupied London after the extermination of European Jews had been completed, setting up the extension of the Final Solution to the rest of the world; the last few hundred Jews are mentioned as having been discovered and killed by relentless Einsatzgruppen hunters in 1964, having hidden at the ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. There is a Cold War between the former Axis Powers allies, Germany and Japan, both of whom have nuclear weapons and are engaged in an arms race akin to that between the United States and Soviet Union in our own timeline.

Slavs and blacks are raised at "laboratories" and "farms" where their vocal cords are cut at birth and having the legal status not of slaves but of "domestic animals"; naked black gladiators fight to the death at the Madison Square Garden (the Roman "thumbs up" or "down" are modernized into green and red buttons, with a computer making the tally and automatically electrocuting the losing gladiator); children being encouraged by TV programs to torture and kill animals; policemen routinely carrying mobile torture kits for "on the spot interrogations" and having the power of extrajudicial execution against "Enemies of the Reich"; body parts of murdered Jews on sale at souvenir shops, with "collectors" trying to have "a complete collection" of samples from all extermination camps; Christianity (and presumably other religions as well) suppressed in favor of Odinist temples; pedophilia being legal with parents selling their children to sex brothels; and naked Slavic women being crucified in eroticized torture shows, among other horrors. Homosexuality is legal and considered a state ideal (in sharp contrast with the real-life homophobic policies of Germany).

Former extermination camps are open to the public as "national shrines" – not to commemorate the victims, as in our world, but to glorify the murderers and present them as heroes. What we know as the inoffensive town of Croton-on-Hudson is in this world a North American Auschwitz where the Jews of New York and the East Coast died (another camp is mentioned in the Rocky Mountains, for the West Coast). At the entrance to the town, an Elks Club sign proclaims proudly: ''"Welcome to Croton-on-Hudson, home of the Final Solution! Here perished four million enemies of the Reich."'' German doctrine in this world merges with the "American way": a neighboring town whose inhabitants gave refuge to escaping Jews was totally destroyed and its inhabitants killed (like at Lidice in Czechoslovakia); its site was then covered with asphalt and made into a huge parking lot, and later an enormous shopping center was erected on the spot.

"Respectable" society is murderous, but when the protagonist starts digging deeper into the underworld, he discovers, hidden but still there, (what we would call) decent or even heroic people: first, old men still playing chess at the tables in Washington Square; a former Roman Catholic priest who had once broken under Gestapo interrogation and who dreams of a second chance to die as a martyr (the detective protagonist grants him his wish); a member of the underground, known as "Patties" (from George S. Patton, who together with Douglas MacArthur was executed in the "St. Louis Trials") still carrying on a desperate anti-German fight against all odds; finally the hunted Jew himself (who turns out to be from our own world, having fallen into this world by the worst of bad fortune). The protagonist finally kills him—not out of anti-Semitism which he does not really feel (he was born when Jews had already become a literally dead issue) but in a sort of "kindness" since sending him on to Berlin would have only exposed him to some torture before being killed.

The "Cold War" between the Germans and the Japanese seems ready to turn into World War III. In the power struggle over the legacy of the completely senile Hitler, a putsch overturns the (relatively) moderate faction of Albert Speer, known as "Axists" because they want to maintain the Axis agreements with Japan. Power is then seized by Reinhard Heydrich and the most fanatical "Contraxists", who are determined to destroy "the degenerate Yellow Race" even at the price of an all-out nuclear war in which Germany itself would be annihilated; this war is apparently incipient by the end of the text as the narrator mentions the NYPD coordinating an evacuation to the Catskills. Token and ineffectual resistance is all killed off, with the entire world about to end.

Quietly planning to go duck hunting, John Josephus (Joe) Grant, a U.S. Supreme Court justice, tells his secretary Lucy Gilbert where he will be but no one else. A fish-and-game warden promptly insists he pay an extra fee for a license and toss in a "tip". Grant refuses and ends up in town, facing possible criminal charges.

There he discovers honest lawyer Bill Adams, running for mayor against the incumbent, Connison, someone he considers to be corrupt. Judge Austin Harkley, businessman Blaxton and even the sheriff appear to be in the mayor's pocket, and when Bill is insulted and throws a punch, they conspire to keep him in jail.

Joe intervenes on Bill's behalf without telling anyone his true identity. He helps free Bill in the first legal dispute, then does likewise for Lucy after she shows up and is denied a room at the local hotel for no good reason. Joe ultimately admits who he really is, causing Bill to faint. Once he recovers, his political career begins.

For three centuries a divine prophecy and a line of warrior queens protected Skala. But the people grew complacent and Erius, a usurper king, claimed his young half-sister's throne. Now plague and drought stalk the land, war with Skala's ancient rival Plenimar drains the country's lifeblood, and to be born female into the royal line has become a death sentence as the king fights to ensure the succession of his only heir, a son. For King Erius the greatest threat comes from his own line - and from Illior's faithful, who spread the Oracle's words to a doubting populace. As noblewomen young and old perish mysteriously the kings nephew - his sister's only child - grows toward manhood. But unbeknownst to the king or the boy, strange, haunted Tobin is the princess's daughter, given male form by dark magic to protect her until she can claim her rightful destiny. Only Tobin's noble father, two wizards of Illior and an outlawed forest witch know the truth. Only they can protect young Tobin from a king's wrath, a mother's madness, and the terrifying rage of her brother's demon spirit, determined to avenge his stolen life.

Sakibara Eitaro is a 22-year-old average-level employee who has been a virgin until the beginning of the series, and is desperately trying to find a sexual partner, which eventually happens with an attractive girl named Maiko.

After Maiko, Eitaro's relationship with girls suddenly changes as he becomes more confident in himself and with sex, and he goes on to meet many girls.

Robin Shea (Rebecca De Mornay) is a convict in a New Mexico prison. She manages to escape, but mistakenly hitches a ride in the limo of James Tiernan (Frank Langella), a politician who was visiting the prison as part of his campaign for governor. He returns her to the prison in secret. While changing back into prison clothes, Robin meets Billy Moran (Vincent Spano), a carpenter and handyman who is doing work in the compound under supervision that is supposed to keep him isolated from the female inmates. Billy helps Robin temporarily hide from the guards, and they have sex.

Robin learns who James Tiernan is from a political ad on television where he talks about his strong stance on prison issues. She manages to call him at his campaign headquarters, asking for help on her upcoming parole hearing. James gives her advice, one suggestion of which is that she get married. Robin approaches Billy, offering him five thousand dollars to marry her for a year so she can get out of prison. Billy accepts, they are married and Robin is released not long after.

Robin moves in with Billy, who also lives with his brother Peter (Donovan Leitch) and Billy's son Timmy (Jamie McEnnan). Initially there is a clash of personalities due to the contrast between Billy's serious demeanor and Robin's wild-child nature. Billy is interested in having a real relationship with Robin, who instead insists that it's just an arrangement, and that she wants to focus on her musical career. Robin starts up a band, which Peter joins, and also meets up again with James, who uses Robin as a poster child for successful prison reform on his campaign.

Robin spends more time with the family, getting close to Peter and Timmy, which upsets Billy. Robin suggests they see other people, which Billy accepts. Billy has sex with another woman, while Robin has sex with James, who is married. Afterward the pair confront each other jealously over their being with other people.

The next morning Robin reconciles with Billy, helping him out when his jeep breaks down and spending time with him at work restoring an old museum. They have sex in Billy's workshop, and are interrupted by a group of tourists, who take pictures of the pair. At first Robin's public indecency is hushed up due to her status as James' poster child for giving convicts second chances, but when James sees the pictures he is jealous, and orders that Robin's parole be revoked. The police come for Robin when she is performing with her band at a bar. Robin flees to James' house for help, but he turns her away. Robin goes back to Billy's house, where he has packed up her things and prepared money for her. Billy promises to help her no matter what she wants to do, and Robin decides she is tired of running.

Billy and Robin secretly crash James' political dinner. Robin takes to the stage with her band, praising James' assistance in "helping" her. Her passionate performance earns them a standing ovation, which in turn helps James' image. James agrees to help Robin, and she no longer has to go back to prison. James goes on to win the election and Robin and Billy return home together, happily married.

Ten years after Norman Bates' death, a local entrepreneur has rebuilt the Bates Motel in Fairvale as a tourist attraction. Amy Haines travels to the infamous "Psycho House" to write a book about Bates when mysterious murders begin to occur. Haines faces resistance from the community when she enlists the help of a group to investigate the murders.

''The Arthur Askey Show'' was set in 1910, and Arthur Pilbeam's wife, Emily, was considerably younger than he was. The next door neighbours are Mr. and Mrs. Rossiter. Amongst the guest stars to make appearances were Sam Kydd, who had appeared in ''Arthur's Treasured Volumes'' the year before, and Guy Middleton.

The story is set in Stonefield, a writer's retreat run by Beth and Nicholas Hardiman, where the novelist Glen Larson stays to find inspiration for his latest novel. Tamara Drewe, a young gossip columnist, has returned to her family home nearby. Her sexy looks have every man in the vicinity falling for her. When she has a relationship with rockstar Ben Sergeant she unknowingly infatuates two teenage girlfriends, Casey and Jody, who start to intermingle with her affairs.

Two years before the events of the novel, Marco's mother vanished in a boating accident; her body was never found. Marco's father has fallen into deep depression and Marco is having second thoughts about fighting the Yeerks, parasitic aliens that are the main antagonists of the series, as he does not want his father to lose him too.

Ax wishes to return to the Andalite home world, and to do so, he needs a ship. He intends to build a communicator to broadcast a Yeerk distress signal and lure in a Yeerk ship which he can then hijack. He, Jake, and Marco go to the mall to buy the equipment to build a communicator. Ax finds the food court and runs wild sampling food left over on tables, overwhelmed by the new sense of taste. He is chased by security guards and, frightened, demorphs in the middle of the mall in front of many people. Ax, Jake, and Marco run out of the mall and into a nearby grocery store where they are chased by Controllers. They morph into lobsters and hide in a tank. They later narrowly escape being boiled alive.

Ax builds his device, but needs a zero-space transponder. Vice principal Hedrick Chapman regularly communicates with Visser Three from his basement, so the Animorphs morph into ants and retrieve the Z-space transponder that he uses. As they are returning from Chapman's house, they are almost killed when attacked by ants from another colony. They are able to demorph in time, but everyone is upset by the experience.

Ax completes his device, and broadcasts the signal, but the Yeerks have changed their distress frequencies, and, sensing a trap, they set one of their own. The Animorphs are captured (in animal morph) and taken aboard the Yeerk mother ship in Earth orbit, where Visser One is visiting. Visser One confronts them and her host body is revealed to be Marco's mother, who is alive after all. The Animorphs are put in a cell, but they are freed by one of Visser One's Hork-Bajir; Visser One and Visser Three are rivals, and Visser One wanted to disgrace Visser Three. The Animorphs reach an escape pod and return to Earth.

Marco asks Jake, the only one who had previously met Marco's mom, not to tell any of the others about Visser One. Marco resolves to continue fighting the Yeerks, as he now has a personal motivation to free his mother.

Social outcasts Mary Marshall (Ginger Rogers) and Sgt. Zachary Morgan (Joseph Cotten) meet while seated across from each other on a train bound for Pinehill. Zach, a victim of PTSD, then termed shell shock, has just been granted a ten-day leave from a military hospital to try to readjust to daily life. Mary, convicted for involuntary manslaughter, has just been given an eight-day furlough from prison to spend the Christmas holiday with her aunt and uncle in Pinehill. Each harbours a secret. Mary lies to Zach that she is a travelling saleslady on her way to spend the holidays with her family, while Zach tells Mary that he is going to visit his sister in Pinehill. After the train pulls into the station, the two exchange names. Mary then goes to the Marshall home, where she is reunited with her Uncle Henry (Tom Tully), Aunt Sarah (Spring Byington) and cousin Barbara (Shirley Temple).

Zach, meanwhile, checks into the YMCA. Unsure of herself after a three-year confinement in prison, Mary laments the loss of her youthful dreams of having a husband and family. Soon after, Zach phones and Mary invites him to dinner. After the meal, Zach confesses to Mary that he has no sister and stopped in Pinehill just to be near her. He and Mary then attend a war movie, but Zach falls mute when Mary questions him about his own experiences in the war. While stopping at a café afterward, Zach panics when the soda jerk, Swanson (Chill Wills), who is afflicted with a facial tic, recounts being shell-shocked during World War I. Apprehensive that his affliction will also result in disfigurement, Zach flees the café and is unable to share his fears with Mary.

Upon returning home, Mary, who is sharing Barbara's room, finds that Barbara has labeled her possessions. Realising that Barbara distrusts her, Mary relates the circumstances that sent her to prison. After the death of her parents, Mary had gone to work as a secretary. One night, her wealthy boss invited her to dinner at his apartment and Mary naively accepted, believing that he was inviting her to a party. Shocked to discover that she was the only guest, Mary was then accosted by her drunken boss. While struggling to avoid his advances, Mary pushed him away, sending him to his death through an open window, and Mary was sentenced to six years in prison. At the end of Mary's story, Barbara, who is touched by her cousin's misfortune, begs her forgiveness.

The next day, Zach invites Mary to the lake and there explains his behaviour of the previous night. After voicing his fears of becoming like Swanson, Zach asks Mary to help him believe in himself as she believes in herself. Over Christmas dinner at the Marshall house, Zach rhapsodizes about feeling at home with the family. Aware that her stay with the family is temporary, Mary becomes despondent and asks Aunt Sarah if she should tell Zach the truth. Sarah counsels her to remain silent. When Zach invites the Marshall family to the New Year's Eve party at the YMCA, Sarah buys Mary a new dress for the occasion. At the party, a US Senator solicits Zach's opinion as a soldier on political issues, and Zach outspokenly replies that each soldier is an individual and, as such, holds different opinions. While walking home with Mary after the dance, Zach is attacked by a dog and fends off the animal until its owner arrives to restrain it. As Mary bids Zach goodnight, she comments that he has regained his confidence and is now recovered. Knowing that they are both scheduled to leave the next day, Zach tries to discuss their future together; but Mary feigns sleepiness and asks to delay the discussion. Entering the house in tears, Mary confides her love for Zach to Sarah.

Meanwhile, after jubilantly returning to his hotel room, Zach suffers a relapse but is restored by recalling the sound of Mary's voice. The next day, Zach comes to the Marshall house to say goodbye. While alone with Zach, Barbara, not knowing that Zach is unaware of her cousin's conviction, mentions some of the details of Mary's prison sentence. Mary senses that something is wrong when Zach suddenly becomes distant and silently boards the train. Upon returning home, Mary discovers that Barbara has divulged her secret and collapses, weeping. But that night, as Mary approaches the gates of the state prison, Zach steps from the shadows to embrace her and declare his love.

Jamie McGregor (Barry Evans) is a virginal sixth-former in a Swinging Sixties new town, delivering groceries for the local supermarket. However he is more interested in matters sexual and sets out to lose his virginity by attempting to seduce the local girls – Linda, Paula, Caroline, and his dream girl, Mary. He ultimately succeeds in bedding the sexually aggressive Audrey, only to learn too late that sex is not as important as he initially believed.

The Animorphs morph cockroaches in order to infiltrate a meeting of The Sharing. They discover that the Yeerks have infested an entire hospital staff and are using them to turn patients into Controllers. Not only that, but next week their state's governor – who is a potential Presidential candidate – will be checking in for surgery.

The Animorphs morph houseflies to infiltrate the hospital, and discover a Jacuzzi that has been converted into a miniature Yeerk Pool. Jake demorphs to human and turns the Jacuzzi on to kill the Yeerks, but the Animorphs are discovered by the Controllers. In the subsequent fight Jake is hit by a bullet ricochet and his head falls in the boiling pool. He is infested by a Yeerk named Temrash 114.

The Animorphs escape from the hospital into the woods, and Jake panics as he realizes that none of his friends have noticed anything different about him. Ax notices something amiss in Temrash's initial reaction to him and accuses Jake of being a Controller. Temrash loses his cool and insults Ax, calling him "Andalite filth" and the others realize he is indeed a Controller.

The others decide to hold Jake/Temrash for three days until Temrash dies of Kandrona starvation. In the meantime, Ax morphs Jake and takes his place at home and school. The others tie Jake to a chair in an abandoned shack out in the forest, but Temrash still has access to all of Jake's morphs. He morphs to tiger in the night and escapes. He becomes lost in the forest and morphs to falcon and tries to fly away, but Cassie stops him as a great horned owl.

Temrash morphs to wolf and again tries to escape, but is stopped by the rival wolf pack from ''The Encounter''. Rachel escorts him back to the shack in elephant morph.

Temrash begins to taunt Jake, revealing that he was once the Yeerk controlling Jake's brother Tom. Jake tells him that he will never give up.

The next morning Temrash again tries to escape, this time as an ant, but is forced back by an enemy ant colony. Temrash begins to die of Kandrona starvation. As he does, Jake witnesses his pain, and in the final hours catches his first terrifying glimpse of Crayak, though Jake does not know what this strange creature is.

Jake returns to his family to find that he has apparently been acting strangely lately, because Ax is not used to being in human morph. A few days later he morphs partway to wolf (to disguise his voice) and telephones Tom to give him a message of hope.

A group of young Moroccan immigrants seeking a better life in Spain cross the Strait of Gibraltar on a lifeboat. When it capsizes near shore, it is everyone for themselves. The book chronicles the lives of four of the passengers: two men and two women, Murad, Aziz, Halima, with her three small children; and Faten, exploring their lives before the trip and why they chose the dangerous path of immigration.

Lalami has said she was inspired by an article in ''Le Monde'' about some Moroccan immigrants.

In the year 3000, Earth has been ruled by an alien race, the Psychlos, for a millennium. The Psychlos discovered a deep space probe (suggested to be Voyager 1) with directions and pictures mounted on it and the precious material, gold, that led them straight to Earth.

After one thousand years, humanity is an endangered species numbering fewer than 35,000 and reduced to a few tribes in isolated parts of the world while the Psychlos strip the planet of its mineral wealth. Jonnie Goodboy Tyler, a young man in one such tribe, lives in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Depressed by the recent death of his father and both the lethargy and sickness of most of the surviving adults in his tribe, later determined to be caused by radiation-leakage from decaying nuclear land-mines, he leaves his village to explore the lowlands and to disprove the superstitions long held by his people of monsters in those areas. He is soon captured in the ruins of Denver by Terl, the Psychlo chief of planetary security.

Psychlos stand up to tall and weigh up to . They originate from Psychlo, a planet with an atmosphere radically different from Earth, located in another universe with a different set of elements. Their "breathe-gas" explodes on contact with even trace amounts of radioactive material, such as uranium. The Psychlos have been the dominant species across multiple universes for at least 100,000 years. It becomes apparent in the later chapters that the Psychlos were originally non-violent miners but were subjugated by a ruling class called "Catrists" to become malicious, sadistic sociopaths.

Terl has been assigned to Earth, and his term has been arbitrarily extended by Numph, the planetary head of mining operations. Fearful at the thought of spending several more years on Earth, Terl decides to make himself a multi-millionaire to escape, by secretly mining a lode of gold in the Rocky Mountains that his planetary scanner drones have recently found. It is surrounded by uranium deposits that make Psychlo mining impossible, so Terl decided to capture a Man-Animal to mine the gold for him.

Terl forces Jonnie to submit to a learning machine programmed by a servile race that was exterminated centuries earlier for going on strike. It quickly teaches him numerous subjects, including the Psychlo language, by implanting the information directly into Jonnie's brain. He befriends a Psychlo midget named Ker, who is only 7 feet tall but still possesses the impressive strength of a Psychlo, and is markedly less psychotic than the others.

Looking for leverage against Jonnie, Terl captures his childhood-love Chrissie and her sister, Pattie, who went searching for Jonnie a year after he left their clan, and holds them hostage to ensure his continued cooperation. Thereafter, Jonnie is free to move around the mining area. Terl and Jonnie travel to Scotland where Jonnie recruits eighty-three Scottish people to help with the mining, including several deliberately selected body-doubles for Jonnie, older women to perform the cooking and clothes mending, a doctor, a teacher, and a historian. Jonnie tells the Scots about the evil deeds of Terl, to include how he has imprisoned Jonnie's love and her little sister. Led by Robert the Fox, the Scots agree to help him fight against the Psychlo rule on Earth and rescue Chrissie and Pattie. Terl does not understand English, and is instead convinced that the Scots are motivated by a promise of pay on project completion.

While Jonnie and his Scottish allies mine the gold deposit, they also secretly explore the ruins of humanity to look for uranium that can be weaponized for use against their Psychlo oppressors. This subterfuge is aided by the aforementioned body-doubles, making it appear to Terl's surveillance that the mining operation is the sole priority of the human contingent. Meanwhile, Terl finally gains leverage on Numph, discovering that he has been stealing company funds. Terl blackmails him, effectively negating Numph's power over him, allowing Terl to continue with his mining plans.

Terl has been busy obfuscating the purpose of the gold-mining operation and implementing his plan to ship the human-mined gold back to the Psychlo home-planet. Terl's plan involves replacing lead coffin-lids with lead-plated facsimiles made from the gold mined by the Scots, and shipping these coffins with dead Psychlos in them, home. When he finally returned to Psychlo, he could then dig up the coffins and sell the lids to make his fortune. All dead Psychlos are to be returned to home planet for burial, but recent safety measures have reduced accidents. Terl thus has to manufacture accidents to kill Psychlos, and decides to assassinate Numph as well, to get the bodies needed.

During the semi-annual teleportation of personnel, goods, and coffins to Psychlo, Jonnie and his allies co-opt Terl's plan by packing the coffins with "dirty nukes" and "planet busters" they have found, and replacing the golden coffin-lids with the original lead lids. After the last teleportation, the humans use the Psychlos' own weapons against them and gain control of the planet. With humans in control of Earth, Jonnie works to discover the secret of Psychlo mathematics and teleportation. This is a difficult task, compounded by the fact that Psychlo math is based on the number eleven, and Psychlo equations appear to make no sense.

Before the teleportation, Jonnie is forced to oppose a longtime rival from his own clan, Brown Limper Staffor, who is seeking to wrest control of Earth for himself. Unwittingly used by Terl to advance his own plans, Brown Limper nearly succeeds after gaining assistance from a group of cannibalistic mercenaries from southern Africa called the Brigantes, and their leader, General Snith. But Brown Limper is killed by Terl just before the Psychlo's teleportation, and the Brigantes are defeated.

It is discovered that all Psychlos have a deep brain-stimulation device implanted in their brains to make them controllable. Meant to make work pleasant for them, the device promotes extreme sadism in the males, causing them to attack any non-Psychlo who shows interest in Psychlo mathematics and teleportation. If the Psychlos are unsuccessful in killing their intended victims, the device compels them to commit suicide. The removal of this device frees the handful of remaining Psychlos on Earth from its affects. Curiously, Ker did not have any such device implanted in his brain.

With the Earth being threatened by other alien races looking for restitution because they had suffered under the harsh rule of the Psychlos, Jonnie opposes a race of intergalactic bankers seeking to repossess the Earth for unpaid debts. The security and independence of humanity once again threatened, Jonnie redoubles his efforts to figure out Psychlo teleportation.

It is eventually discovered that the dirty nukes sent with the intent of destroying the capital city on Psychlo instead started a chain reaction which reached into the planet's core due to over-mining, causing the planet to explode and transform into a star. Jonnie also discovers that other Psychlo facilities scattered about the multiple universes were destroyed by their own reliance on teleportation as they performed their scheduled teleportation shipments, and instead, brought back radioactive solar matter. This holocaust killed every single Psychlo in the multiple universes except for the handful remaining on Earth. Once it is revealed that all female Psychlos who leave the homeworld are sterilized to prevent off-world births, Johnny realizes that the Psychlos on Earth will not be able to reproduce, and eventually, the Psychlo race will become extinct.

Jonnie then works out a way to prevent the repossession of Earth via contracts Terl had signed with Brown Limper Staffor. The Psychlo had thought that it would be amusing to make Staffor believe that he was the legal owner of Earth as well as all Psychlo possessions across the multiple universes, by signing a contract that stated as much before his final teleportation to Planet Psychlo. Terl had no way of knowing that he was about to die, along with almost his entire race, with the destruction of his homeworld. Once planet Psychlo was destroyed, Terl was the highest ranking member of the Intergalactic Mining Company left alive, and his signature on Staffor's contract became legal. That meant that Jonnie, as the recognized leader of Earth with the death of Brown Limper, now owned what was left of the entire Psychlo empire. Using these contracts, the Earth Planetary Bank pays off all debts to the intergalactic bankers.

However, Jonnie is still perplexed by Psychlo mathematics. With the help of an aged Psychlo engineer, he learns about Psychlos using a cipher system and dummy equations to make their mathematics unsolvable. At the same time, he also discovers how the Psychlos protected their teleportation technology in their local equipment, and records the circuits for future use. Using the existing teleportation console, Jonnie is able to bring back breathe-gas from a planet in the Psychlo star system that was never officially recorded. With the Psychlo math and the circuits, Earth begins to manufacture teleportation equipment, sold to numerous planetary systems via the intergalactic bankers. At the same time, Jonnie uses the Earth's newly acquired wealth to buy impenetrable force fields and automated orbiting defense platforms to protect the Earth from future threats.

With the Earth secure and the human population growing and learning about its true history, Jonnie gives ownership of the Earth back to its people. A few years later, Jonnie and Chrissie are married and they have a son and a daughter. With human civilization being rebuilt and thriving, Jonnie and Chrissie take their children and leave for an isolated part of the world to train them in the old ways of survival, and to live out the rest of their lives in peace. But, after a year, their friends find them and implore them to return to civilization, which Jonnie reluctantly agrees to.

Years later, frustrated with un-ending fame and life away from nature, a middle-aged Jonnie takes some supplies and quietly slips away to the Rocky Mountains, never to be seen again. He becomes a figure of legend.

Setting

A few locations in the Ivalice of ''Final Fantasy XII'' and ''Final Fantasy Tactics Advance'' return in ''Revenant Wings'', along with a new setting: Lemurés, described in the official website as a legendary purvama (floating continent) raised into the skies by the god Feolthanos long before the events of the game. Because of the effect of Cloudstones or "Auraliths", magical stones used to erect barriers, this purvama is shielded from the rest of the world. In time, the "Legend of the Floating Land" became an ambition for sky pirates who seek the island and what riches are on it. The ruins of Lemurés are where the Aegyl reside; the Aegyl are a human-like race with wings sprouting from their backs and a life-span of forty years. Due to being shielded within Lemurés, the Aegyl have no knowledge of the outside world but what they learn from intruding sky pirates.

The magicite in Lemurés are known as Auracite. Fragments of Auralith, Auracites are used in the Ring of Pacts to summon beasts known as the Yarhi, referred by others of Ivalice as Espers. However, extended use of Auracite can purge the user of his or her anima, which becomes a new Yarhi and continues the cycle until the user becomes a soulless shell.

Characters

Ryoma Itō's design for Vaan

''Revenant Wings'' adds four main playable characters to the six in ''Final Fantasy XII'': Kytes and Filo, two orphans from Rabanastre; Llyud, a resident of Lemures; and Ba'Gamnan, a sinister bounty hunter who has a grudge against Vaan and company for having involved themselves in his affairs during the first game. Kytes and Filo appeared as a NPCs in ''XII'', while Ba'Gamnan had been a recurring antagonist. All three characters gain larger roles in this game.

Summon designs have also been changed. The lizard design of Salamander, for example, was changed to be boar-like to ensure the designs would come out well and distinguishable within the DS' graphical capabilities. Each summon has three Ranks, and the designs of each Rank are so that there are relations between one Rank and another.

Story

''Revenant Wings'' begins a year after the events of ''Final Fantasy XII'', with Vaan flying his own airship with Penelo after Balthier and Fran "stole" the ''Strahl''. The foursome is revisited in Bervenia and decide to accompany each other inside to obtain the Cache of Glabados.

While obtaining a treasure, two strange crystals, the building begins to collapse on itself. In the ensuing chaos, Vaan loses his airship and are forced to flee the site on Balthier's airship. Balthier soon drops Vaan and Penelo back in Rabanastre where they, along with Kytes and Filo, witness a strange object flying overhead: a derelict airship. After sneaking aboard the airship and defeating the Bangaa headhunter Ba'Gamnan, Vaan and company christen the airship whatever the player decides (default ''Galbana'') and find themselves on the purvama Lemurés by accident. While looking around the unknown ruins, they meet Llyud of the Aegyl race and learn his people are locked in battle with sky pirates who are raiding the island for treasure. Lemurés is said to possess summoning crystals called Auracite. Deciding to aid the Aegyl in defending Lemurés, Vaan's group learns the pirates were recruited by the mysterious Judge of Wings, who seeks out the three Auraliths, grand masses of Auracite that protect Lemurés from the outside world.

When the group confronts the Judge of Wings at the site of the first auralith, the Judge of Wings destroys the auralith, leading Vaan and his friends to have visions of Balthier confronting the Judge of Wings and losing, after which they hear sky pirates are gathering at the Skysea, and they go there to find Rikken, a friend of Vaan's. He says he may know something about the Judge of Wings, but to get answers, Vaan must compete in Rikken's tournament.

After saving Rikken, it is revealed Rikken knows nothing about the Judge, but Tomaj discovers there is an auracite shrine beneath the Skysea. When venturing there, the group encounters Ba'Gamnan who kidnaps Filo, taking her deeper within the shrine. When the group catches up with him, Rikken agrees to help rescue Filo, and once she is rescued, the party moves on to confront the esper Belias, the Gigas, that was summoned by the Judge of Wings. Once defeated, the Judge summons the massive esper Bahamut, who destroys the Skysea, and the party becomes island-trapped.

While stranded, the group meets Velis, a man who was at Nalbina and got lost while searching for his lover, Mydia. After a lot of character development, it is discovered Velis is, in fact, dead, and actually an esper who you later must battle when the Judge of Wings comes and controls him. After Velis is defeated (as the esper Odin), it is discovered the Judge of Wings is Mydia, but she then flees the island. Tomaj runs to the group, tells them the airship is fixed, and that he has spotted the ''Strahl'', Balthier's ship.

When the group finds the ship, they find Fran, who says Balthier is within a mountain on the island they are now on. Once inside, the group discovers an auralith, and the group plus Fran must defeat Mydia and the esper Mateus while protecting Balthier. Once defeated, Mydia flees without destroying the auralith, but Balthier then turns on the group and destroys the auralith, which sends the party into an illusion.

While within the illusion, the team discovers the Aegyl are so emotionless because they are deprived of anima, which is harvested by their god, Feolthanos, and stored in the auraliths. It is discovered this illusion is the world of the espers, and they find Velis, who makes everything clear: Mydia is a body, stripped of its anima, controlled by Feolthanos to reap anima for him, and if the auraliths are destroyed, the Aegyl's anima will return and as such, they must destroy the auraliths.

Once awoken from the illusion, Vaan confronts Balthier, who already knew these newly discovered facts, and Balthier and Fran join the team. The group then finds the Leviathan, the ship of Queen Ashe and Judge Magister Basch, who join the team as they venture through Ivalice, Emperor Larsa also joining. Mydia, as it turns out, is a Feol Viera, more commonly known as an Exiled, of which have white skin and shorter ears and hair as compared to the normal Viera who are darker-skinned and longer-haired. While in Roda Volcano, the team battles Mydia and the esper Chaos, and, as Mydia takes her dying breath, requests the team go to Feolthanos' palace above Lemurés and kill him. Her anima guides them up as they prepare to open the final chapter of their story.

Above Lemurés, the team battles reincarnations of dead Aegyl, and then battle the reincarnated form of Mydia's anima, while discovering Feolthanos, the god, is, himself, the last auralith. When the team ventures all the way to the seat of Feolthanos' power, they battle him and the anima-stripped Aegyl he commands. When he is almost defeated, he summons Bahamut to do battle with the team. After his giant shrine is destroyed, there is a one-on-one battle between Vaan and Feolthanos in which Feolthanos is apparently stronger, but as Vaan begins to lose, his friends come to back him up: first Ashe and Basch, Balthier and Fran, then Filo and Kytes, Llyud, and finally Penelo---the only battle in the game where every group leader is involved. In the end, Llyud deals the final blow to Feolthanos, releasing all the remaining stored anima.

After the end of the battle with Feolthanos, the game ends, and the characters are shown going their separate ways as the credits roll. If 100% game completion is reached then you are treated to an extended ending which shows Vaan and Penelo leaving together as a couple on a new adventure only to be interrupted by Filo, Kytes and Tomaj with some Yarhi and Cuit Sith in tow.

A knife chops two slices off a chunk of fresh meat. The first slice, using a nearby spoon as a hand mirror, admires itself. Similar admiration is expressed by the second slice, which slaps the first slice on its 'rear', causing it to cry out and retreat coyly behind a tea-towel. The second slice switches on the radio, and persuades its companion to dance 'cheek to cheek' to the sound of an old 1920s recording. One slice jumps into a plate of flour and teasingly 'splashes' the other. Soon, the two slices are writhing ecstatically in the flour. Their passion is short-lived, however, as almost immediately afterwards they are skewered and fried.

A wealthy but crude businessman, Harry Brock, on a trip to the nation's capital, is socially embarrassed by his ditzy, uncultured showgirl girlfriend, Billie Dawn. He hires a reporter, Paul Verrall, to educate her ("teach her the ropes").

Harry comes to regret his idea when Billie not only becomes more savvy, questioning his unscrupulous deals and rebelling against his bullying, but also falls in love with Paul.

Androcles, a gentle Christian tailor, is on the run from his Roman persecutors, accompanied by his nagging wife Megaera. While they are hiding in the forest, a wild lion approaches them. Megaera swoons, but tender-hearted Androcles sees that a large thorn is deeply embedded in the lion's paw; he draws it out while soothing the beast with baby-talk. While Androcles and the lion—whom he names Tommy—are becoming best buddies, his wife escapes, and when soldiers come upon Androcles and Tommy wrestling playfully, he is accused of sorcery.

Androcles is next seen in a procession of Christian prisoners on their way to the Colosseum in Rome. They are joined by the fierce recent Christian convert Ferrovius, who subsequently provides much of the comic relief in his struggle to keep his bellicose nature in check. Love interest is provided by the growing attraction between the Roman Captain and the nobly born Christian convert Lavinia.

Eventually the party is sent into the arena to be slaughtered, but when Ferrovius demonstrates his powers of conversion—and kills all of the gladiators—Antoninus Caesar declares that all his subjects should become Christians and offers him a commission in the Praetorian Guards. Ferrovius accepts. To appease the crowd, it is necessary to choose one Christian to be savaged by a lion, and Androcles volunteers "to uphold the honour of the tailors." It turns out that the lion is the one that Androcles helped in the forest, and the two waltz round the arena to the delight of the audience. The Emperor dashes behind the scenes to get a closer look and has to be rescued from the lion by Androcles. He then orders an end to the persecution of Christians and allows Androcles and his new 'pet' to depart in peace.

House, still benefiting from his ketamine-induced coma, is seen running and pain-free, has recovered from multiple gunshot wounds, and is back at work after two months, taking on two cases simultaneously. The first is Richard, who has been paralyzed and unable to speak since brain cancer surgery eight years earlier, and who drives his wheelchair into a pool. The second is Caren, a young woman mysteriously paralyzed from the neck down after a yoga session, despite no evidence of injury to her neck or spine. Cuddy and Wilson are convinced House is creating a mystery out of Richard's case to cure his own boredom.

House concludes Caren is faking the paralysis, and tries to prove it by burning her foot, causing her to move her leg in reflex. When she develops shortness of breath, House again accuses her of faking and threatens to stick a huge needle into her back. He notices engorged neck veins and plunges the needle into her chest to learn that blood is building up around her heart. House insists on opening her up to find the tumor that he thinks is there. Before surgery, he notices a discolored toenail and diagnoses her with scurvy.

House orders an upper endoscopic ultrasound for Richard, but Foreman objects that his throat will collapse; it does, and Richard almost dies. House orders an MRI scan of the brain with heavy doses of contrast, and Foreman tells him that it will cause a bleed into Richard's brain. Foreman's predictions hold true and Richard almost dies again.

While running at night, House hypothesizes that a corticosteroid production imbalance in Richard's adrenal gland is the cause of the paralysis, which points to Addison's disease, and that a cortisol injection might cure him.

Although forbidding House to treat Richard, Cuddy gives Richard the cortisol injection when he is being discharged from the hospital. Seconds later, Richard rises from his wheelchair and hugs his family. Wilson argues against telling House, that being right is not the same as having the right to do everything with the patient on House's guess. Cuddy argues she will be seeing House every day, Wilson closes with, "Everybody lies". House forges a prescription with Wilson's pad, signaling the pain in his leg is returning.

The main character was Jack Roan, who is more passionate about football than he is about his wife, Karen. She finds some solace with Ally, who is more interested in having sex than in playing football. Jack's best friend is Pettigrew, whose wife is into witchcraft. The football team they play for, Atletico Partick, are in a Sunday amateur league.